His hand ghosted lightly over her umber curls, slowing with every pass through that he made. Her head rested upon his lap in the privacy of his chambers, her legs tucked up tightly.
They were conversing on the best way to let Minerva down that he was leaving. He wanted to let her down as fast as a lead weight being dropped, and he wanted to be rude about it too. Because she had driven him to want to leave and thus it was her own fault for him harboring terrible feelings towards the elder witch. At the same time, Hermione had told him that despite those facts, she had indeed been very good to Severus over his time teaching and that perhaps he shouldn't be rude about it and he should go about it the right way, rather than the hasty, showboating route.
She had a point, but at the same time, he wanted to make a spectacle of it to inhibit her with some of the shitty feelings she instilled upon him.
"I mean if she doesn't say anything about us, couldn't you see out the end of the schooling year?" Her voice low as she relished in his touch, heavy lids closed in a moment of bliss.
"I could, but where would be the inconvenience for her? I want to make it hard for her; I want her to have to find someone to take over the position. We know Slughorn won't do it he made that all too clear when he left here. There aren't many potions master who could teach the class or would be willing to be cinched to the school and the students for the duration of their contract which is usually five years to start with."
"Mmmm," she hummed. She had given him her two cents worth and it was up to him to work out what he wanted to do with the advice she had given him. Not to mention she would be incredibly upset if he up and left before she had finished her last year of schooling. He was all she had in the world and she didn't want to admit it but he kept her going even in the darkest of days.
And then that got her mind running, what exactly did he want from this relationship? Sure he loved her and she would happily admit that she loved him back but what were his motives from the relationship? Was it long term, or would he leave her when someone better came along? And then her head starting spinning and her mind began racing, she had over thought herself into a panic.
"Relax," he said softly, her eyes fluttered open and their gazes caught for a moment.
He had read her thoughts… Again.
"I'm not going to leave when someone better comes along Hermione because in my mind there is no one better than you. You are all I could have wanted and all I could have hoped for. For someone as surly and awkward such as myself, there aren't people bashing down my chamber door to get to me so you are in contest with no one. Being a former Death Eater doesn't exactly gain you, admirers or followers. You are stuck with me for a long time unless of course, you decide you leave for someone in which case you are free to go, I won't hold it against you."
Calloused fingers brushed her smooth, warm cheek in a tender show of affection and she smiled.
She chuckled. "And you think I have boys bashing down the door to get to me?"
"Draco," He said pointedly.
"He would be the only one. I can't say many people want a bushy-haired little know it all. Intelligence scares most males and they generally shy away from a partner who could outwit and outsmart them."
"Lucky you can't outsmart me then and therefore you don't scare me," He said with a raise of an eyebrow and amusement tangled in his tone.
"Is that so?" She huffed.
"It is." He wouldn't let the little witch know that she probably could outsmart him in many areas. She was probably one of the smartest people he had ever had the pleasure of meeting in his life.
She sat up lightning fast and straddled him. "Are you sure about that?"
"Are you threatening me, Miss Granger?"
"Perhaps," Her tone seductive as she nibbled on her lower lip.
"I like where this is going," He admitted.
"Me too," she whispered back, pressing her lips to his like she needed them as much as she needed the air she was breathing.
-o-o-o-o-
The morning of the ball had come and Hermione was visibly nervous. Her mouth was dry and her hands were sweating. She tried in vain to stomach her breakfast but it just didn't want to go down and she picked at it with little gusto. She was glad it was the weekend so she could hide away from the world until the very last moment when she was expected to make an entrance with a smile plastered on her face and walk in with Ron and Harry like nothing had changed and they were still best friends. That is what made her feel sick the most, knowing that she had to be with them, that people still thought everything was fine between the three of them when they so clearly were not.
Only this time she would have Draco Malfoy on her arm and she just knew that in the grand scheme of things it would make Ron and Harry do a double take and question where her motives really did lie. Wouldn't they fucking have kittens if they found out she was being fucked by the resident Potions Master. A wicked, twisted smile graced her lips for just a moment before it faded into nothingness as her stomach churned around and around at the sheer thought of attending later on tonight.
She was glad it was a Saturday morning and not a day she had to attend classes because she was sure she would have upended the small bit of toast she managed to swallow all over someone's shoes.
The fact she was feeling sick over something so trivial was silly, but she didn't know how else to process this. She was hurt that her friends had hurt and abandoned her but at the same time, she still had some semblance of feelings for Harry, even if he was a total ass to her. It was hard to just detach from someone you had spent so many years with and pretend they don't exist. She would be lying if she said she never had thoughts about what her life would have been like if she and Harry had have perused a longer romance.
She loved Severus, the fact he was there for her when no one else spoke volumes to her, she appreciated that fact and she did love him, she couldn't deny that, but she couldn't help but think about the what if's with Harry. Not that she would ever act on those stupid impulses because Severus deserved more than that, he deserved love, kindness, and understanding from her. After all, he had been so patient with her and her issues that he probably found trivial but he never treated her any lesser of a human being for it, and she appreciated that.
She shifted under his gaze, she knew he was looking at her like he always found himself doing and she tried to ignore it, if Draco could tell there was something going on between them, then surely other people could see the way they often caught one another's gaze from across the great all, or the amount of time she had been spending with him of late. Surely someone had to notice she had been missing from her own dorm room most night and never in the common room anymore. If anyone noticed, they never mentioned it.
She was going to spend the day with Severus hidden away until she needed to come out until she was required and even then he would probably have to drag her there because she would undoubtedly dig her claws in and refuse to go.
"Don't try anything stupid tonight, Severus." Minerva's whispered voice caught his ears and he glared at her.
"The only stupid thing I have done of late is stay here in this fucking hellhole."
"You could leave before you are fired."
"Maybe I will," he snapped before pulling himself to full height and storming from the great hall. Maybe he would do something stupid tonight in front of everyone.
-o-o-o-o-
"And what are you wearing to this stupid thing?" She huffed; playing with the hem of the dress Draco had bought her that was now on a hanger thrown over the back of Severus's couch,
He looked down at himself and the robes he always wore and raised a brow in question. He didn't even have to say a word for her to know he was planning on wearing what he had on.
"No, no, no." She shook her head furiously and headed on her own accord to his bedroom and tore open his wardrobe. He leaned casually against the door frame tutting.
"There is no need for me to get dressed up. I hardly think my presence there will be celebrated and I don't want people to expect more from me than the norm." He folded his arms as she rolled her eyes.
"Please, Severus. No one is expecting anything off of you and if I have to get dressed up for this stupid ball then so do you," she said matter of factly pulling a suit a suit from the wardrobe.
"I'm impressed that you actually own something other than fifty sets of your robes."
"I did have some semblance of a life outside of this forsake institution of misery and education and no, I am not wearing that."
"Please."
"No."
"If you loved me, you would wear it," She said sweetly holding it out for him to take it off her.
He sighed, resigned to his fate he was going in what she had picked.
"Is this how women get their way? By blackmailing men into doing things by making them rove their love to them?"
"Of course, now take it." She walked over to him and thrust the suit forward. He looked at her for a moment hoping she would change her mind. She didn't.
-o-o-o-o-
She looked at herself in his bathroom mirror, shakily she smoothed her hands over the silken bodice of her dress. The strapless baby pink dress dropped down to her ankles tied in at the waist with a black ribbon. The black shoes she had chosen at the time had been a good idea but now she dressed having to wear them for the night. She hated heels.
Her brown curls tamed beyond recognition cascaded over the front of her shoulder and over her left breast. She smiled, she loved the dress and she loved the way she looked in it, it instilled a confidence in her. When she looked good, she felt good.
"I'm ready." She strode from his bathroom and he had to do a double take. Merlin's fucking left nut it was going to take every ounce of his strength not to tear the dress from her, bend her over and fuck her right here and right now.
"You look amazing," he managed to sputter and she only smiled in response, so far she got the reaction she was going for.
"And don't you look handsome," she almost cooed to him as she ran a hand over his chest.
"Well I wasn't going for handsome but if it's coming from you I will take it," he mused.
"I have to meet Draco outside in the hall in a few minutes."
"Mmmm." Came his dry reply. He wanted to be the one walking in with the pretty girl hanging off of his arm and watching everyone recoil in horror that he had gotten the beautiful, intelligent heroine that shouldn't have even wanted to look at him sideways let alone attend a ball with him.
He wanted to walk right up to Ron and Harry with the witch on his arm and his middle finger proudly held high in a big fuck you to the cunts and then he would take the girl in a heated embrace and kiss her like he needed her to survive and then just for added shock value he would get down on bended knee and ask her to marry him. And then after that he would chuckle at the many gasps within the room, get to his feet and tell Minerva to shove her job up her ass sideways and he would carry the girl he loved with every fiber of his being out of the great hall in a baptism of fire and the shocked gasps of every single person in that room.
He shook his head and almost snorted. As if he would ever do that.
A/N: Sorry it took me a while to update, please graciously accept this chapter as a token of my appreciation for waiting.
As they say, all good things must come to an end and this story is heading there at a rapid rate. A few more chapters and it will be done.
Thank you to the guest who took their time out to read and review and I am glad you like the story thus far.
-aliasmel1