I just want to thank all my wonderful reviewers, seeing your mail in my inbox really brightens my day and makes me want to continue writing! I especially want to thank- Mystic dark raven, Nubia, Coldqueen, Charmed piper and ThouandI who have given me a review in nearly every chapter. To everyone else who reads this story – please review, even if you just say something short, like P.A.M.S!
Hermione awoke feeling as tired as before she had gone to sleep. She ordered the lights to brighten and after untangling herself from Severus's arm, sat up. At least her headache had gone, but she still felt ill and after feeling her tummy burning for a while, realised she was just hungry.
Reluctantly, she got out of bed and looked at the time on the watch she had left on a side table, it was 6 o'clock in the morning. She decided that the best course of action would be to get dressed and leave as soon as possible, before anyone else was up. Once she was past the Slytherin common room she was home free. She'd probably get a few knowing looks, but she didn't care as long as no one saw her leave Professor Snapes office.
Getting dressed back into her now rather crumpled uniform, she thought about last night and how Severus had reacted. He had been very angry with Lucius and protected her against him, but was that out of love or just fear of being found out? If it wasn't love, she did not want to carry on playing this dangerous game. The fact that he had chosen not to answer her question made her doubt his feelings, she wasn't going to take any more risks if he didn't want to commit himself and just saw what they were doing as a bit of fun.
She felt sure she loved him, or was it just the excitement, the danger or the fact that he was forbidden fruit, that was making her tummy flutter when he was near? Looking round and seeing him lying there still sleeping, she thought how different he looked. When his face wasn't in a scowl or snarling, it was almost angelic, dark almost black hair framed his face, long lashes brushed against his cheeks and his slightly open mouth looked soft and inviting as he breathed quietly.
Hermione tentatively reached out a hand to brush some of the hair away from his face, brushing it back behind his ear. It was then that she noticed a jagged red line, running down his neck to his shoulder and wondered how he could have got such a scar, stroking it gently. Severus stirred at this touch and his eyes slowly fluttered open
"Morning!" Hermione said gently, smiling.
He groaned and sighed, rolling on to his back.
"I warn you, I'm not a morning person, so don't speak to me unless it's absolutely necessary" he growled, sitting up. Just then the sound of an alarm went off, resounding around the room. The alarm was made by a simple spell, cast by all but the most inept wizards to help them wake up in the morning.
"Silence!" Severus shouted and the room became quiet once more. He stretched, got up and walked over to the bathroom sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
Hermione watched fascinated, as his naked form crossed the room. She looked at his firm chest, with it's sprinkling of dark hair, his belly, which was very flat for a man of his age and then her eyes dropped lower. She still couldn't believe how well hung he was, if she told anyone they would never believe her, it was really large!
I'd better get a move on, Hermione suddenly thought, as he entered the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind him, snapping her out of her reverie. Suddenly the door opened again and he talked through the gap
"Your wand is in my office by the way, I retrieved it for you. Lucius told me he had just used a temporary vanishing spell on it and I reversed it." she heard him say, then the door closed again.
Hermione was a bit angry at finding this out, so, it was there all the time was it? Well he had me fooled, I'd like to have seen him try what he did if I had managed to get hold of my wand!
Once dressed, Hermione gathered her things together and after saying goodbye through the bathroom door, walked, rather sadly out of Severus's bedroom. She picked her wand up off the desk where he said it would be, opened the office door carefully and sneaked out into the corridor, closing it quietly behind her. It felt strange to be out at this time in the morning and she sincerely hoped that she didn't run into anyone, not least because of where she was but she knew she must look rather a mess.
By the time she reached her dorm room it was nearly half past six, Ginny would be getting up in half an hour's time. Maybe she could just jump in the shower, convincing her friend that she had just got in very late and had come in so quietly that she hadn't woken her. If Ginny knew she had been out all night, Hermione would be grilled with twenty questions about where she had been and who with. She didn't feel up to doing that much lying.
It was getting light, even through the closed curtains, which was lucky, as it meant Hermione could see were she was going. After uttering a silencing spell on her feet, she crept across to the bathroom, closed the door quietly. Switching on the shower, she undressed, shoving her uniform in the laundry hamper.
The shower helped wake her up, feel more alert and ready for a day of school. When she got out she wrapped a towel around her self and stood in front of the mirror to comb her hair. She stood there for some time, thinking and staring at her reflection, asking herself how she felt and if she wanted to carry on her affair with the potions professor. She heard the alarm go off and after a while the door opened, revealing a yawning Ginny, making Hermione jump slightly. She looked round briefly, then carried on combing.
"So you're back are you?" Ginny asked, her tone strangely stiff, she never normally spoke to Hermione like that.
"Look I'm sorry I missed you at dinner and didn't tell you were I was, but Sev..Professor Snape made me make my potion again, then I realised I hadn't got all the books I needed for a homework essay, then I met up with Gavin and well...I just forgot the time!" Hermione answered, hoping this sounded plausable
"Hmm, right! Nice story, well I've got one to tell you! When you didn't turn up last night, the boys were really worried, so I had to tell them something, I told them about that Godrick you mentioned, they definitely weren't impressed by that! But I told Ron he had to move on and let you live your own life, as you and he were no longer an item. There was only one little problem though.." Ginny said, leaning against the wall next to Hermione, her arms folded. "Ron and me went to wizard chess club last night and guess who Ron played against?"
Hermione had a sudden sinking feeling in her belly, her heart began to pound and she licked her lips nervously, but tried to sound nonchalant, "Who?" she asked, rubbing moisturiser onto her face
"Gavin Godrick! As if you didn't know!" Ginny said incredulously, "well you can imagine the strange looks we kept giving him, the poor guy was really perplexed! When the match was over; Ron beat him of course, we took him aside. Harry and Ron kept looking at me, then him and asked him if he knew where you were, he didn't know what they were talking about. There's me going red and feeling like a right fool, with those two giving me twenty questions, questions I didn't have an answer for! In the end I just told them the truth, that I didn't really know who you were seeing, I'd just got the name off the top of my head. They weren't very happy, but they had to accept that they didn't know everything about you anymore. I wasn't very happy either, being made to look like an idiot."
Hermione looked down guiltily, she felt like crying and confessing everything, but she just couldn't bring herself to
"I'm sorry Ginny, I don't know what to say. Thankyou for trying to cover for me" Hermione said weakly
"That's not all..." Ginny said looking up, her head on one side and her eyebrows raised. "I was leaving the classroom were we have the chess club and there was a load of Slytherin's standing by the door sniggering about something and I overheard what they were saying as I walked past." She looked down again now and began playing with the tie on her dressing gown, "they were saying they'd seen 'Potter's mudblood bitch' as they so enchantingly called you, going into Professor Snapes office that night. They were making suggestive remarks, like saying you must be in trouble and he'd give you what for" she bit her lip thoughtfully for a while before carrying on. Hermione just stood there staring at her reflection, leaning on the sink under the mirror.
"Luckily Harry and Ron didn't hear, as they'd gone on ahead. When I got back into the common room I had a sudden thought, The Maruaders map! What if they looked at it, to see where you were? I had to get there first, so I caused a distraction; I started a silly argument with Ron and made as if I'd stormed off, but instead of going to our room I sneaked into theirs. I got the map out of Harry's trunk and brought it here, opened it and sure enough.. there you were, in Snape office! I was very confused at first, then I just shrugged it off, thinking that you'd just gone to talk to him about some homework or something. But I kept checking the map all night and it was still saying you were with him in his office at twelve o'clock. I hardly slept last night for worry, I had no idea what was going on, then something started to click in my mind; someone you wouldn't or couldn't talk about, a Slytherin, but I thought, no, I must be wrong, I had to be! I eventually managed to go to sleep, but I woke up at five this morning and you still weren't back!" Ginny's voice started to crack up and tears sprang from her eyes, running down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her sleeve. Hermione began to feel tears begin to flow from her own eyes and gripped the edge of the bowl tighter as she looked down, trying to hide her face with her long hair.
"I decided to take one last look at the Marauders Map, hoping against hope that I was wrong, but there you were...still there!" Ginny's tears were flowing unchecked now. "Why Hermione? Why him? Did he drug you or something? What the hell is going on with you?" she wailed looking at Hermione sorrowfully
Hermione stepped back and sat on the closed toilet seat. Tears ran down her face and she looked at her hands wondering what to say and how to explain how she felt. It was going to be difficult as she wasn't sure herself
"I..I don't know, we've just sort of begun this little affair thing. He...well, he's not what you think, he's quite amazing really. The persona he projects as a professor, that's not all there is to him, there's so much more. He's so.. interesting, so intelligent, he just.. amazes me! I suppose that's why I fell for him!" Hermione finished, hoping that Ginny would show her a bit of understanding
"Huh! I think you've gone completely and utterly off your head! You've been sniffing dodgy potions or something! Not only is he the person that has made your, Harry's, Ron's, mine and practically anyone else who isn't in Slytherin house, life a misery, he's old enough to be your father! How could you, with him!" Ginny ranted, holding her hands out in front of her. "Oh Merlin, it's a good job the boys don't know, I dread to think how they'll react! It's just so crazy, I can't get my head round it!" She continued
"I know it's crazy, but they always say that you have little or no control over where your heart falls. I know he is too old for me, but our minds have so much in common, I feel that for once I'm with someone who understands the world the same way I do. I think Snape the professor and Severus the man are different entirely. I mean, I can't say that I know that much about his past or anything like that but...when I'm with him it just feels right" Hermione explained, wiping her eyes
"Oh Hermione! I just don't know what to say, I mean he's...he's Snape! I just don't know what you see in him! Don't you worry about getting caught? What if Dumbledore found out! He'd have to sack him and that wouldn't be very good for the Order, would it?. What about Harry, how do you think he would feel? Or Ron for that matter!" Ginny was speaking more calmly now, but was still upset.
"Please keep this a secret Ginny...I'm begging you! Don't tell the boys!" Hermione looked at Ginny pleadingly
"Okay, seeing as you're my friend, I'll keep your secret, but I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it for!" Ginny replied grudgingly.
"Thankyou Ginny, I owe you one!"
"You owe me big time and don't forget it!" Ginny began to move forward then, turning the shower back on and undressing. She felt the water and satisfied, climbed in.
Hermione felt very worried, so far, the fact that no one had known about her and Severus, gave her the courage to keep on seeing him. Now that Ginny knew and with those Slytherin boys seeing her, she wasn't so sure she wanted to carry on now. What if more people found out? She didn't want to think about it. She knew the best thing to do now was to stop seeing him, but the thought of never lying in his arms again made her feel strangely empty inside.
Hermione walked into her room again and as she was dry, began to get dressed. Just as she was putting the finishing touches to her hair, (she put a lot more effort into it nowadays) Ginny walked in and sat on her bed. Combing her wet hair, she looked at Hermione thoughtfully.
"So, what's he like, you know ...in bed?" she asked, curiously, smirking a little
Hermione smiled at this question, had Ginny accepted her and Severus or was she just going to make a sarcastic comment.
"He's wonderful, if you must know! He really knows what he's doing!" she replied a little embarrassed
"As opposed to Ron you mean!" Ginny said raising her eyebrows
"I would never say anything bad about Ron! He's lovely, but...I honestly don't think we've got that much in common." Hermione replied earnestly
"So...what's he like erm..naked? How big is he in the trouser department? Or does he turn off the lights, so you can't see?
"Ginny! I can't tell you that!" Hermione said in a shocked tone
"Oh! Go on! How else am I going to find out? Me and my friends are always trying to guess who's got the biggest out of the boys and the teachers!" Ginny said giggling
"Trust you! Well, you'll just have to carry on guessing!" Hermione replied, then she winced as she felt a pillow being thrown at the side of her head, which she threw straight back. They carried on doing this for a while until they noticed the time and decided they had better get a move on. They ran down to breakfast still giggling, but with Hemione still worrying what she was going to tell the boys.
(Sorry there was no sex in this chapter! But don't worry the next one is going to!)