Author's Note: So sorry for the long wait! This chapter was continued... or should I say written by my friend wafledreams. I couldn't finish this chapter so she did it for me. :P Many thanks to wafledreams:)
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Chapter 5

Guessing Game

Hermione went to the Gryffindor Common Room looking dazed. She was startled when she finally noticed the Fat Lady waving her large fan at her, since she just stood there lost in her thoughts for a few seconds. Hermione gave her the password and went inside. She saw Harry and Ron sitting on the chairs near the fireplace, apparently waiting for her. When Ron saw her, he immediately went to her.

“Hermione, I’m so sorry for all the things I’ve said. I didn’t know what I was thinking,” said Ron sincerely.

“That’s okay. I’m sorry too, for being immature,” mumbled Hermione.

The two of them were silent for seconds until Harry cleared his throat. Hermione’s head snapped up and Ron quickly looked at Harry.

“I think you have something to show us, Hermione,” reminded Harry.

“Oh, yes, the letters,” said Hermione. “Wait, I’ll get them.” She went to the dormitory to get the letters. After getting them, she saw Harry and Ron anticipating to read them.

“Here, I know it sounds kind of mushy but I really liked them,” said Hermione as she handed the letters to the both of them.

As Harry and Ron were reading them, they tried to hide their amusement but failed. Hermione shot them a dirty look.

“What’s so funny?” asked Hermione irritably.

“Nothing, except that it seems like your secret admirer sounds like he’s madly in love with you,” said Ron.

“Thanks for noticing,” said Hermione sarcastically.

“Don’t you want to find out who it is?” asked Harry.

“Of course I want to find out who it is!” exclaimed Hermione.

“Well, do you recognize the handwriting?”

“No, he used some kind of charm to make his handwriting as anonymous as possible. It’s like a font in a word processor.”

Ron looked at her curiously. “What’s a word processor?” Hermione sighed inwardly, suddenly remembering she was in the wizarding world.

“It’s a program, used by Muggles for writing papers and stuff,” explained Hermione. “Not that it matters now, are you guys going to help me?”

“You’re the smart one, Hermione. Honestly, you could have muttered an incantation to reveal the real handwriting,” said Ron.

“It didn’t occur to me earlier!” said Hermione crossly.

“That figures. You were so absorbed in that letter,” said Ron as-a-matter of factly.

Hermione gave Ron a stern look that made him suddenly clamp his mouth. She snatched the letter from Ron’s hand and took her wand out from her pocket. She pointed her wand to the letter and said “Obscurus Revelio”. Nothing happened, except some letters showed some unique strokes.

“This bloke is good,” said Harry. “Obviously, he’s smart enough not to let his identity slip.”

“But look, some letters showed some traces of his handwriting,” Ron pointed out.

“I don’t recognize it but it looks vaguely familiar,” observed Harry.

Hermione looked at the letter more closely. She did not know how Harry seemed familiarized with the odd strokes. She did not even recognize it, not even a single dot. She really wanted to find out who it is. She was not that desperate but she was intrigued by this mystery.

A loud tapping noise from the window broke her thoughts. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind.

“Harry, Ron! I think that owl’s from him! Let it in!”

“Another letter? Really, Hermione, you must have about a hundred of these by this weekend!” exclaimed Ron.

Harry walked over to the window and opened it. The owl flew in and looked at Hermione. She took the letter from the owl and she immediately went to the window and closed it.

“What are you doing? The owl’s supposed to go now,” said Ron.

“Oh, this time, I’m going to reply,” said Hermione smiling.

“Well, read it first,” said Harry.

Dearest Hermione,

I think this’ll be my last letter to you. Please forgive me for doing so but I have my reasons that I don’t want you to know. Always remember that I love you and nothing will ever change that.

Yours truly,

Your secret admirer

“Oh no,” said Hermione bewildered. “He said that this was his last letter to me. He could not keep writing to me anymore. I’ve got to tell him that I want to know him.”

“Go on, Hermione. The owl’s waiting,” said Harry.

She ran to her room and grabbed a parchment, a quill, and an ink. She rushed back to the common room and wrote what she really wanted to say. When she was finished, she put the letter in the beak of the owl. “Take this back to him,” she said to the owl. Ron opened the window and the owl flew out of the room.

That night in Snape’s office, he was sitting on his chair behind the desk grading essays. He saw the owl that he used to send Hermione’s letter tapping his window. He opened his window and let the owl fly into his room.

“What’s this for?” he asked himself when he saw the letter on the owl’s beak. He took it and the owl flew away. He opened the letter and he gasped as he recognized the handwriting.

To my secret admirer,

Please don’t stop writing to me. I know you have your reasons for this, but I would really want to know who you are. I am quite touched when you told me loved me; no one has really expressed their feelings for me until now, when you wrote to me that you love me. I’m sorry when I didn’t give my replies for I have my doubts. You really made me happy.

Yours truly,

Hermione

Snape stared at the letter dumbfounded. Had he actually made her happy just by that? He felt his heart go faster than the usual. He smirked inwardly at these thoughts, partly feeling amused and nervous, for he was a man who’s always in control of his emotions.

Hermione couldn’t sleep well that night. She was thinking about the person’s last words in the letter. She couldn’t understand why all of a sudden he wanted to stop writing to her just like that? It was not unusual for someone to receive a love letter, but what was unusual was that this someone decided not to write anymore, before she even replied.

Wait a minute, she thought abruptly. Harry said he thought that the handwriting was familiar. If this person also went to Hogwarts, then Harry must have some idea who this person is! Hermione dressed in her night robes then sneaked off to the boy’s dormitory. She opened the door carefully, not wanting to wake up the others.

Hermione sat on his bed and shook Harry on his shoulders. “Harry, Harry, wake up. It’s me Hermione. I want to ask you something.” But all he did was to mumble in return.

Feeling frustrated, she shook Harry even harder. “Harry, please wake up. It’s really important.” When he didn’t budge, she slapped him on his cheek.

Harry sat up so unexpectedly, Hermione almost fell off the bed. He rubbed his hand on his left cheek, looking furious at her. “What the hell was that for!”

“Well, you wouldn’t wake up, so I thought that would move you a bit,” said Hermione shyly. She looked around, and sighed in relief. Everybody was still fast asleep.

Harry yawned. “This had to be important. What is it?”

“Well, you remember what you said in the common room earlier? How the handwriting on the letter was familiar?”

“Yeah, sort of. What about it?”

“Can you tell me who do you think it is?”

Harry glanced at her, astounded. “You wouldn’t want to know. I don’t know if it’s really him, it’s was just a hunch. But he was the person I first thought of when I saw the letter.”

Hermione peered in closer on him. “So tell me who it is! This can’t be bad, is it?”

“I-I don’t know. You should’ve noticed it too, I mean, we see his writing at least once a week, so that should give it away,” said Harry, backing away from her a little. When she wants to know something, she wouldn’t stop at anything.

“Are you saying he’s not a student? Then… he’s a TEACHER!” said Hermione loudly.

Harry quickly put his hand at her mouth. “Not so loud! You’ll wake everyone! You’re not supposed to be here, remember?”

“Sorry. I know it’s not Hagrid, then...” she paused, then a look of shock dawned on her. “Professor Flitwick!”

“Not him! Professor Snape!”

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wafledreams: Sorry if I portrayed Hermione here as slow, that really ruins her image as know-it-all, but it just came out from my mind. Hehe..