A/N: I know it has been forever since the last update on this story but given the current pandemic, my priorities have been focused elsewhere. I have also had to take on a load of different responsibilities. I have been involved in a lot of charity work in my community where I fetch food, supplies, and medication for those who are ill, isolating, or unable to access essential items through their normal channels. I have also been keeping in contact with, and phoning, locals who live alone and have been completely isolated at the moment, in the hopes to encourage positive mental health.

Therefore, I would like to thank you all for your patience, and for your reviews - I do read them all! Here is the next chapter, which I hope you enjoy!

I hope everyone is well, and I hope everyone is looking after themselves and looking out for others.

Chapter 12: Pregnancy Tests, a Special Birthday, and Midnight Desserts

"Are you ready for this?" Draco asked her.

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded, she nervously took the two muggle pregnancy tests from Draco. God knows how he had managed to get hold of these without raising any suspicion. But he had managed, and she was entirely grateful for it.

As Hermione entered the bathroom that she had imagined, when thinking about the room of requirement earlier, she proceeded to take the two pregnancy tests. She knew that the best way to take the two tests was to pee in a small cup and then hold the end of the test for the advised ten seconds in the cup of pee.

"Gross" she muttered to herself as she did this.

She tidied up the bathroom before sitting on the closed toilet lid; she waited impatiently for the five minutes to tick by. She couldn't see how she could be pregnant. Her menstrual cycle was fine but she knew that in some cases menstrual cycles could still occur whilst pregnant. She stopped thinking about it and waited.

Eventually, the time was up, this was the moment. She was going to look at the results on the test and…she didn't really know what to think about it all.

She took another deep breath and looked at both of the tests.

Negative.

Both tests were negative, she almost cried in sheer relief. It wasn't that she didn't want children. It was just that it would be so dangerous to have a child at the present time. She did a mini happy dance in the bathroom at the results and exited back into the main room where Draco was waiting patiently in a chair for her.

"And?" he asked.

She shook her head and grinned.

"Not pregnant!" she exclaimed happily.

"And you're ok with that?" he asked uncertain of her response.

"It would be so dangerous to bring a child into the world at the moment Draco. I want to be able to enjoy pregnancy and child rearing, when it is a safer place for me to do so. If I had a child now, I would probably have to hide away and be very careful once the baby was born" she said.

Draco nodded.

"So…now that pregnancy has been ruled out, what do you think is causing your magic to go crazy?" Draco asked her.

Hermione bit her lip.

"I have a theory" she admitted hesitantly.

"Am I allowed to hear about said theory?" Draco asked.

Hermione hesitated again.

"Alright, I will tell you, but you have to swear that what I'm about to tell you, you cannot tell anyone. Not Severus, not your lover, not anyone. I am deadly serious Draco" She told him.

Draco gulped at the dangerous note in her tone and the sincerity in her eyes. He nodded.

Hermione sighed.

"Alright…it includes dark magic…" she began.

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Hermione and Draco left the room of requirement a short time later, in silence. They bid each other goodnight and headed in the direction of their respective common rooms. Neither spoke, they were both still processing everything. Hermione wondered if what she had told Draco would change their entire friendship. Draco, on the other hand, just wanted to curl up in his bed and cry. He couldn't believe what she had told him. But there was nothing that could be done about it now.

Hermione entered the common room to see Harry, Ron, and Neville still awake and just sat near the fire chatting. They looked at her as she entered.

"Where the hell have you been?" Ron exclaimed.

She had forgotten to tell them that she wouldn't be back directly after 'just going to the kitchens'.

"The library…duh" she replied without missing a beat.

"Yeah, we should've guessed that by now" Neville said.

"Are you gonna come and join us?" Harry asked her.

After having her conversation with Harry just a few hours earlier, Hermione felt much better about things. Also, as she, Harry and Ron had returned to their normal relationship, everyone, who had witnessed Harry and Hermione talking and joking again, stopped harassing Hermione. It seemed that things had finally settled down, and she could enjoy the beginning of the school year.

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The following afternoon, Hermione walked down the corridor towards the common room, she had finished classes for the day and returned the library books that needed to go back, including the medical textbook she had checked out. She didn't need anyone finding out that she had the book in the first place, or the exact passages she had been interested in. She got rid of all her highlighting and notes on the topic, and got rid of everything. She was just happy that she could put the whole potential pregnancy thing behind her and move on. She felt relaxed, for the first time in a while, and she smiled as she walked.

On another note, today was bittersweet for Hermione.

She was finally 17; she was officially an adult in the eyes of wizarding society. She grinned at the fact that she no longer had to worry about a magical trace, or accidentally using large amounts of magic outside of Hogwarts. However, she was reminded about the fact that her parents were no longer around to celebrate this milestone with her. Although her parents sometimes found it difficult to understand her, they would've happily celebrated her coming of age in the wizarding world.

Hermione felt the tears start to fill her eyes and she tried to hold them back. Her parents wouldn't have wanted her to be sad on her birthday and she would smile for them.

Harry and Ron had forgotten, as usual, until Neville had wished her a 'Happy Birthday' at breakfast. This had prompted Ron to choke on his pumpkin juice and Harry's eyes to widen slightly as they both awkwardly apologised and wished her a 'Happy Birthday'.

Hermione had chuckled at them; it had been the same every year and she learned a long time ago to not let it upset her. They always forgot but she didn't mind, she just wanted to have a drama free day. Someone must have been listening because, for once, she got her wish. There was no drama.

As she gave the password to the common room absentmindedly, she was deep in thought.

"SURPRISE!" Hermione shrieked as she was startled out of her thoughts by Weasley firework products that whizzed around the common room.

Hermione looked at the scene in surprise. There was Harry, Ron, and Neville all grinning at her and a pile of gifts that she had received from each of them and various other housemates that she was on friendly terms with. There were also gifts from some of her teachers and various Order members. Also, the boys had gone to the trouble of getting her a chocolate cake, that was in the shape of her 'Hogwarts: A History' book.

She grinned as she hugged her friends and sat down to open her presents. She received some lovely knitted leg warmers from Mr and Mrs Weasley, some chocolates, and her favourite sweet treats from Ron. She received some adult Weasley products from the twins. Also, some interesting lingerie from Tonks, and Flourish and Blotts gift cards from Harry and Neville.

She grinned at her friends and thanked them. She loved the lingerie that Tonks had given her; she would certainly be trying that out with Severus very soon. The boys had blushed at her interest in the lingerie and Hermione fought the urge to roll her eyes. Honestly! It was like the boys still didn't see her as a woman. She giggled none-the-less.

"You've missed one Mione" Ron said, breaking Hermione out of her thoughts.

She looked down on the floor where her pile of gifts had been and, low and behold, there was a small, white, satin envelope on the floor. It was no bigger that the palm of her hand. She picked it up and looked at it curiously.

She opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper that was inside. She began to read.

"What is it Mione?" Harry asked.

Hermione grinned and looked back up at her friends.

"It's a riddle" she chuckled.

"What's the riddle?" Neville asked.

Hermione shrugged. She hadn't fully read it yet.

"Who is it from?" Neville asked again.

Hermione claimed that she did not know, and that she would probably work that out once she had solved the riddle.

She was lying of course, she would recognise that spindly writing anywhere, and she really wanted to know what message her lover was giving her on her birthday. But knowing Severus, it was going to be something naughty. She decided to put the riddle safely away and solve it later when she was in the privacy of her bed with the curtains drawn firmly around it.

Hermione looked at Neville once more.

"I don't know yet, I will read it properly later and work it out when the night is over. Right now I just want to cut my cake and enjoy a slice with my closest friends...who wants cake?" she said.

"I do!" Ron practically salivated as Hermione cut a slice of cake for each of her friends then herself.

"Thank you boys, you are amazing friends. I will have to send thank you notes to the others who brought me wonderful gifts" she said.

The boys nodded.

"Especially Tonks" Hermione grinned.

Ron blushed red.

"I didn't know you really wore that sort of clothing Mione" he said bashfully.

Hermione bit back a chuckle.

"I do wear this type of clothing Ronald...but only for particular individuals" she grinned at him.

"I don't want to know anymore Mione, thanks for sharing but, you're practically my sister so please stop right there" Ron smiled back at her.

Harry knew who she was going to be wearing the lingerie for, and was so very grateful when the opportunity to change the topic presented itself.

"What books do you think you will get then Mione" Harry quickly asked her.

"I'm not sure; it's a very generous amount that you and Neville have gifted to me. Thank you both but you really didn't need to spend that much on me. You know I'm a simple girl" she said shyly.

"Mione, honestly, both Neville and I are rubbish at picking out gifts and we both know that you love your books. At least we could get you something that we knew you would find useful" Harry replied.

"Thank you" Hermione said once more.

The rest of the evening was very relaxed; Hermione enjoyed the banter that she had with her friends. The four of them had a very competitive game of cards in which Harry got a pretty severe paper cut, and Neville and Ron fought childishly over the King of Diamonds, and had ended with the card being torn in two. Hermione laughed madly at the sight, she was in tears of mirth and could hardly breathe through her fits of giggles.

After the boys had wrestled out their competitiveness on the floor in the middle of the common room, the four of them decided to call it a night. It was getting late after all.

Harry knew that Hermione wanted to decipher her riddle note and so he got the boys to say goodnight to her and leave her be. The friends parted for the night and Hermione immediately took her gifts into the girl's dormitory and placed them on her bed. She put her gifts away carefully and warded them; all gifts she received were always treasured.

However, the gift she really wanted to pay attention to was Severus' note. She sat on her bed, drew her curtains and unfolded her note. She read the words:

1) 'I am an animal that's mighty
Scavenging is how I tend to dine
And if you look at your horoscope
I represent the Leo star sign'

'Lion' she thought to herself.

She read the next riddle.

2) This creature is without legs
And a tongue that has a fork
You might hear parseltongue
If you found one that could talk

'Snake or serpent' she answered the riddle.

She read the next riddle.

3) What goes in dry and hard…

…but comes out wet and soft?

Hermione blanked at the insinuation behind that one. She knew the logical answer to that riddle, of course, but she preferred the filthy images that her mind was firing at her. She also knew that this was exactly her Severus' intention.

'Whatever next' she thought to herself as she continued.

4) 'I'm used most at night but I'm not a flashlight
I contain sheets but I'm not a binder
I have a door but I'm not a closet
I have a bed but I'm not a garden
I'm an area of the house but I'm not a kitchen'

"Bedroom" Hermione breathed quietly to herself.

By this point she was feeling quite aroused at the thought of a serpent and a lion in a bedroom where things would get hard and wet. She could feel her temperature rising as she had sat and puzzled out the riddles, they weren't really that difficult. When she had finished figuring out the riddles, she immediately put her witches robe over her sleepwear. She then paused and chewed on her lower lip for a moment. She then took off her witches robe and pyjamas and instead, changed into some of that lovely underwear that Tonks had gifted her. She then put her witches robe back on, over just the underwear she was now wearing, and she put on a pair of her favourite ballet flats. She grabbed her wand and headed down the stairs that would take her from the dormitory to the common room. Once in the common room, Hermione noticed that there were not many people about. Well, there was no-one about that would question her departure from where Gryffindor house was located.

She made her way stealthily through the corridors and down a couple of flights of stairs. She soon came upon it; the door where all her sexual desires waited.

She didn't bother knocking; she knew that she was expected and that the wards would grant her immediate access. She walked right into her Severus' office and then straight into his private rooms. She immediately noticed that his robes had been left slung over the sofa that he had in the living room of his private quarters.

She navigated her way to his bedroom door and instantly opened it and then promptly froze in shock.

There was Severus Snape, cock in hand, fisting himself at an extremely quick pace. His face was flushed with arousal; his cock was flushed with even worse arousal. Hermione could tell in the dimly lit room that Severus' cock was purple and it was about to explode everywhere by the sounds of it.

Hermione was still frozen in the doorway, she was turned on but she was also speechless. She hadn't seen Severus openly masturbate in front of her before. She had caught him a couple of times before but he would always stop. Then she remembered that she had definitely heard him whilst he had been in the shower in the bathroom that the two of them had shared at Grimmauld Place that previous dreadful summer last year.

Severus was still wanking himself to climax and Hermione heard his breathing change. This was it, he was about to cum. Hermione watched him like a hawk, her eyes filled with lust, and arousal burning in the pit of her stomach.

"Fuck, fuck, that's it, come on…fuck!" Severus was mumbling as he kept his eyes closed so that he could focus on the images of his Hermione in his head.

Her smile, her eyes, her body, the way she moves when she's sat naked on his chest and he can smell the scent of her pulsing quim.

"Uh, uh, oh…FUUUCCCKKK!" Severus exclaimed as that last image tipped him over the edge and he rubbed out everything his balls had to offer.

Severus slowly regained his senses, his breathing calmed and he had stopped sweating. He lay still whilst he tried to stop hearing his own heartbeat in his ears, as it pumped blood at a ridiculously fast pace around his body.

After a couple of minutes, Severus was back down to earth. He lazily tilted his head to the side to enable him to take in more oxygen.

That was when his eyes shot open, so widely, that he was surprised they hadn't popped out of their sockets. There, in the doorway of his bedroom, stood a very aroused and lustful Hermione.

Severus immediately flushed in embarrassment that she had seen him wank one out.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" He asked her, his voice still thick with arousal.

It wasn't like he was upset to see her there; in face he felt quite the opposite. But, why had she come now and not at the time he had suggested?

"I solved the four riddles you sent me" she answered him.

Severus blinked.

"Four riddles? I sent you five. Did you turn over the page? I had to put the fifth riddle on the back of the page" he told her.

Hermione shook her head.

"I didn't think to look on the back of the page. I just solved: lion, serpent, euphemism for sex and bedroom." She replied.

"What was the fifth riddle?" She asked curiously.

Severus shrugged.

"I don't remember but the answer was midnight" Severus told her.

"Haha, oops..." Hermione replied in sheer embarrassment.

Severus waved it off and stood up and made his way across the room to her.

"It doesn't matter, you are here and I am glad to see you. Happy Birthday love" he said as he kissed her gently and sweetly.

Hermione groaned at the love that the kiss was emitting. Best birthday ever!

Severus broke the kiss after a minute of passion and looked down at her smiling.

"I need to clean up my mess but, if you go and wait on the sofa, I will give you your birthday gifts" he told her gently.

Hermione bit her lip in response and Severus grabbed his wand and was about to cast a cleansing charm on his now drying cum.

"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed before he could cast the spell.

Severus looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Leave it" she said. She approached him and stuck her finger in a small pile of fluid that had accumulated on his stomach. She then lifted that finger and placed it in her mouth, taking the time to taste and swallow. She hummed in delight at the taste of him.

Severus groaned at the erotic sight, he made to grab his dressing gown to cover himself when Hermione stopped him again.

"Uh, uh, I want to see you just as you are. It's my birthday and you're going to come and sit in the living room whilst fully exposing yourself to me" Hermione declared.

She was going to take control tonight.

Severus looked slightly hesitant, but he knew he wouldn't really need that much persuading to follow her instructions.

"I'm going to lead you by your cock tonight Severus, and you are going to enjoy it" she stated as she lightly grabbed Severus' already hardening cock and gently tugged him by it in the direction of the living room.

Severus just followed; he was extremely pleased at this outcome, especially since he never saw it coming.