Ties Chapter 25
Chapter 25~ Conflicting Interests
Hermione shivered in the cold as another gust of wind found its way into the folds of her cloak. The warmer weather Hogwarts had been enjoying for the past couple weeks had ended abruptly with a cold snap this morning. Not only was it bone chilling cold outside, but the platform at Hogsmeade station funnelled the wind, sending hard, granular ice crystals whipping at her face. Her cheeks, exposed to the elements, were already red and chaffing and the frigid air burned cold in her nose and throat as she breathed. The evening was swiftly descending and to add to it all, the train was late. All in all, Hermione was having a miserable day.
Another gust of wind blew up, and she turned her head away, trying to shelter herself from the onslaught. She could see Hagrid clapping his hands together through the swirling crystals and watched the thestrals stamp and blow in their harnesses, clearly as unamused about the climatic conditions as she. Over the howling wind, Hermione could hear the faint sounds of an approaching train and felt her impatience mount. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t be sitting up in the castle snug and warm and let Hagrid take care of the carriages, but as Head Girl it was part of her duties to assist with the train.
The bright red engine came chugging into sight, brakes squealing as it began to slow and the smoke billowing from the engine became caught up in the wind, swirling it towards her. Hermione coughed from the smoke, then coughed again from the cold air. She grumbled a few choice words under her breath, but smiled when the train lurched to a halt and the doors burst open with excited students. She smiled all the more broadly when those eager students hit the wall of cold air, leaping away as if stung.
Soon chaos reigned and she was busy shuffling people off the platform and finding carriages for all the students. No one was inclined to doddle in the harsh wind on the platform and soon she was ready to find a carriage herself. She looked towards the end of the platform at the last carriage and saw Harry’s head hanging out of the door. "Hurry up Hermione! It’s bloody cold out!"
She dashed over and climbed into the warm interior of the carriage. As it began to move forward, she took down her hood and removed her mittens, holding her warm hands to her frostbitten face. Ginny’s eyes widened and she exclaimed, "What happened to your hair?!"
Hermione moved her fingers from her cheeks and ran them through the short waves. Patting down the flyaway strands she looked at Ginny self consciously. "What’s wrong with it. It hasn’t turned green or something has it?"
"It’s gone!" Ginny said in horror.
Harry chuckled, "It’s a haircut Gin."
"But it’s so, short. Why did you cut it all off?" the red head asked, bewildered.
"Because I wanted to. I needed a change," Hermione said feeling a bit irritated. "What’s wrong with that?"
Ginny was shaking her head in disbelief, but Harry cut her off. "Nothing. It’s nice. How was your holiday?"
Hermione was amused at her friend’s attempt to avoid arguments. Perhaps having a steady girlfriend had been good for him. She wasn’t certain she wanted to go into the details of her trip home and chose not to mention it for now. "Excellent. The weather was wonderful up until today, so we went outside a fair bit. There were northern lights several nights. Just wonderful. I even learned a new chess move."
Harry gave her an odd look. "I thought you didn’t like chess."
"I like it well enough when its an even competition," She said weakly, then asked, "How was your Christmas anyway? Was it what you expected?"
Harry’s face lit up and he smiled so broadly she thought his face might split. He squeezed Ginny around the shoulders and said, "Not at all what I expected. It was better. I have never had such a good time ever. The Burrow was just crawling with people. Loads of people from the Order stopped in. Fred’s enchanted mistletoe gave Tonks a hard time everywhere she went. There were so many decorations and food and music and laughing-"
"So it was a good time," Hermione said, nodding.
"You should have come," He told her.
Ginny elbowed him and grinned wickedly, "I’m sure she had plenty of entertainment during the holiday," She noticed Hermione’s blush and pressed again, "but still don’t understand the sudden urge to chop off your hair. Something happened, didn’t it?"
The older girl shook her head, "Nothing happened."
"You’re a terrible liar, Hermione. You always have been." Ginny informed her.
Hermione sighed audibly and felt her shoulders slump. "I can’t tell you everything, but my parents asked me to come home for a couple days. I refuse to lie to them anymore, so Severus came with me and we told them everything."
Ginny’s mouth gaped a bit and she sucked in her breath. "Oh dear."
"It could have been worse," Hermione continued, shaking her head, "I mean it was bad, and Severus had a terrible row with my dad, but mum was pretty good about it all in all."
The carriage bumped and jostled to a stop, but they didn’t move just yet. Ginny was holding Hermione’s hand tightly. Hermione shook it off. "I don’t want to talk about it anymore. There isn’t anything I can do about it now."
Harry nodded grimly, "We’ve got other things to worry about just now. I saw Malfoy strutting about on the train."
Hermione shivered. "Don’t remind me. We should get inside."
*********
After a large, noisy dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione was relieved to get back to the wonderful quiet of her rooms. ‘Well at least to the wonderful quiet,’ she thought, sinking into one of her soft chairs, finding it somewhat uncomfortable. Looking around at what should have been a homey, welcoming room she sighed loudly. It didn’t feel much like home now. Yesterday she and Severus had taken down the tree and other decorations in his chambers. She was pretty sure he was a bit disappointed to see them go since it meant the holiday was truly over and it was time to get back to the everyday school life at Hogwarts. They hadn’t talked that night, cuddling by the fire and making love quietly in the darkness of the bedroom. In the morning, they both acted like it was a regular Saturday morning and that she had only spent the night.
Now, sitting in her own rooms she felt a deep sense of loneliness. She hadn’t realized how much she noticed his presence. Even when they were busy doing separate things, simply the knowledge that he was there was comfortable and familiar. She felt its absence poignantly now. As she crawled into bed, she noticed that Crookshanks wasn’t there either and fell asleep feeling very alone.
That first week back in classes was harder than she could have imagined. Her classes were interesting as usual, but Draco Malfoy was back and his presence was disconcerting. She had several classes with him and could feel him watching her in class. Like before, several people from each of her classes made a point of always accompanying her which made her feel weak. It seemed ludicrous to be afraid now when less than a year ago she had seen Voldemort die before her. It should all be over now.
Friday morning Hermione was in the Great Hall discussing this term’s special project for Herbology with Neville, trying not to wiggle in her seat. What he was saying was interesting, but she was looking forward to the school week being over. They hadn’t mentioned it specifically, but she assumed Severus would want to continue their Friday evening ritual. Partway through the meal a ripple of giggles swept through the room and she looked up to the head table. Severus had come in with several long gashes across his face, clearly from a cat, and was trying to discreetly pull Madam Pomfrey aside. Reminded that Crookshanks had not returned to her rooms since the holiday, Hermione wondered if he had run afoul of her cat. Harry, who had noticed as well, gave her a questioning look to which she shrugged her shoulders. She would have the opportunity to ask about it later, but now was clearly not the time.
Quickly finishing their meal, Hermione picked up her bag and left for Transfiguration with Harry. Neville wasn’t far behind them and she heard him mutter, "I’m glad I don’t have his class anymore. He’ll be meaner than a hungry dragon today."
Harry chuckled at this, but Hermione only smiled, lost in thought.
Hermione felt anxious by the time she left Herbology for Potions class. They had been pruning the venomous ivy that was threatening to take over the whole of greenhouse five, and for some unknown reason Justin Finch-Fetchley hummed while he worked. The ivy seemed not to appreciate his musical selection and began spitting venom at the class and she now had a silly song stuck in her head. She hadn’t heard ‘It’s a small world’ since she had been in Brownies at age seven. As one of those songs that has an annoying tendency to cling to a person’s consciousness, she felt herself humming under her breath while descending into the dungeons.
In the corridor outside the classroom, Harry nudged her in the ribs. "Quit that already. It’s annoying me and I’m sure it will irritate Snape. He looks in a foul mood today."
Hermione was about to nod in agreement when she heard a slimy, sarcastic voice say, "Oh I’m sure dear old Snape will forgive your transgressions. He must get enough favours in return."
Frozen in place, Hermione felt her shoulders tense but tried to remain calm. Without looking back she spoke coldly in return. "I’m sure, Draco, that you shall get yours in good time. How was your suspension? I expect Lucius was so proud."
Draco swaggered past them speaking coldly at first, "I don’t have any ‘handicaps’ Ms Granger. It doesn’t matter who it is," then raised his voice to a mocking, falsetto voice, "I am perfectly capable of defending myself."
As Draco continued to swagger down the hall an into the classroom, Hermione felt bile rise in her throat. Harry had put an arm around her in some attempt to comfort her, but she still felt sick. Draco still had one card in his favour and she hated to be reminded of it. The happy, bouncing rhythm of the song she had been humming a minute earlier had effectively been erased from her mind.
In class they were continuing with a potion from Monday that had needed to sit for a prolonged period partway through the brewing process before the final ingredients could be added. Everyone had already retrieved their cauldrons from the back room where they had been stored and were busy with the new ingredients and preparations. Professor Snape hadn’t arrived yet, but everyone knew he expected the class to be busy when he did. Hermione prodded the flame beneath her cauldron to steady it at a higher level before setting to shredding the arrowroot leaf that would be added next.
Severus had entered the room silently, and most students were too occupied to notice his arrival. Hermione looked up momentarily to see him stalking through the rows of students quietly working. After an hour of chopping, stirring and waiting, her potion turned a bright yellow as expected. Letting out a satisfied sigh, she looked over at Harry’s potion which had also begun to turn colour.
Owing to an unspoken agreement to avoid each other at all costs, Harry had managed well in Snape’s NEWT level potions class. She had discovered that Professor McGonagall had pushed for Harry to be admitted to the class, and somehow a truce was achieved. Hermione knew better than to ask, but she was quite curious as to how, precisely, Severus managed to contain his malice. Harry was watching his potion intently, as if through strength of will he could make it work, but he needn’t have worried. By containing outward hostilities, his skill had improved greatly. There were still bad days, but Harry smiled as he ladled his canary yellow potion into a jar and labelled it. Taking out his wand, he put the unbreakable charm she had shown him on the glass and began clearing up his supplies.
Hermione contained a small chuckle as she finished filling her own sample. Harry wouldn’t hand in a potion that wasn’t in an unbreakable container now. Picking up his potion, she brought it and her own to the front of the class. Severus was behind his desk now, sorting through parchment, but he looked up briefly when she set the jars on the polished wood surface. Still curious about the incident at breakfast, she gave him a questioning look. For a moment he looked uncomfortable, but nodded at her before standing and addressing the class. "You have had plenty of time to complete this assignment. Bring your samples to the front and clean up quickly."
Slipping back to her seat, she began packing away the leftover ingredients while Harry finished scrubbing and rinsing their cauldrons. During the bustle of scraping chairs and rattling bottles, Professor Snape transferred the notes from his parchment onto the board and waited impatiently for the class to settle. "Potions, as one might hope you have observed by now, relies more heavily on theory than most other fields of study and unlike other subjects, your NEWT is not based solely upon your exam at the end of the year. This assignment is an independent research paper outlining the various harvesting, preparation techniques, properties and so forth of a single potion ingredient. It will be incorporated into your final mark and kept on file at the Ministry. Those of you who have some notion of pursuing a career with certain departments at the Ministry as well as those intending to take medical training should note that such training programs have been known to refuse applicants on the basis of this assignment. Outside of the Ministry, registered Masters seeking apprentices also have access to these reports. What you choose to research, plant or animal in origin, is your own decision, however I must approve your selection. Ten to fifteen feet of parchment, no less, no more, to be completed by the first Friday in March. Understood?"
The whole class nodded save Draco Malfoy who raised his hand. Everyone stared as Professor Snape approached the desk and stood his full height directly in front of the smirking youth. "Is there something beyond your comprehension here Mr Malfoy?"
Draco took on a horrible look of feigned innocence. "No sir. I only wanted to ask, who will be marking this paper?"
Hermione felt the sick, yet oddly familiar, sensation of ice in the pit of her stomach as Severus spoke in a curt, cold tone. "As both your professor and a registered Master of Potions with the Ministry of Magic, I will have the thrilling task of grading your papers. If you have a problem with this, I suggest you see myself or the headmaster on your own time. Now, if there are no further questions requiring painfully obvious answers, I suggest you collect your things and proceed to the library. Madam Pince is expecting you and will be available to assist this class for the remainder of the period."
"One more question sir," Draco interjected, eyes gleaming with excitement, "Isn’t it a conflict of interest to grade your wife’s work when clearly so much depends upon this paper’s record?"
The sound of rustling papers and clinking ingredient bottles stopped dead and everyone stared at Snape. Hermione cringed and noticed out of the corner of her eye that Harry had balled his hand up into a fist. Pleased to have a captive audience, Draco continued. "Perhaps it is a little late to be raising such questions, however, this assignment sounds particularly important. Student’s have the right to NEWT grading by an impartial party."
Severus’ eyes held a dangerous look as he glared at Malfoy. "And all students shall have such. As with all the previous assignments this year, my wife’s work is being marked by another qualified individual, not myself. Her grades are not your concern. You would do well to focus on your own and follow the rest of the class to the library."
Hearing the barely contained rage in their professor’s voice, everyone made quick business of packing their things to leave. No longer paying attention to the gaping or mumbled speculating of her classmates, Hermione rammed her Potions text into her bag and bolted for the door. Draco hadn’t named her specifically, but it would only take a few moments for everyone to put the pieces together. Clearly Dumbledore would not allow a professor to marry a student unless there were extenuating circumstances such as the ones Snape was subject to. It was no huge secret that Hermione had obtained her licences a year early, though very few knew why and everyone knew that, regardless of her age, as a muggle born she was subject to Marriage Act 275.
Too shocked by what they had heard, no one noticed Hermione slip away from the group and down the familiar corridor of armour. Quickly finding the doormen, she whispered, "Granite gate" and watched the wall open for her.
Once inside the comfortable interior of the sitting room, she began to shake. Sinking into the comfortable leather sofa, she looked around and mentally kicked herself. Why had she come in here? Everyone else would be up in the library and here she was hiding. Malfoy had always been able to get under her skin with his words and she hated herself for it. At a loss as to what to do about him, she hugged her knees to her chest and let her head fall forward.
Hermione didn’t know how long she sat huddled, trying not to think. She was startled by something warm and wet on her hand. Crookshanks nudged at her impatiently, seeking attention. Pulling him up onto her lap, she stroked his long fur in smooth, steady movements. The action was soothing and soon she felt more relaxed.
*********
When the last student scuttled out of his classroom, Severus allowed his knees to give way and sat heavily on the chair behind his desk. Closing his eyes, he felt the beginnings of a terrible headache forming, but knew he could only rest momentarily. There was a class full of gossipy students, eager to waste the time given to them for a special project, en route to the library and a large problem about to burst its confines. By the time classes were finished for the day and the whole student body in the Great Hall for dinner, his careful friendship and hidden marriage would be for naught.
It didn’t make a great deal of sense on the part of the Malfoy’s to expose their secret now, but it would undoubtedly have repercussions. In all likelihood, Hermione was about to find her life at Hogwarts drastically altered, perhaps even to the point of her removal as a student, but the Ministry was already well aware of the existing situation. Granted, the bureaucracy at the Ministry often was in the situation of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing, yet that same jumbled collection of Ministry rules and regulations could be played in his favour. Lucius would know this, so why was he exposing them now? It was mean, yes, but petty. Not at all on the scale his old friend favoured.
Briefly rubbing his temples, he stood and left for the library. Severus had given Irma the guidelines for the project already, but he needed to check in and make sure all the students had arrived. Madam Pince was busy pacing through the tables full of students, frowning and keeping discussion to a bare minimum, when he entered her domain. Several students cast him wary glances when they noticed he was there, curious but apprehensive. Draco Malfoy, however, looked casual and particularly pleased with himself, sitting at a table in the corner by himself and surveying the scene with a superior expression that was infuriating. A quick head count indicated all but one student was there, and though he didn’t know where she was, Severus wasn’t surprised to find Hermione absent. She had likely gone to her rooms for some privacy, and seeking her out would have to wait. With a few words to Irma, he glared at his class once more before leaving to the Headmaster’s office.
*********
Some time later, Hermione heard the door behind her open and the sound of someone letting out a deep breath. "I see he’s come out of hiding."
"What exactly happened this morning?" Hermione asked, looking back to see his somewhat chagrined look.
"I had thought he left with you, but last night he decided to visit. You know, he is quite a large animal," Severus answered ambiguously.
She furrowed her brow, "And?"
"I am generally not accustomed to waking beside large, warm bodies of any kind," he told her flatly.
"Oh dear," she stifled a laugh, "Crooks probably didn’t appreciate the wake up call."
Severus shook his head and moved to sit beside her. "I reached out and felt fur. Next thing, I was met with angry claws and teeth. I hadn’t really been awake until then. The hands were easy enough to heal, but I admit some trepidation when pointing a wand at my own face."
Allowing herself a small chuckle, Hermione let her head drop to his shoulder. "I’m sorry I didn’t go to the library, though I suppose no one would think to look in here for students skiving off class."
His mouth quirked into a half smile and he put an arm around her shoulders. "I only went briefly to give instructions to Irma then went to speak with Albus. Classes haven’t finished yet."
"What happens now?" she asked softly.
She felt him shake his head. "I’m not sure. I gather you realize it won’t be long before the whole of the student body has heard an earful of gossip. I told Albus what happened and he said he would deal with whatever comes of it for now."
"I’m sorry."
"This can hardly be considered your fault. We will deal with what happens when it happens. In the mean time, I believe it is my turn," Severus stood and pulled down an old well, well worn book from the shelf. Settling beside her again, he captured her lips in a tender kiss. When they parted he whispered, "This one has always been my favourite."
Hermione closed her eyes and let his voice envelop her senses. It was rich and warm, clearly full of enjoyment as familiar words tumbled forth. She wasn’t worried right now about what was happening throughout the castle or what people would say when she saw them next. It was enough just to sit together for now. Everything else could wait.
*********
Chapter 24
Chapter 26