Touchstone

Dumbledore\'s idea that Seveand and Hermione were linked was correct. Snape
was now inside of her conscious mind hnd had made contact with her. There
was one problem however, among others he supposed. Hermione did not know who
he was. His mind raced thinking what that could mean, wondering if she was
so far gone she had forgotten everything about her life. \'Well for the gods\'
sake man, tell her who you are before you scare her off!\'

Snape arched a delicate eyebrow, his trademark, in confusion. He blinked,
tried to gather his thoughts, and replied.

\"Ah, hello.\" \'Excellent greeting Severus,\' he thought after the words were
out.

Hermione remained silent and continued to watch her visitor warily. Snape
cleared his throat, \"My name is Severus Snape.\" Judging by her lost look she
did not recall the name so he continued. \"I was your Potions professor at
Hogwarts?\" Nothing.

\"We fought together in the war?\" At these words her gaze faltered.

\'Ah,\' he thought. \'That struck a chord.\' \"I suppose you are wondering why I
am here Miss Granger,\" he watched her reaction. There wasn\'t one. \"Or, at
least how I got here?\"

After a beat she replied slowly, \"It has crossed my mind.\"

Snape laughed inwardly at the irony of that statement. \'Now what...\'

\"From the apparent fact that you do not remember who I am, it has occurred
to me that you may not retain all of your memories. Can you tell me what
exactly it is you do remember?\" The girl looked as though she was trembling
and she continued to stay silent. Snape shifted uneasily on his feet.

\"Miss Granger,\" he softened his tone a bit, \"I can assure you I mean you no
harm, otherwise I would not be here. You and I are linked; that is why I am
able to be standing before you,\" he even gave her a small smile.

Hermione furrowed her brows; she hadn\'t thought about that. All she knew was
that a familiar and desperate presence had been nagging at the back of her
mind, asking for permission to come in. Feeling weak and distracted she had
allowed the presence to enter. She had watched him while he waited in her
mind\'s eye, and feeling no immediate danger had approached the stranger. He
said she knew him, and the longer she thought about it, the more she seemed
to remember.

She was terrified of him when she was younger. She remembered detentions and
other horrid punishments. Only, he looked a bit different...the facial
expression, was that...concern? It certainly wasn\'t a look she recognized
from that man. And of course he couldn\'t hurt her, well physically at least.
Realization slowly dawned on her and she took a feeble step towards the
Potions Master.

\"Hello Professor S-Snape.\"
\"Do you remember now?\" Snape winced at his rhetoric question.
\"Yes. It is slowly sinking back in. You were a bastard.\" her face remained
impassive.

Snape took another step towards her, trying not to smirk. \"Would you like to
have a seat? Excuse my unnecessary insight, but you look a bit time worn,\"
he stopped his advancement as she shook her head vigorously. He sighed.

\"Alright. Would you care to tell me why you\'re here Miss Granger?\" He opted
for a firmer tone; it usually produced better results than what he was
getting at the moment.

Hermione started at that. \"Perhaps you should begin telling me why you\'re
here Professor Snape. This is my mind in the first place.\" Hermione was
quite affronted, and she noticed she was getting tired again. She crossed
her arms and glared as much as she could at her former Potions professor.
This discussion was draining and her trembles doubled.

\"Very well. Out there,\" he motioned at the vast space around them, \"there
are...concerns, particularly about your health. Dumbledore- you do know who
that is don\'t you?\"

She nodded and Snape went on, \"He said, ah, that I may be able to reach you;
consequently here I am.\"

\"Why?\" she asked wearily.

Snape bit his tongue. \'Impertinent little... patience Severus,\' he thought
and took a calming breath.

\"To try and persuade you to come back of course. That is, if you want to
come back. He seems to think you would be better there than here,\" he
sneered.

Hermione blinked; was that a joke? \'This just gets weirder and weirder.\'

While she considered her guest, she felt her knees grow heavy again, and
with as much dignity as she could muster she took a small step backwards to
clumsily lean against the doorjamb. She didn\'t quite feel well, but damn if
she was going to show him that.

She raised her head in defiance. \"I\'m perfectly satisfied where I am now
thank you. I appreciate your concer-\"she inhaled.

Images were floating back to her mind. The ones she had been keeping at bay
since her little retreat. Bits of echoed sound raced through her senses.
There was familiar screaming and dark wizards...blood and death...death.
The memories were floating up.

\"No,\" she whispered harshly and squeezed her eyes shut. Her bottom lip
trembled and her knees gave way. She whispered something Snape couldn\'t make
out, and tears welled up in her sunken eyes. She groaned painfully and
slipped down the doorway, still shaking her head.

Snape was deeply bothered by the sudden behaviour and crossed the distance
between them in three strides, grabbing her before she sunk to the floor.
Hermione flinched violently at the contact and raised her arms flailing them
in defense. Severus easily grabbed them and wrapped his arms around her
own, tightly, to keep them from injuring someone.

Hermione\'s breath was ragged as she was mumbling nonsense as she tried to
banish the awful sights and sounds. Poke them back into their hiding space.
Snape held her as she gained her composure. Watching her, he wondered if she
had dealt with everything, but was assuming she hadn\'t. This would
undeniably be a delicate situation indeed. He\'d have to tread lightly if he
was going to convince her that there was a reason for her to come back.

Snape gently rocked her back and forth and whispered soothing words in her
ear, trying to calm her down. Words that surprised even him. He had had to
deal with hysterical females from Slytherin during his years of teaching,
but he never offered too much physical contact with his students. His mind
reasoned with him that Hermione wasn\'t his student anymore, and hadn\'t been
for a few years now. He stroked her hair, remembering that when he was
little, the same actions used to calm him as well. But those affections
didn\'t last long.

Hermione eventually relaxed and let herself be held. Denial. Denial was
bliss. Absently she thought how odd thach ach a strange and generally
unappealing man could provide her with any kind of solace.

Finally, after what seemed like a good ten minutes of soft crooning, Snape
spoke up in his normal voice. \"Miss Gra- may I call you Hermione?\" She
inclined her head slightly. His silky baritone voice vibrated inside her
chest.

\"Thank you. Hermione, might I suggest we move to more, er, comfortable
positions?\" he said having sensed her lessened tension. The floor was not
the best place for one to sit. And it was quite cold.

She nodded and he helped her to stand wrapping an unexpectedly strong arm
around her waist and guided her to one of the large wingbacks. With her now
situated, he slid his own chair so that it was directly in her line of
vision, and sat down as well. They sat in an awkward silence. After a few
moments, he spoke up.

\"I don\'t suppose there is any chance of getting some tea?\"

Hermione glanced at him and averted her eyes back to the cracking fire. \"I
suppose not then.\" He sighed. \"Well then, I am still in need of a response
Miss Granger,\" he was using his most formal tones to try to bring her out of
her silence again. \"Will you not come back?\"

Hermione\'s face remained blank as she continued her gaze, \"I\'d rather not.\"

\"Fair enough. May I enquire as to why?\"

\"I don\'t- that is, I don\'t feel a need to,\" she whispered.

He snorted, \"That seems rather selfish.\"

Hermione\'s eyes flashed and she fiercely looked back to her old professor.
\"You\'re one to talk!\"

\"Oh really,\" he sneered. \'Provoke her,\' he thought.

\"Yes! You-\"\'No...best to forget. Close off Hermione.\" She exhaled through
gritted teeth and Snape watched her expression change from fury to nothing.

\"Well, regardless of your opinion of me, my opinion of you is that you are
still selfish. And deciding to stay in here and hide, while hurting others
outside, is not changing that fact. You cannot stay in here and sulk forever
Miss Granger.\"

She looked up at him, her evident plan clear as day on her bleak face. \"I
don\'t plan on it.\"
Snape paused before rising to stand. \"I don\'t believe you. You don\'t have it
in you.\" He gave her a considering look as if justifying his belief.

\"Try me,\" her voice was again fierce and her eyes narrowed. \'How dare he
antagonize me?!\' she thought wildly.

\"I will.\" He took a step and bent down, leaning near her face; his nose mere
inches from her own. \"You see Miss Granger,\" he continued, \"I believe that
if you were serious, you would not have waited this long. Why should you?\"

He leant a bit further to whisper in her ear; his voice low and dangerous.
\"You know what I think? I think you are just looking for an excuse to come
back. You don\'t really want this. You simply want someone to fret over you,
maybe force you back. Now tell me that is not selfish.\" He lingered for a
few more tense seconds before rising; his breath hot in her ear.

Hermione\'s lips were pressed into a tight line, her chest heaving with rage.
Snape stood back and looked at her; she was staring at the fire again; the
light dancing on her already flushed cheeks. He stared hard at her for a few
moments daring her mentally to reply. When she didn\'t, he decided to end
this meeting while he was still ahead and took a step back.

His voice again took on the cold, disapproving tone she remembered from her
school days in his classroom. \"Miss Granger, I know you do not want to do
this. And in spite of my general view on Gryffindors, I would think you
would be much braver than this.\" He shook his head, gave her a final
disapproving sneer and left; leaving Hermione to ponder.