Interesting

Hermione clutched her wand with a white-knuckled fist as the tears brimmed in her eyes. Through the frosty window, she could see Ron kissing Lavender under the enchanted mistletoe that had followed the pair into the pantry at The Burrow. She watched as Ron kicked the door shut without taking his lips from Lavender’s. His hand reached under her shirt as he sucked on the blond witch’s neck. Hermione pointed her wand at the pair and tried not to notice how much her hand shook.

“Walk away, Miss Granger,” a quiet voice said. Severus Snape moved to stand behind her and a snow-speckled, black-sleeved arm reached out and forced her wand down. “It’s not worth it.”

Hermione could feel the snow melting in her hair. The cold water ran down the back of her neck and her shoulders slumped and the first hot tears fell down her cheeks. “I knew it was true, but I didn’t want to believe it,” she sobbed. “I thought he was my friend… I thought… I thought he loved me!”

“It is always better to know the truth, Miss Granger,” Snape drawled. “Even if it is unpleasant… at least now you know where you stand.”

Hermione shook her head as Ron yanked Lavender’s sweater off over her head and pressed her back against a shelf of cans. “You don’t understand, professor,” she cried, as her heart broke. “No one loves me anymore!” Her knees buckled, but Snape stepped in close and pulled her against his strong chest as her body shook.

“I do understand,” he said in a gentle voice she’d never heard before. “No one has ever loved me.”

Her wand fell into the snow as she clutched his arm and hiccupped painfully. “I miss my parents,” she sobbed.

“I know,” Snape said. He held a hand out and her wand jumped up into his palm. He slipped it into his sleeve next to his as Ron slipped his hand into the front of Lavender’s jeans. He turned Hermione away from the window so she couldn’t watch any more. She collapsed into his chest with her fists clutching the front of his cloak and cried so hard that her chest hurt.

“Please take me away from here,” she begged. “I don’t have anywhere else to go, but I can’t stay here and let him humiliate me. Please… please…”

Snape looked down at her as her hot breath went straight through his clothes to his shoulder, then he wrapped his arms around her and disapparated.

*****

It was colder and very windy where they apparated. Snape let Hermione go and pulled off his cloak as she sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. He wrapped it around her, picked her up in his arms, and carried her through the gates to Hogwarts. He could feel her trembling as the big doors opened for him and he knew from experience that it was likely from shock and not from the cold. She raised her head and looked around in confusion at the cheery candles that lit their way. “Where are we going?” she asked very quietly.

“Home,” he said. Her teeth started to chatter and he pulled her in closer as his swift stride carried them down a winding flight of stairs. “You’re in shock, Miss Granger,” he said. “I’m going to give you a dreamless draught and wrap you in a warming blanket. We’ll sort it all out in the morning.”

He turned down a damp hallway and stopped in front of a rusty suit of armour. “Gryffindor,” he said. The statue bowed and stepped aside. Hermione continued to shiver, but she raised her head from the potion master’s shoulder to indicate her surprise. Snape chuckled. “No student would guess that password in a million years,” he said as the wall opened up to reveal his rooms.

*****

Severus buttered his toast and opened The Daily Prophet at the small table set in front of his fireplace. He’d spent the night on the cramped couch and his back was stiff. He heard the bedsprings creak in the next room and he glanced up to the mantle clock. The dreamless draught had lasted twelve hours exactly - perfect. He smirked and sipped his tea - Merlin, he was a good potions master when he actually got the chance to make a potion, that was. He could hear water running in the sink and figured that his former student was washing the remnants of her salty tears from her face. It was about time that she realized what an idiot Weasely was.

A minute later, the bedroom door opened slowly and she stepped shyly into his sitting room. She hesitated, but he gestured to the other chair where a second plate was set. “Tea?” he asked.

“Yes please, professor,” she rasped.

He poured her a cup as she crossed the sunny room. She’d rolled the sleeves up a little on his cotton nightshirt and he tried not to notice how it only fell half-way down her toned thighs. Her hair was down and her eyes were swollen and red. He slid a small vial of pepper-up potion across the table and she drank it down without comment.

“Feel better?” he asked, as the redness faded from her eyes.

“Yes, thanks,” she said in a clear voice. She looked at the empty bottle for a moment before she put the stopper back and set it on the table. “When we were students and had to go to the infirmary, we could always tell which pepper-up potions you’d brewed. The ones from St. Mungo’s tasted funny.”

“They skimp out on the morning glory extract,” he said, distractedly, as he read the paper.

Hermione looked over the breakfast platter and then made herself a bacon and egg sandwich. She supposed it was rude to eat his food when he hadn’t offered, but there were two plates and all… “Um… professor?” she asked.

“Hm?” he said, without looking up.

“Not that I’m ungrateful or anything, but um… I don’t remember putting this on,” Hermione said, as she gestured to the shirt.

Snape put the paper down and gave her an exasperated look. “If I can stopper death, Miss Granger, don’t you think I can change your clothes with a couple of quick spells?” He looked back at the paper and sipped his tea.

“Sorry, sir,” Hermione said, sheepishly. She ate her sandwich and poured another cup of tea. “Thank you for bringing me here, Professor. I… I couldn’t stay there. And thank you for looking after me, too.”

Snape turned the page and picked up his toast. “You’re very welcome,” he said. “I know you don’t think that the great bat of the dungeons has any feelings, but I really do know exactly how you feel. I’ve had my heart tromped on more than once over the years.”

“Thanks,” Hermione said with a small smile. She stretched her legs out under the table and crossed them at the ankles while she ran her hands through her hair. “It isn’t just that Ron’s a cheat and a liar,” she said. “It’s that… you know… what I said last night.”

Snape put the paper down and leaned back in his chair. “You said a lot of things, Miss Granger. You’ll have to be more specific.”

Hermione swallowed hard and blinked back fresh tears. “It’s just that now that my parents are gone… there’s no one to… to love me anymore.”

Snape leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “Someone will love you again,” he said. “I promise you that.”

Hermione looked down at her hands and blushed. “This isn’t how I thought life would be after the war,” she said. “I thought it would be a lot easier. I never thought I’d be uneducated, homeless, and broke.”

“Hm,” Snape chuckled. “My life has never gone how I thought it would.” He turned the paper around and tapped an article to draw her attention to it. “The old apothecary in Hogsmead is finally retiring. I’ve wanted to buy that shop for twenty years. I figured that I could, after the war. I hate teaching, you know.”

“I never would have guessed,” Hermione giggled. “Why can’t you buy it? Too expensive?”

Snape raised an eyebrow. “I’m a single man with no family or house to maintain. I’ve hardly spent a paycheck in my life, so money’s not a problem. However, as you may have noticed when they had to bring in old Slughorn, there are almost no potions masters in Britain and Hogwarts needs one to keep it’s accreditation.”

Hermione sat forward and let out a little gasp. “So Hogwarts would have to close if you left?”

Snape nodded. “Minerva would have my head stuffed and mounted on the wall if I took off.”

“Why are there so few potions masters?” Hermione asked.

Snape shrugged and ate a piece of bacon. “It’s the hardest apprenticeship to complete. The hours are long, the work is tedious, the ingredients are often very dangerous to collect, and the masters are all gits.”

“You’re not a git, Professor,” Hermione said, sweetly.

“Liar,” he said, as he turned the paper back around.

“A git wouldn’t have been kind to me last night like you were. I’ll bet it would be a wonderful experience to be your apprentice,” she said as he poured her some more tea.

He stopped pouring suddenly and looked her straight in the eye. “Are you asking, Miss Granger?” he said.

Hermione opened her mouth, but shut it quickly without answering. Was she asking to be his apprentice? She’d always enjoyed his potions classes, but this would be a real commitment to the subject. Was he even offering to be her master or was he just toying with her. She searched his face for a sign of humor, but there was none. He was considering the idea quite seriously.

“If I had food and shelter as part of the deal, then yes… I’d want to be your apprentice,” she heard herself saying. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you that I was homeless and broke. After… after my parents house was burned to the ground, their bank accounts were wiped clean. Dumbledore thought it was to keep me from running back to the muggle world. I have eight galleons in Gringotts and a cat to feed.”

Snape looked back down at the newspaper article and smiled. “What would you say to working in an apothecary’s shop?” he said.

“It sounds interesting, but you can’t leave Hogwarts,” Hermione said.

“I wouldn’t have to,” Snape said. “You’d make the simple potions on your own and on the weekends I’d teach you how to make the more difficult ones. You could live above the shop and I’ll give you an allowance every week to buy cat food and whatever else you need.” He stroked his chin as he talked. “It will take at least two years until you’ll be ready for your master’s test, but then you could teach here if you wanted and I’d finally be able to do what I want to do.”

“It… it sounds wonderful,” Hermione said. A tear ran down her cheek and Snape rolled his eyes.

“Miss Granger, it will be a tremendous amount of work on your part. You’ll have to work all day, then go out at night to collect ingredients. You’ll be alone most of the time, scrubbing cauldrons and you’ll have to read more potions books than you’ve ever seen in your life.”

“It still sounds better than anything I have going for me,” Hermione said, firmly. “I would love to do it.”

Suddenly the flames in the fireplace shifted and Minerva’s face appeared. “Severus?” she called. Her eyes fell on Hermione. “Oh… we were looking for you, dear,” the old witch said. “No one knew where you were.” She looked at the young witch’s blush and the long, bare legs that Severus’ shirt didn’t cover. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Hermione,” she said, kindly. “You won’t find a better man than Severus.”

“Oh, but it’s not like that,” Hermione started to say. But the old witch just winked and her face vanished in the fire. Hermione looked at Snape and shrugged awkwardly. “Actually, she’s probably right about that,” the young witch said.