The Blowers Daughter

\"Well that makes my day a whole lot more crap,\" Hermione hissed when Dumbledore had left. Remus smiled and kissed her forehead before magically lifting a tray of drinks.

\"Remember, you are no longer his student, he can\'t scare you,\" Remus replied, before going into the dining room.

\"Its not fear i\'m worried about,\" she whispered to herself, before following her out.



Dumbledore and other others sat around the dining room table. Hermione smiled to Dumbledore before sitting in the only free chair, which was unfortunately between Snape and Remus. She reached to hold Remus\'s hand, and he kissed it tenderly before she looked at Snape.

\"So i take it you shall be telling us about your facinating story,\" she said, trying but failing to hide the sarcasm from her voice. Snape sipped his tea and ignored her piercing stare.

\"I would only tell those who care, and evidently you do not,\" he replied coldly. Hermione suddenly felt a stab of guilt and looked at the floor.

\"I\'m sorry, that was uncalled for,\" she whispered. Snape smirked.

\"Yes i suppose it was,\" he replied.

\"Now now,\" Dumbledore said, sensing the tension, \"As we are welcoming back our dear friend and hero, Severus Snape, i propose a toast,\" he said, waving his wand and transforming the cups of tea into flutes of champagne. The table stood and raised their glasses.

\"Severus Snape,\" They chanted. Snape nodded in appriciation to Dumbledore.

\"Speech!\" Harry yelled. Hermione rolled her eyes. Harry and Snape had not reconciled, but his marriage to Ginny had made him a far less antagonistic person to everyone. Snape smiled a little.

\"Well Potter,\" he said with a smile, \"If i must.\"

\"I\'m sorry, did Snape just make a joke,\" Hermione whispered to Remus. Who laughed under his breath and squeezed her hand.

\"It is delightful to be back. How i have missed the rain, Dumbledore\'s advice and teaching dunderheads,\" He said, attempting to sound sarcastic, but clearly displaying some sincerity in his words, \"So i thank you all for your reception, and promise Dumbledore that the dungeons will no longer feel so empty at Hogwarts now that the bat is back,\" He drawled. The table laughed politely but Hermione nearly dropped her champagne flute in shock.

\"Is that the real Snape?\" she squeeked to Remus.

\"Parden Miss Granger?\" She heard Snape drawl.

\"Nothing Severus, nothing,\" she grinned maliciously.

\"I would so hate to ruin your image of me,\" he smirked, before turning away to talk to Kingsley.

\"That is not the same Snape,\" she hissed to Remus, who merely smiled and kissed his lover\'s cheek. Dumbledore smiled warmly and stood up.

\"And before we finish this meeting, i do have something i would like to read,\" he produced a large article cut from the Daily Prophet with the title \"Dumbledore voted greatest wizard in history,\" and began to read, \"The title \"Greatest ever wizard of all time in the world ever\" is not often used, so for Professor....\" Dumbledore was cut short by a mass groan and Hermione banging her head on the table, causing the room to laugh.



After a short while, the group moved into the large library, as they often tended to do on lazy days such as these. Shaklebolt and Harry began a game of chess, whilst Snape, Remus and Dumbledore sat and talked around the fire. Mrs. Weasley dragged Harry, Ron and the twins into the kitchen to help her prepare a meal whilst Ginny and Hermione sat laughing together. Ginny did not notice Hermione\'s occasional glances at Snape. They spent a long time sat in the library, until Mrs. Weasley appeared at the doorway to announce that dinner was ready to be served.




Dumbledore returned to his seat at the head of the table, and Hermione was once again forced to sit next to Snape and Remus. She couldn\'t help but laugh bitterly as she sat down,
\"Well I bet the others must be envious of this seat,\" She hissed to Snape. The others looked up, suprised at her cold words,

\"Well Miss Granger, it is evident that i have been missed,\" he sneered. Hermione rolled her eyes,

\"Well you are observant,\" she spat, before drawling, \"Severus,\"

\"Well i could say the same for you, as you take such pleasure saying my name,\" he replied, \"Though i must say, though you no longer have to call me professor, i can still call you a snarky little know it all,\" he hissed.

\"Well.....\" Hermione attempted to respond.

\"That does it, if i hear either of you say \"Well\" once more, i\'m going to start cursing you,\" Ginny said suddenly, standing up and hitting the table with the palm of her hand, \"You are acting like children! What the hell is wrong with you?\" She glared at Hermione, who looked at the floor.

\"I\'m sorry Severus, its just a suprise seeing you,\" she said reluctantly. Snape nodded in recognition, but waited for the conversation to pick up before he responded.
\"If you are humiliated about this morning, don\'t be,\" he whispered, \"Though i do have to say, we were always so much more inconspicious,\" he whispered to her, before glaring at Remus, who sat laughing with Dumbledore. Hermione clenched her fists.

\"And what exactly is your problem,\" she replied, her voice just as quiet, \"I am of age now, and I am with someone who loves me,\"

\"But do you love him?\" Snape replied coldly.

\"What the hell are you suggesting,\" she replied.

\"Come back to me,\" he said, his voice devoid of emotion, \"You don\'t need a werewolf, you need an equal.\"

\"Why don\'t you just drop dead,\" she said coldly, before knocking her tea cup onto his lap.

\"Oops\" she said innocently, before standing up and storming out of the room. The room fell silent and looked at Snape.

\"What did you say to her Snivellus?\" Remus hissed, the old hatreds surfacing. Snape ignored his comment.

\"Will you not go after her Lycothrope?\" he sneered,

\"I think that you should go,\" Dumbledore said to Snape, the sparkle absent from his eyes, \"As i believe you are the one that must apologise.\" Snape\'s glare softened slightly as he looked at the old man, and realised that Dumbledore knew more than Snape had first realised,

\"Fine,\" he hissed, pushing the chair back agressively and leaving the room in silence.



Hermione sat in the libary, her eyes glazed red with tears. She had a glass of firewhiskey in one hand and her other hand to her eyes, rubbing them slowly in an attempt to alliviate her headache. In the doorway, she spied a movement. Snape was staring at her.

\"Miss. Granger,\" he said coldly, before softening, \"Hermione.\" She sneered at him and threw the glass at him, barely missing his head. He approached her and grabbed her forearm, pulling her to her feet. \"We need to talk.\"

\"No,\" she protested angrily, \"We needed to talk two years ago, but you decided to disappear to Vienna and never try and contact me!\"

\"I know, but there is so much i need you to know, why i needed to leave,\" He said, holding both of her arms and pulling her to him. She pushed away.

\"If i still loved you, i would listen, but i don\'t, so save your breath,\" she hissed, pulling away and slapping him. He glared at her for a moment before speaking.

\"I never intented to hurt you,\" he said quietly. A tear rolled down her cheek and her eyes narrowed.

\"But you did,\" she replied, her voice raw with emotion. He turned away for a moment and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

\"I needed to leave, I couldn\'t cope with the prospect of being stalked by the press, and the renegade deatheaters, i needed to leave,\" he said, more to himself than to Hermione.

\"But never contact me? Not even one letter!\" she cried out angrily, \"Severus, we had been together for a year and a half! I remember the day! Christmas day of sixth year was when you kissed me. The Yule Ball had just finished and Harry had just given me a necklace for my seventeenth birthday! I remember every moment you see!\" She began to cry again, \"I loved you! You said you loved me! I saved you in the final battle! I cried when i thought you would die, and everyone asked me why! I wasn\'t allowed to tell them that i loved you, no one could know. I thought that when you recovered you would take me away like you promised you would. We were meant to elope! I was so excited, it was so romantic, but instead you vanished!\" Snape approached her and tried to hug her.

\"I\'m sorry,\" he whispered. She stepped away and brandished her wand at him,

\"Come one step closer and i will kill you myself!\" she sobbed, \"That night, the night after the war, you weren\'t in your bed. I had no idea where you were! I didn\'t find out you were in Vienna until a month later, and that was when Dumbledore told me! I fell in love with Lupin because i thought you were dead,\" She spat,

\"Why the Lycothrope? Why the goddamn werewolf!\" Snape suddenly hissed, grabbing her by her arms again, \"Was that your attempt at revenge?\" he sneered at her.

\"Revenge?\" She laughed tearfully, \"If i wanted to take my revenge against you i would have chosen someone far worse. I would have married Malfoy if I thought it would cause you pain. For Merlin\'s sake, i would have married Voldemort himself if i thought it would break your heart,\" she attempted to sneer, but she was crying too heavily, \"No. I fell in love with Lupin because he is a kind, loving, dedicated man that can make me happy. And i hope that makes your heart bleed,\" she sneered, walking past him. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him,

\"There are reasons why I couldn\'t contact you, I promise you there are reasons.\" He begged for her to understand.

\"I don\'t care for your reasons, i just want you out of my life,\" she replied, pulling her wrist free.

\"And how will you achieve that, I will be teaching with you in September, and then how will you avoid me?\" He approached her and leant forward to whisper into her ear, \"How will you cope seeing the old desks again, or the library, or the great hall tables? How will you cope with seeing the places that we made love?\" he demanded angrily. She pushed him away and slapped him.

\"You are despicable,\" she sneered, but her voice softened, \"I\'m happy now. You could never make me happy. Don\'t try and ruin me, you owe me that much,\" she whispered, before returning back to the dining room. Snape shook his head and sat down with the bottle of firewhiskey,

\"Hermione Fucking Granger, Bane of my world,\" he whispered, raising the glass in a toast, \"And love of my life,\"

Neither Hermione nor Snape saw Lupin listening from behind a secret doorway in the walls behind the bookshelf.


TBC

PLEASE REVIEW, THIS IS MY FIRST STORY AND I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW HOW I\'M DOING
xxxxx

DISCLAIMER: NONE OF THIS BELONGS TO ME. I JUST CREATED THE PLOT!