A/N: Hello all that have started to read, and have continued to come back to read. I will be trying to post at least 1 chapter a day for this story however I would like to fairwarn you that this will be a slow burn story. The story jumps around in the way that ones days do when you are coming down from the loss of someone. Some days will be back to back. Some days will be weeks apart. I will do my best to address when that happens.
With that being said, I really hope you are enjoying this story, and look forward to Hermione relearning her way the way we all have one way or another. Who knows... Maybe she will regain a love interest?
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"Hermione... Did you want to go out with us tonight?" Lavender asked as Hermione stepped in through the door and began removing her coat to hang it in the hall entry.
It was Friday evening. Could she handle a night out? Hermione wondered.
This week seemed to have gone by so fast and she wondered if it was because of all the extra things she was doing. She started the week with hanging out with Lavender and Cho. The following day she went to work and had a surprise lunch with Ron. She went to work everyday and made it a point to take a walk when she got home from work. She cleaned her room on Wednesday without magic, even rearranging the layout and ordering things on Amazon that she wanted. It felt good to have... Normal. To have to wait for something. To have to do it manually...
She wondered if she could do a magic detox of even no magic at home but she knew that would be an even bigger step than what she might be able to handle right now. Thursday was a morning of yoga and an evening bath. Friday she hadn't done anything yet... But could she handle a night out?
She did want to hang out with her friends...
"What are you guys going out to do?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Well we were going to go pub hopping in London." Cho admitted with a smile.
"London?" Hermione said surprised that they would do such a thing. "Like a muggle evening?" She asked.
"OF COURSE!" Lavender said and rose her hands in two fists excitedly. "Neither of us know how to have a full Muggle evening though... So if you come you'll have to show us the ropes..." Lavender said her excitement fading a little as she thought about Hermione not wanting to go out.
A muggle night out... That sounded pleasant. Pub hopping to boot...
"Alright. I should go dress down a bit..." Hermione looked to her friends and smiled. "You two should as well. You don't need to dress so formally..." she said with a small chuckle looking at the girls in the business casual outfits that were appropriate for a nice restaurant.
"Right. Like...?" Lavender asked and Hermione looked at her and Cho in disbelief. Did they really have no idea? She wondered and for some reason she couldn't help but laugh.
"Skirts. Shirts that kind of match but not too much. Jeans work too..." she smiled. "Very casual. But with a little... sexy." Hermione said quietly making the girls in turn laughed.
"Oh! Tonight is gunna be special huh! Hermione can you be sexy?" Lavender asked wiggling her brows before she and Cho went to change leaving Hermione stuck in her thoughts in the entry way.
• • • • •
"Hermione."
"Severus."
The scent of Severus' warm and tea time breath was close to her.
The feeling of his nervous hands reaching for her face, thumbs stroking her cheeks. It was as if he was holding a small delicate piece of glass, but she understood it was from his nerves. But Merlin, she wanted him to do it.
The look in his brown eyes told her he was as nervous as she was feeling, but she wanted what was to come. Did he see that too? Did he know?
After a moment where he did nothing but stare into her eyes, she licked her lips in anticipation and broke the silence. "What are you doing?" She asked wondering if he had changed his mind.
"Can you see I am waiting for the right time? I can't read you, but if you want... the pleasure's is all mine." He whispered, his gaze falling from hers to her lips, and then her cheeks as he bit on his slightly chapped bottom lip.
"Waiting for the right time?" Hermione asked. "I don't understand..." she whispered placing her hands over his forearms. She leaned in a little into him but he pulled back a little and then his hands dropped from her face to his lap.
"Can't you see me using everything to hold back?" He whispered. "I don't want to be forward, nor do I want to cut corners... I just want to savor this with everything I have inside me..." he sighed heavily before resting his forehead on her's.
She could feel how tender he was. How scared he was of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. But to hear him say how much he wanted her, and how he wanted to be able to savor it with everything he had... That made her feel all the more special.
She reached for his hands with her's enjoying the feel of his cold, slender fingers, tangling with her warm ones. The fact that he was being so considerate and affectionate in a way made her happy to be someone he thought was that special to require such delicate care...
Special.
I let my guard down...
I was getting used to being someone you loved...
Special...
• • • • •
"Hermione!"
Cho ran down the hallway and fell to the floor to wrap her arms around her hysterically sobbing friend. They had just left her for a moment and here she was falling apart. But out in the open for them to see.
"Hermione, it's okay..." she whispered as Hermione turned into her friend grasping to her as if her life depended on it.
"It's okay..." Cho whispered.
"I miss him." Hermione sobbed.
"I know..."
"I miss him so much." Hermione gasped turning into Cho's chest as her heart hurt so much more than normal.
Lavender came down the hallway, her anger boiling but not because their plans were being cut short before they began but because that man had done this to her friend. Oh how she would love to beat him to a pulp! But instead she fisted her hands at her sides and stepped forward.
"How about we have a night in?!" She asked loudly surprising Cho and Hermione.
"Pizza? Beer? Maybe some Karaoke? I kind of don't want to go out right now anyway. I just wanna-" Lavender ripped her shirt over her head and let out a sigh of relief as Cho giggled and Hermione stared in surprise.
"You... you want to be nude?" Hermione hiccuped.
"Why the bloody hell not?" She asked and danced to the kitchen to figure out how to order pizza over the phone.
"See... It's okay." Cho smiled and smoothed her friend's hair back. "If you want to talk about it it might help you feel better..." She added before wiping Hermione's tears from her face. "But if not it's okay too. Take your time." She said when Lavender hollered about what kind of pizza they wanted.
"I better go help her. Are you okay?" Cho asked helping Hermione up.
"I'm okay..." Hermione sniffled and Cho nodded heading to the kitchen.
Thank you Cho...
Thank you Lavender...