The Moon Glows The Same

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/56540278.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationship: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Characters: Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, Eileen Prince
Additional Tags: Inspired by Poetry, Kneazles (Harry Potter), Fluff, Rough Kissing,
Potions, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Series: Part 2 of The Moon
Stats: Published: 2024-06-10 Words: 2,531 Chapters: 1/1
 The Moon Glows The Same
by Elyasis

Summary

Hermione tries to convince Severus to be her Master. Severus dissuades her. Mostly.
A flock of winged keys had taken flight inside Hermione Granger’s stomach as she stared at
the brass knocker on the door of the last house on Spinner's End. The summer sun was rising
over the industrial buildings to the east that had long since been boarded up. She had an
invitation, but a sense of being out of place struck her as she used the knocker to rap twice on
the door. She felt the magic of the wards like an electrical current from the tips of her fingers,
to the base of her spine.

In no time at all the door opened to reveal a middle aged woman with jet black hair, carrying
a basket of orange kittens. If not for the strong taste of magic in the air Hermione might have
expected she had the wrong house. “Severus told me you would be coming.” The woman
gestured her in and turned to set down the basket beside the fireplace in the sitting room. “My
half-Kneazle tomcat fathered this litter but the stray moggie completely skipped town after
she delivered this bunch. I’m having to feed and clean them around the clock. Thankfully
Tobias isn’t around anymore. They’d be in a bin bag floating downstream.”

Hermione wasn’t sure what to say about that but was very glad that Tobias wasn’t around.
Hopefully in a permanent capacity.

The woman smiled. “I agree. Good riddance!”

Hermione was startled, the woman was a Legilimens. She’d read about them but thought one
needed to say an incantation, or maintain eye contact.

“It’s a gift, and a curse.” The woman spoke as she hand fed one of the mewling kittens.
“Always hearing exactly what others think of you.”

Hermione winced, she was familiar with what people chose to say to your face. She couldn’t
imagine what they kept to themselves.

“The truth can sometimes be a kindness, Miss Granger.” Another kitten in her grasp. “Your
enemies may secretly admire you where your friends may secretly resent you by the same
measure. Which is why I don’t put too much stock in what people say or think. Not
anymore.” A melancholy smile graced the woman’s strangely aristocratic face.

Hermione hadn’t said a word and yet, she felt this was one of the most important and honest
conversations that she had ever had. Before she could say anything verbally, the man she
came to call upon appeared from behind a wall of books. “If you would follow me down to
the lab. I can show you where you will be working.”

Hermione followed behind the taller man. He was at least a foot taller than her. Her head was
level with his even though his longer stride had him several steps ahead of her down the
stairs. Her stomach began to flutter again as he turned around and looked her in the eyes.
Ever since they had met at Slughorn’s party she had felt a magnetism between them. Of
course, she had heard about Severus Snape from Harry, a distant Godfather that was often out
of the country. And she had read about his work in Potions, devoured his articles that he
submitted to Potions Quarterly. But she hadn’t been prepared to meet him in person. He was
intimidating to be sure but that frisson of power made her curious. She’d never felt anything
like it. She looked past him and her eyes fell to the chains on the wall and floor that was
behind another barrier of solid iron bars.

“Sir, I- I have my N.E.W.T. results if you need to see them. I also have some letters of
recommendation from my Professors and-”

Severus Snape turned away from her and summoned a cauldron off the shelf. Then he sat
several unlabeled vials and boxes of potions ingredients beside it. “No need. Brew me a
working potion or poison in an hour using only these ingredients. I will watch but not in any
way interfere or provide input.”

Master Snape took a stool on the other side of the large brewing table and simply watched.
His silence and focus on her caused all of her hair to stand at attention on her neck and along
her arms. She took stock of everything quickly and decided a simple pepper up potion would
suffice considering the time limit, and ingredients on offer. Half way through she realized he
had removed one of the ingredients crucial to the potion. She almost panicked but allowed
herself a small smile as she substituted that ingredient and balanced the substitution with a
lower heat and more stirs so that she finished just in time. She bottled her brew and cleaned
everything with the time to spare. Severus Snape was smiling as he leaned over the table to
inspect her potion. “Well done. You will make a fine apprentice to some other Master, Miss
Granger.”

Her legs fell out and she clattered back down against her stool. “No.” She spoke at last.

“I cannot be your Master.”

“Why not?” She spoke with fire in her eyes but her throat was tight from trying not to cry.

He came around the table and took her hand. “I think you know why.”

She swallowed the sudden dryness in her mouth causing her to lick her lips. “I want no one
else, Master.”

Severus’ dark eyes blazed into her own. “You should not want me at all. But more the fool I
for having the foolish hope that you might feel the same as I. Which is why I cannot be your
Master. I will put you in contact with my former Master. This discussion is over.”

She grabbed him by his frock coat and slammed her lips against his. It was violent and
demanding and had her toes curling as his arms came up immediately behind her to drag her
closer. She felt his hands trembling as they palmed her back.

He pulled away and put the stool between them. “Interesting negotiating tactic. Do you
normally attack Wizards with your mouth when you don't get your way?”

The comment cut straight through her as she clenched her fists by her sides. “Only when
they're obstinate, sir.” To be more truthful, she had never felt the overwhelming desire to kiss
someone until they were both breathless until him.
He smirked briefly before crossing his arms and looking down at her. And damn him if it
didn't make her hotter for him. “I plan to continue being obstinate, Miss Granger. I wouldn't
want you to wear yourself out.”

“Call me Hermione. If you are certain we cannot have a professional relationship.”

“Very well, Hermione.” Her name sounded illicit in his dark baritone voice. “You may
address me as Severus.”

“Severus,” She tested his name on her tongue. “Sev-er-us. Her-mi-o-ne. Aren’t we a matched
set with the tongue twister names?” She smiled cheekily. He smiled back and her heart
skipped a beat.

“Too true.” He chuckled slightly. “Shall we go get some take away and have a chat on a park
bench? There are a few other things to discuss.”

They leave the house on Spinner’s End and head into town, not Cokeworth, it was basically a
ghost town. But the other side of the river where Lily used to live with her sister, Petunia, and
their parents. Last he heard the parents were both still living but in a retirement home and
Petunia had married a man named Victor or Vergil or something and had a child of her own.

The boy was about as magical as his mother according to Lily, which is to say not at all.

Severus often wondered how magic came to muggleborns. Not like how the blood purists
acted, he didn’t believe they were thieves. But it was certainly curious. Most muggleborns
had magical children if they married another witch or wizard. And most squibs were born to
families who had been magical for some time. His mothers family actually had a few squibs
but when she married Tobias and had him, even though Severus was born with magic, the act
had tainted her in their eyes. They would rather die out than mix with even half-bloods.

And here Severus was walking down the derelict street in his very muggle hometown, hand
in hand with one of the most singular witches he had ever met, who just happened to be born
with magic when her parents, their parents, and so on weren’t.

A small smile graced his face when she tilted her chin up to look at him as they walked.
“Like to keep them in suspense, don’t you?” She spoke with a quirk of her lips and an
eyebrow raise that would parallel his own.

“Nearly there.”

Severus was still a man of few words. Especially when conversing with someone who made
his tongue want to rebel. It was easier when he only had to speak to his mum, or others he
had known for most of his life. Hermione Granger was a new variable in his life. “Tell me
about yourself while we walk. You know my story, Slughorn’s version of it in any case.”

“Well, I hardly qualify as having much of a story. But to sate your curiosity I could tell you
the synopsis. I was born in September of ‘79 to two muggle Dentists, who are still practicing
by the way. For years my mother was told she was barren, an awful word, and yet by some
miracle I was born. Then when I was very young, maybe four years old or so, I began
showing signs of magic. Oftentimes people would refuse to believe their own eyes and would
call me a liar when I said that I think I caused things to happen by wanting it. I was not well
liked in school, but I excelled at the material and was put into advanced classes.”

“I had a similar experience. The boys in Cokeworth were a preview of what was to come at
Hogwarts, little did I know that at the time. I was too weird, too academic, too everything.”

“Yes! You get it. How dare us, right? I was teased for my appearance, my studiousness, my
parents profession, and most of all the weird things that always happened around me. I was
so excited when I learned I was a witch and there was a school for people like me.”

Severus ordered his usual at the place he most frequented and Hermione seconded his order
after deliberating for a minute on the not very extensive menu. They both took their takeaway
just a few more steps over to the nearby park and sat down on the bench under an old oak
tree. It was a moderately warm day and the sun was peeking through the clouds
mischievously every few minutes. “And when you arrived at Hogwarts, it wasn’t all that you
imagined?”

She laughed as she went to put a chip in her mouth and almost dropped it for the birds
milling about. “No, it was not. But it was also more, you know? That first view of her took
my breath away. The size of her reflection on the water. They have a word for that, frisson.
Like when you hear a beautiful song and your hair on your arms raise and a shiver goes
through you. I felt the castle and she felt me.”

Severus nodded in agreement. “Not many magical people will know what you mean. It’s rare
to actually feel the magic in a place. Some curse breakers have the ability. It’s sort of a
second veil, in a way. Since muggles will only see ruins, most wixen will only see an old
castle. If you're sensitive to it you can sometimes feel another’s magic, almost like a second
sight. Guess what spell they plan to cast before they cast it.”

They ate their meals and threw the refuse in the waste, to hide the subsequent vanishing.
Severus proposed they walk a little longer before she left, who knew when he’d get the
opportunity to see her again.

“And then something unexpected happened. I was sorted into Slytherin. The Headmistress
was so shocked she forgot to take the hat off my head. I had to hand it to her and walk to the
table as the Great Hall was so silent you could hear a pin drop. No one spoke to me at first. I
tried to mostly focus on my studies, and that seemed to gradually warm the other Slytherins
up to me once they realized I was going to help them win the House cup. And after that I was
one of them, just with a different background. Most of the kids had lost at least one parent,
sometimes both, sometimes their grandparents too when Albus Dumbledore destroyed the
Death Eaters. They were grieving but they also knew continuing pureblood dogma after all
that had happened was a losing battle. And of course, they were curious about what it was
like to grow up as a Muggle.”

She smiled sadly and looked away and towards the bustling street of cars. “Draco was the
first one to actually talk to me like a friend. He and Harry are probably my two best friends.
For a little while I fancied him, Draco that is, but he was never going to reciprocate. I dated
Viktor Krum for a little while, but the distance and the fame was too big of an obstacle. Other
than that I also tried dating Harry’s friend from Gryffindor, Ron Weasley, but he was…
incompatible with me in so many ways. Not least of which because his Mum never liked me.
But, that’s neither here nor there. Do you have any former flames?”

“Nothing reciprocated. As you can imagine.”

She slapped his arm playfully. “Don’t sell yourself short. Who were they? If you don’t mind
me asking.”

“Lily, it was only ever Lily. Though Narcissa is quite beautiful, I see her as an older sister.”

“Harry’s mum. Wow. Yeah, she is… um… very attractive.” Hermione blushed. “So is her
husband. It’s not very fair of them honestly. But I’m sure base attraction isn’t everything.
Looks are nice to have but… aren’t what makes me want to pull someone down by their
lapels, if you get my meaning.”

“Vividly.” He reached over to caress a curl back from her face, tracing a line along her jaw to
her chin and tipped it up to meet their lips in a more languid, though no less arousing kiss. “I
still love them both, but as one loves a dear friend. A part of me will always remember how it
felt to feel that first love. The rush, the fear, the sweaty hands especially, but the memory
won’t keep me from living.”

“I’m glad for that,” She spoke as the sun set behind her, casting a halo of red and purple hues
in her hair.

“The moon glows the same-”

He thought of that night, the one so many years ago as he finished the poem. “It is the
drifting clouds that make it seem to change.”
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