A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I updated, but this is finally the chapter where we earn that rating! This is my first smut so please be kind, I hope that everyone doesn't seem too out of character.
Although I have lots of plans for this story, I have been a bit uninspired and so I am leaving it on an indefinite hiatus for now. Thanks so much for sticking with me if you're an older reader of this story, and sorry to the new readers too.
So please enjoy the last chapter for a while, all comments and reviews are welcome, I love reading them!
Chapter 25: The New Arrangement
Hermione and Aberforth enjoyed a quiet Christmas together after her meltdown; each revealing traditions and customs that they used to follow before they were thrown together, and compromising by combining them where possible. Their Christmas dinner was small, but comfortable and Hermione couldn't help but smile at the sight of him wearing one of those silly paper hats from the Christmas crackers.
The presents that she received were all quite small and impersonal as her friends still didn't quite know her enough yet. Although she was surprised when Aberforth got her a quite tasteful necklace and when she got another present from Sirius, even though he said he wouldn't get her one. It was a small bag of the muggle sweets that he must have seen her eating, and she was touched that he had gone out of his way to find them.
Although it was not the same as it once was and it was tainted with the sadness of all those she had lost, Hermione found herself enjoying the relaxing break, almost feeling sad to go back to school after the new year.
As she had planned, she did end up contacting Moody for a few catch up training sessions before the break ended and was surprised at how unfit she was. Although she had continued running and flying where possible, she apparently needed to build up her muscles more, and therefore needed to eat more. Hermione tried not to roll her eyes at the familiar argument, but failed and received multiple sharp smacks on the back of the head for it.
Her nightmares continued but often took longer to begin and were not as intense due to her attempts to occlude before bed. Now that she could settle her thoughts and continue improving on the speed it took her to do so, she was anxious to see Severus and learn about the next step of sorting out her memories. More importantly, she couldn't wait to explain to her friend the reason that she had accosted him, and find out why he had returned the attention.
The day that the Hogwarts Express returned came around much quicker than she had expected, and before long, Hermione was welcoming back her friends. After a few quick hugs on the platform, they soon made their way up to the castle. With a wave towards Aberforth, James looped his arm around her shoulder in order to tell her about the shenanigans that had taken place over the new year in the Potter household.
Apparently, Sirius had attempted to inject some humour into Christmas Dinner by making his own Christmas Crackers and to say that they had been badly received would have been an understatement. As James recounted how red his mother had turned with rage at the never-ending recording of 'God rest ye merry Hippogriffs', Hermione smiled and remembered how obsessed the older Sirius had been of the tune in the Christmas of her fifth year.
It was at this moment when her eyes drifted across the path to find another's staring back at her. As usual, the look in Severus's eyes was indecipherable, but as her smile faltered slightly, his own face broke out into a smug grin. His eyes trailed up and down her body in a very obvious way that had Hermione blushing to the roots of her hair. This display aimed at her was not one she expected from her friend and yet she did not find herself feeling uncomfortable as he finished his appraisal and focussed back on her face. Her face transformed into a frown as she considered what he could be thinking and he must have realised this because if anything, his smile grew larger.
Before she could even begin to unpack that, her attention was taken over by Lily as she recounted James' first interaction with her family at New Year's. By the time there was a break in the conversation and Hermione turned around to look for Severus again, he was gone.
However, it wasn't much longer that she had to wait to see him because throughout the return feast, she felt a continuous presence of another pair of eyes watching her. It appeared as it no one else was aware of the Slytherins attention, but Hermione felt like her entire body was on fire with embarrassment. Barely daring to look across at him, she became hyper aware of all the moves she made and consequently managed to knock over a pot of boiled potatoes.
Her friends must have noticed her odd behaviour and lack of interest in the conversion, but no one could work out the cause, easily dealing with the mess she made, and laughing at her clumsiness. She laughed in an awkward manner along with them and finally glanced up at Severus. It appeared that he had also been watching the catastrophe from across the room considering the laughter in his eyes, and Hermione would have thought nothing much of it, until he winked at her.
She then put her elbow in a pitcher of gravy.
Unsure exactly how she had managed to make it to the end of the meal, Hermione kept her eyes on the tablecloth as she considered the way that Severus had been acting. Where before Christmas, he would almost never have shown any indication of what he was feeling or thinking; now he seemed to take pleasure in surprising her. In the two instances they had caught eyes, there had been a teasing glint in his eye, and then he had winked.
Severus. Winked. It was unheard of. Especially towards her. And the way he had trailed his eyes down her body. Had he been checking her out? What had happened to him? Glancing up at him a final time he gave her that look that he gave when she was close to the answer during their study sessions. Was this his attempt at flirting with her?
Seeming to realise that she had come to a conclusion, he smiled again and tilted his head to the entrance hall in question. When she didn't shake her head to reply in time, he took it as a yes and then quickly stalked off, giving her no chance to argue. She made some excuse to her friends about meeting up with them after heading to the library and almost sprinted after him.
At first she had assumed that she had already lost him when Hermione was met with an empty entrance hall, only just noticing the tail of his robes swish around the far corner of a connecting corridor. She rushed to catch up, but was annoyed to find the next corridor empty as well. Frowning, and annoyed at being forced to tail after the friend that had asked to talk to her in the first place, she was just about to turn back to feast when she was yanked behind a tapestry.
Turning swiftly to look up and into his eyes she pushed aside a feeling of déjà vu at how they had found themselves in such a similar situation to the last time they had talked. Unlike the last time, unfortunately, they weren't hiding in a spacious secret passage, but a very cramped alcove.
Immediately trying to put some space between them, Hermione pushed herself to the other wall of the space, away from Severus. This however, did not look to be his intention as he was dragged back with her from the place where he still held tightly into her arm. More than aware that he dwarfed her height and that she was overwhelmed by the smell of his aftershave, she hesitantly looked up at him.
Christ, why was he looking at her like that?
"H-hey… did you have a good holiday, Sev?" Were the words that miraculously made their way out of her mouth, though she was unsure where she had pulled them from as her mind was suddenly, deliciously blank.
"It was alright," He replied in his usual deep voice, the edges of his lips turned up slightly. "Did you get up to anything good?"
Hermione almost choked on her reply when she felt the thumb of the hand still holding her begin to stroke lightly against her wrist. "Ah-Oh. Nothing much really." She nervously licked her lips, wondering when it had gotten so difficult to talk to her friend. This obviously appeared to be the wrong action, when his eyes immediately seemed to zero in on them.
"Occlumency!" She suddenly gasped out, scrabbling around for a reason she must have said it. "I improved at it." She stated dumbly, more than aware he was still looking at his lips, "I wanted to tell you."
Another sly smile broke out across his face as he replied, seemingly pleased that she had given him the opening that he was looking for. "Shall we see then, it's much easier to show me."
Hermione's eyes widened, "Wait - I have to…" but before she could begin to control her breathing or think of her childhood bedroom, she felt the prying fingers of him intrude into her mind.
The cacophony of her thoughts flickered across both of their minds at a much faster speed that she was comfortable with considering the panicked state he had put her in. A panicked, aroused state. Which didn't help with the litany of thoughts, memories and fantasies that he had to choose from at the forefront of her mind.
Frantically grappling to regain the control she had worked so hard on all holiday was much more difficult considering the concentrated intent that Severus had as he rifled through her mind, as if looking for something in particular. Distantly she became aware of his other hand reaching for her waist as he worked harder looking into her mind and unfortunately for her, that brought forth exactly what he had been looking for.
It was no surprise to both of them that she was quite touch starved and lonely, and so it was natural that her mind had wandered now and then to create fantasies where his hand might have been in that position before. Hermione gasped as they both watched a glimpse of her imaginings of him hoisting her up against a bookshelf in the library, trousers around his ankles and her legs around his waist as he thrust.
Desperately trying to think of something else, unfortunately she brought another idea forth of him bending her over a sofa in the Gryffindor common room, hands on her waist and in her hair and her pulled her back towards where their bodies were joined together. Unbidden, that train of thought conjured the image of his hand in her hair beneath a desk in class, as she swallowed his length. Unable to stop as her mind continued to project her deepest and darkest fantasies for his viewing pleasure, she could feel her face growing more and more warm.
Finally, she found the wherewithal from God knows where to settle her mind in the way she had been practicing to wrench his presence from her mind. Breathing heavily, as if she had run a marathon, Hermione could barely taking in the shocked look on his face before he was lowering his lips down to meet hers.
This kiss, not unlike their first, was a mess of surprise, teeth and heavy breathing. It took a moment for Hermione to even realise what was happening, as she had assumed that she would have been making up some garbled excuses to a very embarrassed friend. The alternative, much more surprising and pleasurable response she received was much more enjoyable. With this thought in mind, it did not take her long to catch up and kiss him back, whimpering as the hand he had on her wrist moved to push it back and pin her against the wall.
Barely able to believe that this was happening again, Hermione made to raise her other hand to land on his chest, but was surprised when he moved the hand on her waist to clasp her wrist and pin it with her other, above her head. Unable to comprehend why he wouldn't want her to touch him in that moment, all thoughts flew from her mind as Severus pushed his warm thigh between her own, creating friction just where she needed it. Without a thought of the consequence she instantly ground her core down upon it, bringing forth a grunt from Snape, as he pressed her more firmly into the wall.
Suddenly a sharp laugh from the corridor behind the tapestry made them realise where they were and it broke them apart. She couldn't be sure in the darkness of to alcove, but she thought she saw a pained look cross his face as they listened to her friends passing their hiding spot. Lily still laughing over something that James must have said.
Before she could ask if he were alright, he quickly stumbled out a question, as of he needed to get it out before he bottled it. "Would you be interested in having casual sex with me?"
Hermione blinked as she took in what he had said. The statement out of the blue was no more bizarre than the rest of his actions this evening and yet she was momentarily stumped. She was vaguely aware of her mouth popping open and closed like a fish as she stared back at him in shock. As always, his face was unreadable.
Her friend, who she more often than not had admired and fantasised about, was asking if she wanted a physical relationship with him. Only was it actually a relationship he wanted, or an agreement? One that benefited the both of them equally, where he wouldn't have to know that she had started to develop serious feelings for him?
She was no virgin, given the few fumbled encounters she had had with her neighbour in the summer months before she left home, but even so, she didn't know if she could deal with this sort of detached arrangement. Given the first kiss that they had shared and the more recent one that he had sprung upon her, it was obvious that he wasn't very experienced with sex, but then again neither was she. And they couldn't deny the chemistry they clearly shared.
It was in that moment that she realised what his weird behaviour must have been for. "Were you testing me?" She gasped out, outraged, though not really realising why. "Looking at me weirdly and touching me, and then kissing me again. Just to see if I was amenable to the idea of shagging you?"
He scoffed, and leaned away from where he had been looming over her in the alcove. Holding himself in a much more familiar manner that was typical of the friend she knew, and at a much more usual distance. "Well obviously I know you're amenable, I have been inside your mind. I just thought I should communicate that I have also… considered it." The slight hesitation in his speech was the only indication thus far that he might be doubting himself, and she had to admit that it did relax her to not feel so out of her depth alone.
"I'm not in love with you or anything." He quickly clarified and Hermione felt her heart sink a bit, "I just thought we could relieve some tension. Just as a bit of fun between friends?"
"Okay then." She heard herself answer before her mind really caught up with her brain, though when he raised his eyebrows slightly she quickly added, "But it would be on a purely educational basis in order to learn to practice, and to have fun." This last comment was added quickly in order to reiterate what he had first proposed, though she hoped that he wouldn't notice that she used it mostly to remind herself.
Snape let a sly smile creep across his face and he reached forward to take a hold of her wrist. "I should have known that you would want to make this about learning too. You never fail to disappoint Granger." Before she could even begin to address the use of her other name, he was pulling her after him, letting go as soon as she had begun to move at the speed that he wanted.
Unable to speak for a moment as they travelled through the castle, due to the shock of this turn of events, Hermione was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost failed to notice where he was taking her. It was only when they stopped for him to walk thrice past the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy that she realised that they were entering the Room of Requirement.
Before she could ask how he knew of its existence he had shut the door behind them and promptly pushed her up against it, cutting off all reasonable thought with his lips on her own. Her attempts at a question dissolved into a sigh and when he moved his mouth down onto her neck, a slight nip over her pulse point turned that sigh into a moan. Oh my God, this was actually happening.
She felt his smug smile long before she saw it, but one of her own soon appeared when his hands began to wrap around her waist. Her hands rose up around his shoulders and one sank into his hair as she tugged him closer, effectively making his excitement known as his erection made contact with her belly. He groaned at the contact and she gasped and instinctively ground her hips against his own.
When he answered the movement, moving to pull her hands away from him again, Hermione suddenly realised how hot she was becoming and so mumbled out a half-hearted word against his lips. "Wait!" Hermione was embarrassed to find that she was already quite short of breath, and so pushed at his chest to get a bit more space to breathe. "Wait, stop! Don't you think we should talk about this more?"
In a move that made her heart melt, Snape immediately backed off and raised his hands as if in surrender. "What do you mean, I thought you wanted this?" Now that he had distanced himself slightly, she could see how rumpled and out of breath he was as well, his normally thin lips already puffed up from snogging her.
Hermione shook her head to clear it and nodded again, taking in the small bedroom that he had summoned for them. "Of course I do, but I think we need to sort out a few things first." As soon as the sentence had left her mouth a small sofa appeared next to the double bed and she quickly perched there. Anything to get her out from between this man and the wall he had just pinned her to.
"What could you possibly need to talk about?" Severus gasped out from his place still by the wall. "We've both said that we want to have sex and now we're going to have sex."
Even though it was a logical step to take, Hermione couldn't help but let out a breathless chuckle at the comment, "I assume you're a virgin?" She asked and pointed to the space beside her on the sofa, which Snape took with rosy cheeks and a nod. Hermione placed her hands on her lap and breathed out slowly, glad to gain back some control of the situation with a significantly clearer head. She was also more than aware that she was addressing this like she would a business meeting. But if he wanted a business-like arrangement, then this is what he'd have to deal with.
She glanced up at him, "I'm guessing that you know that I'm not?" He nodded again. "Then I was wondering how quickly you want to go into this then?" When he still looked confused, Hermione winced and clarified, "You know that we don't have to go the whole hog tonight? Why don't we just start off with other things and build up to it?"
"But I thought that would be what you would want." He replied softly and Hermione was touched for a moment. His sly bravado from earlier was lost as he was actually confronted with the reality of their situation, and with Hermione taking control of the conversation.
Now it was Hermione's time to blush as she remembered the few awkward times that she had actually had sex, "Um, actually I actually prefer the other stuff, if that's alright, because that was generally more enjoyable. Though I've only really been with one person, so I'm happy to be persuaded otherwise." At this last comment she left it hanging and raised her eyebrows at Snape, who smiled back at her, looking significantly less like a deer in headlights now that he knew where she stood.
"So then," Snape began hesitantly, rubbing his sweaty palms against his trousers, "Where do you want to begin?" The question was so sweet and endearing that Hermione couldn't help it when she reached over to leave a small peck on his lips. He looked so surprised that he didn't have time to return it before she was already pulling away.
"What we were doing was brilliant actually. As I'm sure you could tell." Snape's smug smile returned although Hermione pushed him backwards slightly when he reached across for her again. "Though I think we should go slower and maybe take off our outer robes?"
Severus nodded and they both did this, as well as their shoes, before retaking their places on the couch. Before Snape could do anything, Hermione decided to initiate the kiss, as she hadn't done that since their first kiss. She began slowly as she had planned and softly experimented with her lips and tongue.
Although they had both agreed to go slow, Hermione kept feeling Snape try to speed it up and had to stop herself at times. It was only when she became too frustrated at the distance between them that she changed her position to straddle his thighs on the sofa. "Is this okay?" She muttered in between her continued soft kisses and gained a deep groaned yes in response.
From her new vantage point he was much closer and she could feel the warmth of his legs and chest surrounding her. It wasn't until her fingertips reached the top of his shirt in an attempt to undo the buttons that she noticed that his hands weren't venturing anywhere other than her waist, shoulders and neck. Whether he didn't know if it was okay or if he hadn't thought to move them yet, Hermione didn't mind as she took his wrists and pushed them down to squeeze the globe's of her arse.
Breaking away from the kiss, she lowered her face to mouth a line of kisses along his jaw and up to his neck whimpering softly as he squeezed her butt and thighs. When he delved under her skirt and began to stroke the skin on the inside of her thighs she took his earlobe into her mouth and sucked, earning a gasp from him as he clenched his hands onto her skin.
She backed off to shuck off his now fully unbuttoned shirt and moved to unbutton her own, Severus being much too occupied with trailing his hands over her arse and thighs under her skirt. Hermione hummed happily as his smooth palms grazed her flesh and left a trail of goose bumps in their wake.
The way that Severus' eyes widened as he became aware of what she was doing and as she revealed more and more skin emboldened Hermione and she swiftly shucked her shirt and threw it across the room. With the new skin revealed, Snape drew his hands away from her lower half and dragged his fingers across the skin of her midriff, skimming the base of her bra before taking the leap and moving higher. Unable to stop the sound that escaped her as his bony hands enveloped her breasts, she moved her hands back to herself to reach behind her.
Before she could think otherwise, she quickly unclasped her bra and shucked it off of her, looking down at Snape to see how his reaction changed.
Unsurprisingly, he was transfixed, and Hermione swallowed back a moan when he reached forward and stroked the side of her breasts, watching avidly as her nipples hardened. Expecting him to continue his exploration using his hands, her eyes flew open in surprise and she bucked forward when his mouth descended to surround her left nipple. He looked up at her in question after her response, but when she didn't stop him, he returned and began to pay the same attention to the other one.
In her previous movement of surprise, Hermione had accidentally shifted forward in his lap and with the new stimulation, soon found herself grinding down onto Severus. Only what had once been his thighs was replaced with his hard cock. They both groaned as they made contact and the added vibrations on her nipples made Hermione cry out.
Slightly embarrassed at how close Hermione was to climaxing, compared to how with it Snape remained to be, she quickly sought to remedy this by trailing her hands down the light smattering of hair on his chest. Where she thought that Severus would provide no complaint at a willing girl trailing her hands over him, he instead frowned and pushed them off of him.
Before she could ask why he pushed her away yet again, he choked out a strangled, "Touch yourself." Not bothering to look into her eyes and pushing her hands down her own body, blowing softly onto her nipples for the first time. She moaned at the action, doing as he asked and touching herself over her knickers.
It wasn't long before all coherent thought left her mind as the speed that Snape worshiped her nipples increased, using a mixture of lips and fingers to lick, tweak and tease them. Before long she pushed her knickers to the side and began to touch herself in earnest, trailing the wetness from her opening to swirl tight circles around her clit.
He alternated from kissing her mouth, neck and breasts and watching the movements of her hand as she continued to grind on his lap, seeking out any and all sensation that she could through her knickers, his tented trousers and the frantic movement of her hands between them.
More than aware that he was much further behind her, Hermione found herself not caring as she chased her release, panting and whispering Severus' name over and over again. It wasn't until he lowered his mouth and bit down lightly on her nipples with his teeth for the first time that she cried out and reached her peak, clinging onto him as she rode her orgasm out.
Severus held her as she recovered, gently cocooning her head against his neck and stroking onto her hair and she found that she greatly welcomed the intimate gesture. It wasn't too long after that that she became aware of the ever present hardness pressing against her backside and so Hermione leaned back to look into his face.
Predictably, he was looking at her with hooded and heady eyes, although there was also a considerable amount of surprise there that he had got her to come. Unable to stop herself in the post orgasmic haze, she reached forward to peck another kiss against his lips, "Thank you."
Hermione felt his body shrug and subtly rolled her eyes at the inability of all the boys in her life at expressing their thoughts and feelings. She breathed in one last whiff of his scent before beginning to kiss down his jaw and neck before reaching his chest. Annoyed that she couldn't reach very much from her position astride him, she slowly sank in between his thighs to kneel on the floor.
"What are you doing?" His panicked voice broke out, and she soon realised how this position looked to him. She couldn't help but look in front of her at the bulge in his trousers and blushed when she noticed it had increased in size due to her new position and with the attention that she was now giving it.
Aware that it probably wouldn't get to that point tonight considering how pent up he already was, she reached forward to pat his knee, "Don't worry, we'll do that another time, and only when you're ready." When he dodged her kiss she felt a little hurt, but covered it up with a saccharin smile.
"I'm a bloke, Hermione, I'm not gonna turn down a blow job. I was just going to say that you should give me a little bit more warning." Hermione smiled slightly at his affronted tone, clearly a bit annoyed with her for talking down to him, and sought to shut him up by reaching up and wrapping her lips around his nipple.
He bucked slightly and flinched away, eyes shuttering. Hmmm. Sensitive nipples then. A voice in Hermione's head intoned and she smiled smugly, moving on to lick and suck at the other parts of his chest and torso. Now that they weren't talking, he was clearly enjoying it more, and Hermione used her new position to trail her fingertips over his chest and thighs, always backing away when they came too close to his cock.
She delighted in finally getting to actually touch him after he had kept pulling her arms off of him all night. It seemed that he didn't mind as much when he was getting pleasure out of it, and was so aroused that he could barely look her in the eye.
It wasn't until he loudly groaned in annoyance on her fourth exploration of the light trail of hair descending into his trousers that she took pity on him and dragged her hand down his bulge. He gasped and looked down at her through hooded eyes as she reached for the zipper on his trousers and asked, "May I?" Snape's only response was a swift nod, but Hermione took that as agreement enough as she quickly lowered his fly and reached inside.
He was average length, though slightly thinner than the only other penis she had seen before, bobbing slightly against his stomach as Hermione pulled him out. At the movement, Severus made a small sound of relief, but this changed when Hermione wrapped her hand around it. Feeling slightly out of her depth, she began to move her hand up and down, watching as the velvety skin moved with her.
Although she had done this before, she watched with fascination at the liquid that collected at the tip and on her next stroke, she swiped her thumb out to collect it. With the movement, Snape's body stiffened and he let out a whimper, causing Hermione's eyes to drift up to him. The look on his face was one of absolute ruin, gazing at her hand moving over him as if she held his whole life in her hands, and Hermione wasn't embarrassed at all to admit that she liked the throb of power that filled her.
"Am I doing this right?" She whispered with a smile.
Severus nodded and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to say, "Yes, just a little bit tighter." Hermione complied and sped up slightly, causing him to groan again, "I don't think I'm going to last much longer." He continued.
Now it was her turn to smile smugly, ignoring the ache of her wrist as she continued at a punishing pace. With her other hand feeling slightly redundant, Hermione decided to reach forward and graze her fingertips over his balls. She was rewarded for this when he gasped out, "Hermione, please... I'm going to…" Before he could finish his sentence, she encircled one and squeezed lightly, breathing out over the exposed flesh.
It was this that appeared to be too much for him because in a matter of seconds, he let out a muffled cry and came. Ribbons of his cum splattered across his chest and Hermione leaned back so as not to get messy, taking in what she had achieved.
For a couple of moments they both sat there as he recovered, before she found that her knees began to protest and she joined him on the couch. Not sure whether he would be okay with it, she decided to rest her head on his shoulder, him still staring at the ceiling and breathing heavily. After taking in the mess that he had made, she only had to think of a cloth before one appeared next to her and she could clean her hands.
It wasn't until she began to do the same for him that he stiffened and shied away from her, "What are you doing? I can do that." In the moments when he turned away from her and cleaned himself up, Hermione felt a sharp stab of hurt and dejection which effectively killed any arousal that had remained. She watched as he tucked himself back into his trousers and quickly schooled her expression as he turned back to her.
"Are you good, or do you want me to do the same for you?" He made a vague gesture to her midriff and groin causing Hermione to look down at herself, realising for the first time how exposed she was.
Moving her arms to cover her breasts, she just smiled at him, "I'm fine thanks, after all, we have plenty of time to work all that out."
Snape made a noncommittal grunt and turned away to pick up her bra and shirt, handing it to her without looking her in the eye. As she quickly dressed herself she noticed how he looked away, out of the corner of her eye, and put his robes back on. Hermione remained sitting until he turned back to look at her, finally looking her in the eye, though showing none of the emotion that she wished to see there.
He blushed and looked away, "Thanks, I guess." Snape cleared his throat. "Can you make it back to the common room by yourself?"
Hermione blinked, momentarily amazed that that was it and the night was over. It's not like she expected him to cuddle with her after, but there had to be something more. Right? The least he could do was look her in the eye. "Sure." She murmured in response.
"Mmkay, that's good." He replied. "Shall I see you in the library tomorrow then?" Hermione could only nod before he continued. "We can sort out a way of arranging this then?"
Hermione looked up as he finished gesturing between them and nodded, a vague glimmer of hope appearing before he shot it down, "Good, we could probably find a better way of communicating with each other where we don't have to hunt each other down across the whole castle to look for a shag."
With that, Snape shot her a small smile and backed out of the door, bidding farewell with a short goodnight, while Hermione was left staring at the space he used to occupy. Wondering what an earth that she had got herself into.