Disclaimers: I do not own anything from the books of Harry Potter and I'm certainly not making any money from this story. Everything you might recognise belongs to J K Rowling, her editor and Warner Bros. (Though as far as I know, the plot, and some minor characters, are mine.)
Summary: One usually says that "bright minds think the same", but do they listen to their hearts – especially when the minds are as stubborn as those of Severus Snape and Hermione Granger?
Author's notes: Attention! I wasn't pleased with the last line of this chapter so I have added another one. I've been thinking about how to end it for several days, but it didn't come to me until after I'd updated. Sorry...
Hi, everyone... Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. Between the problems I've had writing this chapter, a failing computer and the amount of reports and project I've had to do (and am still doing) for my courses it's a miracle this chapter was finished before summer at all.
Oh well, summer break is almost here and hopefully that'll bring some more time.
Thank you so much to all who has reviewed. You always make so happy. (And I'll try to reply when the exams are over.) Now on with the story, I hope you'll enjoy the chapter...
Bright Minds Think the Same
Chapter Thirty seven – The Morning After
Some hours later Severus was woken by something ticklish against his cheek, feeling slightly disorientated. Moving his hand to push away whatever it was that disturbed him, it came to rest on a warm and bushy, yet surprisingly soft head.
Opening his eyes he was met with a sight that made a chill spread through his body, centring in his lower regions. Hermione's head was still nestled under his chin and her arm and leg were draped over his body. Sometime during the night she had kicked off the cover and the shirt that had been short to begin with had slid up, exposing all of her slender legs and, Oh Merlin, sensible black panties and a flat, smooth stomach.
Suddenly the young woman stirred against him. Letting his fingers slide through her hair as she opened her eyes, he murmured, "Good morning, cara."
His deep voice sent shivers through Hermione, causing her breath to catch as his words washed over her.
"Good morning..." the she replied sleepily, turning her head so she could press her lips against his as her fingers played with the fabric covering his chest, massaging gently.
Her hand tentatively started to move lower, her arm accidently brushing his pelvis, and he felt his heated blood rush to places he did not want it, especially not in front of her.
In an attempt to regain his composure, Severus closed his eyes and started to slowly count to ten in is head... Backwards... In Latin.
Her fingers stroked over his ribcage, gently tracing the outline of his lower ribs through his nightshirt. She could feel butterflies fluttering around nervously inside of her. She wanted him to make love to her, but...
She didn't know how to approach him. He was older than her and so much more experienced.
Not that that was very difficult, she snorted mentally.
She had tried to tell him. Yesterday with her kisses, today with the playing of her hands and the "accidental" brush with her arm. It should be subtle enough for a Slytherin, shouldn't it? Of course, she could probably sum up enough Gryffindor courage and recklessness for a more obvious approach, but something stopped her.
Because what if he didn't want her? That was why she had tried to make her touches seem accidental, like she wasn't really aware of what she was doing. She knew she wasn't very attractive. Her hair was bushy and unmanageable and she was pale and thin, her skin too freckly and her hands always stained with ink. No, he surely wouldn't want her once he saw her without the protection of her robes.
And even if he did... Hermione didn't consider herself to be very vain, yet she wanted to be sure that he wanted her the same way that she wanted him. She wanted him to be the one to approach her, to kiss her and caress her, to whisper in her ear that he couldn't stop thinking about her, that he needed her; as unlikely as that might be.
Severus focused on keeping his breathing under control as he thought of everything but the young woman and her straying fingers. She shifted beside him, bringing her hand higher again, but as she did her arm once again brushed him, causing him to feel each of his heart beats resonate through his body.
He told himself very sternly that it was nothing but innocent cuddling from her side, that she didn't mean anything by it, that she didn't understand what she was doing and hence that his body should stop expecting anything. But that didn't mean he didn't want her.
Oh, he wanted her. He wanted her so badly he felt the need to throw her out of his bed, his rooms, before he did something completely unforgivable.
She was so mature in so many ways, but in this she was still so naive. He strongly suspected – hell, he knew – that what they had done yesterday was as far as she had gone with anyone and he very much doubted that she knew what her innocent caress did to him. And the last thing he wanted was to take things too quickly for her.
Capturing her hands, holding them still against his chest, he kissed her, at first soft and slow, then more demanding, forcing her lips to open for him, but when she started to respond, Severus broke the kiss.
"You should get back to your room and prepare for breakfast. It would not do if we didn't turn up." It was a testament to his strength of will that he actually managed to get the words past his lips.
Hermione didn't know if she should be disappointed or grateful because as much as she wanted him, if she was completely honest, the thought of being intimate with him made her slightly nervous as well even though she new that rationally she really didn't have a reason to be – she was hardly the first girl in history to loose her virginity and she had read several books on the topic.
With these thoughts running through her head, she placed a kiss on his cheek and rose from the bed, smoothing the slightly wrinkled shirt down before picking up her discarded dress and heading for the bathroom to change, leaving Severus to letting his head fall back against the headboard as he rubbed his fingers against his face, reminding himself that what he had done was the proper thing to do, the only thing to do.
Hermione brushed her teeth that night with no thoughts whatsoever on what she was doing, a lifetime of practise still causing her to follow the familiar pattern she had learnt as a small girl. Though truth been told she had been hard pressed to keep her mind from wandering most of the day.
Had she done something wrong? Everything had seemed to go fine. He had seemed to like her touches. She even thought she had felt...
And he had kissed her like that. But then he had just sent her away. What had she done? Didn't he want her?
How silly she was. Why would he?
Spitting into the sink, she rinsed her mouth before taking the bottle of Listerine from the shelf, pouring a mouth full into a small glass.
But, oh, she wanted him. She had never felt the hysterical need to lose her virginity like some girls seemed to do, she had never even been very interested in sex, but neither did she harbour the ridiculous notion to save herself for marriage. Her body was her own to do with as she pleased and not some future husband's.
And lately she had found herself thinking about it more and more often.
At night when she was lying in her bed, before she drifted off to sleep, she found herself fantasising about what it would be like to make love with Severus, to feel his lips leave hers and travel down her body, to hear him groan as she did the same, to feel him touch her and to feel him deep inside her, hot and hard.
And she thought about living with him, of carrying his child and of raising a family with him, of spending her life together with him.
She knew she sounded like a cheesy romance novel, even to her own ears, but she just couldn't help herself.
Severus was laying in his bed the next morning, loath to leave the its warmth yet knowing he would soon have to if he was going to make it to breakfast in time.
He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Hermione since she had left his room and his bed. And it wasn't for lack of trying. He would have to stop thinking about her like that or he would drive himself mad. Just because he was finding it increasingly hard not to think about having her didn't mean that she did. And he would wait until she was ready, no matter the opinion of his wayward body.
Though thoughts of her had almost caused him to botch a potion the day before. He had thought that perhaps some brewing would help distract him, but he had kept seeing Hermione in his mind, seeing her laying there next to him, his shirt doing very little to cover her body and before he had been able to stop himself his mind had conjured images of letting his hands and lips trail across the soft skin of her stomach, of her sighing his name like she had when he had kissed her and of feeling her hands travel underneath his nightshirt as she gently removed it.
With a groan he threw off the covers and left the bed determined to take a shower, a very cool shower.
A few days later, Hermione was brewing one of the potions on the syllabus developed for her while Severus sat by his desk with some of the essays he hadn't managed to correct in the days between Christmas and New Years when the Potions master suddenly broke their comfortable silence.
"Miss Granger, I thought you might be interested to know that one of your friends is coming for a visit tomorrow."
Looking up from her cauldron, Hermione gave him a questioning look.
"Bill Weasley wrote to me about a week ago and inquired about the spell and potion used on Mrs Black's painting. I expect him here at ten o'clock and he will probably remain until dinner. If you are interested and the professors you were supposed to have classes with agree, you are welcome to join us."
"Thank you, Sir. I will ask them at dinner." Hermione replied in the same formal tone they always applied in the classroom, before returning to her potion.
Hermione's potion had been left to simmer over night, but needed to be completed in the morning so a little after nine the next day she was entering the dungeon classroom. Greeting Severus politely, she hurried over to her cauldron. Quickly grinding some dried thistle, she added it to her cauldron and started to stir it with strong, fluent movements that managed to impress even the dark clad man observing her.
As Hermione poured the fuming potion into vials a knock suddenly sounded from the door.
"Enter!" Severus called sharply without looking up from his papers.
The door creaked open and a mop of long, red hair appeared followed by the rest of the young man. "Good morning, Professor Snape."
"Good morning, Mr Weasley." Severus replied as he scribbled an A in the upper left corner of the parchment. "Oh, go on. You can greet Miss Granger." he continued, waving is hand dismissively as he grabbed the next essay.
"Hermione!" the redheaded man exclaimed as he swung her around. "It's good to see you again. I didn't expect you to be here."
"Bill Weasley!" Hermione laughed. "Put me down!"
Obeying, he replied, "Of course, Miss Granger."
"Mr Weasley, it may be nine years since you were my student, but I would appreciate if you refrained from making a fool of yourself." Snape cut in dryly. "And that applies you as well, Miss Granger."
"Yes, Sir." Hermione replied in a more composed voice before turning back to Bill. "It's good to see you too. How are Fleur and Maximilian?"
"Oh, they are both fine. Now, how come you are here? Aren't you supposed to have classes with the other professors as well?"
"Well, Professor Snape very kindly allowed me to join in today."
After having spent the day studying the theory behind and development of Severus's sticking spell, Hermione, Severus and Bill joined the rest of the current residents of Hogwarts for dinner.
"I had forgotten how good the food was here." Bill said cheerfully. "My compliments to the house elves."
Severus focused on his dinner, more than content with letting his colleagues talk to Bill as he let his mind wander. He would never admit it out loud, but he had thoroughly enjoyed himself today. It had been a long time since he had spent any time with experimental spells and he had to admit that he had missed it. His potions would always remain his true passion and he might refer to Minerva's and Filius's subjects as foolish wand waving, but that didn't mean that he couldn't appreciate the art of a cleverly composed spell.
Though there was something quite unnerving with today as well. He wasn't old, especially not from a Wizarding point of view, but there was something about meeting former students that made him feel as old as Hogwarts itself. Severus couldn't help but wonder how Albus, Minerva, Filius and the others did it. He was their old student for Merlin's sake and he was their colleague.
Looking up from his plate, he found himself looking straight into Hermione's eyes.
Ah, yes... What he did not want to think about. What he tried more than anything to keep from thinking about. He was actually surprised over how seldom his mind wandered to that particular subject. Hermione was so mature and behaved in such an adult way that it was far too easy to forget that she was more than 20 years his junior. But every now and then those thoughts came creeping. He didn't think that she minded – though she most likely would when he got old and gray and she was still young – but everyone else would. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve a grumpy old man whom her friends detested and the rest of the Wizarding world looked at with quite a bit of apprehension, war hero or not.
But, he was a selfish bastard and when Hermione smiled slightly at him before returning to the conversation she was having with Vector, he couldn't help but conclude that he didn't care. She was his and as long as she wanted him, he would do everything in his power to keep her. And then everyone else could think what the hell they wanted.
As the dinner came to an end and people started to rise from their seats to retire for the night, Hermione felt a hand on a shoulder. Turning around she came eye to eye with Bill.
"Hermione, do you have a few minutes to spare?" he asked.
"Of course. We can have tea in my room if you like." the brown haired girl replied with a smile.
As they walked through the corridors towards Gryffindor tower they kept up a light conversation. They talked about Maximilian, Hermione's classes and Bill's latest assignment. But though he enjoyed the conversation, Bill couldn't keep his thoughts from wandering. It was like a particularly intricate curse. Everything looked completely normal on the surface, but there was this feeling that something was different, that you needed to keep your senses alert.
Oh well, he would hopefully soon have the answer to whether or not there were any curses simmering under that calm surface.
Author's notes: Well, I hope you weren't too disappointed. It was very difficult to write. I wanted to capture the feeling that they both want each other, but aren't really ready (because that's where I feel they are at the moment), but I have no idea if I managed. Oh well, I hope you liked it (and sorry for the abrupt ending). Thanks for reading.
Btw, the 9 years since Bill left school is based on information found on Harry Potter Wiki so I hope it's correct :-S.