Chapter 8

Disclaimer: JKR is a genius, I am not. Therefore, the world is hers. I only play in it.

A/N: Without the grace of the wonderful ladyinthecloak and Lariope, you would not be reading this story, so, all please bow down and send your thanks. I know I do!

CHAPTER 8

Severus' startled indrawn breath was the only sound to be heard in the silent basement laboratory. Words and thoughts escaped him as he stared into the honey brown eyes which haunted his dreams. They had not been together since the morning he awoke to find himself already beyond reason, buried in her sweet flesh. It had taken time for him to come to accept that Hermione had truly wished to share herself with him, and a part of him still could not believe. He was not an attractive man nor was he kind. His one redeeming quality, in his mind, was intelligence. Severus knew that Hermione would not be drawn to a dunderhead... She was far too bright. However, one did not gaze upon another's mind in rapt appreciation. How could she desire to wake up next to the visage he was greeted by in the mirror each morning?

Hermione was concerned by Severus' silence. Had she gone too far, too soon? She had come to terms with her feelings for this irascible man after she woke to ecstasy in his arms. Granted, his picture would never grace the cover of Witch Weekly, and he would never win any congeniality awards, but neither would she. They were alike in many ways: intelligent, knowledge-thirsty and loyal. Though Severus might scoff at her for it, she also believed them to both be shy and insecure. She knew she was, herself, and it was not a hard stretch to see these characteristics in the harsh, defensive Potions master.

After staring into her eyes for a time, Severus simply cupped her face in his hands and gently pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was not as passionate as those they had shared in his bedroom. It was seeking and searching. Tentatively, his tongue caressed her full bottom lip and, on a moan, she opened for him. As their mouths continued to communicate what could not be said with words, Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her body flush with his. She laced her fingers through the silky, not greasy, hair that brushed his shoulders, enjoying the texture of it in contrast to the warm, moist feel of his mouth. When air became a necessity, they broke apart, though their arms stayed wrapped around one another.

Severus bowed his head to rest on Hermione's forehead, playfully rubbing his nose on hers. His voice was warm velvet when he finally spoke. "Hermione, you must know how you affect me." With this, he rocked his hips against her abdomen. His arousal was evident. "You are a beautiful, desirable, intelligent woman, but I am no good for you. Remus made me see, quite clearly, what happens to those I love and who are foolish enough to return the sentiment."

At his words, Hermione pushed from his arms, anger tinting her cheeks when only moments before they had been flushed with desire. Tired of hearing everyone else's opinion on whom she should love, Hermione left the basement laboratory in a flurry of robes which would have made the Potions master proud, had he been watching her exit.

Instead, Severus was facing the hard stone wall of the basement, his hands, resting shoulder-high, being the only thing keeping him from falling face first into said wall. When Hermione had given voice to her love, his heart had beaten soundly in his chest, as if bursting through the walls of muscle and bone, protecting it. Severus had loved before, and he never expected to love again. It was fear that enabled him to turn Hermione away. As he slowly turned and sank down the wall, memories he had barred from his mind overtook him...

When he had first laid eyes on Lily Evans, she was a little girl with freckles, straggly red hair and beautiful emerald green eyes. Severus had always been a scrawny child, and the neglect ever present in his home made it impossible for him to be anything but skinny. His hair was greasy and his clothing threadbare. He had been the perfect target for ridicule.

He had been a prime target for the Dark Lord and had joined readily enough. The Dark Lord had seen his weaknesses and exploited them at will. A young man who had never known acceptance was offered a place of prestige to brew for one of the most powerful wizards of the age. To further entice, he was promised those that had tormented him would pay. He had soon realized he too would pay.

Severus had spent the next twenty years of his life atoning for his sins, but he knew that Remus was right. He had no business loving Hermione and/or allowing her to love him. It would only end up with him hurting her. He could not stop his own feelings, for they had grown a mind of their own, but he could stop her from loving him. It would not be pleasant, but it had to be done, if only to protect her from himself.

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Fuming, Hermione ascended the stairs to the master bedroom. She knew whatever Remus had said to Severus was at the root of his rejecting her love, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. Even if it meant hexing their only test subject, potion be damned. Wand drawn, Hermione entered the room with a bang of the door as it hit the adjacent wall. This startled Remus out of his own thoughts as he peered out the window, awaiting sunset and the testing of a potion that could change his life forever.

"How dare you?" Hermione roared as sparks flew from her wand in anger. "You have no right interfering in my life!"

Remus turned a startled gaze upon Hermione. He could see that the young witch was in danger of producing uncontrolled magic and hastened to calm her so that he could find out what he had said or done to place her in such a state. Steadily, the werewolf maintained eye contact with Hermione as he slowly walked toward her. In a voice barely above a whisper, he asked, "Hermione, please lower your wand, before you cause injury to yourself."

"I am not the one who is going to be injured. I could hex you into next week. What did you say to Severus?" She screamed as she paced the room; though she had lowered her wand, sparks continued to scorch the soft rose carpeting covering the floor.

Realization dawned on Remus' face. This has to have something to do with the conversation I had with Severus about his feelings for Hermione. He felt a twinge of guilt as he watched Hermione storm the room. She must care about him. What have I done?

"Don't just stand there like a gaping fish! What did you say to Severus to have him rejecting me when I know he cares?" she asked as her wand finally stopped emitting angry red sparks.

"Perhaps, you had better tell me what happened so that I can better understand?" Remus hedged; he did not want to reveal too much and make matters worse.

Briefly, Hermione gave Remus a sketch of what had transpired since she had received the mysterious letter more than a month ago. She did not go into great detail, but left no question of the fact she loved the dour man who had made her life at Hogwarts a living hell and that she wanted a future with him.

When she had finished, she saw Remus had sunk into her father's over-stuffed armchair and, with his head in his hands, was muttering, "What have I done?"

"That is precisely what I would like to know!" she stated, once again agitated, as she was certain Remus had said something to Severus to cause his reaction.

With a great sigh, Remus articulated what had transpired between himself and the Potions master, explaining how he had blamed him for Lily Evans' marriage to James Potter and her subsequent death. Further, how he had just come to understand how the taunting actions of the four young men, known as the Marauders, was what had most likely lead to Severus pledging himself to Voldemort and a life of hell. When he had finished, the hour was growing late.

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Hermione knew she had to speak with Severus to try and straighten out this well-intentioned mess, but first they had to attend to the final stage of the potion so that it could be tested this night.

She made her way down to the lab, not knowing what frame of mind she would find the austere man in; she chose to proceed as if nothing had happened for the time being. There would be time enough after the potion was finished.

Severus had apparently been reading her mind, as the Muggles would say; he, too, was all business. Upon her entry into the potions lab, they set to work as though nothing had transpired. Yet, everything was different. It could not be denied there was a formality between the two as they worked, something that had been absent for the last couple of weeks. Hermione mourned the loss of, if not easy companionship, at least the beginnings of it, and she vowed to restore it at the earliest possible opportunity. She would not let Remus' well intentioned, if unnecessary, protection of her destroy the future she had come to dream of.

Likewise, Severus was relieved to not have to deal with a hysterical or hostile witch. The last stage of brewing was intensive and quickly timed. They had only a short amount of time before the sun would set and no time to start over if a mistake were made. He knew that he should not have worried. Hermione was the most level-headed witch that he knew, and she would not jeopardize the potion no matter how she felt. Admittedly, Severus was a little irked at her cool detachment. Perhaps he should have insisted on the Veritaserum. If she loved him, as she professed, why was she so calm?

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At last, aligned on the counter were twelve phials of golden opalescent potion. Remus would only need to take one tonight before sunset and another after moonrise, if all went well. Severus pocketed two phials and looked over at Hermione, who was cleaning up the residue from the final brewing. "I am going to take this up to Remus. I will stay with him for at least an hour to gauge any reactions. If all is well, he will be able to take the second phial on his own."

Hermione looked up as he spoke. "Do you think it wise that we have him in the same room as the Headmaster? What if something goes wrong?"

"I have considered that and thought I would have him move to my quarters, just to be cautious, though I do not doubt the efficacy of the potion," the Potions master replied with all alacrity.

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Remus entered the room Severus had been staying in since coming to the Granger house. It was modestly decorated in a neutral pallet of earth tones with dark blue and green for accent; it gave off a feeling of cozy comfort. The room was both inviting and sterile; in there were no personal effects of the man who had resided in it for more than a month. Severus seated himself in one of the two armchairs flanking the unlit fireplace.

Remus followed suit, though his sense of smell, made sensitive from Lycanthropy, detected the traces of passion. It was old, but still evident to his heightened senses. Not for the first time, he wondered about what damage he might have caused by not keeping his own council. He could tell by Hermione's reaction that she loved this reserved man, but did he love her in return?

"You will need to take the first dose after sunset but before moonrise." Severus interrupted Remus' train of thought.

"As the sun is just setting, do you prefer that I take it now or wait?"

"I should think within the next twenty minutes would be adequate." The sneer in Snape's voice could not be missed.

Taking the phial in hand, Remus opened it and downed the contents in one go. It was not as vile tasting as the Wolfsbane he had swallowed more times than he could count. "Do I detect a hint of lemon?" he asked.

"Hermione's idea...she knows of Albus' obsession with lemon drops and wanted to make it palatable for him," Severus replied without inflection, though to Remus this was very telling.

Since when had Snape ever allowed anyone to add to or change a potion without absolute necessity? Many of the more commonly used potions could be made more palatable with a flavoring additive, but never had the Potions master done so. Yet, an experimental potion with such a critical outcome, he flavored at a woman's whim. Again, Remus hoped he had not ruined things for the two of them. He was now convinced they loved mutually.

"Severus, I owe you an apology."

At Remus' words, Severus arched one brow in inquiry.

"I should never have blamed you for Lily's fate." There was nothing more Remus could say.

Severus continued to look at the werewolf with fathomless black eyes. "Yet, had I not called her a Mudblood and turned her away, would she have married Potter, would she have given birth to a son she died protecting?"

Hands held in the air in a sign of surrender, Remus replied, "I do not know and neither do you. James had set his cap on her, and there is every possibility he would have ensnared her without involving you... I just want to say I am sorry."

"Sorry for what? Sorry for humiliating me in my youth? Sorry for the words you spoke earlier? What is it you have to atone for?" Severus sneered.

"All of it and more. If it is any consolation, Hermione has already taken me to task. I believe she cares very much for you," Remus wearily replied. "I think I may have destroyed any continuing friendship with her by my actions, well intended or not."

Severus turned his back on the werewolf; he did not want the hope he suddenly felt at Remus' words to show on his face, but hope he did. If Hermione had rowed with Remus over their conversation, then there had to be a chance. "I would not worry overly much about Miss Granger's temper. If you recall from her school days, she is quick to anger but also quick to forgive. Take the other dose after moonrise. I will set a monitoring charm on the room and ward the doors just to be cautious." With these words, the dour wizard left to find his witch.