Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: Potterverse is not mine! The plot, however, is.

Chapter Seven

Hermione sat in her parents' living room, her face covered with her hands. It was just no good; she didn't like anyone enough to consider marrying them. At least no-one that she knew. They were either too fussy, too clingy, too distant, and the faults just went on. She was going to lose the house in France, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Her beloved house, where she had spent every holiday before going to Hogwarts, was going to be lost to some distant cousin who had just gotten married. And it wasn't even a cousin she got along well with.

Shaking her head slightly, Hermione rubbed at her face with her hands; she'd never let anything beat her, and here she was letting a silly little thing like matrimony get in the way.

Suddenly, she gasped, "Severus!" Scrabbling up from her seat, she rushed across the living room floor. Dashing around the sofa and through the door, up and around to the stairs, she clambered up them two at a time. If she'd spared a moment to collect her thoughts, she would have just pulled out her wand, but now wasn't the time to think. She only had one more day to secure a marriage proposal before all was lost.

Rummaging through her drawers with haste and adrenaline-fuelled panic, her room began to look like someone had ransacked the place; paper, parchment and files were littered across the floors, and drawers were half open.

"Where is it? Where is it?" She sank down in a heap and stared in front of her. Her hands reached up and threaded through her already-tangled hair, gripping hold of it and pulling. "Where is it?!" Finally, despair consumed her, and she fell on her side as sobs racked her body. "Severus... I'm sorry."

***

Standing under the steady stream of the shower, her eyes closed, she fought to steady her breathing. Having a panic attack over not finding a piece of parchment was ridiculous; her mother was right: she was over-tired and over-stressed.

As the steam and hot water gently warmed and massaged her body, the tension began to seep away...if only superficially. She gently massaged first the shampoo and then conditioner in her hair, groaning as she realised that she was going to have to get out soon. She didn't need any more problems in her life, especially ones caused by her own actions.

Turning the taps off and stepping out of the shower, she wrapped a large, fluffy towel...which she had left to warm on the radiator...around her and made her way back to her bedroom.

Approaching her desk, she ignored the mess that she had created in her room and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and a quill; she set about writing a note to her parents, letting them know that she was going away for a while.

She seemed to lack emotion as the quill flew across the page, explaining why and where she was going. She had to say goodbye, and she needed to do it alone. Folding it over and sealing it with her new wax stamp that Severus had given her for her birthday the previous year, Hermione placed the letter on her desk and began getting dressed. Twisting her hair into a bun, she threaded her wand though it to hold it in place. Grabbing her rucksack, she threw a few essentials into it and pulled the drawstring closed, securing her possessions with a few personal wards.

Taking one last look at the house, she stepped and turned to Apparate, the familiar sensation of suction accompanying her to her destination.

***

She lifted her head as an owl swooped in through the open door, watching as it gently settled on the back of an oak chair.

"Hello, Archimedes, I hope your flight was uneventful." Hermione listened to her parents' owl hoot in reply. She stepped forward to take the letter and received a playful nip in return. "I'm afraid I don't have any treats, but if you're willing to wait, I'll cook up some bacon for you..." The affronted look Archimedes had been giving her just moments before vanished, to be replaced with satisfaction and smugness, making her grin. "I spoil you, Archy." Shaking her head, she took the letter with a small smile gracing her lips.

Unfolding the parchment, she was surprised to find not just one letter, as she had originally thought, but three. One from each of her parents and then a blank one with no writing on it at all. Deciding to leave the anonymous one 'til last, she opened her father's and quickly read through it. It consisted of warnings to be careful and pleading with her not to do anything stupid. Her mother's was much the same, but also contained a reprimand for the mess she'd left her room in and a post-script to say she'd included an important-looking letter...which had been sitting on her desk unopened...and that she wished her luck in whatever she chose.

Looking at the anonymous letter, filled with confusion over what her mother meant, she gasped as writing began to appear on the folded parchment as if being written by an invisible hand.

Hermione, my love

She didn't recognise the writing at all, and for a brief moment, she was frozen in fear over what it could contain. Several possibilities flew through her mind at the speed of light before she settled on only two possible explanations. Either it was from some stranger who had heard of her plight, or it was from one of the Weasleys she had been out with over the past few weeks.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the parchment over in her hands, and her breath caught in her throat. Sitting there, clear as day, was Severus Snape's seal, pressed into hot green wax.

"Severus..." Her voice was quiet, and her eyes flickered over every inch of the parchment in front of her, her eyes searching for that speck of ink in the corner. Something that had made him smile as he'd watched her looking at it, and there it was. The black speck, which seemed much larger than she remembered, sitting in the corner of the parchment, like a statement.

After her frantic searching of her room had turned up nothing, she had thought this note of hope was lost for good and had been too embarrassed to go to Snape and ask him what it had said. Instead, she had run away to spend the last few days that she could in the house by the sea. But here it was, as clear as the blue sky above her.

Finding it suddenly very hard to swallow, she ran her finger under the wax seal and unfolded the parchment. It took three read throughs before her hurried eyes allowed her to read slowly enough to absorb the words in front of her.

My dearest Hermione,

Severus

Tears were coursing down her cheeks when she finally came back to herself. "Oh, Severus..." Taking a few deep breaths, she turned to Archimedes. "I'm afraid your bacon will have to wait, Archy, I have something important that I must see to."

Ignoring the indignant screech that followed her out of the room, Hermione rushed outside and to the edge of the wards. She didn't even stop to put on some shoes or fetch her cloak, forgetting that the north of England would be colder than France. With a flourish, she was gone.

***

Snape sighed; it had been almost a week since he had handed that parchment to Hermione, and the last day that she had left to secure an engagement was drawing to a close. And he'd still not heard anything back from her in regards to it. Turning to his familiar, he shook his head. "She must have found someone, Bastian."

Despite the way this thought constricted his breathing into shallow gasps, it was the only way to quench the hope that had been building in his chest. It was a technique he'd used often during the war...and even before...to stop embarrassment and heartache.

It wasn't working particularly well in this case, though, and without the added danger and risk, he found it was slowly overwhelming him. "Sitting here is getting me nowhere; I have things to do." Calling his cloak to him with barely a flick of his wrist, he pulled the thick black material around him and strode to the front door. "I'll bring you back some fish, Bastian." A smirk lifted the corner of his mouth when he heard the loud meow that followed this statement, and he closed the door behind him before he let his long strides lead him away to the wizarding market that was held just a few estates away from his.

***

Hermione only just managed not to Splinch herself, although, if anyone were to look close enough, they would notice a chunk of her fringe was missing.

She broke into a run as she made her way through the wards surrounding his house, arriving at his front door, her breath coming in short gasps, her feet now covered in dirt, and tears still running down her cheeks.

"Severus!" She knocked frantically on the black wood. Both fists pounding at the door when she received no answer. "Severus! Please answer!" She kept on until her knuckles were scraped and bruised and she had tired herself out from her hysterical sobbing and yelling. "Severus," she whispered, collapsing against the door in a heap. Her feet freezing and dirty, her clothes suited to warmer weather whipping around her in the frigid wind, her hands cold and bruised, and her face wet with tears.

And that was how Severus Snape found her. The scowl that had sprung to adorn his face when he had seen the huddled body on his doorstop fell away as he rushed to her side with a cry of recognition.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" But all he got in response was a mumbled rambling. Lifting her into his arms, he opened his front door quickly, rushing through and kicking it closed behind them. "Silly girl," he muttered as he settled her down on his sofa.

He carefully lowered a blanket over her before starting a fire in the bare hearth. Once the flames were flickering merrily and he was sure they were not about to go out, he began his search for some Pepper-up Potion.

***

Bastian watched with a mixture of annoyance and amusement as his master went through the house in search of the potion. Finally, with a mewl, he jumped down from his perch on the back of Snape's favourite chair and trotted down the hall and into the bathroom. In the cupboard beneath the sink, he pulled out the sought after phial. Gripping it firmly but delicately in his jowls, he made his way to his frantic master.

It took a while for Snape to pay attention to his familiar, who was trying to attract his attention, but when he did, the look of relief that crossed his face made Bastian sure he was going to receive an extra large serving of fish for his supper.

***

Tilting her head back, Snape gently opened Hermione's mouth and poured the potion down her throat. Coughing a little as steam seeped from her ears, she slowly opened her eyes and focussed on him.

"Severus, I'm sorry. So sorry... I didn't realise."

Unable to maintain eye-contact, he turned away. To be rejected was one thing...he had expected it, just not face-to-face. "I see." Clearing his throat, he struggled to re-build the delicate walls that had surrounded him until she had broken them apart. "I understand."

"No, no, I don't think you do." She raised a hand to his cheek, forcing him to turn to her. "I love you, too."

***

AN: Finally! :D They know each other's feelings! Just one more chapter to go, and we're all done!