Hermione avoided his piercing gaze and unstoppered the pain relief potion. “I don't know why you're upset. Didn't you expect this to eventually happen from the very beginning?”
Severus was silent for several moments. “I've been on call, the evening you first went, and every Tuesday morning until my shift in the labs.”
“Oh. I didn't know that.” She glanced around the room, wondering why no one had told her. Then again, apparently they didn't tell her anything. A useful tool.
She had thought Severus at least had regarded her as more than that. She pressed her lips together.
There was small barrel of Dragon Claw Ooze on the worktop; she stepped over and looked at it. It was Peruvian Vipertooth: expensive, good for restorative potions, strengtheners, and gave an additional kick to pepper-up when dealing with Black Cat Flu.
She removed the cork and sniffed it.
“Hermione, what happened?”
She stilled and replaced the cork. Severus almost never called her by her first name.
She looked over at him coolly, but her jaw trembled uncontrollably. “I told you he wanted me. Today he gave in.”Her eyes dropped away. “It was just — abrupt. He didn't know that I — hadn't — before. I was afraid if he knew, he'd stop. Last time — when he kissed me and I — hesitated — he — he didn't come back for over a month. So I couldn't let on. I was afraid he'd never come back if I did.”
Severus said nothing.
Hermione pressed her hand against her collarbones. “He was so upset afterward, I thought he might actually faint. Then everything just poured out of him. I don't think he's ever told anyone before. He started crying when he told me about Narcissa. He's been waiting for us to sell him out. That's why he kept climbing; he figured the more important he was, the greater the blow for Tom when he died.”
There was a silence punctuated only by the faint bubbling of the cauldrons.
Hermione didn't know where to look. She didn't know what to do. She could feel Severus staring at her, his eyes skeptical.
Compromised. Unreliable. She bit her lip and turned away.
After a minute Severus gave a low sigh. Hermione looked back at him, her heart rate shooting upward.
“If he's suicidal, why is he offering to make an Unbreakable Vow?” Severus' expression was unreadable.
Hermione's mouth twitched, and she twisted the edge of her shirt in her hands. “Well, now that he can't deny the obsession to himself, I don't think he knows how to let go of it. Now that he's given in. I don't think he has any kind of moderation in how possessive he is, even before he got the runes. I may not have made an Unbreakable Vow, but I swore myself to him. He regards me as his. I think — I think that's what changed things.” Hermione looked away, twisting her fingers in her hands. “Will you — will you tell Moody? I don't think he believes anything I say now. But — I did what I was told to. So, you shouldn't — you can't — don't make me—”
Her hands started shaking again.
“I'll speak to Moody,” Severus said. “You did enough. I didn't expect that you would—” his voice faded for a moment. “If he agreed to make the Unbreakable Vow, that is more than enough.”
Hermione nodded repeatedly, glancing blindly around the room. “Alright. Alright. I'll go then.”
“You will wait,” Severus said firmly.
Hermione stood, feeling awkward and out of place, and he stared at her and seemed on the verge of saying something. He reached towards her but stopped when he got within an inch of her shoulder. He curled his hand into a fist and withdrew it, still peering down at her.
“Are—” he blinked and started again, “Would—”
Severus appeared to be at a loss for words for the first time in his life. His mouth twitched repeatedly.
“Do you — wish to…” he trailed off for a moment. “Do you want to talk about — it?”
Hermione stared at him, horrified. “No.”
He looked visibly relieved, gave a short nod and glanced around the kitchen. “You're not injured — are you? Do you need me to—”
“He wasn't violent,” she said sharply, cutting off Severus' question. She folded her arms around herself and jerked her head. Her voice was very tight, as though her throat couldn't relax. “It was just — abrupt.”
Severus looked down and straightened the cuffs of his robes for several seconds. Then he turned sharply and swept over to the cauldrons, flicking his wand over several and then swirling their contents with the stirring rods. He peered down at them.
He waved his wand, summoned a set of vials from a cabinet and ladled the potions into the vials, stoppering them all with practiced ease. Severus turned toward her and his expression flickered, revealing a grief that Hermione had only ever caught glimpses of.
He walked toward Hermione and stopped less than a foot in front of her.
There was pause. He looked down and shuffled the vials in his hands. “These should relieve any residual discomfort from the — breaching.”
Hermione felt her face grow hot and stared at the potions in his hands. She recognized them. Expensive pain relief.