I do not own these characters etc. etc. etc.

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Jordan Bradley was beyond impressed as they passed the doorman and entered the "flat" his new friend had so casually referred to. Having grown up in the Bronx, he had often wondered what lay behind the doorman protected facades of Manhattan's elite residences. He was about to find out, and he planned to investigate every nook, cranny, and bathroom cabinet in Hermione's place - with her permission of course. He wasn't surprised that she lived in such a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" kind of a place.

While she didn't exude the complaisance inherent in people for whom the words " I'm broke" were a myth, money was definitely not a problem for her. In addition, there were things about her that led him to believe that there was more than the convent mystery carefully hidden behind her intense personality.

Although it seemed like he'd known her forever, in reality their joined-at- the-hipness was a thirty-six hour odyssey that had left them both feeling as if they'd been friends forever. She had swept him along with her into a whirlwind of shopping and taxicabs. With the holiday season in full swing, the stores had been open late to accommodate her apparent desire to divest herself of a small fortune. After leaving the library two days ago, they'd begun at Saks Fifth Avenue, continued at Lord and Taylor, and finished in the chic boutiques of Soho.

Afterward, they had hit several clubs, followed by an after party at the home of his best friend Sheila. She was a hair and make-up guru who was currently doing make at Radio City. Sheila had transformed Hermione's Jane Eyre hair into a sleek and sexy confection without compromising its length. Most interesting was the fact that while under the influence of cocktails and the hairdryer, Hermione had completed the organic chemistry assignment of a medical student who'd drunk himself into a stupor around 3 am. She'd felt sorry for him and picked up where his untidy pencil scrawls indicated he'd given in to the demons of after party alcohol, dancing, and sex in the bathroom.

Jordan was beginning to feel like Shakespeare's Titania had dropped into his life for the pleasure of a mid-winter romp. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he'd renamed his new best friend, Hermia, in keeping with the play of which she reminded him. She was controlling, but definitely loveable, and she didn't exclude him from her shopping fun. She'd purchased him a number of things, including a full-length, mink-lined leather coat that had cost a fortune. He'd admired it and then watched open-mouthed as she reached into her magic purse of seemingly never-ending cash reserves. She'd paid for the coat without even a pause in her steady stream of conversation.

She seemed to have forgotten her own fucked-up problems because she had been lecturing to him on every subject under and above the sun. However, she was dead on correct in just about everything she had to say, so instead of being irritated with her he was fascinated by her. All in all, had he not been the guy who'd played high school football solely for the hedonistic, eye-candy pleasures of the locker room, he might have fancied her a bit.

"Santa's been good to daddy this year," he whispered sweetly in her ear, one arm draped heavily around her neck as she unsteadily attempted to unlock her apartment door. It was after midnight, and they were still pleasantly intoxicated. In homage to such a wondrous state of being, he leaned into her and placed a sloppy kiss on the soft flesh of her neck.

The gesture, well intentioned though it was, caused them to fall inelegantly through the door at the moment she managed to open it. They landed in a drunken tangle of arms and legs on the thick antique rug in the entryway.

Looking up from his unseemly position on the floor, Jordan's heart began thumping like a wild thing. His eyes widened to an incredible size as they took in a pair of large, expensively shod feet. His brain, struggling to function in its current state of inebriation, forced his blue-eyed gaze upward. What he saw left him momentarily speechless. Gazing down at him like the prince of darkness was anger personified in the form of a black- haired devil clad in voluminous black cape-like attire. "Oh my God! It's Darth Vader!" he cried before blacking out in a sprawling heap on top of a still giggling Hermione.

Severus, hindered by the rockets red glare bursting within his eye sockets, followed the sound of the drunken giggling rising up from the floor. He reached out blindly with both hands and grasped Hermione's soft, narrow waist. Fueled by anger, adrenaline, and his own strength, he lifted her as if she was a stuffed doll and narrowly avoided crashing her face into his own. The sweeping momentum behind his actions left Hermione looking, and feeling, disoriented with her newly straightened hair hanging messily about her face. Several strands reached out and clung like tentacles to the black of Severus's wizard robe. There were only a few millimeters of space between their mouths.

Having learned to sneer from the master himself, Hermione met his black- eyed gaze with a chilly expression of her own.

"What the hell are you looking at," she sneered insolently.

"Not much," he replied maliciously.

"And why are you wearing robes? We're in New York remember?"

"Perhaps I'm wearing robes because we've been summoned home," he lied. He felt happy when his comment clearly startled her.

"Of course you wouldn't be aware of the fact given your reckless willingness to compromise our position by involving yourself with this git." To further emphasize his point, he delivered a vicious kick to Jordan's shin.

"Take your hands off me, you fucking hypocrite," said Hermione as she unsuccessfully struggled to escape the vise-like hold he now had on her upper arms.

"Nice language Ms. Granger. You're such a lady!"

"Oh no Professor Snape, I'm not a lady at all these days. I'm a woman through to my core. To bad you weren't the one to help me realize my own potential."

"Shut up! How do you know this is not one of Voldemort's spies? Did you think of that before you decided to fuck him? I wish Minerva were hear to see how her darling Gryffindor behaves outside of Hogwarts."

"You're a liar! We haven't been summoned home. What? Did you miss your hideous black robe so much that you couldn't keep your hands off it? It's like your itty-bitty security blankie isn't it?"

"Shut your mouth Girl!"

"Yes Sir Professor Snape! Right away Sir! Oh, but please do allow me to explain myself sir. If I may speak candidly that is. You see I haven't compromised our safety any more than you have. Please rest assured that before I experienced multiple orgasm's with Jordan, that's him on the floor by the way, I performed the same rudimentary wizard detecting test I'm sure you performed on that widgeon across the hall. I was able to ascertain that Jordan was definitely all muggle. What? Why are you looking at me so strangely? Oh..Don't tell me you didn't know.....

"Do you plan on coming to the point before Christmas?"

"Yes of course. Why professor Snape, it's common knowledge that it takes muggles much longer to reach orgasm. This is especially true for muggle men versus wizards. When Jordan didn't stop after the longest time, I knew ---. What? Ohhhh....You didn't last long enough with Roxana to time her? Well, now whose compromised our position in the muggle world? Hmmm?"

"Slut! Albus Dumbledore has done everything he can to ensure your safety, and this is how you show your appreciation? You thank him with your lust? Of course I'm not surprised. You were panting for me before we were half an hour in this God-forsaken place weren't you? Who is this drunken imbecile you've been sleeping with? Do you even really know his name, or did you make it up for by benefit? Do you know his name Hermione? Do you know his name?"

With each ruthless question, Severus shook Hermione until he could no longer see her face through her hair. It was several minutes before he realized in rapidly dawning horror what he was doing. Letting go of her as abruptly as he'd picked her up, Severus began slowly backing away from her in shock. "What am I doing?" he asked out loud in a stricken voice as he continued to back away from her. "She's a student man. What are you doing? Hermione, please look at me. I don't know what came over me. I...."

He was unable to complete his thought as a rage-filled Hermione threw herself at him like a missile. He never even saw her stand up. Her fingernails felt like talons as she burrowed them into his face and neck. He could hear sobs emanating from her as she screamed the words hypocrite and bastard over and over again. Utilizing skills he had perfected first as a deatheater and then during the war, he managed to subdue her. However, in what seemed to happen in slow motion, Hermione struck out at him for the second time in her life. This time, she closed her hand into a fist before making contact with his face. The end result knocked him to the floor.

Hermione, her chest heaving from the emotions behind her actions, dropped to her knees and began sobbing in earnest. Severus stared at her in wonder as her violent crying sent visible waves of turbulence shuddering through her body. As he watched her, a sudden insight took its first tentative hold on him. As it grew into its full potential, it resulted in what he would later consider the most significant defining moment in his life.

She was like him. Her nature, her intelligence, her wicked temper, and her passions were his feminine familiars. She had a Slytherin-like thirst for knowledge that caused her to ruthlessly subject her personal needs to her study habits. She was zealous in her consumption of intellectual pursuit. The realization attracted him in a way he had never experienced before. She was so much more than every woman he had encountered in his thirty something years of life.

This last thought coincided with her slow removal of her hands from her face. She parted her hair like a veil, and looked at him with an intensity that pierced his soul. In that moment, Severus Snape knew that he had fallen in love with her.

Unaware of what he was doing, he crossed the few feet separating them and dropped to his knees in front of her. Lost in the depths of her brown eyes, he gently took her face between his hands. "Hermione," he began before stopping again. He was at a loss for words as he watched her slowly rise to her knees. For several seconds he was paralyzed with the fear of not knowing what she would do next. She had every reason to reject him, but he didn't know what he would do if she got up and walked away.

The relief he felt was too profound for words as she tearfully wrapped her arms around his neck and asked him to hold her. "Yes, of course," he exhaled as he enveloped her in the warmth of his embrace and hoped that the strength of his arms would communicate what he didn't know how to put into words. When she looked up at him again, he saw vulnerability in the honesty of her gaze. Leaning closer, he captured her mouth in a kiss that was so profound he felt as if his mouth would remain permanently connected to hers.

Kiss after passionate kiss took them to the floor within several feet of Jordan, but they neither noticed nor cared. What began as a meeting of mouths soon flowed into a meeting of tongues and then an exploration of mouths. His hands, breaking through the buttons of her new coat, reached in to pull her closer to him. When what could have been an eternity had passed, they stopped kissing to enjoy the simple pleasure of looking into each others eyes. Unable to stop himself, Severus quietly spoke.

"Hermione," he asked, "What is between you and him? Have you really slept with him yet?"

Hermione thought carefully before responding. Despite the hurtful things he had said and done, she was ecstatic that she was in his arms at last. Yet, her intuition told her that it would be a mistake to let him think that her relationship with Jordan was platonic. Although she felt horrible about it, she knew that she wasn't going to be completely truthful with him.

"He's been very good to me the last couple of days. I needed that so much. You hurt me Severus, and he's been there for me, so I won't deny that there may be feelings, but...."

"But?"

"But I lying when I allowed you to think that our relationship has progressed as far as sex."

Severus breathed a sigh of relief and then captured her mouth for another searing kiss. Several moments later, she broke away from him. Concerned, he began to speak but she covered his mouth gently with her fingers. Looking deeply into his eyes she said, "I don't want to make love with any man but you Severus Snape. I'm still in possession of my virginity. You can have it if you want it."

The combination of her seductiveness and innocence overwhelmed him. He had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted Hermione. Leaving Jordan asleep on the rug, he swept her into his arms and carried her to his bed.
Several hours later Severus lay between her legs as she gently caressed his back. He was enjoying the pleasure of lying against her and was reluctant to remove himself from the warmth of her inner body. "So, did you time me?" he asked coyly. "Am I a wizard or a muggle?"

"Yes I timed you," she giggled in reply, "And you are definitely all muggle,"