Beautiful Life

Tons of love to my beautiful beta, s and h forever. None of this would be nearly as exciting without her.

Thanks to my friends, Katie, Kristy, and Andrew for giving me much of the material for this chapter. I miss playing games with the three of you.

And, as always, thanks to you who are reading this story. Your feedback would be most welcome and appreciated.

"Live like there won't be tomorrow. See through your sorrow, see it through your own eyes. Try to remember these days down the road and try to remember this time. The sun may come up and go down again, and I'll still swear it's a beautiful life." (Beautiful Life, by Charlotte Martin)

Hermione woke up to a brilliant, new feeling. For once, since the beginning of the school year, she didn't feel panicked or scared, dreading the day ahead. She certainly wasn't thrilled with the way things had ended with Severus the previous night, but she finally had the sense of hope she had been anticipating for so long; she felt, already, as if it were going to be a good day. She practically bounced down the steps to the common room but stopped as she saw the looks of pure confusion Ron and Harry were giving her.

"Um... good morning? What's wrong? Is there something on my face? Is something wrong with my hair? Okay, don't answer that last one. But seriously, what's up with you two?" Hermione was almost too busy trying to figure out the source of their reactions to realize that she was smiling ridiculously and nearly giggling again. The giggling was becoming a nasty habit of Hermione's, one that made her completely uncomfortable. She didn't giggle. Until now.

"Hermione," Ron began, "the last time I saw you, I was telling you that Snape was pissed off his arse about your missing classes. You felt sick the entire day and then had to go put up with whatever he had to say. Harry and I waited up for you forever, but when you still weren't here around midnight, we went to bed. What sick detention lasts that long? We figured you would be miserable this morning, but here you come, skipping as if birds are going to come out and help you clean something at any moment. What the fuck? Oh, and by the way... did you happen to see Ginny last night? She got back pretty late, too. I hope she wasn't sneaking around with some boy. If she had been, I'd have to kill him."

He looked over at Harry in what Hermione guessed was a bid for sympathy and solidarity. Harry, however, only looked uncomfortable. Hermione was once again taken aback by the concern her two best friends had for her well-being but couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed. Not everything was their business.

"God, Ron, you need to learn to relax. You really get startled far too easily. We just ended up working on some... independent study stuff. Everything is fine! Snape was only a little upset. He got over it when he saw that I wasn't feeling well. And no, I didn't see Ginny; I'll ask her about any boys she's seeing, if you want. Anyway, let's get to Potions, shall we?"

Hermione practically ran out the door without waiting for an answer, disturbed by the ease with which she was able to lie recently. All she wanted was for Ron's interrogation to end. Well, she also wanted to see Severus, but she was trying to get those thoughts out of her head as quickly as possible.

As soon as she entered the room, Hermione could feel Severus' gaze rest on her. She looked up only when she had reached her desk and smiled at him as she bent over to get her textbook from the bag she had set on her chair. For a moment, she saw his features soften and a light come to his eyes before he turned back towards the class, transforming into the Potions professor everyone loved to hate.

"As always, your assignment is on the board. You have until the end of the period to correctly brew this potion. Get to work and, for Merlin's sake, don't cause any accidents. I won't stand any of you sixth year students subjecting me to the same explosions as the first years. I would hope that you all are more intelligent than that, although I'm all too convinced that isn't the case for some of you." He paused to glance at Ron, making it clear to whom his statement was directed before sitting at his desk.

Hermione chuckled under her breath before getting to work, soon becoming distracted by the thoughts emanating from her subconscious while she waited for just the right moment to finish stirring her cauldron; they were thoughts that no decent witch should be having at so young an age.

As with all things, Snape realized what was happening the instant that her eyes glazed over and her face flushed. He didn't think it was from the potion fumes; it was far too reminiscent of the look she had after being kissed thoroughly on his desk, the very desk at which he was currently sitting. Just as he was about to lose himself in his own inappropriate thoughts, he noticed that Hermione's potion was on the verge of being stirred past the correct variation of royal blue that would guarantee its perfection. He needed to stop her wandering mind for both of their sakes.

"Miss Granger, would you be so kind as to not daydream in my class? I'm sure you wouldn't want a silly little reverie to ruin your Potions grade."

Hermione's head shot up at his call, just in time to add the last ingredient to her now boiling cauldron. "No, Professor Snape. Thank you for calling my attention to the state of my potion. It would have been a disaster had you not."

He smirked at her before she went back to work, greatly satisfied that he had caught her thinking of him; somehow, Hermione didn't seem to mind very much.

The class continued without distress, and Hermione turned in her completed work. Severus addressed her again as she gathered her things to leave.

"Miss Granger, I believe it's due time for the work on your next project to commence. If you're available, perhaps we could meet for dinner here at five o'clock before embarking on the task at hand?"

"Yes, professor, that sounds fine. I'll see you then." She smiled at him once more before Ron dragged her out the door, no doubt ravenous and wanting to get to the Great Hall for food as soon as possible.

Later, as Hermione sat watching Ron devour his fourth plate of food, the mail owls flew in overhead, one dropping a fairly large package in front of Hermione.

"That's odd. I never get mail. It's from my parents!" Hermione opened the box and began to read the letter attached to its basic brown wrappings.

Hermione,

Mum

"Oh my goodness! I absolutely love my parents!" Hermione screamed as she dug through the package, throwing Ron a rather awkward looking, round device that was blue with silver buttons before grabbing an extensive set of books and looking at them lovingly. "My parents are wonderful people," she sighed. "Ron, do you have any idea what that is?"

"No, Hermione. It's kind of weird looking. What is it?" Ron was surprised that there was some Muggle contraption he didn't know. Between his father's work and his friendship with Hermione, he thought he had seen it all.

"It's the best game in existence, Ron! It's called Catch Phrase. A word comes up on the screen, and then you have to get the other person to say the word without saying any part of the word itself. Let's give it a shot! Press the start button and give me clues! GO!" Hermione was positively glowing with happiness despite Ron's hesitation.

"Hermione, I don't really see the point. I..." Ron looked down as the phrase "sex appeal" flashed up on the screen. He grimaced at how the fates seemed determined to make his life as awkward as possible.

"Please, Ron. Just try it once. If you don't like it, I'm sure I can find someone else to play with me."

Ron's eyes were wide as Hermione looked at him the way children look at their parents on Christmas day as they beg for someone to help them try out their gifts. The sight of her so happy was slightly unnerving.

"Um... okay, Hermione. Shit! Why is it beeping at me?" In Ron's mind, it sounded as if he were holding some sort of ticking pipe bomb.

"It's just the timer, Ron. The faster it gets, the less time you have. Now, GO!"

"Um, okay. So, when you see someone... and you want to... Um... you want to... You think they have this quality. And..."

At that moment, the tiny machine buzzed loudly, and Hermione dropped her head into her hands.

"Ron, that was awful. There was no way I could have gotten whatever that was from the clues you gave me! What was the phrase?"

Ron hesitated before answering her quietly. "Sex appeal."

Hermione burst out laughing, finally understanding Ron's initial bewilderment when the game had started.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Sometimes things like that can come up. I can't believe that happened on your first try, though. We don't have to play now. I'm sure I'll be able to find someone else. I'm going to head back up to the common room. My parents sent me some of my books from home! I'll talk to you later!"

Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon reading alone in her room, relishing the quiet quality time she was spending with Jane Austen, her favorite Muggle author. She had just finished reading one of her favorites, Sense and Sensibility, in record time, before looking down at her watch. It was four-forty, and she had to meet Severus in twenty minutes. She rushed to change out of her favorite sweats and brush her hair before running down to the dungeons with her box. If she had her way, it was going to be a very fun night.

She showed up at his door right on time and let herself in, as she was now accustomed to doing. She ran straight through to his study, where she knew he would be recording his grades from that morning's assignments; he always liked to have his grades finished before dinner. She smiled at him as she walked in and sat down on the couch, quite pleased with herself and still gazing lovingly at the box her parents sent her.

Severus was astonished. He hadn't seen Hermione this happy all term. She usually treated him indifferently when he made decisions that didn't agree with her plans for them, but something about her this night was different. He certainly wasn't about to complain. It seemed that, even though he had convinced her to put certain aspects of their relationship on hold, they were making significant progress. He didn't want to ruin it again.

"Hermione," he began, "are you alright?"

She finally looked away from the box next to her to answer his question. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you. Never better. But I will be rather disappointed if you actually expect us to do work tonight, seeing as I've come up with a much better way to spend our evening."

Severus was taken aback by the mischievous look in her eyes. The only two times she had looked at him like that, he found himself either strapped to his chair or snogging her. The former he never wished to happen again. The latter he was forced to postpone, however unwillingly.

"Well, it depends on what you have in mind, Miss Granger. I've already had to rule out a number of activities that you seem to find so... enjoyable. I assure you, you will not sway me again." His raised eyebrow confirmed Hermione's suspicions; he was definitely referring to their discussion of the previous night.

Of course, she hadn't been thinking of what he was implying, but was disappointed by his determination nonetheless; a year and a half was a long time to wait. Not to mention the fear nagging her from the back of her mind, a fear that constantly reminded her that Severus could be killed in the war at any moment. Sure, it was selfish of her, but she wanted him to be there for her, for him to live for her. His movement from behind the desk brought her back to the present, and the broad smile returned to her face.

"No, Severus. I've thought of something far better." She looked over her shoulder to smirk at him, knowing her emphasis had most likely stung at his pride. "We're going to play a game!"

"I do not play games," was his only response before he shuffled some papers around on his desk.

"Oh, come on, Severus. Have some fun. Besides, you actually have to think to play this game. That's probably why Ron was such a failure at it. Now, if you don't think you can do better, I won't force you, but..." Hermione let the end of her sentence finish itself in Severus' mind. She knew it would sound like a challenge to him and hoped that it would be enough to get him to play. He was really her only hope for a decent game anyway. She doubted any of her other friends would be much good at it.

"Fine, I'll play your stupid game. What is it?" He sighed, admitting defeat. He hated that Hermione knew the weakness of his pride; he would never miss an opportunity to show someone up, especially her half-witted ex.

"Excellent! It's called Catch Phrase. We try to get each other to say the words on the screen without actually saying any of the words. It'll be fun, I promise! Here we go... you can start! When you press the time button, it will start beeping. When it gets faster, you know you're running out of time, and then when it buzzes, whoever is stuck holding it loses. GO!"

Severus blinked as he watched the word "wristwatch" pop up on the screen. He looked at the phrase for a brief moment before calmly looking up at Hermione. "Alright. You wear this at the intersection of your radius and your ulna."

Without a second's hesitation, Hermione screamed her answer. "A wristwatch!"

Severus nodded in approval before passing the game back to her. She looked down to see the word "angel".

"Okay. Those who come from above. Gabriel was one of these..."

"An angel."

"Good."

"Well, this one is difficult, isn't it?"

"Just go on!" Hermione was getting nervous as the beeping of the timer sped up. She hated losing.

"Fine. The first part of the first word is used to describe a large center of stores at which Muggles shop."

"A mall?"

"Good. The second part of the first word is a synonym for taunt. I understand that it can also be done to one's hair."

"Tease?"

"Right."

"The first word is Maltese? Oh wait... it's Maltese Falcon!"

"Hermione, how the hell did you get that?"

"Don't talk, just pass me the game!"

The clock was ticking faster and faster, and Hermione was not about to lose to Severus Snape. As soon as the game was back in her hands, her eyes were glued to the screen, waiting for the next word to pop up. "Sex." Hermione was mortified and immediately sympathetic to Ron's situation when he tried to play with her earlier that morning. Still, she was determined to get him to guess the word.

"So, that other night... what Ginny thought was going on. She thought more was going on than there was... and she thought we were going to have..." Her eyes bugged out at Severus as she hoped he would just say the word that would end her misery.

"Sex," he replied soberly, accepting the game from her before it buzzed loudly in his hands.

"I win!" Hermione yelled triumphantly, somewhat startling Severus with her enthusiasm. "Okay, maybe we should do something else for a while. That was a little intense."

"Quite," he replied. "But I will admit that was one of the more entertaining games I've played in my lifetime."

"Good, I'm glad you made the best of it. Let's see. What else did my parents send me? Oh, I know! We can read Pride and Prejudice together!" Hermione could see the hesitation in his face but was determined to get her way. "Don't look at me like that. It's one of my favorite books of all time. Plus, you might learn a thing or two from Mr. Darcy."

"I highly doubt that. If my memory serves me correctly, this book has served as the source of many Muggle women's disappointment at being unable to find their perfect gentlemen. I, for one, will never understand such outrageous devotions to literary characters. They aren't real." Severus looked over at Hermione to see her pouting and looking quite put out with him. He supposed that she must be one of those women. "Anyway, I guess we have nothing better to do. Will you be reading it or shall I?" Severus asked, more as a rhetorical question than anything else. He knew the effect that his voice had on people, especially Hermione, and had no doubt she had been planning for him to read to her all along.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd love for you to read it. No offence to my own gender, but I've always thought Mr. Darcy quotes sound horribly silly when read by a woman." She walked over to hand him the book before taking a seat on the other side of the sofa, waiting for him to begin.

Hours passed as Severus read, and Hermione was fascinated by how much he seemed to identify with Mr. Darcy. The more she thought about it, the more she began to see their similarities, and her mind started racing. Both Mr. Darcy and Severus generally preferred to be self-sufficient and were averse to being in highly social situations. Each was incredibly reluctant to display emotions and valued his pride above almost anything else. Both placed great emphasis on trust and considered betrayal one of the greatest crimes against humanity. Both expressed their courage and goodness in secret, expecting nothing in return. Just as she was wondering how she hadn't noticed these likenesses before, she was interrupted by Severus' narration.

"In vain I have struggled, it will not do. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

For the briefest of moments, Hermione forgot that he was reading and quickly tried to stifle the gasp that was beginning to slip from between her lips. She mentally berated herself, knowing that there was no possible way that Severus would admit something like that to her. She remembered his vow not to classify his feelings for her, admitting his own confusion, and sighed heavily.

Severus noticed her sudden reaction and stopped reading to look at her.

"Hermione, are you alright? You look a little upset." If he wanted to, he could have just used Legilimency to find out how she was feeling, but he found himself wanting Hermione to tell him what was going on simply because she trusted him.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just tired. I'm going to go up to bed, okay? Thank you for this evening, though. It's been wonderful. I needed this." She got up to leave, collecting her things and noticing that Severus looked slightly disappointed by her answer. She hoped that it was because he wasn't ready for her to leave.

"That's fine, Hermione. I wouldn't want you to wear yourself out on my account. I'm glad we got so much work done," he said, smiling. "However, I did enjoy our time together. I'll remember where we stopped reading. I must admit that I'm coming to respect Mr. Darcy. He's decent and respectable. Goodnight, Miss Granger."

"Goodnight, Professor Snape. I'll see you in the morning," she returned, glancing over her shoulder before closing the door behind her. When she reached the end of the hall, she turned back to look at the door, wishing she could know what he was really thinking. If there was anything she hated about him, it was his stoicism. Despite her frustration, she laughed as the memories of the night flashed in front of her eyes. She mused to herself over how wrong she had been about Severus and how much she now enjoyed being with him before going up to bed, highly satisfied with the progress they had made.