Bit short. Oh well.

Chapter #11



"Shit!" James muttered as he looked down. Hermione was asleep in his lap. She moaned and shifted slightly, a sigh escaping her mouth. Now what am I supposed to do? He thought wildly. It was bad enough that she was asleep with him, but worse was the fact that they were in the forbidden forest and it was out of bounds for all students. Not that it mattered to him, he was all too happy to break rules. Good thing it was Saturday night. James sighed. This just had to stop. If she slept with him every night, not that he would mind that, but she would be tired for school, her marks would start to go down, and her friends would get suspicious. That and if she was caught she would be embarrassed. Sleeping with her best friends' father! James felt a pang of longing for his son. He wanted to see Harry, and know that the boy was all right.

"James? Oh my God, we did it again!" Hermione squealed as she woke up and noticed she was lying with James again.

"Yeah. I can see this turning into a habit." James joked with a grin. Hermione sighed.

"Oh, Ron is gonna be mad at me again!" She muttered in horror.

"Well, I was awfully warm last night. What about you?" James asked. Hermione looked up at him, realizing with a jolt that he was looking very attractive with his hair all over the place as usual, his glasses askew, and his clothes lying beside him. He was clad only in boxers.

"Yeah, that was one thing good about it. Hey, do you remember having nightmares about your friends the first few times you tried to transform?" Hermione asked. She had had a rather frightening dream where James was with her, kissing her, and suddenly he was gone, and Ron was there, laughing cruelly about something. He had been raping her.

"Um." James squinted as he tried to remember.

"Oohh, grab a camera." Hermione giggled. "He's trying to think!"

"That is NOT funny!" James grumbled. "No, I don't recall any bad dreams, and for your information, I actually have a brain, though you'd think that unforgivable curse would have fried my brain cells." He added. Hermione looked up at him in surprise. It was the first time he actually talked about getting hit by the killing curse. Hermione didn't blame him. James looked at her.

" Hey James, I got a question. Harry has this picture of you surfing. Do you like those kind of things? Snowboards and skateboards and motor bikes? Fancy cars and surfboards?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Hell yeah!" James answered quickly. Hermione grinned.

"I like them too, but I only like watching them. I don't ever want to try something like that." She answered thoughtfully.

"Why not?" James asked incredulously. Hermione stared at him.

"Definitely not! That's just a step closer to suicide!"

"Is not!"

"You would kill yourself!"

"Been doing it for twenty-five years." James answered, stretching his legs out. Hermione shook her head in disbelief.

"You're crazy."

"Oh yeah?" James raised an eyebrow at her. "And you aren't?"

"No!"

"Whatever. You're just as crazy as me!"

"I'm going to be late for school."

"Hermione?"

"What?" Hermione glared at him.

"It's Sunday. You don't have school. It's still the weekend." James replied, sniggering at her.

"Well, I need some breakfast. Goodbye!" Hermione got to her feet. James shook his head.

"You're just gonna leave?" He watched as she stomped off. "You're welcome!"

"Why should I thank you?" James got up and ran to her. He grabbed her by the shoulder and wheeled her around, his eyes ablaze with a fiery look.

"For helping you, Hermione." He seemed to have calmed down a bit. Hermione sighed.

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking. Thank you so much." She threw her arms around him. James laughed suddenly.

"That's alright. Hmm, I'm pretty hungry myself!" He exclaimed. Hermione laughed.

"I got an idea! You can wear the cloak to the kitchens! I know a house-elf down there that would gladly give you food." She replied quickly. James nodded and picked his cloak up off of the ground. He flashed her a grin.

"Haven't worn this thing in years!" He said thoughtfully as he slipped it on. Hermione watched as he disappeared. She sighed and picked her way through the forest for thirty minutes until she could see the castle. James smiled and followed her there. The two walked up the steps and into the Great Hall.

"There you are!" Hermione came face to face with Severus Snape. She gulped nervously.

"Please Professor, I'm hungry!" She tried to walk around him, but he wouldn't let her.

"Where were you last night?" Snape demanded.

"That's none of your business, Professor!" Hermione stuttered. Snape rolled his eyes.

"I have every right to know what you were doing last night in the forest!" Snape hissed. Hermione jerked away from him, and then James spoke to her in a low, barely audible voice.

"I'm going to the kitchens. See ya." And then she was alone. Well, not really. The little company Snape provided was enough. Hermione glanced back towards the entrance hall and then up at Snape. Did he know what was going on? She sighed.

"Please Sir, I'm not hiding anything." She stated, trying to push past him, but he grabbed her by the arm as she walked by.

"Lying makes it worse, Hermione." He snarled, then Dumbledore was there, gently prodding at Snapes' fingers until he had to release his grip on Hermiones' shoulder. Snape glared at Dumbledore and stomped away bitterly.

"So, Are you ready to tell me the truth, and nothing but?" Dumbledore asked. Hermione looked up and sighed. She could hardly bare the stress of this relationship. If that was what you wanted to call it.

END OF CHAPTER