Chapter 11.

Severus was feeling like an idiot. He had thought that surprising Hermione with a Chinese lunch and all the ingredients for baking his favourite chocolate chip cookies would be an amazing idea. However, now that he was standing in front of her door, he was feeling such a bloody lovesick idiot. What if she is with her boyfriend? I would be intruding, and I would appear like an idiot… I am already an idiot!

He hadn't had such problems since before graduating from Hogwarts and now, at forty-five, he found himself in this situation. I am such a fool! However, he wanted to see her, to see for himself that she wasn't in pain anymore. He wanted to spend some time with her and hold her tightly to him, inhaling her sweet scent and lose himself in it. He stared at the door of her flat with unblinking eyes for what seemed like an eternity, trying to decide what to do. He wanted her, damn if he wanted her. Breathing deeply and praying Merlin that she wasn't in company, he rapped at the door.

"Coming!" he heard her voice yelling from inside, followed by the sound of quick steps. When the door suddenly opened, he smirked when he saw the look on her face and the way she was dressed. She gasped when she saw him, surprised at seeing him there but at the same time happy, and screamed in ecstasy throwing herself at him and nearly knocking him to the floor. "Severus!"

His arms went immediately around her small body, hugging her to himself. She fitted perfectly against him and he rested his chin on her head, nuzzling her curls and committing the feeling of her to his mind.

"What the heck are you wearing, Hermione?" he asked smirking while looking at her from head to toe. She was wearing a funny pink pyjama covered in small kittens and at her feet she had two big fluffy slippers that matched her clothes. She looked funny but totally huggable.

"I wasn't expecting guests!" she protested pouting while crossing her arms before her chest. "It's a gift and besides, I like it!"

"Oh, I like it too!" he replied looking at her with an amused expression. "May I come inside?" She smiled at him and opened the door for him to enter. Thankfully she seemed alone, so perhaps for once in his life he had been lucky. "How are you feeling?" he asked sitting on the couch next to her.

"Better. I'm still a little sore but nothing like before, and the Mediwitch told me that in a few days I'll be able to stop the therapy. I can't believe I've lived all these years with traces of that damn course inside my body."

He had seen many times what the effects of Dolohov's course were, and she had been very lucky that he had been there to help her when she had been hit in her fifth year. She would have been dead now if she had not been treated in time.

"Are you taking any painkiller?"

"Only a mild one." She said sitting with her legs under her body. "Anyway, thanks for coming. I wasn't expecting you, really."

"I have brought Chinese…" he started, unsure of himself. "If you haven't already eaten, that is." He was pathetic with his clumsy words, but the realisation that he liked her had brought up all his insecurities.

"I haven't." she said smiling and with a wave of her wand food, water and all the necessary to eat came flying to her.

Lunch was a slow business filled with chat and laugher, and he loved the way it all came so easily with her. He felt comfortable around her, as someone would be when they had been friends for many years and not just a couple of weeks. He understood her and, most of the time, he was even able to put aside his snarky self. Clad in his well-tailored black trousers and white shirt he could easily pass for a normal man, and a happy one. Putting down his fork, he glanced at Hermione and found her looking at him.

"Are you tired?" he asked her, noticing dark circles under her eyes and a drowsy look.

"Just a little bit. I've not slept much these last weeks, you know." She admitted, and he nodded. As much as he didn't want to go away, she needed to rest if he wanted for her to recover fast.

"I'll be going then." Severus announced, standing from his place on the couch and pulling out his wand in order to tidy up the mess they had made while eating.

"No!" she exclaimed, her voice a panicked shrill before softening in a whisper. "Please, stay. I don't want for you to go away… and besides, we still have cookies to bake."

"Cookies can wait. You need to rest."

"Please!" she pleaded, putting a hand on his arm to still his movements. "I'll have a nap here on the couch… but please, stay. Stay with me for a little longer, Severus."

He looked carefully at her before nodding and taking again his sit next to her on the couch. With her hand, Hermione motioned to the books that were scattered on a side table, inviting him to get comfortable and read while she rested. What he hadn't expected was for her to use his thigh as a pillow, but he couldn't complain really. She had her hair spread over his lap, her face carefully facing the other side, away from his groin. He picked up one of her books and with a spell had it floating open in the air. That left his hands free to wander, and in no time he had his fingers buried in her hair, caressing her scalp in a slow massage. He found himself often glancing down at her, noticing how her chest heaved at each breath. She was beautiful and he had to swallow hard when a thought crossed his mind. Hermione trusted him so much to be able to sleep with him so near her, touching her. No one had ever trusted him so much.

When Hermione woke up a little while later, she insisted on baking his favourite cookies. He complained a little, just for the sake of taunting her a bit, but in the end he accepted. He had wanted to bake with her since she had told her of her intention. Baking they did, and that's how he found himself covered in flour, scrambling in other to catch her and repay her in kind. How dare she!, but deep down, he was amused… and happy.

When Severus caught her, he lifted her up and she screamed laughing cheerfully. Her laugher reached his heart and he smiled, his insides twisting with contentedness, before putting her down and turning her body into his arms. When she realised she was trapped between his firm chest and the countertop, his grip not too tight, her glee dissolved and she was left looking at him with softer but glinting eyes. Her face was stained with flour, and so was his along with his hair and black trousers, but he didn't care. He couldn't seem to be able to look away from her eyes, from those pools of liquid caramel. She was so near, and he wished with all his life that he could kiss her right there. Hermione…

He dipped his head slowly, giving her the chance to back away from him if she wished to, but she didn't. Instead, she closed her eyes and when his lips brushed hers, his closed as well. He had never kissed someone so tenderly, nor savoured the moment so intensely. Hermione shivered between his arms and he tightened his hold on her, slipping his tongue between her lips when her mouth opened. Kissing her was like swimming among the clouds, his head so light it was like not having any thought at all. Only the sensations overwhelmed him, and he shuddered when he felt her tiny hands caress his hair and scalp. Their tongues, entwined together, moved along the notes of a slow and deep music, so intense they had to breathe hard when they finally separated. His eyes were still closed, and he could think of nothing but the feeling of her soft lips pressed against his, of her languid tongue moving alongside his own and of her body tightly pressed against his. He had kissed her, he had really kissed her, and now he wanted nothing more than kissing her senseless, her flushed body draped over his own.

He opened his eyes just a fraction before her. She had rosy cheeks, her lips were parted and her eyes… he had never seen irises so bright like hers in that moment.

"I… I was waiting for the right moment to tell you this…" she stammered, looking at him with uncertain eyes. His heart clenched, a sudden fear of rejection overtaking him, but her hands never left his hair, somewhat anchoring him to her. "I broke up with Ron." She said in a whisper, watching him intently.

"What about the other guy?" he blurted out, without even thinking. His hold on her instinctively tightened and their chests pressed together more firmly. He could feel the heat radiating from her body along with her fast heartbeat.

"Leo…" she said, before continuing with her explanation. However, his mind didn't register her following words, focusing instead on the name of the guy. "I couldn't keep seeing him while I knew I wanted you. I liked him a lot, that's true, and what we shared was a special, but…"

"Leo?" Severus asked, his head spinning so fast he feared he would get sick.

"Yes, it's his name. I know it's kind of an irony since I'm a Gryffindor…"

It can't be true. No, it can't be. It can't be… I'm such an idiot! I'm such an idiot!

How could he have missed it? How? If he had been paying just a little more attention to everything really, he would have understood it immediately. He looked intently at her mouth, at the way her teeth nibbled at her lower lips, and then at her eyes. Those eyes he had dreamt to meet so many times and now they were looking at him worriedly at his lack of communication. Perhaps… just perhaps, life is not the bitch I thought it was.

"My cheeky little thing…" he whispered in a voice so soft it surprised even him. His eyes were gentle and full of so much love, reflecting what his own heart was screaming, and he smiled like he had never had in his entire life. A smile that wasn't a smirk nor a grin, but a gentle and honest smile that reflected his happiness and his love. Because he had realised that his cheeky little thing was none other than his favourite know-it-all, and he couldn't be happier.

"What?" she gasped at the same time as her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock. To answer her, he just kissed her connecting their mouths in an intense smash of lips. He couldn't believe it.

"My cheeky little thing…" he said again in between kisses, and a dreamy look crossed his face. His eyes never left hers and when realisation finally struck her, he devoured her mouth again.

"My bastard…" she murmured, and he saw her eyes filling with tears before she buried her face in his neck, trying to hide her cries. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, Severus!" she cried clutching at him with dear life.

"It's okay, it's okay." Severus assured her, keeping her between his arms and caressing soothingly her back.

He remembered very clearly the way she had cried in front of him when she had decided to leave Leo, to give up on him in order to date another man that in the end was none other than himself, Severus Snape. He knew she had not wanted to do it, but she had done the right thing. And now, now they were together, finally.

"I can't believe it's been you this entire time." She said sobbing on his shirt, but he didn't mind as long as she stayed with him. When she raised her red rimmed eyes to look at him her gaze was fierce, and he had to swallow at the intensity of it. "I want you, Severus. I want only you."

Her hot breath enveloped him and he lost himself in her, in her soft lips and tiny caressing fingers. He was happy because he had finally found what he had desired all his life. Love.