"Severus could you please sit down. Your incessant pacing is making me sick." Severus looked at her. Why hadn't he seen it. All the tell-tail signs were there. She was extremely bright, she always knew the answers, and if she didn't she knew where to find them. Was it possible that she was the girl Albus sent him for?
"I'll stop when I'm damn good and ready, Miss Granger." he snapped.
"Well, Professor SNAPE, I was just making a suggestion." she hissed back at him. 'When did we drop from first name bases?' she thought.
"I don't need you making suggestions! I'm quite old enough to do that on my own." Just to prove his point he ungracefully fell into the spot next to her on the sofa.
"Well, I'm glad for you." she snapped. "Why are we yelling?"
"Haven't a clue." he answered, his voice dropped to his normal volume. He turned to look at her. "Is there anything you can't do?"
"Well..." she cooed.
"I didn't mean it like that, Hermione."
"Then how did you mean it?"
Severus sighed. "All through school you had to be the best in your studies. Nun the less you are the same at the university." she nodded. "You held on to the belief that light would win over darkness, even when it looked hopeless. You almost gave up your life to protect others. Your just too much."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Is that a good thing?" he shugged. "I'm not as noble as you put it. I'm just like everyone else. I just go by what my gut tells me. There's nothing else I can do. As for my studying it's my only outlet to the rest of the world. Sometimes even us intellectuals need to escape." she winked at him.
"You know I'm going to have to take you back to Hogwarts." Hermione's eyes widened. "I have to. Albus told me I couldn't come back with out the new seer. He told me that it was vitle that I find her and bring her back."
"What? The school will explode if the school doesn't have a Divination teacher? It's not like it ever had any good teachers." Severus glared at her. "Present comapny excluded. McGonagall and Dumbledore were great teachers but come on! I even knew Hagrid wasn't the best person for the Care of Magical Creatures class. I only encuraged it to give him some confidence. Also there has NEVER been a DADA teacher to last over a year."
"You put up a good argument, but I still have to take you back." Hermione looked into his dark eyes. "Besides you said so yourself you need to find a potions master to be an apprentice to. So why don't you teach Divination and be my apprentice?" her lips twitched.
"Are you kidding?"
"Will it get you to come to Hogwarts?" he asked. "Because I refuse to drag you there kicking and screaming."
Without thinking Hermione threw herself on Severus. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her head in his chest. Severus didn't know what to do. This was the second time this night that Hermione had willingly clung to him (him carrying her was just a reaction when she held on to his neck, it doesn't count). He slowly brought his arms around her waist and held her. He gently placed his chin on her head.
"Should I take that as a yes?"
She looked up at him. "No, but you can take this as a yes." she slowly brought her lips to his.
Severus thought he was losing his mind. Here he was sitting in his London flat kissing his former student, who just accepted an appenticeship. Once more he was kissing Hermione Granger, pride of Gryffindor and slowly stealing his cold heart.
Hermione brought her arms up around his neck and allowed her hands to travel up to the nape of his neck. She gently brought her fingers though his hair. She found it quite soft and silky. She didn't know why she was kissing him, nor did she care. She could feel his wearyness of the situation but she could also feel how eager he was.
Soon she was seeing flashes of herself and Severus asleep together in a bed, naked. Another flash of herself wearing a beautiful white dress and him in a georguse set of black dress robs with sliver snake trim. As soon as that flash was over she saw him holding a bundle wrapped in a pink blanket and a little boy with black hair looking up at him. One last flash showed Severus holding her in his arms as they watched the little boy, now grown, and a girl graduating from Hogwarts.
Hermione quickly pulled away. She had just seen her future with Severus. She knew what tonight would lead if they continued what they were doing. But what were they doing? 'It's just innocent flirting.' she tried to convince herself. Severus looked Hermione in the eyes. They held no expression and looked glazed over. He knew she saw something.
"What did you see?" he asked softly.
"You...me...together..."
Good? Bad? Keep going? Well well well our little Hermione shakes head Can I be Hermione? Just for this story? Please? RR