Okay, so I've been gone so long that I can't even do my normal shout-outs. I would however like to thank Avery Goodun for being the motivation to finally put up the last two chapters of this story. Work kinda took over my life and I left this fic hanging for quite some time. My apologies to everyone. Endless and eternal gratitude to Avery for reminding me that I never finished this! I hope everyone enjoys. As always I own nothing, this is not literary genius, and I'd really adore you if you left me some love.
Again, please note that this story does not follow with the events of HBP. Suspend reality for the next two chapters.
--aimes
Severus woke and looked down at the woman in his arms. Hermione was snuggled against him, face against his chest, curly hair spilling riotously onto his torso. He hazarded a glance at the clock, which told him that it was six o'clock in the morning. Severus sighed, knowing that he had to start preparing for classes by seven-thirty. He stroked Hermione's shoulder gently.
"Sweet? Wake up, sweet," he murmured in a low, soothing voice. Hermione stirred and mumbled something in her sleep. He stroked her shoulder again and she kissed his chest before burying her face in his chest.
"We should get up, Hermione, before people realize that you are missing. Wake up, sweet," he said cajolingly. Hermione started as she woke and lifted her head.
"What?"
The vaguely confused, dreamy expression on her face as the sleep lingered in her eyes made him smile. He pulled her down for a kiss without a second thought. Hermione sighed contentedly as she kissed him in return. After a moment they broke their embrace and Hermione rolled off him. She yawned and stretched before getting out of bed. Severus watched her for a moment, arms crossed behind his head. His brow furrowed as she grimaced.
"What's wrong?" he asked with a somewhat concerned frown.
"Just a bit sore, that's all," she replied with a smile. She came around to his side of the bed and leaned over to give him another kiss. His hands looped around her waist and he smiled as she kissed him.
"I have a potion that will get rid of the soreness," he told her, rising with her as she pulled away.
"No, thanks."
"What?" he couldn't hide the surprise on his face. Why wouldn't she want to rid herself of pain?
Hermione blushed slightly. "Well I'm not that sore…and…well…I'm going to be an indulgent female and hang onto last night for the rest of the day. I'll probably even daydream at odd moments." Her voice was defensive and she waited for the ridicule. Her reasoning sounded silly even to her. When he started laughing she waged an internal battle between wanting to crawl under a rock and wanting to smack him so hard he saw next week. Severus put his arms around her, still chuckling and she shrugged him off, shooting him a glare.
"You're beautiful when you laugh, but not when you're laughing at me," Hermione growled.
"I'm not laughing at you, sweet. I was just wondering why you would want so desperately to hold on to last night when we have tonight. And tomorrow night," he continued as he advanced a step, "and the night after that." He was now looming over her. "And many more nights to come," he finished, voice low and sweet and seductive. Hermione felt a shiver run through her.
"I should shower and go back to my rooms. My friends will expect me for breakfast," Hermione said reluctantly.
"Yes," Severus agreed. "I shall see you later, I'm sure," he said kissing her on the lips gently.
"Severus…is it right that you still control one of my grades and we're…involved?" The thought had only just occurred to her.
"Your grade this term will be based on your NEWT exams, Hermione, there is no need to worry. As is my custom, I will merely average it with your grade from last term to determine your final grade. In some instances, a student's thesis project can be sufficiently extraordinary for me to ignore their NEWT score or their grade from last term. I doubt it will be an issue in your case, as your grade last term was excellent and you've no need to worry about the NEWT. You could quite likely pass it with your eyes closed considering that you've been reviewing all year."
Hermione smiled wryly. "I guess it would amuse you to know that I still feel the need to study."
"No, you remind me of someone I knew," he responded fondly. He kissed her forehead and Hermione grabbed some floo powder and returned to her room. Severus smiled before going to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.
Hermione arrived in her rooms with a grunt and dusted herself off. She smiled as she stepped out of her fireplace, a satisfied, goofy, slap-happy expression, but the grin faded as she saw three people sitting on her bed, blank-faced. Ron, Harry, and Ginny sat in a row, arms crossed. Ginny raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"I can explain," Hermione said, hands raised placatingly. She wasn't exactly sure what she was going to say but that seemed to be a good start.
"No need," Harry said after scrutinizing her. "Ginny had that same expression the first time we shagged. So all we have to do is look for a guy with the same expression I had."
"Or we could do this the easy way and you could tell us," Ron suggested. "That way we could break his knees before breakfast and call it a day."
"Hush, Ron," Ginny chided. "There's no rule that says Hermione's got to be celibate, is there? We're all enjoying ourselves sexually. Well, Harry and I are and I can't speak for you."
Harry and Ron both blushed bright red. "Ginny," Ron said firmly, "please never, ever, ever, speak of your sex life to me again. Ever. Please."
"That doesn't erase the question of who it is," Ginny continued, ignoring Ron's comment completely.
"You guys won't be happy if I tell you," Hermione responded quietly. She was calculating the distance between herself and the door, as well as the likelihood that she'd make it out of this without telling them. And barring that, the likelihood that she and Severus would survive if she told them. Neither sets of calculations were going her way.
"No," Harry responded flatly, "I don't expect we would. I rather think I know who it is. I just want to hear it from you." His voice was low and, Hermione imagined, cold.
"Severus Snape," she said faintly in the face of three hard faces.
Ron howled angrily and Ginny started laughing. Hermione was dumbfounded and looked to Harry to make sense of it.
"Thanks, 'Mione," he said, grinning. "You just won me thirty galleons."
"Thirty gall—you've been betting on my sex life!" she screeched. Ginny was now laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.
Ron shrugged sullenly. "Well it's been sort of obvious that you have a soft spot for the git. Since the war, I mean. You're nicer to him than we are. And he's not liable to lash out at you almost ever. Actually, I haven't seen him yell at you in a long time. And Merlin knows he's not reluctant to yell at us. But I didn't think you were shagging him, for Circe's sake!"
"So the bet wasn't about whether we were interested, it was about whether we were shagging?" Hermione clarified.
"Yeah. Harry said you were and Ron said you weren't because you're too uptight about rules and stuff. Besides, I didn't think you two had expressed your interest to one another," Ginny said, catching her breath and wiping tears from her eyes. "Does Dumbledore know?"
"No," Hermione said fiercely, "And you three have got to keep it quiet! He'll get sacked and I'll get expelled."
"Relax, 'Mione, we're not going to say anything," Harry assured her. "For one thing, none of us wants to face you and Snape together—we can barely handle you when you're angry. We wouldn't survive the combination. Besides, I don't think Dumbledore cares. All he talks about these days is how he wishes Snape could find some happiness. And there are heavy hints that I should talk to you about how lonely Snape is. Dumbledore can be hard to understand sometimes but he's as transparent as Scotch tape about this."
There was silence and Hermione assumed that Ron and Ginny were as stupefied by this revelation as she. Her overloaded brain struggled to process what Harry was saying.
Ron broke the silence first. "What's Scotch tape?"
Hermione groaned. "Will you three get out so I can shower? I'll meet you in the Great Hall for breakfast. I think Severus and I need to come clean with the Headmaster, considering what you've said, Harry. But that's not important right now…I really need to clean myself up."
Ron and Harry made disgusted faces as they left hurriedly. Ginny took her time.
"I expect details, you know," she tossed back casually as she left. She winked and shut the door before Hermione could hex her.
Hermione took a fast shower and dressed, mentally marveling at how quickly life seemed to be moving lately. Breakneck speed and then some. It was odd how life was calm and average for such a long while and then a million things happened at once. It was like some conspiracy of the universe to see how good one was at fielding the unexpected. With a brief shake of her head she grabbed her school bag and ran down to breakfast.
Ginny moved over to make space for Hermione as she joined them, grabbing a muffin and some orange juice as she sat. Everyone greeted her before returning to their previous conversations. Hermione nibbled at her muffin and half-listened to Ron and Neville arguing about something Quidditch related. Ginny, she vaguely noted, was giving Luna tips on attractive robe styles and colors. She glanced over at the Slytherin table and Blaise gave her a quick wave. She waved in return and grinned when Pansy stuck her tongue out playfully and made a possessive 'mine' gesture over Blaise. Hermione took a breath and hazarded a glance up at the Head Table. Snape was listening distractedly to Sprout as he scribbled on a piece of parchment. Hermione guessed it was his planned lessons for the day. She hadn't really given any time to collect himself and she somewhat suspected that his shower had been almost as cold as her own. Dumbledore was silent and looked a bit worn down still, however there was a suspicious twinkle in his eye. McGonagall was completely absent and Hermione flinched, knowing she would eventually have to speak to her Head of House.
But before all that happened, she decided, she needed to speak to Severus about revealing their relationship to Dumbledore. With that decisive thought, Hermione returned her attention to breakfast.
The day went quickly and Hermione was grateful for it. She had been concerned that Potions class might be awkward, but had failed to remember that Severus Snape was one of the best spies in the history of the wizarding world. If she wasn't still sore, even she might not have known what they had been doing last night. She tried hard not to let her mind wander as she helped Blaise flesh out some of the patchier spots in his final project.
Finally, eventually, the day ended. She'd made it through the staff/prefect meeting and pleaded exhaustion when a group of Gryffindors tried to talk her into a game of exploding snap. She retired to her room, set the wards, and flooed to Snape's quarters. He glanced up from the text he was reading with a slight smile.
"I rather thought you'd come later."
"Just couldn't stay away," she replied lightly. "Besides, we need to talk."
He raised an eyebrow and mentally reflected that the phrase she had chosen was one dreaded by Muggle men and wizards alike.
"I think maybe we should come clean to Dumbledore. Recent conversations have led me to believe that he might not be averse to our…relationship."
"So he talked to you too."
"Pardon?" Hermione looked at him as though he'd grown a second head. "Who talked to me?"
"You mean you didn't speak to Albus? Because he called me into his office and told me that he was aware of our relationship. He also said that while he would have preferred to hear it from my own lips, he was not at all angry. Beyond recommending that we not advertise it to the world, he didn't have much to say beyond congratulations."
"What the hell? I didn't tell him. And you obviously didn't tell him. So who did?" Hermione let her nerves take over for a moment and she began to pace in front of him. After letting her vent her nervous energy for a moment, Severus snagged her mid-pace and pulled her into his lap. Hermione let out an annoyed grunt but relaxed against him nonetheless.
"I'm really confused," she confessed.
"I'm rather mystified myself," he agreed. "However, I can fix that."
He snapped his fingers and Dobby appeared. "Dobby, summon Headmaster Dumbledore, please," he requested.
"Of course, sir," Dobby replied, disappearing instantly.
"You're more polite than most when it comes to house elves," Hermione observed.
"He used to be enslaved to the Malfoys," Severus responded quietly. "I know how he was treated before he came here. I rather respect Dobby, annoying as he is."
"I think he's fond of you too." Hermione kissed him on the nose before struggling to her feet and relocating to the couch.
"It's rather bad taste to be all over each other when the man just lost his daughter," Hermione pointed out. Severus nodded his agreement.
They were silent for a moment, lost in their thoughts, and both were a bit startled by the older wizard's arrival by floo.
"Hello Severus, hello Hermione," Dumbledore greeted. "You asked Dobby to summon me?"
"Please, sit, Headmaster," Hermione said warmly, making room for him on the couch. He sat at a slight angle and reclined into the cushions, facing them.
"So who told you, Albus?" Severus asked flatly. "It wasn't me and it wasn't Hermione."
"No one told me, Severus, though I rather wish you two had felt comfortable enough to bring it up first. It was simply obvious to me from the way you looked at one another. And from the way you looked in general, Severus. As though you were almost happy?" he teased.
"Very happy, thank you," Snape retorted. "And you can't blame us for being wary of revealing our relationship to anyone, even you. Besides," his voice softened, "we were already bringing such awful news."
Albus looked away for a moment but returned his gaze to Severus and Hermione quickly and said firmly: "You brought me closure. I would rather know that she is gone than not know where she was and what she might be going through. The agony of not knowing is even worse than the pain of complete loss. Minerva is, naturally, taking it quite hard. But even she is grateful that she finally knows the fate of her daughter. And we are both heartened by the thought that two more of our precious children have found joy."
He stood. "Besides, you are no more scandalous than Minerva and I were when we first announced our romantic entanglement." He smiled fondly at the memory. "Indeed, I rather think your age difference is modest. And I intended to offer Hermione the Arithmancy position in a few years' time after Professor Sinistra had retired into the life of travel and research she covets. I shall simply offer her an apprenticeship to qualify her as a Mistress of Arithmancy. When you feel suitably trained, Hermione, I will allow Professor Sinistra an early retirement free of the guilt of leaving me without a qualified replacement."
Hermione's mouth was gaping but she shut it quickly. "Thank you, Headmaster!"
"Things tend to work out as they should in the end, Hermione, if you give it a little time and allow your friends to lend a helping hand." He turned toward the floo but was stopped by Severus' hand on his shoulder. Albus turned to look at the younger man and was amazed at the emotions that ran freely through his eyes. It was a rare display of openness from a closed and reserved man.
"Thank you, Albus," Severus said quietly. Albus nodded silently. He grabbed a handful of floo powder and prepared to toss into the fire. Before he did, he turned to look at them once more.
Severus stood with his arm around Hermione and she in turn was leaning into his side.
"Very few people get the chance at happily ever after, my young friends. Hang onto it with all your might."
With that, he tossed in the floo powder, called out his destination, and left. Hermione and Severus simply stared into the flickering fire for several long minutes after he'd disappeared and the fire had gone from green back to orange.
Almost as one, they went to Severus' bedroom, extinguishing the lights along the way. When they reached their destination, Severus took his time slowly undressing Hermione and she willingly returned the favor. They made love slowly and passionately and when they were finished, Hermione lay in Severus' arms and let herself revel in the absolute perfection to be found in his arms.
So many roads traveled, so many twists and turns, and she had ended up in the last place she would have expected. She felt Severus' hand stroking her hip as he dozed. The last place she would have expected and the best place in the universe, she decided. This really was happily ever after.
And she was damned lucky to have it.
