The Serpent's Kiss

Chapter Six: A Torrid Love Affair

Hermione breathed a deep sigh as she sat down in her usual seat at the staff table. She kept her eyes on her plate in front of her; she didn't dare glance around the room. She knew that if she did, he would be glaring at her. Her professor seemed to be angrier than usual today. Hermione closed her eyes and began to rub at her throbbing temples.

She'd just came from a session with two highly trained Curse-Breakers. Snape had been there too, scowling at her the entire time. The Curse-Breakers had started off with the simple counter-spells. Gradually, the magic became more advanced and their expressions more puzzled. Eventually, they had admitted defeat, but promised to research the problem.

It was just as Dumbledore had predicted. There was no counter-spell. There was no escape. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind, because if she dwelled on it too long it would consume her. It was a great, black abyss that was just waiting for her to slip so that it could drag her down into its darkness.

Hermione would not surrender. She had to have hope. After all, what else was there?

There was a thick tension settled over the staff table, and Hermione could feel Snape still boring a hole into the side of her head. She finished her lunch in silence. She noticed a discarded edition of The Daily Prophet lying on the table and she eagerly reached for it. Hermione hadn't had time to read today's paper because of all of the excitement.

She began to scan the front page. There wasn't really anything noteworthy, other than the Ministry catching another Death Eater that had been on the run. Several of them had fled after the war, and they were still working to chase them down.

Then, she turned the page and her heart stopped. Oh, no. She looked up at Snape in horror. Well, that would explain why he'd been so furious all day. And why no one else would meet her gaze.

She swallowed thickly and turned back to the paper. Staring back at her was a picture of herself and Snape. It was taken the day this whole mess had started. The day when Snape had led her out of The Hog's Head and they had been ambushed by that photographer.

In the picture, neither one of them was facing the camera. But you could clearly see the sides of their faces. Snape was his usual dignified self, but Hermione's face was etched with fury and her hair resembled something like a lion's mane. Above the picture was the headline, "Reformed Death Eater and War Heroine Secretly Meet".

Below that was an article that mentioned that they'd been seen leaving a pub together. The writer went on to say that he'd heard from certain reliable sources that the pair were actually dating and that they met in a different inn every week to carry out their intimate relations.

The throbbing in Hermione's head intensified. Just when she'd been absolutely sure that things couldn't get any worse. She was sure that the universe was having a laugh at her expense.

Why couldn't the newspapers bother someone else for a change? How was she going to explain this to Harry and Ron? And what was the Weasley family going to think?

She could feel Snape leering at her again, but, suddenly, Hermione couldn't meet his gaze. No doubt he blamed her for this, like he did everything else. The words "intimate relations" seemed branded onto her brain. Hermione cringed inwardly as a fierce blush settled on her face.

The idea was simply absurd. Not that she didn't find him handsome. Ever since the other day when she'd seen Snape without his robes, there was something darkly attractive about him. Something forbidden and enticing. Something she couldn't shake.

So, it wasn't that she couldn't picture herself with someone like him. It was that he had never shown a romantic interest in anyone. It had only ever been Harry's mother. Snape hadn't just put her up on a pedestal. In his mind, Lily was a great monolith that no one could ever hope to reach.