Chapter 8
Hermione had trouble concentrating on her homework that day. She really wanted to see Severus and her mind kept wondering to her favorite sneaky, snarky, Slytherin. She had come to realize that his sarcasm was mostly just his sense of humor and that when it wasn't directed at her (and even sometimes when it was) it really was quite funny. Her friends had told her several times in the past few weeks that she was getting cranky when in reality she was just allowing Severus to rub off on her. She thought that she was quite funny, and so did her friends when she wasn't directing her new found sarcasm at them. Hermione smiled at the thought of her latest barb towards Malfoy and his cronies. Just as she started to turn back to her Potions homework (which was the only subject that seemed to be able to hold her attention for any amount of time today) there was a loud crack right in front of her that caused her to jump about three feet in the air. She looked all around and couldn't see anything until she felt a tugging on her skirt. Finally Hermione looked down and saw Blinkey. Blinkey smiled up at Hermione and said, "Master is being back now and wanting to see Miss." Hermione didn't wait for Blinkey to finish speaking. She turned and started running down to the dungeons with a great big grin on her face.
HGSSHGSSHGSS
Severus was pleased with the rings and necklace that he had picked out. Mr. Stone was quite proud of both pieces and made sure to tell Severus to keep him in mind for all of his future needs. Severus assured him that he would go nowhere else. Severus was fine-tuning his plan for tomorrow evening on his way back to the castle. He would send Blinkey to get Hermione when he got back. He wanted to discuss their relationship before he actually proposed tomorrow. Maybe they could have a nice quiet lunch in his quarters that afternoon. Yes, he liked that plan.
When Severus got back to the castle he went straight to his quarters and summoned his house elf. It was days like this when she came in handy. He said, "Blinkey, I want you to go find Miss Granger and bring her back here. When you're both back I want you to fix a nice lunch for two. Thank you." Before Severus had even finished thanking the small creature she had vanished with an excited POP. Severus smiled to himself; it seemed that she approved of Hermione. It made him happy. He only hoped that Hermione didn't try to give his house elf clothes. That could be disastrous. He mentally added that to the list of things he wanted to talk to Hermione about while he waited.
It took longer than he expected for Hermione to make it to his quarters. Severus had almost dozed off while waiting on her to arrive. Suddenly he heard a loud banging on the door that led to his quarters. Severus was puzzled. He thought that Blinkey would have just apperated Hermione straight to him. He had a slight frown on his face when he opened the door to let the girl inside. "What's wrong?" Hermione immediately asked.
Severus shook his head and said, "Nothing, I just thought that my elf would have brought you by apperating. She knew that I wanted to see you and she gets excited sometimes."
Hermione's eyes got wide. "Oh, I didn't even think of that. I was so excited when she said that you were back, that I started running. I had to take my books back to my dorm from the library, and then I had to come all the way down here from the Tower. I came as fast as I could," she panted, still slightly out of breath from running all that way. Severus just chuckled. He hadn't thought of Hermione being that excited to see him. It made him very happy. Hermione just pouted. She didn't want to seem overly anxious to see him. That just gave Severus too much information.
Seeing her troubled expression Severus was quick to tell her, "Don't be upset. I'm glad that you're so excited to see me. If I weren't afraid of Minerva seeing me I would have flown around the castle looking for you myself. But that would just make the old busybody entirely too happy, and I can't have that, now can I?"
Hermione giggled, "No, I suppose you do have a reputation to maintain." She was giddy at the prospect of him wanting to hunt her down himself. No one had ever wanted to see her that badly. Especially not an incredibly sexy man like Severus. By this point they had moved into the sitting room and were sitting on the couch very close together. They had abandoned the chairs a few meetings ago in favor of being closer to each other. Hermione really liked to be close to Severus. He was so tall and smelled so good that it made her feel protected and at home just to be close to him. She inhaled deeply to catch his sent and it helped her to relax.
"Hermione?" Severus began. He wasn't sure how to begin this conversation. They'd only had one date and the two kisses. He knew that he wanted more of both of those before they were married. She was addicting. Hermione slowly turned towards him sensing that this was going to be an important discussion. She nodded for Severus to continue. Before he could stop himself Severus said, "I love you." Hermione smiled the most beautiful smile that he could imagine, which made up for the fact that this wasn't how Severus had planned on starting this monumental conversation.
What made up for it even more was when Hermione reached up and cupped his face with her small hand and leaned forward and gave him the sweetest kiss he had ever experienced before saying, "I love you too, Severus."
Severus was shocked. He knew that she liked him, but was amazed that she could actually love a man like him. He inhaled sharply. "Good. That wasn't what I had planned on saying. I was hoping to talk about our relationship before I just blurted that out. I hope that it didn't frighten you. I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed our date and would like to go on another one sometime," Severus started rambling. He was really nervous now.
Before he could go any further with his nervous rant, Hermione interrupted, "It's ok. I think it's better this way. Now all our feelings are out in the open. I really enjoyed it too. In fact I wanted to continue it this morning, but when I got to breakfast you weren't there and I started to think that maybe you were sick. Then I really started to worry when you wouldn't open your door. But Blinkey came and told me that you had gone Diagon Alley for some special ingredients." Hermione realized that she was rambling too and quickly shut her mouth. She didn't want to seem like a stalker. She just wanted Severus to know how much she cared about him.
"You were worried about me?" Severus asked. He was in awe of this woman. No one he had ever known had ever worried about him. If he hadn't been sure about his decision before, he was now. He was going to marry this woman if it was the last thing he ever did.
"Why do you seem so shocked? That's what people in love do. They care about each other and their well being," Hermione answered.
"I've just never had anyone worry about me before. Besides Albus I mean, and he doesn't count because he was worried about a spy, not ME," Severus responded. It was a good feeling to know that she worried about him. "Hermione, what are we?" Severus really wanted to know. That was the reason he had sent his house elf after her in the first place.
"Well, we're in love. Does that make us a couple?" Hermione asked.
"I would like it if that's what it meant," Severus replied.
Hermione smiled, "Then it's settled. We're a couple, because I would like that very much too."
Severus sighed, "I was hoping you'd say that. Would you like some tea?" Hermione accepted his offer and they continued with their normal tea time conversations. Only now they were curled up very close to each other on the sofa. As Hermione was getting ready to leave Severus's rooms for dinner he stopped her at the door and asked, "Would you like to join me for dinner tomorrow evening here in my quarters?"
"I would like that very much, Severus," Hermione replied before leaning up to give him a long, slow, sweet kiss, the kind that only two people truly in love can share. They eventually pulled away from each other and Hermione said, "I'll see you tomorrow. Before Severus could say a word, she was gone with a soft smile playing on her lips.
