[Part Five] Potent Rewards. HPSS. R
Title: Potent Rewards (5/6)
Author: faynia and stormypup
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Rating: R
Categories: Romance, Drama, Angst, Humor
Warnings: Dubious consent
Summary: The final battle is over and Snape is ready to collect his reward, but is he ready for the consequences that come with it?
A/N: I'd like to thank my beta-reader bewarethesmirk because she nitpicks like no other!
Previous Chapters: Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Harry exhaled shakily and pulled out of Snape's slackened grip. He watched as the man's chest rose and fell slowly with each breath, and felt a faint smile tug at the corner of his lips.
He headed into the next room, Snape's bedroom, and grabbed the cover off the bed and returned to the sitting area. Careful not to disturb the sleeping man, he draped the cover over Snape's prone form and tucked in the edges so it wouldn't slip off. He examined Snape's sunken cheeks and ringed eyes worriedly; he couldn't imagine what Snape had been feeling since Saturday. Yes, there had been a week, it had been bad for him as well, but at least he got to sleep - and not just for short periods of time. It had been all he could do.
He gently swept a strand of greasy, black hair off the man's face, then bent over and kissed his forehead before he could question himself.
He pulled back guiltily. Snape would kill him if he had been awake while he had done that. Creeping quietly across the hardwood floor, he headed towards the exit, dimming the lights with a soft "Nox." Licking his lips, he once more scanned Snape's living quarters and, once satisfied, left the way he had gotten in.
Harry jammed his hands into his pockets as he meandered back up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower. His thoughts were clear for the first time in a long while and, for once, he thought he could understand everything that had been happening to him since two months before the final battle. Snape hadn't slipped him the potion before then; he knew that for certain. No, his thoughts then had been his own and while they had never been sexual in nature, they had always been ones of respect and yearning. He admitted Hermione's annoying prodding to get him to form a truce with Snape had been part of the reason he had thought about the Potions Master so often in those last few weeks.
Harry had to admit it didn't help that he had been working closely with the man the last few days before the battle. The animosity had reached teeth grinding heights at that time and hadn't simmered until the actual battle arrived.
"Ice mice," Harry intoned, and the Fat Lady smiled graciously and winked at him. He glanced suspiciously about himself wondering if she knew something she shouldn't. He needed to talk to Hermione, tonight.
The common room wasn't as crowded as one expected it to be on a Wednesday night. He found Hermione sitting in the chair by the fire, her Ancient Runes book open on her lap. She looked up at his approach, and he watched her face go from surprise to worry.
"Harry! Why aren't you at detention?"
Harry flopped down into the chair next to her. "Don't worry, I, um, was excused. Snape wasn't feeling well, so I'll make it up another night."
"He looked absolutely dreadful today," Hermione said, closing her book, her brow furrowed in thought. "It must be really bad if he canceled a detention." She finally noticed the look on Harry's face. "Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not," he said, shrugging helplessly. He put his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. "It's complicated," he said, looking up at her. "Think you can help me sort it all out?"
Hermione nodded, determination shining clearly through her brown eyes. He knew he could count on her. "Here or somewhere else?"
Harry glanced around the room. "Room of Requirement?"
He watched as her eyes narrowed. "Is it really all that bad?"
"I think it might be, yes."
"Well, all right then." She placed her book beside her on the sofa and stood up. "Let's go."
Harry grinned weakly and took the hand she extended to stand up. "Where's Ron, by the way?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, but her smile warmed. "Helping Ginny with a Charms assignment."
"Ron?" Harry asked in surprise as they headed out of the common room. "Our Ron?"
"Of course ‘our Ron’. Honestly, Harry, you don't have to act so surprised."
Harry shook his head. "This is Ron we're talking about Hermione, he doesn't help people study. Hell, he doesn’t study at all, unless blackmailed into it."
"Actually, Ginny was really upset earlier, and I think Ron is probably distracting her more than helping her," Hermione said, looking pointedly at him. "I don't suppose she has anything to do with this?"
Harry nodded, but said nothing. He hadn't even thought of Ginny lately, in fact, he realized he'd been avoiding her. It hadn't been intentional, not really, he just couldn't deal with her on top of everything else.
They had been sitting in the Room of Requirement for ten minutes before Harry made any move to speak.
"It's about Snape."
"What is?" Hermione placed her teacup on the coffee table between them.
Harry sighed. "My problem it starts and ends with Snape."
"Oh, Harry not this again," Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.
"No, it's not about that. It's...different this time."
"Different...how?"
"Well, I don't hate him, though sometimes I really don't like him, and he's done some really fucked up things, but...this is so embarrassing...I think I want him. And I think, no, I know, that he wants me too. Guess that makes me pretty fucked up too."
Hermione's eyebrows reached heights not even Snape's could achieve. "How do you know that?"
"Know what?" Harry asked tiredly, perhaps he should have waited until the morning, but, no, this had to be done now or he'd never get the courage to talk to her about it again. He rubbed his face vigorously with his hands and slouched backwards into his chair.
"Snape, how do you know Snape...wants," she crinkled her nose a bit at the word, "you?"
Well, there was the drugging me and trying to make me some kind of mindless slave so he could keep me, only it wasn't quite what he thought it would be, and then he fixed me, even though he can't fix himself, and then there was the kissing, which was surprisingly good, amazing actually.
"We kind of...talked about it?" he said awkwardly.
"Harry, you didn't. You know what could happen if-"
"Please don't tell me there's a rule preventing this," Harry begged.
Hermione's expression softened at his desperate look. "I can't say for sure if there is, I'd have to go look it up in the school's bylaws."
"You mean there's something at this school you haven't read yet?"
"Oh, knock it off, Harry." She tossed a bit of scone at his forehead while blushing.
"Seriously though, what do you think you're going to do about it?"
"That's just it. I don't know. I don't know what to do in this situation and that's why I asked you. Not that I suspect you've ever had this sort of problem before," he rushed to add, "lusting after a teacher, I mean."
"Honestly, did you have use the word lusting? I'm not quite prepared to deal with the imagery of it all," she said, smiling to let him know she was joking. Mostly. At least he wasn't mentioning the whole Lockhart thing, which, really, was nothing more than a schoolgirl crush. Mostly.
"If you'd had the dreams I've been having for the last few months, you'd have no problem with the imagery at all," he said, grinning. "I can't believe we're having this conversation."
Hermione smiled. "I'm glad you felt you could have this conversation with me. You've been so distant lately, Harry, and we've been worried to death about you."
"So what do I do?"
Hermione gazed at him seriously. "For right now don't do anything...intimate with Professor Snape, not until we find out the exact rules. This is really rare you know, despite the fact you would think it wouldn't be, Hogwarts professors have rarely claimed any kind of attraction to a student, and they generally make it a point to steer clear of the student body as a whole in those regards."
Harry arched a brow. "How is it you know that, but you don't know if there's any rule forbidding it?"
"Because I read Hogwarts, A History, unlike some people I know, and there was a very brief passage in it about a student/teacher relationship that ended badly - very badly."
"Dead?" Hermione inclined her head in agreement. "So, it's frowned upon then."
Hermione nodded. "I remember reading that the first time and wondering why the editors felt they needed to make mention of it aside from the fact that both of their spirits remain trapped in these walls."
"I've never seen ghost couples," Harry said, a distinct feeling a dread rising in his stomach.
Hermione traced a finger around the edge of her reclaimed teacup. "You wouldn't, Harry, they killed each other."
"Oh, that's just brilliant," Harry said, scrubbing his face. "So who is it? Which ghosts, I mean?"
Hermione stared at him impassively. "Do you really want to know?"
"Probably not, but tell me anyway."
"The Grey Lady had been a student in Ravenclaw in the early part of the 17th century. She had been everything a member of Ravenclaw house was supposed to be; she was intelligent, charming, driven and competitive. It was a spell that gave her the beauty she possessed, for she had been a homely child and, upon entering Hogwarts took it upon herself to be beautiful, if she wasn't, no man would ever ask her to be his bride. Her mother reminded her of this every day and many of her closest friend's began to notice remarkable change. First it was her mouth; once thin and severe, became soft and seemed to be predestined for smiling; then her nose, once more bulbous became small; her eyes shone with a cleverness that the had never before possessed, and that was only the beginning of her changes.
"Now as fate has it, the Bloody Baron had been the Slytherin Head of House at the time and was not like he is now. While not overly friendly, he was at the very least cordial and apparently stunningly handsome. Many girls in all four Houses developed crushes on him over the years, but none dared approach him, none that is except-"
"The Grey Lady."
Hermione smiled and nodded. "Yes, The Grey Lady. As the story goes she courted his attention in the subtlest way possible, sending him small tokens of affection, each one more rare than the last, each more personal. The Bloody Baron was anything but idiotic and figured it out after receiving the fourth token, but he didn't let on that he knew."
"Then, how-?"
"Do we know?"
Harry nodded slowly.
"He kept a journal like most people of that era, but unlike most, he didn't safeguard his journal with spells. He felt that his mere presence was threatening and he was right in that respect."
"Did the Grey Lady have one as well?"
"Yes, it's been published in Flourish and Blotts actually, both of them have been published and are generally sold together. And before you ask, yes I do own them."
"Sappy romantic," Harry teased, "you only bought them for the romance aspect."
Hermione batted her eyelashes in his direction before giggling. "Do you wish to hear the rest or not?"
Harry smiled and nodded. "'Course, it's just getting good."
"Boys," Hermione muttered, and brought her hands up to protect her face from the pillow Harry chucked at her. She threw it back and shook her head before resuming her narrative.
"Now, the Bloody Baron wasn't in the habit of taking on younger paramours, but even he could not resist the Grey Lady's charming demeanor and, slowly, he found himself wishing to end the game. He was certain she knew that he had figured her out and that was why she was sending him coy little smiles in the Great Hall and during Defense of the Dark Arts class when no one else was looking.
"Well, that was untrue. Another student named Circe, one of the Lady's good friends, watched the interaction from the sidelines with growing jealousy when she discovered the Baron might be returning the Lady's affections.
"Little did the poor Lady know, that her friend was beginning to plot against her endeavors. She noted her drinks had become sweeter and smelled pleasanter than before during a few meals, but there were no other hints of what was to come. The Lady grew bolder in her affection and, even once, dropped her handkerchief in a crowded hall to garner the Baron's attention, who had graciously picked it up for her and given it back with a roguish grin. These little encounters began to occur all over the school and the Lady became deliriously happy the first time the Baron kissed her in an enclosed alcove near the dungeons. The attraction grew between the two and the school had begun to notice, but none dared to ask. The only one who knew was Circe, the Lady's only confidante, and if asked she would just smile back at them, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"All Hallows Eve, while the rest of the school attended a masque, the Lady and the Baron slipped out of the school and into the Forbidden Forest. It was said that party goers seeking air out in the rose gardens could hear the Lady's crystal laughter echoing, and the Baron's deep baritone chuckle across the grounds as they fled the festivities, but that would be the last time anyone would ever hear either of them say a word.
“The Lady and Baron never returned to the castle that night and the following morning searches began. They were found laying side by side, The Baron’s fingers around the Lady’s neck and the Lady gripping a dagger that she had plunged into his heart, stomach and lungs.” Hermione rubbed at her eyes and sighed deeply. “Foul play was never suspected and the case was ruled as a double homicide, and that was that. It wasn’t until centuries later, when their journals began to circulate, that it was discovered that things weren’t as clean cut as they had seemed.”
“It’s a little odd isn’t it,” Harry observed thoughtfully. “That a love struck student would murder the man she loved and vice versa. You never once mentioned he carried any particular ill will towards another.”
“No, and that’s what makes their deaths so odd.”
“And no one dares ask them?”
Hermione gazed at Harry speculatively. “Some have tried, to be sure, but if they got any answer they never reported it.”
“Still doesn’t really help me with my Snape problem, does it.”
“No,” she agreed, “but it proves that there weren’t any rules or restrictions against Student/Teacher relationships from the time of the Founders into the late 17th century.”
"I just wish I knew what to do, Hermione."
"Do you still hate Snape, Harry? Be honest with yourself."
Harry shook his head. "No, I don't."
Hermione set down her cold tea and crossed the small, cozy room to stand beside Harry's chair. "Then stop listening to this," she said rapping her knuckles against his forehead, "and start listening to this." She poked his chest above his heart and then stepped back.
Harry stared at her in shock. "You really are a sappy romantic."
"I never denied it, did I?" she answered with an impish smile.
"So you're actually telling me, that if I did choose to pursue this, you wouldn't think I was completely insane?" he asked, searching her face.
Hermione sighed. "You never can choose the easy path, can you?" she said, squeezing his hand. "You'll get enough opposition as it is, I won't add to it, though I can't guarantee that Ron and Ginny will be so open to the idea. Can't the two of you wait until you've graduated?"
Harry couldn't meet her eyes as he shook his head. "No, no we really can't."
"Why ever not? Oh, Harry! You've already...done something haven't you? I'd ask you how it was, but I really don't think I want to know the details." Hermione was quiet for a moment. "Yes, I do. How was it??"
Harry gaped at her. "I haven't done anything with him...beyond kissing."
"Well, then why can't you wait? Certainly Professor Snape can wait, he's a grown man, and while you're 17, I still don't get the urgency behind this. Or the suddenness for that matter. What happened?"
"S-someone slipped Snape and I a bonding potion," Harry stammered, quickly thinking about the closest plausible thing to the truth.
"What kind? Those can be extremely tricky."
"Don't I know it," Harry muttered. "I don't know, Snape must have thought, because he immediately set about brewing an antidote and it worked, for the most part. I haven't felt compelled to obey Snape's commands since I took it."
"It turned you into a slave!"
Harry was about to yell at her to keep it down when he remembered where they were. "Yes, but it wasn't all bad. Snape didn't even touch me." Liar.
"But surely he ordered you around somehow."
"Yes, he told me to act normal and do the things I always did."
"So that's why you suddenly were eating again Wednesday at lunch."
Harry nodded. "He was the nicest he'd probably ever been to me before."
"Than what's the problem, Harry. Why is it you can't wait?"
"Because somehow Snape is still under the effects of the potion, but it seems to have gone in reverse now and has begun to affect him in the way it had been for me. Hermione, he's a wreck. I feel guilty for leaving him alone in his quarters."
"So wait, he was able to reverse the effects on you, but not on himself? Harry, you're not just doing this out of guilt are you? I mean, you can't be expected to tie yourself to him out of some sense of obligation. You'll end up miserable!"
"But it's not just obligation! I don't know, maybe the potion affected me on some deeper level, because I still care about him. Hermione, you saw how bad it was for me. I'm not just going to walk away from him, leave him to suffer when I think I could be...content with him. Maybe even happy."
Hermione sighed. “I won't fight you on this if you are certain this is what you want to do. But be careful please."
"I'm not the one in danger of being hurt."
"Actually Harry, I think that's what worries me most, that you don't realize that you are," she said, a sad smile up on her face, "just as much as him."
"I have to try. I won't just walk away from this, whatever it is." Hearing the own resolve in his voice, Harry felt surer that he was making the right decision. How many times had Snape saved him? He could return the favor, and he really did believe that he could be happy. He had to at least try.
"Maybe you should keep this a secret for now. See how things go before you have to get anyone riled up."
Harry snorted. "Ron, you mean."
Hermione shoved him. "Not just Ron, you prat. How do you think McGonagall is going to react?"
"It's not like it's our fault!" Harry replied, though in truth, it was Snape's fault, and he knew it. "You said yourself those kind of potions are tricky."
Hermione shook her head. "Still, Harry, I just don't think you should let this be known, not yet, not until you see. What if Snape finds a way to reverse it? Will he still feel the same?"
"I think he felt this way before the potion. I won't pretend I understand it, because, honestly, I don't, but there is something there between us, I just didn't know what it was. You know?"
Hermione smiled. "Yes, I know."
Author: faynia and stormypup
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Rating: R
Categories: Romance, Drama, Angst, Humor
Warnings: Dubious consent
Summary: The final battle is over and Snape is ready to collect his reward, but is he ready for the consequences that come with it?
A/N: I'd like to thank my beta-reader bewarethesmirk because she nitpicks like no other!
Previous Chapters: Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Harry exhaled shakily and pulled out of Snape's slackened grip. He watched as the man's chest rose and fell slowly with each breath, and felt a faint smile tug at the corner of his lips.
He headed into the next room, Snape's bedroom, and grabbed the cover off the bed and returned to the sitting area. Careful not to disturb the sleeping man, he draped the cover over Snape's prone form and tucked in the edges so it wouldn't slip off. He examined Snape's sunken cheeks and ringed eyes worriedly; he couldn't imagine what Snape had been feeling since Saturday. Yes, there had been a week, it had been bad for him as well, but at least he got to sleep - and not just for short periods of time. It had been all he could do.
He gently swept a strand of greasy, black hair off the man's face, then bent over and kissed his forehead before he could question himself.
He pulled back guiltily. Snape would kill him if he had been awake while he had done that. Creeping quietly across the hardwood floor, he headed towards the exit, dimming the lights with a soft "Nox." Licking his lips, he once more scanned Snape's living quarters and, once satisfied, left the way he had gotten in.
Harry jammed his hands into his pockets as he meandered back up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower. His thoughts were clear for the first time in a long while and, for once, he thought he could understand everything that had been happening to him since two months before the final battle. Snape hadn't slipped him the potion before then; he knew that for certain. No, his thoughts then had been his own and while they had never been sexual in nature, they had always been ones of respect and yearning. He admitted Hermione's annoying prodding to get him to form a truce with Snape had been part of the reason he had thought about the Potions Master so often in those last few weeks.
Harry had to admit it didn't help that he had been working closely with the man the last few days before the battle. The animosity had reached teeth grinding heights at that time and hadn't simmered until the actual battle arrived.
"Ice mice," Harry intoned, and the Fat Lady smiled graciously and winked at him. He glanced suspiciously about himself wondering if she knew something she shouldn't. He needed to talk to Hermione, tonight.
The common room wasn't as crowded as one expected it to be on a Wednesday night. He found Hermione sitting in the chair by the fire, her Ancient Runes book open on her lap. She looked up at his approach, and he watched her face go from surprise to worry.
"Harry! Why aren't you at detention?"
Harry flopped down into the chair next to her. "Don't worry, I, um, was excused. Snape wasn't feeling well, so I'll make it up another night."
"He looked absolutely dreadful today," Hermione said, closing her book, her brow furrowed in thought. "It must be really bad if he canceled a detention." She finally noticed the look on Harry's face. "Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not," he said, shrugging helplessly. He put his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. "It's complicated," he said, looking up at her. "Think you can help me sort it all out?"
Hermione nodded, determination shining clearly through her brown eyes. He knew he could count on her. "Here or somewhere else?"
Harry glanced around the room. "Room of Requirement?"
He watched as her eyes narrowed. "Is it really all that bad?"
"I think it might be, yes."
"Well, all right then." She placed her book beside her on the sofa and stood up. "Let's go."
Harry grinned weakly and took the hand she extended to stand up. "Where's Ron, by the way?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, but her smile warmed. "Helping Ginny with a Charms assignment."
"Ron?" Harry asked in surprise as they headed out of the common room. "Our Ron?"
"Of course ‘our Ron’. Honestly, Harry, you don't have to act so surprised."
Harry shook his head. "This is Ron we're talking about Hermione, he doesn't help people study. Hell, he doesn’t study at all, unless blackmailed into it."
"Actually, Ginny was really upset earlier, and I think Ron is probably distracting her more than helping her," Hermione said, looking pointedly at him. "I don't suppose she has anything to do with this?"
Harry nodded, but said nothing. He hadn't even thought of Ginny lately, in fact, he realized he'd been avoiding her. It hadn't been intentional, not really, he just couldn't deal with her on top of everything else.
They had been sitting in the Room of Requirement for ten minutes before Harry made any move to speak.
"It's about Snape."
"What is?" Hermione placed her teacup on the coffee table between them.
Harry sighed. "My problem it starts and ends with Snape."
"Oh, Harry not this again," Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.
"No, it's not about that. It's...different this time."
"Different...how?"
"Well, I don't hate him, though sometimes I really don't like him, and he's done some really fucked up things, but...this is so embarrassing...I think I want him. And I think, no, I know, that he wants me too. Guess that makes me pretty fucked up too."
Hermione's eyebrows reached heights not even Snape's could achieve. "How do you know that?"
"Know what?" Harry asked tiredly, perhaps he should have waited until the morning, but, no, this had to be done now or he'd never get the courage to talk to her about it again. He rubbed his face vigorously with his hands and slouched backwards into his chair.
"Snape, how do you know Snape...wants," she crinkled her nose a bit at the word, "you?"
Well, there was the drugging me and trying to make me some kind of mindless slave so he could keep me, only it wasn't quite what he thought it would be, and then he fixed me, even though he can't fix himself, and then there was the kissing, which was surprisingly good, amazing actually.
"We kind of...talked about it?" he said awkwardly.
"Harry, you didn't. You know what could happen if-"
"Please don't tell me there's a rule preventing this," Harry begged.
Hermione's expression softened at his desperate look. "I can't say for sure if there is, I'd have to go look it up in the school's bylaws."
"You mean there's something at this school you haven't read yet?"
"Oh, knock it off, Harry." She tossed a bit of scone at his forehead while blushing.
"Seriously though, what do you think you're going to do about it?"
"That's just it. I don't know. I don't know what to do in this situation and that's why I asked you. Not that I suspect you've ever had this sort of problem before," he rushed to add, "lusting after a teacher, I mean."
"Honestly, did you have use the word lusting? I'm not quite prepared to deal with the imagery of it all," she said, smiling to let him know she was joking. Mostly. At least he wasn't mentioning the whole Lockhart thing, which, really, was nothing more than a schoolgirl crush. Mostly.
"If you'd had the dreams I've been having for the last few months, you'd have no problem with the imagery at all," he said, grinning. "I can't believe we're having this conversation."
Hermione smiled. "I'm glad you felt you could have this conversation with me. You've been so distant lately, Harry, and we've been worried to death about you."
"So what do I do?"
Hermione gazed at him seriously. "For right now don't do anything...intimate with Professor Snape, not until we find out the exact rules. This is really rare you know, despite the fact you would think it wouldn't be, Hogwarts professors have rarely claimed any kind of attraction to a student, and they generally make it a point to steer clear of the student body as a whole in those regards."
Harry arched a brow. "How is it you know that, but you don't know if there's any rule forbidding it?"
"Because I read Hogwarts, A History, unlike some people I know, and there was a very brief passage in it about a student/teacher relationship that ended badly - very badly."
"Dead?" Hermione inclined her head in agreement. "So, it's frowned upon then."
Hermione nodded. "I remember reading that the first time and wondering why the editors felt they needed to make mention of it aside from the fact that both of their spirits remain trapped in these walls."
"I've never seen ghost couples," Harry said, a distinct feeling a dread rising in his stomach.
Hermione traced a finger around the edge of her reclaimed teacup. "You wouldn't, Harry, they killed each other."
"Oh, that's just brilliant," Harry said, scrubbing his face. "So who is it? Which ghosts, I mean?"
Hermione stared at him impassively. "Do you really want to know?"
"Probably not, but tell me anyway."
"The Grey Lady had been a student in Ravenclaw in the early part of the 17th century. She had been everything a member of Ravenclaw house was supposed to be; she was intelligent, charming, driven and competitive. It was a spell that gave her the beauty she possessed, for she had been a homely child and, upon entering Hogwarts took it upon herself to be beautiful, if she wasn't, no man would ever ask her to be his bride. Her mother reminded her of this every day and many of her closest friend's began to notice remarkable change. First it was her mouth; once thin and severe, became soft and seemed to be predestined for smiling; then her nose, once more bulbous became small; her eyes shone with a cleverness that the had never before possessed, and that was only the beginning of her changes.
"Now as fate has it, the Bloody Baron had been the Slytherin Head of House at the time and was not like he is now. While not overly friendly, he was at the very least cordial and apparently stunningly handsome. Many girls in all four Houses developed crushes on him over the years, but none dared approach him, none that is except-"
"The Grey Lady."
Hermione smiled and nodded. "Yes, The Grey Lady. As the story goes she courted his attention in the subtlest way possible, sending him small tokens of affection, each one more rare than the last, each more personal. The Bloody Baron was anything but idiotic and figured it out after receiving the fourth token, but he didn't let on that he knew."
"Then, how-?"
"Do we know?"
Harry nodded slowly.
"He kept a journal like most people of that era, but unlike most, he didn't safeguard his journal with spells. He felt that his mere presence was threatening and he was right in that respect."
"Did the Grey Lady have one as well?"
"Yes, it's been published in Flourish and Blotts actually, both of them have been published and are generally sold together. And before you ask, yes I do own them."
"Sappy romantic," Harry teased, "you only bought them for the romance aspect."
Hermione batted her eyelashes in his direction before giggling. "Do you wish to hear the rest or not?"
Harry smiled and nodded. "'Course, it's just getting good."
"Boys," Hermione muttered, and brought her hands up to protect her face from the pillow Harry chucked at her. She threw it back and shook her head before resuming her narrative.
"Now, the Bloody Baron wasn't in the habit of taking on younger paramours, but even he could not resist the Grey Lady's charming demeanor and, slowly, he found himself wishing to end the game. He was certain she knew that he had figured her out and that was why she was sending him coy little smiles in the Great Hall and during Defense of the Dark Arts class when no one else was looking.
"Well, that was untrue. Another student named Circe, one of the Lady's good friends, watched the interaction from the sidelines with growing jealousy when she discovered the Baron might be returning the Lady's affections.
"Little did the poor Lady know, that her friend was beginning to plot against her endeavors. She noted her drinks had become sweeter and smelled pleasanter than before during a few meals, but there were no other hints of what was to come. The Lady grew bolder in her affection and, even once, dropped her handkerchief in a crowded hall to garner the Baron's attention, who had graciously picked it up for her and given it back with a roguish grin. These little encounters began to occur all over the school and the Lady became deliriously happy the first time the Baron kissed her in an enclosed alcove near the dungeons. The attraction grew between the two and the school had begun to notice, but none dared to ask. The only one who knew was Circe, the Lady's only confidante, and if asked she would just smile back at them, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"All Hallows Eve, while the rest of the school attended a masque, the Lady and the Baron slipped out of the school and into the Forbidden Forest. It was said that party goers seeking air out in the rose gardens could hear the Lady's crystal laughter echoing, and the Baron's deep baritone chuckle across the grounds as they fled the festivities, but that would be the last time anyone would ever hear either of them say a word.
“The Lady and Baron never returned to the castle that night and the following morning searches began. They were found laying side by side, The Baron’s fingers around the Lady’s neck and the Lady gripping a dagger that she had plunged into his heart, stomach and lungs.” Hermione rubbed at her eyes and sighed deeply. “Foul play was never suspected and the case was ruled as a double homicide, and that was that. It wasn’t until centuries later, when their journals began to circulate, that it was discovered that things weren’t as clean cut as they had seemed.”
“It’s a little odd isn’t it,” Harry observed thoughtfully. “That a love struck student would murder the man she loved and vice versa. You never once mentioned he carried any particular ill will towards another.”
“No, and that’s what makes their deaths so odd.”
“And no one dares ask them?”
Hermione gazed at Harry speculatively. “Some have tried, to be sure, but if they got any answer they never reported it.”
“Still doesn’t really help me with my Snape problem, does it.”
“No,” she agreed, “but it proves that there weren’t any rules or restrictions against Student/Teacher relationships from the time of the Founders into the late 17th century.”
"I just wish I knew what to do, Hermione."
"Do you still hate Snape, Harry? Be honest with yourself."
Harry shook his head. "No, I don't."
Hermione set down her cold tea and crossed the small, cozy room to stand beside Harry's chair. "Then stop listening to this," she said rapping her knuckles against his forehead, "and start listening to this." She poked his chest above his heart and then stepped back.
Harry stared at her in shock. "You really are a sappy romantic."
"I never denied it, did I?" she answered with an impish smile.
"So you're actually telling me, that if I did choose to pursue this, you wouldn't think I was completely insane?" he asked, searching her face.
Hermione sighed. "You never can choose the easy path, can you?" she said, squeezing his hand. "You'll get enough opposition as it is, I won't add to it, though I can't guarantee that Ron and Ginny will be so open to the idea. Can't the two of you wait until you've graduated?"
Harry couldn't meet her eyes as he shook his head. "No, no we really can't."
"Why ever not? Oh, Harry! You've already...done something haven't you? I'd ask you how it was, but I really don't think I want to know the details." Hermione was quiet for a moment. "Yes, I do. How was it??"
Harry gaped at her. "I haven't done anything with him...beyond kissing."
"Well, then why can't you wait? Certainly Professor Snape can wait, he's a grown man, and while you're 17, I still don't get the urgency behind this. Or the suddenness for that matter. What happened?"
"S-someone slipped Snape and I a bonding potion," Harry stammered, quickly thinking about the closest plausible thing to the truth.
"What kind? Those can be extremely tricky."
"Don't I know it," Harry muttered. "I don't know, Snape must have thought, because he immediately set about brewing an antidote and it worked, for the most part. I haven't felt compelled to obey Snape's commands since I took it."
"It turned you into a slave!"
Harry was about to yell at her to keep it down when he remembered where they were. "Yes, but it wasn't all bad. Snape didn't even touch me." Liar.
"But surely he ordered you around somehow."
"Yes, he told me to act normal and do the things I always did."
"So that's why you suddenly were eating again Wednesday at lunch."
Harry nodded. "He was the nicest he'd probably ever been to me before."
"Than what's the problem, Harry. Why is it you can't wait?"
"Because somehow Snape is still under the effects of the potion, but it seems to have gone in reverse now and has begun to affect him in the way it had been for me. Hermione, he's a wreck. I feel guilty for leaving him alone in his quarters."
"So wait, he was able to reverse the effects on you, but not on himself? Harry, you're not just doing this out of guilt are you? I mean, you can't be expected to tie yourself to him out of some sense of obligation. You'll end up miserable!"
"But it's not just obligation! I don't know, maybe the potion affected me on some deeper level, because I still care about him. Hermione, you saw how bad it was for me. I'm not just going to walk away from him, leave him to suffer when I think I could be...content with him. Maybe even happy."
Hermione sighed. “I won't fight you on this if you are certain this is what you want to do. But be careful please."
"I'm not the one in danger of being hurt."
"Actually Harry, I think that's what worries me most, that you don't realize that you are," she said, a sad smile up on her face, "just as much as him."
"I have to try. I won't just walk away from this, whatever it is." Hearing the own resolve in his voice, Harry felt surer that he was making the right decision. How many times had Snape saved him? He could return the favor, and he really did believe that he could be happy. He had to at least try.
"Maybe you should keep this a secret for now. See how things go before you have to get anyone riled up."
Harry snorted. "Ron, you mean."
Hermione shoved him. "Not just Ron, you prat. How do you think McGonagall is going to react?"
"It's not like it's our fault!" Harry replied, though in truth, it was Snape's fault, and he knew it. "You said yourself those kind of potions are tricky."
Hermione shook her head. "Still, Harry, I just don't think you should let this be known, not yet, not until you see. What if Snape finds a way to reverse it? Will he still feel the same?"
"I think he felt this way before the potion. I won't pretend I understand it, because, honestly, I don't, but there is something there between us, I just didn't know what it was. You know?"
Hermione smiled. "Yes, I know."