A/N: I am extremely happy to the two…yes, two, people who reviewed the last chapter. The diehards, of course, are my saviors. So I will personally answer their reviews as a personal thank you.

Wacko the Sane: Wow, I was pleased to know you still cared about my fic. I am deeply sorry I haven't been able to review your updates, I though you'd go on strike or something against mine. Yes, I'm fine. I'm great, in fact, because you took the time to review. J

Ninde Annare: Ninde, Ninde, Ninde…how nice it is to hear from you. I am flattered that this story is so dear to you. On that alone I would update! (Lol) Anyways, I'm hoping that there will be many chapters to come, if I have something to say about it. I know my cliffhangers are deliciously evil…I always end up doing them so I have something to go off of for the next chapter! smirksEnjoy, both of you!

Chapter 7: Do You Love Me?

"Look, I don't know why you thought this was a good idea," the man muttered nervously. Severus could hear him pacing back and forth.

"There was no other way. Sev would not let me out of here if it was on a leash," Hermione said exasperatedly. Snape smirked to himself.

"Oh? So you are just a little pet of his…at the end of a leash?" the man cut in bitterly. "Tell me, Hermione, do you even love him? Do you?"

"You are impossible! Do not be so critical of him, please," Hermione said softly, but with vehemence.

"You did not answer my question." Severus nervously adjusted his knee. Did she have any doubts about marrying him? Did she love him?

"Why should that matter? This has nothing to do with him," she retorted impatiently. Severus wasn't so sure about that.

"I'm not so sure about that. He will find out sooner or later, and he will become involved," the man said forcefully. Suddenly his voice changed, and it became almost gentle. "Hermione, you don't have to stay with him if you don't want to. If you don't love him…"

"Don't you dare say anything like that ever again!" Hermione spat out hysterically.

"Think about it Hermione. It's been a year; the excitement has worn off. Do you really think you share enough with this man to spend your entire life with him? He will grow old long before you and die long before you. You'll look back and realize what a waste of your life it was," he replied calmly. Snape was now both very angry and more scared than he ever thought he could be. Was she, dare he think it, unfaithful? "Come with me. You don't have to be imprisoned with him anymore if you don't really love him. We'll do this together. Hermione, if we succeed, we can change the world. You know better than me that, You-Know-Who, is winning, no matter what people like us have done."

"Leave. We have no more to discuss," Hermione said curtly, and began to move towards the door, but then was stopped by the man. From what Severus knew of the study, he had moved around the couch to block her way. Thank Merlin he did.

"No! You do not understand! Look at what showed up at my door." The man showed her something, and Severus heard the crinkle of paper.

"What is this?" Hermione whispered, her voice shaky.

"It's a note. A warning. Don't you understand, Hermione? They're on to us. They know we're meeting in secret. I'll bet you a galleon Snape is already on your ass about all this, and is watching you like an overbearing mother goose." Goose? Snape thought angrily, I'd give him a goose in a second! "We need to plan this carefully. When can we meet next?" Hermione kicked at something.

"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore," she sighed tiredly. "How about, in a couple of days, I'll contact you, and, um, let you know then."

"Mione, please…" the man said almost pleadingly. Snape suddenly started. Mione? Not very many people called her Mione. He was starting to get more furious by the minute. He badly wanted to first punch the life out of that mysterious man and hex the hell out of him second.

"No! Just go. We've talked for too long anyway, and about the wrong things." And with that there was a prompt pop; the man had Apparated. Hermione picked up something and threw it across the room with a loud thud. Probably a book, but he'd never thought she would disrespect a book in such a way. Severus stood up as carefully as he could, but he was quite stiff, and his legs were asleep. He thought he was either going to burst from anger or from apprehension. That conversation he had just had just probed into the deepest fears he had felt as far back as the first year they were together. Did she really love him? Of course, she had said so, but what the man had said was too agreeable with his actual worries. He placed his hands against the wall and just leaned on them, deep in thought. He faintly heard Hermione crying on the other side of the wall. When he could bear it no longer, he exited the hallway as briskly as he could, and retired to the bedroom. He would not go back to the Grimmauld Place tonight, or the day after that. After all, he was "out" of the main stream of the Order anyway, except for the job that Lupin and Harry had implied he help with. Why go back? Plus, he really needed to think things over.

>-()-

He waited for an ample amount of time to pass, then began to walk back to the study, where he believed she still was. He had timed himself well, for if this had been a normal day, this would have been the time he'd have come home. He almost wished he had. Would have saved him a lot of ache and pain, and not the physical kind either. He knocked on the study door, and let himself in.

The sight before him was enough to make his heart melt, if that was possible. But he was not the Snape he used to be. Hermione had moved him in a way he never thought possible, just as she did now. Rays of the setting sun crept through the curtains of the majestic window on the other side of the study, and cast almost a silhouette over Hermione's sleeping form. She had fallen asleep on the leather couch with a pile of books at her feet, one on her lap, and what seemed a fortress of tissues surrounding her like a wall. She must have been crying a lot more than he thought. Immediately his heart reached out to her, wanting to comfort her badly. But he stopped himself. This woman, his wife, was doing so many things that screamed unfaithfulness and some other deep thing he did not know of…yet. He lowered himself down gently to his knees in front of her, and watched her sleep silently. She looked so beautiful when she slept, not that she wasn't when she was awake. He gently pulled her mountainous sheet of curls from her face to tuck them behind her ear. She moaned slightly and her eyes fluttered. He kneeled there before her, almost transfixed; he still loved her. But he had one burning question eating away at his soul that he so badly wanted to ask her. Does she love me? Did she ever love me?

"Sev…?" His eyes refocused on her face, which was occupied with open eyes, soft chocolate ones that were drowsy with sleep. "Sev!" she suddenly shot up, and saw the scene about her, and frantically tried to get rid of the tissues, but Severus didn't need the tissues to notice that her eyes were very red from crying. He gently, but firmly, put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.

"You're…back," she said, as if she'd just realized it, casting her eyes down at her lap.

"Herm," he said just as softly.

"Yes?" she answered, still not looking at him.

"Do you love me?" he said gently. Hermione's shoulders tightened, and he dropped his hands to rest on her thighs. She did not answer.

"Do you love me?" he said again, now very afraid, and if she had looked up, she would have seen the pained terror in his eyes.

"You know I do," she finally said, looking into his eyes with what seemed such sincerity, he was moved. But how can I trust that?

"Really, Hermione."

"What else do you want me say!" she suddenly shouted, standing up and brushing past him to stand by the window. He got up and crept up gently behind her and placed his arms around her, with his chin on the top of her head. She leaned against him, almost as if she couldn't hold herself up. They stayed like that for a minute or so, and if anyone had been looking at the window, they would have probably been able to witness the most beautiful picture on Earth before their eyes. Truly, it was a wondrous scene for the eye to behold.

"Anything," he murmured softly after a moment. She sighed prettily.

"Severus, we live together, we read books together, we talk to each other well into the night, we wear the rings of binding marriage, we've kissed, we've slept in the same bed, we've taken care of each other, we've protected each other, we understand each other, we do practically everything with each other…we've shared the most intimate thing two people can share…" This last statement caused her to smile faintly.

"But do you love me?" he repeated, whispering softly in her ear, desperately wanting a straight answer. She turned around slowly, and pulled him gently with her, and he complied by turning and sitting on the window seat. Then she sank carefully into his lap, looking him straight in the eye, which mildly pleased him and made his hopes jump. He placed his hands on her hips, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her fingers in the ends of his hair.

"What more proof do you want?" she said, an almost provocative look on her face, seductively gazing at him.

"All the proof you have to offer," he answered coolly, his own grin revealing the intense humor and thoughts crossing his mind. She chuckled lightly and airily, with a happiness he hadn't seen in a while.

"You asked for it," she warned playfully, and placed her lips on his, and he readily complied, holding her close, the heat of her body against his coupled with the herbal scent of her hair and perfume which she always seemed to have on, was quite intoxicating. She did not hurry herself in the kiss, so he did not ask for any more. He thought she almost wanted to prove how well their lips molded together; fitting together perfectly, and he simply enjoyed this. This was a different kind of kiss, one he hadn't experienced before. There was so much emotion, so much power, that he was almost about to fall over; only her hands and arms around his neck steadied him. She was giving him her soul; she was pouring her soul and her love into the kiss, which was still chaste. So he thought he'd ask for a bit more, and gently probed her lips with his tongue, and she opened her mouth so quickly and eagerly he almost broke the kiss, but her firm grip on his neck prevented it. His emotions were running on high feverish energy, and he began to put his back into it, and she pressed herself as close to him as she could, the kiss becoming more intensified with every passing second.

It was so beautiful; Severus thought he felt tears coming in his eyes, but none came. He was so grateful. So grateful that he now knew she still loved him. And, Merlin, she was showing it with an intensity he didn't think she had. The kiss grew desperate; he started to inch off his robes, and she sensed his intentions and practically yanked off his robes, and moved immediately to his shirt buttons, which was one of her favorites, (a black silk shirt with silver embroidery in the cuffs). They broke the kiss for a split second as Severus unceremoniously discarded it on the floor next to the pile of his robes, and they immediately became locked again, her hands scanning almost hungrily over his lean muscular chest and shoulders. Severus could not wait any longer; he gently picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist to keep them from dragging, and he maneuvered them around the couch, somehow through the closed door, down the hall, and up to their bedroom, where they would continue their activities. Severus felt so happy; her sweet taste was making him go crazy, and she was just as eager as he was. He wondered if any couples shared something as powerful as this with each other. But now that he thought of it, he really didn't give a damn. After all, what man such as him didn't want a wife that loved him and was eager to do anything for him and desired him above any other for love, intimacy, pleasure, and an entire lifetime of companionship? None. But then again, he was better off than many other men out there. God, he was truly a lucky bastard who didn't deserve any of this. And yet, here he was; and he wished for nothing else.

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A/N: Jeez. I'm going to have to tread carefully about updating. Anyway, I think this is my FAVORITE chapter so far. I love it. You know what's also funny? I'm still getting reviews for LDCFAP. It's funny, because one recent reviewer said: "OMG! WRITE A SEQUEL!" Yeah. Need I say more? Tell me what you think of this chapter. Ta ta!