I am sooooo sorry that I have not updated until now. Life, practice for a dance performance and work stole all of my time. But with the dancing clothes finished, the performance done and a big assignment done for work I should be getting back on the writing track again :o)

I hope that where ever you live, the spring sun is shining on you!

Snape sat at the diningroom table waiting for Hermione to come to dinner. But the clock was ticking past eight and Snape sighed.

Hermione had lived with him for almost a week now, and she had managed to keep the dining times so far. Their days had been filled with working together. There were very few parts of her mind that Snape did not know by now. They also seemed to be able to draw nearer to the time when they would find her repressed memories. One part of Hermiones internal library appeared to be locked off, when they would find out how to get in there, Snape was sure they would start to get somewhere.

But today she had been nowhere to be seen, and Snape knew why. He only had himself to blame, he had given her the one thing that could distract her from everything else, books.

Hermione had been eager to learn more magic, and this morning an owl arrived with all the books Snape had ordered for Hermione. They were the same school books she had read the first few years at Hogwarts and would give her a good basis he had though. But her eagerness when it had come to learning new things had not diminished since she was a child.

Snape sighed again and stood up, he better go find the darn woman.

Before he even had time exit the room Norrie appeared in front of him. "Master! You be looking for Missus? She down by river, Norrie forgets to tell Master." The elf looked gloomy and a little fearful.

Snape knew he was slowly getting softer and really should do something about it, but felt like yelling at the elf would only make Norrie even more annoying. It had actually taken Snape a few years to make the elves stop hurting themselves when ever they did something wrong, and he did not want to go back to elves burning, cutting or hitting themselves.

"Don´t worry, I will go get her." Snape said over his shoulder while walking to the back door.

It took a few minutes to walk down to the small river, well it was more of a creek really. But at some time in the past it had been named Nightingale river, so it was a river at least by name if not by size or flow. Before Snape saw Hermione he heard her. A girlish giggle wafted through the air towards him. As he arrived at the river bank Snape saw Hermione sitting in the small and slightly forgotten gazebo with flowers slowly spinning around her.

Snape cleared his throat and Hermione turned around, and with that her concentration was broken and the flowers all sailed down on the gazebo floor around her. "Oh Severus, the book of charms is just delightful, I feel like I am living in a childrens story book where dreams come alive around me." Hermiones smile was contagious and Snape found himself giving the woman a small smile. "Well, as in the stories apparently time does not play a large part either at the moment it seems. I know you missed lunch, but I had assumed you would be hungry enough to come to dinner on time at least."

Hermione gave up a little laugh. "Oh goodness, I must have totally lost track of time. With ordinary books I usually get cought up in the 'just one more chapter' syndrome, now it seems I have gotten stuck in the 'just one more spell' syndrome as well. I just can´t seem to put the books down."

Snape walked up the two steps onto the gazebo and sat down on one of the benches lining the walls. "Well, I see I should only have gotten you one book at the time. But I am hungry and don´t want a fainting woman on my hands because of lack of food, so finish the spell you are playing with now and then come back with me to the house."

Hermione smiled up at Snape and picked up her wand again, but hesitated slightly. "It is a lovely night Severus, it is still warm and the sun will be setting in a little bit it seems. Would you mind terribly if we eat out here?"

Snape looked at Hermione with amusement and gave her a slight nod. "I guess that with a little wand waving I can make this place look fairly proper for a dinner." Snape snapped his fingers and Norrie arrived looking eager. "Norrie, go get a blanket and make us two plates of food. Bring what ever more we might need for a meal here, oh and a nice red wine as well I think." Norries smile widened and he was gone again with a pop.

Snape took out his wand and with a few waves and some muttered incantations the gazebo was clean, the paint looked fresh and the benches again all looked like they could be sat on without getting large splinters in the behind.

A few minutes later Snape and Hermione sat crosslegged on a thick green blanket with a feast around them. It seemed Norrie had decided to bring everything edible in the kitchen and it all tasted wonderfully. Hermione had noticed that she was indeed starving and tried a little of everything.

When they had finished in companionable silence Hermione lay down on her back patting her belly. "Oh, I should not have had those last crackers, but I am a sucker for brie. Thank you for indulging in my al fresco meal." And with that she lay her hand on Snapes knee for a while before putting both hands behind her neck looking up at the ceiling just listnening to the birds chirping around them.

Snape frowned and filled up his glass with his favorite wine. Hermione was constantly touching him, and it annoyed him greatly. He had never been the kind of person that inspired people to touch him in any way that was not violent or demeaning, and it made him cringe slightly every time Hermione touched him. The only thing that annoyed him more, was when she did not touch him...