Wow! Five sports-cars are on their way to HermioneFan28! Thanks for the reviews. You asked a lot of questions, so I'm writing a big message to you to answer them haha!
On with the story. It's coming to an end and I must admit, I'm still trying to decide what should happen.
Severus looked at Karina and all of a sudden he hated her, yet he tried to stay calm.
"Karina, this slumber party is over. I really think you should go…right now!" Severus said, through gritted teeth. He stepped to the side and gestured towards the door.
Karina folded her arms, unimpressed. "If you don't want me up here, you shouldn't ask."
"I may have been drunk out of my skull last night, but I know how much of an anti-social git I am. I would not have wanted you up here and I'm quite sure you forced your way in by taking advantage of a pissed old man. Now if you don't mind, I have things to do." Severus once again gestured towards the door.
"I'm not even dressed properly." Karina moaned.
Severus took a deep sigh, ready to explode. He picked up her black velvet dress, which was crumpled on the floor and threw it to her. "You can get dressed on the way back to your room. Now get out of my room before I lose it!"
Karina gave him a look of death and left his room, slamming the door behind her. Severus sat down on his bed, burying his head in his hands. "Unbelievable!"
O
Hermione rushed back to her hotel room with a lump in her throat. She was suddenly sure that the special night she had spent with Severus had not meant so much to him, as the next night he had gone ahead and taken another woman up to his room and obviously had a more eventful time.
O
Severus regretted agreeing to do the talk, which was scheduled for that morning. Maybe it would have been better for him to have flown home that morning after all as Hermione was the only reason he wanted to stay in Japan. But he saw the hurt in Hermione's eyes when she saw Karina and wondered how he could bring himself to face her again.
He went and did the talk at the university, which was like a questions and answers conference. Severus tried to give the best answers he could, but his mind was elsewhere. Waiting for the student's questions to be translated by Yoko did not even annoy him. It seemed he had got used to his job in Tokyo, which was typical as it was his last day on it and he was about to leave.
O
Hermione reluctantly texted Severus and asked him to meet her for lunch at a restaurant she had found. She sat at a table on her own and waited for him to arrive, feeling a range of emotions. She looked at her watch and noticed he was late, to her annoyance. She never liked waiting on her own for people in public places for too long.
When Severus finally arrived, they greeted each other quite awkwardly. He sat down, looked at the menu and they sat in silence for a while. The atmosphere between them was extremely tense and Severus knew he had to break it somehow.
"Hermione, that can't have been nice to walk into…"
"It's fine," Hermione fired back, very abruptly.
Severus looked unconvinced. "Really?"
"Of course," Hermione said, with obvious anger in her voice. "You're young, free and single…well you're definitely free and single at least. Do what you want. She's more your age anyway."
As someone who suffered from a short-fuse himself, Severus tried to keep calm. "I'm not going to rise to that. All I can say is, be glad you're not in my potions class anymore."
"I certainly am glad I'm not in your potions class anymore. You were a complete bully! I found you nothing but intimidating and so did everyone else."
A smug smirk crossed Severus' face.
"Good," his voice rose slightly. "Because believe me, it was never my aspiration to be Mary bloody Poppins!"
Hermione scoffed. "Maybe it should have been. Even she does better magic than you do."
Snape sarcastically put on a sympathetic face. "What are you saying? Were you disappointed in life because I never taught you how to fly your umbrella?"
"Just…stop talking!" Hermione sulked and picked up her menu.
"Maybe you shouldn't start what you can't finish," Snape muttered.
A waitress came over and asked what they wanted to drink. Snape immediately asked for beer.
"Drinking a lot lately, aren't you Professor?" Hermione cheekily said.
"It's funny you should say that. It wasn't me with my head down the toilet the other morning," Severus mocked.
Hermione looked at him furious, whilst Severus spoke to the waitress. "Two diet cokes please. Mrs Weasley has a good point; I don't want to end up in the state she's been in lately."
The waitress grinned and went to get their drinks.
"You know, I'm practically on holiday here. So I can drink and enjoy myself while I'm away. It's not a crime," Hermione said, justifying herself.
"On holiday from what? You're unemployed," Snape sneered.
Hermione looked at him hurt, like he had just slapped her face. He noticed this and instantly regretted what he had said, as he knew he had hit a nerve.
Severus put his hand over his face and sighed. "Oh Merlin! That really was a cheap shot. Let's just stop this tedious bickering, shall we?"
Hermione still looked sad, but nodded and continued to look at the menu.
O
That night, Hermione lay in her bed, sorely regretting the way things had ended between her and Severus. She was unsure whether she would see him again and felt they were parting on bad terms.
Hermione turned over and buried her head into the pillow, feeling upset. She was about to drift into sleep when she heard a loud ringing.
She groaned. "Not that again!"
O
The hotel policy says visitors are not permitted to use the lifts during a fire alarm, so it took Hermione a long time to go down the many flights of stairs. She felt rather tired as she stood outside the hotel in her dressing gown and pyjamas. She would have felt embarrassed to be dressed in such a way, if many other people were not dressed in night-clothes also.
Hermione looked to her side and noticed a man in a kimono looking over at her. A few seconds later, he started to come over to see her. It couldn't be!
Until the end of her days, Hermione swore she would always remember her old potions professor dressed as a Japanese man. Severus stood in front of her and shrugged, as if to say, this is what I wear in bed. So what?
Hermione's face grew into a relieved smile. She chuckled, "that was the most terrible lunch."
Severus nodded. "I know. Talk about bad service."
"I know, right?" Hermione grinned, happy he had also appeared to cool off from his mood.
The couple took a moment and seemed to silently forgive each other, both of them letting the other know with their eyes. The fire alarm stopped ringing, but neither of them seemed to acknowledge this as they were both engrossed with each other.
Severus sighed. "Hermione…I didn't sleep with that girl. I don't know where to start to explain it all, because the truth itself sounds ridiculous. I can only ask you to trust me. I did not sleep with her."
"I do trust you." Hermione was not sure why, but she could just tell he was being honest.
"Thank you."
Hermione sighed. "I had no right to be jealous. I'm married."
"You are," Severus replied, glumly. "But I was unforgivably nasty. I feel…these past few days you've trusted me not to be the cruel person I used to be and I betrayed that today. I promise you, I never meant a word of the nasty things I said."
"I know, Severus. You're defensive is all."
"I don't want to be defensive anymore. I've been tied up in bitterness for so long and I'm tired of it. I want to let it all go. You've shown me that."
The couple exchanged eye-contact. Severus blushed, feeling embarrassed for showing his appreciation for someone - something he rarely did. Hermione observed his nervous, meaningful smile and and felt surprised to see him look so vulnerable; it was a rare sight. All of a sudden, she felt great affection for him. Maybe it was a stupid idea for her to get so close.
"Are you leaving me tomorrow, Severus?"
"I am," he answered, with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Hermione took a deep sigh. "I'm really going to miss you, professor."
Severus chuckled. "That's not something I hear often."
Hermione ignored this. "Because when you leave and Ron comes back, I feel like I'm going back to reality again…and I hate it."
Severus did not want to interfere with Hermione's personal life. He took her hand. "So let's carry on our fantasy for one more night…just one more night."
Hermione smiled and nodded as Severus led her back to the hotel.
Hmmm…how to end it?
