Lie to me (Original)

“Professor Snape?”

“I’m not your professor anymore, Miss Granger.” Snape’s cool voice drifted across the dark kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. Hermione had been waiting at the top of the stairs for him in case he came.

Hermione shuffled her feet a little and a cluster of small candles in the middle of the table flared suddenly to life. “You can do wandless magic?” she asked. She could see Snape clearly now - he was leaning tiredly against the counter, stirring a pot of stew that Molly had left on the stove. A bowl floated to him and he took it in his hand and filled it with the ladle.

“Some, yes,” he said, quietly. He took a spoon from the drawer and sat down at the head of the table where he could keep an eye on both doors. “You were waiting for me?” he asked as he started to eat. “How did you know I came here?”

Hermione opened the breadbox and cut two thick slices of soft bread. She buttered them quickly, put them on a plate and brought them to the dark wizard. “I started noticing that every few nights, some food disappears. Who else could it be but you?”

“Hm,” Snape said in acknowledgement. “Very observant, Miss Granger.”

Hermione blinked in surprise at the compliment. Snape must have been even more exhausted than he looked. She watched as he tore off a piece of the bread and dipped it in his broth. “What should I call you?” she asked. “Master Snape?” She figured that made sense since he was a potions master.

Snape nodded but didn’t speak as he ate. The kettle drifted to the tap and filled itself. On its way back to the stove, it faltered in the air and Hermione jumped up to grab it. She set it on the stove and suddenly there were small flames under it. “Thank you, miss Granger,” Snape said tiredly. He swallowed some more soup and added, |You should learn to start a fire with wandless magic. It’s the most useful thing you’ll ever learn. There’s almost certainly a book or two on wandless magic in this house.”

“I’ll look around in the morning, Prof - Master Snape.” Hermione waited while the water for the tea boiled, then she poured it into the teapot on top of two fresh teabags.

“Was there something you wanted, Miss Granger?” Snape asked. He finished eating and rested his spoon in his empty bowl. “Or were you waiting up for someone else?” Hermione took the dirty dishes away and poured them both some tea. She found a tin of biscuits a brought them to the table as well.

She sat down at the table, keeping a chair between them and sipped her tea. “There is something, sir,” she admitted. “I wanted you to teach me how to lie.”

Snape leaned back in his chair with an amused smirk. “To lie, Miss Granger? Surely a little know-it-all like you could figure out an excuse for any situation. What do you need to lie about?”

Hermione fingered her teacup and sighed. “Can you keep a secret Prof - Master Snape?” she asked. Snape raised an eyebrow as he reached for a biscuit. Hermione felt her face flush in embarrassment. “Of course you can - you’re a spy… that was stupid of me… I need to lie because…” she looked at her hands again. “I want everyone to think I have a boyfriend.”

To her surprise, Snape actually chuckled. “Who’s teasing you? Miss Weasely?” he asked. “There’s nothing wrong with being a late bloomer, Miss Granger. You could just pretend to go out with her idiot brother, couldn’t you?”

Hermione sighed again. Snape’s insults lacked their usual bite. He was probably too tired to come up with anything meaner. “I don’t like Ron that way, but that isn’t the point,” she said.

Snape raised an eyebrow but schooled his appearance before she saw it. Did the little know-it-all actually have the brains to stay away from someone who was so intellectually inferior to her?

“The thing is, Master Snape,” Hermione said. “I need to have an excuse to account for my unexplained absences and I figured that going to see a fake boyfriend was the most believable. I’m trying to collect some ingredients for a potion and then I need the time to brew it.”

“Which potion are you interested in making?” Snape asked.

Hermione shifted guiltily in her seat. “Do you remember what you told us on our very first day of class about how a potion could stopper death?”

“Dark magic,” Snape said calmly. “You want to brew the Mors Lumeria?”

“The Light of Death,” Hermione said. “Yes.”

Snape steepled his fingers and looked at his former student. “You do realize, Miss Granger, that Mors Lumeria is a very difficult potion. It’s not just a matter of finding the rare ingredients… dark magic always requires a sacrifice of some sort.”

“I know,” Hermione said, bravely. “Do you think I could brew it?”

Snape leaned back and looked thoughtful for a moment. “You’d have a better chance of not killing yourself or blowing up the building than most people would,” he said carefully. “But you’re very young and the potion requires stronger magic than I believe you currently have.” Hermione’s face fell in disappointment and Snape felt for her. “It’s nothing personal, Miss Granger,” he said. “It’s just your age. There are several potions that I was not able to brew until I was in my thirties because my own magic was not strong enough.”

“But you’ve brewed Mors Lumeria successfully” she asked.

“Unfortunately, many times, yes,” Snape agreed.

“Unfortunately?” Hermione asked.

“The sacrifice, Miss Granger,” Snape reminded her.

“I have another secret,” Hermione said after they’d sipped their tea in silence for a several minutes.

“Only one?” Snape drawled.

Hermione pulled a face at him and looked to the doors to see that they were still alone. “Remember how Dumbledore gave me that time tuner? Well, I might have used it a little more often than I was supposed to.”

“How old are you?” Snape asked, suspiciously.

“I’ll be twenty next month,” Hermione cringed.

Snape shook his head sadly. “I was well into my apprenticeship at your age,” he said, and you haven’t even finished at Hogwarts.”

“You’re not angry?”

“Did you change the course of history?” her old professor asked.

“No sir,” Hermione answered truthfully.

“Then there’s no real harm done… but don’t expect Minerva to agree.” Shape said. Hermione giggled and to her surprise, a small smile flickered across Snape’s face.
“You realize that you could go on a few dates with some muggle boy and then obliviate him when he becomes inconvenient?” Snape continued.

“That’s a horrible thing to do!” Hermione gasped. “I might damage his brain!”

Snape shrugged. “I’ve done much worse, you know.” He said it with a smirk, like he was challenging her. Could the little know-it-all handle dark magic and a life of lies? He snorted inwardly. Not a chance. If she didn’t have the nerve to obliviate some stupid boy then she was too spineless to take on anything greater.

“I know you have, sir,” Hermione said quietly. She looked at her hands again and sighed. “You’re right… it would be more believable to actually date someone, but… you see… I don’t really know how to get a boy to like me.” She could feel her face going red again. “I’ve looked through Witch Weekly, but there’s nothing of much value in there.”

It was Snape’s turn to sigh. “Alright, look, Miss Granger, do something completely different with your hair. Try wearing it up - you never wear it up. Women often change their hair when they’re in a new relationship. Start borrowing makeup from Miss Weasley to make her aware of your interest in your imaginary muggle.” His face contorted all of a sudden and his hand grasped his forearm as the dark mark burned him.

“I have to go,” he said as he stood up quickly. Hermione followed him to the door and watched as he hurried down to the street to apparate.

“Be careful!” Hermione called softly after him.

Snape paused slightly to glance over his shoulder at her. Then he was gone.