The usual disclaimers apply.

Stealing From Thieves

Chapter 10

Can't You Hear? Can't You Hear the Thunder?

So, how long is this flight supposed to be? I asked Hermione in the Gryffindor common room. It was very late in the evening and she had just gotten away from the staff who insisted on taking her out to the Three Broomsticks to celebrate her upcoming apprenticeship. I was happy for her, but I did not go along. It suited me just fine. I still had no desire to attend large social gatherings, not when I could finally read again. I would peak in on them some other time.

"It's twenty-five hours including a two hour layover in Dubai." She tucked the ticket into her travel bag and zipped it up. She sounded cheerful enough, but her eyes betrayed her worry. I wished there was something to do to make finding her parents easier, but there was nothing. I know she was concerned that when she restored their memories, they would be less than forgiving. I didn't know her parents well enough to offer her any platitudes, and I wouldn't have offered them if I did.

That is hideous. I realise my father is a Muggle, but I never understood Muggle air travel. It seems unnecessarily foolish.

Hermione huffed. "More foolish than balancing unprotected on a broomstick and travelling at ninety miles an hour hundreds of feet above the earth?"

Exceptionally so. I am quite comfortable on a broomstick because I know the pilot. I happen to be a skilled flyer.

"With and without a broom," she mumbled under her breath. I set the quill down in a symbol of agitation. She was clearly referring to the little skill I learned from Voldemort. I was not proud of that. It was a dangerous spell and only dark wizards ever really used it.

"I'm sorry, Severus," she said in my general direction. "That was cold."

I have no intention of flying that way again, I wrote in defence.

"Good, it is frightening to see. I never meant to accuse of anything," she added.

I know.

She yawned and stretched. "Well, everything is ready. Are you sure you're going to be okay just wandering around the plane if the seats next to me are taken? It is an awfully long flight."

I will be fine, you are tired. Go get some sleep, we have an early morning. Hermione's cat crawled out from underneath one of the squashy armchairs, stretched languidly and then settled himself next to me. He purred contentedly as I scratched his head.

"He likes you. I am jealous that he can see you." She reached over and petted the ginger fur ball on the head. He gave loud mwwrrrp and waddled off towards the staircase, tail in the air. "Do you wish that I could see you?"

Sometimes, I replied honestly. I wasn't really ready for anyone to see the expressions I had on my face when I was talking to her sometimes. I would have to start practising being stern and emotionless again. She stood up to follow Crookshanks up the stairs to her room.

"What are you going to do until morning?"

Library. I had spent every moment in there since I agreed to go with Hermione to Australia.

"Good night, Severus," she said before taking the quill and parchment with her up to her room. She was taking great pains to keep our conversations hidden. She was also keeping every word I wrote down. It was kind of sweet in a puppy love sort of way, but I wanted her to keep those stacks of parchment in case I needed to read them again someday.

I decided to take a leaf out of Hermione's book and was perusing through the restricted section in the library trying to find anything that resembled what I was going through. I was sure that Death had toyed with other people besides me who had lived to tell the tale. I had just found a promising tome right before Hermione came to get me to go over the schedule one last time. The book was lying where I left it on the table earlier. It was a small volume I found in the Necromancy section. I wasn't really a spirit to be summoned, but the book did not really seem to be about channelling the dead, or the undead for that matter. It was titled interviews from the beyond, and actually held firsthand accounts from people who claimed to have 'seen the light.' After flipping through the book for about an hour I realised it belonged in the Divination section. It was just a bunch of frauds moaning about seeing a bright white light, but then regaining consciousness. Some of them described in great detail hallucinations they had while unconscious. None of it was similar to my situation and I tossed the book aside.

The problem was that I wasn't interested in any kind of dark magic and everything relating to spirits and visits from the ether were tied to dark magic. I just wanted to know if I was going to be able to remember anything. I decided to search for books on comatose people and their memories instead. After researching for a few hours I could see where Poppy and Minerva got their theories on talking to me. There was a general consensus that touching and communicating with people in comas was soothing. Many of them could even remember specific conversations upon waking, even if they could not remember dreaming. It was more like someone would tell the patient about something that happened while they were out and they would remember hearing about it already. That was more hopeful, but this was more than a dream, or someone reading to me from a newspaper. I was actually living.

Just before I was due to meet Hermione for the trip, my eyes settled on a book with a picture of a Pensieve on it, titled simply Preserving Your Memories. I put it on a pile with a few other books I wanted and went to find Hermione. I had an idea, but I would need her to carry it out for me.

I found her waiting for me when I arrived in the Gryffindor common room. She was sipping a cup of coffee and looked incredibly tired, but excited. I playfully dropped a sugar cube in her cup to let her know I was there. It was a mistake though because she started violently and slopped coffee down the front of her smart looking jacket. She was dressed in a Muggle business suit, black with a skirt and blazer. Underneath the jacket she was wearing something dark pink with a bit of lace across the top.

"Ugh, Severus, my new camisole has coffee all over it!" She siphoned the spill off with her wand and smiled anyway.

So the pink thing was a camisole. Even with the coffee on it, I thought she looked quite nice. Professional clothes suited her. I spied the pen and parchment on the table and quickly wrote out an apology. Then I asked her if we had time to run to the library to collect the books I wanted.

"Madam Pince would kill me if she saw me shrinking library books and stuffing them into my suitcase like this," Hermione commented.

She would kill me too. She was never afraid of me. None of the staff were.

Hermione glanced at my note and raised her eyebrows. "And neither am I."

You need to be less jumpy. If we are to be travelling through crowds you will have to get used to me doing things to get your attention. I can't carry around parchment everywhere we go.

"I know, I am still a little battle ready, that is all. Maybe we should come up with a signal that is just yours. Something that I would not normally experience." Hermione frowned in thought.

I could just tug your sleeve. I reached out and pulled at the cloth hanging free near her wrist being careful not to pass my fingers through her skin.

Her eyes widened at the fabric tightening around her wrist seemingly of its own accord. "That is so strange, but perfect. What would hap--, never mind."

I still don't know what she was about to ask for sure, but I imagine it had something to do with touch. I wanted to touch her too, but it was out of curiosity more than anything. I already knew I felt something that one time when she passed through my outstretched arm, but I was not a touchy feely kind of person. I simply was not there yet.

The sleeve trick proved useful. I had to tug on it about hundred times in the airport just to let her know I was there. And about a thousand more on the aeroplane between London and Dubai. I wasn't able to sit near her on that flight, but I was on the flight from Dubai to Brisbane. There was a young man sitting on the other side preventing me from being able to pass notes. He introduced himself as Steve and was intent on flirting with Hermione the whole way. To her incredible credit she politely tried to brush him off, but when he finally asked her to go for a drink when they landed I reached out and yanked on her sleeve hard. The green monster of jealousy reared its ugly head and I was not about to let that handsome young man chat her up anymore.

"Oi!" Hermione yelped as her elbow came free of the armrest.

"Are you all right?" Steve the annoying airplane talker asked.

Hermione gave him a winning smile. "I'm fine, but I think I should really get some rest."

"Sure, sure, how about that drink though? Or, I could at least give you a ride to your hotel. Where was it you said you were staying again?" He was courageous, for even Hermione was looking annoyed now. I reached across her seat and tipped his cocktail right out of his hand and into his lap.

"Oh, I am as clumsy as a duck in a ploughed paddock!" he exclaimed as he got up and shook the ice off of him. Hermione put a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle. "Excuse me, while I go dry off."

When he was gone she turned to my seat quickly. "That was funny! You weren't jealous were you?" she hissed quietly.

I tugged on her sleeve twice quickly for no. I was a grown man and I should have been ashamed of my behaviour, but I was beginning to feel a little possessive of Hermione. As I looked at her bright brown eyes, my heart started to thunder in my chest.

"Right," she said sarcastically. Then she pulled her blanket up to her neck, kicked back her chair and closed her eyes. I could see the ghost of a smile playing at her lips. When Steve returned he looked disappointed to see Hermione sleeping, or feigning sleep at least. After awhile she really did fall asleep and I was able to study her face without interruption. The dim light from Steve's reading lamp accented the soft curve of her jaw. Her lashes were long and dark where they pooled across her cheek, and her lips were full and supple looking; the perfect kind for kissing. Yes, she was very attractive to me then.

I caught Steve watching her sleep as well, and I hoped I didn't look as hungry as he did, but his look was predatory, mine was not. To him she was a conquest, someone to take home for a night. It made me angry to know he was thinking base thoughts about her. I reached out and tipped his newly refreshed cocktail into his lap again. This time his reaction wasn't quite so cute and he mumbled curse words all the way to the little aeroplane loo. I spent the remainder of the flight staring at the in flight television. Thanks to the subtitles I was at least able to focus on the mindless programme playing. It was some film about a man who impregnated a woman during one night stand and they had to overcome their cultural and familial differences to make it work. I did not plan on getting Hermione up the duff anytime soon, but we were a lot like that couple. Fools rushing in, not really knowing each other at all. There was a happy ending for the on screen couple, but my life was not a movie, and it certainly wasn't a love story.

Hermione and I weren't able to speak again until we were settled into her hotel room. I left her so that she could shower and freshen up and returned an hour later. I knocked quietly on the door and she opened it right away. Sprawled on the bed were several large telephone books each opened to the Ws.

"It feels good to finally be able to talk to you again," she commented before pulling a book back in front of her. She was copying the address for every combination of Monica and Wendell or M and W that she could find in the residential and business listings. I wrote on a separate piece of paper.

I agree, though it would be nice if I didn't have to write everything down.

She smiled. "I do like your voice."

I was so unused to those kinds of comments that I did not know how to respond. So, I didn't and pulled a phone book in front of me and started plugging through the listings. There were really were not a whole lot of leads once we were through. I pulled out the last book in my pile and opened it up. It was a slimmer listing for the coastal town of Birkdale. Starting with the business listing I found a full colour advertisement for a family dental clinic. There were six faces with names on the page. The last two were promoted as the clinic's newest additions, Drs. Monica and Wendell Wilkins. There were two smiling faces that both matched Hermione's looking out of the page. I had hit pay dirt and we'd only just arrived.

I took the book and placed it directly over the one she was looking through.

"Oh," she breathed tears filling her eyes instantly. "It's them."

She copied the address and phone number down quickly and then tore out the page. Tears leaked unheeded out of her eyes and I shifted uncomfortably. I could not reach out and comfort her so I felt like I should leave. I gathered the paper and pen that had become standard.

Would you like some privacy?

She quickly wiped face clean and took few deep breaths to calm herself. "I apologise. I know how you feel about emotional people."

I did too, but she couldn't possibly think that it applied to her, this moment.

And, how is that exactly?

"That you don't like them," she admitted quietly. "I've seen crying students go to you, Severus. You have never been good for much more than a handkerchief, and to tell them to stop snivelling."

You can't possibly think I would apply that to you. I am feeling quite emotional myself for your sake, and feeling quite lucky that I am invisible and you cannot see my disgrace.

I hoped that my ill attempt at humour would cheer her up.

"You don't have to make fun of me," she said, but she laughed a little too.

What do you want to do now? Do you want to go immediately, or wait?

"I, I don't know. Now that I know where they are, I am frightened. Maybe we should just go and get it over with," she said. "We can go to the office, I can pretend I am waiting for someone and you can go in and look in on my parents."

That sounds good. Let's do it. I admired her no nonsense, get it over with attitude. It is exactly as I would have done.

On the cab ride over Hermione was sullen and focussed on the task ahead. I however, relished every square inch of Brisbane as we drove south along the coast. I had never seen a real palm tree in person having never travelled in my life, and they instantly became my favourite tree. The city was large and thriving and there were signs of life everywhere. The ocean was a crystal blue and I enjoyed myself immensely. I had always wanted to travel, but my duties prevented it. I hoped I had the opportunity to travel again with my body someday. And perhaps a happier Hermione by my side.

When we arrived at the neat white office building in a shopping plaza on Birkdale Road, Hermione was sweating. She paid the driver without saying anything and hopped out of the car with jerky movements. The poor thing was petrified. I wanted to hold her hand. She pulled her jacket tightly around her against the Australian winter chill before moving on. I reached out and gripped the end of her sleeve by her wrist. She looked over at the pinched part of her sleeve and nodded in acknowledgment, but I didn't let go. It was the best I could do.

"Thank you, Severus," she whispered. I tugged on her sleeve a little to get her moving so people didn't think she was daft staring at the office building, talking to herself.

As soon as we were inside she sat in the busy lobby near a children's playroom that housed an enormous aquarium with tropical fish swimming inside. A television was hooked up in the corner playing a cartoon. I released Hermione's sleeve and immediately went on my mission. I was disgusted by all the mouths splayed open and the noises the equipment made. I wouldn't let a dentist near my mouth for a million galleons. Poppy would take care of my teeth; she'd already offered to do it a thousand times. It was in the third cubicle that I recognised Hermione's father, Wendell for all intensive purposes, happily chatting with the young boy he was working on. The kid had a mouth full of metal, but was still laughing around it at Mr. Granger's, no Wilkins', jokes. The older man appeared quite happy. He was fit and tanned and seemed to be enjoying himself. I came across Hermione's mother from the back. She was inspecting the x-rays of some poor soul's mouth, but I recognized that hair anywhere. Hermione's mother appeared just as fit as her husband from behind, but when she turned around I was in for a shock. I didn't know how I was going to break this news to Hermione, but Monica Wilkins was smiling fondly at a colleague who had just walked in with more pictures whilst running a hand protectively over a very swollen belly.

I rushed out of the work area and back into the lobby. Hermione sat in the same position I left her in looking towards the practise area apprehensively. I reached down and gripped both her sleeves pulling her up and out the door. There were people everywhere, and nowhere would we really be able to talk. I dragged her a few blocks ignoring her exclamations to stop until I spotted a more deserted alleyway. We went behind a Baltic restaurant where I was finally able to dig into her handbag for paper and a pen.

"What is the matter, Severus? Did you see them?" Hermione asked worry filling her tone.

Yes. I knew what I was about to tell her was going to break her heart, but I could not put if off.

Hermione, your mother is pregnant. Quite far along from what I could tell, too.

Hermione gasped and leant against the wall for support. "You're sure?"

Quite sure.

"I can't restore their memories now! What would that do to them when they are expecting a child and everything? Oh, Severus, I wish I had never come!" Hermione put her face in her hands and wept. "I've lost my family, Severus. I knew there was a very real possibility I wouldn't be able to restore their memories, but now it is like they've died."

I reached down and pushed her hair out of her face. She looked up at me, her face red and blotchy, but still beautiful.

"I am going to find a phone so I can call a cab. I want to go back to England."

Are you sure you don't want to see for yourself that they are well and happy? Don't you think that would make you feel better? I understand that you are upset, but you don't want behave rashly either.

In the end, Hermione agreed to go to the hotel and take a nap before she made any decisions. She was still exhausted from travel and I was exhausted mentally. While she was sleeping I took the time to empty my mind and relax as much as possible as well. I was unable to however, so I left to go wander around the nearest boardwalk and think. I wasn't sure how I was going to help Hermione get through this. I was of the personal opinion that she should leave her parents alone and cut her losses. But I was different than her, I was not easily attached to people and was far more used to saying goodbye. The only person I ever held onto was Lily. My own mother was dear to me, but I also thought she was despicable for letting my drunken father snap her wand and use her as his personal punching bag. Hermione at least deserved my honesty, and if she asked my opinion I would give it to her. If she thought she wanted to be with me then she needed to get used to my approach right now.

I didn't even think when I re-entered the room and was shocked to see Hermione standing in front of the mirror with nothing but a towel on. Her hair was pulled up off of her neck and she was rubbing some lotion on her shoulders. It was the most erotic thing I had ever seen. I had had sex before, sure, but I had never been intimate with anyone before and this woman before me was moving me in ways I never imagined. I felt a burning in my lower body that even my ghostly form was not immune too. I was lusting for her.

I suddenly felt dirty, like a cheap voyeur and turned around and floated back out the door. I waited a few moments to collect my bearings, trying to wipe the image of her creamy skin and toned legs out of my mind, but it was impossible. I don't know how many minutes passed, but it felt like an eternity before I was able to lift a hand and tap lightly on the door a few times.

"Severus?" she whispered through the wood.

I knocked once in response. She threw open the door and closed it when she saw me pick up a pillow and move it. She was clothed again in her pyjamas, which thankfully covered her whole body. Her hands, feet, and head were the only parts exposed, but in my current state even that was enough to send my mind down a sinful path.

"I called for you, but you didn't respond so I figured you were gone," she said conversationally. She seemed much recovered from earlier. "I took a bath."

Good great Merlin and all his ancestors, I could picture her in that bath.

"I also ordered room service. I don't much feel like going out again tonight. I am tired."

I dragged some paper towards me. I understand. Have you decided what you are going to do?

"No. A part of me wants to see them, but the other part of me is afraid that would hurt too much. When I modified their memories I made sure their lives were still fulfilling. The only thing that was really missing was me. I suppose they found a way around that on their own. I managed to make them forget they had a daughter, but I didn't make them forget they ever wanted a child in the first place. I just can't break up their family again, I just can't." She started to weep again. This time she controlled herself quickly and wiped her eyes.

"I am so sorry I keep crying," she said sadly.

Don't be. Please.

"What would you do, Severus?" It certainly didn't take her long to ask.

I would try to move on. It is a terrible sacrifice for you, but if they weren't here, happy and starting a new family, then they would be dead by now.

Hermione set her features into determined lines. Her face was grim. "You are absolutely right. I may try to come back to find them again some time, but I am done for now."

I was immensely proud of her; my earlier lustful thoughts were replaced with more friendly companionable feelings. We passed another hour in silence while she ate. I read through a couple of the books I had asked her to bring, but nothing was in them that was of any use to me at the current moment. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Hermione watching the pages slowly turn. I was relaxing on one side of the bed. She got up from the little table she was sitting at and stretched out on her side right next to me. There was barely a foot between us and her pyjama top had ridden up exposing a strip of smooth flesh on her stomach. My earlier lustful thoughts returned with a vengeance. I snapped my book shut and rested it on my lap.

"I can see where you are sitting. The blankets are slightly rumpled. I can picture you leaning on the headboard with your legs stretched out before you, ending right about here." She tapped the place where my foot indeed was with her toe. I of course could not see the rumpled blanket, only my own body, and the same dragon skin boots I had worn for years.

"How is it that you can be here, so real to me, but not really here at all?" I know it was meant to be a rhetorical question, but I lifted the paper and responded anyway.

The books aren't giving me any answers.

"I didn't expect them too. Books don't hold the answers to everything," she said taking the book I held from me.

I pulled it back so I could have a writing surface. That is an interesting statement coming from you.

Her brows knitted together and I thought she was going to respond back with something insulting, but she didn't. "I am learning, Severus, slowly, but surely."

I didn't respond. I sat there quietly watching her, drumming my fingers on the book.

"You said in your letter, that you should be able to do just about anything you want if you want to badly enough," she said. I tapped once on the book with the pen to signify yes. "And you can touch Crookshanks, don't you think you could touch me if you wanted to."

I don't know. I could not touch my own body, I only know I can touch your hair, and inanimate objects, and your cat.

"Do you even want to touch me?" she asked boldly.

It seems a bit soon in our friendship for that, don't you think?

"Maybe for you, but I have been imagining it for over two years."

I sucked in a breath. I could only imagine what she imagined. I turned on my side so that I was facing her and I placed the book in between us.

"I can tell that you just moved onto your side."

Yes, I wrote. You are beautiful.

She smiled and placed her head on the pillow, but her eyes rested on the words."So are you."

Hermione, I waited for her to respond before I wrote more. Will you preserve the memories of the time you spend with me, so that I can look at them later if I need to?

"Of course," she whispered tenderly. "Will you do something for me?"

I tapped once on the book.

"Will you stay with me tonight?"

Of course.

She smiled sweetly and closed her eyes, within minutes she fell asleep, and despite myself, I fell in love. It only took a week.

A/N: I hope you guys don't think this is moving too fast. The story can't go on forever though, can it? It is already going to be long enough after all. We still have months of him being a spirit left to go through and we still don't know what is going to happen if he wakes, right? Thanks for all the inspiring reviews!