Lessons In Love

Chapter 61: Puzzle Pieces p1

"Wait!" Hermione called out to the Potions Master as he and Harry were exiting through the threshold to the hallway after the rest of the group had left. She was standing in the middle of the room still with Neville by her side.

Neville watched her expressions flash across her face with sincere worry as her chest erratically fell up and down as though she were about to cry in despair. He tried not to say anything as she pathetically watched for Snape to show some sign of acknowledgment. The man she called for froze for just a moment before seeming pained to turn around. His head turned in the direction of the voice and was somewhat caught off guard by a flurry of the young woman who had wrapped her arms around his neck in a whimper. Neville had only seen Hermione behave in such a way with Ron and Harry... never with Snape. It was an awkward sight for him to watch the feared Potions Teacher receiving a large hug from his friend but somehow he didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. They certainly were an odd couple but seeing the look on the teacher's face once Hermione's arms had linked around him was almost endearing and Neville shed a smile at the unique pair.

"Please..." she whispered through her emotional voice, not yet in tears but very close to it, "I can't lose you again. Not now, not ever!"

He had rested his hands around her waist lightly but quickly grabbed fistfuls of her sweater and used it to pull her closer in a more subtle way which earned him a sigh of content from Hermione, "You won't." was all he said in his deep voice laced with sickness.

Neville and Harry watched as she squeezed him closer before hesitantly pulling back. She smoothed out his stiff coat and pushed a strand of hair out of his face with a sad smile, "Come back to me."

In the best way he knew, Snape reassured her with a valiant nod and unquestioning eyes. Harry watched the two give longing glances to each other, something completely alien to him to see the feared teacher do but nonetheless he was happy for his best friend. She had finally found the man that she loved. Snape stood up a little straighter and turned to Harry, giving him the signal to start heading out. As teacher and student passed over the threshold to the hallway, Hermione called out very softly,

"I love you," she sighed as he was enveloped in the invisibility cloak but she heard a quiet answer back that she wasn't expecting,

"And I you."

Ginny, Cho and George wandered around the Ministry, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible for, although, they were not necessarily the ones being hunted... two Hogwarts students running about already looked suspicious enough without adding to the pair, the Weasley twin, who called attention where ever he went.

"You would think we are in a maze... how does Dad honestly find his way through this place?" Ginny moaned, trying to keep a straight face from the unusual stares shot their way.

George shrugged, "It is probably more daunting to you because now we are going stealth-mode and it is making you nervous."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh please," she looked up at her tall brother, "I never cracked under the pressure during the last battle,"

Cho nodded, agreeing with Ginny, "This truly is a labyrinth of sorts. I think it is just more confusing with all of the people going by. I can't get a sense of our location and I feel like we are already running in circles. Isn't there a map somewhere?"

"I agree," Ginny huffed, "How do people expect to find their way through all of this?"

Shaking his head from the complaints of his baby sister, George sighed, "Oh stop moaning and groaning. Snape wanted us to go to the Daily Prophet, yes?"

"We have only been looking for the past ten minutes." She murmured, glaring at an old man who watched her and Cho walk by in their school robes.

"Well, then," he smiled, "we need to find the exit!"