Changes

A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this up -- working out exactly what I wanted in drabble format for this chapter has been difficult. I got to thinking about the start of the new school year after the war, and what would happen to the Slytherins and to Snape and this is what I came up with. There's an inordinate amount of Harry and not a whole lot of Hermione, but I think what I have of her in this chapter is effective. The next chapter will be better, I promise.

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Hermione’s eyes narrow when he coldly tells her he’s changed his mind and won’t require her assistance after all. He finds her considering gaze unnerving, and idly fingers the cuffs of his frock coast and tries to pretend the unbearable silence isn’t affecting him at all.

Finally, when he can bear it no longer, he breaks eye contact and pushes violently away from the table. He stalks from the room and tries to ignore the way his heart pounds. He wonders how he managed to survive as a double agent all these years when lying to her almost kills him.

* * * * *

He manages to avoid her the rest of the morning, but can’t escape her watchful gaze at lunch. The students will be arriving later that day, and what should have been the last peaceful meal he’d have without them instead becomes tense and nerve wracking. Hermione laughs with Filius, chats with Minerva, and acts more like a colleague than a student with special dispensation to be there. He wonders if she’s already made arrangements to apprentice with someone else. When the hot ache of regret fills his chest he reminds himself it’s what he wanted - even though it isn’t.

* * * * *

The Golden Trio are reunited for the Sorting Feast. Potter, Ginny and Ron had been invited as special guests. He watches surreptitiously as Hermione hugs her friends, and doesn’t miss the gloating look Ron tosses at him. She’s told them what he’s done, obviously. Potter’s gaze is more troubled when he looks up at Snape, his green eyes muddy with…concern? Snape holds it for only a moment, before looking to his Slytherins. The first years haven’t been brought in yet, but it’s obvious his house has been decimated. Half the chairs are empty. It’s going to be a long year.

* * * * *

The hissing starts when the first new student is placed in Slytherin. Peter Parkinson looks terrified as he walks stiffly over to his new housemates, but he holds his head high and does his best to ignore the mockery of the other houses. Snape stands, prepared to put an end to it immediately, but before he can get a word out the most extraordinary thing happens. Hermione, Potter and Ginny all stand, glare at the students, and walk over to sit with his house. Before he knows it, Weasley has moved as well. The hissing falters and slowly dies out.

* * * * *

The rest of dinner is uneventful. Hermione gamely tries to include all the Slytherins in dinner conversation, and the younger ones, at least, seem to preen under the attention of her, Potter, and Ginny. Ron, as to be expected, contributes nothing to the conversation except loud chewing noises and the occasional passing of gas. When the meal finally ends, Potter is invited to speak to the students. “I’m here today to tell you the truth about the Final Battle.” He pauses, looks around. “We wouldn’t have won without the heroic efforts of Severus Snape.” Weasley’s eyes roll. Snape is stunned.

* * * * *

“It was Harry’s idea,” Minerva tells him later over a cup of tea. “He wanted to try to set aside old house rivalries at the outset of the school year, and give new Slytherins the opportunity to be judged for who they are, not where they’re placed. He thought the best way to do that was by openly acknowledging the major role you played in bringing about Voldemort’s defeat.”

“I don’t…I killed…His parents…Lily…”

“Should have been more forgiving.” Albus interrupts. “The blame isn’t solely yours.”

That night, Snape cries alone in his chambers for the first time since Lily died.

* * * * *

Classes the next few days are surreal. The students are attentive in class. Some, especially the younger ones, smile at him shyly. Many thank him when they enter his classroom. The Slytherins, as a whole, are not shunned. He waits for the other shoe to fall: this quiet gratitude and relative peacefulness between his house and the others isn’t at all what he expected. Potter’s speech from the first night is printed verbatim again in the Prophet and the Quibbler. He is suddenly hailed as a hero, where before he’d been simply tolerated by wizarding society. He starts walking taller.

* * * * *

Hermione joins him for lunch on the third day. She smiles at him when he arches an eyebrow at her, and takes his silence for acquiescence as she slides into the chair next to his own. Her skirt brushes against his leg as she settles, and he suddenly remembers the feel of it caressing his legs as they danced at Potter’s wedding.

After a few moments of silence, she begins. “I know why you let me go. Ron was just being a prat. I’m probably safer with you than with anyone else. I would like you to reconsider your decision.”

* * * * *