Before they knew it, it was New Year's Eve. Hermione and Harry weren't in the mood for the ebullient cheer of the younger students who were allowed to stay up until midnight in the Great Hall and toast the new year with tiny flutes of champagne, so the two of them sneaked up to the top of the Astronomy Tower and heralded the arrival of 1998 privately instead.
Kreacher and Winky had provided Hermione and Harry with a picnic hamper crammed with food which they'd mostly ignored. They poured two flutes of champagne, set them on the balustrade, and proceeded to give Harry's increasing dance skills a workout. The slow waltz was still the dance in which he was the most accomplished, but she'd briefed him on all the International Standard ballroom dances just in case.
They'd switched to the tango by the time midnight grew imminent. Hermione had conjured a music box to play an appropriate rhythm and tap out the beat, as the fact that the tango had four beats per measure instead of the waltz's three threw Harry off until he got into the swing of it. He wasn't up for any difficult manoeuvres, but he was happy to twirl her round and round. Periodically, he'd cautiously attempt a dip which slowed them right down to an unnatural pace, but he was making an effort, so she didn't criticize.
It worked out really well for them that he was completely gay; neither of them felt awkward about the fact that they were plastered to one another for the tango in a way that they weren't for the waltz. This way, they could both fondly wish for the person they really wanted to be dancing with without worrying that they were hurting the feelings of the person with whom they were currently spending time.
Privacy charms had long ago been cast, Hermione was resting her head on Harry's shoulder, and he was making a quiet confession.
"I don't know how I can care for a man who cast the Cruciatus on you, Hermione. I still want him, and that makes me feel horrible."
"Hey." She tightened her grip on him. "I don't blame you for liking him, and I think he's being slow to forgive himself. If he ran around casting Unforgivables on people on a whim, I would be a little perturbed by your choice. But I believe in my heart that that's not the case. He's a pure-blood Slytherin from one of the most high-profile pure-blood families, and his father serves Voldemort. He's been forced into some horrible situations as a result. I think he chose the lesser of two evils when he cursed me; it was quickly over and didn't hurt anyone permanently. You can let it go. I promise I won't mind."
Harry let out a deep breath. "I know he's been a prat, and we don't agree most of the time, but seeing you go down under his wand … that was terrifying."
"It's the kind of incident that is supposed to cause turmoil in all human beings who feel moral conflicts; it disturbed you, and it disturbed him, too." Maybe it would have been better if she'd let Harry overhear the discussion she and Draco had had before the latter had left for the holidays, but it was too late for that now. It wasn't as though she could say positively whether or not Draco had taken anything from the meeting, anyway. "There's still plenty of room for your dreams, Harry."
"Unattainable fantasies," he corrected, sounding discouraged.
"Dreams are for desires that seem unlikely to be fulfilled right away," she argued. "They're not impossible, and this hope of yours isn't, either."
"I hope you're right." He sounded marginally less miserable than he had before.
"Of course I am," she said with mock indignation. "Think to whom you're speaking."
He let out a half-laugh.
The clock began to toll the hour. She attempted a more bracing tone as she said, "So we're not dancing with our preferred partners at the moment; at least we're dancing in the new year together, right?"
She felt the movement of his nod as he murmured, "You keep me sane."
"Someone needs to," she answered smartly.
He softly laughed again, a huff of breath against her hair.
"I love you, 'Mione."
"And I love you, Harry."
The last chime had barely faded away before they were interrupted.
"What a charming scene." Vitriol dripped from every word.
They pulled apart to face the menacing dark form which glided out of the shadows.
"Happy New Year, sir," she said as smoothly as she could under the circumstances, feeling that the taut silence needed to be broken somehow.
"I doubt you will feel that way shortly, Miss Granger. Given your exalted positions within the school, you must surely be aware that the Astronomy Tower is not to be used for illicit activities."
"We weren't doing anything illicit!" Harry exclaimed indignantly.
"I beg to differ," Severus said coldly. "Romantic assignations are prohibited." Harry opened his mouth, but Severus cut him off with a glare. "I see food and alcohol and find you locked in an embrace. How would it look to one of the younger students if they stumbled across you?"
"The younger students are being escorted to their beds by their Heads of House, sir," Hermione reminded him with as much calm as she could muster. "Even if they did escape from your watchful eye, run up here for some unfathomable reason, and see us, it would look as though we were only dancing because that's all we were doing. Thanks to the Prophet, every person in wizarding Britain has been informed that we're a couple, so it's hardly going to come as a shock to any of them."
"Not to mention the fact that a fair number of them quizzed us regularly about our sex life for weeks," Harry pointed out. "They're not five-year-olds."
"As Head Boy and Head Girl of this school, it is your responsibility to be above reproach in all of your actions," Severus declared condescendingly.
"There's nothing to—" Hermione began, aggravated.
Severus continued as though she hadn't been speaking, "Fifty points will be removed from each of you for your misconduct."
They gaped at him.
"Additionally, you will serve a week's detention to remind you that you are still subject to all the rules and regulations of this school despite your lofty," he spat the word out, "titles. You will serve the detention on the first week back, Miss Granger. Mr Potter, you will serve it in the second week, once you've completed your other week of detention, as it seems prudent to split up the oh-so-charming couple." He spoke with relish.
"But that's—!" Harry began explosively, halted only by her hand clenching his arm and her, Please don't.
But that's absurd! Harry railed internally.
But you know what he's like. I'd like to get off this tower without him tripling the point loss.
A moment's reflection assured that Harry saw the wisdom of this. Severus was gazing at them with a triumphant smirk, as though hoping Harry would start something that the Slytherin could finish with the point loss Hermione had described.
She didn't take her gaze off the tall man in front of her. "Harry, I think you should take everything back to our rooms."
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Harry staring back and forth between her and Severus.
"Uh, Hermione, I'm not so sure—"
"It's all right," she reassured him, still without looking away from Severus.
You're sure we're not going to wind up three hundred points in the hole by tomorrow? Harry asked as he moved to gather up the basket and Vanish the champagne.
I try not to make those sorts of promises when Professor Snape is involved, but I'm going to try to smooth things over. I'll be fine, and I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?
He shrugged, finally. If you're sure.
Harry took the time to cast what she was sure was a long glare at Severus before trekking to the doorway and making his way down the stairs.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" Severus asked cruelly. "You have something you wish to add?"
"Could you explain to me what we've done to warrant this point loss, sir? You know we don't have a curfew. We weren't committing any lewd acts, and we're allowed to have champagne on New Year's."
His voice grew dangerously soft. "You aren't questioning my professional judgement, are you, Miss Granger?"
She shook her head. "But we do have the right to understand what we're being punished for."
"And I have already explained it to you," he stated as though he were speaking to a small child who had difficulty grasping an extremely simple concept. There was still a faint smile on his face, the smirky, unpleasant one.
"I can see how it might have looked inappropriate." If you were blind as a bat, squinting really hard, and deliberately trying to misread the situation. "But now that you've heard what was really going on and realized that nothing inappropriate has happened, won't you reconsider?" she asked, an edge of desperation blended with hope in her voice.
He stared down his long nose at her. "Miss Granger, have you ever known me to reconsider a point loss?"
She shook her head but soldiered on doggedly because it was New Year's and she really, really didn't want this to be his first act towards her. She wanted to fix it. She wanted.... She wanted those dreams that she and Harry had been talking about earlier. "But you don't generally inaccurately assess a situation, either."
This was a bit of a lie, although usually when he took points away for spurious reasons, it wasn't to such an absurd degree. They hadn't lost one hundred points or received a week's worth of detentions for having a library book outside on the one day when that had been his excuse of choice.
She'd thought her words were a pretty diplomatic way of saying what needed to be said, but he was still unimpressed.
"That sounded remarkably as though you were questioning my professional judgement, Miss Granger. We can't have students thinking they are above their professors, now can we?"
She opened her mouth to protest that she didn't think that at all—and what she really wanted to say was something completely different again—but he wasn't finished.
"That warrants another week of detention, I think."
All the air whooshed out of her lungs as she stared at him. Two weeks of detention was considerably more than she'd received in the other six years of her scholastic career combined. She opened her mouth again, but no sound came out.
"More protests will fall on deaf ears, Miss Granger," he said, coldly dispassionate now.
She managed a shaky nod, not trusting herself to speak. He'd missed the fact that she was fresh out of words and struggling instead with a choking mixture of anger and tears. Unfortunately, the tears currently seemed to be winning, but she had promised herself she wouldn't cry in front of this man.
Without another word, she turned to leave.
"A wise choice, Miss Granger," he called after her, voice mocking. "You wouldn't want to lose anything else for the new year, now would you?"
She was perilously close to losing all control, and the words came out before she could censor them.
"You're mistaken, sir," she said quietly, voice quivering with suppressed emotion. She didn't turn back because she didn't think she could face him. "I've already suffered another loss. I hope you place a great deal of stock in your professional integrity," she gritted the words out, "because as far as I'm concerned, that's all you've got left."
She booted it down the stairs without waiting to see if that bald statement garnered a response. It seemed to be a frequent occurrence, recently, that she needed to make a run for it after telling him the truth.
She didn't understand what was wrong with him this year. Last year, after Harry's apology about Occlumency lessons and the Pensieve, they had all managed to work together pretty civilly overall.
Well, she and Severus had gotten along quite ably; she supposed it had helped that she had been preferable to Harry as a companion. She had shown her appreciation for what Severus was doing—working with them, working against Voldemort, putting up with abysmal Potions students—by assisting where she could with his work, whether that was brewing potions or even occasionally grading the first- and second-year papers because she was more than capable of wading through their foolish answers without a cheat sheet.
This year, she and Harry were older and more mature. Harry was more serious than ever about training and defeating Voldemort, and she was pretty sure he had acquired a grudging but solid respect for the Potions master. So why were they having such difficulties?
Severus could be positively cordial for all of about ten minutes and then he flayed them alive. She couldn't understand it, and tonight was the last straw. There'd been absolutely no good reason for his behaviour, and whatever it was that had made him decide to start attacking her and Harry in earnest, he was using his authority as a professor to make that possible. She knew he knew nothing inappropriate had been going on up there tonight. He was a spy, trained to assess situations at a glance, and she and Harry hadn't even kissed. As if they would have wanted to, and they'd been on their own, so it wasn't as though they'd been playing up on their pretend romantic connection or anything.
So he would continue to be her professor until the middle of June, but she was giving up trying to get to know Severus. She had never expected him to be perfect, but being a complete bastard all the time was too much. She kept getting her hopes up when he fed her chocolate mousse or invited her in to tea, and then they were dashed utterly when he made her call him Professor Snape and gave her weeks of detention. The emotional roller coaster was getting nauseating, and she wasn't going to make it through the school year if these sorts of ups and downs continued.
Why the bloody hell did she and Harry have to pick such daft people to fall in love with? Why did this all have to be so difficult and stupid and painful?
Fortunately, she made it to their quarters before her tears won out over her anger. Unfortunately, Harry was waiting in the common room, and he chose this moment to be unusually perspicacious.
"You're crying!" he exclaimed, startled. "What did he do? I'll curse him into next week!"
She had to actually grab hold of him to keep him from shooting out the door.
"He didn't do anything," she argued, sniffing miserably. She corrected conscientiously, "Well, he gave me another week's detention."
He blinked, stared, and then offered her a reassuring smile. "I know it probably seems bad, but the school year is so busy, it'll be over before you even realize. Everybody knows Snape can be like that; it won't reflect poorly on you."
She shook her head. "I don't care about the detentions."
Which wasn't exactly true, but the detentions weren't why she was crying.
He frowned. "But it is about Snape?"
She pressed her lips together but couldn't quite bring herself to tell the lie that even a shaken head would represent. He took her silence as agreement.
"But you said he didn't do anything else, so why would you…." He trailed off, and she could see the proverbial light bulb click on in his head. "I see why you didn't want to tell me."
Her lower lip trembled, hurt and anger warring within her. She couldn't quite bring herself to the cruelty of pointing out his own oh-so-stellar choice, but he could see if she ever comforted him again when he was angsting about the Slytherin bloody Ice Prince. "I'm going to bed," she snapped.
He had the temerity to look startled as she marched past him to her bedroom door. So all the men in her life were insensitive prats. It shouldn't have come as a surprise.
"'Mione—" he began.
Anything else he was trying to say was cut off by the satisfyingly loud slamming of her door. She proceeded to ward it such that a nuclear bomb could go off in her common room and she wouldn't notice. It would take Harry and Albus at least a couple of days to break through.
She tumbled into bed and tiredly closed her eyes. Happy bloody New Year.
She slept for nearly five hours, which was unusual for her these days, and woke up feeling slightly less raw. She'd fallen asleep in her clothing, which was now rather wrinkled, and she shed it and shuffled off into the bathroom for a very hot shower that made her feel almost human again.
She dressed, sighed, and opened her door with resignation, nearly ready to face the day.
Harry fell through. He'd apparently propped himself up against it and fallen asleep. She gazed down at his supine form. He blinked up at her from upside-down sleepy eyes.
"Have we considered getting you to ward the castle and other likely targets so that we could live safe in the knowledge that Voldemort would never get in?" he asked.
She was still a bit out of sorts, but she allowed the compliment to pull a half-smile out of her.
"That's an interesting location for you to have decided to take up residence."
"Well, I tried to get in, obviously, but that didn't go so well. I wanted to make sure you didn't sneak out when I wasn't looking before I could talk to you."
She sighed. "You're hopeless. Up you get."
She pulled him to his feet, and they entered the common room together.
"We need to talk," he said firmly.
She frowned slightly. "I'm not sure I'm up for that sort of talk this morning, Harry. It's supposed to be a brand new year, remember?"
He shook his head stubbornly. "And this should have been said last night, but it took me longer than that to attach my mouth to my brain and find the right words."
She gave in and sat on the couch, and Harry ordered tea for both of them, which the elves followed with toast and a lot of fresh fruit. They seemed to be aware of her mood and hadn't attempted anything heavy or meat-filled even for Harry. She helped herself to a bowl of fruit and a mug of tea. Tea was very useful for making her feel better, she realized. Not quite as good as light or mousse, but more practical at the moment.
"I didn't mean it the way it sounded," Harry said, sounding contrite. "Honestly, I didn't."
"It's all right," she said dismissively. "You're entitled to your opinion."
He shook his head again with determination. "But I'm not, not about this. You spent the whole night comforting me about Draco. He cursed you with an Unforgivable, and you were still all supportive. Last night you were crying and upset about Snape, and I made you feel worse. That's awful. That's like...." He seemed to be struggling for an adequate description, finally settling on, "That's super bad friend material."
She laughed, a tight constriction easing somewhere deep inside her. "Thank you, Harry."
"But I can see why you didn't want to say, right? Because you thought I'd do something stupid like that."
She shrugged, conceding his point.
"I can't cast any stones, you know that." He sounded very definite. "I might not understand, mind, but you are entitled to care about whomever you care about. You are quite certain you care about him?"
She couldn't really blame him for questioning her, but she had only to think back to that night in Severus's arms, to the debates that they'd had where he seemed to forget for a few minutes that she was only a student, and she knew beyond question.
"Quite certain."
Harry shrugged, accepting this. "If it's anything like with me, I guess you didn't have a lot of choice in the matter."
She nodded.
"I am sorry you felt worse yesterday."
She shook her head. "I just went to bed. It was okay. I got to see you bright and early this morning, and now I feel better."
"He really gave you another week of detention?"
He winced at her nod. She explained, "He accused me of doubting his professional judgement when I tried to point out that he hadn't really seen any of the things that he was punishing us for."
Harry snorted. "Gutsy. Stupid, but gutsy."
She smiled in spite of herself. "I swear, sometimes he can be really normal."
"If you say so," he said, shaking his head. "I think he's been even weirder than normal this year, personally."
"Well, he does seem to have some ... extremes. I kept hoping that it would settle out or he'd get over whatever was bothering him."
"Not so much?"
She sighed, feeling she was doing a bit too much of it this morning. "Not so much. But," she added, forcing her tone to sound cheerful, "I bet you don't feel so bad about caring for Draco now, do you?"
He laughed involuntarily. "I don't think I should be stressing that point right now, since we're trying to comfort you, but, er, yeah. I'm sort of wondering if maybe they tainted the water in our bathroom or something."
She grinned. "We're in the same boat, anyway."
"And it seems like we have the same likelihood of getting what we want. That being slim to none, in case you were wondering."
"I think you have a fighting chance," she argued positively.
He shook his head, pointing out, "At least you know Snape's on the right side. It's entirely possible Draco's going to become a Death Eater for real, and then where will I be?"
"Eating too much chocolate mousse with me because Severus might be on the right side but he still thinks I'm some lesser form of being who's stupid and Gryffindor."
He shook his head. "Nah…. I'm more of an éclair bloke than a chocolate mousse bloke."
She laughed again, having expected him to negate her observation of what Severus felt about her, not her food choice.
"Seriously, though," he added, smiling at her, "I think he tolerates you above all the rest of us Gryffs. He let Ron and me into his class for you, you must have noticed that."
"He was doing his best to get me out of his class with the two of you," she said with a shake of her head. He opened his mouth to protest and she added, "I heard him discussing it with Minerva."
Harry frowned but moved on to another argument. "He gave you the Burn Potion and, except when he's being totally snarly, he seems more polite to you than he is to either Ron or me."
"But that's probably just because I'm more polite to him," she negated. "I don't think you're going to win this one, Harry, although I appreciate that you're trying. He just gave me two weeks of detention for catching the two of us dancing on the Astronomy Tower, and he told me to stop calling him Severus."
It was a relief to finally be able to confess that to someone who would be appropriately sympathetic.
Harry made a face. "He didn't."
She sighed. "He did. Took away points and everything."
"Okay," Harry conceded. "So both of us are doomed. We'll die virgins and be the oldest Pure Adults on record. How's that sound?"
"We'll have lots of cats and live together until we're two hundred and twenty," she agreed.
They grinned at one another.
"He's going to be horrible to work with this week, isn't he?" Harry questioned.
"I'm trying not to think about it." She suppressed another sigh. "And I'm wondering if I can just lock myself in our rooms for a week and a half and not come out again until I have to go back to school."
Harry appeared to take her idea seriously. "Well, I'm sure we could convince Kreacher and Dobby and Winky to feed us, and that's really the only reason we'd need to leave."
"Until Albus comes down and rousts us, and I don't relish explaining to him why I was hiding here to begin with," she said with a grimace.
"You're not hiding," Harry said indignantly. "You're making a strategic retreat. That's totally different and completely understandable under the circumstances."
"Thank you," she said, meaning for more than his words.
"You're very welcome," he replied. "Shall we get up for real and face the day?"
She nodded. They practiced hand-to-hand and duelling until it was almost time for breakfast. They showered, dressed properly, and headed up to the Great Hall.
They were the first to arrive, everyone else's late night making the eight o'clock breakfast time a trifle early, apparently. The house-elves were on the ball as per usual, however, and food that appealed to both her and Harry appeared in serving dishes on their end of the table.
"Do you ever wonder just how much magic they have? The house-elves, I mean," she clarified when she realized he had no idea who she was talking about.
He shook his head. "I've had a house-elf redirect my mail, hover a pudding, charm the barrier at King's Cross, tamper with a Bludger, sneak into Snape's private stores, and throw Lucius Malfoy the length of a corridor because he drew his wand on me. I have no doubt that they're plenty powerful."
She smiled, this having not been the answer she expected but making perfect sense in the context of his life.
"I'd just hate to think that we really oppress them because we're concerned about how much power they wield."
Harry appeared to take this seriously, answering after a moment, "You've talked to Kreacher and Winky and Dobby. You know how they feel about their positions. I'm not against paying them, as you know, and making sure they're treated properly, but they give every indication of wanting to serve wizards. Even Dobby doesn't want to stop doing that."
She nodded. "I guess I just worry about a lot of things."
"And that's what makes you such an upstanding individual," he said, grinning at her. "You think through all the issues that most of us are too lazy or too dismissive to think about. It means a lot to all of us that you've done your best by Winky even when she didn't see her way to freedom the way you thought she should. While Ron and I were concerned with day-to-day rubbish, you were the one who didn't forget that Hagrid was trying to save Buckbeak. You were going mental from all the time you were spending on so many problems, but you didn't forget like we did. It's great to have a friend like you; it helps me try to be a better person."
"You're a great person, Harry," she reassured him. "You have a lot on your plate that I don't."
He shook his head. "Voldemort might have marked me down for death, but it's not like he hasn't done the same for Muggle-borns, and you've been involved with me and my fight virtually from day one. You don't let what others consider lost causes fall by the wayside, and we've saved Winky and Kreacher and Buckbeak as a result, although it didn't necessarily turn out just how we expected it would."
She certainly remembered that crazy Time-Turner time and the relief with which she had returned the device despite the opportunities that were lost to her as a result.
"Shall we just agree that we think each of us is spectacular and continue our year from there?" she proposed.
Harry grinned. "I do seem to be kind of peppy this morning, don't I? Yes, no matter what anybody else thinks, we think we're great."
She smiled back. "You've got it." Her face fell as she saw who was stalking through the door. "Minerva, apparently, does not agree."
The Head of Gryffindor joined them at the table, sitting down heavily next to Harry, her lips pinched into a thin line of disapproval.
"Would you care to explain to me why we entered the new year one hundred points lower than we left the old? I roused MacDonald and Blair as soon as I saw the hour glass, but they assure me they went right to bed and haven't been out of the dorm since. This leads me to believe it has to be the two of you who caused such a disturbance."
Hermione sighed, and Harry was kind enough to take over the explanation.
"We committed the outrageous crime of dancing at the top of the Astronomy Tower at midnight on New Year's Eve."
Minerva's eyebrows rose. "That's all?"
Harry nodded, expression belligerent. "We were fully clothed. There were two glasses of champagne which we didn't even drink. No kiss. Only dancing. The new sin, apparently."
Minerva's face tightened. "I take it Severus was the one to find you."
They both nodded.
"Did you receive any other punishments?"
Harry looked over at Hermione, and it was she who reluctantly answered, "Harry has a week of detention. I have two."
"And why is that?"
They all knew that, at least in the past, it was more likely that Harry would have the greater punishment.
"I tried to explain what had actually been going on and requested that he rethink the punishment he'd decided upon."
Minerva's lips twitched. "An interesting life choice, on your part."
Harry snickered at his Head of House's display of humour.
"I couldn't leave it the way he was leaving it," Hermione said. "I had to try."
"You're like Harry, here, pointing out outrageous behaviour whether it is wise to do so or not."
They each pondered Umbridge for a moment before Minerva cleared her throat.
"In that case, Hermione, Harry, that's twenty-five points apiece for being honest with me about what happened."
They looked at her in surprise, as she was not normally so generous with her point-giving.
"I'll have to go see if MacDonald and Blair actually got up after I roused them this morning." She rose. "Starting the new year with points for good behaviour seems a nice resolution, don't you think?"
Realizing what she was doing, they grinned at her.
"If you make your way up to the tower at a leisurely pace, as there's hardly any reason to rush, I daresay you'll even find them doing homework, which is positively angelic on New Year's Day."
Minerva smiled faintly. "That's lovely. And so helpful, Harry. Ten points to Gryffindor."
Chuckling to themselves, Harry and Hermione rose and obediently hurried off to ensure their housemates were worthy of points by the time Minerva got to them.
By lunch time, Gryffindor had made up the hundred points that Severus had removed at midnight, and Minerva's look had been so fierce at the High Table that not even Severus appeared to be willing to question it. Albus's eyes were twinkling like mad.
Hermione wished that someone could fix her two weeks of detention, but since Severus himself was the only one who could alter that punishment, she was pretty resigned to its happening.
She wondered how everyone would react when they got back and discovered that she was being so extensively punished. Despite what Harry had said earlier, she thought it was unlikely that anyone would believe her or Harry when they explained that nothing had happened, and she could just imagine what explanations the rumour mill would come up with.
It was a lowering contemplation. But, she squared her shoulders determinedly, she wasn't going to let Severus get to her like that. If he was determined to be their snarky professor, then there was nothing she could do to prevent him. And really, she liked cats, so being a spinster with a houseful of them wouldn't be so bad. Her mind unhelpfully supplied memories of sixth year, but she did her best to push them away. Trust Harry to find out who she cared about just as she was trying to convince herself that she shouldn't care for him after all.
Training was every bit as horrible as they had worried it would be. Severus waited four days, just long enough for them to hope that maybe he'd given up on it for the rest of the holiday—because clearly, putting the three of them in a room together was a Bad Plan—but then he abruptly told them at breakfast that they would be training with him in thirty minutes. Since they'd given up on expecting adequate notice when he was in this sort of mood, they simply finished eating their breakfast, hurried down to change into the appropriate clothing, and made their way directly to Room One.
It was just like those first days after the Pure Adults had been announced in the Prophet. Severus spent two days throwing everything he had at them, leaving them bruised and battered when stray curses got through their shielding. He was belittling of their abilities and censorious of how they worked together, and both of them found that this didn't tend to make them work better. It was stressful and tiring, and it was exactly what they didn't need for their Christmas holiday.
On the third such training session, which was on Wednesday the seventh, they showed up as ordered to Room One only to find that he'd decided to move them to the Forbidden Forest without informing them. He then huffed indignantly as though they were deliberately holding him up when they told him that they needed to retrieve their winter gear. By the third comment about their ineptitude and inability to accomplish the simplest of tasks, they were both steaming mad, and Hermione finally transfigured the clothing they were wearing, angry enough not to bother with her wand or remember to ask Harry's permission first.
Out to the Forest they went, walking far enough beneath the trees that it became rather dark and gloomy.
"Many of your battle situations will not be in the cozy school room environment which you have been lucky enough to be trained in recently," Severus sneered. "To give you a small taste of what you will really be facing, we'll be spending the next few days out here. You have thirty seconds, and then I will begin to hunt you."
He was clearly trying to be intimidating and come up with an environment that would disturb them. The Forest certainly didn't hold a lot of fond memories for Harry, and she was sure that Severus assumed the same about her. Unfortunately for him and his stellar plan, he couldn't be more wrong. The Forest was a second home. In thirty seconds, she could get lost and never be found by the likes of him. That wouldn't work quite so well with Harry at her side, but she'd be damned if she let Severus get away with walking all over them when they were on her turf. He might think that he had the distinct advantage—more hours in a battle environment and way more time in the Forest—but he was about to be proven very wrong.
She dragged Harry off even as he was trying to protest.
Shut up and block off your core, she told him fiercely.
He did as he was told, clearly sensing her mood.
We are not going to stop until he is disarmed and regretting he ever started this.
Harry simply nodded.
Follow me.
Harry did his best, but he simply wasn't as quiet as she was. She extended her senses and guided them to a good hiding spot while she paid attention to where Severus's core was located and thus where he was hunting for them.
Are you sure we should be wandering off the path like this? Harry asked. There're some crazy creatures in here that you maybe haven't seen.
She shook her head. I will not allow any harm to come to you. You have nothing to fear from this Forest when you are with me.
He was looking at her strangely, but she barely noticed, as she was busy thinking of ways to outsmart the Potions master.
Castina, a moment of your time?
You are playing a game of cat and mouse, Berit?
Apparently. It is training for the war we are fighting, but we have been having difficulties with the man who hunts us.
I have felt them, she agreed. What do you need of me?
A distraction would be helpful. She wondered briefly if this would be considered cheating, but Severus hadn't said they couldn't request help. I don't want either of them to see you, but if you could blunder around a bit, that would get him off Harry's track and allow us to sneak around and disarm him.
As you wish.
Severus didn't have a chance. He took off after Castina, assuming her to be either Hermione or Harry. Since it really wasn't terribly safe for Harry to be wandering around the Forest on his own, she had him creep after her as best he could. Even with Harry handicapping her, Severus didn't hear them until it was too late and she was wordlessly Summoning his wand from him.
He whirled around, looking completely surprised, especially when he caught sight of both of them.
"Who was over there?" he demanded, pointing in the direction of the noise Castina had made.
"Neither of us, demonstrably," Hermione said coolly. "Perhaps one of the denizens of the Forest; I don't suppose you had the chance to inform them that we would be hunting in this vicinity."
His lips tightened. "I may have you train anywhere on the grounds that I see fit."
"Certainly," she agreed. Her tone was completely even, but she imagined he still knew what she was really thinking.
His eyes narrowed. "Let's correct your beginner's luck, shall we?"
Oh, those were fighting words.
"If you mean you would like to attempt to avoid detection a second time, I accept," Hermione answered, a martial light in her eyes. "We'll see if you have better luck the second time around."
Harry looked as though he wished he could be elsewhere and leave the two of them to their battle. He'd evidently realized that Hermione was in her element here, even if he didn't understand why.
Castina, can you make sure Harry remains safe if I tuck him away somewhere?
Of course. Castina seemed amused. I don't mind watching you hunt this man who has upset you.
He has a gift for getting on my nerves, Hermione conceded. And in my Forest, the rules change.
Your Boy-bird will remain safe, Castina promised.
Hermione's lip curled. Do you and Fawkes chat about us when I'm not listening?
The herd mare laughed. He has chosen to be castle-bound for now, while I remain wild. We keep one another updated when necessary.
And he felt it necessary to share his name for Harry?
You think he wouldn't find that detail important?
Hermione readily conceded that the mare had a point.
Fawkes interrupted since they had bled the end of their conversation so that he wouldn't miss it. Names are important. I wouldn't want either of you to miss a crucial detail in the heat of the moment because I came out with a Girlicorne or a Boy-bird.
They shared a smile. Good to know you have our best interests at heart, bird, Hermione said. Are you enjoying the show?
He gave a mental nod. If I'd realized it was going to be a day of Severus-stalking, I would have considered sneaking away from Albus.
Hermione knew full well that he went where he pleased when he pleased, although Albus certainly appreciated being informed.
Watch if you wish. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a professor to hunt.
She hid Harry and then set out after the Potions master. He was being much more careful now, as he clearly hadn't expected her to be able to get around so quietly, but he was still no match for how well she knew the Forest, how acute her senses were, and how pissed off she was.
She was feeling more than a little vindictive, in fact, so she was giving no quarter. Normally, she would think her point made after she'd found him for the second time and would probably have given him some sort of out after that.
Not so, today. Today, she remembered two weeks of promised detention and one hundred points for a dance, and she was not granting mercy until he bloody well asked for it.
She disarmed him four times in a row before he finally snarled and asked after Harry.
"Harry is safe," she said simply.
"If you abandoned him somewhere in the Forest, that is doubtful."
"If you are so concerned for his safety here, you should not have brought him out in the first place."
"That's my business," he snarled.
"Of course it is," she answered with a sneer of her own. "You may do what you wish when you wish, and we will be forced to follow along. But believe me when I tell you that if I am keeping Harry safe, you need never doubt that he is unharmed."
"The foolhardy Gryffindor." His lip curled in patented disgust. "There are creatures in this forest that you can't even conceive of."
"That is your assumption," she answered flatly.
His eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me you spend a great deal of time in the Forbidden Forest, Miss Granger?"
She gazed at him dispassionately. "I said nothing of the sort, sir."
"Do you spend a lot of time in the Forbidden Forest?" he asked her directly.
Fortunately, his question was open to interpretation; it was unlikely they had the same assessment of "a lot of time". She didn't spend nearly as much time in the Forest as she spent in the castle.
"No, sir," she answered flatly, Occluding for all she was worth and knowing that he wasn't going to get a single thing out of her that she wasn't willing to give.
Nicely answered, Castina cheered.
It was good to know someone was on her side, anyway.
"If I find that you've lied to me—" he threatened darkly.
She snapped back without thought, "You'll no doubt do what you do when I'm not lying to you and give me two weeks of detention."
Huh. Being in the Forest must have affected her more than she had realized, because she was pretty sure that those words wouldn't have actually escaped her lips within the castle walls. That it was perfectly truthful only made it more annoying that she was likely about to double the quantity of time she was spending with him in the near future.
She sighed and attempted something resembling contrition. "I'm sorry, sir. That was rude of me."
"How uncanny of you to have noticed, Miss Granger. Do you really expect me to make do with only an apology on your part?"
"No, sir," she answered tiredly, sick of being angry with him and having to walk on eggshells around him and not being able to simply have a normal conversation without ending up in detention. "That would be completely contrary to what I've come to expect of you."
His gaze skewered her, and she waited for the proverbial axe to fall. At least there were really only five detentionable months left in the year.
"Mr Potter is still in the Forest?"
If he felt like responding with a complete non-sequitur, she supposed that was his business.
"You haven't given us permission to leave, sir."
"Is that supposed to indicate 'yes'?" he asked sharply.
"I suffer from slips of the tongue, not a brain injury, sir. Yes, he is still in the Forest, just where you told us to be."
"I suppose there is a particular reason he hasn't been joining you in your crusade to disarm me?"
This was said rather mildly, all things considered, and she hoped it meant he was in a better mood. She gifted him with an honest answer as a result: "He sucks at being quiet in the Forest. I probably wouldn't have caught you every time if he'd been with me. As soon as he saw that I was on a rampage, he shut up and did what he was told."
An eyebrow rose. "That must be a fearsome sight indeed if it inspires instant obedience from Mr Potter."
"I'm probably not at my best, no, sir," she agreed.
"Take me to him."
"Yes, sir."
She led him quietly and deftly through the Forest, back to the spot where she had left Harry, which was now a considerable distance from where she and Severus had finished their hunt.
Incoming, she warned Castina.
I noticed, the mare said. He troops like an elephant.
Not an elephant, surely. She considered. A rhinoceros, maybe.
I confess, he is not what I expected.
What do you mean? Hermione asked, confused.
Your mate. There is a great deal of darkness in him.
It was difficult to work out what she should address first, and her answer probably told Castina more than Hermione wished.
He has defeated a great deal of darkness. He has a very strong character.
You are often very angry with him.
My feelings for him to do not dictate his towards me. I am his student. It's awkward. Love is not always about making the most prudent choice.
The mare sighed. No, it is not. I wish you happiness.
And I thank you for the wish. Perhaps when the school year is over, and I am no longer his student. It might be better then.
It might not, but she could hope.
They were nearing the area where Harry was hiding.
Thank you for watching out for Harry.
It was no hardship. Be well, Berit.
Thank you.
Castina disappeared back into the depths of the Forest, and Hermione focussed on Harry.
We're on our way back to you, so it would be good if you don't have a heart attack when we arrive.
Understood. That was a bloody long time to be sitting in the Forest waiting for something to eat me, you do realize that, Hermione?
I would never let something eat you in the Forest, Harry.
I'm sure Hagrid thinks the same, yet he sent Ron and me to see Aragog and an entire colony of bloody huge hungry spiders.
I have a complete understanding of what beasts are dangerous to humans, Harry, she reassured him. And I still wouldn't let them eat you.
Good, I guess, he said uncertainly. I don't understand how you can be so sure when you were chasing Snape.
I simply am, she answered. Here we are. You can come down now.
Harry dropped out of the tree he'd been hiding in. Severus regarded him sourly.
"I suppose if you have no skills in the Forest, that's really the only option open to you."
Harry looked between her and Severus.
You totally kicked his arse, didn't you? he asked gleefully.
Of course I did.
She cleared her throat, reminding him that he needed to answer Severus's question and not simply be internally gleeful.
"It seemed the most prudent choice, sir. I would have been in a great deal of trouble if I wasn't with people who knew what they were doing."
Meaning you, 'Mione, in case you were wondering, he clarified with a mental smirk.
Thank you, Harry.
Severus might not appreciate her, but at least her best friend did. Her life would be a whole lot less complicated if she and Harry had fallen in love. The thought was kind of creepy, though, so she shook it out of her head.
Severus apparently decided to abandon the topic of his being trounced without further comment. "Tomorrow, we will work in the Forest for several hours engaged in actual battle with trees for cover. I expect you at the edge of the Forest at half three."
"Yes, sir," they both answered.
Hermione was pleased that he'd taken the time to inform them of his plans beforehand.
You heard that, Castina? Tomorrow at half three?
You're very high maintenance this week, aren't you? She was amused again. I'll make sure nothing big and scary gets in your way.
Thank you.
The three of them headed back into the castle, and Hermione was at a loss to decide whether or not Severus's moment of civility had a chance of lasting. It still seemed possible that she would wind up with six million detentions for one or another of the things that she had said and done today, but she was going to continue to hope that that wasn't the case.
As it turned out, the second day in the Forest went much more smoothly than the first had. It was indeed useful to be in a real forest environment trying to dodge trees and underbrush while cursing and not losing sight of your opponent. Both she and Harry needed practice; she could disappear into the Forest without trouble, but this used another skill-set. It was even spookier in the dark and almost impossible for the fully human to navigate with the spotty moon coverage. Harry and Severus couldn't see much of anything—or so she gathered by the amount of blundering about that they did—by the time they finally called it a night.
Today, they'd made it an entire day without additional point loss or detentions, and Hermione was pleased. Of course, it would only be a couple more days until Severus could start enforcing all the detentions they had already accrued, so maybe savouring the nearing treat was keeping him relatively well-mannered.
Severus didn't call any training for Friday, but she hadn't expected him to. Harry had some last bits of homework left and wanted a chance to finish reading his new Animagi book, as he was getting antsy to start trying to transform again. She refused to let him rush the process; she wasn't going to risk his getting injured simply because he wasn't feeling patient.
At half nine in the morning, the Potions master stormed into their quarters holding a small wrapped gift. Harry still thought she was daft to have given the man access to the room without their permission, but when she'd said it would be up to him to inform Severus that his access had been revoked, Harry had resigned himself to living with the Potions master barging in whenever he wished for the rest of the year.
"What's this?" Severus demanded.
It had taken her several hours to decide whether or not to give it, and she had had Winky leave it for him in his sitting room.
"Happy birthday, sir."
He was staring at her as though she'd grown an extra head. He didn't appear to have opened it yet but was gesticulating with it a great deal.
"Why would you give it to me?"
She considered and discarded several answers and finally settled on, "I'd already bought it."
He realized immediately what occasion she was referencing, and the violent arm movements stilled. He looked down at the box.
"They wouldn't take it back?" he questioned mildly.
"I didn't ask."
He gave an absentminded nod, turned round, and exited. Harry was staring at the space the Slytherin had occupied with a very puzzled look on his face.
"What just happened?"
"I gave Severus a gift for his birthday, and he wanted to know why," she explained.
"I mostly got that," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "I meant at the end. If you've figured out how to calm him down, it's quite cruel of you not to share."
She shook her head. "It doesn't work for all occasions. I merely reminded him that I gave Ron a Christmas gift."
Harry's head tilted to one side. "So … you told Severus Snape that you were totally pissed off with him but giving him a gift because you'd picked it out at a point when you weren't pissed off with him, and he was okay with that?"
She shrugged. "Apparently."
Harry shook his head, turning back to his book. "I really don't understand that man."
Unfortunately, Hermione often didn't, either. At least he hadn't thrown her gift back in her face.
The weekend arrived, and Hermione and Harry started to mentally prepare themselves for the return of the rest of the students on Sunday and classes the day after. Hermione finished brewing the Wolfsbane which Remus would be picking up on Sunday evening.
At dinner on Saturday night, the other students who'd stayed over the holiday all expressed eagerness at the prospect of seeing their friends again. Hermione and Harry were already missing the quiet days they'd spent together. Probably it was indicative of some social problem that they had, but with all the Pure Adult issues and the constant trouble with Voldemort, it had been nice to have some peaceful time. It might become tiresome eventually, but they'd need a few more months of it, at least. Maybe a few more years.
Hermione noticed that the professors didn't look as excited as the younger students were, either, so maybe she and Harry were just aged before their time.
On Sunday, the normal tables and benches reappeared in the Great Hall, and Albus finally conceded that the holiday was over and allowed the Christmas decorations to be removed. He had either been fonder of her alterations than he had let on or he had been categorically unable to consider a holiday devoid of decorations.
The students arrived in a cacophony of noise that made Hermione wince and Harry hunch into himself at the table. They'd get used to it again—they always did—but it was rather disruptive at first. Everyone wanted to know about everyone else's holiday, and Harry and Hermione got lots of questions to which the response of "reading and homework" was apparently not an adequate answer. They couldn't really talk about their training, and there was no way Hermione was bringing up the dancing fiasco unless it was dragged out of her horribly tortured body.
Ron still wasn't speaking to them, they saw, because he sat himself deliberately at the other end of the table again and started chatting with Seamus and Dean. Hermione had thought that perhaps three weeks of absence would make the heart fonder, but that was apparently not the case.
Harry was facing the wrong side of the Great Hall, so it wasn't until they got up to leave that he had the chance to look at the Slytherin table.
Did you see Draco? he asked. He's not at the table now.
She scanned back through her memories. Sorry, Harry. I don't think I saw him, but maybe he's Apparating in late or had the good sense not to participate in this crazy dinner.
Seventh-year students, while they had to be on the train on September first and for the end of term, were allowed to Apparate to and from Hogsmeade for Christmas and Easter if they wished. Hermione wasn't sure if the concession had been made because the holiday was so much shorter or for some other reason, but it was a nice convenience. Students who had younger siblings usually boarded the train with them, and some of the Prefects always made sure they were on board as well.
Maybe, Harry said, not sounding happy.
It's just like a Malfoy to be fashionably late, she pointed out.
This eased some of the worry lines from Harry's face. That's so true.
They invited Ginny down for tea and a chat about what they had all done over the holidays. Remus arrived for his Wolfsbane and stayed for a quick cuppa as well, which, Hermione was amused to note, happened to coincide with Tonks wandering down to ostensibly see how they were doing. It was equally coincidental, Hermione was sure, that Remus and Tonks ended up having to leave at the same time. She wondered how long it would take Harry to cotton on.
At nine o'clock, she, Harry, and Ginny were interrupted by Pansy Parkinson's arrival at the door.