Confrontations are never pleasant.

Chapter 2 -- Confrontations are never pleasant.

Within a week, Hermione had regained some form of normality in her life. It wasn't really a normal existence, but none the less she could go about her daily routine without breaking into floods of tears. The first week or so had been awful, bursting into bloody tears every time she saw something that, no matter how vague, reminded her of him. She could look at him in the eye and smile. A faked smile, but nonetheless, a smile. She was getting back to being her. Slowly, she was returning to the Hermione that everyone knew, and surely it wouldn't take much longer.

Severus Snape had had enough of the dunderheads that he was forced to teach on a daily basis. How difficult could it be to remember that in this particular potion, the asphodel must be added before the newt scales and stirred three times clockwise, not anti-clockwise? It was simple; even a child could do it!

Well perhaps not. The children in this class didn't seem to be able to. Damned idiots. Twice today he had had to save the blundering fools from scalding themselves because they had added the ingredients too soon, or had stirred the wrong way. A simple potion. That was all this had been first thing this morning.

Well, that blasted girl had gotten it right. Damn Gryffindor know-it-all. It seemed there was one in every class now that Hermione had set the tradition. Damn that woman. That blasted infernal woman who had had him running circles around her. Did she not realise that that was not how he worked?

Maybe that was where they went wrong. They were too different. Both ways, what was done was done, and she was out of his life forever. There was no way he was going back there. He couldn't take being with her.

But he couldn't take being without her. What a twisted turn of events.

With one reflex of his arm, he swept the desk clear of all parchments and bric-a-brac. His mind wandered back to the Floo call she had made on him at 6am that morning. Why she was awake at such a godforsaken hour was beyond him.

"I need to see you. You owe me this at least, Severus."

"I owe you nothing, Miss Granger."

"You owe me the explanation that you seem so good at keeping from me"

"I OWE YOU NOTHING!" He had shouted these words at her. "Miss Granger" he had all but whispered silkily.

"Yes. You do."

She had proceeded to nag him until he arranged to meet her the following Saturday, which was the first Hogsmeade weekend. He would meet her in a small café, set aside from the main shops. More attractively, it was the exact opposite of Puddifoot's.

She was right, he reflected, pushing his greasy black hair out of his eyes. He did owe her some form of explanation. He couldn't wreck her life without telling her why. So be it. He would make this as horrible for her as he could. He would tell her that he had never loved her. That she was just a waste of his time. A good fuck, and nothing more. He would use his shockingly good ability at deceiving people to convince her that she was better off without him. Because she was better off without him.

It sounded like a plan to him. Now to convince himself that his words were real and not farce.

She was ready. Well, she was about to break into a million tiny pieces, anything to keep her from going insane with waiting for this wait to be over, but on the outside she was cool, calm, composed. The three C's her grandmother had taught her when she was a child. Her eyes swam in front of the mirror, and she closed her eyes, remembering.

"Now, Hermione, just remember. When ever you feel like your heart is breaking, never let anyone see it. Especially if it's a man. They wouldn't understand, and it just makes you look weak. Remember, my darling, always be cool, calm, and composed. Even if you are outwardly fighting and dying inside, on the outside, never let it show..."

Jayne Granger had pushed her granddaughter's bushy hair behind her ears and smiled weakly at her as she stood in front of her looking at her in confusion.

"I didn't get it then, but I get it now," she whispered to her reflection. She opened her eyes, and a wave of relief washed over her. Her eyes, although a bit red-rimmed, looked alert, her hair, now fixed with a bit of magic so to speak, was unquestionably perfect and hung in little ringlets by her shoulders. She wore her usual robes of royal blue with a striking knee length black dress underneath. Satisfied with what she saw, she spun on her black pointed heel and Apparated to meet him.

She was late, he noticed. Hermione was always late. He should have known better. He on the other hand was always on time. He made a point of being punctual at all times. It was bad manners to be late. And she well knew his position on people being bad mannered.

Five minutes later he had finished his black coffee and had then refused 2 cups from an over attentive waitress.

Ten minutes later and he was wondering where the hell she was.

Fifteen minutes later and he was blazing furious. She had requested this meeting, the least she could have done was show up!

Or perhaps that was her point. To make him wait. To make a spectacle of him. Severus Snape had been mocked for the 35 years of his life; perhaps Hermione knew this and decided she could join the ranks of bloody Gryffindors who have at one point or another made his life miserable? No, that wouldn't be her style. He would give her five more minutes and then he would leave.

He glanced out of the window and caught sight of her appearing with a loud pop, clearly having just Apparated. He watched her as she subconsciously smoothed her perfect hair and tugged at the hemline of her dress. Always so self-conscious, with so little reason to be, that was Hermione all over.

She pushed the door of the tiny little café open and glanced around quickly, her eyes coming to rest on his. She almost smiled at him and thought better of him settling for something in between a smirk and a grimace. He smirked back as she approached. He schooled his face to reveal no emotion at all as she walked towards him.

"Severus"

"Hermione."

Hermione took and deep breath. She gave the owner a quick smile and then fixed Snape with a false one. His onyx eyes stared hers down without revealing a flicker of emotion. She was saved from speaking as the ever present waitress hovered with the still steaming black coffee pot.

"Coffee, honey?" She sounded American, Hermione noted, nodding her head in acquiescence. The aroma of the slightly burnt beans hit Hermione's nostrils, and her stomach growled silently. What did she last eat? Or, more to the point, when did she last eat? Yesterday? The day before that? She wasn't sure.

"How's the food here?" She asked nobody in particular, reaching to the centre of the table for a menu.

Severus snorted. "Are you trying to make this easier, Miss Grang---"

"Don't. You. Dare."

Severus' eyes whipped back to face her, sitting a few short feet from him, her eyes blazing with fury. Quickly regaining his Dungeon Bat demeanour, he let his eyes wander back across the café, taking in the scenery it would seem to her.

"Don't you Miss Granger me. After everything, we are back to this? Do you not think you can be mature enough to address me by my given name?" The lack of emotion in her voice momentarily had Severus taken aback. He had expected her to bite her lip all the way through the meeting, something she frequently did when nervous. He stared at her slender hands, usually twisted together in knots as she did when she was trying not to panic or worry. This wasn't Hermione. Hermione was a worrier, through and through. This woman opposite him sat, cool and calm, completely unconcerned at the situation she was faced with.

"As you wish, Hermione. Although I do rather prefer to keep things formal. You were, in fact, my student, of course---"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you remember that happy fact before or after we had sex? Did you have an attack of conscience? Is that why you left me?"

"If you would permit me to get a sentence finished, Miss Granger" he hissed through gritted teeth. "I chose to end our relationship, as you deem it, because we no longer serve a purpose for each other."

Hermione looked as though she had had the wind knocked out of her sails. Her aloof demeanour visibly dropped and her eyes hardened in determination. "Explain." She snapped, lifting the hot coffee to her lips and taking a small sip.

"What else did you expect, Miss Granger? Ours was always more of a physical relationship. I thought I had made it clear to you what my expectations were. We gave physical pleasure to each other for a small amount of time. Nothing more. I am disappointed that you anticipated more. You were always top of your class; I would have assumed that you would have worked that out by now." He gave her a sardonic, crooked smile. "No hard feelings, Miss Granger. Our arrangement has expired, or that is to say, I grew bored of your somewhat clumsy attempts at the finer points of love making. I require someone a little more..." He let his eyes wander appreciatively over a buxom witch at the next table and smirked. "Experienced."

He never saw it coming. One moment he was congratulating himself on a speech well pulled off, and the next he had dived out of his chair, holding his ruined, hot, coffee-soaked robes away from his body, cursing all the while.

Hermione stood from her chair and picked up her handbag. She carefully adjusted her robes around her and then fished in her bag for some coins which the tossed with indifference on to the table. Then, she faced him.

"Our arrangement, as you call it, was more than just sex, and you damned well know it. Do you forget? Do you?" She hissed under her breath. Taking a deep breath, she levelled her voice out and spoke again.

"Your ability to become my perfect enemy was in the few short words you said," she told him, her voice dripping with hatred. "Believe it or not, I no longer care what you do. Enjoy the coffee, Severus. I hope it warms that icicle you call a heart"

And on that note, Hermione Granger walked away.

He'd never see the tears that she spilled.

She'd never see the hurt in his eyes.