Insufferable Attraction

SeverusxHermione

Rated NC-17

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters from the franchise. That honor belongs to JK Rowling

Insufferable Attraction

Chapter 16

It had been a week since Hermione had had her argument with Severus about his bookshelf and a week since he suddenly kissed her. It had also been a week since she had seen him last. After Severus had fled from their kiss and out of Spinner's End, he hadn't returned at all. Hermione supposed that usually, she wouldn't wonder or worry where he was, but she did this time around. Not only did he leave to wherever he went, but he hadn't tried contacting her either. She had considered contacting him, but figured that he probably didn't want to talk to her right now.

After a week, Hermione had finally gotten tired of waiting and decided to contact someone she never thought she'd contact. Coming downstairs dressed in blue jeans, a Hogwarts jumper, blue tennis shoes, and her hair up in a messy bun, she walked over to the fireplace and tossed some Floo Powder into it. Green flames erupted from the fireplace, waiting for her to give a destination. Taking a deep breath Hermione said, "Malfoy Manor."

The green flames roared after her spoken destination and before long, a House Elf's head appeared in the flames. Looking at the brunette the elf asked, "What can Bimmy do for Madame Snape?"

Hermione was a little surprised that the House Elf knew she was married to Severus but shook the surprise away. Clearing her throat, she said, "I'd like to speak with Draco Malfoy, please."

"Bimmy will bring young Master Malfoy for Madame Snape," Bimmy said before disappearing.

The brunette waited patiently until Draco's head finally appeared in the flames two minutes later. Draco looked at Hermione in slight confusion before saying in greeting, "Granger."

"Malfoy," Hermione said in return. "Listen, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment."

"Sure, I suppose. Why don't you come through?"

"Um, I-I'd rather not," Hermione said, her mind instantly going back to when she had been tortured in the young man's home by his crazy aunt, her unconsciously rubbing over her arm where she was scarred.

Draco saw this and nodded in understanding before telling her he'd come through instead. Hermione stood up and backed away from the fireplace, allowing the blond room to come through on his own. Once Draco had stepped through and brushed some of the soot off his clothes, he looked at Hermione and asked, "So what did you want to talk about?"

Taking a deep breath Hermione answered, "I wanted to talk with you about Severus."

"What about him?"

"Well, for starters I haven't him in days. He's been gone a whole week and I haven't heard from him since he left."

Draco nodded, noting that it wasn't unlike Severus, but seeing as Granger was now his godfather's wife, it probably was causing her to worry. He even told her so and told her that it probably wasn't anything to worry about. Hermione bit her lip before replying, "I suppose so, but he left because…well, we got into a fight."

This wasn't surprising to Draco, two stubborn intellectuals butting heads. But if anything, he'd expect Granger to be the one to leave, not Severus. What could have happened to cause the man to walk out? Taking a seat in Severus's armchair, Draco asked, "What did you fight about?"

Hermione blushed and looked to the side as she sat down on the couch. "It's stupid."

"I'm sure, but what was it about?"

"His bookshelf."

"His bookshelf?" Draco looked over to the bookshelf, noting there wasn't anything different from how it usually looked. What could they have possibly fought about concerning Severus's bookshelf? Unless…Turning to look back at Hermione he asked, "You rearranged them, didn't you?"

The blush on the brunette's face was a dead giveaway to the fact that she had. Getting her bearings, she then said, "But I put them back the way they were, though. But I don't think he should have gotten so upset about it. I was just putting them together alphabetically by subject after dividing the genres."

Draco nodded, knowing that her way did make sense. He himself had his own bookshelf arranged the way she had been arranging Severus's books. However, she didn't realize that Severus's books were already arranged the way he liked them. She probably hadn't noticed, but even though Severus's books were alphabetized by title—despite the fact that the genres blended together—they were also put up by cover color. Draco personally thought that his godfather arranging his books by color while alphabetized was strange as well as childish, but he knew better than to try and redo it for him. He had learned that the hard way at just ten years old and he'd never attempted it again. Even so, he highly doubted that only that caused Severus to leave suddenly. No, it wasn't just the bookshelf, something else had to have happened during or towards the end of the argument, something that had to have shocked his godfather to his core. The man was like his father and he liked to think he knew him well.

Sitting back in the armchair, Draco asked Hermione to tell him from start to finish of what exactly happened during their argument. Hermione nodded and told him that she had returned home from visiting Harry and Severus wasn't home. She then told him how she'd taken notice for the first time that her husband's bookshelf—at least to her—was out of order and she took the liberty of rearranging it, thinking her husband would appreciate it. However, she did understand she was wrong for it because she just assumed he would and didn't ask, and thus his reaction of anger was understandable and she couldn't fault him for it now. But at the time, she had gotten just as mad and soon they started pushing each other's buttons, making each other madder. Then she told him how Severus told her to not say anything more, and she had asked him if he planned to shut her up. After she told Draco that, she suddenly blushed bright red and looked down in her lap.

Draco blinked before saying, "And? What happened next?"

Hermione shook her head, refusing to answer. Rolling his eyes at her stubbornness, Draco used Legilimency to peer into her mind to see for himself what happened. Upon seeing the aftermath of their little argument, his grey eyes widened in surprise before he left her mind. Eyes wide with shock he said with obvious surprise present in his voice, "You kissed Severus!"

"Actually, he kissed me," Hermione replied, her face turning redder.

"But you kissed him back. And it seemed like you both enjoyed it."

The brunette groaned in embarrassment and put her face in her hands, Draco chuckling despite his secondhand embarrassment about the situation. Clearing his throat he said, "Well, I see why he left. He probably shocked himself that he kissed you."

Hermione nodded slowly before saying, "But that doesn't explain why he'd leave for so long. And I have no idea where to start looking for him."

"I have an idea of where he is. And if you want my honest opinion Granger, Severus is attracted to you and it scares him."

Hearing Draco say that shocked Hermione so much she couldn't think of anything to say in response. Severus was attracted to her? No, there was no way…was it? He had made it clear to her for years that she was annoying and insufferable to him, even said so during their argument. There was no way he could actually find her attractive. And she supposed she found him attractive, at least his intellectual prowess anyway. Oh, who was she kidding? Severus's mind and intellectual prowess was very attractive to her and since she had been married and living with him, she did find him rather easy on the eyes. If she just thought about it, he wasn't ugly like she had originally thought. Severus was actually handsome in his own way—very much so if she was just honest with herself—but he was so jaded with so many walls up, it was hard for any woman or man to think so because he never allowed anyone close. But he had let Lily Potter in at one point and she supposed she saw what she was seeing, so she couldn't be wrong. Still, it was hard for her to believe Severus found her, Hermione Granger, attractive, let alone like her.

Before Hermione could think on it more, Draco stood and said, "I'll go find Severus for you. I'll talk to him and find out where his head is at about all of this. He more than likely needed some time to sort out his emotions considering they were rather high when he departed from here."

"Thank you, Malfoy," Hermione replied as he headed towards the front door.

Draco nodded before opening the door and stepping outside, closing the door behind him. Hermione heard the sound of him Disapparating away before leaning back into the cushions of the couch. Malfoy's words were still running around in her head, still hard for her to believe. Severus was possibly attracted to her and because of that, him kissing her freaked him out. But not only that, she had come to the realization that she too was more than likely attracted to him as well. As she thought that, her heart began racing in her chest and her face heated up.

Oh Merlin, Hermione couldn't help but think. I really am attracted to Severus!


Severus exited the pub and walked down the street, ignoring the people walking about as he headed to his destination. He had been staying in the pub for the past week and knew he should return home, but he couldn't bring himself to just yet. And just thinking about why he couldn't made him want to stay where he currently was longer.

Crossing the street, Severus continued on his way until he finally reached his destination: the graveyard. He had been in Godric's Hollow for the past week and every day he visited the graveyard, specifically Lily's grave. Entering the graveyard, he made his way through the rows of headstones until he came upon the one he was looking for. However, he stopped when he saw someone standing in front of Lily's headstone, and obviously there waiting for him.

Grey eyes looked into his black ones before the young man finally spoke. "I thought I'd find you here."

"Draco," Severus said. "What brings you here? You have no reason to visit the Potters' graves."

"You're right, I don't have a reason. However, I am here for a reason, and I had a feeling I'd find you here."

"Then why are you here?"

Draco looked at him as if it was obvious. "Granger."

Severus blinked in surprise. "What about Hermione?"

"She's worried about you, Uncle Sev. She hasn't seen you ever since your argument a week ago and she's concerned."

"It's really none of your business," Severus sneered.

The blond rolled his eyes. "I know you fled because you kissed her."

The Potions Master stiffened as his godson reminded him the reason why he hadn't faced Hermione again. He silently cursed his wife for telling his godson why he left. It really wasn't his concern, but he supposed it was his fault for not contacting Hermione to at least let her know he was fine.

Taking note of Severus's reaction, Draco continued. "You kissed her and it scared you, even though it was obvious from what I saw that you liked it, and so did she."

"It didn't scare me."

"Don't lie to me, Uncle Sev. You know you can open up to me. It did scare you because not only did you enjoy it, but because you feel like you're betraying Potter's mother in some way, even though you're not."

"Enough Draco."

"You're afraid that you could actually be happy with Granger and you care for her, but you don't believe you should be or don't want to be."

"I said enough, Draco."

"Why can't you just let go for once and allow yourself to be happy? Why can't you let yourself get close to your wife?"

"Because I don't deserve her, okay?!"

Silence filled the air following Severus's outburst, both he and Draco staring at each other though his cheeks were red in frustration. When Draco did nothing to retaliate, obviously waiting for him to continue to get whatever it was off his chest, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair almost agitatedly.

"I don't deserve Hermione; not as a friend or a wife. Yes, I care about her, I'll admit that. But being happy with her and being able to love her, I can't do that."

"You can't or you're afraid to?" Draco was positive it was the latter. When Severus didn't answer, Draco sighed and walked up to him. Looking up at him he said, "It's okay to be afraid, Uncle Sev. Caring for someone more than you thought can be scary, but it's also worth the risk in doing so. If you care for Granger, then that's great. But don't run away from her because you're afraid of the happiness she could bring in your life. If anyone deserves it it's you, especially after everything you've been through. And personally, I think Granger can make you happy and you her. You're already attracted to her. Just give her and yourself a chance; it's all mother and I want for you."

Severus looked down into grey eyes before looking past him towards Lily's grave. Draco saw where his eyes were drawn to and spoke saying, "And I'm sure Mrs. Potter would want you to be happy, too. You don't have to forget how you loved her, but it's alright to move on with Granger. Because if you don't, it doesn't make it fair to her, considering I think she's starting to like you."

The older wizard pondered over his godson's words, soon realizing that he was right. Lily would want him to move on and be happy, no matter with who it was. And being stuck in his past over someone he once loved wouldn't be fair to his wife. Maybe Draco was right, maybe he did deserve happiness. He still didn't believe he deserved Hermione, but he'd give them a chance at happiness, something he hoped he remembered.

Suddenly realizing what Draco had said ending his speech, he frowned and asked, "What do you mean she's starting to like me?"

Draco smirked at his godfather before brushing off his question. "So, are you going to return home now?"

"Yes, I think I will. I have to check out of the pub, though."

"Alright, well I'm heading home now. See you later, Uncle Sev."

Draco Disapparated away, leaving Severus standing alone in the graveyard. Severus turned to look at Lily's grave once more before turning around and heading towards the exit. Draco was right, it was time he moved on and be happy. And like Draco and Narcissa had said, Hermione probably would make him happy. But that could only happen if he no longer ran away from her, and he planned to end that starting now.