A/N: Sorry I took so long to post this week. I don't think it'll be this long again between posts.

***Special note: Sorry if you received an email that this was updated and then there was nothing there. I posted it, realized it was the wrong thing, and deleted it immediately. This is the correct chapter.***

*******Chapter TWENTY-ONE*******

Waking up in this position is more difficult than falling asleep in it. Hermione is cold. She wakes slowly, confused as to why she's on top of the covers. Then she remembers.

Her head and arm are still on Severus's chest, which is clothed only in a thin t-shirt. He moved his own arm sometime in the night. It's out from under the covers, his hand covering hers. She thinks that if she could just slip out of his bed before he wakes, maybe he'd think it was all another dream.

When she tries to move her arm, though, Severus grabs her hand.

"Don't," he says.

"I thought you were sleeping."

"Haven't been for a while . . . I was waiting on you to wake up."

"Oh."

"Is that all you're going to say?" His deep voice feels even more rumbly with her head on his chest.

Now that Hermione is awake, she realizes just how cold she really is. She tucks herself in closer to his body. They've already slept together—might as well make it more comfortable.

Severus takes his hand off hers for a moment to perform a wandless warming spell over her. The warmth spreads from Hermione's chest out to her fingers and toes, almost like sinking into a warm bath. She sighs in appreciation.

"Was it bad?" he asks.

"Yes," she breathes. "You . . . I thought someone was attacking you."

Severus traces a circle on the top of her hand with his thumb. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing. You can't help it."

"I can tonight—Dreamless Sleep Potion ought to do it."

Hermione almost wishes he wouldn't take any. Then she feels guilty. Wishing Severus would have more nightmares so she has an excuse to get closer? Not okay, Hermione. So she says, "A Dreamless Sleep Potion won't help the cause. Isn't there a way you can work all that out of your system? Like talking about it or—"

He laughs quietly. "Talk about it with whom—you? No offense, but I wouldn't burden anyone with those memories. And anyway, the nightmares are actually better than they used to be."

Hermione suppresses a shudder. They used to be worse? When she doesn't say anything else, Severus shifts so he can wrap his other arm around her. He gives her a squeeze before saying, "Don't worry about it. It's not anything I can't live with."

They lay together a while, neither speaking. If they move, they might be embarrassed, or the tension from the previous day would return. But Hermione feels safe for the moment, even in her vulnerability.

"Severus?"

"Hmm?"

"So, about the other night . . ." She pauses, unsure if what she is about to say will be welcome.

Severus holds his breath, his heartbeat quickening beneath her ear.

"Yes?" he prompts.

Oh why does she feel like a thirteen-year-old girl again?

His arm around her slackens. "Are you sorry about it?" he whispers.

"Wha—no! If I were, I wouldn't be lying in your bed."

He relaxes beneath her, but his heart rate doesn't slow.

Hermione raises her head to look at him. Severus is looking at her, his eyes wary, but not hard. She takes that as a good sign and plunges in. "Did you mean it when you said you were attracted to me?"

He raises an eyebrow in surprise. Then Severus shifts so she has to move. He turns on his side and props himself on his elbow. From his new vantage point, he's hovering over Hermione. Her own heart rate speeds up.

"Why do you ask?" Severus asks, his free hand playing with hers.

He would be coy, she thinks. And not just give me a straight answer.

"I'm vain," she says, annoyed. "I wanted you to tell me again so I can lord it over you that you fancy a younger woman."

Severus smirks. "Oh good show, Granger." He leans down over her, his lips close enough to hers to excite, far enough away to tease. "You were saying?"

"Why did you keep it to one minute?"

His smirk widens. "Not long enough for you?"

"Feeling more confident this morning?"

Severus leans in, eyes searching hers. Then he wraps his hand around her waist to pull her closer. "You are in my bed."

"I have morning breath," she whispers.

"I don't care." He moves his hand to hold her chin. "And yes, I fancy a younger woman. Problem with that?"

"No."

Severus leans down to kiss her, his lips pressing against hers, softly but with feeling. After a moment, he pulls back, leaving Hermione with a slightly breathless feeling in her chest.

"A man nineteen years your elder?" he asks.

She shakes her head. "That doesn't bother me."

He frowns. "But something does."

"I was just thinking about . . ." Hermione takes a deep breath, ". . . about . . ."

Severus sighs, then leans down and kisses her cheek. "Spit it out, Granger," he whispers into her ear.

Hermione runs a hand up his neck and winds her fingers in his hair. "If this is because you want me, or if you've just been alone a little too long."

Severus snorts and raises his head to look at her.

"What do you expect me to think?" she asks.

"I think you don't have enough confidence in yourself . . . or me."

He is appraising her now, his dark glance passing over her face and at her hair spread out around her on the pillow. "It's true I've been alone a while," he says finally, "but I believe you have too. So tell me, Hermione, are you in my bed because you feel sorry for me or because you're lonely?"

"Neither," she says firmly. It's because I care about you, stupid.

Not caring whether he's seen her thoughts or not, Hermione pulls Severus down for another kiss. He presses himself to her, his body pushing hers into the mattress with the blankets between them. With his thumb, he pulls down her lower lip, giving his tongue access to her mouth.

Hermione groans and melts into him, her hands tangling themselves in his silky hair. After another moment, Severus pulls away, breathing hard.

Then he sits up, pulling the blanket around his waist. "I don't know about you," he says without looking at her, "but I could do with some coffee. Do you mind? I'll be back."

And without waiting for her answer, Severus slides off the bed and stalks out of the tent, swatting at the flap as he leaves.

Hermione sits, stunned, and not a little embarrassed. She's practically throwing herself at this man, and he can cast her off without another thought.

Well, be fair, Hermione. He did seem to need that blanket around his waist. But she can't deny that Severus Snape has issues. He blows hot one minute, then cold the next. Is he so full of inner turmoil that it's interfering with his judgement? Or is he just trying to string her along?

The second option seems more like the Snape she knew of old, not the Severus she has been getting to know the last few days. Hermione sighs and gets up to make coffee like he asked, figuring he'd be back after he . . . took care of things . . . and want to plan the day. Hermione grins, her thoughts drifting to Severus somewhere in the woods, using his own hand to—

"Coffee's ready?" Severus asks, coming in. Hermione blushes and turns, willing him not to try to see her thoughts. He is wearing his robes again.

"Almost," she says. She retrieves her wand from the kitchen table and taps the percolator to hurry along the coffee.

Severus grins.

..

.

..

Hermione has many reasons to employ Occlumency over the next few days. They search the forest during the day, looking for any signs of the Dark Arts. In the evenings, after the sun goes down, before they go to bed in their separate bunks, they read Hermione's books. She often looked over at Severus while he was reading, indulging fantasies about his kisses and his hands on her body. She practiced hiding these thoughts, unwilling that he should see them when she didn't know if he thought the same things about her.

One night, Severus interrupts her musings, not looking up from his own book as he says, "No wonder you spent so much time in the Hogwarts library, Granger. You can't read a page without looking up to see what's going on around you."

Hermione snorts and goes back to her book.

Severus looks over at her. "Are you worried about the wards?"

"No."

"Because I assure you they are sound."

"I'm not worried about the wards. I guess I'm just too tired to read, is all."

Severus smiles wickedly. "I don't think that's your problem, Granger."

She starts to protest his invasion of her thoughts, then stops herself. She'd been using Occlumency—she knew she had. And she hadn't felt him inside her head. Which meant he is trying to guess what she was thinking, trying to get her to confirm his suspicions by denying them. Hermione smiles and goes back to her book.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Severus smirk as he goes back to his.

Despite their veiled flirting at night, during their daytime hunts, they are all business, using Cushioning Charms on their feet as they search. The areas they travel are wild. Steep cliffs, sliding rock, and poisonous plants threaten to injure them at every turn. Severus knows most of the area, suggesting this trail or that for their wanderings.

One day, two weeks later, they find a previously undiscovered cave. It's high on a cliff, a rocky protrusion jutting out at its base. Hermione Apparates them up to it, both of them hidden by a Disillusionment Charm. Once again, she is disappointed to see it's fairly small, with no one living in it.

Since it's midday, they decide to rest there and eat a cold lunch of rations and leftover coffee.

When Severus finishes, he leans back against the wall of the cave, a frown on his face as he looks out over the tops of the trees. "Have you thought about what you're going to do if your Dark wizard isn't here?" he asks.

Hermione shrugs. "I won't leave until I'm certain."

"But if you are certain?"

"I'll just have to find another forest, and another, and another after that if I have to."

"And what if he's hiding in a huge city in China? Or the suburbs of Paris?"

"Then I'll search those, too."

Severus sighs. "Will you search the very ends of the Earth?" He turns his deep gaze on her.

"If I have to."

"Go home, Hermione."

"You don't understand."

"I understand more than you think. I understand where this road ends. You are wasting your life."

"My life is not a waste!"

"You would direct so many talents, so many accomplishments, toward one evil person? They are not deserving of it."

"You want me to go home?"

Severus raises an eyebrow. "I didn't say I wanted you to go home. But you should."

"And then what happens to you?"

"Nothing happens to me. I stay here."

Hermione tries to keep the hurt out of her voice. Of course, he owes her nothing. She hasn't even kept her end of the bargain—not yet. "I just thought . . . that maybe . . ."

Severus scowls. "I don't belong there anymore."

"But you do! There's a place for you." Somehow Hermione's thoughts of going home always included Severus. She never considered that he might not have changed his mind on the subject. So all that flirting really was just flirting. He doesn't really care about me. He's just wants to satisfy his own needs. In the back of her mind, Hermione knows she's being unfair. (Hasn't he just admitted he doesn't want her to leave?) But she can't help the disappointment that cuts through her like a dagger. Whatever he feels for her, it isn't strong enough to get him to go home.

Severus stands. "Ready?" he asks, his voice calm.

She stands, too, allowing him to take her hand. "Yes."

Hermione just closed her eyes, concentrating on the forest below, when a great whooshing sound fills the cave. Severus gasps. Her eyes fly open just in time to see a young dragon swoop into the cave and land inside the entrance. Its green skin and clever eyes transfix her, and she forgets what she's supposed to be doing. Before Hermione can think to Apparate them out, it opens its great mouth and yawns.

Just as the stream of fire pours forth, Severus grabs Hermione and shoves her hard against the cave wall. The next moment the familiar tight squeeze of Disapparition swirls them out of the cave.

They land with a thump in the forest, next to a waterfall. The same waterfall, in fact, where Hermione discovered who Severus really is.

Severus lets go of her as soon as they find their footing.

"You can Disapparate!" she says.

"I had to, Granger, or we'd quite literally be toast right now."

"Is this the first time you've been able to?"

Severus doesn't quite meet her eyes as he says, "No."

"I don't understand. Did the Potion work, after all? And why didn't you tell me?"

"The Potion didn't work," he says. Now he looks at her properly, sighing.

The beautiful rushing sound of the waterfall does nothing to soften the realization once it strikes. Hermione gasps. "You've been able to do it all along."

Severus nodded. "Yes," he whispers.

*********End Chapter*********

Thanks for reading! I hope to post two more chapters next week.