When Hermione got to the dungeon classroom in which she had her Potions lessons she wasn't quite sure where to go. Feeling that she might as well wait she set her trunk down and looked around the cold gloomy room. She thought about Harry and Ron laughing in the Common Room together with Ginny. She thought about Parvati and Lavender giggling in the beds next to hers. A cold tear slipped down her face as she thought about what staying with Severus meant. She began to cry harder, icy tears leaked from her eyes and her body shook with suppressed sobs.
"Hermione are you alright?" Severus' voice came from behind her.
Severus walked across the classroom and lifted her face to his.
"What can I do to make this situation better for you?" he said looking into her eyes and seemingly reading her mind. "Anything I can do I will Hermione I promise you".
She looked up into his face. It was sad and full of concern and barely resembled the face she had looked at so many times over the last five years.
"I love you Hermione I would do anything to make you happy" he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him. She was surprised at his warmth. Everything around them was cold as stone but he felt so safe.
"Let me show you to your room" he said quietly. Hermione nodded still unable to speak. Severus led her to the back of the classroom and through the door from which the students saw him appear every lesson. Behind the door was a stone passageway with sconces holding lit candles all along the walls.
"This is my room" he said indicating a large wooden door on their left. He continued along to the end of the corridor and indicated another wooden door on the right. He lifted the iron ring that served as a door handle and opened it. Hermione gasped as she looked around the room. It was quite large, at least as big as the whole dormitory in Gryffindor Tower and it was the most beautiful room she had ever seen. The hard stone floor was covered by a large cream rug and the stone walls were lined with ornate iron sconces each with a lit candle in. There was an oak desk in the corner of the room with a large soft looking oak chair. The four poster bed was also made oak and covered with deep purple drapes matching the bed clothes. A wardrobe, chest of drawers, huge stone fireplace in front of which was a table and armchair filled the rest of the room.
Hermione noticed a large wooden door in the corner of the room. Following her gaze Severus said quickly
"That door leads to the bathroom. My room also joins onto it. I'm sorry we'll have to share" Severus looked nervously at Hermione's face. "I know it's not much, I never have guests, but I hope you'll be comfortable here"
"Severus" Hermione said looking up into his dark eyes "This is the most beautiful room I have ever seen" she smiled at his worried face. She walked into the room and circled it her mouth open slightly. She sat down on the bed and felt that it was amazingly soft and warm. She ran her hands over the smooth purple sheets and looked over to Severus who was still standing at the door of the room watching her nervously.
"I'm sorry" she said suddenly "About before, in the classroom"
"What is there to be sorry about?" he said walking into the room and standing awkwardly beside the bed.
"I just felt daunted about being somewhere new and…"
"And with a man much older than you who you don't know" Severus finished sadly
"No!" she exclaimed "I was going to say new and unfamiliar. Would you show me around?"
"Of course" he said slightly surprised "Follow me".
He led her towards the door in the corner of the room and indicated that she should go first. When she opened the door she gasped. The room was almost as large as her bedroom. A modest sized mirror hung above the sink on the far side of the room. A large bath was hewn into the stone floor and looked more like a small swimming pool. There was also a shower and huge towel rack with large fluffy towels drying on it. In this room also there was a fireplace. Hermione smiled as she looked around.
"Well" said Severus "This is it, not much to show you around really"
Hermione's gaze fell towards the wooden door opposite the one which they had just come from.
"Don't I get to see where you stay?" she said boldly
"No-one's ever been in there before" he said sadly "Do you really want to, it's nothing special"
"I want to see where you live"
Severus nodded and led the way across to his room. When he opened the door he looked half ashamed and half surprised at finding it there, as if he had never seen it before. Hermione stepped past him and walked into the room. It was furnished much in the same way that Hermione's room was. The drapes and sheets here were deep green. In the corner of the room another smaller door stood.
"What's behind that door?" asked Hermione curiously walking closer to it.
"Oh nothing" he said quickly trying to direct her attention away from the door.
"Severus what's behind there?"
"It's just my library" he said "Nothing special just a few old books" Hermione made her way over to it and before he could stop her opened the door and began to climb the spiral stairs.
"Hermione please!" he called after her but she didn't hear him. He ran over to the door and climbed the stairs after her.
Hermione stood open mouthed as she reached the top of the tower. It was a round room lined from ceiling to floor with books. There was a red rug on the floor and a large window. She realised she must have climbed a great deal in order to get above the dungeons but the tower itself was not very high. It had a view out to the back of the grounds through the window, under which was a desk. A book lay open on it and Hermione, her sense of curiosity getting the better of her, walked over it it and peered at the small writing scrawled on it's pages
When Severus reached the room Hermione was reading the book on the desk.
15th January 2000
Today I saw Hermione in the corridor. There is nothing in the world as beautiful as she is. I keep wanting to tell her but I don't think I can sentence her to such a fate. How can such a beautiful woman love a hideous man like me? Surely Sanina got it wrong. I can't explain these emotions. If Hermione isn't the one I am supposed to fall in love with then how come I have? And how can I ever expect her to love me? I would rather die than see her matched with such a cold man as I. She deserves everything in the world.
"Hermione I am so sorry I never meant for you to read that" Severus said sadly "I thought I had put it away"
"But Severus I don't understand. This was written when I was in third year. Have you felt this way since then?"
"I have felt love for you since the first time I saw you" Severus' face saddened, if possible, even more and he made to walk towards the door in the corner of the room but Hermione stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked into her face. She was smiling at him and for the first time it hit him just how young she was. Although she was eighteen he couldn't see her as an adult and he felt guilty for loving her and expecting her to love him.
"Severus you have been so kind to me" she said running her gaze across his face, neck and chest "I want you to know that I am yours. Ask me to do anything you want and I shall"
"I would not wish you to be unhappy for a moment Hermione, not a single moment. And I would not ask you to do anything that you didn't want to. I know that…"
But she lifted her lips to his again and wrapped her arms around his back. She pulled him as close as she could to him and he closed his arms around her. Her arms slipped down his back lower and lower. Severus gasped as she pulled him closer still. It took every ounce of his self control to pull himself away from her.
"Hermione I don't think that's a good idea" he looked into her eyes. She looked disappointed. "I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything. You are very young Hermione. I want you to wait until you are in love, whether it be with me or someone else. I think you should wait until you are a few years older"
"I'm not a child Severus" she said imploringly "You may think I am because you have known me since I was 12 years old but I am an adult now with adult feelings"
"I don't want you to regret anything that you do while you are in my care"
"No-one has ever loved me like you have and I have never felt this way about anyone before" Hermione moved closer to him again and this time he did not move away.
Severus kissed Hermione on the forehead before pressing his lips to hers. Hermione pulled Severus' body closer to her again and felt his moan against her lips. He moved his hands up to her face and stroked her cheek. She looked into his eyes.
"This is exactly what I have seen in my dreams"
"I know" he said staring into her dark eyes. "Why this moment?" he said "Why would we both have seen this exact moment? What significance does it have?"
"I think I know" said Hermione smiling "I love you Severus, I think I've fallen in love with you"
"Hermione" said Severus heavily "I don't want you to say that just to make me feel better"
"I'm not honestly" she said her eyes sparkling "I love you"
Severus gazed into her eyes, searching for the truth and he found it.
"I love you more than you can ever know" he said kissing her softly.