Don't take that sinner from me

Chapter 9: Are you coming?

A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes.

It felt like ages since they had waited on each other to leave for breakfast together, but when she came out of her bedroom, she found him waiting at the wooden door once more. Suppressing a smile, she walked with him out of the quarters and down the dungeons.

Hermione watched in excitement as the windows on the ground floor viewed the falling snow. It was crazy to think that it was already December. Because of the chaos in her life, she rarely kept track of the time and just followed the events in her life. She had come to an abrupt stop as the two of them were unable to walk any further through the entrance of the Great Hall.

Heads turned to the couple in the doorway, excitement and humour planted on their faces as they watched them struggle to continue walking. A frustrated sigh was heard next to her, and a hand fell on her right arm to stop her from trying.

Turning her head to her right, she saw Snape nodding to something above them. Shooting a slow glance up, she softly groaned as she saw the mistletoe hanging above them. Her eyes drifted to the staff's table and she could see the amused twinkle in her headmaster's eyes all the way from the doorway.

Pretending like she had no objection at all to kiss her professor, she turned her head to his and smiled weakly at him. "Is there no way we can get around this?" Hermione asked under her breath as they leaned closer to each other. "I fear not." His tone wasn't pleased at all, yet the corners of his lips turned into half a smile in pretense.

It was quite clear that the mistletoe hadn't been placed before their arrival yet, upon looking at the student's faces and noticing their mischievous faces. And when her eyes drifted a little further to the Gryffindor faces, she was shocked to see Ginny with a devilish grin.

Cursing the witch profusely in her head, she decided she'd deal with her some other time. Instead, a smirk spread across her face as she stared the red haired girl in the eye, and was pleased to see her grin falter. If they want it, they can get it she thought and turned her head back again to her husband and wrapped one arm around his waist as her other hand found his cheek.

Pulling him closer towards her, their lips connected immediately after breaking a short distance. She could hear a muffled gasp that escaped her teacher's lips, but he recovered soon enough and had snaked both his arms around her waist as well.

It lasted a couple of seconds, ten at the most, but as they retreated they had equally masking smirks as they took in the dumbfounded faces of everyone. Mouths hung open, and people had seemed to be frozen into place as they had watched their little show.

Dropping her hands, she winked flirtatiously at her teacher and was pleased to discover that they were finally permitted to walk again and so she took off to the Gryffindor's table, seating herself next to Dean as she wiggled her eyebrows in triumph at the gasping Weasley girl.

The steps of Snape's walking echoed through the Hall as he, too, took his place at the staff's table. She threw a quick glance at a few of the teacher's faces, and nearly burst out laughing upon seeing the look on Professor McGonagall's face. She looked absolutely horrified, most likely not having thought they'd actually do it.

Professor Dumbledore on the other hand, looked surprisingly amused at what he just witnessed and his light chuckle filled the hall. As if this was their cue to talk again, whispers filled the hall and it soon loudened as people began talking more enthusiastically.

"I can't believe you actually went through with it!" Ginny said shocked and Hermione shrugged with a smile, nibbling on a piece of toast. "Why wouldn't I? I'd gladly take any opportunity to kiss my husband." She casually said as she was well aware of the listening ears around her.

"I will never be able to unsee that." Ron exclaimed uncomfortably and he honestly looked sick to his stomach as he put away the piece of bread he was holding. "Oh, suck it up, Ronald, be glad that's the only thing you'll ever have to see." Even though the Hall had become a tad bit louder than before, her voice was still unmistakably heard over the crowd and everyone fell silent once again.

Ginny had slammed her head on the table and watching her chest rise and fall in rapid speed, she knew she was silently laughing her arse off as Hermione had difficulty biting back her own laughter as well upon seeing both Ron's and Harry's disgusted faces.

The only sound that filled the hall now was Ginny's muffled laughter and the uncomfortable cringing sounds of fellow students who apparently had the pleasure of a mental image of Snape and Hermione doing it filling their head.

Hermione looked over to her husband, and even though he had his eyebrows raised so far they nearly flew off his head, he still managed to crack a smirk as he was satisfied by the student's reaction.

Having had a joyful breakfast, she happily attended her classes as it for once was finally quiet around her. No one had come up to her to taunt her about her marriage, for their mental image of them having sex were deeply disturbing everyone.

It was because of that reason that Snape and Hermione had been having a lot of fun at their Defence Against the Dark Arts class through sexual innuendo. This resulted in the students cringing even further away in their seats, unable to look at either their teacher or Hermione anymore.

Sure, the students had been teasing Hermione about it for days, but they never really went into the thought of it, and were highly disturbed as it was now. It was for that reason that the two grinned devilishly at each other as everyone was now paying perfect attention to what he had to say, keeping their eyes firmly directed on their desk.

The bell rang and everyone was as fast as lightning to get out of the room. "Miss Granger, I'd like a word with you." Snape called out and people shot them a mixture of curious and disgusted glances as they left the classroom. Hermione snickered, fully well aware that they were thinking something completely different than she knew he would do.

When everyone had left the classroom, which didn't take more than half a minute for once, Snape's grin slowly faded and so did hers. Yet, a hint of a smile was still portrayed on both their faces as they enjoyed their victory of getting back at the others. "Professor Dumbledore would like a word with us after dinner tonight." His voice was low but there was no coldness linked to it.

Hermione nodded and a smirk broke out on her face once more. Snape raised his eyebrow, but she shrugged. "Vengeance is sweet." She drawled, copying her teacher's words from three years ago when he had walked in on Sirius Black. Snape had seemed unable to refrain from cracking a smirk as well, "It sure is."

"Is that all you wanted to say to me?" She asked and relaxed her features a bit, although it was impossible to truly wipe the mischief of her face as the joy of revenge ran through her blood. She was feeling extremely playful thanks to the event at breakfast, and it was hard to keep her actions to a respectful amount.

Snape eyed her carefully, and she saw his hesitance and the look on his face as if he was refraining himself from saying something. "It is. You can go now." Was all he said and Hermione shrugged it off, not allowing herself to think more of it than it needed to be and hurriedly left the classroom, not wanting to arrive too late at her next class.

However, as an idea suddenly struck her, she stopped right in front of the classroom doors. "Is there a problem, Miss- Hermione." Snape corrected himself quickly and Hermione turned around with a playful smile. "Not at all, Severus."

She loosened her tie and ruffled her hair, giving herself a messy look as she pulled one side of her blouse out of her skirt. Snape's eyebrows shot up, "What in the world are you doing?" He demanded and Hermione grinned. "Just giving them what they asked for." Hermione wiggled her eyebrows teasingly and a devilish smirk spread across Snape's face.

"Perhaps you're not as bad as I thought you were, Hermione." Hermione chuckled and ran off, making it just in time at her Transfiguration class.

Taking a quick seat next to Neville, she bit on her cheek to keep herself from laughing as everyone was staring at her. Fixing her hair and uniform innocently, she looked up at Professor McGonagall. "By all means, professor, don't let me stop you from your lesson." Professor McGonagall's eyebrows shot up in surprise of her use of words, not having expected that to come out of her mouth.

In all fairness, she hadn't expect it either. Curse him, she bitterly thought as she figured that Snape was most likely rubbing off on her. However, upon seeing the students avoid her eye as she looked at them, her mood was held high and she gladly took the two deduction points from Professor McGonagall for her arrogant remark against a teacher. It were two points their house could live without.

The rest of her day had been filled with equal joy as they had a teasing conversation with each other over lunch and dinner by using their facial expressions. To brighten her mood even further, she was pleased to find everyone avoiding her like the plague, allowing her a day off without the endless remarks on their marriage.

A deep cough behind her made her jump slightly, and scowled at him as soon as she turned around. "Coming?" Snape smirked and Hermione's scowl quickly faded as it turned into a grin, realizing the double meaning behind it, just like many other students did as the Hall erupted into disturbed groans.

"Only for you." Hermione winked with a smirk and grabbed her bag from the ground, catching one last grin from Ginny before setting off with Snape. Grabbing each other's hand, they walked out of the Great Hall with satisfying smirks on their faces.

Hermione chuckled heartily as they were out of earshot and turned to look at the amused face of her husband. Shaking her head with one last chuckle, she sighed in satisfaction. "Serves them right after everything they've been assuming."

"What was the little stunt you pulled this morning underneath the mistletoe?" His voice wasn't offensive at all, it was merely curious and she could tell he had been wanting to ask that all day. Hermione shrugged, "I'm sure you figured it out as soon as I did that they set it up to embarrass the two of us. I figured that after all their trouble, we'd better pay them off by giving a show worth remembering." Hermione chuckled lightly, "Our act throughout the day will surely lay off the shagging-my-teacher talk for a couple of days."

Snape's face contorted unpleasantly. "I sure do hope so. I don't really appreciate the drawings that are being passed through my very own classroom." Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him, "Drawings? Of what?" Snape quirked an eyebrow of his own as he looked down on her, "Weren't you supposed to be the brightest witch of your age?"

Hermione's mouth fell into an 'oh' as she figured what the drawings must have consisted of. "I never noticed them." Snape scoffed, "That's because I got rid of them before they could be passed further through the classroom." Hermione nodded understandingly and walked up the spiral staircase with her husband that led to Dumbledore's office.

Snape knocked once on the door and Dumbledore gave his permission for them to enter. As they did so, she saw the curious look on his face and his smile that tugged on his lips as his eyes travelled downwards between herself and Snape.

Looking down, she noticed what Dumbledore had been looking at and quickly let go of Snape's hand, not having realized that they were still holding it as they had strolled through the corridors. Snape looked confused at the sudden release, before his face hardened again and she realized that he completely forgot about it as well.

"You wished to see us, Headmaster?" Snape asked and the two of them took their seats at the chairs in front of the desk. Dumbledore nodded, "Starting off, I'd like to give you my compliments, my dear. Severus has told me about the successful encounter with Voldemort." Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. "When did you notify him of this?" She asked, turning her head to her husband.

"I sent out a Patronus to pass the message on to Dumbledore when I got summoned. As for when I notified him.. I didn't." Hermione's eyes turned quizzically back to Dumbledore. "Then how would you know if it was successful?" Her voice trailed off as he chuckled. "I would take the fact that you two are still alive and well as successful."

Hermione nodded, feeling rather stupid for not coming up with that herself. "But that was not the reason I called you two here." He continued, glancing back and forth between the two people in front of him. "As you know, within a few days the Christmas break will start, and I'd like to ask you to not return home, Miss Granger."

Before she could object, he gave her his reason. "It will only be a matter of time before Voldemort shall summon you again, Severus. And I want you to be well prepared, Miss Granger. It wouldn't surprise me at the least if he were to summon right before school will start again."

Hermione swallowed and let out a brief sigh. She realized that over time she would only lie to her parents more, and yet, there was no escaping it. "Unless either of you two object." Hermione shook her head and so did Snape.

"Great, that's settled then." His features deepened a little as he continued. "I must also ask of you, Miss Granger, to not discuss any matter about the meeting with your friends. That is, until you fully master the skill of Occlumency. We cannot risk being caught." Hermione nodded with another sigh, realizing how much she had to distance herself from the people she loved simply to stay alive.

"Furthermore, I'd like to ask you one last thing, Miss Granger." Dumbledore's tone brightened and she looked at him curiously. "Sir?"

"Last night you came to seek my help, and I was wondering if perhaps you have found your answer yet?" Hermione's eyes widened when she looked between her headmaster and her husband, ignoring his curious expression as she focused back on Dumbledore.

"No, sir. I haven't yet." Dumbledore nodded and gave her a smile, "Very well, then. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough. Just remember: real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." He looked at her over his half-moon spectacles again and she looked nervously back at him. "You can go now, Miss Granger."

"Severus, I'd like to have one last word with you." Hermione nodded and stood up, saying her goodbye to both her teachers and hurried out of the room, his words once again ringing through her head.

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." What was that supposed to mean? And did he know something that she had yet to figure out for herself?

A/N: I hold no claim over this quote, all rights are reserved to Confucius.