A/N: Soooo sorry for not updating for so long. I have been trying to keep up with my classes and that was a job and a half. But enough with the excuses, I made this chapter extra-long just for you and your patience. A whole 3800 words just for your reading pleasure. I am already working on the next chapter. Finals are over for now and I have time before Christmas to get at least one more chapter done and posted.

On to the story, I hope you enjoy!

Explanations and Expeditions

Chapter 10

They wondered over to a rack of clothes and started looking for something to try on. Hermione picked up a purple beetles band shirt to show Severus, but he immediately glared his disapproval at her. Turning away, he picked up a plain black T-shirt and held it up.

"This is more my style." He said.

"Well, Duh! I know that, but I think you need a change from your normal gothic wardrobe. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I just want to see you in something more like what you were wearing yesterday. Red looks surprisingly good on you." Hermione immediately replied, while looking for another shirt to show him.

Severus looked at her with one black brow raised. He then placed the black shirt back where he found it and continued looking. They rummaged through the clothes and held them up for the other to see until, eventually they had enough for him to try on. Several items that Hermione had picked up, Severus refused to try on, but Hermione had put them in the pile anyway.

Severus walked into the dressing room with his pile of clothes thinking that if he didn't grab her pile that she would just give up. Unfortunately for him, the cold shoulder act to Hermione, was a challenge to her. She marched into the dressing room and dropped the clothes on top of his pile.

"I won't try any of that on." Severus said, stubbornly.

"Then I will stay in here and make sure you do." Hermione said, with a nod. Before Severus could react outwardly to her challenge, she turned and started looking for an outfit for him to try on. She found a pair of light blue jeans and a red t-shirt with nothing on the front. Severus had picked the jeans and she had chosen the shirt. Turning around, she was shocked to find that Severus hadn't moved to undress. He seemed to be in shock at what she had said. Hermione moved to stand in front of him throwing the clothes over one of her shoulders.

"Okay, if you won't do it then I will." Hermione said and reached down to pull off his shirt. Just as she grasped the bottom of his shirt, he unfroze and grabbed at her hands to stop her.

"Hey! Don't you dare! You are not staying in here to help me change!" Severus said, insistently. "Get Out!" He said and pointed at the door.

Hermione put her hands on her hips, "Now that you are 17 again, you are going to have to change up your style or lack-there-of." She said, with impatience in her voice. "I will NOT be caught hanging out with someone who only wears one side of the color spectrum. I was extremely happy to see you wearing red yesterday, so please just try on what I have chosen and let me see all of them. If they don't look good on you, I will be the first to gladly admit it and we don't have to purchase them."

"Stop treating me like a child!" Severus said to her. Surprisingly, when he said this, he stomped his foot. Hermione dropped her hands and looked at him, flabbergasted that Severus Snape, her snarky, rude, mean potions master professor, would stomp his foot like a little child throwing a tantrum, ever, but especially not when he was telling her not to treat him like a child.

Quickly getting over her shock, she placed her hands back on her hips and said, "If you don't want to be treated like a child, then don't act like one. Stomping your foot won't get you anywhere."

Severus stopped and thought 'I AM acting like a child! Like one of the first years that I teach! Bloody Hell!' He had to sit down with this realization. "I am sorry. I didn't realize how I was acting. I will try on all of the clothes, but it would be more comfortable for me if you waited outside the dressing rooms. Is that acceptable to you?" Severus amended with the hope that she would forget how he acted. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't want it getting around that he was acting like a child, either.

Hermione dropped her hands and nodded. Grabbing the clothes from her shoulder, she handed them to Severus and walked out the door to wait.

'I wonder if the soul mate bond is making him act this way to help him see what it is like to be a real child. From what I have heard from Harry, he didn't get to have the chance to be a child. He had to grow up too fast. I wonder what made him grow up so fast?' Hermione thought, after finding a recliner to sit down in.

Just then the door to the dressing room opened to a comical sight. This was the day she found out why Severus didn't wear colors. He looked too feminine in them. With his long hair and slim waist, the colors made him look too much like a girl, which Hermione didn't think was even possible. Hermione raised her hand to quickly cover her mouth as a giggle burst out, trying to hide it. Severus apparently heard it and froze in front of the door to the dressing room. He stared at her with a brow raised. His expression only made her laugh harder. She was glad that she was sitting down or she would have been rolling on the floor with laughter.

"What is so funny?" Severus finally asked darkly, looking a little put out. He walked over to the mirror that was just a few feet from where he had been standing and looked into it to see what had her laughing so hard.

"Now you know why I don't wear as many colors as most people do," He said, turning toward her.

Hermione was finally able to calm her laughter down enough to say, "I see that now, but I always thought that you didn't wear colors to seem more intimidating."

"Well, now you know differently, but you better not tell anyone my secret. If I find out that you did, I swear that I will... " Severus started to say but was interrupted by Hermione pulling him down to kiss him into silence. The feeling of her soft lips against his was a surprise, but not unpleasantly so. He wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer. His lips took over the kiss and deepened it. He ran his tongue across her bottom lip asking for entrance. When she opened her mouth, he dove in to explore. After a moment of this, Hermione moaned her enjoyment.

Out of nowhere, they both heard someone clearing their throat. It took them a moment to respond to the interruption, but when they realized what the noise meant, they jumped apart, guiltily. The sales clerk was standing nervously a few feet away from them looking everywhere but at them. "Ummm... excuse me, but... I... I need you to stop doing that here... please either stop or leave the shop." She hesitantly said, while she wrung her hands.

Hermione cleared her throat before speaking to the clerk. "We are so sorry. I didn't mean to offend anyone."

"What could be offensive about a kiss?" Severus asked in his usual snarky tone, crossing his arms.

"No, Sir. The kiss isn't what was offensive to the other customers… it was… ummm… that…" She finished finally and pointed at Severus. Hermione and Severus both followed the direction she was pointing and realized that Hermione had somehow gotten Severus' pants unzipped without him realizing it or him feeling her do it. Severus looked up at Hermione in astonishment, as she looked at him just as surprised. He reached down to refasten himself, and then looked back at the clerk.

"I do apologize for this. We will finish shopping quickly and then leave your shop in peace." Severus said calmly.

As the clerk hurried away from them, Hermione dropped into her seat and buried her face in her hands in clear embarrassment.

"Now don't start with the embarrassment, because you know what will happen if you do. We wouldn't want to be kicked out now." Severus quipped, moving away from her and toward the changing room.

Before he reached the door, Hermione quickly said, "Keep the jeans, four other pairs of jeans, five different shirts that are actual colors besides black, and make sure you have long sleeved and short sleeved." Severus stopped his forward trek and turned to Hermione with a raised brow at her bossiness.

Hermione blushed and then quickly straightened up. She looked him in the eyes and said, "Yes, I am bossy. If you don't think that I'm like this on a daily basis, then you can just ask Ron and Harry. I tell them when to do their homework all the time among other orders." She finished, saying this with a nod as if her statement was a solid fact. For all he knew it was true and he was certainly not going to ask her idiot friends.

Instead of responding to her, he shook his head in amusement and turned to enter the dressing room. He quickly changed back into his original clothes and chose the few items that Hermione had requested. When he was done with this, he pulled his wand from the holster at his side and banished the remaining clothes back to their rightful places in the store.

As he opened the door, he replaced his wand into its holster. He walked through the door frame and went to stand in front of Hermione. "Let's go," she said, waving her hand up to the lady waiting behind the counter for them. Severus took the selected clothes to the cashier and placed them on the counter. The process of paying for the clothes went quickly and soon they were leaving the store to head back up to the school in the still waiting carriage.

"Wait, we still need to go to the book store. And get something to eat." Hermione said, stopping just a few feet in front of the carriage.

"Oh. Right, I forgot." Severus said, even though he really hadn't, he was just hoping that she had. Not that he didn't want to spend more time with her, but… No… That was exactly what he wanted. It was hard being near her for more reasons than her just being bossy. All of the times that they gotten frustrated, embarrassed, or upset just made being near her and NOT kissing her, harder than he would normally have thought it would be, and that was something that he would never admit aloud to anyone, let alone her. In all of the years that he had taught her potions, he had never thought of her as anything but the annoying know-it-all that didn't know when to lower her hand and shut up. By the time he was done with this thought, he looked up and realized that she had led them away from the carriage and they had made it to Flourish and Blotts book store. They walked through the opened doors and each went their own ways to get what they required.

Severus really only needed to get a few books on advanced potions and maybe one on soul mates. He needed reading material to keep him busy and an updated potions journal or two would be perfect for him and this purpose. After he found the two books on potions he wanted, he wondered over to the bonds section of the store only to run into Hermione, who had obviously been there for a few minutes and was holding two books already. He couldn't tell what subject the books were on, but he wouldn't allow himself ask her the nosy question. He stopped to stand right beside her and look at the books on the shelf in front of him, seemingly ignoring her. He placed his newly acquired books in the shelf in front of him next to the ones he was pretending to look at in order to free up his hands. She didn't seem to notice him and continued to look at the books in her hands.

He didn't know what came over him, but before he realized what he was doing, he leaned over and bit down lightly on her exposed ear. Hermione shrieked and jumped a foot in the air, dropping her books in the process, while Severus just leaned back and stood there with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. A few other people who were nearby, jumped at the sudden noise in the quiet room and looked around for the source of it. They spotted Hermione and Severus just as she smacked him in the chest. The culprit now found, they went back to their perusal of the book laden shelves. All except one blonde spectator, whom the new couple hadn't yet spotted as Hermione laid into Severus for his cruel action.

"What the Hell was that? You scared me half to death." She said, smacking him in the chest. Severus didn't answer, except to shrug his shoulders. Hermione shook her head at him and bent to pick up her books from the floor.

"Now, what do we have here?" An unexpected voice spoke from behind Hermione, startling her into standing up quickly. Spinning around, she realized that the speaker was non-other than Lucius Malfoy, who had obviously been staring at her backside. When he saw who was attached to the backside he had been ogling, his expression went from mischievous to confused. It took him a moment to speak. "Oh, well, if it isn't Miss Granger. Not who I expected, but never mind that." He finally said and turned toward Severus and said. "I only came over to inquire as to your identity. I know that I have met you before, but I can't quite place where. Would you remind me where we have met before?" Lucius watched Severus as he glanced at Hermione and smirked a secret smile at her. Hermione watched them with a small smile of her own that seemed to show her acknowledgement of his amusement.

"Well, it would help if I knew your name?" Severus deflected.

"Oh, I do apologize. I am Lucius Malfoy. And you are?" Lucius redirected back at Severus.

"Well, I don't know if you would remember it or not, but we met at Hogwarts several years ago. By the way, have you spoken with your son recently? If you had, I can guarantee that you would know exactly who I am. Now, if you will excuse us, we must be going." Severus finished with a nod of his head in Lucius's direction. He turned and picked up his book, then turned to direct Hermione up to the counter to pay for their books. After doing so, they headed out make their way to the Three Broomsticks. The walk down the street was relatively quiet as they both thought about their first encounter with someone who didn't know about the new Severus and the circumstances behind them. They walked through the door of the popular tavern to a warm and slightly busy atmosphere. Looking around, they both spotted a secluded booth near the back at the same time. Hermione glanced at Severus to make sure that he saw the same one and then they headed to it and sat down.

"So… That was… interesting… and weird. Didn't you two go to school together? How do you go to school with someone for seven years and not recognize them as they were when they were younger?" Hermione asked, leaning forwards with her arms folded on the table.

"We aren't the same age and we didn't meet until he was in 6th year and I was in my 1st year at Hogwarts. It seems that everyone believes that we look the same age. He is, in fact, older than me by 6 years." Severus replied, seeming indignant to Hermione.

Hermione was silent for a moment before she said, "I'm sure most people have just speculated based on the fact that you two know each other and are about the same age as most of our parents. You are a very private person and many are just not happy until they have a plausible story to go with everyone. I personally didn't know what to think so I didn't speculate for the most part. Sometimes I wondered if you were the same age, but your spying days probably made you look older than you really were, because of all of the stress." Hermione stopped when she saw that Severus was staring at her in astonishment.

"You really are a very smart witch. I'm sure no one has ever thought of how the spying would affect me personally. They only know that my work kept them alive until the Dark Lord…" Severus hesitated, "… Died. By the way, what were you told about his death?" Severus asked, looking at her curiously.

"Well, I have heard many different versions. One was that Voldemort went mad and danced off of a cliff. Another said that he threw a spell at a mirror on accident and it ricocheted back and killed him. There were several that featured Harry as the hero, but I know those aren't true, because he told me that he didn't have anything to do with it. He said that he was at Hogwarts at the time of Voldemort's death. Were you there when he died?" Hermione finished by asking.

Before he could answer, Madam Rosemerta walked up to their table and asked what they wanted to eat and drink. They both ordered for themselves and waited until she left before they started talking again.

"I was indeed there when he died, but I don't know if anyone really knows what happened. The other Death Eaters have been trying to keep it quiet, but the fact that he's dead obviously wasn't kept silent." Severus said and he would have continued, but the meal appeared in front of them. They dug in and weren't able to speak again as they sat and enjoyed their food.

After they were finished eating they went to the front of the tavern and Severus paid for their meals despite Hermione's protestations. Severus led Hermione out the door and down the street to the waiting carriage. He helped her up the steps and then climbed up behind her, settling in just before it began the journey back to Hogwarts. They traveled in silence, neither sure what to say or to talk about anymore. Severus looked over to watch Hermione and had a thought. He didn't know where it came from, but he couldn't stop himself. He leaned closer to her and spoke softly.

"I want to kiss you." Severus saw Hermione jump, as she certainly didn't expect him to say this or be so close.

She slowly turned to face him with a confused look on her face. "Why? You aren't being forced to. I know that you didn't like me before the change, so why would you willingly want to kiss me?" Hermione asked, without showing him the eagerness that his statement had caused.

Severus just shrugged and said "I am being unnaturally curious. Is that a problem?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment then nodded once in acceptance of his request. Severus leaned closer to her slowly. Hermione closed her eyes in anticipation and raised her face toward his. Severus watched her do this and also closed his eyes and inched closer to connect his lips to hers. He was half a centimeter away when the carriage jolted to a stop in front of Hogwarts, startling them out of their moment. Disappointed, Hermione looked out the window and reached for the door handle, but a hand on her chin stopped her from opening it. Curious, she looked back at Severus only to be surprised by his lips covering hers in a possessive kiss. Slowly, her hand left the door handle and reached up to bury itself in his hair, effectively preventing him from pulling away, if he had wanted to, which wasn't exactly his first thought at the moment. His right hand, which had been on her chin, moved up to cup her cheek, while his other wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her tightly against his body. Her spare hand, which had been place on his chest, was now trapped between them. His tongue ran across the seam of her lips, asking silently for entrance. After a second of hesitation, she parted her lips to allow him access and she almost immediately gasped in pleasure from the sensation that he was causing in her body. The first time he had done the same thing had been intense as well, but for some reason this time was more so. Warmth pooled in her belly and she squirmed trying to find a way to suppress the feeling, knowing full well what it was.

They were interrupted again by a knock on the carriage door. Just as the door opened, they reluctantly pulled apart and turned to find…

TBC…

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, I wasn't sure where this chapter was going to end, but a fellow reader suggested here, so that is what I did. Minimoon1999, I hope you are happy!

Here are the questions I am leaving you with:

Will Dumbledore call them up to his office with information of the bond?

Who interrupted Hermione and Severus's make out session?

How will the intruder(s) react to the sigh of the two making out?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Please Review!