enchantement - SOULBOUND I̲̅ || SS/HG ✔️

9. Peculiar presence

"I can't do this anymore!" Hermione heard a voice from the far end of the corridor, "many lives are at stake! I tried, but for some reason, something changed!"

"Try harder! I don't care how far you'll get, but they have to die! Everything is going perfectly well, you just need to destroy her!"

Flinching at the harshness of the voice, strangely familiar, the Gryffindor advanced discreetly towards the sounds. Severus had taught her various times the importance of being a spy, and how to always look out for unusual discussion.

She needed to hear the end of it, figure out who those voices belonged to. It was dangerous, Hermione could feel her heart racing, panicked. Looking around her, searching a good hiding place, she decided to step outside of the hallway through the big stone arches, hiding in the circular garden of the left wing. Trying her best to not make any noise, she soundlessly crawled towards the end of the corridor, hearing the voices louder than they were previously.

The clouds were covering the sky as the moon shun its light, illuminating the girl's face. The cold air of October was causing her breathing to create visible fogs.

"How can you be so sure it's her! After all, they're the same person!" Shrieked a female voice, before sounds of steps resonated down the hall, "he keeps pushing me away, I tried to stay with him tonight, but he said he had things to do. She's everywhere!"

Hermione flinched as she heard a low roar emanating from the man standing alongside the woman, "don't worry about her, I have everything under control. If everything works as planned, she will die and you will get what you bargained for. Now go, I need to go back!"

Within seconds, the voices evanesced, leaving space for silence. Hermione stood up, peered through every corner, making sure no one had spotted her. She spanned the arch, dropping onto the marble corridor.

"Lumos" she murmured, a flicker of light emerging from the tip of her wand. She waved it, letting it shine brighter, lightening the hallway.

Nothing.

No one.

It was as if she had evesdropped on ghosts discussing, yet she knew it was more than that. "Severus," she thought, remembering her husband, "Merlin, I miss you so much."

She sat down on one of the deserted benches, weighing what he would have done if he would have been in her situation. "Look further into it" she heard a voice whisper to her. Startled, she jumped out of the bench, looking around frantically, "who's there?"

Silence.

Nothing.

"Who's there?" She repeated, knowing all too well that she had heard vividly someone speak to her. "Who the fuck is there?"

Her hand started to shake like it did during the war after being hexed in the wrist - as she tried to protect her chest from it. Harry had adviced her to go to St Mungo's, worried about the sudden frantic movement. Yet why would she have them now? Her soul was switched but not her body, it shouldn't be acting like this.

"Miss Granger?" She heard a baritone voice call from behind her, "are you all right?"

She closed her eyes in a thin line, prohibiting herself from thinking further into the issue, before practising a fake smile. Once she felt confident enough, she turned around, facing the man her heart desired, giving him the brightest of beams he had ever seen.

"Of course Professor" she spoke calmly, "I was heading towards your classroom to work on the regenerating potion Ms Pomfrey asked for."

Looking down at her trembling hand, Snape recognised the side effect of a powerful hex. His eyebrows met, his eyes shifting from left to right, trying the hardest to figure out how it was possible for a student to have been cursed with such intensity.

Noticing his confusing and sudden fascination towards her quivering fingers, she brought it behind her back, causing him to snap his eyes towards her, "Ms Granger, although I am not your head of house, and you aren't one of my snakes, I can see that you are lying to me. What's wrong with your hand?"

"It started a few days ago once I woke up in the infirmary, nothing to worry about." She answered sharply, unable to contain her fury. She hated the fact that he wasn't letting her off the hook. She knew something was terribly wrong with it, and Hermione herself couldn't understand why it was reflecting the side effect of the hex she experienced a year later during the war. It was simply impossible.

He tried to read her thoughts, yet a solid wall was shielding her mind, pushing him out of her head. "Who taught you occlumency?"

Hermione contained a sob. Even though every day she saw Severus, it wasn't the same. He had no memories of the love they shared, it was as if he was an outsider. She vowed to herself to get him back, yet the task was still harder than she had expected. In this timeline for some peculiar reason, the events they had shared never existed. Things were different, she could feel it.

"The most powerful man I've ever known" she simply answered, biting on her lip, meeting his ebony eyes, piercing right through her soul, "no matter how hard you'll try, you won't be able to get inside my head, Sir."

"Indeed" he mumbled, his nostrils flaring in annoyance. He was the best-known occlumens and legilimens, yet here he was, struggling to see through the barriers a student placed around her mind. "Did Dumbledore by any chance tell you some tips and tricks on how to shield the mind?"

Hermione giggled, remembering how devoted her husband was to the headmaster. "Dumbledore? No, the one that taught me was the strongest, bravest and smartest man I was ever given the chance to meet. He valued the mind as much as the soul, and vowed to protect me, even if it meant," she trailed off on her last words, unable to get the word 'die' out of her now constricted throat. She wanted to say more, realising how good it felt to talk about her husband, yet the man standing before her spoke.

"'Was?'" He asked, noticing the tears breaking from the corner of her eyes, "follow me, Miss Granger."

He walked outside, before standing in the middle of the garden, looking up at the sky. "Have you ever wondered why some stars shine brighter than others Miss Granger?"

She followed him, raising her head upwards, smiling at the mesmerizing sight that stood in front of her. "The ones that flicker are soon to die" she matter of factly stated, lowering her gaze to meet Severus, who was still looking at the sky.

At the sound of his giggles, she clenched her jaw. He was beautiful, his dark eyes were reflecting the stars, as if they were forever trapped inside his onyx orbs. His face was illuminated by the moon, his tall sombre figure giving the illusion of a dark angel searching for the light.

"When I was five, my mother passed away, leaving me with my alcoholic muggle father. The same day, I ran out of the house, unable to stand his incessant pestering and drinking - the house ricked with muggle whisky. I lived in a cottage, you see, and not far from my home was a hill with a tree. I used to go there a lot with my mother, she would transfigure a swing and help me reach higher and higher." He spoke softly, his eyes never leaving the stars as if he was searching for something or someone. Hermione listened carefully, realising that it was the first time she was hearing this story.

"The night had fallen at the sky was dark, no stars covering it. I begged for Merlin to bring her back, or at least to hear her voice, telling me how much she loved me. I needed to feel her protective arms around me, telling me that everything was going to be okay. And then I saw it. The star. One star started to shine, flickering majestically in the darkness of the sky. I called her, begging her to come home, and it kept flickering. I knew from that moment onwards that she never left me. No matter where I stood, she was there, shining her motherly love for the world to see. Those that love us never truly leave us, Ms Granger, they will always look after you, wherever they are. I am sure that whoever taught you was not only the greatest wizard but that he also must have cherished you with such force. He must be so proud of you, never forget that."

At that moment she knew, as they eyes met, that the man that stood before her, the man that in her present was the love of life, was still alive, somewhere, behind those ebony eyes.