Love And Revolution

XI

It seemed like not long after that, there came the shout of "Room service!" from outside the door and Hermione jerked awake, her leg hitting the empty wine bottle to send it scuttling across the floor to its companion piece, the two colliding with a sharp chink of glass. Snape also woke up beside her, hearing the commotion, a look of complete irritation across his face and his eyes still almost shut from the puffiness of exhaustion and late-night drinking. 

It would seem they were waking up in the middle of a brothel and there was still a bit of red high in their cheeks, now more visible as they realized they had both snuggled closer to each other on the floor, after the fire had died out and the night had progressed.

Snape quickly got a hold of his bearings and went to answer the door, while Hermione ambled her way to the sink to splash herself with some water. Breakfast time was long over but he couldn't say no to some lunch and he tipped the bellboy to stay out of their room and only to bring them the food.

"You don't happen to have some anti-hangover potions or maybe an Advil in your pouch bag, do you?" Hermione asked dispiritedly as she dumped herself into her bed. 

"No. If I did, I'd take two myself," he replied, putting his head in his hands as he fell back into a chair, "We shouldn't have drunk so much...it was foolish. My head hurts!"

Snape took a shower while Hermione laid in bed as the room slowly stopped spinning, but her whole body still felt too heavy to move. They had little idea what they had for lunch, hungry yet disgusted at the sight of the food. She forced herself to finish quickly, eager to get ready.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, now quite alarmed.

She turned back to look at him as if it was obvious, "We're going to The Ravine tonight."

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said getting out of his chair, "You're terribly hungover. Your reflexes won't be as sharp, what if you need them...No. I can't risk your safety. It can wait-"

"No, it can't wait! We have to go tonight. I've made up my mind and we can't back down now."

"Granger-"

"We can't keep staying at this shitty motel- we're running out of money. We have no backup," She started rummaging through the bag for some clothes to change into, "And I want to know the truth as soon as possible."

"But Hermione," he appealed, gripping her by the elbow and making her turn towards him. She stopped for a moment, letting her ears get accustomed to the sound of her name from his lips- she had hoped he would continue to address her like that from now on, after they seemed to have dropped the wall between them for good. He searched her eyes and she didn't know what argument he was going to place next, but he said instead, "Are you absolutely sure about this? Because if anything were to happen to you...I- I...-"

She was touched that he cared for her enough to voice his concern but he must still be getting accustomed to this feeling so as to not even know how to finish that sentence. She placed her hand over his in a reassuring gesture. "I appreciate that you're concerned about me, but I'll be fine. I just can't stop thinking that every moment we spend here stalling, is a minute wasted in our search for truth. Every day we delay taking this risk is another person getting closer to death. Every minute we lose is letting this monster take a bigger form. We have to put a stop to this."

He reconsidered after that and Hermione went to get dressed for the part she was going to play that night, but after she came out of the bathroom, freshened up and ready, Snape was in a professional mood again, tightening his cravat and arming himself with the necessities.

He looked her up and down as she walked into the room wearing an ordinary green A-line dress. She squinted her eyes at him, anticipating that he had something to say but he tried hard to refrain from commenting. It was when she flitted around him, making last-minute preparations that he finally mumbled out, "You look nice."