Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Severus was finally back teaching again. He sat at his desk, deep in thought. The new school year had begun, and most of the celebrations for war heroes had concluded. Severus had been honored with the Order of Merlin, First Class. He was proud of his work in the war. He had been able to thwart many of Voldemort's evil attempts, and his training of Harry had made it possible for him to defeat the Dark Lord with ease. Perhaps his life would become normal now that Voldemort was dead.

Although there had been many deaths caused by the war, there had also been many reasons to celebrate. There had been parades and parties galore for the war heroes, but the real celebrations came with the many couples who had chosen to marry. Many people had realized that time was short and happiness could escape them in tragedy. It seemed like every day in the Prophet there were at least five marriage announcements. Severus had attended several weddings himself, the most memorable being that of Sirius Black to Petunia Evans Dursley. Severus had sat in the audience next to Remus Lupin, of all people.

He glanced over at Lupin, who held his blue-haired baby on his lap and bounced him to keep him quiet.

Severus glared at him and took the baby back. Sure enough, the child's small fingers grasped his nose once again. He squealed in delight as his hair turned bright purple. Severus rolled his eyes and let the baby continue to play with his face as Lupin and he turned their attention to the ceremony, which was just starting.

As the vows had been exchanged, Severus had marveled at the couple. The war had tempered Black's demeanor, and of course, Petunia had turned her entire life around since that day long ago when he had shown up on her doorstep threatening her so she would take good care of Harry.

Severus came out of his daydreaming and glanced up from his desk at Harry now. He was working on the assigned potion, busily mashing red berries. Severus wondered when he would ask Ginny to marry him. He assumed that Harry would wait until they graduated.

The Golden Trio had decided to return to Hogwarts to finish their schooling. Draco Malfoy had been another returning student. Neville Longbottom had returned also as he had missed most of school the previous year because he was hiding from the Carrows in the Room of Requirement. No matter how Dumbledore had tried, the Carrows had wreaked havoc in the school. Albus had felt as helpless as he had when Umbridge had taken over, if not more so.

Severus looked over to Longbottom as he continued his musings, thinking of how Hermione had looked lovely at the wedding, wearing a dark blue silk dress that reached the ground in multiple flowing layers. Her arm had been tightly wrapped with Ron Weasley's. Severus sighed. It would seem his turn with her would never come. Snapping out of his daydreaming, he noted that Longbottom was doing something wrong.

"Mr. Longbottom, you need to mash those juniper berries, not slice them," Severus called out.

Neville looked down at what he was doing. "Oops!" he said and deposited the sliced berries into the trash. He got some more and went to work mashing them.

"Attention to detail, Mr. Longbottom," Severus instructed.

"Of course, sir," Neville said as he finished mashing the berries.

Placing them in his cauldron, he stirred the mixture until it turned a dark red shade. Severus rose and went over to inspect his work. He sniffed the potion and raised an eyebrow at Neville.

"Nicely done, Mr. Longbottom, despite your near accident."

"Thank you, sir," Neville said, smiling.

Severus looked at a few other cauldrons, stopping at Hermione's brew. Poking his head over her cauldron, he took a close look at the liquid and straightened himself up.

"Miss Granger, a word after class, please," Severus said and returned to his desk.

oooOOOooo

"I'll catch up with you guys," Hermione told Ron and Harry at the end of class. She tossed her hair back away from her face and waited for the classroom to empty. Quickly she went up to Severus' desk.

"Was there something wrong with my work, Professor?" she asked curiously.

"No, Miss Granger, excellent work as usual," Severus told her.

Severus continued, "I could use some help with brewing. I have much I need to brew for the infirmary alone. It keeps me from brewing other things that are important to me. I was wondering if you were interested in helping me."

Hermione's eyes widened. "You want me to help you brew?" she asked in amazement.

"I believe I just said that," Severus said giving her a half smile.

"Wow, I'd love to, Professor. When do you want to start?"

"Tonight. Come to the lab at six. I'll need you twice a week. Does that fit into your busy schedule?"

She nodded and blushed a bit. Severus felt his heart flutter.

"All right then, get along before you're late for class."

"Thanks, Professor!" She grinned, spun around, and left.

oooOOOooo

As Severus sat at dinner, he found it hard to keep his eyes off Hermione. She wasn't his Hermione, of course, but she looked just like her. He had succeeded in building a good friendship with her, and he was glad about it. He was also glad that she so readily had agreed to help him brew. They had been brewing together for several weeks now and had a good working relationship. He enjoyed teaching her small tricks of the Potioneer's trade. She was easy to work with. Her brilliant mind caught on to everything quickly. He felt good when she was close by.

His eyes dropped from her down to the table as he saw Ron put his arm around her. He found himself drawn back to the two of them as they cuddled each other and stole a quick kiss. He'd had to look back at them just as that had happened. Now his chest felt tight, and he had a desire to punch Ron Weasley. Stupid jealousy. It was eating him up inside watching their relationship grow stronger. He wanted to be the one with his arm around her, kissing her, having her look at him the way she was looking at Weasley. He sighed. He just had to keep telling himself that time would pass and they would be together again in the future.

"Severus, have you even heard a word I've said?" Minerva McGonagall huffed at him.

He looked at her blankly. "Oh, sorry, Minerva. I wandered off for a minute there."

She repeated her joke, and he burst out laughing, attracting the attention of a few students who grinned at him as he chortled.

"Thank you, Minerva," he said to her. "I needed a good laugh."

Minerva glanced over at the Gryffindor table and noted the closeness of Weasley and Granger.

"Severus, I wish there were something I could do."

Severus frowned. "There's nothing anyone can do, Minerva. Time just needs to pass."

Minerva placed a comforting hand over his.

"I remember her devotion to you, Severus. Her return will make up for everything, I'm sure."

Severus nodded. "Do you have anymore jokes?" he asked, trying to keep his mind off the topic at hand.

Minerva smiled and began telling another amusing story.

oooOOOooo

"Hi, Professor, would you like some company?"

Severus looked up to see Harry standing in the door of his classroom. He furrowed his brow at the young man.

"Surely you have more important things to do than spend your evening with your teacher, Harry."

Harry shrugged. "Life's been so hectic lately, I feel like we haven't had a chance to communicate since the war ended."

Severus motioned to the chair in front of his desk. "Have a seat," he offered.

Harry got comfortable. "Do you plan on teaching here for a while, Professor?"

Severus thought about it. "I'm not sure... probably for a few more years, yes. Are you still planning on becoming an Auror?"

Harry nodded his head. "Both Ron and I are. We're trying to convince Hermione to do it too, but she always seems a bit reluctant to agree."

"Maybe she doesn't want to be an Auror," Severus said simply.

"And given her future, she probably won't become one, will she?" Harry asked sagely.

Severus sighed. "Harry, I told you when you first found out about that, that I couldn't speak about it with you."

"Can't you just tell me when she'll leave? Will it be soon?"

Severus' jaw tightened. "Harry, I really can't tell you."

"She'll tell me when she comes back, right?" Harry asked tentatively. "I mean, we'll still be friends, right?"

Severus relaxed a bit. "You're worried that, in your future, Hermione and you won't be friends if you choose different career paths?"

Harry nodded.

Severus thinned his lips, thinking of what he could say.

"I assure you, your friendship will be intact. She actually missed you quite a bit while she was gone."

Harry brightened. "Really?"

"Really, now drop it."

Harry snorted. "Okay, okay. Getting things out of you is worse than pulling teeth!"

"I wasn't a spy all of those years for nothing, Harry."

Harry grinned at him.

oooOOOooo

He watched as Hermione placed the last ingredient in the cauldron and stirred vigorously.

"Miss Granger, have you thought of becoming a Potions mistress?" he asked.

She glanced up at him in shock.

"Professor, I like Potions, but I could never be a Potions mistress!" she chuckled.

Severus walked over to her and leaned back against a table with his arms crossed in front of him.

"Why not?" he asked curiously.

She finished stirring and let the potion sit. Looking up at him, she said, "For one thing, I don't have the intuition for it."

"Pardon?"

"Take you for example. You just naturally know you should do something. I need to have everything written in front of me, or I mess myself up."

"I find, Miss Granger, that you only 'mess up' when you lack confidence in your abilities."

She looked at him curiously.

"Besides, it takes years of experience to have such an intuition. That's something you can develop."

She pondered his words while continuing to look at him.

"Think about it. The school year is almost over, and I would be happy to have you as an apprentice next year, if you choose to follow such a course."

She got excited. "You're offering me an apprenticeship?"

"Isn't that what I just said?" he deadpanned.

She laughed. It was like music to his ears.

"I accept," she said quickly.

He furrowed his brow. "I thought you said you weren't cut out to be a Potions mistress."

"But you wouldn't offer me the position if you didn't think I could do it! There must be something you see in me for you to offer such an opportunity. Besides, I would never turn down the opportunity to study more seriously with you, Professor Snape; you are an amazing teacher."

Severus blushed slightly. "Thank you, Miss Granger. That's probably enough kissing-up for one night. Why don't you head back to your dorm?"

"Okay," she said with a smile. She gathered up her bag and turned back to Severus. "Thank you again."

He watched her as she left.

Oh, if only I could tell you of our future, Hermione. But you're not my Hermione, are you? You continue to look like my love, but you are not. How I wish I could snap my fingers and make the remaining years disappear. But, alas, I must wait longer. I am forever waiting, forever yearning for you beside me.

Please, please, my love, come quickly.

oooOOOooo

About two years later:

Holding the stirrer with the snake head on it, Severus stirred his potion briskly in a figure-eight pattern. He had about four more minutes of stirring before it would be completed and he could put his stirring rod down. He looked up as Hermione burst into the room, a sour look on her face.

"Good Morning," he said deeply.

She glanced over to him and mumbled a good morning before going to the cabinet at the back of the room and extracting a cauldron. She walked over to the table next to him and banged the cauldron onto the table. She then stalked over to the bookshelf and extracted Most Potente Potions from it and slammed that down next to her cauldron. She rifled through the pages until she came to the potion she was to create. Running her finger down the ingredient list, she stalked over to the cabinet and began pulling ingredients off of the shelf in a furious manner. Those too were banged on the table.

"Hermione, would you please refrain from breaking my table with all of your banging?" Severus pleaded with her as he removed his stirrer from his concoction and left it to rest.

Hermione frowned and grumbled an apology. Taking her wand, she waved it over the cauldron and filled it with water. Pulling the vial of Essence of Heather off the table, she unstoppered it and placed three drops into the water, stirring vigorously. She needed to stir it for two minutes and then add three more drops of the Heather, so she held the flask as she stirred the mixture. Her thoughts were not on her work, though, but on the events that had upset her that morning. She stared into the cauldron not really seeing anything and grew tenser as time passed. Her grip on the flask tightened and tightened until the vial shattered in her palm.

"Oh!" she cried.

Severus rushed to her side and grabbed her hand, examining it. It had several ugly cuts from the glass. He led her to an armchair near the bookshelf and sat her in it. Conjuring up a chair for himself, he began to examine her wound. With a few flourishes of his wand, the hand was completely healed.

Hermione looked up at him. "Thank you," she muttered and looked down again.

"Perhaps you should return home, Hermione. Your mind is evidently not on your work today."

"No!" she said through gritted teeth. "I will not let him win!"

Severus narrowed his eyes at her. "Let who win?" he asked.

"Ron! He will not intimidate me into returning home for the day."

"What happened now?" Severus asked.

Hermione gave him a reluctant look. "He came by this morning and accused me of cheating on him... again... with you of all people!"

Severus' heart clenched in his chest. There was only friendship between Hermione and him. Ron, however, was a jealous prat and accused her of cheating almost on a daily basis. He was dismayed, however, to hear her disdain for the possibility that Severus and she could possibly be together.

"Yes, of all people," Severus said caustically.

"Oh, Severus, that's not what I meant! Any woman would be lucky to have your attention, really," she said as she put her hand on his arm. "It's just that you're my employer. It's not like I'm sneaking out of the house to meet you in indiscreet places. I'm just coming to work. Why can't he understand that?"

Severus relaxed with her explanation. He put his hand over hers.

"How long are you going to put up with this, Hermione? Didn't he accuse you of bedding Harry last week?"

Hermione looked down in embarrassment.

"And he thinks anyone you even smile at must be shagging you."

Hermione opened her mouth to contest his claim, but remembered the argument Ron and she had only yesterday about her friendliness to a passerby. She pulled her hand away and folded her arms in front of her. Her eyes became misty.

"I don't know what else I can do to convince him that he's the only one I want."

A stab of pain shot through Severus' entire body, but he remained calm. "Hermione, he may be my friend, but Ron is being a jealous fool."

"It must be something I'm doing wrong. I must not be paying enough attention to him."

Anger welled up within Severus. He knew what it was like to be showered with her love. Weasley was a fool. He ignored her ovations and sat around dreaming up situations that didn't exist so he could belittle her. Now she was falling for his needy accusations and blaming herself.

"Hermione, this is not your fault. Don't even think like that."

"Then why doesn't he trust me?" she whined, tears falling from her eyes.

Severus would have left immediately and strangled Weasley right then and there, but he knew that would only make Hermione angry. She needed to work this out herself and see for herself that the relationship was going nowhere.

"Hermione, he's an idiot."

Hermione gave him a wan smile. "Well, you certainly aren't beating around the bush, are you?"

Severus smirked. "You need to concentrate on yourself. He has destroyed your self-esteem. You are an amazing witch, but cannot recognize it because of the way he makes you feel." Severus mulled over his next statement, deciding to plod forward anyway. "He's no good for you, Hermione. He's destroying you."

Hermione looked down to the ground. "What am I going to do?" she asked plaintively.

"I cannot tell you that. You must decide for yourself. Go home, or just go for a walk or something. You are no good here today. You'll blow up half the castle in the state you're in."

Hermione looked back at Severus and reached her hand out to his once again. She grasped it and held it. Severus felt a jolt as their hands touched.

"Thank you, Severus. You're a good friend. I have some Arithmancy exams I could grade. Perhaps I won't destroy the castle if I do something that mundane."

Smiling at him, she rose and left the Potions lab. Severus stared after her. A good friend? She didn't know the half of it! He wished she would come to her senses and break up with the Weasley idiot. Her constant relationship with Weasley was killing him. He thought of her every night and wondered how she could hold on to the relationship when Ron was an utter fool.

When he saw them together, his mood became sullen, especially if the couple was getting along. He couldn't stand her showing affection to Ron when he treated her like a possession. It seemed Ron and she fought more often than not these days. He knew that she was not the type to let herself be beaten up verbally, but she clung to the relationship.

Watching her flounder made him just want to take her in his arms and comfort her. He wanted to tell her she deserved better and show her what she could have, but he could not. He would not interfere with her relationship. She was in love with Weasley, even though the dolt was killing her slowly with his jealousy. Severus' heart broke every time he saw her like this. The boy was destroying her spirit... the spirit Severus had fallen in love with.

His heart clenched within him. Why had he offered her a Potions apprenticeship? He had thought at the time it would be nice to have her beside him on a daily basis, but it had only proven to remind him of his Hermione and how much he'd missed her. He should have just left the country as he originally had planned, but when the time had come to make such a decision, he'd found he hadn't been able to separate himself from her like that. Whether she'd be with him or not, he'd needed to be near her. He'd rather watch her with Ron than to not have seen her at all.

His Hermione was still a year away from her return. He didn't know if he could last that long. Of course, he had lasted twenty-four years, but it seemed as the time drew nearer, he became more and more anxious for her return.

Leaving the lab, he went to his bedroom. He waved his wand over his side table, unlocking the top drawer. A small box lay in it, waiting to be lifted out. He stared at it for a while. Finally, he reached in and pulled it out. He placed the box on the bed and kneeled before it. Opening the lid, he scooped out the figure that was hidden away in it. His Hermione doll smiled up at him.

The little figure looked up and her beautiful smile grew wider. Tears formed in Severus' eyes. He wanted that woman back. He wanted her loving looks directed at him, not at a man who had no regard for her whatsoever.

Taking his finger, he stroked the figurine's hair. She began to speak to him.

"Severus, I will love you always," her beautiful voice said. "Thank you for seeing me as more than a know-it-all and for loving me as completely as you do. I don't know what I did to deserve you or your love, but I'm grateful for it. I want you to know that I cherish our time together and hold each moment deep in my heart. Always know that I am yours and will be forever."

Severus stared at the small figure for what seemed like hours. Tears that had been carefully held in check for years flowed down his cheeks.

"How are you to love me when you are still in love with Weasley?"

The doll frowned up at him and ran to his hand. She fell to her knees beside it and began to hug it ferociously. Severus watched through tear-filled eyes as the little doll soothed him with her small hugs. This was the woman he loved. She had traveled to the past and had fallen in love with him. That was his past. He remembered it clearly. No matter what was going on now, no matter whom Hermione Granger was in love with, some time in the near future, that relationship would end. She would fall in love with him and return, and they would be together once again. Severus sighed and dried his eyes. The little doll continued to hug the side of his hand tightly.

At last, he spoke. "I miss you, my love... more than you can imagine."

The little woman rose and rushed over to the edge of the bed near him, yanking at his robes when she'd gotten to them. He bent down close to her as she raced over to his cheek, kissing him lightly. He withdrew a bit and smiled down at his lovely, little doll.

"Things will be better with your return, Hermione. I just wish you would hurry up."

Severus stroked the doll's hair once again and listened to her message before boxing her up as he had done with the rest of his memories. He returned the box to its place in the drawer and locked it away again, along with his heart.

A/N: Next up: Answers! What's Lucius doing? What will Severus and Hermione do when they see each other? Why will Hermione go back to the past this time? Or will she? Bwahahahaha!

You can all do the happy dance now, because Hermione will be back with the next update. I do have to apologize for this long Ron infatuation. I should probably apologize to Severus too, poor guy.