Breakfast was an awkward affair for both parties. Hermione didn't feel much like eating but she was too stubborn to avoid Severus. It was exactly what he was expecting her to do. Therefore she pushed herself to sit with him at the kitchen table, watching him sip his black coffee while she sourly drank her cup of tea. 

If her life were a play, this would be the end of the first act. The reason the pair had been forced together had been established. The tragic story of the female protagonist who was tortured and raped, saved by a heartless man with whom she would live in a comfortable silence with. Unfortunately for her, there was to be a plot twist, in which the playwright intended to bring the miserable man and the damaged young girl together in a horrifying twist of fate.

This was the pause before the action. A break to allow the audience to gather their thoughts and speculate among themselves, all the while enjoying frozen treats from the concession stand.

Hermione scowled. She had loved attending the theatre with her parents. They would make a point of going to see a show at least once a year. She had seen musicals, ballets and plays and had even managed to see a Shakespeare play at the Globe theatre, when she was 14. It all seemed like a distant memory.

Her entire life now was the antithesis of what it was before. She was missing, presumed dead. There were thousands of people looking for her, including members of a certain dark organisation. She would definitely die should someone find out that she was actually alive. Her parents were gone. She had no way of finding them, at least not until after the war, but who knew when it would end?

There was no comradery. Her friends had clearly left her to her own devices. As much as Hermione thought it wrong, she wondered whether her friends had actually managed to survive without her. Harry was The-boy-who-nearly-died-like-5-times. He was brave and he was heroic. While he had some common sense, Harry wasn't book smart.

Ron wasn't smart. Period.

Now she understood why Snape was always so grating as a professor. He truly was dealing with idiots. Of course, Hermione didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right, so she kept her mouth shut.

The issue went deeper than that, and she knew it. Something inside her didn't want to lose him. The man had seen her at her lowest and had attempted to coach her back up. She had been downright awful to him, and Severus had taken every blow and still offered to make dinner afterwards. She felt safe around him. The prospect of going to Hogwarts and not being able to see him again was tearing Hermione apart.

Severus stood and dropped his mug into the sink. He couldn't face the silence much longer, not with Hermione sat staring into the nothingness.

"Get ready. We leave for Hogwarts at 9." Severus snapped. He felt like he was a teacher again, giving the girl orders laced with venom. It didn't feel right, not in his own home.

Hermione huffed. "Yes Professor Snape." She glared at him, meeting his eye as he spun round after hearing her response.

"Watch your tone, young lady." He replied, almost sounding bored.

"No, I'm not your student. I don't have to follow your instructions. I am my own person." Hermione cried.

Severus rolled his eyes and point a finger at the girl. "If you are not my student, then you should cease acting like one. You are simply having a tantrum because you aren't getting what you want. You are behaving no more mature than a first year. Shall I see if there is room for you in their classes when I return? Perhaps I shall treat you like an adult when you start behaving like one"

"I suggest you follow what I say or risk getting yourself in a sticky situation. I will refuse to pick up the pieces this time, after you've inevitably been captured and tortured again. Why must you persistently fight with me? Would it kill you to cooperate?"

Hermione felt tears sting behind her eyes. "You know what? I'm glad i'm getting away from you, you git." She pushed past Severus and ran up the stairs to her bedroom, slamming the door shut for the last time. She had never considered herself a liar before.

______

Severus donned a thick travelling cloak and boots when he met Miss Granger in his lounge. He knew that she had been forced to swallow her pride and the blush on her cheeks was tribute to this. Severus couldn't help but feel like he had won. It was the girl's fault for being so bloody headstrong. He was sure that he wasn't as overbearing as Miss Granger when he was younger.

Regardless of his annoyance, Severus was concerned about their journey ahead. There were already caterwauling charms littered around Hogsmede, in a vain attempt to detect Potter, Granger or Weasley. They had no invisibility cloak and no marauder's map. Instead Severus was relying on the special allocations the castle made for the headmaster and a powerful disillusionment charm.

If either of them were discovered they would be killed. Severus would have to escort Granger up to the seventh floor, so that she could slip into the Room of Requirement unnoticed. Still, there was still the risk that the imbecile students might blab. Severus took a deep breath and occluded his mind. His students would see the feared Professor Snape. They would see the Potions Master who was fascinated with the Dark Arts and who was a powerful influence in The Dark Lords plans. He wasn't about to let any un-submitted assignments slide.

Severus and his accomplice walked to the designated apparition spot in a pregnant silence. It was obvious that Hermione was still mad at him and he wasn't about to restart another argument. He was a sadist, he didn't want to add any unnecessary stress to his already alarming day.

"Miss Granger, please take my arm." Professor Snape instructed her. Hermione pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth in an attempt to mute herself. She wordlessly took the man's elbow.

With an abrupt crack and the feeling of a hook pulling her by the navel, Hermione and Severus aparated into thin air. The next thing she knew, he knees were buckled and her entire body-weight was held by the man at her side. The decorative walls of the Headmaster's office spun sickeningly as she fought to keep what little breakfast she had ingested in her stomach.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said in a small voice as she righted herself. Severus only grunted.

Looking around the office properly, it had been years since Hermione had been inside. The portraits that hung around the office of the old headmasters and mistresses snoozed in the dim lighting of the office. The glass cabinets were still filled with trinkets that moved of their own accord. There was even a dish of hard boiled sweets on the desk, reminiscent of its former occupant.

Hermione knew full well that Snape had been coerced into the murder of Professor Dumbledore, they had established that relatively early in their cohabitation. Now the man was forced to live under the shadow of his own mistakes. There was a daily reminder of the felony that he had committed and the irony that Severus had been the one to usurp the Hogwarts throne. Much like in Hamlet, Hermione thought, Dumbledore would ghost over Severus from his portrait that stood as a centerpiece in the office.

If she wasn't mad, Hermione would feel sorry for Professor Snape.

"I am going to perform the disillusionment charm. Then, you will follow closely behind me to the seventh floor. Everyone in the castle will be at lunch, so there is little chance of coming into contact with anyone. We will meet Mr Malfoy, who will then let you into the room of requirement." Snape said with a military like expressionlessness.

Hermione was tempted to salute, but didn't think her humor would be appreciated at this moment in time. "What happens if we run into someone?"

"Don't move. Don't even breathe." Severus bit. He was pale and stern, and yet to take off his travelling cloak.

Harry had told Hermione that a disillusionment charm felt like an egg being cracked over the head. Hermione had taken this with a pinch of salt but she realized that she could not have described the feeling better herself. It felt odd being invisible, without the knowledge of a cloak hanging around you.

Severus felt odd knowing that he had two shadows. One metaphorical and one literal. The witch did well to muffle the sound of her footsteps as she followed him down the halls, her muffliato charm proving useful. There had been rumors of ghosts being able to see through disillusionment charm. He prayed that they wouldn't encounter any transparent pale forms - especially not the poltergeist.

They made the way towards the charms corridor, stopping at a painting of a tree surrounded by wildlife. There was a small red fox with black beady eyes, which Snape scratched under the chin with his pinky finger. The stone wall groaned and then slid to the right, making way for a steep and narrow set of stairs. Lighting his wand, Severus checked behind him before starting the climb.

Two sets of panting breathes could be heard when Severus reached the top of the staircase. It was shielded from view by a heavy tapestry. Snape paused, pressing his back against the wall so that Miss Granger could join him on the landing. It was odd being pressed up to someone you couldn't see. He could feel where their body came in to contact and smell the scent of her hair. It was intoxicating. Her perfume smelt of sweet vanilla and it was comforting. Severus swallowed heavily and tried to take his mind off of how close he was to the witch.

He was finding it hard to control himself. His dick, apparently still worked, even after all of these years. Merlin, the witch hated him and here he was getting as flustered as a 12 year old school boy on valentines day. Severus growled and focused himself. All he had to do was get Miss Granger to her hiding place without being seen and he would be able to wash his hands of her.

Or would he? There would still be her hair on his pillow and her scent on his bed sheets. Half empty bottles of shampoo and pink feminine razors might remain in the bathroom, even after she was gone. There was also nothing to hide the permanent internal mark that comes with living together. Trust and companionship were hard to break apart from. This was his first break-up of sorts. Severus wondered if he should get a pint of ice cream and lock himself in his office all day.

Onward, onto the upper floor corridor with floor to ceiling windows that displayed the mist covered grounds. The land had began to wilt, as though it understood the terrors that had been occurring in the school. It was an awful sight and Hagrid and Professor Sprout had been working day and night with hardly any satisfactory result. The corridor contained a handful of students, who all pressed their backs to the wall and glanced towards the floor at the presence of a teacher. When it dawned on the group that it was Professor Snape who was striding down the halls, the shock and the fear was apparent in their expressions.

There he was. The Godson. His pale white blonde hair shone like a beacon at sea in the dark confines of the castle. Severus never thought he would see the day that he would grateful to see the little brat. He was of course, the son of his two closest and most trusted friends. But due to their difficulty conceiving, Draco had been spoiled. He could be an arrogant pig when it suited him.

"Mr Malfoy. Just what are you doing up here while the rest of the student body is at lunch?" Snape drawled.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "I could ask you the same thing Professor - forgive me - Headmaster Snape."

"I suggest you make yourself scarce, should someone less lenient come and accuse you of looking for trouble." Severus darted his eyes to the side of him, where he could feel Miss Granger's body heat. The younger student followed his gaze and nodded a fraction.

"Yes sir."

That was it. Miss Granger was handed over and officially no longer the responsibility of Severus Snape. Walking away, the sense of liberation that he had expected did not arrive. Instead, he turned and watched as Draco entered the Room of Requirement and the door shut methodically after him. 

He shouldn't have stopped. If he had kept walking, Severus wouldn't have been able to feel the tug of worry in his chest and the swelling of his throat.

Merlin, he needed to get a grip. 

_____

Severus was forced to sit when he reached his office, in case his legs gave out. He collapsed into the wing backed chair with his chest heaving. The portraits, which had been muttering to one another had stopped abruptly when he had burst into his room, and were now proceeding to stare at him as though he was a caged beast that had been unleashed.

"Don't you all have better things to do?" He growled sharply, causing some of the portraits to flee to their alternative frames or to cower together.

"Now now Severus, let us not take out our frustrations on others." Said a painfully familiar voice.
Snape refused to turn around and look at the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. In fact, he was tempted to call a house elf to remove it. It had been almost 12 months since he had taken the responsibility off of the Malfoy boy and carried out the wish of He-who-must-not-be-named. He had felt no triumph as he held Potter at wand point that evening. No. The idiot boy hadn't even realized that Severus had spared him his life. Instead he continued to whine about how bitterly unfair his life was.

Of course, the boy had not taken an unbreakable vow to kill perhaps the only father figure in his life, in order to remove the burden from his snotty godson. Severus didn't think that Potter had a clue about how unfair life was. .

"I didn't think I would see you back here, much less sitting in the my old chair. What on Earth has been going on?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape still refused to turn around and look at the portrait. Instead he chose to stare at the wearing grains of wood on the century old headmaster's desk. "The Dark Lord has had me appointed as Headmaster of the school. It would seem that he wanted someone with extensive knowledge of  Hogwarts, he thought I might have insight into your secrets."

Albus chuckled. "Tom always had been suspicious of others." He discussed Voldemort as though he was speaking about an old friend, and it made anger bubble in Severus.

"Don't." Severus warned, through gritted teeth. "Don't call him that. You know better than I that there is no use humanizing him."

Dumbledore seemingly ignored Severus's statement. "And Miss Granger, how is she faring?" The smile on his face was audible.

"How do you know about her?" Snape remarked, bitterly. Albus just flashed him an irritatingly omniscient smile. 

"Miss Granger is still managing to get on my nerves, even after all of these years. She is always eager to argue upon the smallest matters and will sulk unbearably when she is proved wrong." Severus swallowed thickly.

"However." His voice became softer. "Living with Miss Granger has been insightful. While she is the most arrogant know-it-all I have ever had the misfortune of sharing my house with, her intelligence is unprecedented."

Dumbledore scoffed. "I do hope you have been kind to her, Severus. She is a girl in an unknown world where she has been forced to fight for everything she has ever achieved. Her peers say foul things when her back is turned and she seeks comfort in knowledge. She has always been good at everything she does and others are jealous of her. Miss Granger is unconventional in her ways and cares little of what others think of her. Doesn't it sound familiar?"

A low growl was released from Severus's throat when he realized what the old codger was hinting at. "We are nothing alike!"

"You are everything alike!"

"You know nothing, you old bat!" Severus had gone from angry to furious. He stood and turned to face the portrait, pointing at it with his index finger. Even he thought it odd to be in a shouting match with a painting.

Dumbledore was oddly serene in his portrait. He wore dark purple robes - the color of royalty - Severus almost laughed aloud. Perhaps Albus could be considered royalty, there had been some rather ruthless and insane English monarchs of which Dumbledore certainly followed suit. Severus would swear that his eyes were glittering, even in the portrait.

"Severus, I think that even you will struggle to deny that you a Miss Granger have a connection which is at the very least a friendship. Perhaps absence will make the heart grow fonder. I trust she is somewhere safe?"

"Yes she is safe. Do not change the subject. If you are suggesting what I think you are, then you are sadly mistaken. She is my former student." Severus reasoned.

"Do not be foolish, Dear boy. You will find such things, for example age, matter not when you love someone." Dumbledore sounded gentle, and Severus felt de-aged. 

He had had just about enough of Albus and his prophetic views to last him the rest of the week. So he stood, and walked in the direction of his chambers. They were modest, much as he had preferred when he had lived down in the dungeons. It would be strange living somewhere other than his old cold and damp rooms. Would living up in the castle be too stifling?

I didn't matter now, as he shut the curtains and lay on his back on the bed. The canopy of the four poster bed was decorated with constellations. Severus had never been one for astronomy at school. His current knowledge only extended as far as plants that matured when planets were aligned. Very few knew that being a Potions Master required such knowledge of plants and stars and arithmantic equations.

Many of his students had been blissfully ignorant of the complexity of potions making. Miss Granger hadn't. She seemed to show interest and understanding where others hadn't. Perhaps it was because she took the time to learn such things, unlike other students. Maybe it was because she was innately good at everything she did. Severus didn't know.

He had found himself at a loss. But he also found her face printed on the back of his eyelids whenever he shut his eyes. Her voice rung in his ears in the silence of the room. He smell lingered on his clothes. 

He was utterly fucked.