The Hunter - Part One

I am so sorry for all the confusion! This chapter was to be posted before the recent one. This is Snape and Hermione's first encounter. Thanks to my beta team, especially karelia, who still had this chapter saved. Otherwise, it would have been lost. I had no copy of my own. I hope you all enjoy it!

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Severus Snape stood in front of La Chasseresse and took it all in. It was decorated outside to match all the other heavenly colors of the Boulevard. He had made an extra special effort to be as fit and smart as possible. He strode in and was greeted by a witch who looked part-Veela.

"I would like to see Miss Granger, if you please," he said crisply before the young assistant could utter a word.

"May I ask who is calling on her?" she said in a more abrasive tone. "Mlle. Granger is working hard for a client right now. Is there a specific ingredient you need for a potion? I can show you the list of some of the items Mlle. Granger can locate and deliver in record time to preserve freshness." She started to hand him a thin, gilt book, which he was sure had everything cataloged and priced accordingly. He raised his hand to stop her.

"Thank you, no," he said abruptly. "I am not here on business, actually. I was Miss Granger's Potions master at Hogwarts. I would like to speak with her about her business and congratulate her on her success."

The witch inclined her head and asked, "May I have the name to give to Madame?"

"Professor Severus Snape, Potions master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said with a flourish.

"My name is Thérèse, if you require anything. Mlle. Granger should be out soon."

She scurried away from him, and he smirked at the fact he could make a witch with Veela blood so off her feet.

He watched as the graceful figure of Hermione Granger stepped inside the main room. She was dressed immaculately and elegantly in a dark blue silk dress that had a slit up one slide, which gave him a delicious peek of her shapely leg as she walked. She also wore those Muggle contraptions called "nylons" and four-inch heeled blue shoes that showed her calves to perfection. Severus noted the swelling bosom and luscious figure as she reached for a matching jacket that hung on the back of her chair. He smirked to himself as she quickly donned the jacket in an attempt to hide her figure. She failed; the cut of the jacket only enhanced rather than hindered her silhouette. He approved of her taste in the low-key, but exquisitely tasteful jewelry she wore, including a pair of pearl combs to keep her hair from her face.

She took a seat behind her desk and gestured Snape to follow suit. "I am rather shocked to see you here, Professor. I distinctly recall promising never to cross your path again, yet you have sought me out. Why is that?" she asked. She opened a thin hard-covered book, dipped her quill and began to work as if he wasn't there.

Severus was lost as he drank in her face, but managed to remain calm while his insides churned. She was absolutely divine...far more beautiful than in his dreams and imagination.

"I was at the Moscow Potions Symposium, and there was wild talk about a snippy, bossy upstart trying to steal long-time clients from long-time renowned potioneers. They call you, 'The Huntress.'"

Miss Granger laughed hollowly. "Yes," she admitted as she fiddled with her quill. "I owe so much to Monsieur Valois. He was really the person who invented me."

Severus arched his eyebrow at the unexpected comment. "Invented?" he inquired.

"Oh, yes," she replied. "To get anywhere near success in the business world, one must have a persona for the public to see. Every gesture, every dress, and every stroll down the Boulevard is all calculated and well thought out beforehand. You should recall that exhausting sort of life. You were the master for twenty years."

There was an edge, a sharp bite to her comments that made Severus feel she was trying to slash him down to size with very precise cuts that would draw the process out painfully.

Severus glanced up at the large portrait of Diana, the Huntress.

"This piece is quite evocative, Miss Granger."

"Why are you here?" she asked, her voice cold as ice.

Severus was taken aback. "I had wanted to see your success, speak with you about your triumphs, also to let you know now the things I could never have said when you had been my student," he replied softly, looking at his close-cut nails.

She sighed and rubbed her head.

"Miss Granger, are you ill?" he asked, looking concerned.

She drew in a breath and began to shuffle papers on her desk. "I am fine, Professor. I suffer from a malady that unfortunately makes simple stressors into gigantic anxieties."

"A nervous disposition?" he sneered. "Of course, no one would have ever seen that coming." He inwardly berated himself for acting like an arse.

"Get out," she blurted out at him in frustration. "I do not care to hear anything you have to say to me, Snape. I am not your student. You cannot bully me or make me fear you. I have kept my end of the bargain and stayed far away from you as possible. I thought that would please you since nothing I ever did for you was good enough!"

Severus rose from his seat and smoothed down his robes. "Miss Granger, I apologize for my intrusion. I merely thought this would be an ideal way for you and me to meet on equal footing, as it were. I did not mean to cause you distress, only to congratulate you on your accomplishments. I was unaware there was any sort of 'bargain' struck, but in that event, I'd best be on my way."

He turned and walked to the door. "Snape," she said quietly. "I-I regret my brashness. Please excuse me while I get a headache potion, and we can have a cup of tea."

A phial was magically placed into her hand. "That, Hermione, is from my own personal supply. I would be most honored if you would accept it."

Miss Granger looked at him for a long time. He began to grow nervous, ready to snap out at her to just get on with it, when she finally unstoppered it and drank it down.

"Thank you," she whispered as she handed it back to him.

"Severus," he replied.

"What?" she snapped.

"My name, Hermione, is Severus," he reiterated.

Hermione stood up and mumbled something about getting tea.

"I see that I have much to make up for."

Hermione stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly. She advanced on him quickly. "What would make you say such a thing?"

Severus decided to take a chance, and he walked towards her, closing the gap between them. He saw the unease in her eyes and the hitch in her breath. He slowly brushed his right hand against her left one, knuckles rubbing clumsily, yet savoring the contact of her flesh against his.

"I have been unable to stop thinking of you, Hermione, since I learnt of your new career and life here in Paris. You have exceeded even my own expectations for your future. Your mind is as brilliant as it has always been, and I am not so much an arrogant bastard to not realize that I was cruel to you when you were a child. But you are not a child anymore, and I have no reason to be that kind of wizard any longer. At any rate, I would very much like for us get to know each other as persons, rather than student and professor."

Hermione looked pale and faint. She withdrew her hand from his and whispered, "Are you trying to say something to me? If you are, I would appreciate it if you would just be clear and not attempt to toy with me."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "The war is over, Hermione..."

"...the war shall never be over for me, Snape," she interrupted.

"I thought that once as well," he confessed as he looked hungrily at her, trying to will her eyes to meet his again as he badly wanted her to do. She was not the bossy girl he had known. However, she had become hardened. He couldn't figure out why.

He released a sigh and whispered, "Meet me for dinner, or lunch tomorrow, if you prefer. Let me at least have this chance to show you the real man behind the death mask."

Hermione shivered and said as her eyes darted around as if she couldn't bear to make eye contact, "I do not go out in public alone with men. I do not allow myself to be seen in the company of a man. If a customer wants to have a business dinner, then Thérèse joins us. My reputation must never be called into question."

Severus was truly intrigued by this turn of the conversation. "You mean to tell me that you do not have anyone in your life?"

"Why? Is that such a shock to you?" she asked with a smirk playing around her lips. "I never recalled you being with a woman or ever rumored to have had a paramour." She crossed her arms and stood in a defensive position in front of him.

Severus stepped closer to her. "Ah, well, I unfortunately had my head on the chopping block each day. Romance and love could not be a part of my life," he said smoothly.

"Well, I have neither the time nor the inclination, Snape. Besides, it's none of your business. So, if you will excuse you," she said as she slammed her book shut on her desk and picked it up. "I have a great deal of work to finish."

He bowed gracefully and took his leave of her. He allowed himself a smile. Contact had been initiated. Now, it was time for Phase Two.

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