Chapter 65: An Adult Education
{A/N: Here's Another Update...)
My Thanks To My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.
{"The student body got a bad reputation...(Oh, yeah, oh, yeah)...What they need is adult education...You go back to school...It's a bad situation...(Oh, yeah, oh, yeah)...What you want is an adult education...Oh, yeah The teacher don't know about how to deal...With the student body (huh, huh)...And the underclassmen are flashing...Hot and cool (huh, huh) But your girlfriends care...About watch and wear...And talkin about it (huh, huh)...Believe it or not...There's life after high school (huh, huh)...That's right"}Adult Education, Hall And Oates
Spare Bedroom, 12 Grimmauld Place, Muggle World...
Nightfall brought with it a kind of uneasy peace that seemed to fill the whole household as the endless chatting and constant traveling between rooms had slowly died down as everyone retired to their respective bedrooms for the duration of the night. Hermione had gone to her usual room, hoping to avoid Harry and Ron if only to put an end to their incessant questions about her whereabouts before she made the trip to 12 Grimmauld Place. Ron had been especially nosy and quite rude with his backhanded comments and constant need to follow her about. She had only wanted to spend time with her husband, whom had been down in the basement of the manor, if only to avoid everyone else. There hasn't been much in the way of further incident between him and Sirius Black but everyone had been determined to keep the two wizards separated in a bid to keep the fragile peace that had come over them all. If the reports as of late were to be believed, no one knew exactly when or for how long said peace would remain. The death eaters had taken to attacking several Muggle towns and burning the bodies of many unsuspecting individuals in a bid to purge the areas so close to wizarding boarders.
Harry had been given to an increasing amount of night terrors and he had not been the only one. It had not been lost on Hermione that Severus had been less enthusiastic about sleep as of late choosing to spend time staring into the fireplace in the study whenever he'd managed to come out of the basement he spelled into a suitable dwelling place. Sirius had not been of the mind to do him any favors as far as accommodations had been concerned and it was perhaps just as well. He needed to maintain his distance from them all the same. The eerie silence had only intensified Hermione's initial concerns as she found herself wishing to spend time with the dour Professor. They had made a good deal of progress in terms of the direction their relationship had taken as of late and she wished to further it despite the obvious obstacles in the form of her friends and his duties both to the school and during the war.
For the moment, Hermione had been content in her room reflecting on that afternoon and how Severus had attempted at least in some small measure to humor her concern for him. He had not been the least upset when she switched his firewhiskey for water and showed not an ounce of rage when she saw him at dinner. Molly Weasley and the house elves had taken care of preparing a meal for them all and it seemed like just a friendly visit for a time until discussion of the war front began at the table, courtesy of Sirius Black.
Hermione didn't exactly take to kindly to the charming wizard's apparent attempts to goad Severus into an argument despite what already occurred between them that day and even Lupin seemed to have had enough of the petty jabs and snide comments. Snape excused himself from the table and ventured down into the basement where Hermione could not follow with all eyes being on him after the incident in the dining hall.
Feeling restless, the amber eyed witch found herself unable to appreciate the comfort of her new bed and the rather pleasant surroundings of her room as her mind drifted back to the man she loved. It was an amusing thing to consider, she'd had a crush on Severus Snape from the moment she met him, of course being twelve he had never taken her seriously in that regard and barely even considered her as a person once she came of age. A part of her had been thrilled that she was at least living out her childhood fantasy in part. She had been Mrs. Severus Snape after all.
The barrage of thoughts and musings on the part of Hermione Granger had been interrupted as a knock on her door had gotten her undivided attention.
Reluctantly, Hermione found herself climbing out of bed and making her way toward the door.
She'd been quite surprised to see Ginny on the other end given the late hour.
"You're still awake...good." said Ginny walking into the open door before Hermione closed it once more behind her. She knew not what to make of this development in any case and made her way toward the bed once more.
It wasn't as if she didn't want company, it was merely the fact that she had not expected it.
"Hermione, I have to talk to you." said Ginny seemingly a bit distressed. "I mean...you were always like a big sister to me and well...I can't speak to Mum about something like this..."
Ginny's strange behavior had gotten Hermione's attention if nothing else.
"What is it that you want to talk to me about?" she asked with an arched brow.
"Well...boys." replied Ginny sheepishly. "Well one boy in particular."
Hermione smiled.
"Let me guess...Harry." she said.
Ginny nodded, her red hair swaying in the motion.
"Why do you want to ask me about Harry?" asked Hermione seeming to settle down a bit.
"I want to know if you fancy him." said Ginny with eyes seeming to intensify as they met Hermione's.
The question seemed to come from out of left field as it were as Hermione attempted to keep from falling into a fit of giggles.
"No." she replied once she had gotten ahold of herself. "I don't fancy Harry Potter in the slightest."
"You spend a good deal of time with him..." began Ginny. "I just assumed..."
Hermione sighed.
"A lot of people make assumptions." she replied. "Harry is like a brother to me, I don't fancy him in the least."
Ginny seemed relieved at this but there had been another question that she seemed to be itching to ask.
"What about Ron?" she asked. "He seems to fancy you a great deal, you don't fancy him either?"
Hermione sighed once again attempting to quell her annoyance with the memories of Ronald Weasley being nothing but trouble since the moment they met.
"I'm not interested in your brother either." she admitted. "I have my hands full with school among other things and having an adolescent boyfriend isn't on my list of concerns."
Ginny seemed to be staring at Hermione for a few moments before a smile broke out across her face.
"Oh my gosh!" she said suddenly before falling into a fit of giggles. "I don't know why I didn't see it before."
Hermione arched a brow at this strange behavior.
"You have a boyfriend." said Ginny with a knowing smirk. "Of course you wouldn't be interested in Harry and Ron."
Hermione had no idea why Ginny had been so focused on her apparent love life but it unnerved her all the same.
"Ginny..." she began.
"It's Viktor Krum isn't it?" asked Ginny with a smile. "You did come in late today...were you to together this afternoon...I'll bet you were snogging up a storm."
"Ginny...knock it off." said Hermione finding herself becoming annoyed with the childish antics of her younger friend.
Ginny's eyes widened.
"You were definitely with him...whomever he is this afternoon..." she said with a knowing smirk. "How far did you two go?"
"Out Ginny." said Hermione suddenly becoming distressed and ushering the younger red head witch out of the room.
Ginny continued to tease her friend a bit before reaching the door.
"Alright, your secret's safe with me." she proclaimed before making her way back to her own room as Hermione shut the door.
Taking a moment to gather her thoughts and to ensure Ginny had gone to mind her own business, Hermione exited her bedroom and made her way down the stairs. There was no sign of anyone moving about the halls and she knew for a fact that Snape had gone down to the basement to get away from everyone else.
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The Basement, 12 Grimmauld Place, Muggle World...
The familiar sting of firewhiskey had not been present as Severus Snape drank down a glass of barely chilled water before turning his attention to the make-shift bed he transfigured out of old magazines. The basement wasn't an ideal place to lay his head, but the accommodations had been significantly better than what he had been use to as a boy growing up in Cokeworth. He'd just attempted to settle in when he felt the all too familiar presence of Hermione Granger at the door. His wards had been quite powerful and had she been anyone else they would have done quite terrible things to anyone attempting to intrude, alas she had not been anyone else and he'd been expecting her.
Snape lazily flicked his wand, opening the door and allowing his young wife to venture forth down the numerous stairs and into his make-shift quarters for the time being. She seemed to be quite curious as to what he'd been up to since dinner had gone by the wayside and was even more put off via Ginny Weasley's "interrogation" of sorts.
The Potions Professor had not said a word as he tossed his discarded frock coat and shirt into a nearby dust covered chair and kicked off his dragon hide boots, letting them fall beneath the bed. He had been quite exhausted from the looks of him and made no attempt to hide this fact from his notoriously inquisitive wife. Upon making note of this, Hermione's gaze softened and she approached him without a word wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her into his embrace with a heated kiss.
He would have been lying if he had said that he didn't miss her every bit as much as she had missed him since their earlier parting. The issue of Sirius Black shooting off at the mouth and Dumbledore adding to the already doubled work load for the dour wizard was still a factor but he ignored his most recent woes in favor of the peace that Hermione's presence had bought. He knew not how to describe it, but she had been the only good aspect of his life.
Another series of kisses and Snape gently lifted her off the cold stone floor and carried her toward his make-shift bed. One could hardly tell the difference given his level of skill in creating it. He would have normally transfigured a cot to sleep in but he knew all too well that Hermione couldn't stay away, no matter how obviously wrong the idea had been in terms of attempting to keep their secret from those whom had not been privy to it.
It was as if she had known all along that he needed to see her, a fact that he found to be astonishing to say the least. He had thought about climbing the stairs and making his way to her room so many times but the possibility of choosing the wrong one and having to explain why he'd been looking for her had been much too much to handle even hypothetically. At the moment, Hermione clung to him as he joined her in bed. A few more kisses and he pulled her closer still wrapping his arms around her waist as she continued to cling to him.
"I love you." she whispered as she closed her eyes.
Snape sighed holding her tighter before kissing her on top of the head. He still couldn't bring himself to say the words she so desperately wished to hear, but he knew she wouldn't pressure him into it. It wasn't long before they drifted off, content with simply being in each other's arms despite the apparent danger ahead. As she drifted off, Hermione found herself making a mental note of the strange events that had taken place that day. Ginny's strangeness would have amused her to no end, like any typical school girl given to gossip and humor but she had been in the mood for none of it. In fact she found herself quite offended by the very thought that she'd be in the company of an adolescent boy when she already had a husband whom had been far from adolescent in his own right.
Hermione had not known it, but she was beginning to see the world, not as she once knew it with the mind of an inquisitive teenager but with the perception of an adult.
Perhaps that was what Severus meant by saying she'd receive an adult education.