Work Text:
As the flames in his fireplace blazed green, Severus Snape looked up from the paper he had been grading. He didn’t mind a distraction from the abysmal task he had been doing, though he did very much prefer a warning before someone intruded into his private rooms. His hand immediately slipped to grasp the wand on the desk just as a figure tumbled out onto the hearth rug. There was no mistaking that mane of bushy chestnut coloured hair but what she would be doing here, he hadn’t the faintest.
Severus stood and crossed to the crumpled figure of Hermione Granger and shook his head with a soft snort of humour. He could smell the firewhiskey from where he stood above her and remembered that this was the day she finished her apprenticeship with Minerva and the Headmistress had taken Hermione and the other professors to Hogsmeade to celebrate. Severus had been invited, of course, but had declined. He detested social gatherings with his peers. They always ended up getting maudlin, in Minerva's case, or overly handsy, in Septima and Sybils cases. He avoided them at all costs. Hermione had looked a bit sad when he had declined, though he had no idea why.
But now he found himself with a pile of drunk Granger in his sitting room and had. No idea why. How had she even gotten past his wards? With a put out sigh, Severus bent and lifted Hermione up, carrying her carefully to his sofa and lay her down. She was wearing muggle blue jeans and her low cut t-shift revealed her midriff. He may not have understood muggle fashion, but as a man he appreciated the view it afforded him, even if it was Hermione. The consummate know-it-all. Dragging his eyes and mind from her slightly exposed cleavage, he padded to his bathroom to dig out a sobering potion and a headache cure he was sure she would need. He ran a tall, cold glass of water and headed back to his passed out guest. He set the potions on the coffee table and pointed his wand at her form.
“Ennervate.” He cast on her and took a step back as Hermione blinked awake slowly. She looked around confusedly until her eyes landed on the tall form of Severus Snape in front of her. Her brow furrowed in confusion and she tried to sit up. This turned out to be a bad idea as the movement immediately had her leaning over the side of the sofa and vomiting spectacularly on the floor and Severus’ shoes.
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment before vanishing the mess with a wave of his wand and a long suffering sigh. He accio’d a nausea potion to add to the ones he already had out before he moved forward to kneel down in front of her.
“Miss Granger, stop moving until I get-“ He began but he was cut off by Hermione lifting her head and smiling sloppily at him.
“S’v’rus, you have the longest eyelashes. Lavender would be soooooo jealous.” Hermione giggled and blinked her eyes slowly. “And those eyes. I like feelin’ like i'm drowning in ’em”
Taken aback, Severus took a minute to recover. “Take this, Miss Granger. It will help.” He urged, uncorking the nausea potion and handing it over. Hermione, obviously just happy for another drink, tossed it bacak and licked her lips. Severus tried not to watch the tip of her pink tongue dark out and slide along her rosy lips, he really did.
“Better. But I’d rather have fire whiskey.” She seemed to pout and hauled herself up to sit, ending up giving Severus an eyeful of the cleavage he had just caught a peek of earlier. He cleared his throat and shook his head, looking up at her.
“I believe you have had enough alcohol for the night. Here,” he reached for the sobering potion and held it out to her. Hermione pouted, her bottom lip sticking out and Severus had the urge to lean in and capture it between his teeth. “Take this, Miss Granger.”
Hermione gave a tiny smirk and then tilted her head back a bit and opened her mouth, the invitation undeniable. With a mix of frustration and desire, Severus huffed before uncorking the vial and carefully pouring it into Hermione’s open mouth. After swallowing, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the potion kicked in. Severus could tell the instant she sobered up because her whole body tensed. He stood and moved back to give her room to flee if she desired. Hermione opened her eyes with a grimace and then gave Severus the saddest, most pitiful look before she spoke in a tiny voice. “I…I apologize, Severus.”
Severus waved it off and moved to sit in his armchair beside the sofa that she occupied. “Think nothing of it, Miss Granger. You are not the first, nor do I believe you will be the last, colleague or student I have had to save from their bad decisions involving alcohol. Though you are the first to find your way directly to my quarters in that state. I admit to being intrigued as to how you managed to get through the wards on my floo.”
“I have no idea.” Hermione admitted. Hating that she didn’t know something. She had straightened her clothes and was sitting straighter. She saw the glass of water and was thankful for it as well as she took it and sipped. Suddenly a look of abject horror showed on her face. She turned to look at him. “Did I vomit on your shoes?”
With a deep chuckle, Severus nodded. “You did indeed. Spectacularly I might add.”
“Oh Merlin’s balls. I am so sorry Severus. I normally don’t drink like this and all I did was try to floo back to my rooms. And here I am, a mess on your sofa. I can’t imagine what you must think of me right now.” Hermione buried her face in her hands and fought tears. She was humiliated at this and to have it happen in front of the one man she wanted to finally see her as an adult, as a grown woman and not an erstwhile child.
“There is nothing to apologize for. I, myself have been in the state you showed up in on more than one occasion. Consider it a right of passage.” he tried to assuage her guilt, finding it made him have feelings he had not felt in a great many years. “Please do not cry, Miss Granger. There is nothing that has happened here that will go any further than these rooms.”
“It’s Hermione. Why do you still call me Miss Granger?” came the small voice from Hermione's hands. She lifted her head, eyes still shining with unshed tears. “I am no longer your student. In fact, after this summer I will be a full colleague.”
Severus frowned as he thought about how to answer her question. In fact, he knew exactly why but didn’t know if this was the best time to tell the whole truth. “It was not so very long ago you were my student. And familiarity is not something I take lightly.”
“But you have no problem with me calling you Severus.” She pointed out.
“Well,”He couldn’t say that it was because he liked the way his name sounded rolling off her tongue. “Honestly you just started doing it before I could stop you. It does not grate my nerves as it does with many people.”
Hermione looked around in thought, her bottom lip slipping between her teeth causing Severus to use all his control not to stare. She really had grown into a beautiful woman and Severus had been doing his best not to notice for the past three years.
“Well, I like it when you call me Hermione. The way you say it makes me feel…safe.” she finally admitted, a slight blush colouring her cheek. “Please use my name from now on.”
That right there very nearly undid all of Severus’ carefully constructed walls. He had to swallow hard to keep himself in check. He gave her a brief nod. “I will endeavor to, Miss Gr- Hermione.” The smile he received in return melted his resolve a further dangerous amount. He desired nothing more than to make her smile like that more often. “Now tell me, what did you say when you entered the floo to return to your rooms?”
Hermione thought for a moment, the fog of drink having blurred the finer points of the evening. “I just said to take me to my rooms.” She frowned and then her face lit up, her mouth falling in a little perfect ‘O’. “No, I told them to take me home. But that makes no sense.” Confusion painted her face now.
Severus had a feeling he knew what had happened now and he sighed. “I think we have been made fools of, Hermione.” he pinched the bridge of his nose again and then looked at her. “It seems that the damned castle has yet to find the time to keep from meddling in my life, adn yours now by extension.” He stood and turned, walking towards his desk, placing his hands on it and leaned over it. He had to come clean. Lying to himself and Hermione had brought them to this point. When he turned to look at her he found Hermione had moved silently to stand a few feet from him, wringing her hands.
“I have a confession to make.” Hermione began.
“It seems I have some explaining to do.” Severus started.
Both voices mingled together as they spoke in unison. Hermione gave a little nervous laugh and looked up into his eyes. “You go ahead.”
“Well,” Severus cleared his throat, “it seems that the castle is still connected to me and my emotions. A remnant of my dark days as the headmaster.” He turned and began to pace as he spoke, unable to keep eye contact for fear of what he would see when the truth came out. “The last few years have been acceptable, one could say but have not been truly kind to me. The constant stream of abuse I get from the detractors to my true allegiances during the war, not to mention my own self loathing for the things I was forced to do for the so-called ‘Greater Good’ have worn away at me.”
“Oh Severus, I never knew. I am sorry you have had to deal with that. You should have said something, you silly man.” Hermione admonished softly behind him.
“And what? Have been mocked for weakness? Called Snivellus again? That is not my way. Not how I was raised or trained to be.” He huffed a sardonic laugh before continuing. “But I must admit that for once in my miserable adult life, I was truly lonely. I was never meant to survive the war, hermione. But your stubborn refusal to believe the carefully laid lies changed that. You saved my life and after I was truly free to live my life how I saw fit, I had no direction, no experience.”
Severus took a deep breath as he remembered waking in the hospital to her tear streaked but smiling face. He couldn’t speak or he may have kicked her out then. But instead she had come back nearly every day and read to him from books or articles from journals. He didn’t know why she did this and to this day had never asked.
“So I returned to what I knew best, teaching. I don’t hate it though I loathe the idiocy I come across.” He explained as he began to pace once again. “I fell into the old rhythm of teaching and being alone except this time, it was different. I was alone because I had no one and had no idea how to start looking. So I stayed alone, withdrawn. How does one such as myself even begin to find a partner? Half the wizarding world knows what I did and the rest have been my students at some point. I was resigned to being alone.” He stopped again and turned to look at Hermione. “And then you showed up on the doorstep of Hogwarts with your wild hair and your insatiable thirst for knowledge. Couple those with your battle won maturity and desire to make sure everyone feels seen and you managed to ingratiate yourself into the fabric of life here at Hogwarts with surprising ease.”
He remembered the first time he had seen her when she had come to start her apprenticeship. He had told Minerva that she was a good candidate but worried she would be unable to fit in. He had been wrong. She walked into the staff room for the beginning of term meeting and he knew instantly that she was no longer the same girl that bounced in her seat with her hand in the air. Before him stood a mature woman that had come into her own. She explained to everyone that she had worked briefly for the Department for the Care of Magical Creatures and then tried her hand in the Archives of Magical Knowledge but found both to hold no desire for her. Teaching seemed a natural progression and when Minerva reached out with the opportunity to apprentice and take over Transfiguration, She had jumped. Severus knew she would do well there but also knew he should keep his distance, though he didn’t know why.
“I had watched you grow in your years as a student here and then to see you return, self confident and brilliant, well, it seems that I developed an appreciation of you.” Severus admitted with a sigh. “I often lost myself in the debates and conversations we held over meals or in between classes in the staff room. I began to look forward to those times. For once I had someone I could match wits with and have no fear of reprisals, no demands of me, no expectations.”
Hermione had remained silent, lost in her own thoughts but she nodded and urged him to continue.
“And then one day, it all clicked and terrified me. It was your birthday. They were having a small get-together for you in the great hall and they had invited Potter and Weasley and others and I was surprised when Viktor Krum showed up as well.” That had been the last social event Severus had gone to voluntarily. “When he approached you, lifting you in a hug, spinning you around and you giggled, grinning from ear to ear, I had to leave. You looked so happy and a bolt of lightning seemed to hit me. I was jealous. I wanted to be the one to make you happy like that and the realization that I had become attached to you terrified me.”
The truth was out now. Surely Hermione would realize what he had said and run, as she should. Perhaps she would even hit him. He would deserve it, being such an old lecher. He looked down at his dragon hide boots, he didn’t think he could stand to see the disgust in her eyes. He heard her move and was surprised when her shoes came into his view and he lifted his head to see her right in front of him with a look of absolute awe on her face. He blinked a few times, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“You absolute fool.” She whispered and lifted up on tip toes to press a tender and all too brief kiss on his lips before pulling back to smile at him like she had earlier. “Merlin save me from daft men who can’t see the snitch through the trees even when it's biting them on the aquiline nose.” She reached out and took his hands, walking them back towards the sofa where he sat, dumbstruck and she settled next to him.
“You, you kissed me.” That was all Severus’ brain managed to supply at that moment. To his credit, he was in shock at her actions.
“Obviously.” she drawled out slowly with another of her smirks and his mouth opened and closed a few times with no sound. “Let me tell you how it went from my side. After you were released from St.Mungos, I was bereft. I had devoted so much of my time to you that time without you was empty. I assumed it was some sort of reverse Florence Nightingale syndrome or something so I threw myself into work. I set about to save House Elves and when that didn’t work, I tried to fill my time and brain with all the information I could to push the thoughts and growing feelings for you out. That didn’t work either.” Hermione reached for the water Severus had left her and sipped it thoughtfully as she decided what to say and Severus just watched her silently.
“I thought I just needed to find another person to fill the void I seemed to have for your companionship. Ron and I fell apart when I would rather spend time at your bedside than out with him. So I went out with colleagues and even some muggles.” Severus’s fist clenched in his lap at the thought but he remained calm. Hermione noticed but just plowed on. “But I ran into many of the problems you did. Either they were dreadfully dull and ignorant or they only wanted to be with me because I was a third of the Golden Trio, a war hero, friends with Harry Potter. None of them worked out and I realized that none of them would. Then Minerva sent her owl and I jumped.”
Hermione had figured that coming back would give her the chance to see if Severus was just a passing fancy, an itch she needed to scratch or if this longing was real. So she accepted Minerva's request.
“Seeing you again made my breath hitch , but I had to stay calm. There was no way for me to know if my feelings, if real, would be reciprocated. So I just moved steadily forward all this time. I loved our banter as well and every chance I had to discuss things with you would be the highlight of my day. And I thought that maybe, just maybe, that we had a chance. Then after my birthday you seemed to withdraw and I had no idea why. For the record, Viktor is happily married to his husband, Gregor and they have a lovely son.” Hermione gave him a sad smile. “I missed our easy communication every single day all year, Severus.”
Reaching out to take both her hands in his own, Severus read her face carefully. “As did I. I…I was a fool. But in my defense, you said nothing either.”
“True. It seems we were both fools.” Hermione smiled at Severus and scooted closer. “So does this mean that my feelings are matched?” She asked tentatively.
“Most ardently.” Severus whispered before closing the distance between them and kissing her. Hermione made a soft noise of content at the contact and parted her lips to him. Severus darted his tongue forward to taste her and it was his turn to moan. They began to kiss with abandon then, his hand snaking up to cup the back of her head, long, pale fingers tangling in her curls.
When the need for oxygen became too much to bear, they broke apart, foreheads pressed together and sharing the same warm air between them. It was Hermione who recovered first and lifted her head to nuzzle his nose until he lifted his own so she could look in his black eyes.
“I guess the castle knew what it was doing after all.” Hermione smiled with a little laugh.
Severus couldn’t disagree. “Indeed. Though, I think the fire whiskey helped it along.”
Hermione groaned. “Don’t remind me. Instead, just kiss me.”
Severus couldn’t deny a request like that and captured her lips again.
All around the school, it seemed like the very stones that built it let out a contented sigh. The magic it held fluttered through the halls, the castle finally happy at the success of it’s machination.