Winter's Shadow

Chapter 7

Eggs

Hermione had awoken to an empty house. Slightly worried, she went to the kitchen where Severus normally was in the mornings.

Nope, not there.

Willing herself not to panic at his sudden disappearance, she walked down to the potion lab. When she found the lab empty she rushed back up the stairs and burst out the door, into the kitchen, and found herself facing two grinning young men.

"Harry! Draco!"

The three of them hugged. Hermione was thrilled with the boys' arrival, but a panic button in the back of her mind was being pushed over and over by Severus' disappearance. Her worries ceased the second Harry spoke.

"We saw Snape on our way to apparate."

"You did?" Hermione was suddenly very aware of all her surroundings as her body became rigid with the anticipation of the worst.

"Yes, we had just left Number Twelve when he arrived." Draco's eyes were narrowed as he spoke wondering why Hermione was so anxious about the dreaded Potions Master.

The three sat down after Hermione brought everyone a cup of tea. As soon as the boys asked if they could stay there for a week or two she readily agreed. After their tea was finished, Hermione lead the boys upstairs to the only other guest room available.

****

Severus stepped out of the fireplace to three teenagers staring at him. They obviously were not expecting him to come back at the moment as the boys looked startled as did Hermione, but her expression slowly changed. Her eyes narrowed as she looked him up and down inspecting him for any sign of a problem. She was rather upset at his departure and not telling her causing her to worry. Instead of saying anything to them, Snape snarled at them and left to his room.

As soon as Snape was out of sight Hermione decided to make popcorn for the movie they had settled down to watch. Getting up, Harry offered to help. She noticed, once they were in the kitchen, that Harry seemed rather nervous about something. In all honesty, he appeared extremely interested in a particular tile on the kitchen floor.

"Harry?" The sound of Hermione's apprehensive voice lifted his head up to look at her. Hermione noticed his cheeks grow pink for a moment. This was rather amusing to her--he hadn't changed much since his crush on Cho. Suddenly, she had an odd feeling as to what Harry wanted to speak with her about in his letter.

"Um....Hermione, we've been friends for a long time you would say, right?"

"Yes, Harry, the best of friends."

"Would...would you ever consider going beyond that in our relationship?" Harry was obviously testing the water before he dove right in and Hermione was grateful to him for that. It would allow her the opportunity to let him down without it being ugly or uncomfortable.

"Harry, you are one of my best friends and I cannot say I have ever thought of you as anything more." Harry only nodded, knowing not to go any further now. Together they left the kitchen with the popcorn.

Snape had been coming out of the potions lab when he heard Hermione and Harry and opted to wait for them to leave. For some reason, Harry's question brought Snape to the attention of what the conversation was about. Holding his breath, he waited to hear what Hermione's answer would be. I small smile spread on his face as she answered.

Halfway through the movie Harry excused himself for a moment. Being as he had seen this particular movie before he insisted that it continued to play in his absence. Watching the movie Hermione started to wonder about Draco. He had said he needed to talk to her also and based on what Harry's conversation was she wondered if his would be the same. Her unasked question was answered by the lame fake yawn that came from Draco. Through the corner of her eye she saw his arms go up as if to stretch and knew what he was up to. Without looking away from the TV she headed him off.

"Don't even think about it, Malfoy." He stopped and looked at her with an innocent look. "Do I look like one of those airhead groupies that following you around at Hogwarts?"

"No."

Hermione turned to look at him.

"Then what makes you think I would fall for the stretching routine in order to put an arm around me? This no longer works on most Muggle girls. Do your pureblood witches fall for such a stunt? I do hope not, for if they do I must question how close to the gene pool you are breeding."

Draco was flabbergasted. She knew what he was up to and called him on it.

"Well, I just thought..."

"That is your problem. You do much better when you don't think."

****

The Granger house was silent as all but one slept. Snape embraced the silence. Harry, Draco, and Hermione had sat up rather late watching movie after movie and Snape had grown tired of the chatter and laughter. Looking around his room he cursed to himself about Muggle homes. Why didn't they have a fireplace in every room? Hermione's room had one, but as it was late he couldn't exactly go across the hall, waking her up to use the fireplace in her room to discuss her and the Death Eater attack.

Sighing, he pulled the pendant from his neck. The silver chain untwined itself into his hands. Looking at this piece of jewelry he reminded his self that this was his and Hermione's way out if any trouble did occur. There was one question in his mind--whether or not to give Hermione the black onyx or leave it as one. One involved telling her the reason for the portkeys and the other involved telling her nothing.

Snape snorted at Dumbledore's strange reconciliation of opposites in his choice of portkeys. A black onyx with a snake wrapped around it was contradictory in a sense. Snape was a Slytherin in his days at Hogwarts and now being head of that particular house it made sense that if separated the serpent was for him to wear. The black onyx however is a defensive magic stone--highly spiritual. One of the protective properties of a black onyx was its ability to protect against venomous snake bites. Though Snape was not the serpent Dumbledore wanted them to have an escape from; Voldemort was the serpent Hermione would need protection from.

Deciding to keep the serpent and onyx together, Snape placed the pendant back around his neck. With the feel of the cold silver of the serpent and the heat of the onyx, he laid down to drift into a dream world.

****

Snape was unable to sleep well or very long. He sat in the breakfast nook for quite a while before anyone else was up. Naturally, Hermione was the first out of bed. She entered the kitchen and noticed Snape at the little table. He appeared to be somewhere else totally and this concerned Hermione after his disappearance the day before. A piece of black hair had fallen over his eye as he sat there. Hermione watched him quietly as all the emotions of her past infatuation with him flooded her.

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment to try to will these emotions away. There was one problem, however, there was something quite different from the crush she had on him when she was 14. Something she couldn't really put her finger on; only that it made it more bothersome. Before she poured herself any tea or began any sort of breakfast, she sat right across from Snape and looked at him. He hadn't even noticed she had walked into the room or sat down. Without even thinking, on instinct, Hermione reached across the table and gently moved the piece of hair from his face.

Severus was buried in the solitude of his thoughts. Conversations were replaying in his mind, events replayed, and dreams surfaced. He needed to get out of that house. Why did Dumbledore insist on him staying with Hermione? Snape did not believe this to be wise on Dumbledore's part. He was a grown man having dreams, thoughts, and feelings toward a student.

'She will be in her seventh year this year.'

'She is an insufferable-know-it-all AND a child.'

'There is more to her than that...'

In the middle of his conversation with his self, Snape felt an odd sensation. It seemed to cover his body, warming every fiber, setting each nerve ablaze.

"Severus?"

Hermione had moved the hair from his face and whispered his name. He didn't say anything at first; in all honesty he did not know how his voice would sound at that moment. It worked out well, however, as it created a sense of apprehension in Hermione when she realized what she had done.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?" At the sound of her last name, Hermione's features hardened to match Snape's cold voice.

"What happened to you yesterday? Harry and Draco said they saw you before apparating here..."

"Ms. Granger, THAT is none of your concern." This was nothing Hermione had never been told before, but somehow it hurt this time.

"I am sorry, PROFESSOR, but I was worried when I could not find you."

Glaring at Hermione, he noticed she had clothes on this morning. He could see the straps of her "underclothes" however, which let him know she had done as he asked and dressed herself before going out to the pool. Plus she was worried about him? Keeping his harsh and cold appearance he took a sip of his tea.

"Save your energies for those friends of yours."

Hermione stood abruptly from the table and rushed to the fridge to grab the eggs and began furiously cooking breakfast. Snape watched as she threw a frying pan onto the stove and nearly mutilated the eggs when beating them for the omelet. Watching her, Snape chuckled to himself. 'Merlin, she could give the Dark Lord a run for his money with that temper.' Every now and then she would shoot a hate-filled look his way. He had to admit it was rather entertaining to see her this angry. He knew with each one of those looks she gave him, she was mentally using the crucio curse on him. This caused him to actually chuckle out loud. Her head whipped around to glare viciously at him.

"Why, Ms. Granger, I do believe at the moment you are likely to desire causing pain enough for the crucio to truly work." She glared at him in disbelief at what he just said to her. Harry and Draco had been woken up by the slamming of dishes in the kitchen. They entered at the wrong time--right after the crucio comment.

When Harry and Draco entered the kitchen they saw a very angry Hermione crossing the kitchen with a plate of food. She quickly threw it down in front of Snape causing some of the eggs to spill out on the table. The boys watched the scene, afraid to speak.

Snape looked at the spilled eggs and quirked an eyebrow looking up at Hermione. He did not get enough sleep the night prior and this was so entertaining.

"She cooks AND she wears clothes--who would have guessed." He could see the explosion in her eyes. Draco and Harry's eyes grew wide. They knew where the clothing comment came from as she had told them about Snape's problem with her wearing "underclothes" around him. The boys' fear came from knowing Hermione so well as to know NOT to anger her more than what had already been done.

Hermione backed up a little. Snape saw a strange glint in her eyes and for a moment he was uncertain as to what she was going to do. An odd smirk appeared on Hermione's face; odd because he was not accustomed to seeing it there. Hermione, however, was so angry she was seeing red--literally. He was going to pay dearly for his behavior toward her.

Snape began to worry when Hermione reached her hand down to her shorts and unbuttoned and unzipped them. Slipping them off she threw them as hard as she could at his head. Harry and Draco stood still, in complete shock. Before Snape could say anything to Hermione she removed her shirt and threw it hard at his head too, but he was on to that stunt and caught it instead, glaring at her.

She was not through with him.

He did not notice the eggs she picked up out of the carton behind her on the counter. Snape only saw Hermione Granger walking determinedly toward him as she did in his dream. Now, he was extremely worried. Within seconds Hermione had crossed the kitchen, walked straight up to Snape, slung a leg over his, and sat in his lap facing him. His breath caught in his chest as he realized she was straddling him as she had in his dream also. Harry and Draco both stood there, mouths open wide.

Hermione had her arms around Snape's neck. Gently caressing her nose against his neck on her way to his ear caused a multitude of reactions in Snape. He could feel her leaning against him as she whispered into his ear more seductively than he could have imagined Hermione to be even capable of. Her lips barely graced his ear as she spoke.

"Is that the best you can do, PROFESSOR?" Snape was frozen. 'What the bloody hell is happening!' Being too busy trying to tell him self to calm down and remind himself that this is a student he didn't realize what the movement of her arms were. He was very aware of her moving--even her breathing could be felt. There was a strange cracking sound above his head. On odd sensation developed on top of his head as Hermione placed her hands up to the central point of the sensation. Placing her hand on the two eggs she had cracked just above him, she smeared the eggs down to his face, his neck, and she planned on going further, but he did not want to explain the pendant. He grabbed both her wrists and narrowed his eyes looking at the smirking Gryffindor. He let go of her wrists and she shoved him as she stood up to go outside.

Harry and Draco watched in utter silence and shock. Hermione left through the back door headed to the pool and Snape glared at her retreating bare back and stormed out of the room. Harry and Draco looked at each other.

"Why do I feel like a child who just walked in on mum and dad having a fight I was NOT supposed to see?" Draco answered Harry with a shake of the head and a shrug of his shoulders.