Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Hermione had coaxed Severus out of his cottage, and they were settled on the couch in her living room, scouring through the copies that were left of the diary. Hermione had been staring at a diary entry for five minutes now. Unfortunately, her mind was really not on the task, and the entire page was nothing but a blur of words to her. Hermione put her page down and sighed. They had been searching through the large stack of copies for a week, with no other reference to Holt's summer home. She glanced over at Severus.

"Are you hungry?" she asked him.

Severus looked up at her. "I suppose," he mumbled.

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Well, either you are or you aren't."

Severus narrowed his eyes at her.

"Yes, Mummy, I'm hungry," he snapped.

Hermione snickered at him, and as she answered, her voice became patronizing. "What can I make you, sweetie? Would you like some chicken nuggets?"

Severus scowled at her.

"Forget it!" he raged.

Hermione laughed at him as she got up and went into the kitchen. She opened her refrigerator and examined the contents. She pulled out some roast beef and sandwich fixings. In a matter of minutes, she had made up two sandwiches and had some pumpkin juice poured into large glasses. She placed everything on a tray and carried it back into the living room. She placed it on the mahogany coffee table that sat in between the two couches. Grabbing a cup and a plate, she returned to her seat and started reading where she had left off. Severus didn't move to take his sandwich.

She looked over at him and watched him for a minute as he read. She admired his strong features as he concentrated on the paper in front of him.

"Is there something on my face?" Severus asked caustically.

"No, of course not," Hermione answered.

"Then what is so interesting that you are staring at me like that?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You haven't touched your sandwich. You said you were hungry."

Severus sighed. He reached over and took a huge bite of his sandwich and placed it back on the plate.

"Happy now?" he said with his mouth full.

"Ecstatic," Hermione said dryly and went back to her own lunch. She inwardly chuckled. He could be so childlike sometimes. It was annoyingly endearing.

They continued to work silently for a while, until there was a knock at her door. Hermione rose and answered it. She was surprised to find Pierre standing there with a bouquet of flowers. Pierre smiled at her as he pushed the flowers into her hand.

"These are for you, Mademoiselle," Pierre drawled.

"Oh, Pierre, thank you! They're lovely," Hermione said, not quite sure why Pierre was at her door at all, let alone giving her flowers.

"I have not 'eard from you in some time, 'Ermione. What 'ave you been up to?"

"I have been working a lot, Pierre. I'm sorry if you were expecting me to contact you."

"May I come in?"

Hermione hesitated. "Um... for a minute... sure."

Pierre walked past her in a flourish and noticed Severus sitting on the couch, glaring at him.

"Pierre Rousseau, this is Severus Snape. We are working together on a project."

Pierre bowed his head slightly, and Severus did the same before burying himself in the diary entry once again. Severus didn't know what to think about this handsome young man in Hermione's living room. She had not mentioned dating anyone, but why should she tell him such a personal thing about herself? He hadn't divulged anything about his personal life to her. Of course, besides her, he had no personal life, but that was beyond the point. He found himself a bit perturbed to find another man ogling her.

"I 'ave come to ask you, 'Ermione, if you would like to go to dinner again tonight?" Pierre asked.

Hermione frowned. This was the part about dating that she hated. She had no desire to see him again, but how to be nice about it?

"Well, Pierre," she said hesitantly, "I'm really too busy right now to go out to dinner. I have a deadline on a project, and I'm having an awful time accomplishing it in time."

Pierre frowned. "But 'Ermione, I 'ave made reservations for us tonight at an amazing restaurant in Paris."

Hermione scowled. "I'm sorry, Pierre, I can't."

"Come on, surely you can leave your work for a few 'ours. As I said, I 'ave already made all of the arrangements."

Hermione folded her arms in front of her. "Well, maybe you should have consulted me first before you made any arrangements!" Her anger increased as she stood there looking at his smug face. "I'm sorry, Pierre, I'm just not interested, okay? I had a lovely time the other night, but we really aren't well suited."

"But... but..."

"Thank you for the flowers, they are lovely," she said as she spun him around and headed for the door, pushing him along.

"'Ermione..."

"Say hi to Ron for me when you see him," she told him as she unceremoniously pushed him out the door and slammed it in his face.

She returned to her seat and flopped into it, glancing at Severus. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"What's so funny?" Hermione demanded.

"It seems you have a lot of practice throwing men out of your home."

"I'd watch what I'd say, Severus, or you'll be next!"

He arched an eyebrow at her, but decided to plod along anyway. He was incredibly happy that she was not interested in the very handsome man she had just pushed out of her home.

"He seemed like a nice enough fellow. Why did you scorn him, 'Ermione? Did 'e not make you 'appy?" Severus asked in a guttural, mock French accent.

Hermione folded her arms and rolled her eyes, letting a small chuckle escape her lips.

"He's a French Auror. He did nothing but talk about himself for the entire two hours we were dining. Then he looked put out with me when I knew a spell that he didn't. He's a pompous Frenchman."

"What spell was it that you told him about?" Severus asked curiously.

"Repello," she told him.

He nodded. "He's an Auror and didn't know that spell?"

Hermione looked at Severus. "See, that's what I thought!" she said in exasperation, waving her hands in the air. "How can you be in such a dangerous line of work and only use a simple Protego Spell for everything? Unfortunately, he didn't seem to find my insight helpful."

Severus scowled to himself. It seemed that most men did not take the advice of witches for fear it would somehow emasculate them. He never really understood why that was so. He had found witches like Lily, Minerva McGonagall, and Hermione to be very adept at what they did. He came out of his musing as Hermione asked him something.

"Why are you frowning?" she questioned.

Severus sighed. "It just seems foolish to me to discount someone's advice, simply because they are a witch."

Hermione smiled at him brightly. If he hadn't been Severus Snape, she would have hugged him right there. She didn't want to go overboard, however, and scare him off. She did, however, feel daring enough to make the next statement.

"I knew I liked you for a good reason!" she exclaimed.

Severus looked at her in utter shock.

"Nobody likes me," he said finally.

Hermione laughed. "Oh, of course they do, you just don't give anyone a chance to show that they like you."

Severus looked down at his lap, not knowing what to say to that.

"Minerva McGonagall likes you," Hermione went on.

"Yes, that's why she tried to kill me during the Final Battle."

"Severus, she had a good reason to do that. You had led her and everyone else to believe that you were fighting against us."

Severus scowled. He hated talking about the war and his past.

"I'm sorry, Severus. I didn't mean to bring up unsettling memories," Hermione said as she looked down to her lap also.

Severus sat silently for a while. Finally he spoke.

"That's alright. I cannot run from the past forever," he said quietly.

Hermione took a chance and moved closer to him, placing her hand on top of his.

"Severus, you should recognize all of the good you did."

Severus scowled, but did not look at her.

"Yes, lying, killing, beating, abducting, standing by and watching children be tortured, these are all good things that I did."

"Stop it!" Hermione said sharply.

Severus looked at her curiously.

"Stop it this instant! If it wasn't for you, we would have lost this war. You made it so that Harry survived and was able to defeat Voldemort. You risked your life on a daily basis to help defeat him. You did what you had to do to survive. Stop making yourself out to be a villain. You aren't one."

Severus looked back down into his lap. Hermione's hand remained on his hand. He stared at it, but had no desire to pull away. She squeezed his hand slightly, and he looked back up at her.

"You believe me, don't you?" she asked him.

"Of course not, but you are entitled to your opinion."

Hermione chuckled. "I should expect no less from you. Opinion or not, that's how I see it, and I believe most of the Wizarding world sees it the same way."

"You are delusional then," Severus said quietly.

Hermione tilted her head and regarded Severus thoughtfully.

"And you, sir, don't give others enough credit."

Severus' head snapped to hers.

"Why should I give them credit, Hermione? Why? Did they ever give me credit? Did they? No! It has always been Don't trust Snape. He's worthless. He's a spy. He can't be trusted.  Why would Dumbledore trust him?  He's devious." Severus' voice was getting louder by the minute.  "Snape is evil. Don't let your guard down around him.  Ignore him, and maybe he'll go away. Don't turn your back on him or he'll hex you. He hates everyone. He doesn't deserve to be cared about!"

His voice had risen so much that Hermione was tempted to block her ears. His statements were filled with pain. Hermione's eyes had filled with tears as she had watched his pain pour out with his bitter words. She closed her eyes now and looked away from him. Crossing her arms in front of her, she willed herself to stop crying.

"I never felt that way about you," she said softly.

"No?" he roared. "You never felt that way when I killed Dumbledore?"

She winced and turned back to him. "I was shocked when that happened, but part of me knew there was another explanation for what you had done. I really found it hard to believe that you would just murder Dumbledore outright."

Severus reeled back as if he had been slapped. No one had trusted in him. Not even the people he had been closest to. How could she have?

"Why would you have thought that?" he said in astonishment.

Hermione shrugged. "All those nights spent reading in the Grimmauld Place study together taught me something about you. Back then, for the first time, I realized you weren't the nasty professor you would have liked us to think you were. I realized that somewhere deep down, you were more than what you showed everyone else. If we all could be so wrong about you on such a simple level, we certainly could be wrong about you in relation to Dumbledore's death."

He looked at her, not willing to believe what she was saying.

Hermione stared off in front of her, deep in thought.

"Dumbledore always said you were trustworthy. He knew you better than practically anybody. I chose to believe Dumbledore."

Severus simply stared at her as she stared ahead. Of all the people to believe the best in him, it had been Hermione Granger, the student he had mocked so often. He looked to her and felt something, but couldn't place the feeling. Was it gratitude? Was he grateful that someone in the world had seen him for what he truly was? Was it relief that there had been one person who could look behind his awful deed and see another possibility? He wasn't sure, but it was something, and he wouldn't let it slip by without a mention.

"Hermione," he said to her.

Hermione turned and looked at him with big eyes. His heart melted at the sight. She looked to him with understanding. She looked to him without pity, without judgment. She looked to him with friendship.

"Thank you," he said, a bit choked up, "for believing in me when no one else did."

She smiled then. It lit up the whole room. He would give anything to have her smile at him like that every day.

"I was afraid you were going to yell at me and call me a fool," she admitted. "This was much nicer."

Severus smiled back at her, but only for an instant.

"We should get back to work," he said finally.

"What? Oh, yes, we should," Hermione said and began to study her diary entry again.

oooOOOooo

Severus' demeanor changed dramatically after that. He never lost his sarcasm, but he seemed to lighten up considerably with Hermione. Realizing that he had an ally in the young woman had left Severus amazed. He had assumed that she had only tolerated him, like everyone else he knew. But she had proven that she thought more of him than that. His attitude towards her began to change slowly as he realized that she truly considered him a friend. He even began considering her a good friend in return.

He was reticent to think of her as anything more at this point, although part of him wanted to. He didn't think she had more interest in him other than friendship. He couldn't fathom her thinking of him as anything more. Women just didn't think of him in that way. Perhaps he was too dark to be loved. Severus grimaced. It seemed he was to live the life of a hermit forever. Granger and her mission would end eventually, and she would go about her merry life, forgetting she even worked with him. He would be left to himself again. How utterly depressing.

oooOOOooo

Hermione, on her part, thanked Merlin for small favors. She felt that their talk had actually moved them along quite nicely in the friendship department. The trust that she had lost from him weeks ago now seemed to be restored. It even seemed to be stronger than it had been originally. Now maybe it would only take forty years to thaw the ice and make him love her.

A/N: Next up: Another clue that leads to a trip to the Ministry.

I hope you all enjoyed today's installment. Leave a review and tell me what you thought. Thank you all for reading, and thanks to my mystery beta, lurking in the shadows, editing furiously.