When Hermione opened her eyes later that day, it took her a few seconds to get her bearings and remember what had happened the night before. She was completely naked, her Potions Professor's arm around her, squashing her breasts. She wriggled against him, trying to turn around and had to bite back a groan when she realized he was hard against her already.
Was he still asleep?
His eyes were closed and his face was relaxed; he looked so vulnerable. In the tiny shaft of light coming in through the gap in the heavy curtains, she could see his chest rising and falling with every breath. His skin was so pale and he only had a tiny smattering of hair on his chest. His arms were strong and well defined, probably from all that potion mixing.
Hermione looked closely at his face. He wasn't conventionally good looking by any stretch of the imagination, but he was somehow incredibly sexy. His lips were soft looking and Hermione reached over to run her thumb over his bottom lip, parting them gently. If she just leaned forward a tiny bit...
What was she doing? She shook her head and wriggled out of his arms as gently as she could. She'd just spent the night doing incredibly dirty things with one of her teachers for God's sake and now she was lying in bed wondering if it would be suicidal of her to kiss him awake and screw him senseless.
It had only taken her a moment to realise that yes, it would be suicidal of her. He had tried to pull back and stop what they'd been doing, and she hadn't let him. He'd shown her things that she was sure he'd never shown anyone before, and this morning she knew he'd be regretting it.
He'd probably wake up and throw her out, she mused. Or maybe deduct a few hundred points from Gryffindor...
She tried to decide if she regretted losing her virginity to Severus Snape. Ron had been trying to get her to have sex with him since they first got together, but she'd never really wanted to. She loved Ron, she really did, but she realised she'd never wanted Ron like she had wanted Severus; how she still wanted Severus.
Severus... Well, she couldn't really think of him as 'Professor Snape' now, could she?
She thought of Ron and his fierce hugs and sweet blushes. He was always so gentle and sweet with her, even if he wasn't with anything else. God, she felt guilty. She remembered the last time Ron had tried to get her to have sex with him, at the end of year ball.
He'd had her pressed up against the wall of one of the corridors on the way to the Gryffindor common room. Ron had just been pleading with Hermione to come up to his rooms, when Albus had walked round the corner. Albus had cleared his throat then said something random about walls having eyes, before disappearing again.
Walls were proverbially meant to have ears and as Hermione had pondered over this, and Ron tried to get his hand back up her skirt, Hermione had suddenly looked over at the wall behind Ron. A portrait of a particularly red-faced, horny looking 18th Century wizard hung there, staring at them.
Hermione's thoughts had echoed Ron's: 'eew!'
She looked around for her clothes, pulling them on and pulling a face. She desperately wanted a shower and a fresh change of clothes.
When she was fully dressed, she looked at the man in the oversized bed. When you got past the fact it was Severus Snape, despised professor of Hogwarts and all-round evil git, it didn't seem quite so wrong. An image flashed through her mind of him taking her from behind over her desk in his dungeon...
Okay, maybe it was wrong.
She didn't know him very well. She respected him, but wasn't sure she even liked him. And what was the point of all this stressing anyway? It wasn't like they'd be able to have a relationship, even if either of them wanted it.
Severus was going to be furious with her when he woke up...
She sighed and started to climb down the spiral staircase to the living room. She was going to find a shower of some sort, then try to find something to eat. Severus wouldn't appreciate her wandering round his house, but as he was unconscious at the moment he really couldn't complain.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked up. Her heart nearly leapt into her mouth as the form of Albus Dumbledore emerged from the fire.
"Bloody hell!" she gasped. It was a good job she didn't have a weak heart, because the last twenty four hours would have been the death of her.
She looked up at the spiral stairs and cringed. Did he know? Was that why he was here earlier than he'd said he'd be?
"Good morning to you too, Hermione," Albus greeted her with his usual twinkle.
She laughed, trying to decide whether she was pleased Albus was here, because it meant she didn't have to be alone with Severus, or annoyed because it meant she didn't have to be alone with Severus.
God, I'm screwed up, she thought miserably. Yesterday I would quite happily have never seen him again. Today, I'm almost frantic that he won't speak to me again; other than to deduct house points anyway.
"I trust you slept well?"
Hermione couldn't stop the blush that started somewhere near her toes and spread right up to her cheeks.
"Headmaster, I'm not leaving Hogwarts," Hermione said, coming straight to the point, if only to distract herself from thinking about the naked and thoroughly screwed form of her Potions Professor upstairs in bed.
"I think there are ways around this," she said. "Ways no one has thought of yet. I was thinking that maybe instead of Draco turning me, I could work it so it's the other way around?"
The idea had come to her almost on the spot and even she could see some huge flaws in it. But it was workable...
"Absolutely not, Miss Granger," a voice came from the doorway. "Stop being so damn Gryffindor and just leave."
"And leave you to be found out and killed?" Hermione said, turning on him and fighting a blush.
He was buttoning the rest of his robes as he walked into the living room, a scowl on his face.
Hermione looked at him, desperately searching for any sign of the man who had called out her name as he'd come inside her only hours earlier. She needed some sort of reassurance that he didn't hate her and wasn't going to just go back to how he used to be, as if nothing had happened.
"What happens to me is not your concern."
Well, that answers that then.
She sighed.
"Yes Severus, it is my concern." She pointedly used his first name and felt almost triumphant when he flinched.
"To what do we owe this pleasure, Headmaster?" he asked in a dangerously silky voice, turning to Albus and ignoring Hermione. "We weren't expecting you until tonight at the very earliest."
"Just wanted to make sure you were both getting on, Severus," Albus said with what could have very possibly have been a knowing smile.
Hermione blushed for the second time in five minutes, but Severus barely flinched. He caught her eye, his face devoid of any expression as she tried unsuccessfully to work out what he was thinking.
His eyes searched her much more readable face. God, she looked so vulnerable and scared. Was she scared of him? Did she think he was going to pounce on her again? Part of him wished Albus would just leave, so he could hold her and tell her she didn't have to be scared of him. He wanted to tell her he was sorry and to make it all right.
He also wanted to Apparate to the nearest country with a warm climate and cheap alcohol and vaguely wondered which urge would win out.
"Hermione is right, Severus," Albus said, making them both remember that they weren't alone. "If she left it would not only risk your life, but your place amongst the Death Eaters as a spy. It would endanger hundreds of lives."
"So what do you suppose, headmaster? That she pretends to fall into Draco's trap? Lets him break her, before joining Voldemort's ranks, where he himself will break any spirit she has left?" Severus said tightly, refusing to look at Hermione or Albus, instead fixing on a random point on the wall behind them both.
"Hermione's idea of turning Draco is an interesting one, and one I think would benefit everyone, if it was to succeed."
Albus looked at Severus with a serious look on his face. "You are fighting blindly for Hermione's safety to the exclusion of the safety all others, including your own. Admirable, Severus, but not the best way forward."
Hermione looked at him curiously. He was?
Severus spoke through clenched teeth as he turned to Albus, finally looking him in the eye. "Miss Granger could be spared all the pain I've had to endure. If your plan doesn't work, her life will be my life, Albus. Can you not see how foolhardy this plan of yours is? And how unlikely it is to work? Draco has been under the influence of his father for nearly eighteen years. Whatever shreds of decency he has, it will take more than a girl; a Gryffindor at that, to make him see sense."
A furious Hermione, who was completely sick of being talked about as if she wasn't there, interrupted the Headmaster's reply. She rounded on Severus and moved so close to him he had to resist taking a step back to put some room between him and the furious woman.
"What happens to me is my own decision," she said, all put prodding him in the chest. "As much as I respect both you and Headmaster Dumbledore, and your opinions; I know your opinions and I do not need to hear them again."
She started pacing around the room, the way she usually did when trying to work out what one of Ron and Harry's hair-brained schemes were about. Both men quickly moved out of her way, both looking a little intimidated at her fury.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman pissed off," muttered Severus under his breath to Albus as they watched Hermione pace.
Albus nodded.
Severus sighed and moved to intercept Hermione mid-pace. He took hold of her shoulders and turned her around to face him.
"Miss Granger," he said quietly in a silky, almost deadly voice. "Did what you saw last night mean nothing to you?"
Hermione looked away from his serious face, so close to hers.
"What I saw doesn't change the fact that even if I can't get to Draco, someone has to try."
Severus sighed again.
"Did anyone try to save you from yourself, when you joined the Death Eaters, Professor?" she asked, gently. Her eyes met his and her hand touched his cheek so lightly he had to glance down to check she was actually touching him.
He looked down at the girl who had somehow managed to confuse the hell out of him without even trying. Suddenly he quite desperately wanted her naked in his arms again. He wanted to fell her hot skin against his, to hear her gasp again as he thrust into her. For a moment, he almost forgot Albus was there at all.
Severus stepped forward, closing the gap between them and took her face between his large, slender hands.
"Would you have tried to save me, Hermione?" he asked, his voice low and gruff.
She looked into his eyes, experiencing an aching in her chest. She lifted one of her hands to his and squeezed it gently.
"You know I would," she said quietly.
For a moment Severus let himself imagine how it would have been if he'd had someone like Hermione. How it would have been if someone had actually cared and had done something to counteract all the lies Lucius Malfoy had been filling his head with. His life could have been so different...
He looked into her eyes and wondered what on earth he had gotten himself into. How was he going to teach her after this? How was he going to look at her day after day, knowing what she tasted like?
He stifled a groan and only the presence of the Headmaster stopped him scooping her up in his arms and taking her back to bed. Which was bad, because it was only five minutes earlier that he had decided never to even speak to her again.
Hermione watched his face as the various different emotions hit him, wanting to kiss him to stop that mind of his from overanalyzing and ruining everything before it had even began.
"Severus..." She looked up into his eyes, questioningly. If he would just let go...
Albus cleared his throat, making both Severus and Hermione jump. Severus took a step backwards and reluctantly broke contact with Hermione. Hermione flopped down on his sofa, her anger gone as quickly as it came.
She stared up at the man who had somehow completely changed her life in less than a day. How could she want her Professor to kiss her until she was completely lost in him? And not just any professor, but the professor, the man, who the rest of the world hated and feared.
"I can't do this alone, Professor," she said, quietly from her position on his sofa. "Whether I'm to try to turn Draco, or whether I'm to pretend to be turned myself, I need your help."
"I do not approve of this situation, Miss Granger," he said. "But I will do whatever I can to make it better for you."
Albus' voice made them both jump again. Severus wondered briefly if he'd be fired once this was all over. The Lemon Drop addict surely knew what he had done.
It was the least he deserved, he thought.
"Your parents will be hidden and be replaced by clones at their London house, Hermione," Albus said, understanding that Hermione had made her decision.
Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.
"Clones?" she asked, her nose wrinkling.
"They are charms, if you like. They will look and act exactly like your parents, and will duplicate their everyday lives, so that if the Malfoys try to harm them, they will not discover your parents have been hidden."
Hermione nodded, wondering how her parents were going to take this upheaval and what was going to happen to them. She closed her eyes for a moment, it all becoming too much.
"Did you see my parents?" she asked, remembering that Albus was supposed to find them and tell them to stay where they were for a few days.
"I did. They are confused to say the least, but will stay where they are until further notice. I am going to arrange for them to stay with by an old friend abroad. They would like to see you first."
Hermione sighed and pushed the hair back from her face, anticipating the hundreds of questions her parents would throw at her and knowing she'd never be able to make them understand. No one could understand unless they had witnessed the evil that Voldemort could do and had done. Her parents hadn't a clue.
"If you would accompany Hermione to visit her parents?" Albus asked Severus, moving towards the fireplace.
Hermione was beautiful, there was no doubt about it. Oh, she hadn't been when she first arrived at Hogwarts, but now she was the most amazing creature he'd ever seen. She had intelligence and honour and...
God. I'm getting feelings for her. This is insane. I'm insane. All those Crucio's have finally had an effect. Cart me off to St Mungos and wrap me up in a magically reinforced straitjacket – I'll come willingly.
Hermione was looking at him expectantly.
I have to stop this, he thought frantically.
He swore under his breath and looked at Hermione for a long moment, before coming to a decision.
"I'm afraid I can't, Headmaster. I have... errands to run."
"Surely you can taken a hour out of your busy day, Severus?" Albus asked, frowning gently. "Hermione needs the support."
"And I'm sure another professor could give her that support far better than I could," Severus said, not looking at Hermione, but sensing her anguish. "Minerva is free every day this week, as I recall."
Severus felt like a complete bastard, but this had to be done.
"Severus..." Albus began, before Hermione interrupted him by raising her hand.
"It's alright," she said to Albus before turning to Severus, her eyes flashing.
"I wouldn't want you to go out of your way, Professor," she said, her voice hard to hide the misery she was feeling. "I'll Floo the Weasleys and one of them will escort me."
Severus kept his face remarkably passive.
"That would be most convenient, Miss Granger," Severus said, turning away from her to address Albus.
"If that would be all, Headmaster?"
Albus nodded, knowing when he was being asked to leave.
Albus took a pinch of powder from his pocket and gave Hermione a sympathetic look.
"Will you be up for Chess tonight, Hermione?" he asked. "You are coming back to Hogwarts, rather than staying at the Weasley's?
Hermione nodded, glad to have an alternative to facing Ron on her own. She needed to sort her head out first.
Severus tried not to be pleased that she wouldn't be spending the night in the company of Ronald Weasley and failed.
Albus waved goodbye, before disappearing in green flames.
"If I could have some Floo Powder?" Hermione asked briskly, raking her fingers through her hair for something to do.
Severus nodded, curtly before handing her a beautiful silver box from above the fireplace, full of perfectly brewed Floo Powder.
Hermione threw the powder in, before getting on her hands and knees and sticking her head into the emerald green fire. Not a hugely dignified pose, admittedly, but at that moment she didn't care; she just wanted to get out of there.
"Ron? Oh! Bill! Hello. Is it alright if I come through?"
Hermione got to her feet and turned to Severus, who had to resist the urge to close his eyes. She looked so unhappy.
"Goodbye, Professor," she said firmly, getting ready to step into the fire. "It's been... interesting."
Knowing he should just let her go, but not being able to bring himself to do it, he took hold of her arm.
"I'll help you with the Malfoy situation," he said, not knowing what to say, but wanting to say something. Anything. He couldn't just leave it like this.
"Albus will probably be able to do that, sir. I don't want to be a nuisance."
"Have you decided what to tell everyone?" he asked, trying not to sound overly concerned.
"Death Eater attack. Voldemort targeting Muggle-borns," she said, shrugging. "It'll get back to Malfoy that I'm heartbroken and miserable and might buy me some time until the next onslaught."
Severus didn't know what to say. He had an irritating urge to comfort the girl, but daren't. This had gone far enough.
She took one last look at Severus Snape, who was staring at her with his black eyes strangely empty.
"For what it's worth," she said, quietly. "Thank you. For everything."
Then she was gone.
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