A/N: I told you that it wouldn't take me that long to update, but things are always against me getting each chapter out. I hope you enjoy this chapter and review.
I have to apologize to the rest of my readers, but minimoon1999, my cousin, is refusing to review my story, so I have told her that I won't be updating again until she has reviewed it. Maybe you could all message her constantly in order to make her review immediately.
Just kidding!
Thank you all for your support of the story and your patience.
Now on to the next chapter!
Chapter 16
They stood there for a moment, too engrossed in each other to notice anything around them. Hermione finally pulled away when she felt like she had to breathe. Severus looked down at her and then glanced around suspiciously, always one to be alert in any situation. After he had assessed their surroundings and found no one else there, he began walking back to their shared common room. Hermione watched Severus as he carried her down the hall. She wasn't sure how he was reacted to what she had told him and the kiss hadn't seemed to help anything. They were almost to their common room when he spoke.
"You know that wasn't a very nice way to tell me how you feel. I would appreciate it if next time, you would wait until we are in the privacy of our rooms. I have told you that I will change how I act around you, but that is only in private. When you said that in the hallway and reacted the way you did, anything could have happened, anyone could is seen." They finally reached their shared dorm and Severus paused only long enough to say the password to their rooms, before he walked through their living room and straight into their bedroom. He gently placed her onto their bed before walking over to the wardrobe and, reaching in, pulled out a nightgown for Hermione and a pair of night pants for himself.
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you with my confession, but I had to tell you how I felt as soon as I was able to. For some reason in the hall way I just couldn't stop myself from feeling the way I did and saying it. I normally have more sense than that, as you know, but today I just couldn't stop myself." Hermione finally admitted, watching him walk back over to her to hand her the nightgown. He waited until she took it before he walked to the bathroom and partially closed the door.
"I wish I knew what to tell you in order to make you feel better, but I am just not that kind of person. I have never been the type of person to show or take emotions well, especially from others. I really don't know how to respond to your confession, but I suspect the feelings you have now are connected to the potion in the crystal that you fell on a few hours ago. Maybe I am incorrect and you have felt this way since the beginning of this ordeal, but for some reason I don't believe that. You don't seem the type to have a crush on a professor, except for the Lockhart incident." Severus stated as soon as he was behind the closed door.
Hermione looked down at her nightgown and contemplated it for a moment, before she finally stood, undressed, and slipped into it. Just as she was pulling it down over her legs, Severus opened the bathroom door fully and walked back into their bedroom. As she had expected and as he had done every night since they were first bonded, he was only wearing a pair of black night pants with no shirt on. Hermione smiled, 'Ginny would be drooling at this sight.' She thought before she realized that Severus was looking at her strangely. She belatedly realized that smiling right after he walks out of the bathroom half naked probably hadn't been what he expected her to do, so she said the first thing she thought of to cover up her mistake.
"Maybe you're right. We really don't know what is going to come from this new development. By the way, did Madam Pomfrey tell you anything while I was unconscious?" Hermione said, looking around for something to occupy her hands. When she didn't find anything, she quickly walked around the bed and climbed in under the covers. This didn't really help her any as Severus climbed into bed right next her.
"I'm glad that you are agreeing with me, because Madam. Pomfrey really couldn't tell what effects the new potion will introduce into your blood system." Severus said, before looking away and answering her other question. "Madam. Pomfrey mostly just asked me a lot of questions about what happened and what has been going on in these quarters since we first bonded. I answered truthfully. Good night." He finished before turning over and going silent.
Hermione could tell he wasn't being completely truthful with her, but she didn't think that what he was keeping from her was anything important, just something embarrassing to him. She didn't even consider that embarrassment was one of their intimacy triggers. She was so tired that her brain wasn't working the way it usually does, so she turned over on her side of the bed and fell asleep.
Severus's POV
Unlike Hermione, Severus couldn't seem to fall asleep tonight. He kept thinking about what Madam. Pomfrey had told him and he couldn't think beyond her uncertainty. There was a very real possibility that… But he didn't know how he would cope if… And if Hermione wasn't happy about it… How would Hermione feel if she was told that she could be pregnant and then they found out that she wasn't? Did she want children? Would she be sad that she wasn't pregnant?
But at the same time if they found out that Hermione really was pregnant, then how would everyone else react? How would Hermione react to having a child at 17? Would she be surprised? Would she panic? Would she surprise him and actually be happy about the child? Maybe she would completely fall apart and he wouldn't know how to comfort her. Could he ask her friends to help him? Would her friends stay beside her and help her?
All of the emotions he was feeling at that moment exhausted him so much that he fell asleep without realizing it.
The next morning was much the same as the last two, with Hermione lying on top of Severus with him inside of her. She wasn't as embarrassed this time, as she was beginning to enjoy waking up this way. The only problem this morning was that something round was hovering over their prone bodies surrounded with a pink mist. Hermione quickly sat up and gasped at the orb. Her movement quickly woke Severus and his focus immediately went to Hermione, obviously wondering what made her jolt awake so fast. He followed her gaze to the orb and he squinted his eyes at it in suspicion.
"What the hell?" Severus said before propping himself up on his elbows in order to get a better look at the orb. Before he could get too close to the orb or get too much of a look at it, it disappeared as if it hadn't been there in the first place.
They stayed as they were for a moment before Severus lowered himself onto his back and Hermione looked down at him again. They looked at each other curiously neither really knowing what to say after that. Severus spoke first.
"I can only assume that you don't have a clue as to what that was, either?" Hermione immediately shook her head and looked down at her hands which were splayed across to his chest.
"How do we always get into this predicament? What the heck is causing this and why?" Hermione said, just before they heard a tapping sound at their window. They both looked up to see Dumbledore's Phoenix hovering outside the window with a letter clutched in its claws.
Dumbledore sat behind his desk in his office with a large book that he had been reading in front of him as he continued to find out more about the enemy bond. He had actually only heard of this bond once before, but no one knew the results of the bond so he couldn't tell Hermione or Severus what they could expect to happen. Fortunately he had remembered that one of his older books that had long lost its title held records of rare bonds and what to expect if one was ever found. He had already sent Faux with a message for the pair to meet him in his office in an hour's time, and he only planned to tell the bonded pair a few basic things on the bond that he had learned. The rest he didn't know if they needed the information yet. As he looked at the book again he saw a paragraph that he hadn't seen before.
The enemy bond is a rare thing as when the female of the pair becomes pregnant a glowing pink orb will appear above the couple between one and 10 days after conception. With this type of bond this usually happens within the first seven days of the event. Nobody knows why the orb is always pink, as the only two reported enemy bonds has resulted in one boy child and one girl child. We can only assume that it is pink because the mother is the one who is carrying the child.
He shook his head as he finished reading this new information. 'Those two are not going to like this' he thought just before he heard the knock at the door that he was expecting.
"Enter!" he called, closing the book and placing his hands flat on the cover.
Severus pushed open the door and allowed Hermione to walk in before him. As he slowly closed the door, Hermione continued forward and sat in the chair that she had occupied last time she was in this office. Severus joined her only a moment later and as soon as he sat down he demanded, "What did you find out about this bond? I didn't expect you to have something already."
"I only have something because I was reminded about something useful at just the right moment. I wouldn't even tell you my suspicions now except that this could change your lives forever, or should I say that it already has. This bond is supposed to be extremely rare so it is unusual to have seen it twice in one century. According to my source," at this Dumbledore patted the book gently, "the last couple to experience this bond was in 1826. Basically this bond brings together two people, who are in essence enemies, and bonds them for a purpose that is still unknown because of its rarity. As I already told you," He said looking at Severus, "It is called the Enemy Bond, but what I didn't tell you is that this bond is supposed to require the couple to…" Dumbledore began to tell them about the possibility of a pregnancy, but they were interrupted by Professor McGonagall with several students, who were all in a lot of trouble from what Severus could see from the expression on the older professor's face.
"I am sorry to interrupt, but this is important." The professor stated in a tone that warranted no argument. Dumbledore looked conflicted, as if he really wanted to finish speaking to the new bond mates and also deal with the trouble that the students caused. Severus took the decision from him and stood up.
"It's alright. We will be on our way. Thank you for your time, Albus." He nodded his head and, grabbing Hermione's hand, walked over to the door and opened it for his mate to walk through before he too went through it and closed the door behind him.
Questions I leave you with:
Why can't the bond mates catch a break and find out about the pink orb?
Is Hermione really pregnant?
How will she respond if she is?
What did the potion inside the orb do to Hermione?
Why is the orb always pink?
I hope you liked this Chapter!
Please Review!
