Chapter 2- Her Request
Severus Snape shook his head roughly as he stared at the woman in front of him who was calmly sipping on her iced tea. He adjusted himself in his seat, and nearly snorted as the implication of where he was sank in. Albus would have fallen off his chair laughing at me if he’d seen me, he thought wryly, and then felt a pang when he remembered why he wouldn’t be. He cleared his throat and looked around him at the small teashop curiously, feeling absolutely self conscious as he adjusted his frame once again to sit comfortably on the overstuffed armchair with pink floral design.
It was like a dream, or nightmare, he thought, that he had suddenly, in this… middle of nowhere, bumped into the most important missing person of the wizarding world. Yes, most thought her dead, but at the insistence of the famous war hero, Potter, she had been filed as a missing person. Such was Potter’s influence that even two years after her disappearance, she is still number one on the list, meaning that the search for her was number one priority. And to motivate the search, a ten thousand galleons reward has been put on her head for her to be found alive.
So she had been hiding in this out-of-way place all along, he mused grumpily. He looked around again. It was still a daze how he had ended up in this frilly teashop with her. One moment he was knocked off his feet by some careless pedestrian, and the next moment…
*
Severus Snape picked up his briefcase from the ground and brushed the dust off with his hands. His eyes traveled with irritation to the woman who was still on her knees, scrambling to get her books together. “If this was Hogwarts, I’d have taken fifty points from her house,” he thought with a scowl.
“Do watch where you’re going, miss,” he snarled nastily even as he extended his hands to help her up. Never was it said that he wasn’t a gentleman.
The woman gasped slightly at his words, and froze, her breathing becoming laboured. Severus looked on impatiently, and was just about to withdraw his hand when she began shaking.
“Professor Snape?”
It was barely more than a whisper, but he heard it. He promptly dropped his briefcase back to the ground as the woman turned her head towards him, tears streaming down from her familiar brown eyes.
“Miss Granger!” he gasped.
The woman hiccupped, and laughed shakily as she pushed herself to her feet. “I must say it’s an honour that you remember me, Professor,” she said, grasping his still outstretched hand in a handshake. “And it seems that I have rendered you speechless.”
He opened his mouth, but words eluded him.
Hermione sighed, instinctively knowing that this was not going to be the typical knock-over-and-leave encounter. She bent down to retrieve her books from the ground, and straightened.
“I would pick your briefcase up for you, but my hands are quite occupied at the moment. And perhaps, till you recover your mental faculties, you would like to go somewhere more comfortable?”
*
“Professor!”
Severus jerked out of his memories and scowled at the woman across him. “What is it, Miss Granger?”
She sighed. “I know it must have been a shock for you to meet me here, but I would like to ask a favour of you. If possible, please keep my location a secret.”
Severus looked at her curiously. He sipped on his coffee, and leveled his gaze on hers.
“May I ask why?”
She stirred her drink with her straw distractedly. “It’s just that… well, I have no plans of returning any time soon. So I guess it’s better if I…”
“What I meant, Miss Granger, is why have you been hiding here for two years? Why have you not contacted us in any way at all, making us believe you were dead? Why?”
Hermione swallowed, and rubbed her temples with the tip o her fingers. She had not anticipated this question at all. She had just assumed that the professor would not care enough to ask.
“If you don’t mind, I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s very… difficult. Please, just do me a great favour and forget you’ve ever bumped into me here,” she said, looking imploringly at him. She saw him hesitate, and then he jerked his head in acquiesce.
“Very well,” he said, “I shall not mention to anyone of our meeting here. It’ll ruin my reputation, anyway,” he added under his breath.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Professor.”
Severus Snape had just had about enough of the town. First he was knocked off his feet (from which his head still hurt), then was forced inside this damnable teashop, and now, as he stood up to leave, he saw the faces that was pressed against the glass windows of the teashop, scowling darkly at him.
“Who, in the name of Hades, are those people?!” he growled menacingly. The faces at the windows seemed taken aback at the vicious expression on his face. Hermione glanced at the direction he was looking, and groaned.
“Um, yes… I seem to have gathered a few… admirers here.” She was clearly uncomfortable.
He turned his gaze back on her, assessing her features, his eyes lingering on the same bushy hair from two years ago. “I can’t imagine why,” he sneered. He then picked up his briefcase, turned towards her and delivered his parting words.
“Let’s hope we never meet again, then, Miss Granger.” Then he stalked out of the teashop, and hopefully, thought Hermione, out of her life.
She watched as the blokes scrambled away from the window to let the professor pass through, and shook her head, chuckling quietly. Some things never change, she thought, and then realized that he had left her to pay for their drinks.
But since they probably would never meet again, she mused as she paid for the drinks, she probably shouldn’t think too badly of him. With that thought, she skipped out of the teashop where she would, hopefully, get on with her mundane life.
Author's Note: Before you ask, no, this is not the end of the story. I really hope this story won't be too long, since I'll be busy again quite soon. Thanks for reading, and hugs if you've reviewed!