Survivor

Chapter 2 - Breaking Miss Granger.

A friendly reminder of the aforementioned warnings. All mistakes are my own. H. x

It had only taken a few hours for Hermione to remind Severus of exactly why he despised her. After she insisted on a second pregnancy test which also came back negative, Hermione had asked Severus why he had not thought to give her a contraceptive potion whilst she lay unconscious. Severus had replied truthfully, stating he hadn't wanted it to interfere with any contraceptives she may have been already taking. His candor was not appreciated by the young witch who had all but chewed his ear off and asked to be left alone.

Severus had been banished downstairs for two days now, only venturing up to the first floor of his house to use the bathroom. Instead, he was sleeping on the sofa underneath a rather thin blanket that seemed to have a shedding issue. His lack of sleep only made Severus grumpier and even more unreasonable towards the Granger girl. After she had refused to come down for  dinner, the meal that he had taken the time to prepare without the use of magic, they argued through the door to his bedroom. The argument proving less than fruitful for Severus who had been forced to scrape her plate into the bin.

He did not understand why Miss Granger was so adamant to stay locked up inside his bedroom. It wasn't as though she was being held prisoner by Severus. She was more than welcome to roam the confines of his two bedroom house (provided she didn't go into the spare bedroom which served as his potions lab). Her insistence on staying cooped up in his room all day made Severus frustrated, and it didn't help that his back was permanently screaming in pain from having to sleep on the sofa.

As much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, and to Miss Granger for that matter, Snape was worried about the girl. He had been unable to focus on his work in his lab as he found his mind wondering what on Earth she could be doing in there. She was a defiant young woman, but she would have to come out eventually. He couldn't imagine what the excess damage of being alone with her thoughts had done to her psyche. Severus didn't want an angry teenager for a house mate on most days, but this one was unbearable. 

There was also the fear that they would be found out. The Dark Lord had asked Severus to get rid of the girl once the brethren had had their fill of her. Perhaps he thought it was a sick joke as he knew that Snape despised Granger from her school years. There was also the possibility that The Dark Lord was under the opinion that Snape wanted to kill her, for all her years of making his life a misery. If that was the case however, Hogwarts school would have very few students and even fewer alumni.

He did not hate children. He hated incompetence, and it was simply unfortunate that most children were imbeciles. Most adults could also be described in this way, except for a handful. Severus gave himself credit for liking a few people. Albus Dumbledore, although tedious at times, had a very smart mind and saw Severus as a son. There had been times when Albus had understood and supported Severus when no one else had. He even regarded Minerva as likable, except for her relentless ability to stick her nose where it did not belong. He also liked Lucius Malfoy, which perhaps shocked him the most.

The older Malfoy was not as loyal to The Dark Lord as he once had been. He was also not an advocate of Dumbledore's either. Snape liked to think the Lucius was only loyal to his own beliefs, which was something he should be commemorated for. Well... had his own beliefs not been so prejudiced. He was lucky that he was in Lucius's favor at the moment, after saving the soul of his son, the man had been willing to bow at Severus's every beck and call. He had been able to go to Diagon Alley and buy Granger some new clothes: something that would have made suspicions rise if Severus had done it, no doubt. He was glad that Malfoy had the sense not to ask questions about why Severus had saved the Granger girl.

In another feeble attempt to win over the teenager, Severus climbed the stairs with a silver tea tray. He felt like a house elf. Setting the tea down before his bedroom door, he crossed the landing to the bathroom and began to draw a bath. Severus knew she hadn't washed since she had awoken. The girl must be desperate by now. He used a pipette to add a few drops of Lavender oil to the water, from a brown glass bottle that he kept in a cabinet above the sink, and left the tub to fill.

The most unnerving thing was Hermione's silence. He never heard the floorboards creak, not counting the times she went to the toilet. He rapped at the door.

"Miss Granger."

Silence.

"May I enter?"

Silence.

Since she wasn't objecting anymore, Severus decided he would let himself in. It was his house after all. His room looked almost identical to how he left it. The window was still slightly cracked open and the grey curtains blew gently in the breeze. Severus found that his bed sheets looked as though they had been fighting one another. The things on his dresser, the books and ink wells hadn't budged. Even the towel that he had left on the radiator was still in the same position.

The girl was curled up, as close as she could on the far side of the bed with her back towards the door. She wasn't moving. Severus wondered whether she really existed. Much like Schrodinger's cat, until Hermione moved she was both dead and alive. If she didn't exist, didn't live, didn't move or breath then none of this would have happened. If she was invisible and no one was there to see her fall, did she really fall? Did she really have to deal with her agony? If she could pretend it wasn't there then her hurt didn't really exist.

She truly wanted the world to continue without her. She wished it would forget about her. Hermione Granger, The Golden Girl, had finally cracked up. She felt like everyone who was going to look at her from this day on would know, as if she had the word 'slut' branded across her forehead. What were Harry and Ron going to think? Ron had all but declared his love for her. Would he even speak to her now that she was tainted? Dirty? She relayed the events of the night in her mind, convincing herself that she could have done more to fight back.

Hermione didn't feel like she could ever wear the color white again.

"There is tea on the dresser, Miss Granger. I have ran you a bath and there are clean towels in the bathroom. I will bring up some clean clothes for you." Snape said, his voice didn't show a hint of care.

Having someone that cared for him was not something that Severus Snape was used to. He suspected that this was the reason why he struggled to care for others so much. He didn't recall his parents picking him up very often as a child, or dressing his wounds or coming to him in the night when he had nightmares. When he was in Hogwarts he was bullied right under the noses of the Professors and no one put a stop to it. When joining the Death Eaters, he thought having a brethren to belong to might allow him to feel more wanted, but he was cursed and tortured until he felt invisible. The irony was, the reason he had managed to go unnoticed for so long as a double agent, was because no one cared about him. If someone was concerned they might notice that he was much more fond of Dumbledore than he was of any of the men that he was bonded to. Severus would even go as far as saying that he had enjoyed the company of James Potter more than he did those sadistic evil bastards.

Without waiting for her reply, Severus headed downstairs to where he was preparing dinner. His ears pricked, when he heard the floor boards in the old house squeak in accordance to her movement. With a flick of his wand, Severus sent the boxes and parcels that Lucius had brought upstairs so that Hermione might find them on the bed. Lucius had ensured he had catered to each of the girls needs, in order to spare Severus the embarrassment. He had bought her under garments and body wash, along with some uniquely female products that she might be requiring soon, along with clothes and shoes. Severus was surprised when the man had returned with as much as he did. It was unusual to see Lucius do something for someone else, that didn't benefit him in any way.

Severus grew impatient as the sun began to set, leaving his kitchen bathed in a fiery orange light. He switched on the electric lights (his house being in the muggle suburbs allowed him to have such commodities) just as he heard footsteps on the stairs. She looked much healthier than she had earlier, although the girl was still very pale. She wore a pair of pale blue pjyama's with short sleeves that left her bandage on show. Her hair fell down her back in wet curls. Slightly taken aback, Severus internally remarked at how pretty she was. However the damage was obvious. Her posture had sank and she kept her eyes on the floor, not even looking around his house out of curiosity. She also walked like her legs were forcing her, her brain was still probably in the bath tub.

He gallantly pulled back a seat for her, in a silent bid to get her to sit at the table in the hopes she would at least eat something. Being a Potion Master was similar to being a chef, in the sense that you had to have a knack for following instructions and a finesse for detail. Severus didn't have the same respect for cooking as he did for potions but he thought he at least had some appreciation for art. He often enjoyed his food, the tight buttons of his frock coat proved that. Hermione however, did not seem to have the same energy. He placed down a bowl of tomato soup in front of her, along with a bread roll. He had deliberately kept the portions small so that she might be encouraged to eat more, and the food simple as to not upset her empty stomach. She just stared at the plate like he had given her a bowl of llama mucus.

Regardless of the girl, Snape began to eat. Hermione felt odd, like she was having a strange dream. She didn't want to believe that she was having dinner with Severus Snape. Merlin! She couldn't even fathom the fact that she had been sleeping in his bed for the last few days. Absent was the cynical remarks that she was used to from the classrooms. She wondered who this man was and what he had done with the real Professor Snape. No. She was wrong. This wasn't Professor Snape, the teacher and all round asshole. This was Severus Snape, a human being.

Before she had noticed, Snape had replaced her untouched soup with a plate of roast chicken and mashed potato. Hermione had never felt hunger like this before, but the thought of eating seemed menial and unimportant. However, the plate in front of her had inspired her stomach and soothed her nausea. She picked up her bread roll and tore some off, dipping it into the gravy. Snape smirked with satisfaction. He felt like he had just won the Quidditch World Cup single-handedly; in fact he wouldn't mind being rewarded with a trophy and a fan fare.

The girl had managed to clear some room on the plate, but Severus would have preferred it if she had licked it clean and asked for more. He resided that this was a small victory. She remained in her seat while he brought his plates to the sink. With a brief swish of his wand, they began to wash themselves. Severus turned back around to see the girl watching him. Her cheeks flushed after the warm meal.

"I owe you an apology. I have been unbearable." She said, quietly. Snape suspected that she wasn't used to admitting that she was wrong.

"It is understandable." He replied, signalling he didn't want to talk about their arguments anymore. Instead he walked into the living room, hearing light footsteps follow him.

The room was dim, it always had been. There was a fireplace in the center and a mirror above the mantle. There were no photographs of Severus or his family, or any childhood medals or trophies. There were no signs of life. Yet there were books everywhere you looked. On each wall were tall mahogany bookshelves, the spines of the books facing outwards. There were stacks of papers and books in the corners and on the coffee table, even on the spare chairs. It was obvious that Severus's seat was the one to the right of the fire. It was the only one that wasn't occupied with books. Snape sat down, leaving Granger to stand transfixed in the doorway, gaping at the state of his room.

"Make yourself at home, Miss Granger." He broke the silence, picking up his current read and opening it at the marked page.

"Have you been sleeping down here?" She asked, her eyes falling on the pillow and the blanket that were on the couch, almost covered in papers.

Snape didn't look up from his book, but he nodded.