You're Married, Professor! Part 5
Teen · Romance · Drama · Humor · Post-War · Established Relationship · Multi-chapter · On Hiatus
I declare that the whole world of Harry Potter is the sole property of J.K. Rowling and that this story was not written for profit.
It took an endless eight hours before the moment came. Severus had asked the dean to summon the students of all years to the lecture hall where he was supposed to teach. His hands were shaking. He was nervous and had been barking at students all morning more than usual. They didn't know him like this here. But Severus didn't care. He was a sarcastic bastard and it was his nature. In his own way he had simply been suppressing it, and that wasn't good. If he had made his students feel from the very beginning what he made them feel now, he wouldn't have these problems. But one thing was a relief. He felt that the secret about his marriage had been weighing on him too. He wished very much for it to turn out well. He dreaded that Hermione would hear the gossip and not come. Now he sat behind the lectern, the dean at his side, and watched the lecture hall fill up. Among the faces he finally spotted the one he had been waiting for all along. He was ready to begin. There wasn't a shadow of doubt in her face, or anything that should give him pause.
Hermione had no idea what was going to happen. She was sorry she couldn't give Severus hell in class, because instead of a lesson there would be some meeting of all years. She walked in and looked for Severus, he was watching her. She wondered what it meant. She sensed some distress in his look. She sat down and put her books down. She had made a real effort with her appearance today and noticed that Severus had too. For some reason she didn't understand, he was wearing something that looked like his robes from Hogwarts. She frowned.
Severus clapped and the class quietened. He stood, walked over to the lectern and waved his wand. Words appeared on the board. "Sarcastic bastard." The chalk kept writing. "The old bat from the dungeons." And it didn't stop. Severus didn't look at the words. "All this and much more you may have heard about me from students who went to Hogwarts." He paused. "I wanted to be a better teacher. Apparently it isn't meant to be, because I was shamelessly harassed." Hermione straightened up and pricked up her ears, not believing what she was hearing. "After consulting the dean, I decided it would be best if you understood who you are dealing with. I was dangerous even as a student. My own house respected me, because Slytherin was full of talented wizards of pure blood, as they say, with a leaning towards the Dark Arts. The other houses preferred to stay out of their way. I myself am talented and inclined towards the Dark Arts. I earned the title of Potions Master as the youngest in the field." He swept the class with an icy look. "As many of you know, there was a war in England with a dark wizard called Voldemort." Nobody noticed his brief hesitation before he said the name, except Hermione. "My life so far was closely bound to his reign. I was his right hand, because in the whole world there was no greater expert than me and him. I'm not just a theorist, I'm a practitioner too. I practised the Dark Arts in potion making as well. I killed and showed no mercy. All of that leaves a heavy mark on your soul. I joined Voldemort when I was still a student. Just like many of my classmates. You never know who you can trust." He looked over the now frozen class again. "What wasn't known about me, though, was my work as a double agent for the side of light. And that didn't happen because I saw the light, but because my master killed the woman I loved." He took a breath. "I then sacrificed forty years of my life to making up for the mistakes I had made as a student. In the course of this work I eventually had to kill, with my own hands, my best friend and the greatest wizard of all time, Albus Dumbledore. Can you imagine what that was like? Watching the green light pass through him and watching him fall from the tower? How much all of England hated me? And all just so I could be as close to Voldemort as possible and he would trust me. Just so he would put the school in my hands and I could make sure my students were protected as much as possible. Even so, I was forced to torture some of them for his pleasure and to keep my cover." He raised his head. "I almost died for the sake of saving the wizarding world. My master set his Maledictus Nagini on me. He didn't know I had betrayed him long ago, but he believed I was keeping him from being the most powerful." He sighed, and a smile spread across his face. "If it weren't for my wife, I wouldn't be standing here today. Not only did she manage to stop the venom flowing through my body, but together with the greatest wizard of today, Harry Potter, she saved me from the kiss of the Dementors guarding the English wizarding prison. They proved to the world that I had been on their side." He raised his hand and pointed at the ring. "And that is something deeply rooted in me. I love my wife. Not because I'm grateful to her, but because she's an amazing, beautiful and gifted witch. I love her because she puts up with me and married me even though she knew what a bastard I was." He looked at her. And Hermione understood. She stood up, and every other student's eyes fixed on her. "Yes, you're a bastard. But you're mine." With that she looked at the girl. She slowly walked down the steps of the lecture hall all the way to him. "My dark sarcastic bastard..." Severus pulled her close. "The day before yesterday a certain young lady student came to my office and tried to seduce me. I was very surprised and didn't react as quickly as I should have. However, the dean was informed of everything immediately and there will be consequences." Hermione stood up straight and wanted to say something, when the doors flew open and Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley appeared at the top. "Harry?" Severus blinked. "Potter?"
"Professor Snape! Hermione!" He smiled and nudged Ron. "We need you. But I don't want to go into it here." The dean stood up. "I think you can go to my office in peace, I'll handle things here, Severus." Severus nodded and led the Golden Trio behind him. When the last of them had closed the door and Hermione sat down on the chair next to him, Harry began. "There have been several murders in England. We can't find a single clue except this." And he pulled out a letter addressed to Severus Snape.
Severus took it and stood up. Before he opened the letter, he used several verification spells to find out whether it posed any danger to him.
Severus, my friend.
How are you, I wonder? Well, I'd guess, unlike us, your fellow Death Eaters. Most of us ended up in Azkaban, did you know that? How come you didn't? Oh, I forgot! Harry Potter defended you, along with that Muggleborn filth you married! What were you thinking? But let's leave that aside for now. I don't think the Aurors have a chance of finding me. They don't even have an idea who it could be. I believe they'll want you to investigate this, Severus. Because only you are truly capable of working out who I am. And you'll do it. Do you know why you'll do it? Because I can see that someone special has appeared in your life. Let me tell you what I'll do to this person. I'll enjoy a slow torture, that I can promise you. First I'll immobilise her, then tie her up tightly. I'll show her your death. A dozen times. And each time the death will be different. I'll torture her with these visions until she breaks from despair. As a Gryffindor, what will destroy her is that she won't be able to help you. She'll scream. And she'll scream even more when I move on to torturing her body and sink my knife into her beautiful skin. Maybe I'll enjoy her too, Severus, because I need to find out what you see in her! Why do I want you to take part in the investigation? Because I want you to find out who I am. I want you to come to me. I want to fight you and end this injustice once and for all, Severus. With your death. My eyes and ears are everywhere, so I'll know whether you've accepted or not. Until then, take care.
Your enemy
The letter burst into flames the moment Severus finished reading it. His hands were shaking. Immediately he was terribly afraid for Hermione. He turned into the silence that filled the room and said quietly, "You want me to join the investigators, don't you?" Harry nodded. "What was in the letter?" Ron asked. "Nothing important. The murderer wants me to accept your offer, because he believes it will lead me to him and he'll be able to take his revenge on me." Ron opened his mouth, but Harry beat him to it. "So it's one of the Death Eaters?" Severus nodded and Hermione stepped closer to him. "It's over, Severus, you don't have to take part in this!" She squeezed his arm, and Severus looked straight at Potter and shook her hand off. "I'll do it. I'll take part, but I want you to protect Hermione!" Harry looked at him and nodded. "Will you both come back to England with us?" Severus looked thoughtfully out of the window for a while and then turned back to Potter. "Yes, we'll both come back. But only in a week. First we have to sort things out at school."
Hermione watched him and wondered what this was supposed to be. This wasn't Severus, or rather not the one she had married. Out of nowhere his face had turned to stone, as if he had closed himself off completely. His eyes had gone cold. It occurred to her that he had probably raised his mental shields to protect himself from something he didn't want to come out.
Without her knowing, Harry had thought the same as Hermione, with the difference that he had noticed a subtle signal Snape sent him, meant to hint that he wanted to speak with him alone. Harry wondered how best to get Ron and Hermione out. He didn't have to think long. "Before we go back, Ron, didn't you say you have a cousin here? What was his name?" Hermione cut in. "Rupert Grint! If you want, I'll take you to him, Ron!" she offered. Ron hesitated for a moment, he and Hermione hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms, but she clearly wanted to wipe that disaster away. He looked at Harry, searching for signs of disapproval. But Harry disappointed him, because he straightened up and looked at Ron sternly. "I think we should stop acting like children, Ron. I know you two went out, but Hermione made her choice. You ended up marrying Lavender too, after all." Hermione squeaked. "You're married?" And suddenly something in Ron loosened and he burst out laughing. "Do you think you're the only one who wanted to put on the marriage yoke or what? Harry's married too! He married Ginny this summer and they're expecting." He held out his hand to Hermione with a smile, and when she took it, he pulled her into a friendly hug.
Severus watched them from a distance together with Harry, and a memory of a well known song flashed through both their minds, Teenagers by My Chemical Romance.
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Mimosa Confiante
By day, I work somewhere between marketing, copy and campaigns; by night, I usually end up somewhere between fanfiction, cosplay and yet another “what if” that refuses to leave me alone. I write mainly in the Harry Potter and Mo Dao Zu Shi fandoms, most often Snarry, Snamione, HarryLu and WangXian. My healthcare background means that anatomy, medicine and far too much research occasionally find their way into my stories. Cosplay is another way for me to play with the characters I love, whether I stay close to canon or turn them into my own fanfiction and AU versions. In Diary of a Slytherin Girl with ADHD, I write openly about life with a brain that usually has far too many tabs open at once.
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