The morning sun shone through the gap in the curtains filling the large room that Hermione and Severus had fallen asleep in after their moment of passion. Hermione stirred as the sunlight hit her eyes and as she did she woke the man next to her.
She looked at him in a mixture of horror and surprise as she started to remember what they had done last night.
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed as she sat bolt up right in bed. The covers fell off her and she saw that she was naked. Suddenly shy of being so exposed to him, even after everything they had done, she pulled the covers back over her.
"Good morning to you too," Severus replied bitterly as he sat up rubbing his temples as he felt the headache that his hangover induced.
"I can't believe this, this is bad, very bad," Hermione babbled as she climbed out the bed and searched through the pile of clothes on the floor.
"Funny that wasn't what you were saying last night, I remember you saying something about it been very good actually." Hermione tried to glare but winced as she felt a headache start to form as well.
"Severus, I'm married, this shouldn't have happened," Hermione pleaded. "I don't know what possessed me to do this."
"I believe you were angry with your husband for abandoning you," Severus said sitting up in the bed wishing he had a hangover relief potion with him.
"Yes, but that hardly condones adultery," Hermione said sharply. Severus was strangely hurt by the thought of last night being reduced to something as sordid as adultery, but that was what it had been.
"Then maybe you should go back home to your boring Muggle husband and kiss and make up," Severus snapped at her, wanting to hurt her as much as she was hurting him right now.
She did feel hurt, but she was too overwhelmed with guilt to worry about that. They got dressed in an uncomfortable silence and soon she was ready to leave. As she walked to the door Severus said,
"By the way, I'm glad I could be of service to you," his voice sounded bitter and angry like she remembered it at school. "I just love been the one that married women use to let out their sexual frustration."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly and left.
She walked down the stairs and was met on the way by Sirius Black who was smiling at her, revealing a row of perfect white teeth. He looked too cheerful especially after all the alcohol he'd consumed at the party.
"Morning gorgeous, good night?" He asked but Hermione just stormed past him, not saying a word. "That good huh?" He said to her retreating form.
Severus came down the stairs a moment later and Sirius' suspicions were confirmed.
"So how was she then?" He asked knowing he was well out of order to ask this question.
"Sod off Black," Severus snapped and walked off. Sirius left it at that, Severus hadn't called him that that for years, at least not in that tone. Severus remembered something else he wanted to say. "The next time you feel the need to interfere in my life, just don't."
Hermione took the port key home, relieved that it hadn't expired. She landed in the alley by her house and walked the few metres, feeling queasy because of her hangover. She let herself in and was greeted in the hallway by a very annoyed Greg.
"Nice of you to come home," he said crossing his arms over his chest.
"Please don't I feel awful," she said padding into the kitchen to get some hangover relief.
"Good, I'm glad. You were very foolish drinking too much. Is that what's going to happen every time you meet up with these people?" Greg asked following her into the pine kitchen.
"It was a party, drinking was to be expected," Hermione mumbled as she poured out the hangover relief potion.
"I don't like it when you behave like that."
"Greg I don't get drunk very often, you think you could forgive me this once." She walked over to the kitchen table and sat down stirring the potion with a silver teaspoon.
"You won't do that again." This was not a question.
"You can't control me," Hermione said getting annoyed at Greg.
"Well I wouldn't have to if you could control yourself." The memories from the night before came back to her and she felt sick with the guilt.
But the thing she felt the most guilty about was the fact that it had been wonderful. Severus had been a fabulous lover, and he had made her feel so good, so alive that she felt unable to regret it. She desperately wanted to feel that way with Greg, but it never happened.
Greg left for work an hour later and he still hadn't made up with Hermione. He kissed her cheek purely out of habit, but it had been and short kiss that had hardly touched her. He had run out of the house without even saying goodbye.
She showered washing away any evidence of the night of passion, and she was surprised to feel how sad she was about this. The memory of the pleasure she'd felt was still fresh and she found that her body craved even more.
Today she was working at the Ministry's special Auror training college, doing a lecture about how to cope when you're in enemy territory.
'Great,' she thought sarcastically. ' Just what I need when I've got a hangover, to talk to a room full of students who are only there to catch up on their sleep.
She left her house and apparated to the college.
It was a modern building unlike every other magical establishment that she had been in. Most buildings that specialised in teacher magic were ancient, archaic buildings like Hogwarts. It was small because it specialised only in Auror training and there were very few students. It was however very expensive to go to this college and so, naturally they were paying her a hell of a lot of money to lecture there.
The lecture went well. The students stayed quiet, whether they listened or not was another matter. There were no questions at the end, this could signify that she had got across all the information or they were desperate to get away. She sighed to herself thinking that is was probably the latter and dismissed them, putting them out of their misery. She was packing her things away when she saw a familiar man, one she was very happy to see.
"Professor Dumbledore," she said beaming at her old headmaster who was also smiling broadly. He didn't look a day older than when she had left school and she vowed to one day ask what his secret was. He was wearing his purple robes that swished across the floor, making a whispering noise. Everything about this man was calm.
"Mrs Layton, I heard your lecture, very interesting," he said his voice calm and serene.
"Oh, well thank you, but I don't think the students enjoyed it much."
"Some where listening, the ones that don't listen are usually the ones that drop out anyway so don't worry about it," Dumbledore said kindly making her feel much better. "I have come to find you for a reason. I realised that we don't really let our students know what options they have when they leave school. I have arranged for representatives from universities to tell the students about it, I hoped you would come to represent the Auror training programme."
"Erm, yes I'd be delighted," Hermione said.
"I will pay of course," Dumbledore continued but Hermione would hear of it.
"No, I'd like to do it, I won't charge you."
"Well that's very kind of you, Mrs Layton. It's on the 15th of this month, will that be all right for you?" Hermione nodded.
"That's great, I'll see you then." With that agreed Dumbledore left and Hermione set off for home.
She got home in a considerably better mood than she had been in earlier, and was pleased to see that Greg was home. She was desperate to tell him about Dumbledore's offer.
"Greg, you'll never guess what happened today," she said throwing her stuff down and plonking herself onto the cream sofa. Greg tutted and picked her stuff up.
"What happened?" He asked as he put her bag into the cupboard under the stairs, where they always kept their things.
"Dumbledore, my old headmaster at school, asked me to go and give a talk to all the students thinking about going into Auror training, isn't that great?" She said excitedly kneeling up on the sofa. Greg frowned at her treatment of the furniture.
"Take your shoes off," he said and she obediently complied but tutted to show her annoyance. "How much is he paying you?" Greg asked sitting on the matching chair.
"Oh I couldn't have charged him, not after all that school has given me," Hermione said and Greg's face dropped.
"You're not being paid?" He said disapproval written all over his face.
"No, I'm doing it as a favour," Hermione said horrified that Greg would even think she would accept money from Dumbledore.
"So you're taking a day off work to do someone a favour?" Greg spat looking almost disgusted.
"I wasn't booked for that day, I've lost no profit," Hermione said feeling decidedly less cheerful than when she had come in.
"But you could have been, I think it was very foolish of you. What's for dinner?"
"I don't know, I've only just got in," Hermione said sitting back on the sofa closing her eyes, feeling tired from work and the partying.
"Honestly," he huffed, standing up. "Do I have to do everything?" He stomped into the kitchen slamming cupboard doors and kitchen utensils. Hermione sighed; he obviously had not forgiven her. She shuddered to think how he'd treat her if he knew exactly what she had got up to.
Later that night when they were in bed Hermione looked over to Greg. He was sleeping with his back to her, which was never a good sign in any relationship. She felt guilty but no less angry with her husband for his attitude towards her and her friends. He didn't have an early meeting this morning, he just left the party because he didn't like her friends, she didn't know why.
"I want our children to go to a private, normal school," Greg had said to her, normal meaning Muggle.
'Fat chance,' Hermione had thought acidly, 'children certainly don't get made by sleeping with your back to your wife.'
That was when a horrible thought struck Hermione. Because of her sexual inactivity she had not been on any sort of contraceptive, and after what happened last night…
Panic swept through her making her feel nauseous. How would she explain to Greg that she was having a baby, especially one that would be born with black hair and black eyes?
She didn't get any sleep that night, she knew it was ridiculous getting all worked up over it. She'd just go into Diagon Ally, buy a contraceptive potion and then the problem would be solved. The thing was that she didn't really want to get rid of the baby, if there was one. She had wanted her and Greg to have a baby, but it had never happened, probably never would. She wasn't obsessive about having children but she had always thought the prospect of creating a life with someone you love exciting.
The next morning she made her way into the heart of London and into Diagon Alley. She weaved through the sea of people; all dressed in long flowing robes that were more often than not brightly coloured and exquisitely detailed.
She entered a shop and a small bell rang as the door opened. A small thin woman with thick purple rimmed glasses and messy grey hair came scuttling out from behind the counter.
"May I help you dear?" She asked holding out a long thin hand to Hermione.
"Yes, I'm looking for a contraceptive potion," Hermione said a bit embarrassed.
"Then you've come to the right place," the old woman said and stalked off towards a shelf full of bottles. "This one," she said holding a bottle with a thick orange liquid inside, "is a long term potion, if you're in a relationship."
"That's no good, I need one you use after, erm, you know?" Hermione blushed feeling uncomfortable under the old woman's scrutiny.
"I quite understand dear," she said patting her on the arm reassuringly. She picked up a bottle with a watery, inky blue content. "Take 30ml of that and you should be fine. That's fifty sickles."
She stepped outside and into the street, blinking until her eyes became accustomed to the sunlight. She thought about going home but she wanted to look around Diagon Alley, it had been so long since she had been shopping here.
She was walking around, looking into the shop windows as she passed, remembering the excitement and wonder she had felt when she had first saw this place as a child. She stopped in the window of the Quidditch supplies store, thinking about Harry and Ron, who would just stare at the latest broomstick for ages. Ginny and her would huff at them and pull on their sleeves until the two boys tore them away from the shop window.
She turned away from the shop and started walking; still looking back at Harry Potter poster that was advertising the Firebolt 260. Not looking where she was going she slammed into someone and dropped her bag.
"Oh sorry," she said feeling the shock of being dragged out of her thoughts. The man said nothing but bent to pick her bag up. It was then that Hermione realised who she had bumped into. "Severus." He was dressed in his usual black and was wearing a pair of black sunglasses.
"Mrs Layton," he said his tone sounding far too formal for her liking. "Maybe you should look where you are going," he said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry," she said to him as he was about to walk away.
"Quite all right," he said in a very unconvincing way, "no damage done."
"I'm not talking about bumping into you," she said trying to stop him walking away. He turned to look at her, his eyebrow raised above the rim of his glasses.
"Indeed?" He said.
"I want to apologise for the other night," she said blushing, embarrassed to be speaking about her private life in such a public place. "I think I owe you an explanation, can I buy you some coffee?" Severus pretended to think about this for a moment, but he knew he would say yes, of course he would. However angry he was at her he still felt something for her.
"All right," he agreed trying to look and sound reluctant.
They went to Florean Fortesque's to get a drink. Apart from ice cream, they sold iced coffee that was creamy and cooling, a God send in this hot weather they were experiencing.
Once they had ordered Hermione began to apologise.
"As I've said, I'm very sorry about what happened. It wasn't fair of me to do that to you," she said after taking a deep breath. "I had a fight with Greg before we went to the party, and I was annoyed and I'd had too much to drink."
"It's not doing my ego any good you know," Severus cut in. She looked at him in surprise.
"Sorry?"
"You giving me all these reasons, excuses, saying how drunk you were. I'd like to think it was my animal magnetism that attracted you," he said dryly. Hermione didn't know what to say to that. It was only when she saw the corners of his mouth turning up slightly that she realised he was joking.
"You bastard," she said laughing nervously. He looked at her in mock horror.
"That's not a nice way to apologise," he said joining in with her laughter.
"I've never heard you laugh," Hermione stated. He looked away from her and began nervously playing with the napkin in front of him.
"Well, you wouldn't have done. Apart from the other night, you'd only seen me before and during the war years, I didn't have much to laugh at then." Hermione had never really heard anyone talk about the war, Greg avoided the issue as much as possible.
"I don't think any of us did much laughing then, we tried to keep our spirits up but we all felt down," Hermione said.
"Yeah Dumbledore tried with his awful parties that just ended up embarrassing, do you remember the fancy dress party in your sixth year?" Hermione laughed at the memory, but was also cringing with embarrassment.
"Oh don't, that was awful. Harry made me go as a clown, said I looked good, lying little sod," she said. "I didn't look good at all, I looked like a…"
"Clown," he cut in.
"Exactly, you got away with it a little bit."
"Yeah, they couldn't make me dress up but Dumbledore managed to charm my hair so it went purple." He scowled at the thought and didn't notice how Hermione shivered. "That damn charm didn't wear of for twenty four hours."
"I thought it looked pretty cool," Hermione commented.
"But it's hard to maintain the image of a humourless bastard when you have purple hair."
"Point taken." They sat in silence for a couple of minute while they drank their coffee. It was a comfortable silence, both quite happy to sit and watch the people that went past.
"So," Severus said after a few minutes, "what are you shopping for?"
"Erm, nothing much, just browsing," she lied not wanting to tell him what she really came for. "And yourself?"
"I was supposed to be meeting Sirius and Remus but they didn't show up. I was going to the Quidditch supplies shop, before you ran into me, for my little cousin, he's eleven, he starts Hogwarts next September."
"Big Quidditch fan?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, and he thinks it's 'wicked,'" he mocked in a childish voice, "that I know Harry Potter. The Harry Potter." He scowled again and Hermione covered up her second shiver with a laugh.
"Bet that really pisses you off," she said and he nodded in agreement.
They talked for another ten minutes before Severus looked at his watch and realised he had to go. He didn't really want to leave; he was enjoying her company.
"By the way," he said turning back to her. "I hear you're coming to Hogwarts next week."
"Yes, doing a talk on Auror training for the seventh years," she said.
"I'll see you there then," he said pleased that he would have another chance to see her.
"Yes, see you there." Hermione herself was glad that she had an excuse to go and see him. She really had enjoyed his company and it felt good to actually talk to someone other than Greg. She had not seen many people since she got married.
Two people sitting at a table behind Severus and Hermione came out from under and invisibility cloak as the couple went their separate ways. It was Sirius and Remus.
"That went well, he was laughing," Remus said.
"Must be love," Sirius added and Remus nodded in agreement.
"What next?" Remus asked his friend.
"We'll see how they get on, on their own first," Sirius said and the two stood to leave.
Hermione kept thinking about Severus as she carried on looking around the shops. He was good company because he was intelligent and witty when he wasn't being sarcastic. He was well read and had done an extraordinary amount of travelling. He spoke about Italy with great passion as his mother's family came from there and had spent a lot of his childhood visiting that family.
At the back of her mind though, lurked the memory of the party and what they had shared. She felt awful that she couldn't just put it behind her, feeling ashamed that she had not been able to forget it when he clearly had.
She was wrong though, he had not forgotten, wasn't likely to either. All the time he spent with her in the ice cream parlour his thoughts kept going back to that night. He had always thought she was beautiful and now he knew exactly how beautiful he couldn't let go to the image of her. Last night his sleep had been plagued with dreams of her and by the morning he was aroused but extremely frustrated. He had thought about calling Angela, but for some reason he felt it would be like cheating on Hermione.
Hermione got home and was relieved that Greg wasn't in. This meant that she could take the potion and he'd never need to know, he would certainly be suspicious if she started taking contraceptive potions.
She made her way to the old castle that had been her second home for seven years. As she stood outside the main gates she looked at the school, seeing the Gryffindor tower and the window of her old room, the one she had been given when she was made Head Girl. She sighed as she thought about the fun times she had there, dangerous times but fun none the less.
" 'Ermione," came a gruff voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Hagrid standing there carrying a bag that appeared to be moving. She decided it would be better not to ask about the bag's contents.
"Hello, Hagrid," she said with an affectionate smile on her face.
"Dumbledore told me you was going to be 'ere. So how have yeh bin?" He said as he walked with her towards the school.
"Fine thanks," she replied trying to keep up with his massive strides.
"And 'ow's what's 'is name?"
"Greg, he's, er, he's fine."
"Got a letter from Harry yesterday, told me you was well. Goin' to see the game next week?" Hagrid asked referring to Harry's match against Puddlemere United.
"Yeah I might go if I'm not working."
They continued talking until they reached the huge doors where Dumbledore greeted Hermione.
"Mrs Layton, glad you could make it," Dumbledore said his eyes twinkling over his half moon glasses.
"Please call me Hermione," she said and Dumbledore agreed telling her to call him Albus.
The headmaster led her to a classroom where she could set up her things and then left her to get on with it.
Soon the pupils started filing in and her talk began. They reminded her so much of her and her friends, most of them listened politely and there were even a few questions at the end.
Outside the classroom two boys were talking. One was tall and thin with blonde hair and tanned skin, his friend was shorter and broader and had a pale complexion. Both were wearing crimson and gold ties.
"Quite good that, might go into the Auror training myself," said the taller boy.
"Yeah, was all right. That woman was fit as well."
"Oh you're not wrong there. You see when she turned around? That is a nice arse."
"Don't you two have somewhere to be?" Came a silky drawl from behind them and they spun round in shock. Professor Snape was standing there, arms folded over his chest, his face neutral.
"Sorry Professor we were just, er, going to, er," the taller boy stuttered.
Hermione heard this from inside the class and decided to go out and see what was going on.
"Five points from Gryffindor for not answering straight away," he snapped but still making his voice sound silky and wonderful. But boys just didn't appreciate this voice.
"We were going to Transfiguration," the shorter boy said sounding more confident than his friend did.
"Then go and another five points for not walking faster to your lesson." The two boys went flying down the corridor, desperate to get away. "And don't run!" He shouted after them watching them until the slowed down.
"Hi," Hermione said and Severus turned around. "Now I see what you mean about being different at work."
"Hermione," he said trying hard not to look happy about her appearance, he didn't want to ruin his reputation. "Erm, we can't talk here, someone might hear and realise that I'm human." Hermione laughed this. "Come to my room."
