Chapter 25: Meanwhile

Ron Weasley was not stupid. Sometimes he made rash decisions and he didn't always think things through, but he wasn't stupid. In fact, what he lacked in academic prowess he more than made up for in deductive reasoning and an innate ability to see multiple possible solutions and determine the most probable and likely to succeed. He was a strategist, which is what made him so good at chess. His latest move, admittedly, was not the best but he was working blind in a situation where he thought he had a complete picture.

Thinking back as he made his way back to his friends, Ron pulled up a mental image of Hermione over the years and the torch she carried for him even when he didn't want to acknowledge it. They had kissed during the battle and he was fairly assured of her affections. He was picturing picket fences and a houseful of kids next door to Harry before her lips had fully left his. But then summer came and she was…sad and withdrawn all the time and he didn't know how to help her. Needing to move on and not dwell on all that was lost, Ron saw nothing wrong with basking in the glow of an adoring public with his best mate at his side. And then the girls started hanging onto his every word and sending him letters and asking for autographs with their mouths and far different things with their eyes.

He figured Hermione would be waiting when she finally snapped out of her funk and he would head back to her with a bit of experience under his belt, pun not intended, and spend the rest of his life exactly how he had pictured it. When she started to perk up halfway through the summer he had patted himself on the back for making the obviously correct move. She was moving on, finally, without his hovering over her and trying to force her to be cheery as he had been doing when the summer had first started. She had just needed some space and time.

She hadn't come running to him though and Ron chalked it up to her needing a bit more space and time to get back to herself so that she could fully come back to him. He didn't doubt for a second that they would eventually end up together. He had gotten accepted into Auror training and Harry had, too, of course and then Hermione announced she was going back to school. Ron supported her, though he would rather she had taken the ministry position so they could get started on that picket fence situation right away. But Ron wanted his Hermione back and if school was where she needed to be, then he would wait. Emotionally. He still felt that it was for Hermione's benefit if he took witches up on their offers and built up his repertoire of skills. He wanted her to be a happy wife, after all.

And school had been in session for months and Ginny had assured him in her letters that all was well and Hermione had floundered at first but was definitely happier and getting back to her old self. His sister had never mentioned a boyfriend or really any interested party and she certainly hadn't told him that his future wife and the mother of his future children was slagging around with a Slytherin. As if the shock of her having lost her virginity wasn't enough, or that she had apparently had more sex with that bloke than Ron had had with quite a few different women, knowing she was in an actual relationship with a Slytherin was enough to send him into an apoplectic fit.

And it had to be a Slytherin because why else would she have retreated to the dungeons after telling him she was going to go back to her room, alone? She had already written to him and told him she had her own room close to Gryffindor tower so it wasn't that her room was located down there. Ron wasn't stupid. He saw the connection. She must have a Slytherin beau that she was close enough with to subconsciously think that his room was her room. This meant that his sister had to know about it, because you couldn't hide anything from Ginny. This meant his sister had lied to him, even if just by omission.

"Oi, Ron, have you seen 'Mione?" Harry called from the dance floor where he was making a complete fool of himself, huge grin plastered across his sweaty, blue face.

Ron stepped onto the dance floor, grabbed Ginny by the arm and started to drag her away, Harry following behind instead of trying to stop him. Probably because his friend looked at once livid and devastated, like his whole world had just collapsed on him and Ginny's face looked resigned, as if she knew the source of the destruction. They finally stopped in an unoccupied niche far from the dance floor, closer to the exit and more lit up which accounted for its lack of teenagers trying to cop a feel or snog.

"Who was it?" Ron asked his sister, knowing by the look on her face that she would understand exactly what he was asking.

"You're blind if you can't figure it out, Ron," Ginny responded, adding on when his face turned particularly murderous, "It was over the summer."

"Who was what? What was over the summer? I actually am practically blind so if we could fill me in, that would be great!" Harry chimed in.

"Hermione took a lover and Ron is upset and thinks he has a right to know who it was," Luna offered, having appeared atop one of the boulders like an actual unicorn, completely out of the blue but somehow fitting, as if she belonged there and everyone else was encroaching on her territory.

"Oh, thanks Luna," Harry responded, always appreciative of her blunt answers. He didn't want to think about Hermione having sex but when he forced himself to for a moment it became quite obvious, even to him, who her partner must have been. "Oh!" he said when he figured it out, shocked but not really surprised, if that made sense.

"Oh?" Ron asked, turning to his best friend. "Oh? That's all you have to say? She went and…but we're supposed to be…and now there's another guy and…and…and…Slytherin!"

"Did you expect her to sit around and wait for you while you were off getting a leg over with any girl who stood still long enough?" Ginny asked, practically shrieking in indignation over the mere idea. "She needed someone and she found someone and you should be happy for her and relieved that they found each other because we could have lost both of them. I, for one, am damned glad they decided to fuck away their sorrows instead of drinking them away or, worse, hanging their selves in the attic! You are such a selfish ass, Ronald Weasley!"

"What? Lost them both? The attic? Who would…?" It must have finally dawned on Ron who it was because his face went even redder and his teeth clenched, hands fisting at his side for a moment before he turned and punched the boulder he had been leaning against, hard enough for a loud crack to be heard. And then he dropped to his knees, head hanging, as all of the anger drained away. After all, how can you be angry with you brother for fucking your girl when it was probably what prevented both of them from taking their own lives in a bout of depression?

"She could have come to me, talked to me. He could have talked to me. Why with each other? Didn't she know I loved her? Didn't he know?"

The despair and helplessness in his voice propelled his sister and his best mate forward, arms wrapping around him from both sides, joined quickly by Luna at his back. Neville at some point had wandered off with Hannah Abbott or he surely would have been there, too.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this here. Come to the common room, nobody will be there," Ginny implored, sad for her brother and what could have been but also wanting privacy to explain a few things to his oblivious and self-centered ass.

"Why don't we just go to Hermione's room; nobody will be there either," Ron grumbled a bit bitterly.

"Where is she, Ron?" Harry asked, pulling away from the redhead and looking around the room as if she would suddenly appear if he only looked for her.

"Probably in his room, her boyfriend's, down in the dungeons. Slimy Slytherin with his hands all over her," Ron growled.

"And we're leaving now," Ginny announced, standing and dragging her brother to his feet and towards the door. "Did you stop to ask house affiliation before you crawled into bed with bimbo after bimbo? Don't you dare throw stones when you're standing in a glass house, Ron."

Ron didn't know what to say to that so he let his sister drag him and Harry out of the Hall, ignoring the curious looks of some of the professors. Something started niggling at the back of his brain, like a gnat buzzing around your head, too small to see but annoying nonetheless. It was when they were halfway up the stairs to the tower that it hit him. He stopped mid-step, foot hanging comically in the air and jaw dropping practically to his chest.

"Snape!" he shouted.

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Ginny was pretty sure her heart stopped. She really didn't want this happening here, or anywhere really. She would have been perfectly happy if Ron hadn't found out about Snape and Hermione until after they were married and had spat out a couple of curly-haired, black-eyed babies. Or, you know, never. Yeah, preferably never.

"Uh, what?" she said stupidly, hoping like hell she didn't sound as guilty as she thought she sounded.

"Snape never came back in and he knew…I mean he's a spy, right and he was there when she told me and he saw her! He stopped me from following her so he knew she went to the dungeons. He must've followed her!"

"And? What's your point? 'Mione can take care of herself and just because he followed her doesn't mean he'll find her," Harry pointed out. "Besides, the most he can do if he does find her is give her detention."

Ginny watched an idea flash across her brother's face and prayed to every god she could think of that she was wrong and he wasn't about to suggest…

"The map! We can use the map to see where she is and where he is and then maybe we'll figure out who her boyfriend is, too. Maybe she needs our help, Harry. Maybe this Slytherin bloke is using her or taking advantage and she needs us to help her, think of that?" Ron was practically bouncing like the terrier his patronus took the form of.

Ginny wasn't fooled. He was hoping the map would reveal who Hermione's boyfriend was and was making up excuses Harry might actually fall for to get him to go along with it. She couldn't let him see that map. Hermione would kill her. Snape would do worse than kill her. Ron would suffer a stroke and die and her mother would never forgive her for that. Harry would…who knew what he would do but Ginny sure didn't want to find out.

"That's an invasion of her privacy and an insult to her intelligence and her ability to handle herself," she said in her best Molly Weasley voice, hoping to dissuade her brother from asking for the map. "And besides, if she wanted you to interfere she would have told you about her boyfriend. She didn't even tell me about her boyfriend!" Ginny prayed that her half truth was believable enough.

"Mate, Gin's right. I might not like the idea of her seeing some Slytherin guy but she knows what she's doing and he can't be all bad if he caught 'Mione's eye, right?" Harry reasoned. "She isn't exactly going to fall into bed with anybody, yeah? He can't be a blood purist and he'd have to be intelligent to keep up with her."

"We wouldn't have to be guessing if we just had a look at the map," Ron insisted.

"Well, it's my map and I'm not comfortable spying on my friend like that," Harry replied firmly. "Besides, she'd hex us both if she found out, and she would find out. She's Hermione Granger. She knows more ways to make us suffer than the both of us combined."

It took some doing but between Harry and Ginny they managed to get Ron back to the common room which was mostly empty, a few firsties dotting the room and trying not to doze off as they finished up last bits of purloined sweets before heading to bed. A few glasses of honeyed mead and an honest conversation about missed chances and not taking things for granted later and Ron was snoring, head tilted back on the couch closest to the fireplace with Harry and Ginny slumped on either side of him.

"So, why did you really not want to show him the map, Gin," Harry asked. "I figure it's because you know exactly where she is and who she's with, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong."

"She didn't tell me who her boyfriend is," Ginny insisted, looking her lover straight in his unnaturally green eyes.

"Doesn't mean you don't know," he remarked as he stared right back into her eyes. "You forget my best friend is Hermione Granger and I can recognize a play on words in a blink. I suspect she is with a Slytherin but I doubt very much it's a student," Harry said with an arched brow that may or may not have been a veiled hint as to the identity of the Slytherin in question. Harry wasn't much for subtlety though and so proved when he quipped, "Give Snape my best next time you see him and let him know I'll definitely mean the unforgiveable I use on him if he hurts her," as he hauled Ron up to his feet and dug out a packet of Floo powder, having special permission to use the normally closed system that evening only. "And please, spare me the details. Just because I know, doesn't mean I want to know, you know?"

A quick kiss to her stunned lips and they were gone, leaving Ginny absolutely gobsmacked in the middle of the Gryffindor common room. It seemed Snape had Harry's seal of approval. Who'd've thought?

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Down in the dungeon chambers of one Severus Snape, Hermione was feeling very much wanted, her best friend and former crush not on her mind at all. Severus's talented tongue was torturing her with every twirl, twist, and thrust, drawing out her orgasm one slow lick at a time.

She wanted to bury her hands in his hair and grind her cunt against his face. She wanted to throw her legs over his shoulders and pull him closer to her dripping core. She wanted to play with her breasts and pull at her hair and thrust up into his invading muscle but she couldn't. All she could do was take the pleasure he was giving her and moan, grunt, groan, and cry at the beauty of it all.

And when he finally dragged her over the edge she begged him to fuck her, to take her rough and fast and deep like he had in the hallway. Severus apparently had other plans though because when he did surge up over her and sheath himself inside her tight, wet channel he did so with long, slow thrusts, rolling his hips and dragging his ridged head over her spongy walls over and over, driving her relentlessly towards another orgasm sure to be intense as it just kept building and building and building inside her.

It felt like her magic was travelling down every nerve ending and coalescing on one spot, where their bodies joined and separated, joined and separated. If she could speak actual words she would have asked him if he felt it, too. Did he feel his magic rushing to meet hers at the core of her being? Surely the dark, heady feeling threatening to engulf what she knew was her magic had to be his?

Severus released her bonds with a thought and Hermione felt that dark magic briefly leave her core and flow out of him, reaching for the ropes and then rushing back when the ropes were gone. She was so boneless that it was Severus who lifted her legs around him and pulled her arms, one at a time, over his shoulders, dropping his chest to hers and getting as close as physically possible to her, all the while his cock and his magic filled her. He slanted his lips over hers, sending his tongue on a slow exploration of her mouth and keeping their eyes locked, nipping her lips when her eyes started to drift shut. She could feel magic there, too, in their locked gazes, as if the universe had narrowed down to these two beings and the magic between them.

And when they came, simultaneously which was not common, neither could deny seeing the bright white glow or the smoky tendrils of magic that briefly filled the room, disappearing almost before the initial shudder of pleasure had died down and the first aftershock had begun. Severus collapsed to the side, bringing Hermione over top him and breathing hard through his nose, eyes locked on hers in wonder.

"What just happened?" Hermione asked when she was finally able to speak again.

"This might surprise you, nymph, but I don't actually know everything. Give me twenty minutes and we can see if we can make it happen again." His voice was too breathy from exertion for her to tell if he was serious or not.

"As much as I love…enjoyed that, in twenty minutes I want to be loose and relaxed from a hot bath and curled up under these covers for the rest of the night."

"Night? You won't be leaving this bed for the rest of the weekend, pet,' Severus growled. Tried to growl. The yawn made it difficult.

"Might make it awkward when I need to pee," Hermione joked through her own yawn.

"Hermione, pet, yawn, as much as I would, yawn, love to indulge your every whim…"

Whatever Severus was about to say, Hermione would just have to guess since the next sound out of his mouth was a soft snore. Of course, she couldn't complain since she was also asleep, her face tucked up against his neck.

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"Didn't you take Luna to the ball?" Hannah asked Neville between kisses.

"We're just friends," Neville answered. "I didn't think you'd say yes."

"Yes," Hannah breathed out as his big hands slid up under the cropped top of her genie costume. "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Yes?" Neville asked, voice breaking just a little bit as his fingertips brushed the underside of her soft breasts.

"Merlin, yes," Hannah gasped. "Do you want to go back to my room? Kitchens should be empty now; they were serving desserts when we left."

"Yes, absolutely," Neville answered quickly, pulling his hands from her tiny nipples and practically dragging her out of the alcove where they had been snogging for the better part of half an hour.

They had snuck off to the dungeons as Hannah's room was close to the Hufflepuff common room, meaning it was close to the kitchens where there were just too many people and elves to try and sneak by. Neville's room was near the Gryffindor common room and he had wanted to go there but had bumped into Madame Hooch on the way and she had given him a knowing look and a shake of her head.

So he had turned around and walked Hannah back towards the Great Hall, waiting for Hooch to step inside the doors and then laughing as they had both taken off running towards the dungeon stairs at the same time. By the time they had reached the bottom he was already tugging her into his side, his hand dangerously low on her back. She didn't seem to mind though because seconds after he pulled her into the alcove, she was in his lap and their lips were fused together.

Now it looked like they were going to take their snogging further and he couldn't wait. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, grinning broadly at her giggle as he strode purposefully down the hall. He stopped at a cross hallway, glancing down one way to make sure the coast was clear before glancing down the other way. The coast was not clear. The coast was definitely not clear. The hall was long enough that it was difficult to see specific features but there was no mistaking the figure at the end of the hall.

Professor Snape was at the other end, turned away and facing his office door. Neville took a tentative step across the hall, hoping against hope that the spy didn't hear him or notice him or sense his presence somehow. Hannah must have figured something was up because he felt her turn her head. She gasped when she spotted Snape at the end of the hall. Or, at least that's what he thought she was gasping at.

Until she whispered behind his head, "Snape has a girlfriend?"

Neville whipped his head around to see what Hannah could see just in time to see way more than he wanted to see. Apparently Snape was snogging a woman against his office door. When he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, Neville knew that he needed to get out of there fast or Hannah was going to find out something that could get the both of them killed, or worse. He took the next two steps quickly, figuring Snape was way too busy to notice. Unfortunately, it wasn't quick enough.

"Is that Hermione?" Hannah asked. "Oh my god, he ripped her dress off! Snape is shagging Hermione?"

They were so dead.