Tension

It was around noon that Hermione finally gave up pretending to sleep and forced herself out of bed for a quick shower. While she tiredly scrubbed her hair, she kept thinking about the meeting and all it would entail. She knew there would be looks of pity and anger, confusion and even curiosity. She just didn't know how to handle them, despite the logical way... ignoring them. There really would be no way to ignore them when there would be so many people there. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Hermione toweled herself dry and stood before the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the bathroom door.

She studied herself carefully as she looked at her naked body. The front was almost as it should be, really. She was quite well put together for a young woman her age, with only the slightest hints of the scars at the very edges of her skin in the view. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she slowly turned her body, keeping her head still so that she could view the damage she knew would ruin her momentary fancy. Though the scars were not as red as they had once been, the raised texture of them cast small lines of shadow, insuring that the damage to her body would been seen for how truly bad it was. Hermione steeled herself and finished dressing, making a mental note to have someone remove the mirror before the next time she set foot into her bathroom.

She exited the bathroom and stopped for a moment when she noticed Remus sitting on the couch, eating off the tray of food that sat on the coffee table. She smiled lightly as she approached and quietly ate her own food that he had brought for her. "So... interesting little conversation we had with Molly last night," Remus said carefully, hoping to get the awkwardness of that situation out of the way before he said what was really on his mind.

"Interesting is not the word I would choose to describe her little diatribe last night, Remus. Nosy, delusional... now those might be more appropriate descriptions. I still can't believe she would deduce something so horrible from someone walking through a different doorway... no. Not to mention that if her fantastical theory were true, it would be bad. Who is she to judge? It's none of her business!" Hermione finished with a huff.

Remus tactfully measured his words before he spoke. "Hermione, you need to realize that with Harry and Ron gone, most of her family hardly present since we're all busy, you are a bigger focus for her 'mothering.' She thrives on being a mother, a caretaker if you will. So as any right-minded mother would, she deduced the worst just in case it was true... and in her mind she's scared some sense into the both of you. Now I know her assumptions were wrong, but it all comes down to her doing her duty as a mother. She would be lost without that, hence the 'mollycoddling' – no pun intended," he said with a smile. "And since we're on the topic, may I inquire as to the truth of your feelings?" he asked carefully, putting up his hands to stall the obvious lecture he was about to receive. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, and I know that it's none of my business. But as a friend I would like to be here to help you, if you need to talk. So...is there something worth talking about?"

Hermione glared at him for a moment and then grudgingly gave him a half smile. "Honestly? I think he's a good friend, albeit a strange one. It's really hard to tell at all if he feels the same, though I get the impression he does. Severus isn't exactly the type of person you can just be a friend to, you know what I mean?" she remarked, smiling when Remus nodded instantly in agreement. "I can say that I no longer think of him as my snarky old professor who used to torture me in class," she added, giggling. With a more serious face she went on to say, "No, Severus Snape is not your average friend. He's more than that for me. I think there's an invisible but very strong bond between us. Ever since that night when he rescued me from that hell-hole," she said, the last words so quiet that if Remus didn't have increased hearing due to his curse, he wouldn't have heard her.

Remus absorbed her words, then replied, "I can't claim such closeness as that with him, but from my years of experience trying to decipher his personality and moods, I can honestly tell you I have no doubt he thinks the same thing about you. Just remember not to take offense if he stiffens up and pushes you away. After the pain Severus suffered during the first war, losing the only true friend he had back then, he's more than likely going to tread carefully when it comes to letting down the wall he's built up. I know we all view him as one of the bravest wizards in this war, but when it comes to his feelings for others, he's weary of putting himself in a situation where he could experience such pain again."

Hermione nodded as she finished off her tea. She knew very well that men such as Severus were hard to reach for such reasons. And knowing that it was Lily that he'd lost, she could only imagine how truly pained he was by memories of her... all the more reason for Hermione to not push her friendship on him. After a few parting words, she left her room and headed straight for the lab, careful to not wake the still slumbering Severus as she opened the door.

~{}~

Hermione's face hurt from keeping up her fake smile. Her heart ached every time she caught a glimpse of sympathy from the various members of the Order. She had spent a mere hour working on notes for the meeting she was going to host when Severus had arrived in the lab and told her to put her work away and go visit with everyone that was present upstairs. She'd protested, claiming that she needed to work on her "speech," but Severus, being who he was, would hear none of it and banished her from the lab until she did as she was told.

When she first entered the enormous sitting room, she paled when she realized that nearly everyone in the Order was present and spread out among the twelve couches, twenty-something chairs, and four plush window seats. Schooling her features, she ignored how silent the room had become and went about the torturous job of saying hi to everyone. One by one Hermione drifted from fake conversation to even more fake conversation, well aware that each time she walked away to greet someone else she was followed by open stares and whispered worries. She had hoped that since the majority of those present were usually considered responsible adults, they would act as such; but the simple fact was that she was far too interesting for them to ignore. Hermione knew that beyond that, everyone really did care about her, but even the most well-intentioned person would be all the more likely be unable to resist gossiping a bit... even about someone they cared for.

It was by the grace of Merlin that the first real gathering with "people," that had Hermione running towards the library an hour after entering the sitting room, was over. She didn't even pause to examine her surroundings when she entered the circular stairway that was only a couple of floors away from the lab. As soon as the mirror-door shut, Hermione sat down and cried.

~{}~

Severus's heart throbbed painfully as he listened to the crying coming from the library stairs. Several times he nearly dropped what he was doing, thinking to attempt some out-of-character rush to console Hermione, but then his normal senses returned and he told himself she wouldn't want him bothering her. So when he heard the obvious sounds of her footsteps, he tactfully concentrated on his work as she entered the room, honoring her pain by not embarrassing her with his knowledge of it.

Without looking up from the cauldron in front of him, Severus cleared his throat and said, "Now that all that useless consorting is finished, I would like you to get busy with your work. You'd better have eaten a good lunch, since I intend for us to work through the night. I need you to prepare all of the ingredients for the blood-magic base potion, but not with the small cauldron you've been using. I want you to make use of the twenty-gallon cauldron over there and make a large enough amount to stockpile. We'll need as much of the base as possible ready for the meeting so everyone can give us their blood. If we're going to start experimenting with our actual goal by the end of the week, we'll need as many phials as possible."

Hermione didn't even wait for him to finish his instructions before putting on her gloves and pulling back her hair. She shook off her crying fit as she immersed herself in one of the things she loved the most.

Work.

Severus smirked to himself, happy that he could help in that small way. A busy Hermione was a happy Hermione.

~{}~

Severus ate his food in silence, though his thoughts were nothing close to quiet. Hermione sat next to him eating from her own tray, both of them having grown quite famished by having worked until one in the morning without a break. As their work had progressed through the afternoon into the evening, Severus' mind kept going back to the night before when Molly had accused him of acting in a less than gentlemanly manner – to put it nicely. At first thought it was laughable for him to even consider it. But after hours of thinking about it when he wasn't concentrating on specific tasks, the idea had him almost nervous. The last person who had so consumed his thoughts – besides Voldemort – had been Lily Potter.

This led him to this moment, one he had sworn he never would be at again. The moment when he wished he could vocalize his wish to associate more often with someone in a non-work related atmosphere. Severus, being as analytical as he was, knew his feelings were crowding him once more... and he was at a loss as to how to share them. So he did the only thing he knew how to do. He kept his mouth shut and decided that if by chance Hermione shared his feelings, he could wait until she made the first move. He just didn't realize how soon that would happen.

"Severus, I was wondering if we could do something other than hang out in the wonderfully equipped lab when we sit down to make our official game plan," Hermione said quietly, watching him carefully to see his reaction.

"What exactly did you have in mind, Hermione?" he asked just as quietly, curious.

"Well, let's go somewhere that isn't enclosed so we can breathe fresh air to help us think more clearly. I know you must have mastered the skill of overcoming the scented steam that constantly hovers over our heads, but I haven't. It's suffocating sometimes, and I think it would be good for us to be as clear-headed as possible when we work on the plan," she said carefully, hoping he would agree to think about it at least.

At first his mind entertained horrible memories of the last time she had gone on such a trip for work, but when he really thought about it, he knew that such a trip under the right and, more importantly, safe circumstances would be really good for her. Not to mention that it would give them both a chance to traverse the difficulty of becoming friends.

"Very well. I'll let you know after the meeting if I can come up with the perfect location that will stimulate your ability to help me plan. In the mean time we need to finish what we're doing and then make a list of our ingredients so I know what we need to replenish," he said, getting up from his chair with a flourish to continue working. Hermione did the same, and both of them did their best to hold back the faint smiles that threatened to burst onto their faces.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this update, as short as it was! I also hope you forgive any differences in my writing lol. I've noticed while re-reading chapters that my writing sometimes (at least to my eyes) changes a bit; mostly it depends on what I've been reading at the time. I will tell you as of a few hours ago I finished a four-day marathon reading 'Eragon' and 'Eldest'. So maybe for those of you who have read them yourself, you understand lol. Okay, I will quite rambling now so that you can get on with reviewing this chapter!!! *HUGS* ;p