I don't own HP.
Chapter Three
Light slowly began seeping in through windows on either side of the bed as Hermione Granger sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. After sitting for a couple of minutes, she got up and changed into her jogging pants and sweat shirt, deciding that a run will help her put her thoughts in order. 'It's Thursday.. tomorrow I will meet up with Professor Snape and the ministry official to discuss our impending nuptials'. She thought as she stepped out of her front door, and began jogging down the street. 'I'm going to marry my potions Professor. Mr. and Mrs. Professor Severus Snape. Hermione Jean Snape.' As she mulled over her soon to be name, she smiled slightly. Despite the fact that he was nearly twenty years older than her, it sounded a lot better than being married to Malfoy. Her smile turned to a grin at that thought, before she looked at her watch. She ran through a loop that would turn her towards home again. Molly and Arthur had said that she could spend the remainder of the Holiday there, and she had relented, grateful for the comfort and the fact that she could use their floo to get to the ministry instead of having to use the visitors entrance.
Hermione shut the door softly behind her after she entered her home, and heard her mother yell out from the kitchen. "Hermione, is that you?"
"Yes, it's me." She replied as she made her way up the staircase. "I went for a jog to clear my thoughts."
"Are you going to the Weasleys today?" Jean asked, coming upstairs with an empty basket for laundry.
Hermione was pulling clothing from her dresser. "Yes, they invited me to stay until the next school year starts. I plan on putting in several applications at places in the wizarding world and I'm hoping to use their floo in case I get a letter about an interview." She turned to see her mom dumping her hamper into the basket. "I'm going to take a shower before I pack."
"Okay sweetie," she replied, leaving the room with Hermione right behind her. Just as Hermione was about to shut the bathroom door, she added, "try not to think of your potions professor too much while you're in there."
Hermione shut the door and leaned against it. If only her mother knew what had gone through her daughters mind through Hogwarts. As Hermione stepped into the shower, she allowed herself to drift off into one of her old fantasies, steaming hot water warming her body.
"Miss Granger! Your potion is completely unacceptable, and you will have to stay after class to redo it!" Snape ground out from behind her.
"Professor, that is not fair!" She replied, glaring at the dark man.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor for your cheek!" He sneered, walking towards the front of the mysteriously empty classroom.
She looked around and let a coy smile settle on her face. The room was empty, and that meant she could talk back more. "Which cheek professor? My left? Or my right?"
He turned to her with a glare. "Miss Granger, your innuendo is entirely inappropriate! I will not have that in this class!"
Starting from where they were on her hips, Hermione slowly slid her hands up her sides, and over her breasts, before she unbuttoned the top three buttons. "Then where will you have it sir? Your office? Your private store cupboards?" She closed the five steps between him, and when she was an inch away leaned up to purr into his ear. "Your bed?"
She didn't give him much time to respond, finishing the last button, she wiggled her shoulders and didn't try and stop her shirt as it slid to the floor. "Miss Granger," Severus began, holding his hands up as if to stop her. "I must ask that you put your shirt back on."
"Why Professor?" She asked, smile widening when his voice had quivered. She ran a finger down the side of her face, down her neck, and slid it into the cup of her lacy bra.
She wasn't expecting him to grab her, though she had hoped he would, and pull her so tight against him that she could feel his erection. "Because if you don't, then I might not be able to stop myself from ravishing you." His voice was incredibly husky by the time he was done talking.
Hermione tilted her head back, and stood on her tippy toes until their lips were only a breath apart. She placed her hand on his chest, one staying firm, and the other sliding down his side, to lightly cup his erection. "But what if I want you to ravi-." She didn't finish, because he placed a searing kiss against her lips. She groaned, and kissed him back with a passion.
"Hermione?" Jean yelled, knocking on the door. "Will you hurry up in there? I need to take a shower for work today, and if anything you're probably the one that needs a cold shower."
"Almost done," she called back, trying to calm her breathing as she rinsed herself off. When she exited the shower, she quickly dried off and got dressed, before opening the door to find her mom leaning against the opposite wall.
"That was an awful long shower you took dear, did you get a little distracted?" Hermione tried her best to ignore the knowing grin on her mothers face.
"Yes," she gave her mother a moment to take that in. "I got shampoo in my eye and it took forever to rinse out." Hermione walked to her room, grinning at the slightly disappointed look that had been on her mothers face. She let her mind wander as she began to pack her stuff. She was hoping that by the time the others went off to school, some of the places she'd sent her resume to would send her an application or ask her to come in for an interview. She had already sent an application into Hogwarts, the Department of Mysteries, and even applied for an apprenticeship at Gringotts. She was still planning on applying at some of the places in Diagon Alley, places like Flourish and Blotts, Ollivanders, or even Whizz-Hard Books.
She was putting the finishing touches on her luggage, when she heard a tapping noise, and turned to see a beautiful silver owl pecking on her window. She let it in and took the letter, and small package from around its leg. "You're gorgeous." She told it, offering it one of Apollo's treats, and petting it's feathers. She looked at the envelope, and frowned slightly when she didn't recognize the handwriting. She picked up the letter from where she had set in on her bed, and opened it, gasping when she read the first sentence.
Ms. Granger,
As doubtful as you may be on the topic, with our shared history, my mother raised me to be an honorable man. So I would like to start this off with an apology for my behavior. I cannot apologize for all of it, as I was first and foremost a spy, and I could not allow the Dark Lord to find out that I was not loyal to him.
Yesterday I received a letter from the ministry demanding that I send you a gift before we have our meeting at the ministry tomorrow. The silver owl that delivered this to you is yours now, and I have been calling her Aphrodite, but you may change her name if that is what you wish. I now ask that you open up the little package and use an engorgio on it.
Hermione turned to the owl, and offered it another treat as she picked up the little package. She pulled the twine bow that held it shut, and raised an eyebrow at the little box. Touching it with the end of her wand she murmured the spell, as requested, "Engorgio." The plain box grew quite large, and she opened the lid to find a beautiful cage and labeled packages that indicated food, treats, bedding, and what looked to be a package of stationery.
I know that you have an owl already, Apollo I believe, but Aphrodite is keyed into my wards, and is one of the few owls allowed to enter any of my properties. As you can imagine, with my previous profession, I have received, for lack of a better phrase, hate mail, and wished for it to stop. So I thought that you could keep Aphrodite with you, and I can key Apollo into the wards at a later date so that your parents can reach us whenever they want to.
Until Tomorrow,
Severus Snape
P.S. You may notice some.. changes in my appearance.
By the time she had finished the letter, Hermione was leaning against one of the posts on her bed. She breathed a sigh of relief, she had been entertaining the idea of getting an owl for her parents, so that they didn't have to wait for her to owl them. She could leave Apollo with them, and have them owl her whenever they were short on supplies, because while they could get supplies at a muggle pet shop, but the magical supplies were healthier for them, since they were magical creatures.
She checked her watch again, and swapped the supplies she had packed for Apollo with the new ones she had for Aphrodite, only leaving out the cage. She took some bedding out of the open bag on her desk and lay it in the bottom of the cage, and turned the open door towards Aphrodite. "C'mon girl." She said, smiling when Aphrodite flew over to the cage, and sat on the bar that was about five inches from the bottom. "I'll be right back." She told the owl, who seemed to nod at her. She minimized Apollo's stuff and levitated it into his cage, and opened her door, carrying it downstairs. Her mom was in the kitchen getting her lunch ready for work. "Hey mom."
Jean turned around and looked at her, "Hey sweetie, what's up?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the cage.
"I'm going to move Apollo's stuff down here, and I'll send him back once I get to the Burrow."
"What are you going to do about an Owl darling? I thought you had talked about sending in applications." Her mother asked, as she zipped her lunchbox, setting it on the table next to her purse.
"Apparently one of the conditions for the male subjects of this 'law' is that they have to send their future spouses a gift before they have their meeting at the ministry. Severus sent me an owl because he had to ward his house off from most owls, and wanted us to be able to stay in contact. I'm leaving Apollo here so that you can always get a hold of me."
"Okay dear. Are you leaving now?"
Hermione nodded, "yes, I was wondering if you wanted me to put his stuff in your office."
"That would be wonderful, that way it'll all be ready for him when he gets back."
"If you're starting to get short on supplies, and I haven't been by, just tell me what you're running out of, and I'll bring it over."
~Finite Incantantem