5th Year Part Four: Chapter 22

A/N: I figured we needed to deserve our M rating, so warning, slight M rated content included within the beginning- sort of.

"I'm not the jealous type, but what's mine is mine. End of story."

Hermione watches with immense amusement as Harry begins his daily routine of Cho- watch. Every morning during breakfast for the past couple weeks he had began a particular order of events which included: sit down to Hermione's left, fill his plate with food that would then go untouched as he glanced up and down between the Ravenclaw table, see a certain dark haired girl glancing up to him as well, attempt to take a sip of pumpkin juice, and then spill it in the process of looking back up to the pretty girl with his cheeks stained pink before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. And repeat for three more cycles with his attempt at eating replacing the need for a sip of his drink. At lunch he would then sit in favor of facing the Slytherin table rather than embarrass himself further in front of the girl in which he had a crush on.

Today though, Hermione waits for the ping- pong match to end before nudging the boy who looked to his full plate as if it had all the answers to the world problems. Shaking her head and chuckling slightly as he grew even redder, she whispers close to his ear, "Harry, if you shrink any more your nose will be stuffed full of your eggs."

He simply continued to stare down to his plate as she grew distracted by the daily post, opening the Daily Prophet after giving a knut and piece of bacon to the cute little owl who had held it's little leg out to her. Hooting sweetly as she giggles and pats it gently on the head, it takes flight once more as she nudged Harry once more to make him straighten up.

"Have you actually talked to her at all since asking her to the Yule Ball last year?"

Harry maintained his silence in the matter before speaking through food being shoveled into his mouth in typical Ron fashion to run away from her questions, "I don' wanna talk 'bout it."

Hermione shook her head at the boy as he quickly made his exit from the Great Hall, looking back to his table of interest the entire way that then had him bumping into several people and tripping over his robes in his hurry. Thinking through all his antics, she thought that at least he could think about liking girls through everything they had been through in the past couple years, even if it was the ex- girlfriend of the boy he had seen die within a graveyard.

Green eyes looking to the unmoving boy… anguish filling his face...

Placing the newspaper down in favor of moving her own half filled plate away, she herself was now the one to look to the silky haired girl.

Grey eyes closed forever more… a boy's sobbing drowned out by a father's screams…

~.O.~

She has finally given up on the uncooperative boys, Hermione thinks as she lays spread out on the common room loveseat, Crookshanks pinning her stomach down as he yawns hugely right in her face he shows off his pearly white canines and batting at the loose red thread of the quilt she had knitting in the air beside her. Harry and Ron playing wizarding chess on the ground in front of the fire where she lay, once again when they should have been writing their utterly useless Defense paper, Hermione falls asleep to the sound of purring on her chest, the knitting needles clacking to the ground, and Sirius talking to the boys in the fire about a wizarding army in the making within Hogwarts that would be able to fight back against Umbridge.

She was then awoken by a messy haired boy moving hair out of her face, and a crick within her neck from not situating herself when she had the chance for want of not disturbing Crookshanks who now was circling Harry's knees as he kneeled beside her.

"You can go to bed now, Hermione." Harry tells her, "Sorry for keeping you up so late, you fell asleep during Sirius' call anyway."

She patted his cheek lightly before yawning loudly, stretching her arms above her head and legs out before even moving from her sprawled out position, "It's alright, Harry."

Suddenly Ron pokes the side of her neck from where he had just walked behind the loveseat, causing Hermione to flinch and glare at him, rubbing the spot he had scratched her with his surprisingly sharp short fingernails. Her hair having fallen between the couch and her shoulder in her stretch, the red head and bespeckled boy on her other side each gazed at a light fading bruise just below her ear.

"What's that on your neck, 'Mione?" Once again he tries to touch the same spot, but she hissed and swiped at the hand he then snatched back in a hurry, knowing how much sharper her own nails were than his own. Evidence A, healed and faded scratch marks upon his cheek third year after he had apparently flung that bloody cat of hers across the room to save the creepy man- rat the orange menace had been trying to kill. He shuddered as he always did when thinking of Scabbers, of how many times he had woken up to find the rat face- to- face with him on his chest snuffling his face while he slept.

Hermione looked to her hand confusedly after lifting it from where it rubbed just beneath her ear, not seeing anything. Just as she opened her mouth to ask just what he decided to scratch her for though, her face flushed even deeper in the heat of the fire as comprehension and remembrance dawns on her.

Hot mouths pressed tightly together… hard bruising kisses suckling at her neck in repayment of the branding she had done in her possessiveness high after Umbridge was laid safely in the infirmary...

She quickly sat up before either of the boys could look closer at the fading shadow of a mark she knew she would find staining the pale skin of her neck if she were to look in a mirror, allowing her curls to cover up the very thing that she knew Harry wouldn't take an excuse for if his narrowed gaze was anything to go by. Hopefully he would forget it in his Cho infatuation the next morning.

"I don't see anything on my neck, Ron. But thank you for putting something there with your nails." She glared dirtily at him as he sheepishly turned red himself, picking up Crookshanks and disappearing up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

Avoiding Harry's knowing eyes all the way around the corner.

..

Apparently Hermione had a new routine of her own as she worked Severus' neck once again, in retaliation for his payback that prompted Harry watching her ever more closely even if at breakfast he was only deterred momentarily.

"Harry and Ron saw the mark you left on me, Severus." She told the man in question as she pinned him down upon his green sheets, licking up the length of his long neck to soothe the sting she had made while her hands carded through the light smattering of soft dark hair upon his chest, all the way down to the waistband of his trousers. "You wouldn't have happened to intend that to happen, would you have, my love?"

His voice was absolutely sinful in his laughter as he grabbed the hair behind her head to further his own darkening of his now faded mark, all in the aim of matching the new one making it's reappearance on his own skin. She bared her neck willingly despite all the trouble the last time had caused.

"I would have thought you'd have known better than that by now to ask such a question," his other hand slowly made it's way down her stomach, his long fingers making their way into her white panties. Flipping her beneath him with them still buried within her, he kissed his way down her chest before stopping to inhale the overwhelming scent at the apex of her thighs.

Hermione's head made it's way into the clouds of pleasure her love often took her too, only to have her hair yanked sharply in order to open her heavy lids once more. Severus' grin spoke of all the pleasures that were sure to come as he spoke once more.

"Of course I marked you on purpose, girl. And now everyone who sees it will know you are taken."

Hermione gasped as he bit her hip in a deep growl, purring loudly as he ripped her underwear down to her ankles to get at the very thing he claimed was his.

Merlin and Morganna, the things this man could do with every inch of himself… how he could make her mind and body sing… and scream…

~.O.~

High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge was once again touching what was absolutely positively not hers!

Hermione's instincts actually snarled in the back of her head, edging her on to do much worse to the woman this time around.

She stirred her cauldron counterclockwise, counting in her head the number of turns, all the while staring through the thick steam rising from it to glare at the woman talking to Severus. With her stubby fingers placed upon the man's arm, once again, as if she had the right to do so. While she might not have known that her twisted ankle was caused by her touching things she shouldn't have, Umbridge should have enough decency to not flirtatiously disparage the man who was at this moment imperceptibly tightening his jaw and carefully folding his arms behind his back to get away from her perfumed touch. Like he should.

After Umbridge's bones had been mended, reluctantly by Madame Pomfrey, she blessedly was less of a menace for those who were sentenced detention with her as she could no longer threaten the students with her enchanted blood quills once her wand has been found smashed to pieces. Although, Crookshanks might have also had a hand in that aspect as he had trashed the woman's quill box on his Mistress' orders in order to gain some tasty tuna every Friday as a good- boy treat. Not that she didn't already dote on him, but nonetheless, he deserved some extra. But even so, it was obviously only a temporary fix if the wand poking out of her sleeve was anything to go by.

Hermione winced as Umbridge's overly sweet simpering prompted another teeth grind from Severus, her oh so high knowledge of potions granting her the privilege of telling the Potions Master that the Ministry thought the potions they were at the moment working on would best be taken off their syllabus. Hermione could just imagine the creative slurs Severus was calling the High Inquisitor Undersecretary in his head at that moment as his eyes glared down to the short woman.

"Hermione!" She heard hissed on the other side of the isle, turning to see Draco nod down to her hand which had taken the glass stirring rod out of her potion once the turns were done and was now squeezing it to the brink of it's breaking point. Minute cracks could be seen forming from bottom to middle.

She glanced at the blonde sheepishly as she set the instrument back down beside the cauldron, watching as his eyes questioningly glanced to Severus and Umbridge before resting back on her. She tilted her head towards him once before listening in on them once more, only to hear the woman simper one last time, "You understand don't you, Severus?" As if she truly cared about offending him with the curriculum she devised under the name of the Ministry. And maybe she had found a place in her black heart for the powerful man of whom she had heard much of in the Dark Lord's circles. Much of which centered his name around being one of the people within his closest inner circle, to which she was not in but so desperately wanted to be.

Hermione turned back to her own work, commiting her mind over as Severus was once again alone, boring his eyes into her profile before continuing on his rounds about the classroom. Intent on his students finishing with the potion he had just been told was now outlawed by the Ministry.

It was a pity really. This time she would just have to bide her time in teaching the woman a true lesson, after all it would be no good if she were to have one too many accidental trips down the stairs and cause a nosy man to become curious as to why that was.

Tom may yet have cause to punish her for disobeying his new orders he had relayed through Severus once he caught wind of her last fall. Even so, his orders weren't entirely heartfelt in the first place, as he had no need to relay them to her personally but simply through the Potion Master. And the fact that he gave no mention of punishment himself other than giving her the warning.

Cause no permanent damage to the woman, Hermione.

She might yet find a way around those orders regardless as one couldn't see mental scars no matter how hard one looked to you on the outside lest you dive into their mind of your own accord.

..

Hermione's small rebellions began with prettily wrapped candies encased in pink and white striped paper, placed within a delicate little box that was then delivered to her office filled with dozens of meowing kitten portraits. Fred and George, who had simply raised an eyebrow to her asking for a dozen of their in- progress versions of prank candies, gave her more than enough to tempt the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to indulge in her sweet tooth.

So, it was with great satisfaction that during the middle of dinner the day Umbridge had received her so thoughtful gift, that she placed her hand just touching Severus as she popped one into her mouth. Immediately breaking out into painful looking boils, the woman screamed loud enough to be heard in the courtyard of the castle beside the Black Lake. Jumping out of her seat only for it to trip her as it fell behind her, she held her hands up in the air to display the boils that had been restricted to her hands as they mimicked gloves as they raised to her wrists and covered every inch of her pudgy digits.

The Great Hall filled with the children's silence, her wails the only sound in the room before laughter broke out at the comical way the woman was rolling on the ground as if she were trying to put out a fire on her robes.

Severus merely sneered down to the theatrics of the now pink skinned woman, continuing to eat as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened while Madame Pomfrey escorted the crying woman towards the familiar trek to the infirmary. Fred and George looked to Hermione with wide eyes at the familiar candies that were now strewn across the floor in front of the Great Table, although she remained carefully oblivious of the attention as she told Ron to stop spraying food all around the table in his laughter.

..

With the new Educational Decrees being pinned on every available wall, which was most of them as the poor portraits were taken down, Hermione concocted a new rebellion that would no doubt undermine Umbridge even further. As well as further several of Hermione's own aims.

She fell asleep that night with Sirius of all people's words echoing in her mind. His words of fighting back against the oppression of the new school system coordinated by the Ministry resonating with her deeply ingrained Gryffindor values.

She quite missed the quiet cooing of the portrait that had once held the mother and baby just to the right of the Fat Lady… the small boy always having had a jolly chubby cheeked smile and giggle for her as she greeted it and the mother on her way into the common room everyday…

~.O.~

Hermione spent the better part of two weeks trying to convince Harry of the necessity of forming a group of people across the Hogwarts houses that would be taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, with him as the main spokesperson. It did not at all go well just as she originally thought, although his stubbornness was nothing compared to her own in the face of something she believed was necessary. And she absolutely believed in the necessity of bringing together the children of Hogwarts to undermine Umbridge, even if she was never privy to the fact that she was being undermined. Chances were at the very least, with as many people as Hermione anticipated participating in the back alley club, she would most likely know something was going on as Hogwarts students could not keep a secret for the life of them.

Although, The Dark Lord would not very very pleased at the thought of the children learning spells and charms that would have a high probability to be used against him… but even he could not begrudge a student's want of learning as he himself was such a staunch advocate of the need to cultivate your knowledge…

Eventually, Hermione's more overwhelming personality won out against the Boy- Who- Lived's, and wore him down to finally entertaining the facts of what she had been telling him. Although, even as she tried to delicately as possible inform him the benefits of having as many people on his side of things who believed the Dark Lord had returned, as obviously the Daily Prophet was poisoning many people against him and Dumbledore, the better he would feel without the added stress of constantly arguing with his roommates as well. Suffice to say, she made him finally say something other than no to her ideas, without listening to all the facts at least.

His face was as red as Ron's often was in his exhilarated outburst of anger, "It was all luck, Hermione! I was lucky that Voldemort let me go from that graveyard, for some unknowable reason except to him and his Death Eaters," he spit out the name of the Dark Lord's followers, "It was only luck that he wasn't able to kill me when I was a baby just because of some absolutely bloody weird magic, and it was only luck that I have lived through every other life threatening encounter I have been through! You don't know what it is like to face the man who has ruined my entire life!"

Oh, my sweet boy… I know what it is like to have that bottomless pit in your stomach as you face that singular person who could completely destroy you… but I grin and bear it as always… it is the only thing to do to keep all of us alive once this war is over…

Most of us…

Hermione continued to stare him down calmly, only speaking once his complexion was his own once more, "It was not luck, Harry. You have always had people looking out for you caring for you when you have been in those situations. Be it magic, the gods, or your friends and family, you have always been looked over whether you have known it or not."

The boy opens his mouth, but Hermione continues undeterred, "Now, if you would at least agree to one meeting, one, even if all it accomplishes is to give you a chance to explain your perspective and no one agrees to defense meetings, I would say we accomplished something." She stops to catch her breath, "I will set everything up, all you have to do is show up and speak when you need to."

He stares at her for a moment before nodding, whispering, "Okay."

Hermione smiles brilliantly, grabbing him up in a hug at her victory, not at all knowing weeks ago how hard it would be to get the boy to break the rules.