Lovesong

For not the first time in many nights, Severus Snape awoke in his bed in his home on Spinner’s End. The Dark Mark hissed on his arm, causing his mouth to let out the same sound as his hand clamped down on the snake-and-skull. Over the summer the Dark Lord was constantly calling on him, since his time had greatly opened itself after killing Albus. At least, that’s what everyone – well, almost everyone- believed to have happened. But soon the pain on his arm ebbed away, and his mind turned to other things. Well, one thing in particular. The one thing it always settled on, and one of the reasons why he would be leaving the house that very day.
~ * ~
Hermione still couldn’t grasp why she was going back to Hogwarts. Now that she was old enough to do magic outside of school, she had joined the Order, just as both Ron, Harry, and many of the Gryffindor students had. As she sat on top of her suitcase at the Weasley’s home, she sighed. Why had Snape killed Dumbledore? He didn’t seem the type, especially since Albus had been one of the few people who believed in the potions master.
“Are you ready, dear?”
Hermione’s head snapped up at the sound of Mrs. Weasley’s soft voice, and she stood, turning as though to pick up her suitcase but actually wiping away the tears caught in her eyes. Grabbing the suitcase and standing, she nodded. “Yes, let’s go.”
The newly seventh year Gryffindor peered through the train’s window, watching the world pass by. Her one hand absentmindedly stroked Crookshanks, who seemed to be enjoying the attention. As the train lurched to a stop, she set the half-Kneazle on the ground before she stood. Her hand went to her inner robe pocket, checking to make sure her wand was secured. Stepping off the train, she noticed the large form of the Care of Magical Creatures teacher coming towards her. Smiling, she walked over to meet him halfway. “Hello Hagrid. You’ve been well?”
The large man nodded. “Yeh, alrigh’. By th’way, Professor McGonagall wanted me to tell yeh tha’ there’s an Order meeting t’nigh’. She’ll meet everyone at the fron’ door at ten so she can lead yeh to the new headquarters.”
Nodding grimly, she did her best to smile. “Okay. Thanks a lot, Hagrid.”
~ * ~
Severus pulled his frock coat overtop his clothes as he walked into the kitchen. A spicy smell was rising in the air, and so he wasn’t at all surprised to see Peter cooking, aided by Draco. After a week together, Peter seemed to have taken to the boy. It was a one-sided relationship though; Draco still remained slightly traumatized after that one horrible night, and hardly ever spoke to either of the two. By doing so, though, he never set himself higher than Pettigrew. Peter took heart in this, and became slightly more tolerable over the summer months. “Coffee’s in the pot if you want any,” Peter said lightly, tapping a ladle with his wand so it set off stirring the pot he had been previously all by itself.
“I take it you’re making supper?” Severus inquired, silently summoning a cup to him.
He nodded, moving over to help Draco, who was silently chopping up herbs for the brew. “I thought I’d try something new,” he paused, looking up towards Snape with a blank face, “If…that’s alright with you, of course.”
Severus noted the hesitance in Peter’s voice as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Of course it’s alright. But I should warn you now that I shall be going out for the night, so you’ll have to save some for me.”
“Really? Where are you going? Or is it….confidential?” Pettigrew’s mind instantly jumped to the Dark Lord as a reason, since it usually was.
“Confidential,” Severus answered, throwing Peter’s word back to him before nearly burning his tongue on a sip of coffee. Though he was actually going out for a different reason, he didn’t want Peter to know, let alone let the Dark Lord know. Because if Peter knew, he would certainly not keep it a secret.
“Ah. Well, I’ll put some next to the wine in the refrigerator for you then,” Peter said warmly, taking the herbs Draco had handed him and dropping them in the pot.
“Thank you Peter,” Severus said quietly. Taking in some more caffeine, he continued. “I have to finish preparing the last of a potion before I leave. I shall be in the potions room if you need my assistance.” With that said, he took his coffee and left the two to their cooking.
The sun just began to set as Severus was leaving the house. After tucking the potion into his robes, he straightened the collar of his frock coat before turning to Peter and Draco. “Don’t stay up waiting for me. I might not be back before sunrise. And if Draco or yourself are called by the Dark Lord, go together. You’ll have a better chance that way.” He then walked out of the front door as Peter waved after him. Little did he know, but Draco had snuck off while Peter wasn’t looking, and had run after Severus. He secured a grip on the back of his roves, causing Snape to spin around. As he looked down at the boy, he was somewhat surprised to see anger on his face. “I could have killed him, you know,” Draco said hurriedly, as though he hadn’t really wanted to say it in the first place.
Instantly Severus knew he was talking about Dumbledore, and he frowned. He couldn’t come right out and say what he wanted to, but he had to convince the boy he had had to. “I don’t doubt that you could’ve Draco, and I never ha-“
“Then why did you stop me?!” Draco interjected, his eyes filling with furious tears.
Severus sighed, moving to place a hand on Malfoy’s shoulder. As he did so, he sunk to a knee, so that he could peer eye to eye with him. “Draco, I did it because of your mother,” he could Draco recoil slightly, as though bitten, but he continued nonetheless, tightening his grip on the boy’s shoulder, “She didn’t want the burden of a murder on your hands, and so she made me take an Unbreakable Vow that I would do it before you could.”
There was silence for a moment as Draco wiped his tears away with the cuff of his roves before speaking. “…Really?” he asked, a slight wobble in his voice.
“Really. Your mother only wanted to protect you, and so I helped fulfill her wish.”
“I…I…” Draco seemed unable to say anything. In the next second he had leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Severus’ neck, attempting to choke back his sobs.
Not one who was particularly used to sigh signs of affection, Severus went rigid for a moment before relaxing, letting his one hand pat the boy on his blonde head.
It only took a moment before Draco pulled back, placing a soft smile on his face. “I shouldn’t keep you. Go on, don’t worry about me.” Giving a small bow of his head, he turned around and ran back into the house.
Rising to his feet, Severus adjusted his clothes before he Apparated away.
~ * ~
Hermione’s first day back to Hogwarts was officially the most boring – as well as the most depressing- first day on record. Though Minerva made a fine Headmistress, Hermione couldn’t help but remember Dumbledore standing there. And, to make it even worse, was the drop her heart took at seeing a paranoid looking Slughorn in Severus’ usual seat. She willed herself to be strong, however; since she was now Head Girl, everyone in the lower grades looked up to her. She was now more of a role model then ever before. So, not only was the dinner horrible to go through, but classes weren’t even that enjoyable. As she sat in the potions dungeon, she couldn’t help but compare Slughorn to Snape. Snape would have given us something to work on by now, or Snape wouldn’t have let those two be talking… But she couldn’t say why she was doing this. And that was what her mind lingered on as she quickly made her way down to the front doors. Seeing some of the others already gathered, she followed along with them as McGonagall led them down towards the edge of the grounds, which they all crossed over before heading down to meet the train that would take them to London.
Though many chatted on the way there, Hermione once again stayed quiet, staring out through the glass. No one asked her if she was alright or not, and she wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad about this. As the train finally came to a stop, she hurriedly got to feet, following closely behind the Headmistress. As they made their way out of the station, Hermione noticed that they were making their way deeper and deeper into the more run-down area of London. When Minerva finally stopped, Hermione couldn’t help but snort at their location. In front of them sat an old, beaten version of a fortune teller machine. Sitting in the box was the upper half of an old-fashioned gypsy fortune teller. While they stood there, her eyes were closed, and it appeared that she was asleep.
((‘Who will guard the guards themselves?’ in Latin.)) “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, Tonks. We’re here for the meeting,” McGonagall told the machine. Hermione’s eyes widened as the teller’s eyes opened, and she looked towards Minerva. “About time you guys got here. All the others with the exception of one are here.”
The Headmistress nodded. “Good to know.” She then moved into an empty alleyway nearby. The ground soon sunk in, revealing a staircase leading to a solitary door. Moving down the stairs, McGonagall pulled open the door to reveal a corridor. ((Headquarters = Possibly Nazi-like? Maybe not.>.>)) With the number of doors Hermione saw, it was obvious that magic was used to keep the headquarters underground. Taking the first door on the right, Minerva led them into the meeting room, which was oddly based on the old meeting room in Grimmauld Place. As Hermione looked over the faces already there, she recognized many: Lupin, with an empty chair beside him that she guessed was for Tonks, Bill Weasley sat beside him while Fleur braided a section of his hair, Mundungus Fletcher was also there, attempting to sell Mr. Weasley a talking teacup, Harry was sitting beside him, laughing at Ron’s pulled faces, while Mrs. Weasley was fussing over Fred and George. ((I had Ginny in here before, but she wouldn’t be old enough to do magic outside school, so I doubted that she could join the Order.)) While Minerva sat at the head of the table, Hermione plopped herself down between Mrs. Weasley and Moody, watching as he began to clean his eye in a water-filled wine glass.
~ * ~
Severus pulled his robes in around him as he bustled down the empty London streets. Glad that there were no prostitutes out to bother him, he soon pulled up in front of the “mechanical” fortune teller. Even as he opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off.
“What are you doing here?” said Tonks, glaring at him.
Severus met her glare with one of his own. “I’m sure Minerva has already informed you of the circumstances at hand.”
”Only that you had information, but I doubt it’ll redeem your actions.”
Severus narrowed his gaze even more in response. “Don’t make me create a ruckus and wake the Muggles, Nymphadora Tonks,” he said evenly, easily keeping his tone calm.
She too narrowed her glare, but jerked her head to the side, indicating the alleyway. “Fine, go. But don’t expect a warm welcome.”
“I never do,” he seethed, unable to help it. Turning into the alleyway, he made his way to the first door on the right, waiting. As Tonks came down the stairs, he ignored her poisonous look as he moved aside to allow her to enter. Once she had, he leaned into the closed door to hear better.
“He’s here,” announced a sour-sounding Tonks, as he heard the scuffling of a chair moving on the floor.
“Before we begin Minerva, I must ask – on behalf of everyone, I’m sure- why we’re here exactly,” spoke Remus.
“Well, to put it simply, there is someone here with some extremely important information.”
“Yeah?” piped up Alastor as he pushed his eye back into its socket. “And who would that be, by chance?”
Now having successfully silently entered the room, Severus leaned back against the door as his arms folded across his chest. The only eyes on him at the moment were Minerva’s who quickly closed her mouth, since she had been preparing to reply. Raising an eyebrow as an answer before lowering it, he simply said,”That, would be me.”
The reaction he received was quite expected. As all eyes turned to look at him, Harry jumped to his feet. “YOU!” Yelled Harry, as Arthur’s hand snapped out to grab him by the arm.
“Sit down, Harry,” Mr.Weasley said in his quiet, warning voice.
“Yeah, let him speak before you kill him,” Tonks put in.
“I’m afraid I forgot to comment earlier on your fortune teller role. And here I thought you failed Divination…” drawled Severus.
“Enough!” Shouted Minerva, as the room began to grow quite tense. “Severus, Tonks, stop it. Harry, sit down.”
“Why should I?” Harry said acidly. “In case anyone has forgotten, he’s the one who killed Dumbledore!”
“I didn’t kill him,” Severus said flatly.
“YES YOU DID!” roared Harry as Arthur tightened his grip on his arm, “I SAW YOU DO IT!”
“Come now Potter, use the tiny amount of brains in your head-“
“Enough!” Minerva said once again. “Harry, sit down, now. I doubt you’ll want to even remotely hurt Severus after he has spoken.”
Harry scoffed at this but say down after wrenching his arm out of Mr.Weasley’s grasp. “Yeah, right, like that’ll happen…”
“Am I the only one who is interested in what he has to say?” Tonks said sharply.
“No, you’re not the only one,” Mrs.Weasley replied, the rest – with Harry as the exception- nodded.
Severus let a small smirk creep onto his face. “Glad to see my word is still wanted,” he said sarcastically, pushing himself off the door to put all of his weight on his feet.
“Come now Severus, get to the point before one of us gets fed up,” Moody said in warning, his magical eye having left the back of his head to stare at the ex-potions teacher.
Severus lifted his hands to show Moody to back off. “Fine, straight up it is then.” He allowed his hands to fall to his sides before he spoke again. “Where to begin, that is the question…I suppose reinstating one of my previous statements will suffice: I did not kill Albus.”
“Hate to say it mate,” Fred began,
“But that’s hard to believe,” George finished.
Severus merely raised an eyebrow to Minerva, who glanced at her watch and raised an eyebrow at it. Shrugging, Snape looked from the table’s occupants to the fireplace. “He’s late,” he stated quietly.
“He’s late? Who’s late? I’m really confused!” Bill ((Ginny had originally said this, until I realized she was too young)) said as Mundungus nodded.
“It was eleven, right?” McGonagall asked Snape.
He nodded. “Give or take ten minutes or so.”
“Je ne sais pas,” Fleur stated miserably, while everyone exchanged glances. Nearly everyone then jumped as the fire in the fireplace let out a ”Fwoom!”, and the flames turned emerald green as they rose. A head then popped through, immerging slowly: first silver hair, then easily recognizable half-moon glasses, before it stopped at the neck.
“Albus,” Mrs.Weasley breathed, as the table’s occupants looked on in shock.
Dumbledore turned his head to face Minerva, smiling. “Sorry to be late. It took me a while to find an unmonitored fireplace.”
“It…It can’t be,” stated Harry quietly,” I…I saw you…”
Turning a sympathetic face to him, Albus did his best to continue smiling. “I’m sorry Harry, but it would take too long to explain. But I am alive, as you can see.”
Harry continued to stare, until his shocked expression changed to a questionable one. “What’s your favorite flavor of jam?”
Many turned to look at Harry, but soon turned back as they saw that he was looking straight at Dumbledore.
Surprise fist dawned on his face, before a look of understanding. “Raspberry, although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam preferences before impersonating myself.”
Harry then smiled. “It’s really him.”
“Didn’t kill him,” chimed in Severus, a smirk on his face as he once again crossed his arms.
“Oh, Severus, glad to see you alive and well,” Albus said cheerfully.
“We could say the same about you,” Lupin stated, laughing at this unbelievable sight.
Dumbledore too laughed before turning to face McGonagall again. “I’m merely stopping by tonight to prove Severus’ innocence. However, only the Order must know about this, so he will continue his double agent role. Though the world might think him evil, you now know the truth. I will be popping in every now and then, but I need to keep myself hidden most of the time. Harry and I,” he paused, looking over at the boy, “will continue searching for the last of the Horcruxes. Those of you at Hogwarts can still converse with me through the painting in the Headmistress’ office. Is that clear?” He again paused, letting everyone nod before smiling. “Well, I ought to be going off. Until the next meeting, I suppose. Everyone’s dismissed. Oh, Harry, Minerva, Severus, I’ll need a private word with you three.”
~ * ~
Hermione couldn’t believe it. Her heart had nearly stopped as she saw Severus standing there. Her mouth had gone dry, and so she found it impossible to speak. Even nodding or shaking her head was hard for her. And as Dumbledore’s head appeared in the fire, she had had to choke back a sob. Was it possible? For so long she, along with everyone else, believed the Headmaster dead! And yet, Severus had known the truth all along; why hadn’t he told anyone? Why hadn’t he told her? As the doorway opened and the three filed out, she went to put a comforting arm around Harry. “Are you alright?” she asked softly.
Harry nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Letting him slip out of her hold, her head turned to look at Severus, but instantly turned to Minerva as he caught her gaze.
“I suggest we all stay here for the night. The rooms are through the second door on the left, and the kitchen and dining room is the first on the left. I suppose we’ll need supper…Molly, can you gather some people together to help make some food?”
Mrs.Weasley nodded before grabbing the twins as well as Fleur and Bill and disappearing into the kitchen.
As the others took the second door on the left to find their rooms, Hermione double back, mentally noting the room Severus had chosen for himself. After selecting one farther down, she waited for Harry and Ron before the trio made their way down to the kitchens for supper.
~ * ~
Severus was somewhat surprised when he had found Granger staring at him. Normally he expected a glare or something of the sort, but no; it had been one of worry, one full of affection. He soon brushed it off as a residue look from Potter, however. Still, he lingered longer than was needed in his room before going for dinner. Unfortunately – or fortunately, whichever- the only seat remaining at the table was straight across from the brunette.
Throughout the dinner, Hermione did her best not look at Severus. Well, just not to get caught at it. Only twice- or was it three times? - did he actually catch her, but the ratio compared to how many times she actually looked at him was quite one-sided. ((Lopsided instead of one-sided possibly?))
As soon as he was finished, Severus excused himself from the table. Though he didn’t catch her at it too much, he was positive that she had been watching him all the way through dinner. As he made his way back to his room, Snape still wasn’t sure if this made him excited or nervous. Whatever it was, he was sure that he wouldn’t be left alone for long.
Hermione waited until everyone was gone, helping Mrs.Weasley clean up as an excuse to stay behind. Once they were done, she slowly began the walk to Severus’ room. Her mind began working out what she would say as her hands began to fix her hair. Over the summer she had got it done, so it now remained straight without needing to fix it all the time. As she finally reached the door, she took in a deep breath in an attempt to settle her nerves before knocking.
Severus’ head lifted to look at the door. Currently seated on the bed, his hands left the sheets to fold into his lap. “Come in,” he drawled in his usual tone. As the door opened and he saw who it was, he ignored the knot that had appeared in his stomach as he smiled a tight, somewhat forced smile. “Ah, Miss Granger. What is it that I can do for you?”
Hermione closed the door behind her, using it as a support for her suddenly weak legs. Why was she feeling like this? “I was just wondering if you would mind telling me…Just what exactly happened last year?”
Cocking an eyebrow at the question, his mouth released a sigh and he motioned for her to sit down beside him on the bed. Once she did, he looked her in the eyes, attempting to put his Legilimency skills to use. The little he found confirmed his suspicions, and so, when he finally spoke, it wasn’t to answer her question. “Come now Granger, tell me the real reason you’re here.”
Her eyes first widened, before narrowing to mere slits. “Just what exactly are you accusing me of?” she asked rather loudly.
Severus kept his face emotionless as he answered. “Ever since I have left the meeting room, you have been stealing glances at me, not to mention that you were looking at me all through dinner. And I’m sure the reason you’re here is a lot more personal, seeing as you could have asked me that question quite easily at dinner, in front of everyone else.”
Hermione’s mouth dropped at his answer. How could he have possibly known? “How dare you accuse me of even possibly liking you!” Next thing she knew, she was kissing him passionately, sliding his frock coat off of his shoulders. “I…hate…arrogant…men!” she said between kisses. ((Hermione’s line is provided from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. xD))
Returning her passion as he shrugged off his robes, he soon began pulling at her own. “And I…can’t stand…insufferable…know-it-alls!”
Soon, however, words were discarded and forgotten, much like their clothes.
~ * ~

It is here that I wonder if I should continue. I suppose if my reviewers ask, I shall. Heck, I might do it just because I’m bored one day. After all, there are many things I’m sure you’ve come to question in my story. For instance, what was the potion that Severus just had to finish before he left for Headquarters? Why are there so many doors in the Order headquarters? Why wasn’t Hagrid at the meeting? What were the private words that Dumbledore wanted with Minerva, Harry, and Severus? And what did happen in the tower that night? I would like to point out, however, that this is – so far – my longest short story. Boo-ya!  x3