Say You Love Me

{3}

"So, you went to Severus Snape for help... then did not ask for it?" Luna wondered with her eyes curiously glancing over her patient, her hands busied with tea steeping.

Hermione sat there in the small cafe, looking unapologetic. She couldn't have asked him for help, it would have been an imposition to do so.

"No," Hermione replied quietly, "I just didn't think that I could beg of him something that he didn't owe me. Besides, who knows what could happen? Maybe adverse affects would make the flowers grow quicker and shorten my life. There is no safe answer."

"And you still won't consider the procedure to remove the lilies at all? To live without love is not so bad. It's merely like forced aromanticism."

Hermione pursed her lips, "I am almost sure I do not want to do that, but I still have a few weeks left, yes?"

"Yes..."

"Luna, what if I stopped loving Ron?" Hermione asked timidly, having thought over this for a long time. She'd done research as well, but the Chinese Ministry for magic had hidden any public records of her curse very well.

"I am afraid that won't change anything. The flowers were rooted while you did still love him, and that's all they really need to form. A Hanahaki curse will go unsuccessful if the person does not love the other, though."

Hermione sighed. She didn't know what to think about this whole thing anymore as she took another sip of her tea.

"I guess I am just going to ride this out," Hermione determined stoutly.

Luna pursed her lips at this. "I think you are letting fear get in the way, Hermione. I know you have been indecisive of your diagnosis and prognosis over the past few days, but this giving up does not seem like you."

While she may have been right, Hermione just couldn't bring herself to tell Luna about the empty thoughts in her head about her life that she'd realized only that very week Without Ron, she had nothing to look forward to. And being unable to love someone longer than two years left so few options for her it was unreal, yet never being able to love left fewer options still. The only thing she was currently living for was her job and her friends, anyways. It would be enough for her two years left, and why shouldn't it be? No need to pester people who very much did have lives, and she could love them with all of her heart, and give them a loving memory of her before she left.

Severus had worked under so many timelines and deadlines, breath always on the back of his neck that Hermione couldn't give him a new stress when he'd been so free over the past few years. Even she had brought it up to him, and he did reject her plea, then she couldn't let him live with that regret. It was best if only Luna knew, and she would not have her attempt to convince her out of it once again.

"I think I like it very much the way it is, Luna. I have what I have."

"You have a lot. Your friends, your work, the magical creatures you defend, which I prefer of any actual human." It was a joke, but Hermione could have taken her seriously if not for the grin on the younger witch's face.

"I just... I couldn't deal with the attention, not again. After the war, it was hard enough for me to get away from the papers and tabloids. I'll take my last couple years and pretend like I'm fine."

"How are you going to explain the coughing and the subsequent petals?" Luna asked, steeping her tea further, though Hermione had a strange suspicion that she wasn't going to drink it at all.

"Not sure yet." Hermione looked at her own cuppa, taking a sip. "Something inconvenient. A mildly annoying curse, not fatal at all."

Luna sighed, "I am going to do more research for you with the records I have access to as a healer. I won't let a friend die."

A soft smile came to Hermione's lips, and she felt like her life was at least being fought for, if not by her.

"Severus and I agreed to lunch Thursday. Originally it was going to be Wednesday, but of course, that's when Harry, Ronald, and I are getting together for takeaway night to try and smooth things back into some semblance of normal between Ron and I, and Harry is taking me out during our break in the afternoon like usual."

Luna nodded. "Spend a lot of time with them... quality time. Even though the time spent with Ron will not be entirely great."

"I will," Hermione said quickly, remembering how little time Luna had with her mother. Her own parents were in very good health in Australia, completely oblivious to the existence of their daughter.

Unsure of why the thought struck her, Hermione wondered if Luna was seeing anybody. She really had not caught up enough with the witch, even over the past few days considering all they talked about was the curse.

"Do you have someone, Luna?"

A simple smile and shake of her head, Luna denied such relations. "I can't really say I do."

"I get that," Hermione said. "Well, at least I have you in that! Ron too, technically, but he's the reason we're in this mess. But Harry and Draco seem like they're getting on far too well for people who hated one-another in school."

Luna scoffed, which of course made her very curious as to what the blonde thought was so very funny about the surprising relationship. She raised a brow and waited for the giggles to subside.

"Oh, Hermione, tell me you did not know! You're the brightest witch of our age, you should know that their bickering was pent-up attraction. Draco looked at Harry like he was fresh meat. I remember when I was locked at the Manor, how he used to tell me that he believed they were going to lose... that Harry was going to win. You couldn't deny the sparkle in his eye. And then when Harry defended him before the Ministry? I thought it was common knowledge!"

Looking at the whole thing from Luna's eyes, Hermione supposed that her healer was right. It made sense really, though some aspects of their relationship were surely perverted. Then again, that also made sense for the two of them, being as odd as they are.

"You are right, again, Luna. It's like I didn't learn you were a Ravenclaw the first time around."

A smile from across the table, and Hermione felt lighthearted. Rarely these days did she feel so light. The loneliness did not combat well with dying. Neither did the pain.

"So, lunch with Master Snape, hm?"

"Yes," Hermione agreed happily, strangely excited for her budding friendship with the Potions Master. "Isn't it strange addressing him like that? Always calling him professor all those years?"

"Well, he was bloody awful to all of us, though I never did particularly earn his wrath. I think he was friends with my mother."

This was news to Hermione.

"But Snape was always Potions."

"Most Masters learn their crafts as apprentices together. My mother was a little older than Master Snape, but he was always wiser than the people around him, she said."

Hermione merely nodded. "Well, I certainly look forward to seeing what he does have in that brilliant mind of his... I just hope his nasty demeanor has toned down over the years."

Luna looked coy at the matter. She finally took a sip of what must be cold tea and dwelled on the flavor, downing it unceremoniously. This witch never failed to surprise her.

"I wouldn't count on it."

Hermione only snorted in agreement.