Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter, and I'm a little sad to not be the owner of a working Furby.
But I do have popsicles. :)
Story Details: A little Out of Character isn-ness, but I sorta had to to make it work. Um, the thought came out of nowhere, I was feeling random and this happened.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!!
The students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry paid no attention to their Head Girl as she gracefully walked down the staircase leading to the Great Hall. No one thought it strange as Hermione Granger took her seat next to her friends, a huge smile on her face on this bright and beautiful day. No eyes were upon her as she casually conversed with her closest pals. Well, none but one.
Severus Snape sat at the Head Table, a secret smile on his face as he looked into the student body. For once in this life, things were finally working out to where he was happy. He never knew that things were going to be like this, making him eager to wake up every single morning and teach to those innumerable dunderheads who walk through his classroom door everyday. He found himself having to try hard to suppress the smile that wanted to show itself to the world – the burning desire to let every living person know that he was happy.
At the Gryffindor table Hermione leaned to one of her best friends, Ginny, who was seated on her right. She had grown closer to the tender redhead this year, as Ron and Harry grew more consumed in their Quidditch talk and ignorance to the inevitable N.E.W.T.s. Hermione found herself telling Ginny everything as of lately, and this bubbling topic in her mind was no different.
"Gin – I need to talk with you. Preferably as soon as possible, if that's alright."
Ginny swallowed the remains of cereal and looked at the brown eyed girl. "'Course, 'Mione. Just let me down this pumpkin juice and we can go talk."
Nodding eagerly, Hermione bit off a small portion of toast and chewed it thoughtfully, the smile never wavering. Taking her chance, she cautiously glanced to the staff table where she met Snape's ever watching eyes and practically melted inside as the secretive smile on his face which she knew had to be because of her.
She was broken out of her unfaltering stare by Ginny, who was starting to stand up.
"Are you coming, or am I going to talk to myself today?"
"Oh – yes. Yeah. Hold up."
Taking a last sip of her morning beverage Hermione waved good-bye to the boys and headed out of the Great Hall, surrounded by students fleeing the school for a much needed day of outside merriment.
Severus watched the two girls leave, unaware that his secretive demeanor slipped for a matter of seconds. Though it was just long enough for Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore to catch it and share a secret glance of their own.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Hermione bit her lip when they reached the Entrance Courtyard – it was busy and littered with students. What she wanted to tell Ginny was privy to her ears only. Grabbing the younger Gryffindor's hand, Hermione started to navigate her way around the number of other students trying to do the same.
"It's too crowded here…let's try for the lake."
Now knowing where to go, Ginny helped conquer the dissipating crowd with graceful ease. Once through Hermione continued to pull Ginny down the grounds of the school until they finally stopped at a place satisfactory to her obvious requirements. Letting go of Ginny's hand she spun on her heel to face the red head, then quickly brushed strands of brown hair out of her own face as the wind made it unmanageable.
"Ok. Now that we're alone I can tell you. But you are to swear not to tell a soul about any of this."
Her face was in all seriousness as she tied back her hair, watching Ginny throw a braided pigtail over her shoulder.
"Of course! I wouldn't tell anyone anything you told me not to tell! You know that!"
Hermione could only smile as she slid to the ground and laid back on the grass, observing the clouds in the bright blue sky. Ginny followed suit and once comfortable started to tell her news.
"I love Professor Snape."
Looking over she saw that this had no effect on the other whatsoever.
"I know." Came the reply, all too casually. "You told me already, remember?"
"Oh, but Ginny! This is so much more than just me saying I love him. I'm in love with him. And he is with me."
Now, Hermione noticed, Ginny looked surprised – a full shocked expression, complete with open mouth and wide eyes.
"What?! How do you know!? Th-this is great! Amazing, actually…who would've ever pinned the Bat of the Dungeons to fall for the Head Girl?"
Hermione shot her a playful glare, then burst out in light laughter. "That is the part I want to tell you about even more. It happened around 11 last night…"
ddd-Flashback-bbb
Hermione's stomach grumbled loudly as her quill scratched heedlessly on fresh parchment, rushing to complete the night's study session of Transfiguration. She let out a victorious laugh as the last period was in place, choosing then to take note of her protesting stomach eating itself from lack of food.
Standing up from her chair she quickly slipped into a pair of tennis shoes after grabbing her wand and exited her terribly comfortable room for the chilly hallway. Checking to see if the coast was clear she departed her guardian portrait and set off on a late-night adventure, this time by herself.
Her shoes were relatively muffled on the castle floor, her wand casting much needed light to guide her path as she walked the worn hallways. She admitted to herself that it was a little unnerving lurking in the darkness without the aid of Harry's map, because it wasn't known when you'd run into anyth-
"Miss Granger."
Hermione stopped dead in her tracks, all thoughts ending in her head as she turned to meet the one person she really didn't want to see tonight, especially being clothed in her pajamas – baggy pajama pants with an insane retro design and a spaghetti strap top covered only by a light jacket. She cleared her throat before replying.
"Professor Snape." She nodded courteously. "How do you do this night?"
She thought it would work to play it casual, like she did this type of thing every night.
"Miss Granger, it is not your night for patrol, so why are you out of your room? Was I not informed that Know-it-All's were allowed out after curfew, in fact Head Girl Know-it-All's who try to pass the matter off like it was a habitual occurrence?"
Lowering her wand she saw that his face was set in that impassive look he wore a good majority of the day. Deciding to have a little fun –it was, after all, close to the end of the school year – she thought for a split second before responding to his stated question.
"I thought it was a relatively good idea to get myself a bite to eat before I am found stuffing my face at tomorrow's breakfast like Ronald Weasley, Professor. That's all."
"I do not see that as an excuse, Miss Granger. If you hadn't have skipped dinner in the first place you needn't be journeying to the kitchens in the middle of the night."
His arms were folded across his chest, peering down at her with his obsidian eyes. As she listened to him talk, her eyes narrowed in suspicion and her arms folded themselves neatly across her chest.
"How do you know I wasn't at dinner Professor?"
"I can hardly ignore Minerva ranting on and on about her favourite student working so hard as to not come to dinner."
"Oh drat. I was waiting to hear that you were actually concerned about me." She didn't know if he'd take the sarcasm well, even though it wasn't all sarcasm – she really wanted to hear that he cared about her. "And secondly, while we've been standing here pleasantly chatting I could have already been to the kitchen and back to my room with my late night snack, maybe even asleep by now."
She knew he couldn't ignore the fact that they had spent time playfully arguing, a habit that formed between the two as they worked side-by-side in the potions lab. Hermione had had her doubts if he was a pleasant man to work with, but she needed hands-on practice with more powerful potions before she left Hogwarts, and Professor Dumbledore was more than eager to please and support her reasoning. Yet everything had worked out, and as weird as it may sound, they had formed a friendship of sorts.
Hermione saw that he was fighting hard not to let a corner of his mouth twitch up in what some may call a smile, or at lease a friendly smirk. Smiling herself she talked again.
"See? I knew you'd agree Professor. And just between the two of us," she leaned in close to him as she shared her secret, "I know and you know that Professor McGonagall wasn't at dinner last night." She straightened back up and beamed at him. "So next time, you can just say you missed me."
Inside, Hermione was shocked at herself. Her Gryffindor courage must have taken over her common sense, because she would never have said that out loud otherwise. So, deciding that it wouldn't get any worse or embarrassing, she stepped closer to him until she was barely touching him, letting out a little laugh as his face filled with puzzlement and apprehension.
"And it's ok – because I missed you too."
Quickly before she lost her nerve, she stood on her tip-toes, kissing him on the cheek then turned and tried to rush off to the kitchen. Hermione had only made it a few steps before a hand enclosed on her wrist and stopped her, lightly pulling her back, giving her no choice but to comply. Not that she didn't want to, though.
As she faced him she had no time to prepare before his warm lips were upon hers lovingly. No coherent thought passed through her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back eagerly, never in all her daydreams imaging her first kiss with Severus to be this breathtakingly good.
She barely felt his arms encircle her waist as the kiss deepened and before she knew it he pulled away, a flame behind his dark eyes.
"Hasn't your mother taught you never to kiss a man and run, Miss Granger?"
She remained speechless as his head lowered and kissed her again.
"Well, Miss Granger?"
Not able to form words she mumbled what sounded like a 'nu-huh', gaining a small chuckle out of him before she pulled him down for another kiss.
Hermione could feel herself being pushed back against the wall, amazingly not hitting a single sleeping portrait in the dark hallway. She couldn't really remember why she was there in the first place but, she could remember who she was kissing and the fact that he was really, really good at it. Actually, much better then –
Hermione's stomach growled in ferocity, leading to Severus pulling back abruptly. Looking down at her, while both were breathing hard, he smirked.
"It seems we got carried away, Miss Granger."
She felt a cold draft of castle air hit her as Severus backed away from the wall, looking at her expectantly. She swallowed, hard, as she pushed herself away from the picture-filled wall, barely making out the outline of Severus and her wand that somehow made it to the floor.
ddd-Flashback End-bbb
"So he picked up my wand, handed it back, kissed me again, this time softly, and told me to go get my food. I said something like 'Oh, I love you too' and he responded 'Glad to hear it's returned' then walked back down the corridor."
Hermione could tell Ginny was going to be speechless before she stopped telling her what happened, but wasn't expecting to see the glee on her face. The redhead was sitting up, staring down at her as Hermione just stared at the sky and sighed contently, listening to the wind whisper through the lively green trees that dotted their hideaway.
Catching her off guard, Hermione cringed a little as Ginny squealed 'OH MY GOSH!' over and over again, eventually leading the two to into fits of uncontrollable laughter. It was minutes later before Ginny regained her breath and asked a question.
"So, that's the story? You're serious?"
Hermione nodded vigorously in response.
"Oh my gosh, 'Mione, that's like…incredible! Ooh! Ooh! - like a fairy tale or something! And you'd never expect that from Professor Sna – "
She fell silent as a voice was cleared from behind her. Hermione looked up and saw none other than Professor Snape himself, and smiled.
"Good morning, Professor Snape."
He nodded in acknowledgement and looked to Hermione.
"Miss Granger, if you're not too busy, would you care for a walk?"
Hermione looked to Ginny, a mischievous glint behind her eyes, as she stood up and dusted off her clothes. Taking her Professor's outstretched hand in hers she looked over her shoulder at Ginny and winked.
"See you later, Ginny."
The last thing Hermione saw before facing forward was the shocked smile on her best friend's face.
And…that's it!! As I said, a little OOC-ishness, but it was necessary for the story. And I'm sorry for the mistakes - it's hard for me to catch them.
Tid-Bit Information Time
Um…Bacon is good. Yep, that's it. Bacon is good.
You've already read it, so why not review?
Love to All,
♥
Kat³