The weeks following the night in the Forbidden Forrest passed by fairly quick though- on occasion- agonizingly slow. As the days faded into distant memories, Hermione found herself wishing that she could find a moment's rest. Since she had been well enough to stand upright for longer than a few moments Severus had been intent on keeping her busy.
Every morning, Hermione would wake up an hour before breakfast in the Great Hall started and then she would promptly begin getting ready for the day. After breakfast, she would report to the potions classroom where Severus would assign her a task to complete during the first half of the day. As she finished she would be given another following suit.
In his own way, perhaps Snape was just trying to help distract her from life outside of work-perhaps not. The young witch was still very much aware of her situation but at the same time she had to admit that the workload did not give her much time to dwell on specifics.
While the slight distraction gave her a momentary sensation of bliss, Hermione knew that it would not last forever. There were certain thoughts that would not take breaks and most of them revolved around the snarky potion's master. So many questions remained unanswered, and in her world this was not an acceptable situation.
As time would reveal, Hermione would be correct in her lack of faith. After a few weeks of lonely days and cold nights, she realized that it could only get worse. Though the young witch's life had never been one of perfect order this specific transgression was one she would forget. Life had finally decided to drop its final downer for a while and it would not be pretty.
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Hermione awoke to the sensation of a chill running through her skin. The dungeons had been brutally cold over her residency in them but that particular morning it seemed to be more acute. The witch looked to the foot of her bed where Crookshanks usually resided in the morning hours but found that the cat was not there. She shrugged it off and wrapped her blanket around shoulders before climbing gingerly out of bed.
The bushy-haired know it all padded gently across her chambers in search of her familiar. "Crooks, where are you," Hermione called out. Silence answered her. Hermione's heart began to race as dread settled in her stomach. As she padded softly around her rooms she caught a rather pungent odor attack her senses. She followed the smell and it was not long before she found a blood trail reading her into the loo.
Less than a yard into the cold, tiled room Hermione spotted her beloved cat laying on its side. Crookshanks's body lay in a pool of his own blood and at the sight of the atrocity, the witch dropped to her knees. That cat had been one of the only living creatures she had let near her heart. She gently lifted her companion and cradled him to her chest. The young woman finally allowed herself to let go of the tears she had been holding in for so long. She let out a great sob for her lost friend and for everything else she had lost in her short lifetime.
Hermione sat on the unforgiving tiles holding the body of her cat for hours. She had neither the strength to leave the room nor to stop her tears. In lieu of her loss, the know-it-all had forgotten all about the classes that she was missing and how late she already was.
At a quarter after noon, a loud knock sounded at the door to her quarters. In her grief, the witch had completely shut down. She stared emptily at the wall, still clutching Crookshanks like a lifeline. The door was knocked upon once more before it was opened. In the door frame stood a slightly confused Severus Snape. He walked around her quarters in an almost tenacious manner- like he was hesitant to be there.
"Miss Granger, it is lunch hour and I have come to investigate your reasons for being late. Half of the work day is already over and you did not send word that you would not be present." He continued after there was not an immediate response. "Miss Granger, I will not tolerate being ignored. Answer me immediately or suffer the consequences." Severus would never show it but he was secretly worried about the witch's welfare. Just as he was about to call to her again, he caught wind of the acrid smell in the rooms.
As the witch before him had, the professor followed the smell to the bathroom and if it were possible, he was more unprepared for what he saw than Hermione was. The thing he noticed was the blank expression on his apprentice's face; the second was the crazed look in her eyes. He looked around the room rapidly trying to size up the reason why she looked so empty.
That's when he saw the cat in her arms and the blood now staining her night shirt. Severus felt a pang hit his heart because damn she loved that mangy beast. He then understood why she looked so utterly destroyed. "Miss Granger, can you hear me?" The slightest movement of her head told him all he needed to know. She was there but just barely holding on.
"Hermione, I need you to listen to me. As much as it may pain you, the cat is gone. There is nothing more you can do for him. You must snap out of this and give him his peace. That is all you can do at this point." The roughness of his words seemed to cut through the haze surrounding the witch.
"Why me, Severus? Why does everyone I love keep leaving me? I cannot do this anymore." With those words his heart began to race. He made a promise that day in the hospital wing that he would keep her from further harm and until then he felt like he was succeeding. "It's not you at fault, Granger. Sometimes things just happen and we cannot control the outcome." He gently removed the carcass from her arms and lay it gently on the floor.
After he did so, the witch all but jumped into his arms. She grabbed his shirt in fist-fulls and sobbed into his chest. As a man of reservation, the potions professor had never been put in this situation before. In an effort to soothe her, he awkwardly placed a hand on her back and began to rub small circles where it landed.
They remained like that for a while until Severus checked his watch. "You are excused from your duties for as long as you deem necessary. The lunch hour is almost over so I must leave, but before I do allow me to assist you in cleaning this up." He led her away from the bathroom and motioned for her to sit on her bed.
Severus rummaged through her closet and found a silken night dress. He magically cleaned what he could from her hair and body, then handed her the nightgown to put on. He turned away to give her privacy and only turned when she gave him the okay. "I want to give him a proper burial. He deserves that after everything he has done for me." She looked so sad he had an odd sensation pass through him.
Severus thought for a second and then said, "Meet me at the entrance to the Forbidden Forrest after classes. I know just the spot."
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Aaaaaaaand finally here is the update that was due months ago. I finally found time to write so here it is! I apologise for the wait and I know that this chapter is not the greatest but I hope to make it up to you all very soon. Until then, thank you to everyone following the progress of this story (we're at 3k reads)! I appreciate you all very much!
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Fanfiction"There was a little girl running through the field of wildflowers. Her bushy, black hair blew wildly around her face and even from where he stood he could see her radiant smile. It seemed so familiar, he just couldn't remember where he had seen it b...
