Tear Stains and Tooth Marks

i.

They left Neville’s body at the bottom of the Dungeon stairs. Later they determined that she had been running down them, anxious to inform Professor Snape about the latest research and her analysis. She had felt the body before she saw it, run into it, the cold flesh and clammy, mud coated robes bumping against her shins.

She screamed, and her echo bounced off the flat stone walls.

Snape ran from his office, frightened despite his better judgments. Granger was cradling Longbottom’s body, shaking it as if she could restore some sense of life. He pulled her back, drew her into him, shielded her from the terrible sight.

Other teachers, other students came. They gasped, cried, carried on in shameful quantities. The officials came to take his body away. They talked about telling his grandmother, about telling his parents.

Potter took her away from him, placing an arm around her shoulder and guiding her up the stairs.

Later, in the dim candlelight of his room, he realised that she had left tear stains on his cloak.

ii.

He sought her out before the Graduation Ceremony. She was dressed in red robes, a yellow sash draped over the front. She was graduating as the top student in her class, a great honour despite the reduced numbers that would stand around her.

“Will your parents be there?”

She nodded. “They came up by the special train.”

He handed her a small box, wrapped in green with a gold ribbon. “I wanted to give you a small gift.”

She was surprised, unable to speak as she undid the ribbon.

He had given her a delicate silver charm bracelet, the first charm a tiny cauldron. “So you remember.” He said as she pulled it from the box. “Good luck Miss Granger.”

He left before she was able to say thank you.

He did not look at her when he took his place among the Hogwarts teachers and he was back in his office before the celebrations were completed. The graduating students left without final comment from their Potions Master.

iii.

He didn’t see her for eight years.

He stayed in his dungeons, teaching new classes of students, each more loathsome than the last. He ignored the politics and general goings on of the school, becoming almost as elusive as Trelawny. (School gossip paired him with Trelawny. He ignored the stupidity.)

Sometimes, usually after hearing an anecdote of Potter’s latest victory, he asked about Granger.

She was continuing to learn, he heard. She had been accepted by an exclusive institute, was undertaking research that would change the history of magical studies. She was dating, then living with the youngest Weasley boy. She had broken up with him.

Dumbledore called him into his office. “Minerva has been asked to be the Minister of Magic. Would you take on the deputy position?”

So this was promotion. He thought about it for a day and then gave Albus his assent. “Who will take Transfiguration lessons?”

“Hermione Granger has agreed to take the position.”

“Isn’t she . . . rather young?”

“You were younger when you took up your position, Severus.”

iv.

She arrived a week before the students, taking the all stops train to Hogsmeade and walking up to the school.

He waited, unseen in the shadows, as she was greeted by Dumbledore.

“Welcome back to Hogwarts, Hermione.”

“It certainly is nice to be back, Albus.”

Snape came to her doorway an hour after she arrived. He knocked once and stepped inside on her command. She was unpacking books, stacking them into tall bookcases. He noticed that she had arranged them by subject matter and then alphabetically.

“It’s good to see you again, Professor Granger.” He caught sight of himself in the ornate mirror next to her desk. He looked older than he should.

“And you, Professor Snape.” She took his hand and he noticed that she was wearing the charm bracelet. There were more charms on it now.

“You should call me Severus now.”

She laughed. “Then you should call me Hermione.”

The corner of his mouth twitched and for a moment he thought he might smile. “Of course, Hermione.”

v.

Dumbledore’s eyes were grave as he told the teachers what he had learnt.

Sinistra sobbed. Binns moaned. Sprout gasped.

Hermione’s eyes were red for two weeks.

On the night she heard she wandered the Hogwarts' castle restlessly. She found herself in the Dungeons again, hovering around the spot where she fell over Neville’s body.

“Did they tell you anymore than we were told?” He was standing in the shadows, watching her.

She shook her head. “No.” She knelt down and touched the stone floor. Neville’s blood had been drained before they dumped the body. “Sirius said Ron was too shook up to say much. They barely knew anything at all.”

“What about his wife? His son?”

“Ginny and James are fine. They moved them to a secret location.” She smiled at him, a wry, tired smile that he had never seen before. “You’ll endure another Potter yet.”

He ignored the bait. “What about you?”

She shrugged her shoulders, hopeless and lost. “I don’t know.”

He caught her as she began to cry. Caught her and held her as close to him as he dared.

vi.

She was in his bed three months later.

She came to him after midnight, as the winter wind rushed through the castle and sensible people had bed covers drawn to their chins. She stood at his door, her cloak pulled tight around her, her face barely lit by the dim candlelight.

She looked at him and he nodded and she kissed him.

Her mouth was hot, and her hands were cold as they grasped the back of his neck, pulling him into her. He pulled her towards the bed, and kissed the length of her body as he slipped her cloak off. She removed is nightshirt, tearing a button off in her haste, and bent forward to kiss his chest. Her hair fanned out around her head and tickled. He laughed, and it was genuine and joyful and ghastly.

She lay back on the bed as his hands explored her, arched forward as they cupped around her breasts and his fingers pulled at her nipples, and again as his hands rested on the top of her legs. She squirmed as he kissed the soles of her feet.

She pulled him down on top of her, pulled him closer to her, and finally - she was his.

In the morning, she left him with written promises to return.

She had left tear stains on his pillow and tooth marks on his shoulder.

*The End*