Chapter 2
Chapter 2 of 7
Battle of LissaSequel to Bound to Happen. Jealous. Possessive. Endlessly devoted. Such words could easily describe a man like Severus Snape, especially in regards to his wife. Unfortunately, Snape finds himself in the position of shielding Hermione from the temptation of a hot-blooded and disturbingly older man—himself. Story beta'ed by Madbrilliant, luvsev and Southernwitch!
Reviewed"FUCKING HELL!" Snape bellowed ferociously, face twisted into total disgust and loathing.
Every student flinched in fear and astonishment, but none so violently as Hermione.
Professor Snape's rage might have scared everyone, but for reasons unknown, he looked directly at her.
A flash of bright, white light erupted in the hall. Glancing down, Hermione was appalled to realize that she was holding Dennis' camera.
Face pale, Hermione threw the camera back into Dennis' hands and demanded, "Develop it now!"
"I don't...if you're that worried, forget about it. I'll destroy it."
"Just develop it and give it to me!"
Dennis flinched back slightly.
"NOW!"
As soon as the photograph appeared, Hermione snatched it out of his hand and stuffed it into her sack. She was about to walk away before she realized how horrid she was acting.
"I... I'm sorry, Dennis. I took this photo completely by accident." Coming up to stand beside him, Hermione reached up to squeeze his shoulder in apology. "As I said before, I want nothing to do with your camera. So any evidence concerning me is terrifying."
He smiled softly. Glancing at her sack, he asked, "Aren't you even going to look at it?"
"Of course not!" she replied a bit too quickly.
Dennis frowned. But due to the total havoc that had erupted in the Great Hall, all thoughts of the photo were soon forgotten.
The intimate group of friends were practically running back to their common room. As soon as the mild hysteria had shown no signs of tapering, and directly after Professor Snape had stormed out of the Great Hall, McGonagall demanded all the students to turn in for the night.
Only a handful of the students had read that horrid article. Of course, this meant that the rumors were already extreme, with every student begging Hermione and company for details.
None of them felt like elaborating. Especially since everyone could just read it for themselves tomorrow morning regardless.
Matching her brisk pace, Harry quickly caught up to Hermione. "It just couldn't be that easy, could it?" he snorted.
Hermione turned to look at him expectantly.
"Life after Voldemort," he clarified.
"I never expected it to be, quite honestly."
Not very long after the Gryffindor students reached their common room, the Floo erupted in green flames. Headmistress McGonagall's face appeared and immediately called for Harry.
"What now?" he responded abruptly, entirely unconcerned for niceties.
"We're having a meeting in my office this instant. I need you to gather--for heaven's sake, Severus! If you scream at me one more time, I swear to Merlin I'll..."
"Gather whom?" Harry demanded loudly.
"Whom do you think?" she barked back. "If you can't manage it, have Hermione remind you how to use the coins."
As soon as the green flames vanished, Hermione sighed in defeat. "I'm on it."
Retrieving a coin from her pocket, Hermione notified all of the student Order members that they were to meet in the Headmistress' office immediately.
Standing beside the portrait hole, Dennis had grown wary while he'd observed Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville huddled together, intentionally speaking under their breath and only to each other.
"Where are you going?" he demanded.
Impatiently yanking the strap of her book sack off her shoulder, Hermione replied, "To speak with the Headmistress. Don't look at me like that, you know you can't come. She specifically requested us."
Hermione caught Dennis shiftily eye her sack on the floor. A corner of the photo she had taken was sticking out of the pocket. She wasn't the least bit eager to look at it, but all the same she couldn't bear the idea of anyone else seeing it either.
Snatching the photo, Hermione carelessly shoved it into her pocket and followed her friends out of the common room.
"There were only vague rumors!" McGonagall shrieked before catching herself and continuing with forced discipline. "How many more times am I to repeat myself?"
"You should have warned us," Professor Snape repeated as well, voice ringing with thinly controlled anger.
The arguments continued like this for nearly an hour, both in excessive volume and irrationality, and solely between the veteran Order members. After longer than they were willing to admit, the shouting had finally died down once they all realized that the younger adults...the students under 21...had remained dazedly silent since entering the office.
As if snapping out of some trance, the students finally returned the expectant stares sent at them with fiercely uncomfortable expressions of their own. Defeated and tired, each one of them secretly hoped that at any moment someone would say that everything was going to be all right...that what they had read in The Quibbler had been a mistake.
"Is it really as bad as before, Minerva?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Before?"
Minerva turned towards Harry, gently answering his question and elaborating on Hermione's comment. "Such laws have been passed every few hundred years or so at times of population declines or civil unrest."
"So that's it then?" Ron challenged, the first of the students to display any measure of anger. "We're all on a time limit to get married? And what's this rubbish about blood-mixing?"
"In the hopes of preventing the number of Squib..."
"You cannot tell me that people still believe such outdated tripe?"
The Headmistress glared in response to the young woman's interruption. "I did not make the law, Hermione, so mind your tone!"
Hermione casually glanced at Professor Snape standing against the wall and stressed a comment he had made earlier. "You could have warned us."
"And what purpose would that have served? It wouldn't have changed any of our circumstances."
"You mean our circumstances," Hermione hissed, her face flushing at the uncharacteristic display of aggression to an authority figure, "seeing as how this won't affect you."
The office silenced for a few awkward seconds. Hermione refused to divert her glare until Minerva glanced away in obvious discomfort.
"What?"
Hermione quickly turned in the direction of Professor Snape's impatient voice. Overwhelmed by his unwavering and penetrating eye contact, she glanced at the floor. "Identical to the laws of years past, this... Marriage Enhancement Act... won't apply to Minerva or any other witch over 70 years-old. Same goes for men over 100. After all, the whole point of these forced marriages is to increase reproductive rates..."
Professor Snape pinched the bridge between his brow and groaned at the same time Minerva yelled, "Thank you for the history lesson, Hermione. We can always count on you to give answers to questions no one has asked!"
"Do not scream at her," an eerily cold, silent voice commanded.
Stunned, Hermione turned to Professor Snape again and muttered, "T-thank you, Professor..."
He eyed her callously and interrupted, "And I don't believe I was speaking to you, Miss Granger."
"Enough!"
Once Headmistress McGonagall had finally managed to return order to the meeting, she suggested everyone to retire for the evening. It was decided that they'd continue this discussion once the news publicly broke to the wizarding world tomorrow morning in the papers.
Hermione had stayed rooted in her seat until a specific wizard had exited the office before her.
Swallowing repeatedly, Hermione nervously descended the spiral staircase, working up her courage.
"Professor?" Her cautious voice echoed across the corridor.
Professor Snape froze mid-stride, his back straightening with ominous precision. Turning around very slowly, he pierced Hermione with a silent glare before ultimately cocking one brow. When she'd failed to speak straight away, he closed the few steps needed to loom over her.
"What do you want?" he asked with exaggerated patience.
Hermione snapped to attention. She hadn't meant to stare, but after everything she had witnessed in the Shrieking Shack, she couldn't help taking advantage of their close proximity to compare his current appearance to before the incident. His greasy hair hung lifelessly on both sides of his face, hiding the majority of his features. Tall, thin, and terrifying, he looked almost exactly the same.
Hermione struggled to return to her previous train of thought before she'd called out to him. "Want? Oh! I just wanted to tell you... well..."
"What?"
Hermione jerked at his bark. Frowning to herself and dismayed at her unexplainable melancholy, she finally muttered, "Welcome back, sir."
His eyes narrowed sharply.
Similar to a situation they had shared a few years back, when it seemed Professor Snape was about to open his mouth, Hermione turned on her heel and fled, not wanting to risk the chance of his words containing more venom.
Hermione sighed as she slowly began to undress.
Lavender and Parvati's four posters were noiseless, bed-curtains completely drawn. Charmed into impregnable silence, Hermione gathered she'd do the same as well. It was the only privacy one could attain in sharing a room.
Shaking out her cloak, she froze when the photo flew out of her pocket and landed on her bed face down.
She dreaded, hoped, and feared the idea of finding out who was in the picture. Hermione had a terribly anxious hunch...
Encased in her own bubble of privacy, Hermione settled herself beneath the bedclothes and took two deep breaths before placing both hands on the picture.
She didn't exactly know why she was so nervous to find out what it revealed. Perhaps, a very rational part of her brain acknowledged, that not only had it been illegal to take and keep such a picture, but it also might contain the image of the last wizard in the world who'd want his emotions revealed to a mere acquaintance.
Hermione knew the right thing to do would be to destroy it this instant... but she couldn't.
Taking a few more calming breaths, she flipped the photo over and brought it up to her nose.
Her heart plummeted.
There Professor Snape was, seated at the Head Table and dead center in the photograph. He gazed back at Hermione, his expression saturated in infuriated horror. He maintained that expression for a few seconds, as if he were challenging Hermione to look away. Finally, his face altered. Teeth bared, eyes clenched, Snape looked away in defeated disappointment.
Hermione dropped the photo when it began all over again.
Like every other experience, emotion, and thought she had suffered due to this wizard, Hermione was left with the familiar feeling that no matter how much she learned of Professor Snape, sense and logic continued to hover just outside her grasp.
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Latest 25 Reviews for Bound to Happen Again
180 Reviews | 6.54/10 Average
Loving this story, please continue :)
Love Sonia
Oh Gods, it stopped here?!
*heart is pounding, yet this hasn't been updated in 3 years*
Please forgive my stalker-ish tendencies, but I may need to raid all your other profiles to see if you've continued this elsewhere.
I have found tomorrow's goal! :D
Thank you for sharing this, I've been riveted through the last hour or so reading it.
I dont know if you, ever have the intention of finishing this, but i truely hope you do. I love this and fic. And I hope you get this message and Maybe it may inspire another chapter. I hope do. Thank you for writing this...:)
Oh, I am loving this story. Just wondering if you intend to finish it?Eagerly awaiting your reply, Sonia :)
Response from Battle of Lissa (Author of Bound to Happen Again)
Thank you so much for your reviews! And yes, I intend to finish it :) So happy for your read!
Response from sbrande (Reviewer)
Of course babe. Take your time with it as I shall be here waiting for your return.Love Sonia :)
Love this story so far! Please update soon! :D
beaten, he is simply beaten.
As I am.
Your story rocks.
your talent to tell this rocks.
I want more!!!!
You spoil us here, are you aware of this?
I like every bit of this chapter.
And - need I say it - the very last scene was so intense, I lived and breathed and felt evey moment of it, heard her tears in her voice and saw his astonished face. Yes, he is an idiot.
I do so like, how she handles him, adresses him at the various occasions the trip, the stay at her home and then back at his office give her or she simply takes.
The chemistry is just like the air between them is soo full of tension, they are dancing around each other. Who is the torero who the torro? Are they dancing Tango? It feels like that to me. Brilliant.
I do so like it!
When will be the next chapter up?
Or did you abandone your story?
I hope not. I would bang on your door all day long, until being heard and granted a new chapter.
Your fans would soo like it, belive me.
so please, continue your grand work.
oh how dreadfull. You storm into your room for refuge, for crying your heart out. and then you have to make a happy face for your Birthday Party.
all so contrarian. Idiotic. But that is life. Catches you at the worst moments.
And then her conversation with Denny. Wich was interruped by Malfoy. What is her plan with the camera? That everybody should be photographed with it? to reveal the real intentions of the respective person?
Good idea.
And then Malfoys act. Hermione sends Denny away and says, she might not need him. HA!
Well, ok, she did manage all by herself. And brilliantly, just as you explained. Had she done more or less, it would have been all to his best, now it was his torture. Well done girl!
Good, that she avoids eye contact with Snape from now on. She is really furious. As she showes in the Dungeon scene. Heart stopped to beat there, I must say.
She can make a scene, my!! and he ? sits and can't move.
And when he thinks he has her in hand and make her suffer for it, then he realises that she has Him in hand. tadaa! I like these twists these tricks the heart plays to one. irrational. That is the last thing Snape could need right now. And he is escorting her *trallala sing*
I don't know if I like Ginny here, all the greedy girl. Wait until her photograph is taken. ouch.
what a wonderful chapter.Grand stuffyou have a hand for dialogues, and building sceneries, and protraying people with mere brushstrokes.I liked the conversations a lotI liked how Hermione - again - stands up before Severus, and reminds him of how his behaviour is not wanted and not needed and she has not to bear it any more.Yes. she is growing. She has durign her year on the run. She found her Self.Chapeau.She can deal with a Malfoy, find relive in laughter, everything seems to float, even if not light, nothing can be light in such times where everything is moving, emotins, lifes, everthing. But she is on track. She pins Snape down. And he.oh, They are so interesting.just like equals.or becoming equals.Snape has to deal with a Malfoy as a rival.ouch.He himself is his worst rival of all, to be sure.it is so much fun to read this and watch the story procede.I like it very much.
Response from salvamea (Reviewer)
oh, skipped the last paragraph.she was in the classroom! I guessed right.Well, girl, this was not so very good.For her it seems to fit. But his intentions were quite different, He wants to lead Malfoy off the track, I think? oh poor suffering Hermione.Wonder how she will repay him.
Very revealing lines here I like them very much:
In death, that was when he had completely and unreservedly admitted to himself that he wanted her.
But ‘want’ was a very open-ended word.
And here, the teaser itself, He wanted her to have a reason to marry him? here he got it.
But unfortunately it will put him into the mind of many many willing witches. Poor Sod, will have a lot of fanpost to sort now... hehe :
SNAPE, THE MOST ELIGIBLE BASTARD!”
You and your ideas, just grand!
Her Jeans attract her to him. And against his will. Oh fate is soo cruel... tehe
Much as I like her staning up before him in a point she finds important, I can not see, why she would WANT to be called just Granger, without the Miss. Iwould probably have killed anybody, who would have just called me that. I find it so disrespectfull. I am glad he does it the way he does.
What is her point here?
Draco and a Hogwarts - WE meeting/date.
Didn't I say he'd play one of the suitors?
HA!
And now she gets one single sentence out of Ron. And what is it? An insult. oh thank you very much.
He really marked a new low in defining bad behaviour.
Oh boy.
Now she is called "Gold-digger" not nice.
And all the while all girls chat about Snape as the best Gold - claim to dig at. How utterly cool.
You have wonderful ideas. About how he collected all the money and all and how he becomes "Desirable No. One" and all.
Ah, but in this classroom, I get paid to do so.
This one really made me laugh out loud !!!
so truely Snape.
But he reminds Ron of his "duties" as her peer.
He does want to make sure, who is around her or not any longer around her, doesn't he. He is really jeleaous and chivalric. *sigh*
from gettin up till going to bed, it is Snape in her head and around her, pinning her to a wall, giving icy comments.
Here we have Draco.
Well, I can make out 3 suitors? Ron, Draco, Severus, Dennis is out, why am I glad about it...?
Cool, that you invite Draco around.
Curious, what will become of it.
And the more frequent Hogwarts weekends and dances.
Much to do here, many interesting meetings and events ahead, am I right?
I like it, when she shows less fear from him. Of course she is right. there are worse and mor frightfull things than him.
ha!
They're not there, I'm alone!" wondeful line.
He and his trio. Can't live with nor without them... teehee.
Kind of Neurosis? Psychosis?
She can't marry anyone she wasn't breathtakingly in love with. To much Disney in her childhood, definitely. Spoilt for ever. well, she can develop new attitudes towards love and marriage. or find the love of her life. or her soulmate.
Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful chapter.
hey, cruel you!
made it thrilling to hold back the moment of facing the photograph with all possible twists and turns. My heart almost stopped when Dennis offered to destroy the photograph. Never!
The meeting in McGonagalls office was quite frustrating and leading to nothing but insults. oh my, they are really under distress. Hope the future meetings will bring some results.
Found it chivalric of him to help her when the headmistress was nagging away.
And found it perfect when she told him her "Welcome back" This was a very nice and very Hermione gesture.
But I cannot make out what the picture is telling us.
The fear/horror ( to loose her? and then the disspointment of realising that she wouldn't care that he wouldn't get her?
hope so.
The camera reveals it the camera reveals it. right?What will the picture show, Snape and his care/ sorrow or anything else he harabours for her for her?I am so glad, that I don't have to wait for the next chapter. It is there, waiting for me. oh thank you soo much for continuing your story.This is wonderful to read.First the sum up of what happens when he first meets her pre-teen until shortly after the end of the war.So it wasn't her, who safed him. aha. might have been the little extra, but isn't inevitable for the developement, I think. I like your little scenes at Grimmauld Place. the chair, the covering, the earring...Her reading between the lines, his "I don't want to have to do with her let alone marry her", but then on the other hand it is HIS Hermione. oh, it is a complicated life, when you had a peak into your future life 10 years or 5 years later. It preys on his mind. It puts her into the center of his thoughts, a place where she never would have been without the time turner business.or would she?interesting interesting.Thanks for sharing!
Response from salvamea (Reviewer)
I'm so glad, I finally found your second part of your timeturner story!
Love it so far! More please?
when can we get more?
I am delighted to stumble upon this. I hope to read more soon!
Haha, this was excellent! I love the interactions between Snape and Hermione's grandma especially. :)
I really love this story. And when is SS going to realize and admit to himself that he's in love with HG?! Goodness, that man is dense (and yes, neck deep in denial). BTW, you wrote it beautifully.
For the briefest of moments, he thought he was twenty-four years old again, absconded in some forbidden reality while his future wife argued with the family house-elf.
Hazed mind gathering itself into consciousness, Snape was aware of a strange heaviness in his chest at the recognition of such a thing being furthest from the truth.
Update soon!
I am completely, utterly, hopelessly devoted to this story! I loved his quiet "'Do not hit me.'" I can't really explain why, but that simple sentence profoundly affected me.
I eagerly await the next update!
What a chapter! The Grandmother seems to be a bit of a witch herself. Anyway....I don't think Severus went about proposing properly. Well I guess it will all work out in the end. Update again soon!
Thanks
Oh, my. Grandmother or no, I would have hexed her. She reminds me of my father's mother. I couldn't stand her.
No wonder Snape didn't want his past self around Hermione in the future. Idiot! I love this! It took me a sec to figure out the house was their house, that was neat touch.
Thank you for this marvelous update! It's been a wild ride from beginning to end.
Grandmother Granger is a bit of a harridan, isn't she? It surprised me was that she would sell Hermione's parents home right out from under them without giving them the chance to buy it back. What's up with that?
The thing that really blew me away was that this house was the one that Mr. and Mrs. Snape lived in, and that Severus had live in with them when he had his "accident" with the Time-Turner. Now the time lines really begin to twist and turn in my mind like a whirling mass of spaghette in a tornado.
While his proposal of marriage to Hermione lacked romance or anything resembling a heartfelt desire on his part, I can see that he just doesn't understand how women think and feel. Perhaps being turned down by the woman he feels he is destined to marry will bring him to some insight on the finer points of wooing a wtich. Even Draco could give him a few pointers, but I just don't see Severus telling the young man about his proposal to Hermione.
“This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen…”
I can't wait to ready your next update. And Congrats on the OWL Awards!
Hugs, Beth
What an exciting chapter! So her grandmother bought the house that she and Snape end up in. I can only imagine that when she puts it up for sale, he will buy it.
I can't blame Hermione for turning him down. If he has to work for her he will appreciate her more. Besides, this proves to him that she doesn't want him for his money like all the other flirtatious girls.
I can hardly wait to see who takes her to the ball. Snape? Will he ask her out on a "date" in an attempt to win her heart?
Excellent! Loved the harpy, too. That line about SS being nice to HG because he was intimidated by the competition in the instilling-fear department was priceless.
Great job portraying the confusing, mixed emotions SS is going through, as well as his overlapping realities. You had me right there with him.
And SS is surprised that she turned him down?! What makes him think that it's acceptable for him to take HG for granted? And knowing the future Mrs. Snape, what especially makes him think that she would accept it? What universe is he living in? And not only is he emotionally clueless, his logic is dim.
Mr. Snape needs a reality check, and it looks like he just got it.
Great job!
So, how WAS it supposed to happen? Dang it, that was eally frustrating! So sad to see them so distant and unable to tell each other anything. Make it better soon.