A/N: to Smurf! I hope you have a great birthday, darling, and a wonderful year ahead *hugs* It's been lovely getting to know you these past months. Love you! 😘
Merlin, he'd thought it had been hard telling her that they couldn't continue meeting in secret, that it was too dangerous. He'd thought it had been hard to watch her beautiful chestnut eyes fill with tears — tears that he had caused. He'd thought the hardest thing he'd ever done was seeing her walk away and not call her back.
But this beat all that.
At the Ministry ball, celebrating five years of no more Voldemort, the hardest thing in his life was seeing her, gorgeous in her forest-green dress and strappy silver shoes, walk in on the arm of none other than Draco Malfoy.
Severus Snape had always been a very possessive man. He took what he wanted, and he kept what he liked. When he took a fancy to a woman he was in a relationship with — not that that had ever happened before — he glared at any man who drew near her. He kept his 'possessions' near and dear, and let no one close enough that they might steal what he considered 'his' away.
All but Hermione Granger.
Of course, that had been entirely his fault. But he refused to view it as such. Sure, he sent her away. But it was her fault for leaving, for actually choosing to obey his commands.
His closest friend, Lucius Malfoy, had tried to talk sense into him several times. "Severus, you can't blame the chit for doing as you told her" was always the starting line. Severus now ignored everything that came out of his friend's mouth; after all, how could he trust Lucius' word when it didn't correspond to his own views?
Watching Hermione — wearing Slytherin colors, his colors, no less! — smile at Draco-bloody-Malfoy of all people as he handed her a drink was unbearable.
He couldn't stand for this.
Their relationship had been passionate. Not loving, though Hermione had not kept it secret that she fancied him, but passionate.
The sex was mind-blowing. He knew some of the students in her year whispered behind her back that she was a frigid "ice queen," but that couldn't have been farther from the truth. She had obviously gained most of her knowledge from books, but she quickly learned to trust him and let him take over. He had never been the most sought-after man, but by Merlin, he knew how to use what he'd been given! And he wasn't bragging. It was completely true. His voice by itself, as they had discovered, was enough to bring her to orgasm; his fingers, long and slender, hit that spot inside her that made her see stars; his cock was not very thick, but definitely above average in length.
He had known when she came across him injured in her sixth year that it would be bad. Her kind heart — curse those Gryffindors! — was too compassionate to leave him wounded in the corridors, even though he'd snapped several times that he would manage just fine on his own, thank you very much, and she had helped him back to his quarters, seemingly uncaring that it was Snape, the greasy git of the dungeons that she was helping. She'd even tucked him into bed, which he would never forget, and plunked herself down in a chair beside his bed and was still there — just staring at him, which was creepy — when he awoke from night terrors a few hours later.
And somewhere along the way, she began to think of them as friends, no matter how hard he tried to dissuade that notion. He had given her access to his private library in return for aiding him — a bit reluctantly, but he told her the password. And immediately regretted it because she popped in at very inopportune times; he'd had to silence and disillusion her a few times — not to mention put up strong wards to prevent her from hearing something she shouldn't — when she turned up during his chats with Albus.
She was a bloody nuisance! But as they settled into the tentative friendship she had perkily announced was there, he began to notice…things. Things that he definitely should never have noticed about a student, and especially not about Hermione Granger. Things such as how nice her legs were, or that Muggle shirts were far too tight around the chest area.
And then…the kiss. Just a peck to the cheek, though it was closer to his mouth than she probably realized, and he was done for.
The last day they would ever meet like that, was horrible, because he knew what he was about to do and she didn't, and she came in all cheerful and smiles until she saw his face.
That day replayed in his mind now as he watched Hermione laugh at something his clever godson had said.
The day when he had told her, without fancy words or gentle breaking in for the conversation, that they couldn't meet anymore, couldn't see one another, would have to go back to pretending they were merely student and professor.
The day she had left his private library — shoulders slumped, book bag hung across her body, and skirt perfectly in place, an occurrence that didn't happen often.
The day, the first day, a woman captured his heart.
And he had sent her away.
He had to leave. He couldn't bear to watch his godson fawn over his former lover, the girl — woman, his cock insisted — he had come to trust and care for more than anyone else in the world.
And so he rose fluidly, said his goodbyes, and spun on his heel. His long strides carried him quickly, while his slim stature granted him access between people; he couldn't be bothered to go around — heavens, no!
He was nearly to the door when he heard that voice — the one that had haunted his dreams so often.
"Professor?" He turned. Sure enough, there was Hermione Granger hurrying toward him, holding her skirt up with one hand. "You can't be leaving already! Why, the party's barely started!"
"I am quite sure the party can live without me, Miss Granger." She winced at that, and it truly pained him to say it. He turned and began walking toward the door again.
He heard heels clicking behind him. The chit was determined to follow him, it seemed.
"What do you want, Granger?" he asked without turning. He'd reached the door by now, and placed his hand in the frame. He blocked the doorway but he didn't care.
"Erm." Hermione's voice was timid. "Could we maybe go out to the garden?"
Gardens. What was it with women and gardens? "No," he replied brusquely, "but I know of a room where we can talk."
Once they were in the room, the lock turned and a Silencing spell cast all around, even on the walls, Severus appeared to slump.
"What do you want, Miss Granger?" he asked in a tired voice.
She seemed taken aback at that. "Sir, I merely wanted to say hello."
He laughed cynically. "If only that was all people wanted from me."
Hermione's eyes registered amusement and sympathy. "The press really likes following you around, don't they? I think there are more articles about you than there are about Ron, Harry, and me combined."
Severus sneered. "Don't remind me."
Laughingly, she said, "Don't worry, Professor. They do — eventually — give up. Just act as boring as you can."
He sunk into the pink sofa. "How can I?" he complained. "They make a huge fuss about me going shopping, for Merlin's sake."
Hermione burst out laughing. "Oh, Professor, you truly do hate the spotlight."
Severus winced. "Please don't call me that, Miss Granger. I am no longer your professor."
"I am no longer your student," she countered. "Yet you made it quite clear years ago that our relationship would have to go back to student and teacher."
Ah. He knew this conversation would arise sometime. Now was as good a time as any.
"Miss Gran —" he cut himself off and corrected, "Hermione. When I told you that, I had returned just the day before from a meeting with the Dark Lord. He informed me that his plans were coming together and he was almost positive everything would work out. Now, as a spy, I knew that this was highly unlikely given that the Order was making steady progress towards finding and destroying all the Horcruxes, but, as a good spy must always do, I had to cover all bases. Thus, I had to end it with you. If his plans did work and I was discovered, I would have tortured and most likely been killed."
The anger seemed to have drained out of Hermione.
"Are you still mad at me now that you know the backstory and the reasoning behind my decision?" Severus inquired.
Hermione sighed. "No. But Merlin, I was. So angry, so hurt. I couldn't believe you, that you would just throw me out one day after all we had done together." She sat down beside him. "I wanted to make you jealous." She laughed quietly. "That's why I came with Draco."
Severus bit the inside of his cheek. "Ah, yes," he answered. "Draco. Why Draco?"
"Because he was named the 'Sexiest Wizard in Britain' three years in a row and you're his godfather and I thought he would make you angrier and more jealous than anyone else I could have asked. For example, I'm sure you wouldn't be jealous if I'd come with Ron."
He shook his head. "Hermione, I'm jealous whenever you are seen or I hear about you with a man who is not me. Draco was a good choice; I wanted to drag him off by his ear and maybe hex him a couple times."
"You are jealous of Draco!" She looked very smug
Shrugging and glancing around the room, Severus said, "I'm a possessive man, Hermione. I don't like other people near my possessions."
"I'm not —" Hermione seemed at a loss for words "— your possession, Severus Snape!"
"No," he replied, "but I wish you were."
Silence fell over them, and finally Hermione blurted, "Draco and I aren't dating, Severus."
He was very relieved to hear that, though he had been fairly certain that was the case. "Good," he said, allowing some of his possessiveness to leak into his voice. "So you just brought him to, what? Terrorize me?"
Her face was completely straight, but her eyes were laughing. "Well, of course."
They soon learned after getting back together that Hermione was just as possessive as, if not more than, Severus. She hexed the little chits who dared hang on his arm when she was right beside him.
They both hated the reporters who followed them around asking them questions. (Hermione even punched one reporter in the nose when he probed a bit too deep into their love life.)
But they were perfect together. They complemented one another, and their relationship was never dull. Harry and Ron disliked Hermione dating the "greasy bat of the dungeons" but eventually gave up and accepted the fact.
Hermione and Severus, of course, didn't care about anyone's opinion on them dating; they were in love, dammit.
They argued too much to consider their ending a "happily ever after," but they were happy together and that was enough for them.
word count: 1906