Chapter 29

She was laying on the ground, writhing in burning and stabbing pain. Surrounded by death eaters, they took turns casting various hexes on her. She saw her blood flowing. She saw Harry being tortured. Ron was lying on the ground dead. Ginny was being raped and beaten. In the background, Hogwarts was crumbling and burning. She wanted to scream or cry but no sound came out. She felt shaking-

"Hermione, wake up."

Hermione bolted up in bed, shaking and sweating profusely. Severus was sitting in a chair next to her bed, and had his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, thank God it was just a dream. And why are you sitting there?"

"Merely watching you sleep. My dear, you were writhing and whimpering in your sleep. You seemed to be in distress, so I woke you."

"Thank you, that dream was awful."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No, I don't want to remember it. Let's just say it's everything I fear most happening."

"Ahh, yes, I've had those dreams many times."

"Well, I've only had a few. I'd much rather dream happy things about you."

"Speaking of which, there's something we need to discuss."

"I have a pretty good idea about what you're going to say."

Severus moved from the chair to the bed, sitting next to Hermione. He put his hand on her cheek.

"Do you regret us? Coming together, I mean," Severus asked.

"Not at all."

"We broke a rather large rule, Hermione."

"I know. However, some rules can expect to be broken. But does anyone else know? Wait, that sounded wrong," she frowned. "I'm not ashamed of what we did or of you. I love you. What I mean is, no one knows what we did this afternoon. Unless anyone comes out and asks me, "Miss Granger, did you and Professor Snape engage in sexual relations?" what happens in this room stays in this room."

"I see."

"Do you regret us making love?" she asked quietly.

"Never." he replied. "However, in the future, we must exercise caution and control ourselves. However hard that will be."

"It will be the hardest thing I will ever have to do. You have to know that, Severus."

"I agree. As far as everyone knows, we do fancy one another. A schoolgirl crush, a few shared looks, fuel for gossip. It's moronic, I know. It must remain that way, for both our sakes." Severus said.

"I know. I will treasure the memories of this afternoon, eagerly awaiting for our next time together." she said. "I can and will wait for you. Graduation isn't that far away."

"My dear, it's an eternity to me."

"Hmmm, me too."

Severus stood up. "I must return to my chambers, Hermione."

"I know. Can I have a kiss before you go?"

"Certainly." They melted with each other for a few minutes before slowly separating. He stepped to the fireplace and floo-ed back to his room….

"This sucks." she said out loud.

At dinner Hermione loaded her plate. She was hungry. I should be, I worked up quite an appetite!

Ginny sensed something different. She looked carefully at Hermione. Hermione noticed.

"What is it Ginny?" she asked stuffing a mouthful of mashed potatoes in her mouth. She squirmed in her seat a little.

"Nothing Herms."

Hmm, let's examine the evidence. There's those little bruises on her neck, the peaceful look about her face, and she seems much more relaxed. She's eating a ton and is she squirming in her seat? Hermione, you have been shagging! I guess you knew what you were doing. Ginny thought.

She looked to the staff table. Snape seemed no different.

Hmmm…

Snape noticed how much she was eating too. She was on her fourth brownie. He chuckled to himself.

She worked up quite an appetite! Everything was fine until she started eating a banana. She turned slightly in the direction of Snape, looking at him from the sides of her eyes. Slowly she peeled the banana, running her fingers along it. Snape squirmed in his seat and cleared his throat.

You cheeky girl!

She tapped the end of the banana on her lips, causing Snape to place his napkin over his mouth.

"Severus, are you quite alright? Did you choke on something?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," he croaked. Dumbledore and McGonagall looked at each other questioningly.

Snape continued eating until he saw Hermione lick the end of the banana. Snape fumbled and dropped his spoon. When Hermione smiled then took a nip of the banana, Snape suddenly had to leave the table.

That little minx! He could take no more.

Hermione's loud, sudden laughing caused the Gryffindor table to stop and look at her in amusement. This again caused Dumbledore and McGonagall to look at each other again.

"She's been studying too hard. She's finally cracked," Ron said.

"Okay Hermione, what's the joke?" Harry asked. "And what happened to your neck?"

Ginny looked at Hermione, who was now wiping away her tears of laughter, and said, "I'll have whatever Herms is having."