As Long As You Need Me

Chapter VI

Certainly the lordship of love is evil, seeing that the more his servants pay to him, the more gracious and painful are the torments wherewith he torments them.
- Dante Alghieri (La Vita Nuova)
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When genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say and say it hot.
- D.H. Lawrence (Studies in Classic American Literature)
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"Good morning!"
Hermione greeted Snape with a dazzling smile; she had set an alarm and woken up early, even before him, hoping to start off a cheerful day. He was mildly surprised; he looked her up and down and then turned away to use the bathroom, like he had intended to. She waited for him to come out and smiled at him again, about to go into a conversation, but he went on his own way back to his room like she wasn't even there.

Her smile was put off and even her bright clothes turned dull in lieu of his indifference. She had befriended Cobblepot and learnt about some of his habits and according to him, his master liked to have a glass of water before taking breakfast. So she poured him a glass and placed it ready on his table, opened the window next to his desk in order to air the room, before she went down to the hall.

Upon her return, she found him already at his desk and he ordered her to continue with her cleaning work. She sighed heavily and began- today she went over to the cupboards, pulled out a stool to reach the higher shelves and started cleaning out the innumerable small vials and containers holding a plethora of potions ingredients. Needless to say, they were all scarcely obtainable and rather expensive, so she had to be extra careful. But still, she let her eyes wander towards him now and again, but he continued with whatever he was doing.

"Sir, you are a wizard." she said, casually wiping a tumbler. This was so obvious a statement that he didn't even care to reply, just let out a breath, like a scoff.
"And I'm a witch." she continued, "And...you do know that all this could be done by magic, right?"

He sighed, "I sincerely hope you are going somewhere with this."

"Don't you think that this is entirely pointless, then?"

"If you're looking for examples of pointless then I can refer you to the conversation we're having right now."

"I'm just saying-"

"I thought I told you to carry on your work without talking." he said severely. He stood up and walked over to the small storeroom, bringing in more supplies to stock up the containers, no doubt piling on her work. She was glowering at his back and also trying to see what he was doing, so that she was leaning from the stool and at one point she went too far and lost her footing, which made her go tumbling down to the ground.

Snape rushed in, hearing the noise and Hermione righted herself before he could have an accidental glimpse of her knickers; she wasn't hurt but to her dismay, she saw that one of the jars, which contained dried Billywig stingers and another bottle that was marked 'Cure for boils' had crashed to the ground, smashing to pieces.

"What did you just do?" Snape asked arriving at the scene, "You broke my vials?!" He bent down to observe the damage.

"I'm okay, by the way. Thanks for asking." Hermione muttered, brushing herself. But he was too engrossed in the mess and more importantly, chastising her. "You idiotic, careless young girl! Dried stings...now dripping with liquid...Do you know how rare Billywig stings are? Not to mention how valuable...All ruined...What a nuisance!"

Hermione quickly ran to fetch a mop and went down on her knees to clean up the mess. Snape went back to his desk, but he was still fuming, so that he couldn't concentrate back on his work. Hermione looked sorry enough to not allow him to shout on her anymore.