Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize here. I claim no money upon them. I simply write for our mutual enjoyment.
Acknowledgments: To Pogovina, my dear girl, for beta-readin'.
-Reason
A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point. - Mistinguett
Chapter 7- "Soul meets soul on lovers' lips"
Snape entered the infirmary and didn't give a moment's hesitation. His mind reeled with what Potter had the nerve to say!
(Little did he know that Dumbledore was in his office chuckling quietly while putting away his ink and parchment.)
Snape tore open the curtain and looked in on the sleeping woman. Hermione's long brown curls wove down her shoulders. Her head slightly propped by the pillow, she was in the exact same position she was in the day before, her arms laying on either side of the blankets. Her breathing was soft, restful.
He sighed, coming to himself just enough to close the curtains behind him. More light was beginning to spill in this morning and he could now see colors instead of just grays. He walked slowly to the bed and gazed down at her. This was the girl of an erotic dream he'd just had ten minutes before? The thought of that dream made his manhood twitch and he closed his eyes tightly to control himself. "Hermione... Merlin help you if you wake." He murmured and leaned over.
It was soft at first, gentle. He'd kissed so few times in his life and most of those kisses had been forced upon the woman, that he wanted this one to be... willing. Well, as willing as one could make kissing a sleeping woman. His tongue leaped out warmly, tasting her lips and noting how sweet they were before he nudged them open, tasting further.
It was a good minute before he realized she was kissing back and when he did, he broke the kiss, leaping backward from the bed two feet. She lay there on her back in the same position staring up at the ceiling before her soft brown eyes turned to Snape, "Professor?" she whispered, "Where am I?" She then looked shaken, "Did you...kiss me?"
Snape's eyes were wide and he felt a tightening in his chest. He took a gasping breath, "Miss Granger." He rasped, taking a step forward, "How do you feel?"
Hermione's lashes fluttered and she looked utterly confused, "I'm fine." Slowly she pushed herself up and looked around, "Bellatrix, did she hit me? I don't feel bad."
Snape nodded, his eyes studying Hermione considerably, "She did."
Hermione frowned, "It's morning?"
Again Snape nodded. Hermione swallowed, "How long was I asleep?"
Snape never sugar coated anything, "Six weeks," he began as her eyes widen and jaw slacked open, "You were under," he swallowed, hesitant to say more, "a...curse."
Hermione's brows knitted together, "A kiss woke me up... professor. I..." Hermione closed her eyes and laid back down on the pillow, "Oh, no."
Snape didn't move, he didn't want to confirm or deny anything the young woman was thinking. When she started to cry though, Snape's emotions were hardened, "Miss Granger, pull yourself together."
She looked up at him, "I... Oh, gods." She turned and buried her head in the pillow sobbing.
The sobbing quickly brought Madam Pomfrey out of her office, still in her nightclothes. "What's going on here?!" Came her voice before the curtains were shifted open. "Miss Granger? Professor Snape? What's happened? Child! You're awake!" She seemed to suddenly realize her cursed patient was now conscious, "That's wonderful!" She moved to sit on the side of the bed to console Hermione.
Snape tried to move away, slowly backing to the curtain. A quick, silent escape, "That's a matter of opinion," he whispered more to himself of Pomfrey's statement. Before he could get there however, Dumbledore pushed open the curtain with a rather amused, smug look on his face. Snape frowned with distaste, "Headmaster." He nodded.
"Oh, wonderful! Miss Granger, you're awake! Sorry that cure took so long." Dumbledore clucked his tongue, "Shame that. You could have been working your internship at the Ministry. Well, no matter. Welcome back."
Hermione's red-rimmed, honey-brown eyes turned and stared at Dumbledore as if he'd gone insane. She looked over Dumbledore's shoulder toward Snape and then back to the Headmaster. Snape could read it in her expression. How in Merlin's name could he say it was wonderful!? Snape could also read that she knew which curse had been cast over her. She knew he had been kissing her when she woke up. And she knew what the meant... and there was a part in Snape's heart that was broken because she was devastated by the fact that he was her soul-mate.
Well, he was no happy camper either! A mud-blood Gryffindor?! He would be disgraced! He lifted his chin defiantly and stood a little taller. He was far better than this, and he was going to let Dumbledore know.
Pomfrey's eyes widened, "But Headmaster, professor Snape was the only one here when I arrived. Who woke her?"
Dumbledore's hand waved idly to Snape, "Severus did, Poppy. Miracles never cease."
Hermione groaned again and Snape took a deep breath, "Headmaster, surely it was just coincidence that it was me. Surely it doesn't mean what the book claims. I can't be-"
Raising his hand, Dumbledore nodded passively, "There is one way to find out. Severus, step out of the infirmary. Return only if I call for you."
Snape and Hermione both blinked, but Hermione had come enough to her senses to speak, "Excuse me, Headmaster? What will that accomplish?"
The old man's lip lifted in an amused smile, "A theory will be proven false... or true."
Snape glanced once to Hermione then to Dumbledore before pushing the white curtain out of his way and slipping away from Hermione's private area in the Infirmary. He walked briskly, as if maybe trying to get away. His boots were the only sound on stone floor of the hospital wing as he marched.
As soon as he crossed the threshold however, there was a fierce scream. One he knew to be Grangers'. Without thinking he ran back the hospital wing and tore open the curtain to see Dumbledore and Pomfrey cradling Hermione who seemed to have fallen out the bed. "What happened, what'd she do?"
Pomfrey helped the crying Hermione back into the bed. "She seemed to thrust herself out of the bed. And she cried out." Pomfrey looked uncertainly to Dumbledore who nodded.
"Miss Granger? Hermione?" Dumbledore gently ran two fingers over Hermione's cheek. She looked as fragile as a porcelain doll and he treated her as such. Slowly, he lifted her chin and looked into her brown eyes that held tears as she sobbed, "I'm sorry, it'll be okay now," He promised, "I had to find out for certain."
"Find out what exactly, Dumbledore!?" Snape barked, loosing his control. His shout startled Hermione and she hiccupped, her tears ceasing.
Slowly, Dumbledore looked up to Snape, "The curse was too simple. She's still under it, but in a different form now."
Snape's eyes narrowed, "What are you saying? She's not under the Bellulus Soporo. She's not asleep any longer. I've done my duty."
Hermione bit her lip and closed her eyes, her hand reaching up and grasping Dumbledore's for support, "Professor Snape," She began, sounding relatively calm, "I-"she cleared her throat to be rid of the frog held there, "I think what Professor Dumbledore is saying is that we're now connected. When you left the room, I... it felt like a portkey had pulled me out of the bed. And a pain tore at my middle. I'm okay now though."
"I don't care if you're okay!" Snape lied, "The spell has been reversed! You're awake! There's nothing left, we're done!"
Hermione bit her lip, afraid to say anything more. Dumbledore took up the place where she left off, "Severus, think. Of all the fairy tales you've heard, what happens after the girl is kissed?"
Snape's dark eyes narrowed again and he began shaking his head, "No. It cannot be allowed. I will not allow it!"
Pomfrey swallowed, "They lived-," She murmured and frowned as if she'd swallowed something disgustingly vile.
Snape pointed at Pomfrey, "Don't you dare say it." He whispered dangerously.
"The situation is as it is, Severus," Dumbledore protested, squeezing Hermione's hand before releasing it and standing. "The curse was usually removed in the middle-ages by those willing to remove it, those who wanted the woman they kissed. Now, friend, you've got her whether you want her or not."
A/N: "Soul meets soul on lovers' lips" - Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
