Hi! Now my computer is all right! Yippeee! lol Um well I'm going away for summer on Friday, so I don't think I'll be able to post anything until August... sorry. But I might be posting up another chapter tomorrow. :)

Also I've noticed the the symbol for percent doesn't work here.. so that's why it sometimes says "I'm almost 100 sure.. blah blah"

Thank you so much for the reviews, it matters so much to me, otherwise I wouldn't continue this story.

I'd love to hear what you want/think will happen in this story, as I've almost run out of ideas.

Princess Kalye: Yes, I know he's strange, but I prefer him this way. Hmm maybe I should think of getting a beta reader... it's not a bad idea.

MsHellFire2005: lol that sounds good to me:)

BabyRuth15: aww that's too bad.. actually, it was one of my harddisks that was broke..

Lindasweden: oh tack:) roligt med en svensk läsare som kommenterar!

Huge thanks to everyone else that reviewed but didn't get an answer... so nice to read that you like my story!

Have a good summer everyone!

Andrea xxx

Chapter 22 – You raise me up to more than I can bear

There are two kinds of people, there are those that face their fears and there are those that hide from them. Severus Snape was that kind of person that rather hid from them than facing them. He thought it was much easier though he knew that he would have to face them some time later. Normally, it wasn't a tough thing for him to run away from it, but today it seemed really difficult.
As usually, he woke up before dawn and found, to his great surprise, that Hermione was lying next to him. Severus blinked a couple of times, trying to remember why she was here.

'Oh right. She said she couldn't sleep. And she wanted me to…fuck! For Merlin's sake, how on earth could I do that to her? She's only 16! For the love of God, what am I supposed to do now? Shit.' Severus thoughts made him feel really guilty about himself.

'You know, she may be 16 years old, but she's way more mature than that and you know it. Look at her; doesn't she look like a woman?' Another voice said in Severus' head.

"Indeed she does." He murmured with a small smile playing on his lips. Merlin knew that he had to keep a distance between then, but it seemed so hard. It was obvious that she had enjoyed last night's happenings. "But she's still not of age. Hermione, I can't." He whispered, brushing his lips against hers and then getting off the bed.
Five minutes later he was dressed in his usual studying robes. He carried Hermione in his arms in to her own room and allowed her to sleep. Carefully, he pulled up the cover to her shoulders and struck a couple of hairs out of her eyes. As he felt her going cold, he pulled up the bedspread over her as well.

When he got out of Hermione's room, he heard a 'pop' from the fireplace. A couple of seconds later, Lucius Malfoy's head turned up in the flames. Severus approached the fireplace and gestured to Lucius that he was to be quiet.

"Good morning, Lucius. Please be quiet, because the mudblood is sleeping next to this room and I don't want her to run into you. What has brought you here?" Severus hissed and frowned.

"I see. I just wanted to invite you over for breakfast. You'll be back before she awakes, I promise." Lucius smirked, noticing that he made Severus uncomfortable.
"Alright, I'm coming. Give me ten minutes and I'll be there."
"Good. See you then!" Lucius' head disappeared and Severus breathed out.

"Bloody hell." Severus cursed and grabbed a bit of parchment and a pencil from the desk.

In a sloppy handwriting, he quickly wrote a letter to Hermione.

Miss Granger,

I am truly sorry for what I did last night…I don't know what made me do it. Oh, well, I do – you made me do it. I know there is no excuse for what I did, taking advantage of a vulnerable woman. I know I can't control this anymore. Only letting you in to my bedroom was a mistake. I'm really sorry for what I did. I'm going to talk to Albus about you moving to Minerva. Once again, I'm sorry.

You are a beautiful woman but I can't take advantage of you like this. It's not fair. You are, and will always, be a woman to me but there's still the fact that you're not of age. And no, I am not saying this because you are young; I just want you to understand me.

Malfoy Senior decided to invite me over for breakfast and that's why I will be gone when you awake. Please remain in my quarters until I return, because you are safe here. I'll be back soon. Do not tell anyone where I've gone, only Albus. If someone is coming, just tell them that you want to talk to Albus. Do not leave my quarters.

Your professor, S. Snape

Quietly Severus entered Hermione's room and placed the parchment beside her pillow. He breathed in the scent of the room and smiled. There's nothing like the scent of a woman's. Once again, he noticed how beautiful Hermione was. Once again, he hated himself for thinking those thoughts about a student. As always, he thought there were many reasons to hate himself. Or rather, despise himself. He didn't loath himself…only despised, he decided. No one was harder on Severus Snape than he was himself.

Five minutes later he arrived at the Malfoy Manor. One of the house elves greeted him and told him that the Malfoy's were waiting for him in the lounge. He nodded curtly as an answer and then made his way to the lounge with his robes billowing after him.

The sunlight streamed in through the big windows in the lounge. There was a great view over the huge fields that belonged to the Malfoy's. Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy were sitting in the sky-blue sofa.

"Good Morning, Severus. How are you?" Narcissa greeted smoothly. She rose and gave Severus a small peck on the cheek which Severus barely answered.

"Severus. How nice of you to accept my invitation." Lucius stated, smiling coldly.

"Good Morning, Narcissa. I am just as well as ever, thank you." He lied. "How have you been lately? Hi, Lucius." Severus nodded to the other man.

"Oh everything's great. Have a seat. I'll leave so you to can discuss the important matters Lucius wanted to. There's tea over there." The woman smiled once again at Severus and then left the room.

"Okay, let's get over with this quickly. I am in a hurry." Severus muttered and took a sip of the tea in front of him.

"Not so quickly, my friend. Care for some food?" Lucius smirked, satisfied.

"No, thank you. What did you want to discuss?" Severus straightened himself up and gave Lucius one of his ice cold glances.

"Why, why? Oh well, I understand you want to get back. I wanted to discuss that Granger girl. Well, you know our Lord is very interested in her." He sipped on his tea and allowed to words to hang in the air.

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious." Severus said curtly.

"Do you know why?"

"I have my theories, but I don't see why they are any of your business, Lucius." Severus smirked, really satisfied with Lucius' reaction.

"Oh come on. We've been friends for so long. Well, I suppose you know about her powers. As you surely know, she's the only living heir of Salazar Slytherin himself, except for our lord. She has very important powers…very important powers." Lucius repeated with emphasis on powers.

"Yes. That's understandable." Severus tried hard not to show Lucius his surprised reaction. He had never known that about Hermione.

"Our Lord wants her on our side, but, you know he won't accept her unmarried. I'd say we need to get her married with a good son. One like mine. Draco has shown interest in her and I'm sure they'd made a fine couple. What do you think?"

"Yes, probably, but Miss Granger would never want to work for us. Also, I can assure you that she would not approve of a marriage with your son. They have one and a half year left at Hogwarts; we couldn't get them married before that anyway."
"You don't want her on our side?" Lucius asked curtly.

"Don't get me wrong, friend. I do. But I think we should wait until after her graduation. By then she'll be cleverer and therefore of better use for us." Severus said as a matter of fact.

"You might be right…First I thought you were kidding me." Lucius laughed dryly.