Chapter Nine – My Muse Has Left And I'm Stuck With This

Neither of the boys had seen Ron over the day and finally Colin Creevey said he was in their dorm. He didn't answer their knocks and didn't respond to their yelling, and Ginny had begun worrying, when Ron finally opened the door.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I'm trying to sleep here, you know", he said and rubbed his eyes.

He really looked sleepy.

"Ron, we were just worried you'd do something… stupid", Harry said. He didn't want to say anymore. Neville and Dean were still there and wondered what this all was about.

"Like what?", Ron asked, a little irritated. "I'm not stupid, and I'm not a child anymore. I'm just worried about Hermione, as you two well know."

Harry looked guilty, but Ginny wasn't sure. This sounded just too… mature to be her brother.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ginny. I don't need more people mothering me. I'm pretty much able to live my life on my own. And now, leave!" Ron shut the door again. They heard a light 'click' when Ron locked the door.

"Wow", Dean said. "What was that all about?"

"Dunno", Harry said, looking innocent. "He's had a bad day, I suppose."

Neville shrugged. "Let's just leave him. He'll snap out of it soon enough. When he's hungry, at the latest."

"Yeah", Dean agreed. "Hey, Nev. Talking about being hungry… are you coming to dinner?"

They left.

Ginny and Harry stood in front of the closed door for a moment, looking at each other. Finally, Harry shrugged. "I guess Neville's right. Let's leave him to think."

"But he had all day", Ginny protested. "You know he's very… impulsive. What if he…"

"No. If he'd really wanted to harm himself he'd have done it already. We can as well go to dinner. We can't do anything for him."

Ginny nodded. They made their way down to the Great Hall.

"Do you think he's still in love with Hermione?", Ginny asked. She couldn't stop thinking about him.

"I suppose so. Why else would he react like that?", Harry said pensive. "It's like Snape said… he's jealous. And I think that it's Snape really pisses him off."

"Yeah." Ginny sighed and went through the doors of the Great Hall. It wasn't unusual to see Professor Snape's chair empty. He skipped most of the meals and did… whatever he did.

Ginny didn't know. 'Well, right now he's probably sleeping with my best friend', she thought dryly. Even the lack of Hermione's presence wasn't new. Hermione often spent so much time in the library or over some book that she totally forgot about dinner if there wasn't someone to remind her. But to know where both of them were and what they supposedly did made Ginny shiver.

"Creepy, isn't it?", Harry asked. "To think of them, I mean."

Ginny nodded. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes as they sat down at the table beside each other. 'Sometimes I think he knows exactly what I think. That he understands me', she thought. 'And he looks good.'

Harry looked up and smiled at her. "Are you starting to act like 'Mione?", he asked, laughing.

Ginny looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"You aren't eating." He pointed towards her empty plate.

"Well, I was still considering what to eat. I'm not like you or Ron and just take what's there and wolf it down in twenty seconds", she said. "You know, some of us actually chew their meal before swallowing."

Harry continued to chuckle and somewhen she couldn't stand it anymore. She had to laugh, too.

+~*#

Hermione woke up slowly. Her head rested on Severus' chest and one of his arms circled her waist and held her close. He was still asleep and she didn't want to wake him. But she had to take a shower. She would meet with Ginny in about an hour and wouldn't want to be late.

As careful as she could she took his arm and managed to escape his grip without waking him up. She stood next to the bed for a moment and watched him. He looked so peaceful and so much younger in his sleep. Not that his age bothered her.

She sighed and made her way to the bathroom. She'd brought some fresh clothes with her after she'd visited her dorm the day before.

She turned on the water and stepped under it. 'Oh, cold', she thought and nearly jumped out of the shower again. Trying to have the least contact possible with the still cold water, she managed to turn on the hot water instead.

Finally it had just the right temperature and she washed her hair. She stared at the bottle with his coconut scented conditioner for a moment, then picked it up and opened it. 'Well, if he doesn't want it. It smells nice.'

She was almost finished when she felt a cold draught. Turning around she found Severus looking at her.

"What are you doing here?", she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Why? Did you expect someone else?" He looked around. "Sorry to disappoint you, no one here", he said jokingly.

"Nooo, but you should be asleep."

"The sound of the shower and the lack of your presence woke me", he replied, opening the door of the cubicle. She shivered, the cold air causing her nipples to harden. "But… I like you even more in reality than in my dreams."

"I can see that", she said, pointing down to his erection.

She turned down the shower and tried to grab her towel. But he blocked the way and took the towel away from her. Slowly, he began to dry her.

"Did you ever do it in a bathroom?", he asked in his 'sexy voice', as she called it. She rolled her eyes. 'Does he ever get tired? You've got a lot of stamina, Severus', Hermione thought. 'We've been together for two days now and had sex… well, quite a lot. Not that I'm complaining… Must be some protein drink…'

"No, but we won't try. I have to get dressed. I'm meeting Ginny in about half an hour", she announced in a resolved voice.

"That's all the time we need", he said.

Her resistance didn't take long. He kissed her and his hands travelled up and down her body. She found herself respond to his touch and moved closer. He lifted her up and her legs circled his waist, ankles crossed at the small of his back.

He broke their kiss and looked her in the eyes. She nodded and moved her pelvis down towards his erection.

He leaned forward, her back against the warm and still wet tiles of the shower wall. After making sure he wouldn't slide on the wet floor, he finally entered her.

She let out a sharp breath and shifted slightly to the left. He waited. He didn't want to hurt her. When he felt her move slightly, he smiled. She lifted his head and kissed him deeply, moving towards his body. He first stroke slowly, adjusting to her speed, and drank in the sensation of the nearness of their bodies and the heat of her around his erected penis. She moaned softly as his hand cupped her breast and caressed her nipple.

Soon they got carried away by their passion and began moving faster.

Her could feel the tension building up in her body and hear by the sound of her moans that she was near her climax. When he was sure she would be… satisfied, he let go. He got lost in his own orgasm just as she cried out his name and almost collapsed on top of him.

+~*#

Draco was bored. He sat in the Slytherin Common Room and stared into the fire. Pansy sat next to him – as always clinging to his arm as if she'd drown otherwise – and chatted about her last visit at home. He didn't listen. All he had to do was to grunt now and then or to say "Really?" and "Hm." and laugh a few times. She wouldn't even notice that his mind was on something… or rather someone else.

He wasn't exactly worried about Professor Snape, but he wanted to know what was going on. As always, Potter and his pathetic friend seemed to know more than he did. And it seemed as if the mudblood, Granger, was involved in this. 'Of course', he thought. 'Letting cauldrons explode again, were we?' He had to chuckle. He still remembered the look of complete shock in her face when her cauldron exploded and covered her in that sticky glee. And then Professor Snape's comment. He wished he'd have a camera with him. That look was worth wasting valuable paper on her. Hell, even to endure that annoying Gryffindor boy with his camera would have been worth it, if he only had a picture of that.

"Yes, it thought it was funny, too. Oh, Draco, we're so perfect together", Pansy chirped and laughed. He turned his head towards her. He hated that laugh, really. "However, I said to Jeremiah 'I know that purple doesn't go well with my hair colour, that's why I don't want it!' and he was all 'But Miss…'"

He cut out her voice once again and turned his head back to the flames. 'Oh, please, someone rescue me from a boring and painfully slow death!'

+~*#

Hermione paced back and forth in the Potions classroom. She was still a bit shaky and her hair was still wet, but she felt fantastic. She felt a tad nervous because she would be apart from Severus for at least an hour, probably even longer.

A knock on the door made Hermione stop. "Enter", she called. 'Oh, great, now I'm starting to sound like him.' She shook her head.

Ginny pushed the door open and stepped inside the classroom. She hugged Hermione and started to look around.

"What is it?", Hermione asked. "What are you looking for?"

"Oh, just Professor Snape. I don't want to die of shock just because he decides he can't take it any more and jumps out behind a desk or something", Ginny answered, grinning.

"Oh, funny!" Hermione made a face. "Actually, Severus is having tea with the Headmaster. You won't be bothered."

"Come on, 'Mione. You know I was just kidding." Ginny looked around. "But can't we go somewhere more nice. I mean, I don't have so many great memories of the Potions classroom, except for Professor Snape taking Gryffindor house points, and Professor Snape yelling and shouting at students and Professor Snape's evil grin while I'm scrubbing cauldrons for Detention…"

"I thought so myself, although I also have a lot of other, more pleasant memories…"

"Oh, God, 'Mione. Too much information", Ginny exclaimed and turned to leave the classroom. Hermione followed, blushing.

"I didn't mean that. I was talking about my O.W.L.s and the last paper I handed in. It was 124%."

Ginny laughed. "I should have guessed that you were actually talking about school", she said. "So, where are we going?"

"What about Severus' quarters. He has a nice living room." Hermione led the way.

They walked in silence. When they reached Bravado the Beast, Hermione gave the password and she and Ginny settled down on the living room sofa and talked.

+~*#

Draco managed not to sigh out of relief when the bell announced dinner that evening. He stood up, and – dragging Pansy with him involuntarily – made his way to the Great Hall.

He was glad that Pansy started talking to one of the sixth-year girls at the table and he was given a moment of peace. He let his gaze wander off to the High Table.

Professor Snape's seat was still empty. That was nothing new, he often missed a meal or two a day, but today Draco frowned and wondered what exactly happened to him that he couldn't even teach. He'd seen the man teach while gravely injured during the war. He knew that the Dark Lord had often tortured him out of fun. While he himself was far from being 'good', he'd despised the brutality and simplicity of most of the Death Eaters'. But he hadn't been able to tell his father – of course not, he hadn't wanted to be marked a traitor and then killed – so he'd just tried to keep out of that business most of the time. Seeing how the Dark Lord was defeated once and for always and all the Death Eaters – including his father – had been sent to Azkaban, he thought he'd done the right thing.

He shrugged. He'd learn fast enough what happened to Professor Snape. Maybe he'd go and check for him later. As Head Boy he knew where his Head of House had his quarters.

Something red caught his eye from across the Hall. 'Of course, a Weasley', he thought. 'What else?'

He watched the Weasley girl and Potter enter the Hall. She looked up to the High Table just as he had a minute ago and talked to Potter. When they sat down and started eating, he looked away. Watching other people – especially Potter – eat wasn't exactly exciting.

'Now, there's a bit of action', he thought, looking over to the Hufflepuff table. One of the couples was breaking up – on top of their lungs. Soon, everyone was staring at them, but they didn't seem to mind.

Draco took his chance. Pansy was engrossed in the spectacle and although he wanted to have a good laugh at their expense as well, he decided against it. He left the table, making sure

Pansy wouldn't follow him, and went down to the dungeons.

Instead of turning right towards the Slytherin Common Room, he turned left. Just as he reached the Potions classroom, the door went open. Instinctively, Draco hid behind a suit of armour.

To his surprise, it was Ginny Weasley who stepped out into the hallway. He frowned. What was the girl doing down here, at this time of the day – a Saturday, mind you – and all alone? But then Granger came up behind her, slightly red in the face. His frown deepened. Now, that was strange. Wasn't Granger supposed to be sick, suffering from whatever Professor Snape had?

"I didn't mean that. I was talking about my O.W.L.s and the last paper I handed in. It was 124%", he heard Granger say. She sounded defensively. The redhead laughed.

"I should have guessed that you were actually talking about school", she said. "So, where are we going?"

'Yes, I would want to know that, too', he wondered, as Granger set off deeper into the dungeons and not towards the stairs leading up to the Entrance Hall.

"What about Severus' quarters. He has a nice living room."

Draco froze. 'Severus?', he thought. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Maybe this evening won't be too boring after all', he mused, waiting until the girls rounded the corner. He heard Granger giving the password (wondering how she knew it in the first place) and decided to think about what to do next.