She Will Be Loved

Hermione sat at the edge of the lake, dipping her toes into the icy water. She stared at the book she had open in her lap, unable to absorb anything. She had been reading the same sentence for an hour. She was consumed by her thoughts.

Ron had left Hermione with a kiss on the cheek and she had stood in the Entrance Hall more confused than ever. He made no inclination to talk about what they did the previous night. Did that mean he just wanted to be friends still? If that was the case, Hermione couldn’t do it. Sex was the barrier they never crossed, the barrier that made it okay for them to go back and forth from friends to something a little more. Last night, they tore down that barrier. Nothing was going to be the same again. It couldn’t possibly be.

“Miss Granger.” A voice startled her. Hermione quickly stood up and turned around. It was Severus. Her lips curved upward in a smile. Even after she had insisted on him calling her by her first name, he had refused in a very embarrassed way.

“Severus.” She sighed, shaking her head. It was easy to be around him, despite his discomfort. Hermione thought it was simply because she was no longer his student, which meant she was on the same level as he.

“Bit cold out.” He said, looking out onto the lake. He avoided her eyes. Hermione slipped on her flats and closed her book.

“It doesn’t bother me. I hardly noticed.” She stepped on the branch, but it cracked beneath her. She gasped, but before she could even think of the inevitable impact, strong arms swept up and caught her. In a swift movement, Severus lifted her and set her on the ground next to him. He begrudgingly removed his hands from her waist and took a step back.

“Perhaps, next time, you should step over unsteady objects.” Hermione smirked at his annoyed tone.

“Thank you, Severus.” She sang, teasingly, with a grin playing across her lips. She walked away, her grin not leaving her face. Somehow being around Severus, even just the smallest moments they shared, be it glances in the hall or dining table or full on conversations, put Hermione at ease.

Little did she know, it did the precise opposite for Severus. In his mind, he cursed a storm at letting himself catch his former student. Letting her go made it feel as though someone was tearing at his chest.

With a growl, Severus walked in the opposite direction as Hermione so as to put some distance between them. He didn’t care if they were going to the same place and it would take him twice as long to get there, he just needed some space from that witch.

He hated it, but every night, his dreams were haunted with images of her. That dazzling smile, the swing of her hips when she walked… Severus knew the moment he ever mentioned that, she would blush and start walking as if she had a stick up her bum. He chuckled at the thought.

He knew he should find her annoying, insufferable, and repulsive, but he gave up on those feelings when he admitted to himself that he was in love with her. It still felt so new to him. This girl, who he would never admit to anyone how much he respected when she was a student for all of her accomplishments, had grown into a bearable, beautiful young woman.

Rowan, the Slytherin 6^th year student, had watched the pair of staff members and felt a surge of jealousy course through her body when she saw the Potions Master sweep the librarian off her feet.

It wasn’t fair! Rowan was beautiful, smart, and had just as hot a body as Granger. Why didn’t Snape want her instead of that bint? She was younger than her, probably full of more fire than she!

Rowan was filled with a rage as she stomped off to her dorm room. If he wasn’t going to love her willingly, then she would make him love her. She held her finger in the air, passing through the testosterone-filled common room. The boys always whistled and shouted obscenities whenever she passed by. The other girls glowered at her whenever this happened.

The heated witch swung her trunk open and started flinging her clothes out, trying to find her potions book. When she had finally found it, she grinned maliciously. She flipped through it until she found what she wanted.

“The Amortentia Potion. A dangerously powerful love potion. Caution to those who brew this potion for it can easily-” She read.

“You can’t be serious.” A voice chimed from behind her. Rowan whipped her head around. The curtain of one of the other girl’s beds was drawn. An olive hand appeared from behind the curtain and pulled it back.

Rowan scowled. “What? I can’t do independent study?” She watched the Egyptian girl get up from her bed and make her way to Rowan’s bed.

“Not when it involved using a Potion on a teacher.” Anka replied. She took a lock of Rowan’s hair between her fingers and started playing with it. “Snape is not your type, honey. Believe me.”

Rowan scoffed, taking a step back. “You don’t know what my type is, sweetheart.” She drew the curtains to her bed and absorbed every word in the textbook under Amortentia. She was a determined girl not to be trifled with.

A/N: My sincerest apologies for taking so long! I had an influx of ideas for a lot of different stories and tried developing all of them. However something funny happened last night when I was in bed! Apparently I had a dream about Harry Potter... I was fast asleep when Cat came to bed. I immediately cuddled up to him and started muttering things. "Leviticus Destructum." I had said. "Quit trying to disintegrate me with Harry Potter spells!" He had said to me, which startled me awake. "What?" I replied. He explained what happened. "I didn't say that." I denied it. I confirmed with him this morning and he had said he thought I was trying to get rid of his junk!

Thank you everyone who reads and reviews! It's always appreciated!