Know Me Not, part I
Title: Know Me Not
Team: The Order, dahling
Challenge(s): Exposed, Traitor to the Light, Hermione's Bad Day, Page 197
Rating: PG
Word Count: 6 x 100
A/N: This is part one to a series. Heartfelt thanks to the lovely snapeophile for giving this a once over. :)
She sat in the lounge chair, her weight sinking in, the just-received letter discarded on the floor. She twirled her fingers through her curls, mind blank, thoughts banished from this place.
Albus is alive.
Severus was innocent.
Voldemort had been killed years ago, at the end of what would have been her seventh year. Harry had done him in, but not at the expense of Ron’s life. Contrary to what everyone expected, Ron had not given his life for Harry, but for Hermione.
She had been inconsolable.
In the aftermath, there were marriages. Ginny’s career had taken off, and Harry was happy to care for the children that quickly came.
And her?
*
We need you, Remus had said, months after the Final Battle. They needed her. So she had accepted. She had gone off with Moody on a search for Severus… the traitor who had fled.
After a year of relentless searching, Moody had fallen ill. He had returned to England to be cared for by, of all people, Remus and Tonks, but Hermione had remained in Asia, where they had left off their search. The damn man, she’d thought. Damn his twenty years of experience to my twenty years of life.
She’d taken rest in Shanghai, writing the Order to tell them that she needed a reprieve.
*
She hadn’t loved Ron nearly as much as he’d loved her, she reflected. Yes, she’d searched for Severus, desperate to capture a Death Eater, desperate for vindication. You don’t need to do this, Hermione, Ginny had told her. The war is over, and we won. That is what Ron wanted. He would want you to find peace. And he wouldn’t want you spending so much time thinking about the greasy git, anyway.
She grunted in memory, amused at how much time she’d spent thinking about Severus over the past three years.
She closed her eyes, remembering a night in Shanghai - the night that changed her life forever...
*
She sat at a table by the window in a Starbucks café - one chain that could guarantee its presence in any part of the globe. She had purchased a copy of the Sun Times earlier, and had propped it up to shield her eyes from the piercing sun. It was doing a marvelous job. The Muggle news was always a fascinating read. The United States was still cleaning up its Iraqi mess… at least the cleanup is easier for wizards, she thought. Sometimes.
She hadn’t noticed the man who sat down across from her until his hand was on the paper. Startled, she looked up, and screamed. Or, would have screamed, had he not already cast a silent silencing spell. She grabbed her constricted throat, eyes wide in panic.
Severus had smirked and quirked an eyebrow.
“Finished, Miss Granger?”
*
She opened her eyes, not noticing how her hand rested gently on her chest, fingers at the base of her throat. She could practically see him sitting across from her now, looking just as he had then. He’d cut his hair, but not too short. He’d worn a crisp white shirt under a black suit coat, with black pants and leather shoes. He’d done well for himself, as she’d soon found.
She closed her eyes again…
“Pardon my intrusion,” he said after releasing the spell. “You will forgive me?”
She bit her lip harshly to keep from screaming at him, and she clenched her fists to keep from trembling with excitement. He was here. She’d found him… more or less.
*
“I know you and Moody have been searching for me for over a year. It’s a shame Moody’s heart acted up again.”
“How do you know that?” she asked sharply, eyes piercing, hands tightly bound together.
He gave a wicked grin.
“You gave him something to make him ill again, didn’t you?” she whispered, sickened.
“I had to, if I was going to get you alone.”
“Why would you want that? You’ve always hated me.”
He waved a hand, ignoring her. “It’s no secret that Moody hates me. You are the only one I can trust to judge without bias.”
*
The first bolded quote taken from Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon. The second is from Marguerite de Navarre's The Heptameron.
Part II coming soon!
Team: The Order, dahling
Challenge(s): Exposed, Traitor to the Light, Hermione's Bad Day, Page 197
Rating: PG
Word Count: 6 x 100
A/N: This is part one to a series. Heartfelt thanks to the lovely snapeophile for giving this a once over. :)
She sat in the lounge chair, her weight sinking in, the just-received letter discarded on the floor. She twirled her fingers through her curls, mind blank, thoughts banished from this place.
Albus is alive.
Severus was innocent.
Voldemort had been killed years ago, at the end of what would have been her seventh year. Harry had done him in, but not at the expense of Ron’s life. Contrary to what everyone expected, Ron had not given his life for Harry, but for Hermione.
She had been inconsolable.
In the aftermath, there were marriages. Ginny’s career had taken off, and Harry was happy to care for the children that quickly came.
And her?
*
We need you, Remus had said, months after the Final Battle. They needed her. So she had accepted. She had gone off with Moody on a search for Severus… the traitor who had fled.
After a year of relentless searching, Moody had fallen ill. He had returned to England to be cared for by, of all people, Remus and Tonks, but Hermione had remained in Asia, where they had left off their search. The damn man, she’d thought. Damn his twenty years of experience to my twenty years of life.
She’d taken rest in Shanghai, writing the Order to tell them that she needed a reprieve.
*
She hadn’t loved Ron nearly as much as he’d loved her, she reflected. Yes, she’d searched for Severus, desperate to capture a Death Eater, desperate for vindication. You don’t need to do this, Hermione, Ginny had told her. The war is over, and we won. That is what Ron wanted. He would want you to find peace. And he wouldn’t want you spending so much time thinking about the greasy git, anyway.
She grunted in memory, amused at how much time she’d spent thinking about Severus over the past three years.
She closed her eyes, remembering a night in Shanghai - the night that changed her life forever...
*
She sat at a table by the window in a Starbucks café - one chain that could guarantee its presence in any part of the globe. She had purchased a copy of the Sun Times earlier, and had propped it up to shield her eyes from the piercing sun. It was doing a marvelous job. The Muggle news was always a fascinating read. The United States was still cleaning up its Iraqi mess… at least the cleanup is easier for wizards, she thought. Sometimes.
She hadn’t noticed the man who sat down across from her until his hand was on the paper. Startled, she looked up, and screamed. Or, would have screamed, had he not already cast a silent silencing spell. She grabbed her constricted throat, eyes wide in panic.
Severus had smirked and quirked an eyebrow.
“Finished, Miss Granger?”
*
She opened her eyes, not noticing how her hand rested gently on her chest, fingers at the base of her throat. She could practically see him sitting across from her now, looking just as he had then. He’d cut his hair, but not too short. He’d worn a crisp white shirt under a black suit coat, with black pants and leather shoes. He’d done well for himself, as she’d soon found.
She closed her eyes again…
“Pardon my intrusion,” he said after releasing the spell. “You will forgive me?”
She bit her lip harshly to keep from screaming at him, and she clenched her fists to keep from trembling with excitement. He was here. She’d found him… more or less.
*
“I know you and Moody have been searching for me for over a year. It’s a shame Moody’s heart acted up again.”
“How do you know that?” she asked sharply, eyes piercing, hands tightly bound together.
He gave a wicked grin.
“You gave him something to make him ill again, didn’t you?” she whispered, sickened.
“I had to, if I was going to get you alone.”
“Why would you want that? You’ve always hated me.”
He waved a hand, ignoring her. “It’s no secret that Moody hates me. You are the only one I can trust to judge without bias.”
*
The first bolded quote taken from Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon. The second is from Marguerite de Navarre's The Heptameron.
Part II coming soon!