Better This Way

Better This Way

“How was your day?” Severus asked as Hermione entered her quarters.


“Oh, Severus. I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought we were meeting for dinner in Hogsmeade,” Hermione replied.


“I thought I would surprise you,” he replied a bit distantly.


Hermione was in her last month of apprenticeship under Professor McGonagall. Her first week in, she had run into Severus Snape at the Hog’s Head. She offered to buy him a drink, and he, not one to turn down a good Firewhisky had agreed.


He asked her if she was planning to take a position at the Ministry like most Hogwarts graduates, and then they spent the next several hours discussing how the Ministry was everything that was wrong with the wizarding world. Several drinks later, and they found themselves in one of the many rooms offered by Aberforth Dumbledore.


That had been a year ago, and they had slipped into an easy courtship. They took all of their meals together, and spent many hours debating just about everything under the sun. Their relationship was casual, but very passionate. Neither wanted to admit that they had fallen in love, but to anyone who saw them together, it was perfectly clear. They were often referred to as “Romeo and Juliet” behind their backs, a joke started by Professor Dumbledore.


Hermione lay her coat on her bed.


“We have been together for nearly a year now, Severus. I can tell when something is bothering you,” she said, taking a seat on the sofa beside him.


“You have come to know me quite well,” Severus replied, a small, tired smile playing at the corner of his lips.


“Yes, of course I have. Now tell me, what is the matter?” Hermione asked, her amber eyes sparkling with concern.


“I found the letter,” He said gently.


“What letter?”


“The one from Professor Ivanov.”


“You were not meant to see that until I had made a decision in regards to it,” Hermione said softly.


“Well you left it on your desk in plain sight. I could only assume you wanted me to see it,” Severus replied, eyes glinting with the beginnings of anger.


“It only arrived this morning. I have barely had time to think about it, much less try and hide it,” Hermione retorted.


“Why you felt you needed to hide it from me is what I fail to understand, Hermione,” Severus said, voice raising slightly.


“You had to expect me to get job offers, Severus. This is my last month of apprenticeship after all. It’s not my fault I got offered a job at Durmstrang,” She said defensively.


“Are you going to take it? It’s an excellent offer; far better than what I was offered my first year of teaching,” he said, eyeing the letter on her desk.


“Like I said before, I haven’t thought about it,” Hermione said. “I think that it would be best if I took a job a bit closer to Hogwarts. That way we don’t have to move---”


“I think you should take the job,” Severus said quietly.


“You want to move to Livonia?” Hermione asked with a bit of a chuckle.


“I wouldn’t be going with you,” he said, eyes burning into her.


“You expect me to just pack up and leave, after all we have had together? You expect me to just take a job thousands of miles away with no hesitation?” Hermione said, anger rising.


“Why wouldn’t you? What sort of imbecile would throw away an excellent opportunity for a fling?” Severus said harshly


“A fling? Is that all this has meant to you, Severus?” She asked him dangerously.


“If it meant more than that I would have asked you to marry me, wouldn’t I have?” he spat.


Hermione’s eyes began to fill with tears.


“If that’s how you feel about it, then get out,” she said coldly.


“Good luck at Durmstrang, Hermione,” Severus spat before stalking out of the room, robes billowing behind him.


Hermione collapsed on her couch, fighting for breath as the tears came in rivers down her cheeks. A fling?? That’s all she meant to him?


After several minutes, Hermione wiped her eyes and walked over to her desk. Hands trembling, she pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment, and removed one of her quills from the ceramic canister.


Dear Professor Ivanov,

Thank you so much for considering me for the position as Transfiguration professor. I gladly accept, and will report when my apprenticeship is over .

Respectfully,

Hermione Granger


She rolled up the parchment and sealed it. She summoned her owl, Eros, and tied the parchment to his leg.


“Take this as quickly as you can and don’t look back,” she told him, eyes welling up again.


Severus returned to his rooms. He slumped to the floor, and buried his face in his hands. He had to do it. He had to let her go before she broke his heart. Durmstrang was a great school, and the starting bonus they were offering her was outrageous. She would have been a fool to pass it up. He could not let her do that.


He reached into his pocket and removed the small velvet box. Sighing, he gently opened the lid. A two carat diamond set in platinum rested in the velvet folds of the box. This was not how this night was supposed to go.