They spent the rest of the day in bed together. The house elves left a lunch tray discretely by the bed and they ate their meals off of each other when hunger struck. By morning they knew each other as well physically as they did emotionally. They both knew they would be sore for a week at least, but neither of them could be bothered to care.

They spent days cooped up together in domestic bliss. Despite the house elve's outraged shock, Hermione encroached upon their territory to cook when the mood took her. Severus took pride in showing her the garden he'd cultivated behind the house where he grew many of his own potion ingredients. They 'christened' every available surface in the house with their enthusiastic love making, delighting in the newfound ability to touch each other, hold each other, whenever they wanted. They acted out every scenario they'd written about to each other and a few that they hadn't. Hermione fell in absolute, utter love with having her very own library and it became her favorite room of the house, after their bedroom.

She was walking through the door of it to fetch a book for herself and calling back to Severus to see if he wanted her to grab one for him as well, when a woman emerged from the fireplace. Hermione gasped, clutching the neckline of the overly large shirt she'd slipped on. She realized in horror that she'd left her wand on the bedside table. The initial panic faded into humiliation as she realized that it wasn't a hostile intruder, but Narcissa Malfoy who stood in the library hearth, not a speck of soot on her beautifully tailored dress despite having come through the floo. Hermione felt very much like a ragamuffin standing in nothing but Severus' pilfered shirt, her hair disheveled from a very recent and very vigorous bout of sex.

"Oh, dear me. Have I come at a bad time?" Narcissa lifted one immaculately manicured hand to her lips to hide the faint smile that played there.

"Did you hear me love? I was thinking the-" Severus stopped short in the doorway. "Narcissa!" He had the intense urge to cover himself, but with only two hands, there was no chance of hiding every inch of pale skin from her somewhat amused eyes. He inched behind Hermione and hoped neither woman noticed. Of course, they both noticed immediately.

"Why don't I give you two a moment?" Narcissa offered magnanimously. Hermione wanted to hiss in outrage. Why did she feel as if she'd been caught doing something naughty in someone else's house? This was her home, damnit! Narcissa had intruded into Hermione's library. Hermione had nothing to be ashamed of. Narcissa should be the one feeling uncomfortable, not her.

"Yes, please. Why don't you ring for the elves to bring tea while you wait?" Severus attempted to compose himself as much as he could standing in nothing but very short, pink robe. Despite the humiliation, he thanked his lucky stars the elves had complained about their constant nudity several days before, or he would likely have gone in wearing nothing but a smile and half an erection.

"Sounds delightful," Narcissa smiled at them as they backed from the room and stumbled over each other in their haste to get to the bedroom.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Hermione asked as soon as the door was closed.

"How should I know?" Severus asked, nearly zipping very important bits in his trousers and going a little cross eyed at the close call.

"You didn't invite her?"

"Of course not. Do you think I would have been wearing your dressing gown if I'd know she was coming?"

"So she's in the habit of showing up to your house unannounced?" Hermione pulled on jeans and a sweater, feeling mulish and more than a little jealous.

"Not all the time, but she has been known to-" He saw the look of pure menace that crossed Hermione's face and knew he'd said the wrong thing. "Now wait just a minute. I don't mean that she just comes over whenever she wants. And she has certainly never walked in on me in such a state of undress before. She's an old friend, Hermione. Nothing more."

"An old friend who just waltzes through your floo any time she wants, apparently. And I know that it's warded, so she has to be keyed into it."

"Yes, she is. Just as I'm sure Potter and Weasley were keyed into yours at the university."

"That's not the same!"

Severus sighed in exasperation. "How is it not the same? At least I've never fucked Narcissa, which is more than I can say for at least half of that bumbling duo." His temper started to flare.

"At least half? Are you trying to implicate that I slept with Harry?"

"You know that's not what I meant," he snapped back. "And if you weren't being so confrontational right know you'd know better than that."

"Of course I'm feeling confrontational! I just walked into my library looking like a streetwalker, to find a woman who's obviously no stranger to visiting my boyfriend, and of bloody course she looks like she just stepped off the cover of Witch Weekly!" Hermione tried to pull her hair back but yanked so hard that the elastic broke. The hard end of it struck her hand sharply. She pulled it out and looked at the small red welt feeling suddenly overwhelmed.

Severus fought back the laugh that threatened to escape. She just looked so betrayed by the hair tie. When he was composed, his irritation had dissipated and he understood why she felt so distressed. If the situation had been reversed, he imagined he would have handled it worse. "Hermione," he crossed the room to pull her into his arms. She resisted at first, not sure she was ready to be comforted. "Love, look at me." Her reticence melted away and she let him hold her, tipping her chin up to look at him. "Narcissa is an old friend, and nothing more."

"Old friend," Hermione agreed grumblingly. Severus chose not to acknowledge the less than gracious comment.

"I understand why her showing up unannounced upset you. I can assure you that I am not very happy with it, either. I'll ask her to owl ahead next time. But don't for one moment think that you have anything to worry about from her. I'll not deny that she's beautiful, but compared to you she's barely even noticeable to me."

"Even in nothing but your shirt?"

"Especially in one of my shirts. You know how alluring I find that look."

"But my hair-"

"Looks like I spent the morning very thoroughly enjoying every inch of your body. I'm rather proud of this hairstyle."

"Fine, fine, you've placated me enough." She gave him a somewhat tremulous smile. Severus mended the hair tie with a touch of his wand and carefully pulled her hair up with it.

"Good. Because I'd hate to have you go in there spitting fire. Narcissa is all ice. I imagine the two of you would clash spectacularly."

"Fire melts ice," Hermione reminded him as they walked back to the library.

"I know, love." Severus chuckled.

Narcissa was sipping her tea when they walked back in, looking just as posh and perfect as she had when they left. "I do apologize for dropping by unannounced," she set down her tea and crossed her ankles smoothly. "Of course if I knew I would find the two of you in flagrante delicto I would have owled first."

"Perhaps the best course of action from now on," Severus supplied as he poured a cup of tea for Hermione and then one for himself.

"Certainly. It seems I've forgotten what it's like to be young and in love. Though I don't recall a time where Lucius and I ever stayed indecent until two in the afternoon. It must be quite the affair the two of you are having."

"It is," Hermione said stiffly.

"How titillating," Narcissa smiled and let out a little sigh. "I do believe I am envious."

"I'm sure whoever is keeping you company nowadays is doing an adequate job." Severus watched the two women size each other up and wished the tea were a bit stronger. This could go south very quickly.

"Of course, Severus. If he wasn't, I'd have already found one to take his place. You know I would have offered you the post, but I don't like to encroach on another woman's territory."

Severus thought steam would start coming out of Hermione's ears at any moment. He knew she was already seeing red, and Narcissa seemed determined to stir her up. "That was never an option for us," he grated out. Why was she being so overt in her attempts to anger Hermione?

"And obviously it never will be," Hermione added.

"Obviously," Narcissa agreed. "Severus, would you be a dear and find me that candelabra I lent you last month?"

"Candelabra? You've never lent me-"

"Why don't you look just to make sure?" Hermione suggested tightly, her eyes never leaving Narcissa's.

"Am I being thrown out of my own library?"

"You always were a clever lad, Severus." Narcissa gave him a saccharine smile. Severus looked between the women. Hermione had unconsciously pushed up her sleeves and tightened her pony tale. He'd seen her do that when faced with a particularly difficult Arithmancy problem. He'd also seen her do it before going into battle with the intent to kill. He hesitated, then decided to let it go. Narcissa was a force to be reckoned with in her own right, and she'd been the one to purposely rattle the hornet's nest. It was her own fault that Hermione was about to squash her.

Severus closed the door behind him and the two women faced each other without pretense for the first time. "That's better," Narcissa took another sip of her tea and then set it aside. "The two of us have a lot to discuss, and I think we will do better without a referee, don't you?"

"Severus obviously trusts me not to hex you into next week, or else he would have taken my wand with him when he left. That's the best I can offer."

"So hostile," Narcissa tsked. "I certainly hope you're better company to Severus. He is my oldest friend. The only one left of the original group," she added softly. Her voice then grew sharp. "And I'm sure you understand that I don't have any intention of seeing him settled with a shrew."

Hermione set down her tea cup before she cracked it. "You saved Harry's life that night in the Forbidden Forest. That's the only reason I didn't forcefully expel you from our home for even insinuating that you might take the man that I love to your bed. Don't make the mistake of thinking that my courtesy will extend any further than that. If you try to meddle in our lives, or separate us, I assure you that you and I will have a falling out from which you will not soon recover."

Narcissa blanched at the venom in Hermione's voice, but recovered herself quickly. After all, she'd had a purpose in coming to the house the way she did. "So you do love him."

"Of course I do."

"Well then, that makes this an entirely different matter." All the malice left Narcissa's face and when she smiled, this time it was genuine.

"What?" Hermione was taken aback at her sudden change in tack.

"You couldn't expect me to sit idly by while he dedicated his life to a woman who might not love him, could you? He has been through far too much to be subjected to such cruelty."

"You were baiting me just to make sure that I love Severus?"

"And partially to feel you out, I'll admit. Isn't it human nature to want to size up a new member of the pack?"

"I am not a dog."

"I wasn't implying that you were, dear. Merely using an analogy. Besides, that wasn't even the main reason for my visit. In all the time since Severus told me about your... arrangement, he's never once mentioned you having said you love him. It's obvious, of course, that he is in love with you. But what was I supposed to think? Especially after all those horrid articles about you a few years ago."

"Rita Skeeter was writing tabloid trash. She had no interest in the truth, and purposely skewed what little facts there were in her stories. If you were putting any stock at all in what she wrote, then I fear for your intelligence."

"Touche, darling. I admit that I had my doubts about the source, but even still, one can never be too cautious. Whether you see my reasoning or not is a moot point, though. I have what I came for. I'm sure I don't need to make the requisite threats about what would happen to you should you hurt him?"

"If I thought there was any chance that I could change my mind about how I feel for him, I might feel it necessary to tell you that I would find threats from you about as terrifying as an overgrown flubber worm. Since I know that I would never do anything to hurt him, with or without your input, I'll simply ignore that comment."

"It's no wonder he likes you," Narcissa said with a laugh. "You equal him in snide and in wit. Clearly you're a matched set." She rose and held out her hand for Hermione just as Severus walked back into the room. "It was lovely to see you again, Miss Granger. Sometime we will all have to have dinner together. My place, I think. I'll send you an owl."

"Sounds lovely, Narcissa," Severus said as he draped his arm over Hermione's shoulders. He could feel that she was still tense, but considering Narcissa wasn't a black stain on the rug, he imagined things had gone rather well. The blonde left through the floo in a puff of smoke and soot. "How much damage control do I need to do?"

"None."

"None? Really? I thought there would be at least one or two fires that would need put out."

"Don't get me wrong, I think she's a horrid woman and I probably always will. But I can see that in her own awful way she has your best interests at heart."

"Well. That's very... magnanimous of you."

"I still don't want her popping in and out of our floo."

"I've already updated the wards to warn us if she tries to come through."

"Good."

"Good."

"That's what I said."

Severus squinted at her. "You really don't need anything else explained or need assured?"

"Just because I am irrationally possessive does not mean that I am wholly irrational, Severus. I can see that there isn't anything between you two except a friendly history. That doesn't mean that I won't hex her if she ever rubs that barbie doll body of hers against you, but for now, I'm willing to call a truce."

"Barbie doll body?"

"Just forget it." Hermione rolled her eyes at him and laughed. When she turned to leave the library he caught her around the middle and kissed behind her ear.

"I can't believe earlier you called me your boyfriend. It sounds so undignified..."