PART X

Six out of the eight Weasleys looked at her in shock.

Ron stood next to his father, a look of cold anger on his face, not meeting anyone's eye, for which Hermione honestly couldn't get mad at him for. She should have told him, and shouldn't have assumed that he'd never find out.

Molly Weasley was looking at her as though she'd grown another head, and kept on casting odd looks in Severus' direction, as though still not quite believing that he was alive.

However, the greatest reaction was coming from the twins.

Initially they had been the first to cry out…but then sly grins formed on their faces and they gave the unlikely couple a look.

Fred spoke first.

"Always knew you had it in you to be a rebel, Hermione…"

George continued. "…and you couldn't have picked a better choice."

Mrs. Weasley looked at her two sons as though they had each grown an extra head as well, and Hermione was certain that Molly would explode at any second. Her face was a deep red, her mouth tightened to a thin line, but just as she was about to say something, Harry and Draco came through the Floo.

"Sorry I'm late, Hermione…" He then saw everyone's faces. "Oh, so you told them?"

At this, all of the Weasley's eyes snapped over to Harry.

"You knew?" exclaimed Molly, advancing forward like an angry dragon. "You knew that she was with-with…him? And that he was alive?"

Harry quickly shook his head, while Ron and Draco exchanged looks of loathing.

"No, no, no, no…Mrs. Weasley, I swear that I only found out today, and it was completely by accident! I swear!"

Ron finally got up the courage to speak, though he couldn't meet anyone's eyes as he did. "What's he doing here?" he asked, motioning his head towards the young blonde Malfoy that stood slightly behind Harry, still brushing Floo powder off his robes, not bothering with his wand.

At hearing this, Harry turned slightly red while a smirk formed on Draco's face.

Hermione, seeing this as an out, gripped Severus' hand, giving it a faint squeeze, and then gave him a small look.

Hold on, she mouthed to him before suddenly blurting out,

"I may have fallen in love and married Severus, but Harry's gay and he and Draco are a couple!"

Immediately after blurting this out, she yanked her husband to her and Apparated on the spot, turning on her heel, leaving the eight Weasley's staring at the empty space where the couple had just been, all of their mouths gaping.

All of them turned on Harry and Draco, where Harry immediately began to stutter, trying to clean up the mess that Hermione had left him with.

Damn her! It seemed that she had a few Slytherin ways, and he was dealing with the consequences.

"You're…you're with Draco?"

This came from Fred, and Harry looked at him in surprise.

"Wait…the fact that I'm gay doesn't bother you, but the fact that I'm with Draco does?"

Fred and George exchanged a look, their eyebrows arching in mirror images of one another, and then turned in unison back to Harry, identical smirks crossing their lips as they looked at him.

"Harry, we've known for years that you were gay, we just didn't realize that you had worse taste than Hermione…"

At this, Harry was now the one gaping.

However, everyone else was still silent, their eyes alternating between Harry, Draco, and the spot where Hermione and Snape had stood only moments before.

The two of them popped into existence in a dim, heavily curtained front room of a home.

As Severus slowly got his bearings, he glanced around and quickly deduced that it was a Muggle home.

Stationary Muggle photos were on the mantle and she seemed strangely confident as she quickly let go of his hand and strode out of the room into the next room over. As he looked at the photos, however, they were strangely absent…as though something was missing.

They only had a man and his wife in each of them, and few of them by themselves, but something was…oh no.

He knew the signs.

This was her home. And it looked like that she'd Obliviated her parents.

For a brief moment, he wondered why, but then he quickly realized that she had most likely done it to keep her parents safe.

At this thought, he felt his heart drop slightly. She wasn't even twenty, and yet she had sacrificed so much. Her parents, most likely several friendships by telling the Weasley's about the two of them, and at one point she thought that she'd lost him, too…

…It wasn't fair.

He let out a soft sigh, and walked across the room and through the doorway that she gone through.

He found himself in a kitchen, where she was pulling out a box of chocolate biscuits from the cupboard.

Walking across the linoleum, he approached her and gently placed a hand on her wrist, rubbing his thumb across it reassuringly, trying to tell her with words that it would be okay.

She gave him a small smile, and then opened the box, offering it to him.

He pulled out three biscuits, and then watched with a small smile as she pulled out an entire handful, numbering around five or six, and then quickly shoved one into her mouth. A look of satisfaction crossed her face, and he realized that he wanted to be the one to give her that look.

They chewed in silence for a few minutes, and then Hermione gave one last swallow and gave him a look.

He returned it, and then said the first thing that came to his mind.

"It was nice to see you make Potter useful for once in his life…and the dramatic exit, I'm sure, was a perfect finishing touch…"

He arched an eyebrow…and she suddenly burst into laughter.

"I…I just didn't know what else to say, you know?" she said, holding her side with one arm while gesturing with the other. "I was boxed into a corner and didn't have a way out! And then Harry showed up, with Draco, mind you, and I just simply seized the opportunity…it was too perfect to pass up."

She grinned at him, and he found himself smirking back.

He moved over to where she stood and slid an arm around her waist, his eyes glinting.

"Yes, it truly was…in fact, Hermione, it was positively Slytherin of you…"

Her eyes gleamed as she answered… "Yes, well, you've rubbed off on me."

He gave her a predatory grin, tightening his hold on her waist, and quickly hoisted her up onto the counter behind her.

"Perhaps…but I'd rather be rubbing against you."

They shared a heated look as he insinuated his body between her legs and slid his hands up her thighs. Good lord, he could not get enough of her. And, though it was strange to realize it, she truly was his wife, and they could do whatever they pleased.

Feeling impulsive, he gripped her tightly and Apparated the two of them back to the front room, onto the couch.

She grabbed his shoulders as she fell against him, and then groaned as she suddenly slid down in his grip and his thumbs were suddenly pressing against her center.

Unconsciously, she rocked herself against his hands and he grinned.

Oh, yes…now she was rubbing against him.

Part 10/?