Flame of Existence

--> See Introduction for warnings/disclaimer.

FLAME OF EXISTENCE
/ by Bella

Chapter Eight

The morning was a bright, cloudless one. Severus stood beside the entrance leading to the dungeons with a look of agitation on his countenance. It was Monday, and his first class was Slytherin and Gryffindor. Not only that, but Quidditch season was in and it was a no-brainer that the two contrasting houses would taunt and tease the other.

If he really was the arrogant asshole that everyone thought him to be, he would be giddy with excitement at being able to remove oh so many points from Gryffindor. However, at the moment he was feeling neither giddy or arrogant, therefore he knew that the class would be more of an dreadful one.

On top of that, he hadn’t gotten much sleep that night. An odd dream had possessed Severus... one that he dared not mention to his coworkers or to the Headmaster, though he probably already knew what was plaguing him.

His dream hadn’t been a nightmare. It had been more of an exotic one, with a character whose face was blurred. Snape knew who it was, though. The hair. The scarlet and gold uniform halfway unbuttoned.

Really, he was a perverted old man.

There were many reason why Severus felt disgusted by his obvious attraction. The first and foremost being that she was a good twenty years his junior. On top of that, she was his student. And to put the cherry on top, she had recently been raped.

So why in the bloody hell was he so attracted to her? His pants were tight at the thought of spreading her legs and fucking her into the night... Of taking her swelled breasts between his fingers and sucking her rosy nipples... Of sending her into an ecstacy she hadn’t been able to experience her first time.

Scolding himself for letting his mind wander again, Snape breathed in deep the sunny morning aroma that always seemed present on similar mornings. Pulling his robes around him a little tighter, Snape walked back into the dungeons and made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

He was late to arrive, as usual, though most mornings breakfast didn’t have a set time. The meal was an arrive and eat, then leave. You could come in your pajamas and eat early, or get ready and come fully dressed. However, the house elves had just began to send up the fruit bowls when Snape arrived.

Snape took his seat beside Dumbledore and tried to ignore the pointed stares from the older wizard. A few times he looked over at the Headmaster and saw his eyebrows raise automatically.

Damn him for knowing everything.

It seemed like Snape was saying that to himself a lot lately. The bad part was, he already knew what Dumbledore was hinting at with the raising of his eyebrows.

Snape looked over to the Gryffindor table to the young witch who was seated beside her two friends. She was popping grapes into her mouth and looking out across the sea of students that were also eating breakfast.

When he realized that he was beginning to stare, he looked away quickly and finished his slice of orange.

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Quidditch. It was the main topic of conversation at the Gryffindor table on Monday morning. The new season was starting and practices were to start directly after classes that afternoon. So naturally, Harry and Ron were caught up in the excitement and paid Hermione no attention.

She was eating grapes and looking out over the students, her mind wandering over the now-foreign faces of her fellow students. It had seemed a while ago, that she had known a lot of them. But now, after everything had happened, she only knew their names. Nothing else – everything seemed to have vanished as she had grown up.

Students she had once looked up to were now immature gits and chits. Young wizards and witches she never understood emerged into lightness in her mind. She understood a few of them more than she did her two idiot friends who constantly talked about that damned game.
Sometimes, Hermione wondered if she should just return to the muggle world. It seemed easier, but she knew that she would never thrive there like she did here in the magical world. She had missed out on highschool and she knew that her life now was dedicated to the wizard world.

Hermione looked up again from her grape bowl, and her eyes landed on the Professor with whom was supplying her with restful nights. Her mind fell back on the evening he brought her breakfast. That was... odd. Sweet, but still odd.

Her best friends hadn’t even realized that she was missing. Then again, out of sight, out of mind. But, the “evil git” had been thoughtful and caring. It perplexed her into a thousand layers of uncertainty of why. Why? That ever-existing question that always resided in that corner of her brain.

He looked over at her and met her eyes. For a brief second, Hermione held that gaze that sent her heartbeat soaring, but then she looked away. Her eyes landed on Draco Malfoy, and they narrowed considerably at his return look of hatred.

A wave of anger rushed through her body, and she began to shake and turn red in the face. Clutching her wand beneath her robes, Hermione fought to control herself.

Instead of sending a dozen or so hexes his way, she jumped up from her seat and made her way out of the Great Hall along with a bunch of other students.

Turning left, she made her way down the empty corridor towards the dungeon, where she figured she would wait for class to begin. She looked at the magical clock on the wall and noted that she only had about fifteen minutes to wait.

Footsteps behind her ceased her walking and she turned, wand at the ready. Draco Malfoy appeared from the dark of the hallway, where the sun was exempt from shining, and smirked at her.

“Have something to say to me, Mudblood?” He took another step closer.

“Leave me alone, Malfoy. You got what you want before, now leave me be.” She took a step backwards at his advancement.

Draco let out an audible laugh and continued forward. “Oh, now why would I do that? You are such an easy lay. You give way too easily.”

Hermione cringed and she felt the tears well in her eyes and slip down onto the planes of her cheeks. “No I don’t! Now leave me the fuck alone!”

“Such vulgar language for such an innocent girl.”

“You killed all innocense in me, Draco. Now get the bloody hell away from me before I hurt you.” Hermione was fighting back hysteria when she heard a swish behind her.

Before she knew it, Draco was bound to the wall by several ropes. She turned on her heel and looked straight into the chest of Severus Snape.

“Miss Granger, report to Professor Dumbledore’s office immediately.”

Hermione nodded and ran quickly up the stairs to the Headmaster’s office. Professor McGonagall was at the entrance waiting for her, and she motioned her quickly into the staircase. Hermione waited for the staircase to begin to spiral upwards, and when it stopped, she knocked on the door that led to Dumbledore’s office.

“You may enter, Miss Granger.”

When she did, she saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk with a soft look on his face. “Please sit, Hermione, dear.”

Hermione nodded and took her seat and began to cry.

Dumbledore leaned into his desk and looked sympathetically at the young witch standing before him. “Do you have something that you would like to get off your chest, Hermione?”

Hermione nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Draco raped me last Friday, sir.”

There. She had said it. It felt like a thousand elephants had finally taken flight from her shoulders.

Professor Dumbledore got up from his seat and kneeled before her. “And he was going to again today, wasn’t he?”

She nodded. “Just now.”

“I know, my dear. I happen to know a lot that is going on in my school, Hermione.”

Hermione’s eyes shot up. “Then you knew–“

“I didn’t know at the time, Miss Granger. I was out of doors. However, after the fact, I found out and I felt it right to allow you to come to terms with it in your own time.”

Hermione nodded, understanding. “What about Draco?”

“You know Mr. Malfoy. He holds a lot of power within the magical community. I still need to speak with the school board on the issue, but I assure you that I will do all that I can to bring justice to what happened to you.” With that, he stood and placed a kiss on the top of the head, and then walked back around to his seat behind the desk.

“You are excused from classes for the remainder of the day, Hermione.” Dumbledore scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Hermione. “Go find yourself again, child.”

Hermione looked up and smiled a little. It was a pass to the restricted area of the library. She understood perfectly what Dumbledore was implying, and she was happy that he understood her just as well.

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Snape yanked Draco by the collar up the private corridor and up to Dumbledore’s office. He practically threw the young wizard into the chair. Seething, he sat down and stared with hate-filled eyes at Draco.

Dumbledore watched Severus with understanding and amusement. So it seemed that he wasn’t the only one who cared for Hermione.

“Mr. Malfoy, you have committed a very unforgivable crime, and you have attempted it again. I have spoken with the Minister of Magic and your father, and it’s official. You are now no longer a student at Hogwarts.”

Draco jumped up. “You can’t do this, Dumbledore! That stupid mudblood–“

“The war is over, Draco, and it’s time that you start acting like it is over. You have wronged Miss Granger once, and you are forbidden to set foot onto these grounds again.” Dumbledore stood and easily towered over the younger wizard. “I am disappointed in you, Mr. Malfoy.”

Draco took a step back and started out of the office. “My father will have a say in this, I promise you that, Dumbledore!”

The door slammed shut behind him, and Dumbledore looked over at Snape. “My boy, please see that he is escorted off of school grounds.”

Snape nodded and stood. “Yes, sir.”

Snape stood as well and exited the room, heading down to the Slytherin common room where he found Draco animatedly telling his two buddies, Crabbe and Goyle, of how Dumbledore kicked him out for good.

“Get to class you two,” Snape ordered shortly, following Draco up the stairs. “Get your belongings together, Draco.”

Draco stopped short and turned around to stare at his head-of-house. “Whose side are you on, Professor?”

“The same side I’ve always been on, Malfoy. Now get your shit and let’s go.”

{--------------------------------------------}

The classes were in session and Hermione felt at home between the rows of worn, restricted books. She sat on the floor with her head back against the bindings, breathing in the smell of bindings and... honesty.

She was being honest with herself. Snape had swooped down out of the heavens and saved her ass... again. He was, cliche-ically speaking, her knight in shining armor, and all she wanted to do at that moment was tell him that. She wanted to thank him with her lips, and wrap her arms around his broad shoulders. She wanted to feather kisses on his scowling face in gratitude for giving her the potion and getting Draco away from her.

It dawned on her that it was probably Dumbledore’s doing to make him give her the potion, but she didn’t care. After all, Snape had been the one who had agreed to do it. He had found it within himself to overlook the whole house thing and help her out. Dumbledore couldn’t install that into his brain.

Hermione sighed in contentment, feeling more like herself than she had in weeks. She faintly heard the door to the room open and shut, but she didn’t open her eyes.

When the light from the candles on the walls ceased to reach her shut eyelids, she opened her eyes and looked up at the wizard who was towering over her.

She smiled and stood, and without a word, reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you, sir.. For all that you have done.” She pulled back and looked up at his face.

He looked scared, and hell, he felt it. He pushed her away and took a step back, and grabbed a book off of the shelf. Without a response, he walked out of the restricted area, and then out of the library.

Hermione watched him leave, and she scowled. Well bloody hell, it wasn’t like that was the first time he had pulled away from her showings of gratitude. She just wished he had acknowledged the fact that she put herself out like that.

Retreating back to the spot on the floor, she sighed and wiped a stray tear from her eye.

{--------------------------------------------}

Snape quickly passed his classroom where McGonagall was substituting for him, and entered his private rooms. Slamming the door shut, he threw the book down on the table by the door and cursed the heavens.

He hadn’t meant to be rude, honest. But he had felt his self-control waning went she put her arms around him again. Standing there with her touching him had only projected the scenes of his dream in front of his eyes again.

So naturally, he bolted for the door. He was obviously a Slytherin. He was a fucking coward.

End of Chapter Eight / To Be Continued

A/N: There you go! Review, Review, Review!