It's always easier to run

Chapter 2

\'\"Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it. - Pablo Casals.

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\"This isn\'t happening.\"

Hermione took a long look at the dark heap at her feet, her eyes widening with each passing second. She could scarcely believe it was Professor Snape himself, here in the muggle world...at her own bloody house! He didn\'t move nor speak, though neither stopped the rapid beating of her heart.

For a moment Hermione was frightened that he was dead. That he\'d come to deliver a message to her from whomever in the wizarding world and had promptly fallen dead on her doorstep. Making a small clucking noise of worry she rushed to the bathroom and returned with a small mirror. Kneeling, she placed it under the nose of her Professor, narrowing her eyes and waiting.

Oh please...don\'t be dead you big greasy bugger.

Relief washed over her as the mirror finally clouded at the shallow exaltation of breath. He wasn\'t dead...the question was how long was he going to live? She took a moment to take in his features, to see what minimal years had done to him now that she was gone from the school.

His greasy hair hung over his pale face, barely masking that long nose of his. She saw the lines of age that creased his brow and touched at the center of his brows. Hermione frowned at the sight, noticing that his lank body was crumpled on the doorframe and she supposed it must be more than uncomfortable. The shock of his unexpected arrival began to slowly dwindle, and in a burst of curious tenacity, Hermione tentative nudged the ribcage of her comatose Professor.

\"Professor Snape?\"

She jumped back at the sound of a low moan coming from him, and almost tripped over a rug in the alcove of her home. She peered into the darkness of the night, knowing that they weren\'t exactly in the middle of nowhere. Bending down she looked to his face, seeing that he seemed to have slipped back into whatever state he\'d been in before.

\"Professor,\" she whispered slowly near his ear, speaking as if he could hear her. \"This is Hermione Granger. You\'ve passed out at my home, and I don\'t know why...But I\'m going to try to pick you up and bring you inside.\"

There was a slight pause.

\"Make any sign you can if you disapprove.\"

He made no movement, no flicker if motion behind his pallid lids. No twitching sneer on sinister lips. Nothing. He was completely stoic and internally Hermione believed this to be much more frightening than having Snape awake and furious.

Hermione regarded the limp figure of her former Professor with scrutiny, pressing a fingertip to her lips a moment. How to pick him up? He was quite a deal taller than her, and surely wouldn\'t be that easy to lift.

I wish I had my wand.

Hermione frowned deeply, bending over to his figure once more and making a grimace. It was a foreign feeling to have, looking down at her passed out Professor she felt almost sorry for the git. She also felt strange at the prospect of grasping him around the middle. Should she grasp him around the middle? How could she? He was lying on his stomach, all sprawled out and now Hermione was rather frightened her neighbors might pass by.

Suddenly Crookshanks came darting out of the house, almost flying over to the despondent Professor. Crookshanks sniffed around Snape\'s head, and in a burst of intrigue jumped onto Snape\'s back and lay down to sleep.

\"Crookshanks!\" Hermione hissed exasperatedly, tired and confused and wanting nothing more than to get Snape in the house. \"Get out of the bloody way!\"

Crookshanks\' ear flicked a moment before he lowered his tabby head and shut his light eyes. Hermione would have laughed at the image if she wasn\'t so worried about Snape lying there.

\"Alright.\" She said resolutely to herself, her dark eyes flickering over Snape\'s form as she reached her conclusion. \"Now or never.\"

She moved her hair behind her ears and grasped Snape\'s forearms, preparing to drag him into the house ala a fireman\'s grip. She wished he were awake so that he could at least try to help her. She gritted her teeth, grunted as she pulled his dead weight frame. Crookshanks leapt off of Snape and rushed back into the house as Hermione shook her head, looking back to Snape\'s silent features.

\"Ouch.\" Hermione hissed through clenched teeth, suddenly dropping his forearm. She clasped her hands together hissed and grimacing something fierce. Her hand felt as if it was on fire and she was confused as to what could have caused it. She grasped her right hand, looking to the palm in moderate surprise.

Imprinted on her palm was a faint outline of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. Hermione\'s mouth formed an \'O\' of surprise, her dark eyes widening in realization. How could she have forgotten?

\"The Deatheater mark.\"

She looked to Snape\'s bared forearm, seeing the frighteningly red and swollen look the same tattoo had acquired. It looked as if it were pulsating with pain and despite all he\'d done to her in the past, Hermione felt a pang of sympathy for Snape go through her just then.

Noises sounded around her neighborhood and in fear of suspicion being aroused, she quickly grasped Snape\'s wrists and dragged him laboriously into towards her modest home. With a final grunt of exertion she dragged the last of his lithe frame through the door, positioned him out of the way and slammed the door behind them.

With the sudden slamming noise of the door, Snape seemed to have come alive. Slowly his body began to move a little, soft sounds emitting from under a curtain of dark unwashed hair. Hermione watched him wriggle a bit on the floor, trying to raise his head but finding it rather difficult.

\"My God.\" She said, wiping the sweat from her brow and noticing that the burn on her hand was still minimally visible. She looked to the groggy man at her feet.

\"This is beyond unbelievable.\"

And it was. She\'d left the wizarding world almost three years ago, she had a new life and a new everything. Just when things were starting to finally look her way, the most vile and hated Professor of all of Hogwarts landed on her doorstep. Would it never end?

She saw Snape was struggling to kneel now, his hands groping about as if he were blind. For a horrible moment Hermione wondered if he was. What was she going to do with some crazy, blind ex Professor? She stepped forward, wondering if he\'d seen her.

\"Professor?\"

She couldn\'t help but still call him by his formal title, if not out of respect out of habit. Snape\'s head jerked around as quickly as he could manage in his condition at the sound of her voice. His dark eyes wandering up her frame, seeming to take her all in until he met her dark eyes. She blushed a bit, realizing she was wearing her ugliest flannel pajamas.

Hermione\'s eyes narrowed on Snape\'s harrowed face, seeing as he struggled to stand now without wobbling. Snape was silent a moment, observing her as she had him before. It was an uncomfortable, foreign feeling.

\"You\'re taller than I recall.\" Snape finally murmured dozily unexpectedly to her, his dark eyes barely opened as he stood there shakily. Hermione found this comment strange, for he still towered over her even now. Then again she supposed she\'d grown a bit since he\'d last seen her, although it couldn\'t be by much and it seemed an odd thing to mention at a time like this.

She frowned moving to him with an unreadable expression on her face. Didn\'t he realize where he was? Had he been hit with a memory charm? So many questions...

But, he did seem to need her help and as a Gryf- no, as a girl who had respect for others, she went to his aid. He barely moved as she approached him, her heart in her throat out of fear for what he may do. She didn\'t know Snape all that well, who knew this wasn\'t some strange trick?

She surveyed his face a moment, seeing that it was void of all malicious traces. She assumed this was due to a spell or two to the head and decided to take full advantage. His hooded eyes watched as she drew over to him, watched as she offered him an arm and still he didn\'t speak.

\"Here.\" Hermione said softly, suddenly grasping Snape around the middle, seeing as his breathing tensed a moment. She did feel rather strange touching Snape, no matter if she didn\'t go to school as his student anymore. This man had been untouchable in her youth, almost as if he were not of this world. And now, here he was flesh and blood. He was cold though.

She herself tensed as his hand landed on her shoulder roughly, grasping and clutching as he struggled to stand more steadily on his legs. She saw he was clean-shaven, so evidently he\'d been fine to shave this morning. He also seemed dressed in rather usual, clean robes, nothing out of the ordinary.

\"I\'ll take you to my bedroom.\" Hermione said slowly, finding the words strange and against all better logic a faint blush spread across her cheeks. This was after all Professor Snape. She didn\'t really think the man had a sex drive.

She looked to Snape a moment once more out of the corner of her eyes, trying to appear mature and finished with a soft, \"You can sleep there tonight.\"

She emphasized the latter, hoping he\'d catch her drift. She didn\'t mind helping Snape tonight, especially when he wasn\'t being surly as usual. But she most certainly wasn\'t prepared to give up her bedroom for a long duration.

Snape didn\'t answer, for he seemed much more preoccupied with trying to walk towards the vicinity of the bedroom. He staggered, trying to look composed. He was muttering something under his breath that Hermione couldn\'t decipher. She watched his dark eyes closing momentarily, as if he were slipping back into whatever had clutched him outside her door tonight when they snapped open.

They were outside her bedroom in a matter of moments, Snape still heavily leaning on her for support and Hermione thankfully found that now that Snape was awake, he was much easier to help carry about. She noticed that he looked quite the same since she left, greasy hair the same length, skin still pale, eyes still cold.

She viewed the hand on her shoulder out of the corner of her eyes curiously, noticing the way the long, tapered digits fell over the slope of her shoulder, very graceful in appearance. She\'d almost forgotten him in careful appearance, but never in rudeness. There were few traumatic times in her life that she\'d never forget, and Snape was a part of most of them.

They made their way into the bedroom, over to the small rumbled bed of Hermione\'s. Snape seemed to breath a sigh of relief, or it might have just been fatigued exasperation. It was hard to tell with him. Hermione looked to Snape a moment at her side, seeing he looked beyond tired as he stumbled over to the bed.

\"Here. Just sit there for a moment.\" She said gently, lowering him onto the side of the bed as he winced. She bit her lip in nervous worry, watching as he struggled to sit up on the bed. He was swaying slightly, his eyes dropping.

She removed her arm from around him, and was about to commence pulling back the bed covers for his leisure when she felt Snape\'s head in the crook of her shoulder. She supposed sitting up was too great a strain for him at the moment. It was a strange disorienting feeling though, having his lips away from her cheek, this close to her. It was uneasy.

This of course didn\'t stop or diminish her distaste for him. After she\'d gotten him fairly better he was gone from her life forever. No matter what reason he had, she was going to be happy to see him go. Just looking at him brought back a series of memories. She was broken from such reverie when Crookshanks jumped onto the end of the bed -as he always did at night- and mewed softly.

She worked around him though, moving Snape\'s head a bit over on her shoulder and shooing Crookshanks away as she got the bed sheets prepared. It wasn\'t hard, she\'d already been sleeping in it when Snape had rung.

Moving Snape back a bit she laid him on his back in the bed, watching as he winced when she did so. He looked rather tall and out of place in her white bed and crème sheets. Like a big ink stain.

His dark eyes flew around the room, taking everything in before he grew too exhausted. Hermione noticed the sudden red tinge to his eyes, saw the sudden darkened circles around them. It was on the tip of her tongue to question what was going on back at Hogwarts when she stopped. She\'d left that world behind. She was done with it.

She noticed Snape was falling rapidly asleep and decided that it would be prudent if she left him to sleep, as he obviously desperately needed it among other things. He moved a bit, making muffled groaning noises as she watched him, noticing he had large black boots on, the kind he always wore at school.

She went to remove his boots when he stopped her, a sudden invisible pain rapping against her knuckles from nowhere. Hermione jumped back in surprise and sudden anger at the pain, watching as he placed his wand back up his sleeve. He used a spell on her? When she was trying to help him?!

\"What was that for?\" Hermione spat, rubbing her injured knuckles, looking to him in shock and disbelief at his actions. \"I\'m only trying to make you more comfortable.\"

\"I\'m fine.\" Snape hissed darkly, his eyes falling shut before he forced them back open. Watching him do this was as if she were watching two opposing forces within him. Then there was the matter of his voice, acquiring that same icy tone it always had in school. But now it was strained, achy even. As if it pained him to order her around but he felt the need.

\"Isn\'t it uncomfortable?\" Hermione said gently, motioning to his boots with a careless hand, her mouth pursed in question. \"To sleep in your boots?\"

\"Of course it is.\" Snape said sharply, some of his alert coming back to him and his tone and before she could question his answer he continued. \"But I have my reasons.\"

Hermione fell silent, looking to him from the side of the bed in agitation. Evidently something was wrong, and Snape was doing everything in his power not to tell her. His eyes were cold, as if he couldn\'t trust her and she wondered if he even knew who she was.

\"Do you know who I am, Professor Snape?\" she ventured quietly, coming to his side should he require her help. She immediately regretted being that close to him, especially when she\'d just said something to vex him when he was obviously in more pain than he let on.

\"Of course I know who you are.\" Snape grumbled angrily, trying to glare but finding it difficult as sleep overtook him slowly but surely, his lids drooping against his will. \"You don\'t forget hair that big and a voice like that without the aid of a powerful obliviating spell.\"

Hermione fell silent, her eyes shutting in exasperation. So it was like old times was it? He hadn\'t even been in her house an hour and already he was insulting her as he lay in her bed.

Hermione opened her eyes then, looking to Snape with her teeth gritted and dark eyes narrowed. She had been about to let him know just what she thought of his little visit when she viewed he\'d fallen asleep.

His lips were stoic, his eyes shut soundly and his hands at either side of him on the blanket. Soft breathing and gentle swaying of his chest only furthered her notion. Evidently he was exhausted and it would be too cruel of her to wake him up to ask what had happened back at Hogwarts.

Of course it wasn\'t as if she needed to know. She\'d left that world behind her. She\'d merely be inquiring because she wanted to know the root of Snape\'s arrival. The last thing she needed now that she had her life on track was a bothersome roommate like Severus Snape.

Taking one last look at her Professor Hermione pulled the sheets up over him, leaving his boots free. If she had to put up with him sleeping in her home, it didn\'t mean that she had to suffer muddy bed linen.

She moved to the door, flicking the light switch off and leaving them bathed in darkness. Hermione mulled over this a moment before going to her bedroom and digging around in some of the boxes from her move that she meant to put in storage.

She grunted, pulling out the largest of the boxes, wiping the dust from the top as she tore open the box, digging through it quietly before her eyes fell on what she\'d been searching for.

\"Ah, there it is.\" she said under her breath, happy to have found the object she\'d envisioned. It was a small nightlight in the shape of a lion, something her parents had given her for her first year at Hogwarts. She\'d always been afraid of the dark as a child, and her parents -not really completely understanding the wizarding world- had given it to her in hopes of building confidence.

\"You probably won\'t even need it.\" her Mum had said, rocking a trembling eleven year old Hermione in her arms the night before her departure for the school. \"But just in case...\"

Of course Hermione hadn\'t needed it. The dormitory was lit with candles at night and soon, after many adventures with Ron and Harry, she\'d barely been afraid of anything. Except of course, failing an exam.

She looked to the familiar lion light in her hands a moment, her dark eyes filling with tears, tracing it along it\'s familiar carved lines with her forefinger before giving a resolute sniff and standing.

\"Enough.\"

Hermione had been sure that Snape in unfamiliar territory would be none too please to wake up in the middle of the night in complete darkness. At least with the nightlight, he\'d maybe register where he was.

She moved stealthily into the room, hearing the soft snores emitting from the bed. Strange, she never really thought of Snape as a snorer and tried to keep the smirk off of her face. She kneeled near a light socket and plugged the small nightlight in. Soft waves of light washed over the room, giving Snape\'s outline a warmer look.

She stood slowly, her knees cracking and prepared to go to the sofa to retire. Closing the door slowly and looking to the lone figure of her Professor, who had obviously been through a lot tonight she sighed and spoke softly.

\"Goodnight Professor.\"
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