Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with her world

Chapter 3: Her First Experience...Swimming

The next morning started early for Hermione, as her rumbling stomach immediately woke her up. She dressed quickly into her bathing suit, as she was going to go tan and go swimming after her breakfast, and made her bed, not yet remembering the night before. But all the while she had a nagging suspicion that something was off, not bad but just... off. Hermione walked down the stairs hurriedly and went into the kitchen searching out the food and orange juice.

Severus was still asleep, as he heard the creaking of the floorboards. He woke up grudgingly and a little annoyed still wanting to sleep. But he threw his covers off and opened his eyes to the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. He saw what he thought was an angel, what he thought was still in his dreams. The figure floated down the staircase, with her hair shimmering in the early morning. He sat up and rubbed away the sleep that still plagued his eyes. Severus stayed there for a moment to allow the head rush to stop long enough so that he could see straight or at least at all. He brushed his limp hair away from his face and blinked several times making sure the blood wasn't still rushing in his head. He stood up and stretched thoroughly cracking his knuckles, neck, and back, as was his morning ritual.

After the ritual, Severus walked silently towards the kitchen, but not as silent as he is in the years to come. He has yet to perfect that trait that has made the more rambunctious students at Hogwarts more than a little peeved.

Hermione had sat herself down on a stool and was munching on an apple when she heard someone move behind her in the kitchen.

"AHH!!!" she screamed.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry. I didn't expect to frighten you so badly. I just woke up and saw you come in here."

"No, that's OK, I just kind of forgot that you were here so I really didn't think anyone was going to sneak up behind and scare the living day lights out of me this early in the morning." She said still trying to slow her heart pace as she realized that it wasn't racing because she got scared. 'Just stop thinking about him. NOT SEXY!! HE IS SNAPE, HE IS NOT SEXY!!!' She was screaming this inside her mind as a sort of mantra that really wasn't working as he padded over the linoleum in the kitchen towards her without his shirt on.

Severus looked her up and down taking in her scantily-clad form in, what gave the impression of, underwear. "So do you usually walk around your home half-naked when you're by yourself?" He asked innocently enough.

"What?" she said shaking her head to get out of the daze she had caught herself up in by looking at his well formed abs.

"I said, what are you wearing, besides, clothing I mean." Severus was just now noticing that she was very wrapped up in staring at his naked and lean torso. 'Well, good she should, Quiddich wasn't for nothing' he thought getting the very obvious smirk on his face.

"Oh, no this is a bathing suit. Muggles swim in it, you know, swimming." As Hermione was trying to explain this to a very lost Severus, she was giving him a visual of a swimmer moving in a breast stroke. To this he looked at her very puzzled with an eyebrow raised and cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out when she had gone completely insane. She noticed the confused look on his face and laughed a little bit thinking he looked like a confused puppy. "Here let me show you." Hermione walked over and took his hand and led him out back to their pool.

Hermione stopped by the water and pointed at it. "See this is a pool."

"Oh, yes, now I know what you're talking about. Yeah, my mother and father had one built at the manner a couple of months ago. They weren't very happy about it, a pool being such a muggle thing, you know." He said finally knowing what Hermione was talking about. "I've even just learned how to swim."

"Oh, really?" Hermione got a very mischievous glint in her eyes. She sprinted towards him and with all of her might she pushed Severus into the pool. But what she didn't expect was that he had known enough to grab her while in mid-air right before he fell in.

Hermione came up out of the water and shook her head and rubbed her eyes to clear them of the chlorine water so it didn't burn. As she opened her eyes, her breath was caught in her throat as she took in the sight that was going on in front of her. She watched as in slow motion, Severus welled up out of the water and the swell of his wake just made him all that more attractive. The water rolled down his face and his hair as he shook out the water, to this she laughed to herself as images of a muggle T.V. show with busty women on the beach instantly filled her brain. But Hermione immediately snapped to her senses as she realized what he had just done.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Hermione shouted. She jumped on him and dunked him under the water just after he had been able to catch his breath. But this time as he came out of the water he was more prepared and came up out of the water using his momentum to dunk her down while push himself up.

But Hermione came out of the water a mere few inches from his face and this movement took them both by surprise. She stared into his black eyes, her smile fading, turning into a face more lust filled. This new look in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Severus as he was sure his face looked exactly the same. He leaned in and kissed her very timidly at first, to make sure it was OK. She wrapped her arms around his neck and played with the wet silky hair that stuck to the back of his neck. Severus took this motion as an invitation; he curled his arms around her waist and felt the curves of her lower back that weren't hidden by her swimsuit. Hermione shivered unconsciously as he ran his long and experienced fingers up and down her spine.

The kiss deepened as Severus glided his tongue on her bottom lip, begging for entrance to be able to taste her and be tasted by her. Hermione felt her lip heat up and opened her mouth, only to have it thoroughly explored by his curious tongue. She used hers to rub and massage his. They were getting very hot and heavy, until they both saw the need for air.

The new morning had come all too soon for Harry. He sat up and rubbed his eyes trying in vain to remember the dream he had last night about Hermione and himself. He reached over for his glasses and smiled as he felt the paper underneath. Harry slipped on his now famous oval, owl glasses and picked up the letter gingerly not wanted to rip it. He read it over and over again trying to picture her writing this and wondering what she was doing at the moment. But his day-dreaming was, for the moment, ruined as Sirius slammed the door open and came bounding in the room, all of this in his Sirius-dog form, of course.

"Yes, Yes, I'm awake Sirius! Go on now; let me change so I can eat something!" Harry said this to the very excited dog that was happily barking and wagging his tail madly to and fro. But all that stopped for a brief second which Harry didn't notice, as Sirius saw the letter in Harry's hand and sniffed obviously figuring out that it was a letter from Hermione that had been loved by Harry, whose scent was covering it.

Harry noticed that the dog gave him an odd glance almost curious and mischievous and gave him the same look back. But before Harry knew what was going on, Sirius, making a well planned attack, ripped the letter that was still clutched in Harry's hand, jumped off the bed and ran mad-cap through the house trying the get to Remus as fast as possible but also taking Harry for a wild chase.

Harry felt the paper being taken and saw the blur of black fur fly from the room but didn't process the information until about 3...2...1! He flew off his bed and chased the big, black dog all through the familiar halls until they both had reached Remus's room. Harry found the now human Sirius and Remus reading the letter and looking very pleased and proud with themselves as they looked up at Harry coming into the room.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here, Mr. Potter?" Remus glanced up from the page with an amused look in his eye as Harry became notably nervous under their scrutinizing eyes.

"It's nothing. But Sirius," at this point giving his godfather a death glare that was almost worthy of Snape himself, "thought it would be fun to have a morning romp all the way through the house with the letter Hermione sent to me last night." Harry was angry but felt the heat from embarrassment rise progressively up from his chest to this neck and lastly to his face.

"Oh, yes, we know that much Harry, but can I ask you why I found you clutching to it for dear life as I came into the room and we can note the different scents on this well loved piece of parchment." Sirius laughed and watched intently as Harry's red face became even more so as he figured out what Sirius was talking about.

"So, my boy, when are you going to ask our very beautiful friend, Miss Granger, out on a date?" Remus stated this very poignantly, very dignified.

Harry got very worried and looked down at his feet trying to figure out what to say and how to avoid the whole subject all together. But when you've got family like Sirius Black, as the very clichéd saying goes, "resistance is futile!"

"Oh, for god's sakes, out with it, Harry! We're gonna be old men standing here, before you ever tell us." Sirius finally shrieked out breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Alright, alright! I kinda asked her on the train back from Hogwarts and she accepted. And I asked her in the letter to come and visit us." But seeing how this was not going to satisfy is godfather and Lupin, Harry decided to continue. "Well, I asked her to come and stay with us for the time that he parents were off in France. But she said no because she needs time to be by herself. Although, she did say that afterwards she would come down here, if I were to ask her again, that is."

With his story finished, Remus and Sirius shared knowing glances, they had both known for some time that Harry had fallen for the now strikingly beautiful Hermione Granger. They smiled at him proudly for finally getting up the legendary Gryffindor courage to ask her out. Even though both still wanted to know the rest of the story, they dropped it at that. Remus and Sirius went over to Harry, clapped him hard on the back and congratulated him for asking her out and for her saying yes. They talked for awhile about what his letter had said and at what time he sent it. Both weren't happy he sent the letter at 1:30 in the morning but were excited to hear that she sent a reply back that night instead of waiting till she had gotten more sleep.

Sirius looked over at Harry sheepishly. "Well, sorry about all that Harry, but it did wake you up!" Sirius laughed out loud and handed Harry back the letter still in tact but with a 'few' places of drool on it. "Come on, let's go downstairs into the kitchen and have breakfast. I'm starving!" To this exclamation they all doubled up with laughter as they made their way down the steps.

As Hermione and Severus pulled away from each other, Severus leaned his forehead on Hermione's as they were gasping for air, wanting nothing more than to pick up where they had felt off. Hermione opened her eyes and smiled as she saw and felt how turned on this man was, as he was holding her tightly. This reaction was something the very timid and meek book-worm, know-it-all wasn't use to at all, except for those few awkward times when she and Ron had been snogging feverously behind a bookcase or in a secret corner in the hallways in their 5th year. But just as this wonderful and satisfying thought crossed her mind, another one, a bit more frightening and alarming, entered her calm mind. 'I just kissed Snape and like it, who am I kidding, I loved it and so did he. He is going to kill me once I get back to school.'

"What's the matter?" Severus queried very apprehensively, noticing that something about the moment wasn't right at all. He looking into her eyes and saw how she looked anxious and how she immediately averted her eyes as he looked down at her.

"N-nothing... it's just... that..." Her mind started to scramble to think up something to tell him 'Oh, crap, I need a lie and I need one fast! THINK HERMIONE, THINK!!!' "We just met a couple of days ago and I don't want to take it too far, too fast for now." She breathed out a sigh of relief when he seemed to have bought it.

"No, no, that's fine. I mean I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable, if you're not ready for something." Severus said very reluctantly trying not to let the dissatisfaction seep into his voice. He looked down in the pool, let go of her and started to make his way over to the edge of the pool to get out and dry off. Severus pulled himself out of the water, and picked up a towel, he had brought out, as the cool air hit him. He dried off and pulled the fluffy, white towel around his waist and headed in the house, the whole time not looking back but still feeling eyes looking at him the entire time.

Hermione took him in as he told her he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, but she heard the pain that was in his voice and also the pain that was in his eyes. She was about to say something until he let go of her and swam towards the pool to get out. She wanted to call out to him, to call him back to her and apologize to him. But she kept her tongue in her mouth and stood there stoically. She watched in bewilderment as his back muscles sprang to life as he lifted himself out and then return to normal, as she was now looking at his backside as he picked up the towel. Hermione felt her mouth go dry as he dried himself off and wrap the towel around his waist. Again she almost called out to him, almost ran over to him and beg him to forgive her, but again she kept quiet.

As Severus ambled into the house, Hermione flipped on to her back and floated there for awhile trying not the think about him but also trying to memorize the feel of his lips, the muscles just clenching beneath her eager hands as she explored him inch by inch. The light blue sky soon turned to more phenomenal shades of pinks and oranges and purples. Hermione swam over to the steps and walked up, feeling the cold bite of the wind that had not touched her while she was in the water. She quickly walked over to her towel and dried off; loving the way the fluff of the towel sheltered her and took her in passing no judgment on her actions.

Hermione wrapped the towel around her now dry body and walked into the air conditioned house. She made her way over to the stairs, but when she saw Severus sitting in front of the television she practically ran up the stairs, trying to avoid the moment. Once she got within her room, she collapsed down on to her bed. 'What am I going to do?'

A/N: Alright that's it for chapter 3, hope you liked it, review please I'm very insecure! Oh and thanks to cleolinda on , I used one of her words, Sirius-dog, in my story, it's from her story, movies in 15 minutes: Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, read it, it's the funniest thing I've ever read. Thanks to all of the people who have reviewed.