Author's Note: Only a few more chapters to go! I am having difficulty deciding what I want Hermione's anamagi form to be. So if you have any good ideas on her form let me know. Thanks for all the great reviews. Everything is going well with the baby and we're hoping to find out the sex in a few weeks! Hope you enjoy the chapter! Redfrog
Chapter 55: Leaving and Arriving
"I can't believe it's really over. That we're really leaving." Harry said as they stood staring back up at their school before boarding the carriages that would take them to the train station. "I thought I'd be more upset about it."
"It's probably because you're not afraid to go home anymore and actually have a home and family to go home to," Hermione told him with a fond smile.
"True," He said with a grin as they all climbed into the carriages, "Especially since I get to have you all staying for the summer."
"Who is all going to be there this summer?" Ginny asked him curiously.
"Hermione and her family, Remus and Tonks, Severus and Hermione, you and Ron as often as your mum will allow and I told Susan, Luna, Hannah and Justin that they were welcome whenever they wanted. Colin and Dennis are going to stay with the Longbottoms but will be visiting often and the professors are all invited since the school is being closed for the summer. I know Albus will be there on and off and the other professors said they may stay between their vacations." Harry told them and they laughed at the amount of people he had invited, it was almost as bad as Christmas. "Oh and I forgot that Gabrielle and Fleur will be staying until they get married."
"Speaking of married," Ron said changing the subject. "I have to ask mum for money to go shopping for clothes. They are following old traditions, which mean being dressed up for a whole week, each night gets dressier! I only own 2 pair of nice dress robes!"
"We'll need to go shopping too," Ginny said indicating Hermione and her. "We'll need a whole new wardrobe for the week, can't wear anything that anyone has already seen!" She told them laughing; besides I bet Hermione's mum would love to go shopping with us!"
"That's true," Hermione said with a laugh. "She was so excited last year when I actually started paying attention to what I wore. She'd been waiting my entire life for me to enjoy shopping!"
"So are you playing for England again this summer?" Ron asked Harry trying to get the subject off clothes.
"Yep," Harry said with a grin. "I haven't decided if I'm playing as X or as me yet." He told them. "It's kind of fun to be X but now that Moldy Voldy is gone there is no danger of playing as myself. It's not like I can get any more famous!"
"Are you going to try out for a local team or just play for the cup?" Ron asked. "I was thinking of going to the Cannon's open tryout."
Harry tried not to feel bad that he could play for any professional team he wanted even though he didn't want to play full time and that Ron's dream was to play professionally and yet he hadn't even been scouted. "I heard a lot of teams were having open tryouts since with the war they didn't have many opportunities to scout."
"Well I'll probably go to all the tryouts there are. If I can get even a reserve spot it will be worth it!" Ron told them enthusiastically.
"What are you going to do otherwise?" Hermione asked her friend, he hadn't mentioned his plans after school.
"I told Fred and George I'd help out with the shop while I tried out for the teams. I figure I'll try and get an entry level job at the ministry after NEWTs come out if I don't make it with Quidditch. Susan has already been accepted to the healer program at St. Mungo's along with Hannah so I'll probably need to make enough money to pay for her training as well. Her mother thinks she is wasting her time and won't help her financially." Ron told them.
"When are you going to get married?" Ginny asked him as the two had never mentioned a date.
"We never really talked about it. We were waiting for the war to be over and now that it is we're trying to figure out our lives first!" he told them with a grin. "I'm thinking maybe the end of the summer or start of the school year. We may wait until Christmas break so she has time off for a honeymoon."
"When are Bill and Fleur getting married?" Harry asked.
"A month after Draco and Gabrielle," Ginny told them. "That way they are back from their honeymoon so Gabrielle can be the matron of honor."
"Who are you going to the wedding with Hermione?" Ron asked her. "You'll need an escort since it's the old tradition."
"I have an escort Ronald," she told him sticking her tongue out at him. "Severus asked me to accompany him." She was amused at the glare that earned her.
"What is going on with the two of you?" Ron asked angrily. "First you befriend him, then spend all your time with him, then dance with him, now you're kissing him and going to public functions together! If I didn't know better I'd say he's courting you!"
Hermione wasn't able to keep in her smile at the thought of Severus courting her. She would gladly let him, even help him along! "He is my best friend Ron, drop it."
Ron stared at her in shock and disgust for a moment, "You actually like him! I can't believe it. I thought it was bad enough that you were friends. Come on Hermione, he's old enough to be your father and a git!"
Ginny and Harry knew the confrontation would happen sooner or later and hoped that Hermione didn't hex Ron too badly. They couldn't understand why he couldn't get over his hate of the man. Hermione glared at the boy she once dated. "I don't know who you think you are Ronald Weasley, but you have absolutely no right to speak about him that way. He is an honorable man who has saved my life on quite a few occasions. I trust him and respect him and don't want to think about how boring my life would be without him. We get along better than anyone I have ever met. We are just friends, no mater how much I may hope otherwise!" She told him all this in a dangerous whisper, not even realizing what she had said until it was too late.
"How can you say he's an honorable guy if he's leading you on like that?" Ron asked loudly, his temper was shot and he would have the answers to the questions he wanted. He would make her see sense!
"How is he leading me on Ron when nothing is going on between us?" She shouted, her temper getting the better of her as well.
"He's given you gifts, danced with you, escorted you in public and kissed you all those times. How can you say he's not leading you on when the man has kissed you?" Ron yelled louder this time.
"He has never kissed me Ron, not once." Hermione told him quietly. "I've kissed him but he has never once initiated a kiss between us. So you see he's not leading me on."
"Why would you want to kiss him?" He asked her scandalized. He just couldn't understand how she could be attracted to Snape!
"Because Ron," she said with a sigh. "Because I have fallen for him."
"I don't understand!" He said putting his head in his hands. Hermione was just glad they had decided to spend their last train ride as just the 4 of them. She didn't need everyone knowing of her feelings for her former potions professor.
"I love him," She said so quietly that they had to strain to hear her. "I love him but he loves someone else. I just can't help myself sometimes. He really is a great kisser."
The four of them sat in silence for a few moments, each afraid to say something that would make the situation worse. They were luckily saved the problem when Susan came into the room to find her fiancé. "There you are Ron! You said you were going to join me for lunch."
"Sorry Susan," Ginny told her soon to be sister-in-law. "We were talking and lost track of time. I'm sure Ron is starving!" She told her with a smile as she pushed the startled Ron towards the door.
Hermione managed to keep her tears in until Ron had left and then started crying. Ginny rushed over to hug her friend. "It will all work out ok," she told her as she rubbed comforting circles on her back.
"You don't know what will happen now that we're done with school Hermione," Harry chimed in knowing his friend needed his support as well. "Maybe he's just been too afraid of telling you how he feels because you were his student."
"But Harry I heard him telling Albus about the woman he's in love with and it's not me," she told him miserably. "He may like me a little bit but he actually loves someone else. You heard his game answers!"
"Yes, I did hear them." Harry told her with a smile. "I think you need to try and remember all his answers. I think if you thought about it a bit more then you would realize he just may love you back." He moved to sit next to her. "Now let's stop crying and start making plans to get him to fall head over heals for you by the end of the summer!"
Hermione just laughed and had a good time for the next hour discussing different ways to catch Severus' attention. She couldn't believe Harry was being so supportive when Ron was being such a prat. She guessed that Ginny was a good influence over him. "Thanks you two, talking about it really helped. I don't feel so helpless anymore and knowing I have your support means more than I can say."
"Ron will come around with time," Ginny assured her. "And if he doesn't I'm sure you and Susan can think of a suitable punishment!"
The rest of the train ride went by quickly and soon their last childhood experience on the train was over. The group stood on the platform surrounded by excited younger students and gazed lovingly at the scarlet steam engine. "Thanks for all the memories," Harry said in a mock toast to the train, they all followed his lead before leaving to start their summers.
"Welcome back princess!" Pip Granger told his daughter as he wrapped her up in a big hug once they all were back at Grimwald Place. "We missed you."
"How was graduation dear?" Her mother asked her as she too hugged her daughter.
"It was great," she told them enthusiastically and spent the next half hour telling them about NEWTs, graduation and anything else she hadn't mentioned in her letters. "Where are Nana and Pop?" She asked noticing the absence of her grandparents.
"They decided to go on an extended vacation. It's been years since they traveled so they took off as soon as it was safe," Her father told her sad that they had to lie to her.
"Mum, can you take Ginny and me shopping tomorrow? We have a wedding to go to in two weeks that will last a whole week and we'll need new dress clothes." Hermione decided it would be best to get the shopping out of the way before Severus and any of the other teachers arrived.
"Sure, that sounds like fun. I've missed going to Diagon Alley with you," Tori Granger told her daughter. "So tell me who you danced with at the leaving party and I want to hear more details of the Gala at the Ministry, all I have heard is what was in the paper!"
Hermione laughed at how excited her mum was that she was home. She must have been really board the last few months to care so much about what was going on in the wizarding world. "Well the graduation party was fun. Harry and Neville escorted me since Ginny and Luna were not allowed to go. I danced with quite a few of the 7th year boys as well as with Severus."
"You danced with Severus again?" Her mother asked her with a raised eyebrow. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Not really," Hermione said. "He and I have a great time together. The Ministry Gala was fun and the two of us danced all night together. He's also escorting me to the Malfoy wedding in two weeks. That's when Draco and Gabrielle are getting married. There is an old wizarding custom for marriage feasts to last a whole week. That's why we have to go shopping. Draco's family is a high ranking pureblood family so we'll have to dress very nicely."
"You'll need some nicer robes and outfits for job interviews and other outings now that you're all grown up," Tori told her fondly. She was actually thinking of the number of social occasions her daughter would have to attend once she found out the truth of who she was.
"Let's go to dinner ladies," her father said breaking them apart. "I hear Winky prepared quite a feast for your return!"
Hermione loved being able to sleep in on her extra comfortable bed at Harry's. She yawned and stretched before heading down to breakfast. "Morning everyone," she said joining Ginny in yawning. There was a large breakfast spread out over the table.
"Are we going shopping today?" Ginny asked her excitedly. "Mum gave me money so we can go whenever."
"Ron and I were planning on heading to Diagon Alley today as well," Harry told them. "We're going to check the Quidditch tryout schedule and then get robes for Draco's wedding."
"Don't forget to have Ron buy nicer clothes to wear under his robes. He always thinks it doesn't matter and ends up looking like a slob." Ginny told him earning chuckles from the table.
"What are we supposed to give them as a wedding gift?" Hermione asked them curiously. "I have never been to a fancy pureblood wedding."
"I have no idea," Ginny moaned. "Draco already has everything you could imagine. What do you give a spoiled Malfoy for his wedding?"
"What about a tapestry or artwork, something that he can put in his house?" Hermione's mother suggested. "Or give him an antique bauble of some sort like a music box or writing desk or lamp. It should be something nice and suitable for a high class house but that he will actually enjoy keeping versus some vase or picture frame. When your father and I married I swear I had to return over 15 frames and vases. What does a person need with 20 vases in a small home?"
"That's a good idea, come on ladies lets go shopping in boutique de Harry," he told them and led them to the vault where all the stuff he hadn't had space for in the house was. "There is some furniture as well as many tapestries and some more paintings." The three spent the next hour looking through all the stuff Mrs. Black had horded away.
"This one is interesting," Hermione commented later showing them a large tapestry. "It shows a scene of the first alliance with the Centaurs."
"What about this one?" Ginny said with her nose wrinkled up. "It looks like a specially designed tapestry for the Black family. It's not very pleasing but Draco's mother was a Black."
"That's true and I don't want it. It would get rid of it and be something that should go to a member of the Black house anyway. I doubt Tonks will want it since she hates to admit to her Black heritage." Harry said and pulled the tapestry out with him to have Dobby clean up and restore properly before wrapping it for Draco and Gabrielle. "Did you find anything you would like to give him Hermione?"
"What?" She asked distractedly. She was staring at a painting that she hadn't seen before. It was of a duel between two men, it looked like one of the men was glowing in a purple haze. You could almost feel the power radiating off the man. It was the weirdest thing as she felt a connection to the man, like she should understand the fight.
"What did you find?" Harry asked her. "Is that what you want to give him?"
"No!" Hermione said quickly. "I don't know; there is just something about this painting that draws me to it. I better get back to searching for Draco. I'll need to talk to Severus and see if we are giving a combined gift or individual gifts."
"Combined gift," Ginny informed her. "That is as long as you're going by the old traditions. Women didn't give gifts then their husbands and fathers did."
"I may have an idea for a gift but I'll have to visit Flourish and Blots first. I had them trying to get me a book and they finally found it, although it's not in perfect condition. I may be persuaded to give Draco his 1st edition Complex Transfiguration book back and take the one the store found me. I'll have to see if it is a good enough edition for my collection and will give him back the one that's been in his family for generations before he lost it to me." Hermione told them.
"Great, that means we're done in here! Let's go shopping!" Ginny said and pulled Hermione out of the vault after kissing Harry good bye.
"Thanks for coming with us Tori," Ginny said excitedly as they made their way through the shops. It seemed that Diagon Alley was going through a business boom as there were quite a few new stores since the last time they had been there and they wanted to explore every one. Ginny was excited to see that one of them was a clothing store that featured a lot of muggle styles. "Look, they have muggle clothes!"
In the end it took them all afternoon to buy outfits as well as casual robes for the day and dresses and dress robes for the evenings along with accessories and shoes. "You two are fully decked out now." Tori said worn out. "That was a long day and we still have to stop off at the book store!"
Hermione paused outside of a store selling trunks and other luggage. "Hey mum, I'm going to buy myself a travel trunk or case. All I have is either my backpack or my trunk. This will be useful for weekend trips or other smaller trips where I don't need to pack my entire wardrobe or library!"
She finally decided on a lovely burgundy leather valise. It had gold accents and was water and fireproof as well as had separate pockets for shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and the main compartment for folded clothes. There was even a way to hang dress clothes and then collapse it without wrinkling them. "It's perfect as well as a throw back to being in Gryffindor." She told them as she paid the proprietor using some of her Royal Endeavors profits. She let her mother help her out with the clothes but she didn't expect her to pay for everything.
Hermione noticed Ginny looking longingly at a deep purple case that was similar to hers. As she paid she told the man to hold it and that Harry Potter would be by in the next few days to pick it up. Upon hearing Harry's name and realizing who she was he had no problems agreeing to hold the case for Ginny.
They met the boys as they were headed to the Leaky Caldron and Hermione was able to tell Harry about the case Ginny wanted. "Did you get some nice robes Ron?" Hermione asked; the two were still having trouble talking after their fight on the train.
"Yeah, the sales lady was real nice and wouldn't let me buy a few of the things I thought looked good. She picked out a bunch of the stuff and I was surprised how good they looked. I look older and they fit right." He told them as all three women rolled their eyes at his naiveté.
"Next time you need clothes just have Susan go with you and pick them out. From then on you'll always look nice." Tori told him with a smile.
"I don't think we'll be shopping much after we're married. Even playing reserve keeper for a team and working a part time job will barely cover her tuition and our living expenses." Ron told them sadly.
"What about the money from Percy?" Hermione asked him. "Won't that help you with her school payments?" She understood how much extra schooling cost that was why she started both her businesses. She knew that she would also have struggled if it wasn't for her accelerated schedule and the fact that she and Severus were going to publish their research.
"I haven't heard anything about that yet," he told them with a shrug. "It will be nice but I don't want to count on it."
"Don't worry about the money mate," Harry told him with a smile. "Once Susan is done with school you will be more than comfortable. Being a healer pays quite well. And even if she decides to just go for being a medi-witch that is still a good chunk of income. We can help you out until then if you like."
"No, we really want to be on our own. We love spending time with you guys and my family but we need to start our own lives. She needs something that is ours to try and forget about how awful her mother is treating her." Ron told them as Tori listened intently to how Susan's mother treated her.
"Shouldn't she get part of her inheritance now that she has graduated?" Tori asked Ron. "I thought a dowry was set up for pureblood daughters for their wedding as well."
"That would be if her mother approved," Ron told them sadly. "She wants Susan to suffer for some reason. She won't approve of our marriage and says that she has no legal obligations to help Susan financially after Hogwarts."
"I don't think that is true though Ron," Hermione said trying to remember what she had read on the subject. "Since she is the only heir her mother can't cut her off without following legal procedures. I wonder why she is being so nasty."
"She's a sympathizer of the Death Eaters," Ron told them quietly. "She believed that Voldemort had the right idea. Ever since Susan was sorted outside of Slytherin her mother has been cold to her and when she found out that Susan was friends with Harry she has been awful. Her father's family didn't have a large inheritance but her mother's did that's why her mother controls the estate."
"Is there any proof that her mother was a sympathizer?" Harry asked wondering if he could look into it once he started his auror duties.
"None that Susan knows of. She doesn't want to dig into things and just wants to get away from her mum. I can't blame her; no one should be shunned by their own mother." Ron told them as they entered the bookstore to finish Hermione's shopping.
"Good morning Hermione," Severus said as he walked into her room. He had just arrived from Hogwarts and wanted to see her. He couldn't believe how much he missed her presence after only a week.
"Severus!" She said excitedly as she jumped up to hug him hello. "I was wondering when you would show up."
"The school has officially been closed for the summer and I am free for a few months. It's a very interesting feeling not having any real responsibilities." He told her.
"You're just in time. We're all going out to the club tonight!" She told him grinning. "You'll have to come as yourself this time though." She was hoping he would join them so she could start her plan 'Operation Seduction' on him.
"I shall see you then," he told her as he prepared to go to his room and unpack.
"Oh, Severus, I had a few questions about Draco's wedding," She told him making him stop his retreat to his rooms. "I was wondering about a gift."
"I have not had an opportunity to shop for a suitable gift yet. If you have any ideas they would be appreciated." He told her with a smile that she remembered that he was to escort her.
"I thought about returning his Complex Transfiguration book but I'm sure we'll need another gift as well." She told him with a smile. "I found another copy of the book for myself that is not in quite as good condition but will do."
"I am sure I can find something suitable to complete the gift," he told her trying not to smile at her. "I shall see you this evening then."
Tori Granger had owled her mother-in-law after talking with Ron. She was determined to help Susan. Susan's mother held a title so the royal family was able to access their financial dealings to make sure they were upstanding citizens. The queen had promised to begin a full investigation into the matter in the hopes they could discredit the mother and pass the title on to Susan immediately. It would solve many problems for Hermione's young friends including the financial ones.
"When do you think we should tell Hermione the truth?" Tori asked her husband. She thought that Hermione was old enough to know the truth now especially since the threat was gone.
"I don't want to burden her while she's at university. She'll only be there for a year and we can tell her after that." Pip told her. He hated lying to Hermione but also wanted her to have as normal a remainder of her childhood as possible.
"What does your mother think?" Tori asked knowing that the Queen wanted the family back together now that the war was over.
"She wants us out of hiding as soon as possible," Pip told her with a shrug. "I can see where she is coming from. I miss being in our world but we have lived for over 20 years as muggles and I think we can handle one more year."
"I'm sure society is going to want to know why we have chosen to stay in hiding. I don't think they will take it too well that we stayed hidden even after the threat has past. I'm afraid they will try to overthrow the family as they no longer respect our line." She had been thinking of everything that had happened. If she was just an average witch she would be wondering why the royals went into hiding and left the fighting up to children.
"I've been thinking about that too," he told her and pulled her closer to him for support. "I have also been thinking about our lives. I have no real desire to be king. I want to rejoin the wizarding world but we have been gone so long I don't feel I even deserve the title."
She sighed against him; she had had the same thoughts. "It's almost as if we are too different from how we were. I'm not ready for all the politics and hand shaking. I just want a quiet life like we had."
"Hermione will make a great Queen when the time comes," he said with pride. "She loves the wizarding world and is even a war hero. She is the most intelligent student to ever attend Hogwarts and most everyone respects her now and that's with them believing she is a muggle born. When the truth is revealed she will have all the support anyone could hope for."
"Yes but to be Queen she must have a king," Tori told him sadly. "I don't think she's ready for that. They may be friends but neither have any idea that they are betrothed. It just doesn't seem fair to force her to marry. I wish we could remove the betrothal."
"You know the only way to do that is if she gets engaged on her own before we announce her betrothal. That is another reason I wanted to wait to tell her until after university. If she meets a boy she loves while there then she may have a chance to marry for love." He told her.
"What if she figures things out on her own?" Tori asked him. "What if now that school is over and she doesn't have classes to concentrate on that she realizes why her grandparents disappeared and why we seem so at ease here in the wizarding world. Do we tell her if she asks us directly?"
"Yes, if she asks us we will tell her the truth but I hope to keep her innocent a while longer," he said kissing his wife.
"She has fought in a war Phillip she is no longer innocent. She has done more dangerous things while still in school than we ever will in our combined lifetimes. She may always be our little girl but she has grown into an amazing woman." Tori told him, "We cannot hold her back forever. This is her burden to bear as well. It should not be kept from her, she is ready."
"We will at least give her the summer, we will see from there." He told her ending the discussion.
"She has come into her powers, what happens when she begins to realize she can easily read peoples thoughts and it takes relatively little magic to cast any spells? A muggle born cannot be as powerful as she is; someone is going to figure it out." She told him, desperate to get him to understand that hiding this from her could be harmful. "Severus and the Weasley girl already have figured it out, if may others do we will not be able to keep it from her, especially if they do not come to us first with their ideas."
"You worry too much my love," he told her with a fond smile.
"And you worry too little," she shot back before heading into their bedroom.
"Severus, I hear you're going with us tonight," Draco said as he entered the potions lab to find his ex head of house. He found him standing in front of his wardrobe frowning.
"If you're going then you can give me an idea of what exactly I am supposed to wear." Severus snapped. He had been trying to find something that he thought Hermione would like him in and realized he was not good at dressing in anything other than his normal teaching robes.
Draco chuckled at the flustered man, "Are you trying to impress anyone in particular tonight?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't had the man confirm his hunch that he liked Hermione.
"I just do not want to look like the menacing bat of the dungeons or look like someone else. It needs to look like me but without the billowing robes." Severus told him knowing the young man was trying to get him to admit to his feelings for his apprentice.
"I don't believe that's the reason," Draco said smugly. "You have never cared what people thought of you before so this must be a special reason to get you all flustered." He pulled a pair of black jeans from the closet and started looking for an appropriate shirt. "You could just wear what you wore when you pretended to be Snake."
"Black jeans and a soft black t-shirt," Severus informed him. "I was trying to be discrete in my following of you. In fact if one of the twins hadn't practically thrown her off the dance floor and she slammed into where I was hiding no one would have even known I was there."
"Do you have any clothes in here that are not all black?" Draco asked flipping through black shirt after black shirt.
"Black is my favorite color and this way I do not have to try to match." Severus told him with a shrug.
"Fine, put the jeans on and this t-shirt and we're going shopping before tonight's festivities. You're going to end up going with us different places over the summer so we need to get you more than just stuffy potions professor clothing." Draco told him and apparated them to Diagon alley now that he was a qualified wizard.
"I refuse to wear any bright colors," Snape said as they passed a shop with muggle board shorts and loud print shirts.
"Don't worry I wouldn't do that to you. I was thinking mostly black or green with small details in other colors, nothing over the top and still enough black that people won't think it's an imposter." Draco told him laughing and leading him into one of his favorite shops and over to the club wear section.
"He actually went shopping with Draco?" Hermione asked shocked. Gabrielle had rushed in to tell her and Ginny how Draco had taken Severus to get club clothes.
"Apparently he was concerned with how he would look tonight!" Gabrielle told them. "Perhaps he is hoping to impress someone special tonight."
"I told you things were not hopeless," Ginny told Hermione as the two younger girls helped her pick out an outfit that would make any man drool.
Hermione shot Ginny an annoyed look at saying anything in front of Gabrielle but realized that Gabrielle seemed to have already figured it out on her own. "He is probably just concerned that he will run in to the woman he fancies while we are all there."
"Or he knows the woman he fancies will be there, in the group with us, and wants to look his best for her now that she's graduated!" Ginny told her with a smile. "There is no use thinking negatively. Now let's make you gorgeous for him!"
The girls spent the rest of the evening fixing themselves up for the night out on the town. Ginny was staying at HQ that night so they didn't have to be back at any specific time. Hermione had finally decided the time was right to wear the novelty shirt she had bought last summer. It was deep green with silver writing that said 'Snake Charmer' in fact it was the shirt that had inspired her Halloween costume. It had a deep v-neck that showed off her cleavage thanks to the push up bra she was wearing. She paired it with a very short black skirt that hugged her curves. She was wearing her favorite boots in black and her silver snake jewelry again. Her hair was pulled back away from her face with a newly transfigured snake clip. She thought that if Severus didn't appreciate that the outfit was for his benefit then he truly was clueless.
"You look amazing!" Ginny said with a wicked gleam in her eye as she looked over her friend. "You'll knock him dead in that outfit." Ginny was wearing her purple and black plaid skirt with a purple corset style tank top and her black boots. Gabrielle hurried in from changing her clothes; she was wearing tight silver pants and boots with a bright fuchsia tank top. Susan was the last to be ready as she had spent most of the day digging through the other girls' wardrobes and trying to transfigure her own. She was wearing a bright yellow tube top she had transfigured and a jean skirt she borrowed from Tonks of all people. She was wearing yellow stiletto heals to complete the look and everyone thought she had done great. "You'll fit right in!" Ginny told her with a hug. She felt bad that Susan and Ron were going to struggle for money when she and Harry would never have to worry about it again.
The girls all headed downstairs to meet up with the guys. Hermione was the last one as she had forgotten her purse and had to go back for it. Ginny and Gabrielle were in shock with what Severus was wearing and knew Hermione was going to wet herself. The group was all assembled before Hermione burst in the door and came to a complete and shocked stop in front of Severus who was also gaping at her. "You look smashing," she finally managed to say to him as she took in his lean and muscled form in a pair of black leather pants. He was also wearing a very tight black muscle shirt and an open black shirt with little silvers snakes on it over that. He looked positively edible to her.
Severus felt his heart speed up and his pants tighten at seeing Hermione in another snake outfit. He knew this time it had to be for him and it made him want to push her against the wall and ravish her mouth. He was glad she liked his outfit; he still couldn't believe he let Draco talk him into wearing leather pants, at least they were black! "You look fantastic yourself. I would have to agree with your shirt as well." He knew he had already fallen for her charms and wasn't about to let her out of his sight at the club. He was going to shower her with attention and she wouldn't even look at anyone else.
The rest of the group smirked at each other as they watch the interactions between the two dense lovebirds. It was obvious by the way they acted and their game answers that they were crazy about each other. If Severus wasn't crazy about Hermione there was no way he would have been wearing leather pants and she was practically advertising that she wanted him with her snake ensemble. "Alright you two quit undressing each other with your eyes and let's get moving!" Draco yelled out knowing a few not-so-subtle pushes were needed to get the two together. "I say we apparate in pairs!" He then pulled Gabrielle to him and was gone with a pop, Ron and Harry following suit.
"Shall we?" Severus asked her as he wrapped his arms around her before apparating to the club. He kept his hand on her lower back as he led her into the club. He was surprised to see Mickey the bouncer give him a thumbs up as he walked by. Mickey had been overprotective of Hermione since the first time she stepped into the club according to the others; he was surprised he wasn't opposed to him escorting her. All he knew for certain was that this was his chance to win her heart and he would do everything in his power to do so. Tonight would be the first night he could really show her how he felt since she was no longer his student.
Hermione grinned to herself as Severus wrapped her in his arms to apparate. She was even happier when he kept his hand on her back as he led her into the club. Even Mickey didn't seem to mind and that made her sure that tonight would go well. She just hoped Severus wouldn't be too opposed to 'Operation Seduction.'