Chapter 15: Something Of A Conundrum
{A/N: Here's Another Update...in light of what February 21st is I decided to post today..}
My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.
The Sitting room, The Sinclair Residence, Unknown World...
Morning arrived to find Hermione Granger-Sinclair sleeping rather peacefully in the arms of her wayward husband or rather whom she thought was her husband Severus Snape. He had insisted she stay the night following their umpteenth issue with personal boundaries and what passed for a marriage between them.
His request for her to remain despite his initial rejection gave her hope at the very least that his condition had not completely taken away the bloke she loved.
When faced with the unwanted sensation of his leg having fallen asleep due to being crushed via the added weight of his young wife in a bid to keep warm and in recognition of familiar contact, Severus Snape found himself awakening to the intrusive sight of the most unruly brown hair slapping him in the face.
Feeling as if he were suffocating, Snape glared at the woman clinging to his lean pale form as if her life depended upon it. He did his best to ignore the shooting pains of his middle age Muggle form and the unseemly notion of an otherwise absentee friend making their presence known as the clingy witch continued to rest her head against his chest.
It was an odd thing awakening to the same woman almost every day, usually Snape had been prone to being the only inhabitant of his sleeping environment. Even his casual affairs with various and random women willing to indulge their based whims and sate their lust with him had not ever been as affecting as the woman who's soft snores made for an interesting means of music in the early hours of the morning.
For a moment, just one brief moment before good sense and recognition prevailed...Severus Snape found himself lusting for the woman whom had been his young wife in this strange world.
A casual shifting of her weight in a bid to work free his tingling leg, of course the movement not only caused the sleeping Hermione to stir, but the weight of her body pressed against his undeniably aroused appendage.
Snape froze none too thrilled about the recent turn of events. Before he could shift her off him, her amber eyes opened and he found himself noting her rather pleased expression.
"Good morning." She said doing him the courtesy of removing her body from his.
With the absence of both her warmth and weight, the former Potions Master didn't know wither to be relieved or disappointed. The pain in his leg eased as he attempted to decipher if shifting her off him was worth it.
"It's good to see that you would adhere to reason and not drive so late in the night." he said clearing his throat and sitting up on the sofa.
Hermione shook her head. It seemed he was determined to act as if last night's plea for her to remain with him had not occurred. Getting up off the sofa, she attempted to head toward the loo when Snape suddenly got to his feet, sleeping leg not withstanding, and caught her arm before she headed off.
"I'm just going to the loo." she said instinctively knowing what he had been too guarded to mention.
Seemingly satisfied with her answer, he let her arm slip from his grasp and turned his attention to his own needs so late in the morning. Truth be told, he knew not why he had been so compelled to relish in Hermione Granger's attention. He dismissed his sudden dependency upon her as a side effect of either his brain tumor or the mere trauma of having been in such a lonely place for so long.
He knew not one familiar face and those that he had known were changed in the oddest of fashions. In his world his isolation was always voluntary as he knew despite the popular opinion of him there was at least one person no matter how volatile everyone else had been to him in his world, truly cared for him. He had Lucius, Narcissa, and of course Draco whom had been the only family he had ever known until he joined the ranks of the professors at Hogwarts and then Minerva McGonagall became something like the mother he never had, he had even found himself becoming friends with his former professors finally treated as a highly respective colleague despite his younger age.
No he had not been so sure what he wanted, or whom he could turn to. He was stuck in a world without magic, no sense of direction and the worst news a bloke could possibly have heard from the starting gate. Needless to say, he was in quite a vulnerable position and highly out of his element.
"Sidney?" said Hermione getting his attention.
Snape seemed to snap out of his rambling thoughts only to note his young wife's horrified expression that had been filed across her face.
"I..." he began suddenly noticing the onset of blood dripping from his nose at an alarming rate.
Hermione rushed over toward him noting his lack of balance instantly as she helped keep him upright before walking him over toward the sofa.
"Sidney...what is going on with you?" she asked highly upset with her husband's condition.
Snape noted the fear in her eyes and for once allowed her to offer him comfort.
"I'm...I'm alright." he said. "It's just a minor nosebleed." he did his best to reassure her. "Must have gotten on my feet too fast...with the concussion...it may have caused a reaction."
Hermione seemed to relax a bit following his very plausible explanation for his symptoms.
"Why don't you just lie down for a bit while I go and get something to clean you up." she said immediately taking charge of the situation in a bid to get the man she loved well again.
For the first time since his arrival in this place, Snape didn't argue. He had been much too out of sorts to do so in the first place. Seeing this minor victory as a step in the name of progress, Hermione rushed off to get what she needed to see to him properly.
As Snape sat alone in the sitting room, the watchful eyes of a certain enchantress had been on him. Unbeknownst to him she'd been watching him the entire night wanting to see what he'd make of his new found isolation.
"Perhaps there is hope for you yet, Severus Snape." she said still gazing upon him from afar as Hermione returned to see to his bloody nose and other aspect of well being.
