True Colors

Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. JK Rowling owns it all, but I promise to return her characters in "like new" condition when I am done with them.

Thank you to my wonderful betas, SnarkyRoxy and JuneW. Without them, this story would not be possible.

Hermione stood before the gates of Hogwarts, not-so-patiently awaiting admittance.

On her last visit, she'd been lucky that Hagrid had been outside mucking about and able to allow her through the school gates. That was just after she'd learned that Severus had reported the Veritaserum incident to the Ministry, and that Ron was facing a formal inquiry. At the time, she'd been so angry that if she'd been forced to wait very long she likely would've found a way through the complex wards herself. Not that she believed she could have truly accomplished that feat, but she would've given it a damn good go.

Today, she wasn't angry – yet – but she was still waiting for the Headmistress to make her way down from her office. They had made arrangements via Owl Post to meet for afternoon tea. Since Hermione had written her note on parchment and not a Howler, surely it gave the impression that it was just an innocent social call. Surely Minerva didn't know that Hermione was there to discuss her former Head of House's undue influence on her love life, and to tell the older witch to stay out of her personal affairs. If Minerva did know, then Hermione could blame that knowledge for the Headmistress' tardiness.

Hermione was not looking forward to the encounter. She looked up to Minerva. The simple fact that the woman had been her Head of House for six years made the Headmistress a strong maternal influence on her. Every time Hermione thought about it, she couldn't help but think that Minerva had her best interests at heart. The niggling question that kept bothering her was: what was it about Severus Snape that made the Headmistress reluctant to trust him?

Waiting... waiting... still waiting...

Kicking the closed gate in front of her, Hermione looked at her watch and began to pace. They'd agreed to meet down here at four o'clock precisely. Why, then, wasn't someone there to greet her?

It just served to anger the young witch even more that she'd been kept waiting for more than ten minutes. Frustrated, she brandished her wand and sent her Patronus scurrying off towards the castle. She watched as the silver otter found an open window on the lowest floor and disappeared inside the castle.

Hermione pocketed her wand and leaned against the gate, settling in yet again. If someone didn't arrive soon, then she'd head into town for a while.

It was only a couple of minutes before a flurry of black robes was making its way towards the gate. Hermione couldn't stop the grin that was growing on her face even if she tried. It had been a week since she'd seen him last, and she could still feel the tender kiss that he'd placed on her hand.

"Hermione," he said as he arrived at the gates.

"Good afternoon, Severus. Thanks for coming down here to let me in."

"Well, it seems I had little choice. That otter that you sent to harass Minerva interrupted what was left of a staff meeting, and it would not see fit to allow us to continue until someone agreed to come down here to permit you onto the grounds. Much to Professor McGonagall's chagrin, I volunteered for the task. I believe she was preparing to send Filch," he said as he opened the gate, allowing her admittance. "You didn't tell me you were coming here today."

"Well, I haven't given you a full rundown of my social calendar," she replied as she followed him through the gates, and they began the familiar trek towards the castle. However, unlike the last time she walked with him along this path – the night of Harry and Ginny's engagement party, when she was drunk on house-elf wine – Severus maintained a leisurely pace which was easy for Hermione to keep up with.

The two had exchanged letters on a daily basis since their lunch date. Although none of them could be considered overly romantic, Hermione was pleased with the small pieces of Severus that he was slowly beginning to reveal to her.

"The Headmistress and I were supposed to meet at four o'clock for tea. I am assuming that your staff meeting ran overlong."

"During the summer holidays we only meet once a month. Today, Hagrid saw fit to present his argument on why he believes it would be beneficial to teach the basics of dragon breeding to his seventh year Care of Magical Creatures students; he would use it as an incentive to retain enrollment in the course. Teaching the information is one thing, but he is very adamant that students learn best by practical application. Apparently, he's been speaking with both the Ministry and Charlie Weasley in Romania, trying to convince them of the idea as well. We never thought he'd take such initiative in something like this. Hogwarts is certainly no place for a dragon, even one that has been newly hatched."

Hermione couldn't keep in the giggles that were fighting to get out at that statement. "No, I agree, it's a foolish idea. And if Hagrid helped hatch one, you'd have a horrible time getting him to give up the bleeding thing. You should've seen him the last time."

Severus snorted. "He hid it well. Although, Dumbledore always suspected something was amiss."

"He did?" she exclaimed as they climbed the steps up to the castle doors and into the school.

"Yes, it was difficult to miss the unusual amount of empty brandy bottles and chicken carcasses around the groundskeeper's hut. And the plain and simple fact that the man was busy nearly all the time."

"Ahhh. That would be because he'd had to feed Norbert brandy mixed with chicken blood every thirty minutes."

"He named it Norbert?"

"Yep." Hermione smiled as Severus rolled his eyes. "Things were much better once we were able to convince Hagrid to give the dragon to some friends of Charlie's. It had just been tricky to actually get the dragon to them without anyone knowing, since we had to take Norbert to the top of the Astronomy Tower."

They reached the gargoyles which guarded the stairway to the Headmistress' office. Severus murmured the password under his breath and the gargoyles moved away, bringing the stairway into view. He motioned for Hermione to stand on the stairs and he followed her.

As they rode the moving staircase up he leaned down and spoke softly in her ear, "Please do not tell me that you and your friends actually still believe that Dumbledore did not full well know what you three were up to when you trekked up to the Astronomy Tower that night."

They reached the top of the stairwell and Hermione turned around slightly to face him. "Nobody knew," Hermione started to insist. "Harry and I only got caught by Filch because..."

"Who do you think lowered the wards around the school so Mr. Weasley's friends could ride their broomsticks to the Astronomy Tower?"

"I ... I never thought about that," she conceded.

Severus looked smug.

He obviously enjoyed winning any debate, even a minor one, she thought.

"I would imagine that Minerva should be in there by now, as she was going to use you as an excuse to speed things along," he said, nodding his head towards the office door.

Hermione took the last few steps towards it and knocked. Just as she heard the customary "enter" from the other side of the door, Severus opened the door for her and Hermione stepped aside.

"Thank you, Severus," she said, only to turn to look at him to find that he was no longer there.

Somewhat disappointed that he'd left before she could really have a chance to talk to him or at least make plans to meet with him later, she went in to join Minerva in her office.

~ * ~

Hermione was sitting in a comfortable armchair in the Headmistress' office, with a steaming cup of tea in hand. She had sent the owl to her former mentor with the intent of confronting the older witch. Thus far today, they had done nothing more than the exchange of a few pleasantries, and Hermione was not certain how to broach the subject of Minerva's past comments to Severus.

This wasn't a matter of bravery, Hermione reminded herself. It was simply a matter of stating things in a mature manner without sounding at all like the child or student which she was sure her former Head of House still saw her as.

Minerva McGonagall seemed to be studying her from her own armchair, as she too sipped her tea. After many long moments, she finally spoke, "I appreciate the visit, Hermione. I haven't seen you since the night of the engagement party. Severus told me about Mr. Weasley's hearing last week." Putting her teacup and saucer on the tea tray in front of them, she looked at Hermione seriously. "You and Ron are so well suited for each other. I do hope that his brief lapse in judgment wasn't so much that you won't be able to work through your differences."

"A brief lapse in judgment? You don't really mean that, do you?" Hermione asked, setting her cup down next to McGonagall's and trying to force a calm façade.

"I watched you two ... well, you three, really ... grow up. So, of course I mean that. Ron Weasley just wasn't thinking things all of the way through. He cares a great deal for you, Hermione. Do not allow one mistake to come between the two of you. I am sure that if you examine things closely you'll see that you have both made mistakes, and that with patience you can work through them all."

Hermione sat there shaking her head and struggling to keep her emotions under control. "I don't love Ron in that way, Professor. In fact, one of the reasons that I came here today was to tell you that..." At this she paused and took a deep breath and started again. "That I don't appreciate you telling Sev ... Professor Snape ... to leave me alone. I want to spend time with him. I am interested in him. I fancy him. Not Ronald Weasley."

The older witch sighed. "Hermione, child, I know that it has been a rough time for you. I think that you need to give this more time and think things through."

"I am hardly a child anymore. I don't have anything to think through. You don't know all of the facts and aren't seeing the complete picture here. All that you know of my relationship with Ron and Harry is what you saw of us here at school and while we were in the Order. You know of our daily routines when we were in the common room, the Great Hall, the library, and in your classroom. Oh, and the few times we were in the hospital wing. You have no idea of the personal nature of our friendship or how ill-matched Ron and I truly are.

"But I do," Hermione continued firmly. "It's something that has been bothering me a great deal as of late. It just took me a very long time to face it."

"Perhaps it took you so long because you know that Ron is really the best person for you."

Hermione snorted. "How can he be the best person for me? We have nothing in common. Before, we at least had school, our coursework, and the fight against Voldemort. Once all of those things were taken away, I found that there was nothing that I could grasp on to that still tethered us together."

"You still have your experiences, Hermione. Cling to those."

"I am not going to spend the rest of my life living in the past just to please you." Hermione stood up. "The only reason I even bothered telling you any of this or even came here today was out of respect, but if you are not even going to listen to me then this conversation is pointless. You are not my mother, and I won't even let her tell me who I can and cannot have a relationship with."

"Sit down, Hermione." When Hermione remained standing, Minerva took another deep breath. "Please."

Her patience thin, Hermione sat on the edge of her chair and looked directly into Minerva McGonagall's cat-like eyes.

Giving a sharp, stiff nod, Minerva spoke again. Her words came out as those of the firm disciplinarian that she'd always been known for, as long as Hermione had been growing up in the school. "You may think that I am being unthinking or unfeeling, but when I say that I am looking out for your best interests, Hermione, I truly am looking out for your best interests. I could hardly help look after you for seven years as an educator and help lead you in a fight against the Darkest wizard of our time without developing some feelings of responsibility for you. The feelings that you are having for Professor Snape ... fine, for Severus ... are nothing more than hero-worship."

Hermione opened her mouth to vehemently protest when Minerva held up her hand to stop her. "Let me finish," she said firmly. "I do not deny that he is an admirable wizard. But there is a considerable age difference between the two of you. He was your professor for several years. You looked up to him. He was a spy for our side. Then we thought that he betrayed us in the worst possible way, and then he turned out to be a hero. He saved our lives in the end. Even though he's not the most handsome man out there, it could be easy to see him as a dashing hero, as a knight in shining black armor. But you cannot forget that he truly was a Death Eater and is a murderer."

Hermione gritted her teeth through Minerva's speech, barely containing herself until the other woman was finished speaking. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was her statement that Severus was a murderer. "How dare you presume to even think you know what I'm thinking or feeling?" Hermione hissed. Rising again from her chair, she looked down at the woman that she'd formerly looked up to. "I don't owe you an explanation. As I stated, I was here out of some odd sense of respect, but even that has fallen by the wayside during our conversation. You have no say in my relationships, whether they be with Severus Snape or Ronald Weasley, or if I decided to start fucking the Giant Squid! You have nothing to say in the matter!"

She shot a glance to the portrait which hung directly behind Minerva's desk, and fought the tears which threatened to well-up in her when she met the sad eyes of Albus Dumbledore.

The Headmistress made no move to stop Hermione as the younger witch stormed towards the door.

As she opened it, Hermione turned around. "I can't help but wonder: why would someone who thinks of Severus as nothing more than a Death Eater and a murderer be willing to bring him back as a professor to teach and influence a school full of children?"

When Minerva didn't answer, Hermione shook her head in disgust and slammed the door firmly on her way out.

In the office, the portrait of Albus Dumbledore looked down at his friend, colleague, and former lover. Leaning forward, he coughed slightly to get her attention.

"Leave it be, Albus," she said, acknowledging him.

"No. I believe that it is time for you to take your anger at my death out on the right person, Minerva. Forgive Severus. It is the very least that he deserves."

She picked up her now cold tea and took a sip for no other reason than to have something to do. "Of course I've forgiven him. I hired him back, just as you asked. Haven't I? Leave me alone, Albus."

"Minerva, you..."

His words were cut off as her porcelain cup shattered against his canvas and she stormed out of the room, leaving Albus to wipe off the tea that was now splattered over his portrait.

~ * ~

Hermione was on her way down the stairs to the dungeons. It was at times like this that she greatly missed the wooden stairs of Grimmauld Place, the Burrow, or even her parents' house... no matter how hard she tried, stomping on stone steps was wholly unsatisfying. Especially when she was in such a mood.

How dare Minerva treat her that way? What right did she have?

Making her way down to the dungeons, Hermione didn't even bother to knock on Severus' office door. She entered to find him hunched over his desk, with his quill in hand, staring intently at a long sheet of parchment.

"Do come in," he said without raising his head. "I trust you have a reason for not even giving me the common courtesy of knocking on my door."

Hermione walked directly in front of his desk and stopped, resting her hands on his desk. "You will never believe what that woman said to me."

"I trust that your meeting with Minerva did not go well," he said, now looking up from his scroll.

"No, it did not."

Silence filled the air between for a moment as Severus waited for her to continue. Giving up, he finally asked, "Are you going to make me force this out of you?"

"Sorry. I'm just having a hard time with this." She pushed her hands off the table and began pacing in the small room. "I trusted her and I feel betrayed."

"I see," Severus said as he went back to focusing on his parchment.

"She said that my feelings for you weren't legitimate. No, those weren't the words that she used. It was more like she said that the way I feel about you was nothing more than hero-worship." Hermione stopped and looked to Severus expectantly. "Well?" she asked when he failed to say anything.

"Well, what? Of course she believes that. That is what everyone believes. I have only seen you socially once. And I admit to wondering that at times."

"How could you even begin to think that way?" she shouted. "I have tried to be very upfront with you on this. I've already told you, this isn't some girlish crush. My attraction to you is genuine."

"It just took being inebriated and drugged for you to realize it."

Hermione cringed as Severus continued to scribble notes. After another moment, to her relief, Severus finally put his quill down and pushed aside the parchment he'd been concentrating on.

"It's about time," she muttered under her breath.

He glared at her as he stood from his desk and walked out from behind it, but he remained silent.

"I thought we already had this discussion, Severus. I am not going to argue with you on this subject each time that I see you or even mention that I want to see you. If it was about hero-worship than there are men closer to my own age that I could idolize and fantasize about."

"Yes, you should be having fantasies about a younger man who is undeniably better looking," he said with a sneer.

He was infuriating. Hermione wanted nothing more than to scream at the man. How could she ever hope for any sort of relationship with someone who was so bloody negative? After her confrontation with Minerva and now this spat with Severus, Hermione no longer knew how to feel. The cyclone of emotions that were encompassing her brain and her body were making it near impossible for her to think straight.

She'd never felt so exposed and under attack as she had been in this single afternoon. Instead of screaming she took a breath, and – suddenly catching the slight twitch at the corner of the Potions master's mouth – she exhaled some of her frustrations. "Yes, someone definitely better looking," she said, locking eyes with him. "And without the sarcasm and surly disposition."

Severus smirked, closing the gap between them.

She looked into his black eyes as she willed her heartbeat to slow back down to a rate befitting a well-behaved young woman, not that of an overzealous bunny rabbit.

"I suppose that your ideal fantasy involves someone with blond hair and a well-cut physique, and who spouts off disgustingly sappy and romantic sayings at every opportunity?"

"Indeed."

"Well, if that's how you feel, then I will be sure to inform Draco of your interest in him when I write to him early next week," Severus said casually. He moved away a step, confusing Hermione yet again.

She was tired of the dance that they'd somehow found themselves in, yet again. Hermione needed to do something to turn this back around. He had been teasing her just moments ago, she was certain of that. But she couldn't figure out why he suddenly turned away from her, unless some part of him was truly was insecure. For the first time since arriving in the dungeons, Hermione realized that she needed to take control of the situation to prevent it from turning horribly sour. She felt like they were already teetering near the edge of the abyss, and she couldn't help but wonder if this was Severus' way of diving into the hole rather than stay with her on the edge and further things along.

It was especially irritating because she thought they had made good progress over the last week. Even though she'd not seen him, they had been writing to each other daily, and while she'd never call any of his letters romantic, they were slowly becoming more and more personal as their correspondences had continued. At the first of the week, the more informal letters began with the casual: I trust that you are well. In contrast, yesterday's letter contained explicit details on the current research Severus was working on, complaints about his colleagues that he'd run into while at the school, and a short note telling Hermione that he had been thinking about her while he was inventorying the Potions storeroom and he'd come across the Boomslang skin.

She closed the gap between them again, lifting her hand to Severus' cheek, gently turning him to face her. And then she couldn't think of anything more as she tipped her face up to just inches in front of his, while at the very same moment he leant his head down towards her. As she pressed her lips tentatively to his, her insecurities began to melt away. The kiss quickly moved from careful and hesitant to greedy and demanding. Hermione moved both hands up to the nape of his neck and through the long locks of hair.

Severus, in turn, brought an arm securely around her, pulling her closer to him, while entwining the other in her hair. A soft moan escaped her lips when Severus darted his tongue across the crease of her lips and Hermione found that she no longer cared one whit about Minerva McGonagall's opinions on the matter. Then again, she didn't care about much of anything except the feel of Severus' lips on her own, the way his tongue began to explore her mouth, and his hand moving down from the small of her back to cup her arse.

He nipped at her lip, and slowly began trailing kisses down to her the side of her throat, just below her ear. Hermione moaned again as she felt a shiver run down her spine and brought her hand from the back of Severus' head to run the line down the buttons of his frock coat. As her fingers reached the bottom most button of his coat, they reached the top of his rather prominent erection. After a brief moment of indecision, she ran her hand along the front of his trousers and firmly cupped him through the fabric.

A guttural groan came from her companion. After another moment longer, he brought his mouth up to her ear and softly whispered, "Stop. Or there will be no going back."

"I don't want to stop," she answered while placing more pressure on his arousal, to reiterate her response.

In response, Severus brought his mouth back to hers for a bruising kiss while moving his hand from her arse up to under the front of her jumper. Her nerves seemed to come alive as his finger explored the flesh of her stomach before meeting the hindrance of her bra. He brushed his thumb over her nipple, before pinching it through the thin scrap of silk and causing a jolt of electricity to run from her breast down to the juncture between her thighs.

"This explains the Headmistress' towering temper a few moments ago," came a snarling voice from doorway.

Their kiss abruptly halted, Hermione dropped her hands from her companion as her cheeks reddened.

"This has nothing to do with the Headmistress," Severus growled at the caretaker as he stepped back slightly and removed his hands from her.

Hermione tried to calm her breathing and her heart rate at being caught when she felt something butt up against her leg. She looked down to see Mrs. Norris, who had now worked her way between Severus and Hermione as if she was trying to push them apart. Which, Hermione realized, the cat probably was.

"I just came to deliver a message from her, Professor. She wanted to let you know that she's leaving the castle and won't be back until tomorrow." With the message delivered, he left with Mrs. Norris, who gave one final butt of her head at Hermione before following the caretaker out of Severus' office.

Once the cat was out of the room, Severus pulled his wand from his sleeve and flicked it at the door, causing a rather loud slam.

Hermione smiled and looked up at him, blushing even further when their eyes locked.

"Erm... Why was that message so important, Severus?"

"It only means that I cannot go home this evening."

"Go home? For some reason I thought that you stayed here," she said, feeling embarrassed and realizing that she'd been thinking like a student who thought all teachers lived at the castle and didn't have a real life.

"No. I have quarters here, which is obviously where I reside during the school year, but in the summers I spend the majority of my evenings in my home. Usually I'm not here so much, but there is quite a bit of work to be done since Slughorn left. And, believe it or not, the laboratory here is larger than the space that I have to work in my own home. I stayed after the staff meeting today because I had a feeling that you would be down to see me before you left."

"And are you sorry that I did? Come down to see you, I mean."

"I would have been rather aggrieved if you hadn't," he said, brushing a finger along her cheek.

Hermione leaned into him again and kissed him softly in reply.

Pulling back, Severus smirked. "Would you care to continue this someplace else?"

"Please."

He took her hand and led her to the wall on the far side of the room, where there were shelves filled with the most gruesome jars of what Hermione could only assume were ingredients for the darkest of potions. Tapping his wand on the jars in a sequence similar to the one needed to enter Diagon Alley, all the jars disappeared and the shelves reassembled themselves into a door.

"You didn't really think that I kept those around to add charm to the room, did you?"

"Of course not," she said as she followed him through the door. "I always just thought they were to scare those of your students who were foolish enough to get detention with you."

Severus shot her a quick glance as the door shut and disappeared behind them. "No, that is the reason for my pleasant disposition. Not every student sees my office, after all." He tugged her around to face him again. "Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted? Yes, I remember."

Hermione only caught a brief glimpse of his feral grin before he once again pulled her into a searing kiss.

A/N: Again, I apologize for the wait. I have been working on the Winter Round of the SS/HG Gift Exchange. I do hope that you all enjoyed the chapter, though! I will post another as soon as I possibly can. Cheers!