By The Fire

When Everything Fell Apart, He Was There

Hermione stared as her boss gave her a pre-firing rant. Yup. She hated people right now. Blamed for something she didn't do and being fired for it. Life sucked right about now. What made it worse, was the thing that she had been accused of, was having sex with a coworker in the break room. And what truly put the cherry on top, was that everyone thought it had been with her best friend's fiance. Great. Just. Fucking. Great. Now none of her 'friends' would talk to her and she was officially an outcast. 

She somehow ended up at the leaky cauldron, staring into a glass of...well, she wasn't sure anymore. She rubbed her tired eyes. Where was her intelligence, her cleverness, when she needed it most? How could she have avoided that? She tortured herself most of the night until someone slid onto the stool next to her.

She looked up. Her wild brown hair was a mass of curls swarming her freckly face. There were bags under her eyes and she was pale, "Shhhnape?" She slurred, something that surprised Severus, who had never seen her like this. He furrowed his brow, "Hermione? What happened?" His expression revealed a concern that was never present during her time at Hogwarts.

She giggled, "Thaaatsh new! Never seemed that...concerned!" She finally found the word she had been looking for and declared it triumphantly. "When I wazsh yer student!" She tottered and almost fell off her stool. She'd drank...quite a bit. Severus caught her and looked down at her. His face was the last thing she saw before she passed out.

That morning, she woke to a migraine and the sound of running water. She looked around. She didn't recognize this room. The bed felt nice as she laid there and tried to gather her thoughts. All semblance of sense flew out the window like a wayward snitch when Severus came back out in a pair of sweatpants, hair not greased. Instead, it was fluffy and somehow made him almost endearing. She shook her head to clear it, sitting raised on her elbows as she stared at him and tried to remember last night.

Severus shook her head. Poor girl looked thoroughly confused. Bit like an idiot, actually, but he knew her better than that. "Granger. Close your mouth before you catch flies." Smiling to himself, he turned his back on her and started walking to the kitchen to make breakfast.

She quickly caught up to him, though she tripped a bit as she realized she was in overlarge sweatpants and shirt, added to the fact that every sharp movement made her head throb. . "What happened last night?" Severus sighed as he began to make omelets, "You passed out at the bar. I didn't know where you live so I brought you here. You vomited all over your clothing so I changed you." His face was impassive.

Hermione stared in shock. It took her a moment to recover. He CHANGED her? How could he say that so casually? Her face grew bright red as everything finally processed. Oh, Merlin, what had she done! She buried her face in her hands and groaned. There was a thump as Severus placed a mug next to her. "For the hangover."

It was a vile-smelling liquid but Hermione quickly downed it anyway. She felt the headache fade. She'd have to ask him to teach her that at some point. She smiled, "I don't remember that being in potions class."

Severus laughed, "No it was not. I felt that I probably shouldn't teach a bunch of underage wizards how to cure a hangover. Let the headache teach them." He finished the omelets and set her plate in front of her. She was starving! She wolfed down the pate's contents then she got an owl. She was being evicted from her apartment. She felt the migraine returning.

Snape thought about it, "I could...use some help at my potions shop. and you could stay here while you look for a new place." She looked up in surprise and stared at him as she considered it. It didn't take long. "Okay."