Better This Way

A World Apart

“Severus, I cannot believe you let her go,” Albus said, looking at Severus over his spectacles.


“It’s really none of your concern, Headmaster,” Severus said sharply.


“She’s not Narcissa, Severus. She would have stayed with you until the very end. I fear you may have let the best thing that has ever happened to you go to Livonia,” Albus said gravely.


“Once again, Headmaster, it’s no concern of yours. Besides, she would have been a fool to pass up that job. She wouldn’t have passed it up. She would have made me think she was going to, and then, at the last minute, she would have left. That is how women are,” Severus said bitterly.


“What Narcissa did to you was terrible, Severus. Telling you right up to an hour before she married Lucius that you were the one was a very terrible thing to do. I know she broke your heart, but you shouldn’t have made Hermione pay for what Narcissa did to you. Hermione is nothing like Narcissa,” Albus said.


“She left the day after she got the offer, Albus. That should tell you something,” Severus said exasperatedly.


“She was deeply hurt and troubled is what that tells me. You did something to her to make her run away, and of that you are fooling no one,” Albus said quietly.


“I gave her the nudge she needed,” Severus replied coolly.


“You gave her a catapult,” Albus retorted. “I fear you have lost her forever.”


“My life is my own, Headmaster. I do not need you to tell me how to live it,” Severus said, closing the matter.


Albus simply shook his head and turned to leave. He hoped that Severus would be able to pick up the pieces from what he had done. He hoped Hermione would be alright in Livonia.


After Albus left the room, Severus rubbed his face with his hands. Could Albus be right? Had he made a terrible mistake in pushing Hermione away? That is no matter now, he thought. She has been gone for nearly four months. It’s too late to do anything about it now.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


“Professor Granger! Look! See I have done it!” Emiliya exclaimed excitedly.


Hermione walked over to her desk and saw a perfect matchstick where a needle once was.


“Excellent job, Emiliya! You get a merit!”


“Look, Professor, I’ve done it too!” Shrieked Ekaterina.


“Why, so you have, Ekaterina. You get a merit as well!”

The girls beamed.


“I don’t understand vy my matchstick is still silver,” Aleksander said, very frustrated.


“Remember, this is only our first week in. It may take some of you more time to get a handle on the concept. Not to fret though, you will get it soon,” Hermione said warmly.


Suddenly a loud bell sounded, brass bells, much like church bells.


“It seems that our class is over,” Hermione said, smiling at the class. “For homework, I would like you to practice turning needle into matchsticks. Everyone take five needles, and we’ll see how well you did on Monday.”


There was a shuffling as the students’ chairs scraped across the stone floor. They took their needles and left the room.


“That vas a very inspiring class indeed, Hermione,” came a familiar voice from the back of the classroom.


Hermione looked up, surprised.


“Viktor!” she exclaimed. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here!”


“I’m the new quidditch coach,” He said smiling. “How good it is to see you again.”


He held his arms open, beckoning Hermione in a hug.


Hermione hugged him.


“It is good to see you too. Honestly, any familiar face really. It’s been very strange being in a new place where I know absolutely no one,” Hermione said sheepishly.


“How about I show you around sometime?” Viktor said, smiling.


“Your wife wouldn’t mind?” Hermione said tentatively.


“Vat vife?” Viktor said. “I vas to be married, but she left me for another man. Over a year ago.”


“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Hermione said softly.


“It is you that I vould have thought vould be married by now,” Viktor said, looking at her pointedly.


“I thought maybe once, but turns out I cared for him far more than he cared for me,” Hermione replied quietly.


“Then I vill say this man is a fool, and perhaps his loss shall be my gain,” Viktor said, kissing her hand lightly.


“Perhaps. In time,” Hermione said. “It’s only been about four months for me. While I am ready to get back into dating, I am not ready to fall in love, or be in a relationship quite yet.”


“I understand completely. Ve can be friends, and I vill show you vat there is to do in Livonia for fun. Perhaps you vill allow me to escort you to the village sometime?”


“That would be lovely, Viktor,” Hermione said smiling a little.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Severus fingered the little velvet box for what seemed like the billionth time. Hermione had been gone for about six months now, and he decided that it was time to get out. He hadn’t left the castle grounds since she had left for Livonia. He missed the Three Broomsticks. He would never go to the Hog’s Head again, he thought. It held too many memories. Memories he would be just as well to forget.


He reached into his wardrobe and removed a small mahogany box with a lock. He waved his wand over it, and it clicked. He placed the velvet box inside, nestling it among various notes and photos of Hermione and himself that had been taken over their time together. He closed the box and the lock clicked. Then he tucked it back into his wardrobe, intending to never open it again.


A/N:First of all, thank everyone so much for the kind reviews. Truly, they are what has inspired me to update so quickly! Second of all, after some research, I noticed a few inaccuracies in
fact from earlier chapters (i.e. I have Rosmerta as the purveyor of the Hog's Head, when it is actually Aberfoth Dumbledore, and I have the school as being in Bulgaria, when Wiki suggests that based on the information about Durmstrang given in the book, that the school is most likely in Livonia, so I have fixed these errors, as well as a few typos I hadn't caught before.