Rating: PG 13
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, however, consider this a homage to the woman who does, JK Rowling
Hermione couldn't help but chastise herself as she climbed a flight of stairs. I should know my way 'round this place by now. And she was right, Hogwarts had been her school for 7 years and now she was back as a library assistant as part of a scholarship at a major wizarding university. But while she could memorise long recipes for potions and equations for arithmacy, she had no sense of direction.
She yawned loudly as she looked down at her parchment, directions hurriedly scribbled upon it months ago. The writing was scrawled, her own fault, she wrote the damned thing. Now is that an 'L' or an 'R'. Raising her head she looked at her options. Well considering there is no right turn on this stairway, I must have to go left.
She descended down the stairs and almost tripped over as she reached the bottom. It was definitely past the stroke of midnight and too many late nights reading the restricted books had finally snuck up on Hermione. Well they always did tell me I spent too long studying, if only they could see me now. I can just imagine Harry and Ron laughing at my inability to stand up straight. Knowing them, they'd say something about too many firewhiskeys. It's probably a good thing they can't see me now.
Hermione looked back at the parchment and followed the next phrase:
"L 1 stairway"
Her eyes were becoming blurred, in fact that was the only thing that sent her to bed, that and a pounding headache. I don't need this right now, what I need is a big comfy bed and my perfect guy to curl up in it with. Even in her semi-conscious state, Hermione managed a chocked giggle at the thought of her even having a perfect guy.
"2nd door R"
Relief flooded through Hermione as she gripped the door nob and turned. The door swung open easily and Hermione quickly headed towards the bed, afraid of falling asleep due to exhaustion before she could pull the covers up around her.
Robes were quickly discarded to the floor and her T-shirt followed. It looked smart and practical, but in her desire to get to bed quickly, the T-shirt almost lost a button or two.
Hermione perched herself on the edge of the bed to remove her shoes and socks. She finally slopped into bed wearing just her underwear, bra and pants laying inanimate next to the shoes. She curled up on her side facing off the bed and quickly fell asleep, the soft quilt wrapping around her like a cocoon.
~^*^~
Hermione awoke to the gentle thud of a heartbeat other than her own and lazy fingers drawing circles just below her neck. Mmm, good dream, won't open eyes, will remove nice tingly sensations… Instead she ran her fingers through the fine hair upon the chest she was resting her head on. When the musky male scent drifted into her conscious thought the ball dropped and her eyes flew open, shock being her main motivator. This is real?
Her slight jerky action didn't disturb her counterpart who continued to hold her and had moved onto playing with the short hairs at the nape of her neck. Who on earth is in my bed? In answer to this question Hermione cocked her head upwards to stare at the face of her once Professor and now colleague; Severus Snape. He stared back into her look of surprise with an amused expression.
"Well Good morning" he broke the silence first, seemingly oblivious to the strange situation they found themselves in. Hermione said nothing, but rather than extradite herself from the compromising position, she found herself lulled by the rhythmic patterns being traced onto her back and nestled further onto his chest. After a few more minutes of laying there in comfortable silence, Hermione decided she had better attempt to explain why she was in bed with him, wearing almost nothing, not that he seemed to have a problem with that.
"What, may I ask, are you doing in my bed?" Hermione's tone was assertive of her position, but not argumentative.
The long, slow fingers at her neck paused and then continued on their path of exploration, heading down her side.
"When I awoke this morning I was going to ask you the same thing"
Hermione was bemused for a moment and for the first time that morning looked around the room, without raising her head from its quite comfortable position. From the little Hermione could see from the angle her head was on she was fairly sure they were lying in neither of their beds. Unless of course Severus has suddenly decided to go against his Slytherin roots with a gentle blue and white decorating scheme…
"So where are we then?" she questioned simply, still unsure whether she was comfortable in bed with her old professor.
"Well," he began, "Last night I didn't bother with lights when I got back from the Hogshead after having, uh, a few drinks, so I admit my sense of direction may have been a little off, if you are thinking anything similar to what I'm thinking."
Upon reaching the small of her back and the waist band of her underwear, Severus's hand moved onto hr stomach and began tracing spirals around her bellybutton. Goosebumps ran up and down her spine, and Hermione couldn't help but gasp, not only from the pleasant sensations, but also the realisation.
"The room of requirement! Oh, this is all my fault, I'm sorry, last night, I was just thinking and-"
Severus brought his free arm up and simply placed a finger on her lips before wrapping it around her torso to join his other arm.
"I'm sure you have a perfectly reasonable explanation for this entire situation. But I can't honestly say I was anything less than flattered when I awoke to find you curled up like so with me."
His voice was like liquid silk to her and she felt a little detached from herself as she wriggled up further against him so their heads were almost equal.
This is ridiculous, make an excuse, run away, anything! It's not too late, you're not in too deep yet!
Severus's head dipped the final few centimetres and he placed his lips upon hers, gently, as if questioning the boundaries of the relationship. Hermione responded confidently and wrapped her arms around him while pushing the reasonable voice inside of her away.