Of Days and Ends

Hermione and Severus will be together soon enough... I just feel the need to break the previous books' love leads and reinforce others. It makes a sort of weird sense in my head. Sorry if you don't see it. Muah all!
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Chapter 3—First Opportunity

The next morning began with a loud ruckus and Hermione was jolted awake by Mrs. Weasley’s screams from three floors above. Hermione’s heart raced, she glanced at the clock that read 7:00 a.m., and listened carefully with her wand instinctively in her hand. The shouts were hysterical and Ginny began screaming as well. Standing, Hermione realized just how little sleep she had gotten when her eyes didn’t focus immediately and she became dizzy. When the sounds began descending, Hermione crouched behind the couch, pointing her wand at the stairs.

Somebody racing ahead of Mrs.Weasley stumbled on the last landing and shouted in pain as they sprained their ankle. When Harry emerged at the bottom of the stairs with only one leg in his jeans and his red t-shirt under his arm, Hermione leapt up from behind the couch and ran to him. “Harry!”

“Mrs. Weasley is after me!”

“What? Why?”

“She--” he struggled to get the other pant leg on, “—she, uh… walked in on a compromising situation.”

The yelling between Ginny and her mother finally reached the first landing and the portrait of Mrs. Black began howling fiercely, “BANE OF ALL EXISTENCE! BLOOD TRAITORS! VERMIN! GET OUT! GET OUT! YOU BEFOUL THE HOUSE OF BLACK!” Harry set a fire, threw a handful of Floo powder into the grate, and stepped in with the shirt around his neck, shouting, “HOGWARTS, HOSPITAL WING!”

“GOOD CHOICE! YOU’RE GOING TO NEED THE HOSPITAL WING, HARRY JAMES POTTER!” And with a speed that rivalled Moody’s, Mrs.Weasley threw a curse his way that struck him before the floo could sweep him away. Ginny shrieked and tried to run to the floo wearing nothing but a bed sheet, but Mrs.Weasley grabbed her arm and whirled her around. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU, GINEVRA!”

“Mum, this is not a big deal!”

“It is a big deal! How could you possibly think it’s not a big deal?”

“Mum--!”

“I love Harry like a son, but if you get pregnant by Harry bloody Potter, I will… ooh! I will skin that boy alive!”

“Mum--!”

“Shut it, go home, and wait for your father and I! I have to go and fix Harry.” Mrs. Weasley went to the floo and prepared to follow Harry to the school. Before leaving, she turned, sent her patronus to take the message to her husband, and then said to Hermione, “I’m so sorry you had to hear that…you weren’t kicked out of your room were you?”

“No, I fell asleep down here with some books.” Hermione insisted, trying to lessen Ginny’s troubles.

“Yes, well, I’m sorry I’m going to have to ask you to do this, but what was that locating charm you discovered?” Hermione thought for a moment before telling her and showing the movement that goes with it. When Mrs. Weasley got it right practicing on Ginny, she grabbed a handful of floo powder and turned back to Hermione again, “If you would be so kind, dear. I need you to play nursemaid to Ginny. All you have to do is sit with her until her father and I get there and then you can come back here.”

Hermione nodded and after Mrs. Weasley left, she silenced Mrs. Black, and turned slowly to Ginny. “I’m so sorry, Ginny.”

“Don’t be,” sighed Ginny “you did nothing wrong.”

Hermione remained silent for a moment as she picked up her books before continuing, “So…”

“We’re back together again, yes.”

“I’m so glad for you!” Ginny smiled gratefully at Hermione. “So… let’s go before your mom gets back.”

“Yes, okay.” Hermione looped her arm with Ginny’s and they began to walk towards the fire when Ginny pulled back.

“I’m—I’m so sorry. Uhm… Can I have a moment to gather my wits before we leave? We were awakened kind of quickly.”

“Sure… Actually, that sounds good. I’ll just go tell Ron what’s going on.”

“Don’t mention, you-know-what!”

“Well, what am I supposed to be telling him then?”

“You tell him… uh… you say… um…”Ginny was wringing her hands together, and Hermione felt a confusing wave of empathy and duty to her friend.

“C’mon, Ginny, you tell him.” Hermione advised reassuringly.

Ginny simply moaned and trudged up the stairs. She only had one argument against telling Ron anything, but she quickly stifled the immature comment. They stopped only briefly for Ginny to put some clothes on.

When they reached the landing at Ron and Harry’s bedroom, Ginny tried to make a U-turn, but found herself guided by Hermione. “Stop being such a bloody good friend.” Ginny mumbled and froze in front of her brother’s door. From the outside, they could hear his snores. Ginny lifted her small, long-fingered hand to knock, but found the door opened by Ron, who seemed surprised to see them. Ginny cocked her head. “Well, we thought you were sleeping, didn’t we? Who else is here then?”

Ron stepped quickly through the doorway and shut the door behind him. “I put up a ward that makes snoring noises to cover for Harry last night. Y’know, in case she came to check up on us, and found him not in bed.”

“What? Then you knew?” Hermione said with surprise.

“Yeah. Where’s Harry?”

“He’s going to need your help. Mum’s after him.”

“What?”

“She caught us together.”

Ron merely whistled sympathetically for them, and looked at Hermione, “what are you here for, then?”

“I’m playing nursemaid to the princess.”

Ron laughed and pulled a blue shirt on over his muscular body and grey sweatpants, and Hermione felt that she could have melted on him. “Well then, I’m off to save Harry Potter.” Ginny and Hermione grinned, avoiding laughing, and Ron continued, “What? Not every bloke gets to say that. Besides, if mum’s after him, he will need rescuing. People always underestimate how fast--”

“Ronald, now!”

“Okay, okay… where are they?”

“Hogwarts.”

“Okay, I’ll be back soon.” Ron leaned in and kissed Hermione gently before heading down the hall. When he reached the floo and called out, “Hogwarts, Hospital Wing,” the girls reached the bottom of the stairs in time to see him whirl off.

Hermione and Ginny didn’t linger at Grimmald Place . Ginny went first through the floo to the Burrow and upon arrival obediently went straight to her room as her mother ordered. The girls sat in silence for a while until Ginny shyly asked, “Hermione…”

“No, I haven’t.”

Ginny’s head shot up from the bedspread she was studying, “What haven’t you done?”

Hermione smiled, picking up on the unintentional confirmation that she knew where Ginny was going with her question, “Haven’t had sex.”

“Oh.” Ginny went back to committing her bedspread to memory, “Well, why not?”

“Waiting, I guess. Waiting for the right one and the right moment.”

“Oh.”

“You said that already.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” Ginny heaved a sigh, “I’m in some real trouble.”

Hermione smiled reassuringly, “Yeah, Hun, but it’ll be alright soon.” The silence stretched on a little longer and Hermione mustered up enough courage to ask, “Ginny?”

“Yes?”

“What’s it like?”

Ginny furrowed her eyebrows in confusion for a second, and then she got it. “It’s like… It’s like a movie with a really great plot and a surprise twist and an amazing ending. I wouldn’t be doing it any justice if I told you. You really have to see it for yourself to enjoy it to its fullest. Until then, get to know yourself first.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes, pursed her lips, and raised an eyebrow, “Sounds like an escape-hatch!”

Ginny laughed and insisted over and over again as Hermione joined in her laughter that she was not evading an answer. When the door to Ginny’s room burst open and a seriously worn Mr. Weasley entered, the laughter stopped immediately.

There was a tense moment in which Ginny looked up at her father and searched his face for the joy he usually showed for his only, baby girl. “Thank You, Hermione. I assume you’ll be by with the rest of them for dinner.” All the while he spoke to Hermione, he never moved his eyes from Ginny’s face.

“Yes, Mr. Weasley.”

“Good, see you later, then.”

Hermione hurried out with only one backward glance at Ginny. She could see her deep brown eyes brimming with tears, before she had a chance to close the door fully. When the latch clicked shut, Hermione turned and nearly ran headlong into a very sick looking Harry Potter being guided by a very gentle but firm Mrs. Weasley and followed closely by Ron. Harry and Mrs. Weasley walked silently into the room where Mr. Weasley and Ginny were and Ron remained outside.

He looked sadly at Hermione. “This is not reassuring for you is it?”

“What do you mean?”

Ron glanced at the door and took Hermione’s arm. “Let’s go home and talk.”

Once home, Ron guided her up the stairs to his and Harry’s room, and guided her to sit beside him on his bed. He paused for a few contemplative seconds before leaning in to kiss her gently, “What are we, Hermione?”

“Best friends.”

He leaned in and kissed her again before whispering, “Is that all?”

“No.” She whispered in return, beginning to feel overwhelmed by a reciprocal lust for him.

“No?” He kissed her neck and licked just over her jugular. “What are we?”

“We are…” She was hesitating for a reason. Ron was fickle and had taken his love from Lavender to her in a matter of days. Hermione didn’t want to be that easy for him to access, as though she had been waiting. Suddenly, the answer was clear to her, “…courting.”

“We’re what?” Ron had stopped his kisses and Hermione was secretly disappointed.

“We’re courting.”

“Like, dating?”

“Sort of.”

Ron paused for a long moment, obviously trying not to say the thing at the forefront of his mind, but soon decided to take the risk, “Like… boyfriend and girlfriend?”

“No, you still have to win me, and I must maintain your interest.

Ron paused again, but this time out of surprise, “I—You want me to—What about all the years we spent together? We know each other well enough. We shouldn’t have to court each other!”

“Yes, we should, and it will pay off in the long run for us.”

Ron ran his fingers through his hair with frustration and realized he couldn’t win. “Fine,” he was sounding bitter and disappointed, “whatever you want.” He sighed and stood up, “I should probably get home in case they need me.”

Hermione stood up and left the room before turning to him standing in the middle of his room, “Um… could I get a kiss?”

Ron sighed and forced a smile, “Yeah.” He crossed the room, gave her a peck on the lips, and disapparated away.

Crossing her arms, leaning against the doorway, and thinking, it became obvious that she was finally alone in the house. She had the perfect opportunity to steal away and search for that secret-kept location Snape told her about. Stepping back into Harry and Ron’s room, she used a spell to lift everything out of his trunk the way it was and pulled the invisibility cloak out from between the clutter before lowering everything back into the space.

She hurried into her room a couple floors below and surveyed the messy scene there. The room still smelled like sex and the blankets were tossed about. Hermione smiled with amusement and grabbed her red satchel and a map she had bought at a local gas station. Checking the map and the clock again, she flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and took three buses out of the city to Elizabeth and Keith.

The intersection was a rather busy area, because the other three corners had a bakery, a pub, and a boutique. Hermione stepped behind the boutique; quickly pulling the cloak around her, and wiping the noonday sweat from her brow. Watching the heavy foot traffic, she quickly made a beeline for the northwest corner with the large elegant 18th century styled mansion that was obviously invisible to passers-by.

Once she reached its shadows, Hermione crept around the back of the house and entered through what must have been the servant’s entrance. It was a cold dingy little door, though not elf sized which made her think that the owners must have been particularly rich to have witch and wizard slaves. Hermione allowed her curiosity to get the better of her as she entered the small dusty kitchen and picked at a piece of cabinet where wood filler had been used to cover some carvings in the hard mahogany. The scratches revealed a non-Latin spell that Hermione committed to memory for later study.

Leaving the kitchen, she peered into a large room that had to be for formal dinner parties, though was now completely empty. The high ceiling had diamonds at the end of long, spindly, golden chains at different lengths, and the window too was lined with the sparkling jewel.

She covered the downstairs floor carefully, methodically, and quietly ascertained that it was entirely empty of both furniture and life. She shook her head in confusion at the base of the stairs. Where was the furniture? She was baffled by the missing pieces that must have had phenomenal beauty to fit in these settings. Turning around once more, she ascended the marble grand staircase and turned to the western wing. She passed doors to empty rooms and blank walls until she reached the largest door at the end.

Upon entering the room, it became apparent that this must be where all of the furniture was kept now, and she wandered the stacks with care. She checked every book she came across, and became very interested in a few titles she saw, putting them in her book bag along the way. She neared the back of the large room and turned the corner of a beautiful redwood table, admiring the glass panes in the top and failing to notice the man behind her.

Snape had been watching her carefully since his wards warned him she was present and exploring. He decided to make his presence known to her when he realised that she was getting too wrapped up in this room when the library was on the other side of the house.

Turning to continue back towards the door, she saw Professor Snape, screamed, and ran in the opposite direction. She only made it a few feet when he attacked her wandlessly. She fell and he easily pinned her to the ground, straddling her hips and holding her wrists together with one hand above her head. He used his right hand to pull her wand from her waistband and place it delicately on the table next to him.

“It’s about time you show up Miss Granger, but I do believe you are in the wrong room.”

“Prof-Prof-Professor Snape!” she managed to stutter out.

He wiggled his finger in front of her face and smiled. “Not anymore, strictly death eater now.”

Hermione’s heartbeat was racing like a bullet train and she tried desperately to escape, “Please!”

He stood, effectively releasing her from his vice-like grip, and offered her help standing. She accepted it with a distrustful look and made a dive for her wand. When Snape pinned her again, this time to the tabletop using the length of his body to still her squirming and her hands over her head, he laughed, “Oh, you kids just don’t get it!” The frustration he was feeling made him squeeze her wrists a little harder than he meant to, and she cried out and struggled to get away. Little did she know, the effort was creating a different effect than she wanted as her backside fit snugly into his groin and moved in a distinctly sexual way. He looked down at her and his mind immediately recognized the very compromising position they were in. He growled as he lifted her up into a standing position in front of him, whirling her around and pointing his wand at her. “Pick up your wand, Miss Granger.” Hermione scrambled to grab the wand behind her and Snape blocked an immediate curse she threw. Her eyes were vicious and he could see her calculating, so he rolled his eyes and commanded, “Follow me, Miss Granger.”

Turning and walking out of the room, he began talking, and Hermione was immediately reminded of his lectures, “Welcome to my home away from home. Truly, it is my family’s home, and I would not be staying here were it not for the fact that Spinner’s End is a death eater camp. The Dark Lord does not stay there, but it is a vile place anyway.”

“Sir, I must interrupt.”

“No, you must not.” He stopped and turned abruptly in the middle of the wide hallway and Hermione whipped her wand up quickly. He raised an eyebrow in approval of how fast she had become. “You will understand eventually. Until then, you will be aiding me in some research, and I may ask you to bring supplies. Do you understand?”

“No, sir. I am not your student nor am I even on your side in this war. You cannot set me on assignments!”

He sighed and stared into her eyes. She realized what he was doing and broke eye contact. “You don’t believe any of that, Miss Granger.”

“Stop it.”

“I told you, you will understand in due time.”

“I don’t think so! You’re asking me to trust you. Between you and me, I didn’t kill anyone, so I’ll be the one making demands.”

Snape scowled and continued on down the hall. At the end of the long walk, was a vast door with carvings on the frame. When Hermione tried to stop and read the engravings, Snape grabbed her arm and urged her on. “You actually just happened to catch me while I was in the house, and the Dark Lord is expecting me in an hour.” he growled.

Hermione gasped as she entered the vast library with high ceilings and a ballroom worth of space. A large fireplace was burning against the far wall, casting a warm glow against a vast woolly carpet in front of it and ominous shadows against the vast stacks of books near empty shelves. A spacious desk sat on the far end of the carpet from the fire with a large pile of books on it. A couch-like chair sat at the desk and a small table with a bottle of red wine and a half-filled glass next to it. “Please make yourself comfortable, Miss Granger.”

Hermione stayed in the doorway as Snape advanced forward into the palatial room. She wanted to say so many things, but the only full sentence she was able to create was, “I love it.”

Snape turned on the spot. “Excuse me?” The odd tone of his confusion snapped her out of her reverie.

“I-I think I love this place.”

He watched her before covering the rest of the distance to the chair and sinking onto its surface. He caught himself smiling with amusement at their similar obsession with books and straightened his face. “The last five generations before my mother and father were avid readers. They would collect books from around the world, and as a result, some of the books here are very, very valuable. The most valuable book is The Book of Days and Ends.” Hermione had finally reached his side and moved to sit on the floor in front of him. He looked at her and had a confusing moment that stopped his thoughts on the books. For a moment, when Hermione took up her cross-legged position on the floor and looked up at him, her hair bunched up at her shoulders and she looked like the wildly bushy-haired eleven year old he met 6 years previous. Then she miraculously switched to the adult version of herself by merely curling her long legs to the side and pulling her lengthy hair over her shoulder. It was breathtaking to see her having developed hips and breasts and a slim jaw line and stunningly concentrated eyes.

“Prof--?” She began, and then realized her mistake and searched for another word.

“Severus.”

“Hmm?”

“Call me Severus. It’s what my colleagues call me, and as I am not your teacher…”

There was a silence that stretched between them and she asked, “Do you miss it?”

“Teaching?”

“Yes, sir.”

He thought for a moment. He really didn’t like teaching the idiots, but there were a few that made it all worthwhile. “Yes.” He decided to say. She let her hair spill back over her shoulders and she drew her legs beneath the dress, regressing herself again. He was reminded about how little time they had left and he forced himself to be professional again. “Miss Granger--”

“Hermione.”

“Miss Granger…” he insisted, “We must find The Book of Days and Ends, so I have been marking the books I’ve already searched with a spell.” He picked a book up off of his desk, checked the title, and said, “Like this, nota solus.” The book flared gold for a moment before a simple sparkling spot was on the bottom corner. “Any book I’ve already searched is marked just like that. Then it goes on top of one of the big piles. The categories are first, fiction on the right and non-fiction on the left. Then they each have special subcategories. Check them out next time you come.”

Hermione pushed up from the ground and came to him on her knees to view the spot. Snape felt as though he wanted to scoot his chair away but refrained. “Okay,” she looked up at him, “and what are the rules about borrowing these books?”

“There are none.”

“None?”

“Just bring them back, Miss Granger. When you find The Book of Days and Ends,” he rose from his seat and sent the book to its pile. “We will go through it together to see what we can use in there. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I have to go now, the Dark Lord is calling. Will you still be here in a few hours?”

Hermione looked at her watch and shrieked in surprise, “Oh! I didn’t realize so much time had passed!”

“I’ll take that as a no.” Snape sighed, “Well, obviously Potter has not been teaching you to protect your thoughts, so I’ll teach you and you will, in turn, teach him.” He was speaking very quickly now, “Take this book,” he snatched the book up from his desk, “Finish it and come back as soon as you can. I’ll put a ward up to know when you are here. You may apparate into this library at anytime. And I thank you for this little bit of confidence. You deserve to know that Harry did not see wrong, he was right, I did kill Dumbledore, but the reasoning will become clear to you very soon.”

“Thank you.”

Without further response, Snape disapparated out. Hermione hesitated long enough to think about the confusing information she had been given as she took one last glance around the room. She wasn’t sure to what extent she trusted him, and decided not to trust him without an explanation and be wary when she returned. In the meantime, she would feign faith in him. After that thought, she disapparated to the kitchen of Grimmauld Place immediately.

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A/N: Hmm... 'till next time. In the mean time, please review.