Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

The wind howled loudly outside the windows, making the wood and glass rattle in the frames. Autumn was well and truly at the door.

It was the final day of August, and the next day Severus would be returning to Hogwarts as his primary residence, and Hermione would be starting her apprenticeship at St. Mungo's. Harry had moved out of Spinner's End just a few days before, and Hermione had spent the past couple of days helping out with setting up the Quibbler's new office space in Grimmauld Place. It had been remodelled to make way for the printing press and a work rooms, and Hermione found herself impressed by just how much Harry had grown as a person in just over twelve months.

Severus had been busy at Hogwarts every day, going through his curriculum and class plans for the first half of the school year, so she had only seen him at dinner every night for almost a week. Hermione knew that she would have to find a way to quickly get used to seeing even less of him because he was hardly going to have any time at all at Spinner's End during the school term. Even if he did have a weekend off from Hogsmeade or Head of House duties now and again, he would most likely have marking to do.

She imagined she would most likely be somewhat preoccupied with her own learning too, so the fact that they were both going to be busy would help distract them from not seeing one another – or so she hoped.

That day while he was away at the castle, Hermione had decided to plan a nice evening for them before the real world overtook their lives, and had prepared a nice dinner. She'd gotten a hold of his favourite bottle of wine, had lamb shanks slowly cooking in a sous vide, and had all of the sides ready to finish when it was closer to the time he would return from the school. She had found a nice black dress to wear that she had chosen very carefully, along with the undergarments she would wear beneath it.

She had determined that she was ready to move forward with a more physical relationship with him several days beforehand, but thought that she should try and make the occasion special. So, she had planned in secret, and mentally prepared herself for what she was hoping to do that evening with her hopefully soon-to-be lover.

She left the kitchen with all of her ingredients preserved with a stasis spell, and decided to head over to Grimmauld Place to check on Harry before she would return and complete her preparations. Severus had opened the Floo to Grimmauld Place that was keyed to her magic so that she would no longer need to Apparate to the park and walk to get there. She tossed a little powder into the fireplace in the sitting room, and when the green flames sprung forth, she stepped into them and spoke her destination, stepping out of the fireplace in the front sitting room at the other end.

'Harry?' she called out as she walked out into the hall.

'I'm in the office,' he called back to her.

Hermione made her way up the flight of stairs to the next floor landing, and walked through the nearest door to the right, finding Harry at his work desk, looking over a thick stack of papers. He was rubbing his scar, his brows furrowed in concentration. She smiled, walking into the room and plopping herself down in the chair opposite him. It was so strange seeing Harry this serious, but he was really taking it all in his stride.

'How is it going today?' she asked.

He put the paper down with a heavy sigh. 'Being the Boy-Who-Defeated-The-Dark-Lord is such a pain sometimes,' he said, sitting back in his chair and looking up at her. 'I have a mountain of resumes to go through, and so far there are no contenders for the part-time positions we advertised.'

Hermione chuckled. 'I'm sure that you'll find someone,' she said, trying to reassure him. 'Where is Luna, by the way?'

'She went to Diagon Alley just to finish picking up her school supplies. I think she was going to help get through this pile when she gets back, and then we will try and sort out layout for the return issue we are hoping to release at the start of October,' he answered.

'Let me help you go through them now,' Hermione said firmly. 'I am already prepared for my day tomorrow and I have a couple of hours to kill.'

'How is Severus, by the way?' Harry asked.

Hermione felt her stomach turn. She had managed to put off talking to him about Severus for the Summer, but she knew that keeping part of her life from her best friend was putting a strain on her and she hated being so dishonest. She took a deep, steadying breath, wondering what the best way to slide it into the conversation would be.

'He's well,' she answered. 'He will be at Hogwarts from tomorrow morning right through the school term. It's going to be really strange being at home without him.'

'The offer still stands if you wanted to move in here,' he offered.

She snorted a laugh. 'Not bloody likely,' she replied. 'Severus has linked up the Floo to his chambers at Hogwarts, so if I need him, I can always call on him.'

'That's very decent of him,' Harry said, looking surprised.

'Harry…' she began, twisting her fingers in her lap nervously. She couldn't really see a natural way to bring it up, so she was going to have to just rip off the band-aid. 'I have something to tell you.'

'What is it?' he asked, his expression becoming concerned.

'You must promise me you wont overreact…'

'Did Severus do something to you?' he demanded, his voice gaining volume.

'Don't be daft,' Hermione said, shooting him a chastening look. 'Severus would never harm me.'

'Well, spit it out then.'

'Severus and I are dating!' she shouted.

His jaw dropped. 'You? And Severus?' he said, flabbergasted. 'Hermione, are you sure?'

She laughed then. 'Of course I'm bloody sure,' she said with a smile. 'At least I hope that it's Severus I'm in a relationship with. Otherwise he is a very convincing facsimile.'

'Since when?' he asked, seriously.

'Since we gave my parents back their memories…'

'That was seven weeks ago! How could you not tell me?'

'To be honest, I wasn't sure how you would feel about it,' she answered. 'I was so happy that you two were able to bury the hatchet, so to speak, and you are friendly. You were both going beyond just tolerating each other and building your own sort of quasi-friendship. I didn't want to get in the way of that.'

Harry had the grace to appear a little sheepish then. 'You have a point. And my reaction now has probably justified your decision to keep me out of the loop for so long,' he admitted. 'Does anyone else know about it?'

'I confided in Ginny recently,' she said quietly. 'Poppy Pomfrey guessed it for herself.'

Harry smiled, shaking his head. 'Every time I think I am getting better at picking up on social cues, I am reminded that I'm not nearly as perceptive as I think I am,' he said, picking up a sheet off the pile. 'I feel like I should be more disturbed by the fact that you are dating our old professor. I mean, he went to school with -and was in love with- my mum. I'm not going to try and convince you not to date him, but I just wanted to be sure you remember all of the facts.'

Hermione nodded. She understood perfectly where Harry was coming from. For more than twenty years of his life, Severus Snape had been in love with Lily Potter – even after she had been murdered, he had clung to the memory of her. And sometimes the knowledge of that would creep in and make her feel some doubts. She didn't resent Lily or the memory of her though – she had been are part of Severus's life, and that was just the way it was. But she wanted to believe that this had no bearing on any feelings he might have for her.

'I understand why you are concerned for me, Harry. But Severus having loved your mother isn't a problem for me,' she said, reaching over to grasp his free hand. 'It's actually nice to know that he is capable of love – if he could love someone so much that he would sacrifice everything to save her son, well…isn't that a sign he could love me that way one day?'

Harry nodded. 'I never thought of it that way, but you do have a point.'

'I am very fond of him, Harry,' she said, her voice low and serious. 'I think we have a lot of long-term potential. I've never really had such strong feelings for anyone in this way before – not even Ron. I know it's probably difficult to wrap your head around, but I find Severus incredibly attractive.'

Harry flinched a little at that and she chuckled. 'You are right about that one, but I am still baffled that Luna finds me attractive,' he said, blushing at the mention of his girlfriend.

'How is it going between you two?' Hermione asked, somewhat relieved that the conversation focus had switched over to his relationship.

Harry's face went red. 'It's good,' he said, looking down at the desk in front of him. 'Luna is wonderful. I fully intended to have a break from the drama of relationships after Ginny, but honestly, we just clicked, and with Luna there is no drama. Things are easy. We talk about everything openly and honestly. I think it just fits.'

Hermione was thrilled for him. 'Luna is a very special person, in the best way,' she said. 'I've never seen you like this with someone – neither Cho nor Ginny were a good fit for you. Neither one of them brought out the best in you the way she clearly does.'

'I think I might be falling in love with her,' he admitted shyly.

Hermione squeezed his hand. 'That is wonderful,' she told him, and she meant it.

Harry's life had been hard – from his horrid upbringing by his Muggle relatives, to the insanity that had been their years at Hogwarts, he'd had very little pure happiness in his life. And here he sat before her, beaming from the inside.

The two of them smiled at one another and Hermione pulled the pile of resumes towards her and split them down the middle, pushing one pile towards him and taking the other for herself to tackle. They read in companionable silence, until Hermione was cross-eyed and baffled, but had gotten through her stack of the resumes. There had been many terrible CVs that were not relevant to the field and clearly just sent to Harry because he was famous, but she had found a small number of potential interviewees. She looked at her watch and saw that it was only a couple of hours until Severus would be due home.

She put the select few resumes in the desk in front of Harry, placing the rest in the wastepaper basket beside the desk for disposal. 'These ones have potential,' she told him, gesturing to the select few on the desk. 'You should try to set up interviews with them as soon as possible.'

He looked at her gratefully. 'You are a gem.'

'I've got to get home to clean up and finish making dinner,' she informed him.

'Got a hot date planned?' he teased.

'Something like that,' she answered, throwing him a cheeky smile.

'Hermione?'

'Yes?'

'I'm happy for you, really,' Harry told her.

'I know you are,' she said, walking around the desk and giving him a quick hug. 'I'll see you soon, okay?'

'Good luck for your first day tomorrow!' he sung out after her as she walked out of the room.

Hermione made her way back to the sitting room and used the fireplace to Floo back to Spinner's End. Once there, she went upstairs and showered, getting rid of any unwanted body hair, dressing in the black lace undergarments she had bought, along with the fitted black dress, and she carefully treated her hair so that the curls would dry nice and defined, rather than turning into a frizzy mess. She didn't apply a lot of makeup because she honestly didn't enjoy wearing it, so she opted for a waterproof mascara and clear gloss.

Looking into the mirror in her room, she was fairly satisfied that she looked pretty, but not like she was trying too hard. Hopefully, the small amount of effort she had put in would not go unnoticed. She put on a pair of wedge sandals and made her way down to the kitchen. She used a spell to set the table simply for their meal, adding a small candle she had made herself that smelled like a pine forest. Once she was satisfied with that, she turned to the task of preparing the remainder of their meal.

A little under an hour later, she heard the Floo activate from the sitting room fireplace. The sound of Severus's boots alerted her to the fact that he was heading to the kitchen.

Although she had been relatively calm all day, her nerves decided to catch up with her and she could feel a ball of anxiety forming in her stomach as Severus approached. He slid through the panel and into the kitchen, and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her. She looked up at his face and saw that his dark eyes were practically molten, and she noticed an almost imperceptible twitch at the corner of his mouth.

'Is it too much?' she asked shyly, clasping her hands together in front of her.

He strode across the room to her in three steps and engulfed her within his arms, and his lips were immediately on hers in a bruising kiss. She felt her body relax against his in relief and kissed him back hungrily, her hands coming to rest on his strong shoulders. The kiss ended almost too soon for her liking because the feeling in her stomach had gone from nerves to arousal, all from the touch of his lips and tongue to her own. He pressed his forehead to hers, breathing harshly.

'This is… astounding,' he said, gently releasing her and looking to the table she had set. 'I do not deserve this.'

'Nonsense,' she refuted, ushering him to the table and gesturing for him to sit.

'No one has ever done something like this for me before,' he said, his voice low.

She smiled, walking over to the table with two plates of the meal she had prepared – slow cooked lamb shanks with truffle mash and greens. She summoned the wine she had left to breathe on the bench and placed the plates on the table. He eyed the meal appreciatively, but his mouth went slack when he saw the bottle of wine.

'How did you know I enjoyed this?' he asked, picking it up and pouring their glasses.

'Poppy told me,' she said with a grin.

'Poppy knows?!' he exclaimed, almost dropping his wine glass.

'I also told Harry today,' she added lightly, sitting across from him and picking up her wine glass.

An unfamiliar expression crossed his face, and she filed it away to try and figure out what it meant for later. He lifted his glass out towards her, and she met him in the middle, clinking it against his gently.

'Thank you for this spectacular meal you have prepared for us,' he said, looking into her eyes. 'You have no idea how much I appreciate the effort you have gone to – in everything. You're starting to make me look bad.'

She laughed softly. 'It's not a competition, Severus,' she told him. 'We can take turns at being considerate towards one another.'

They dug into their food then, both hungry. They exchanged pleasantries over what they had both gotten up to during their day, and Hermione listened as he talked through his plan to propose changes to the school structure to show Minerva at some stage down the track. He wanted reform and progression at the school that Hermione was certain would rock the boat, and would cause many closed-minded old magical folk discomfort. Sometimes the magical community could be really set in its ways.

When they had finished eating, Severus refused to let her clear the table, and took care of their dishes before refilling their wine glasses. He suggested they adjourn to the office upstairs, and Hermione transformed the two armchairs into one lounge for them to sit on. They sat beside one another, barely touching, both nursing their wines glasses and staring into the lit fire.

'You look beautiful in that dress, Hermione,' he told her, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

She felt herself flush with both embarrassment and pleasure. 'Thank you,' she whispered, looking down at the floor shyly.

The knot in the pit of her stomach had returned. She did not know what to do from there, but somehow doubted that he would initiate, even if he did look as though he might like the tear the dress right from her body. She put down her glass, swallowing and wondering why her throat was so dry. She also removed the glass from his hand and placed it beside her own, kicking her shoes off. He looked at her with a question in his eyes. She sucked in a deep breath and, letting her adrenaline carry her, she moved so that she was on his lap, her legs either side of his so she was straddling him.

His jaw went slack with shock at her boldness, and she found that she rather liked drawing these kinds of expressions from him. Her dress bunched up her legs leaving very little to the imagination, and she was sure if he pulled back a little, he'd get an eyeful of the knickers she had bought.

'Hermione, what are you -?' he began, but she pressed her fingers to his lips to stop him.

'Just, let me,' she whispered, moving her fingers to the long row of the black buttons that fastened his frock coat shut. 'Do you mind?'

His breathing became a little rough, but he nodded, relaxing and allowing his hands to remain at her hips. 'You are going to be the death of me,' he murmured.

She gave him a wicked smile, and set to the task of unbuttoning him. It took a while, but she undid all of the buttons while staring right into his eyes. Once she had released the final one, she stood up for a moment, pulling him to stand so she could push the coat and his robes off him. She also untucked his white shirt from his trousers, gently nudging him to sit back down. He reached up and grasped her hips, guiding her back onto his lap on the lounge. She unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt and revealed the pink and angry raised scar on his neck. She leaned forwards and pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses to his scars, drawing a gasp from him.

She trailed the kisses up his neck before meeting his mouth in one of the most intense kisses they had ever shared. It was all heat, and she was being burned up and consumed by him. His hands moved up to her waist, one of his thumbs daringly caressing the underside of her clothed breast. She gasped, breaking away from the kiss to stare at him.

'I had a certain way I wanted this to go,' she pouted, breathing a little heavily.

His eyes were dark with raw need, but he nodded and let his hands drift back down to her hips. She smiled, feeling a little shy again. She resumed undoing the pearly white buttons of his shirt, pushing the fabric aside to stare at his bare chest. She could see the lean muscles of his chest rise and fall with his breath. He had a light dusting of dark hair in the centre, with a little skirting around his nipples. She let her fingers drift lightly over what her eyes were taking in, and she felt his breath quicken as they brush over the pink, flat disks.

He was pale, but she rather liked that about him. Tanned men had never really been her thing. He was still a little thin, but was covered by lean, wiry muscles. The trail of hair began again at his navel before disappearing into his trousers. She looked at him questioningly, her fingers gently tracing the buttons of his fly, and he gave her a short, sharp nod of permission. She deliberately brushed her fingers against the placket of his trousers as she undid his pants, and she could feel the rigid flesh beneath the fabric twitch at her touch.

Soon she had his pants undone, and all that remained between her and the object of her desire was the thin black cotton of his underpants.

'I hope it's okay that I'm doing this,' she said softly, grasping his turgid cock through the thin fabric and gently stroking it. She had no idea if she was doing it right, but his hiss of pleasure told her she wasn't doing it wrong.

Severus's hands soon grasped her wrists, and he pulled her hands away. 'If you keep touching me like that, this is going to be over rather a lot sooner than I am sure you had planned,' he informed her, his voice husky with desire.

'The plan has sort of flown out the window,' she said, her own breath catching in her throat.

'I think I need to redress the balance a little, don't you?'

And with that, he released her hands and grasped the bottom of her dress, looking at her for permission. She felt dizzy with desire, but nodded, grasping onto his shoulders as he slowly eased the dress up her body, pushing it up past her small breasts, and over her head. The dress was discarded over the back of the lounge, and he sat and just drank in what he saw. His hand joined that exploration, and when he cupped her lace-covered breasts, she thought she might actually faint from the intense rush of desire she felt.

'You are divine,' he murmured, his eyes and hands worshiping her.

She felt his fingers skim over the edge of the right bra cup, his fingers dipping beneath the edge so he could lightly fondle her nipple. She felt a sharp stab of desire flood her and she moaned softly. He took that sound as a good sign and his hands went to the clasps of her bra behind her back, making quick work of them and soon that scrap of lace joined her dress behind the lounge. His hands immediately returned to their light ministrations, his thumbs brushing over her tight, dusky pink nipples.

'You have no idea what you do to me, woman,' he murmured, whispering his fingers over her breasts before walking them back to her waist. 'How perfect you are…'

She gasped softly as he pulled her up against his body further and latched his lips to one of her breasts, where he gently laved and suckled at her nipple. It felt incredible, and as he pleasured that one breast, he continued to play with the other one, gently caressing and stroking with his hand. He released that one with a soft 'pop' and hungrily ravished the other one.

While she was focussed on the attentions he was paying to her breasts, she hadn't noticed one of his hand had crept down her body until his long fingers dipped under the edge of the flimsy lace panties she wore. She felt her body tense a little at the amount of stimulus. He continued to alternate breasts, and his fingers dipped between the slick folds of her flesh. She squirmed involuntarily against him. She felt as though she was on fire.

'Please, Severus,' she begged, unable to stand all of the teasing and the waiting,

'Please what, Hermione?' he replied, after releasing her nipple with a soft 'pop'.

'Please take me to your bed and make love to me,' she said looking into his eyes.

'Hermione, do you know what you are asking of me?' he rasped. 'We won't be able to undo this.'

She leaned up and kissed him hard in response, pouring every bit of her desire into it. When she pulled back, she stood up from his laps before hauling him up with her, dislodging his hands from her. His trousers fell to the floor and pooled at his feet, so he kicked them off and removed them along with his shoes and socks, also shrugging off his white shirt.

He took her hand then, and led her out of the office and into his room for the first time in months. They both stood a little awkwardly before his bed, both in just their underwear. She placed her hands on his chest, then, and he wrapped her in his arms, bestowing another sublime kiss on her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body as close to him as she could get. He chuckled a little into their kiss before breaking away just long enough to lift her up and deposit her on the bed.

No sooner was she on the bed before he was back on top of her, his thumbs hooking around the elastic band of her underwear. She nodded at him and he whisked them off her and tossed them aside before taking a step back to admire her fully unclothed form. She felt herself blush involuntarily, but she didn't cover herself. Her lover stared at her, his eyes roaming everywhere, and she had never felt so desirable as she did in that moment.

He removed and kicked off his own underpants then, and she stared at him in return, openly admiring his form, lingering only briefly on the firm cock that stood out proudly from his body. She didn't have long however, because he was upon her and he pushed his knee between her legs, parting them gently. He reached down to her folds and let his fingers dance over her again, finding the bundle of nerves with his thumb and beginning to stroke. He inserted two long fingers into her, and it felt a little tight, but good. He soon replaced those fingers with the head of his shaft, and she sucked in a deep breath and nodded at him. He nudged forward so slowly and gently, it was exquisite torture. She breathed through the very momentary pain as he seated himself within her and held still.

'That's all the pain,' he whispered, kissing her ear softly, and trailing those lips to her mouth for another slow, sensuous kiss. 'I promise I will make it up to you.'

She nodded, and soon he began to slowly move, rocking against her gently. His nimble fingers continued to stroke her pleasure centre as he did, which made all the difference. It started to feel incredible, being connected with him that way, and she started to rock her own hips in time with his so he would go deeper. She could feel that familiar feeling of pending orgasm building within her as they moved, and his free hand came up to gently fondle her breast, and soon she arched her back in pleasure, his name escaping her lips as she came apart.

'Hermione,' he grunted soon afterwards as he found his own release, leaning down to press kisses all over her cheeks and eyelids.

She smiled in contentment as he slid from her and cast a few quick cleansing charms as well as summoning their clothes into the room. He slid them both beneath the bedding, and she cuddled up to him in the middle.

'Thank you,' he said, holding her to him.

'Thank you for being so wonderful,' she replied, pressing a kiss to his chest.

'Any time.'

And soon they both fell asleep, sated.

To be continued.

A/N – Thanks to everyone following the story again for sticking with it! And big love as always to TheFauxMe for being my beta and my rock! x