A/N: Sorry it's late, I was in the shower...

Severus' eyes snapped open, as a sliver of sunlight shone through a tiny gap in the curtains. He looked to his left to see Hermione still sleeping, quietly snoring with even breaths. He took this time to study every feature of her face, every minor freckle, every curve, every hair on her head.

What does she see in a tired, bitter old man like me? He wondered to himself. She could have her pick of any dunderhead of her age... Well, i suppose that's what it is - all the young men she knows are dunderheads.

The young Gryffindor shifted slightly in her sleep, moaning slightly. Severus stroked her hair in an attempt to reassure her through the slumber. Am I doing the right thing? His thoughts continued. Am I taking advantage of a broken naive young lady to satisfy my own needs? Perhaps I should leave well alone. I was just a comfort whilst we all dealt with the aftermath of everything. She's only eighteen, after all.

He wondered if he could slip out of bed without disturbing her. He slipped his right leg out of the duvet and set it on the floor, his left leg following soon after. The only problem was his left arm was stuck underneath Hermione. He attempted to slowly extract it, but it was proving more difficult than he thought. The girl stirred and pulled him close to her.

Well, fuck, he thought as he moved his legs back onto the bed and under the duvet. He kissed her forehead, whilst contemplating the morality of his feelings.

Eventually, Hermione awoke. She looked up at Severus, who was now sat with his head resting against the headboard, and smiled.

"Good morning," she said, her voice thick with sleep. The man didn't smile back and looked almost pained, but returned the greeting. It was hard for Hermione to ignore the moody tone in his voice. She stroked his bare chest whilst asking "is everything ok?"

He sighed as he got out of bed and put his shirt on. "I'm..." He started, with no idea how to say what was on his mind. He was used to concealing his thoughts and feelings. He didn't enjoy the uncertainty he was currently feeling. He wanted to be with Hermione more than anything right now, but he didn't want to drag her down and stop her having the life that normal eighteen year olds have, and felt she'd be happier with someone more her age. He had known for years that he would die a lonely old man and he'd accepted that. But now... Now he wanted more. He thought of Lily and felt a pang of guilt as if he were betraying her by falling for someone else.

"I don't feel that this is appropriate. You should be with someone more your own age, not a cranky old man."

Hermione got out of the bed, crossed the room to where her former professor stood, doing up his shirt and placed a hand on his.

"I thought we'd got past this," she said in a low voice, gazing at his face while he tried to avoid eye contact. "Last night, you proved to me that you're better than any guy my age. They just want to fuck all the time, while you were content to spend time with me, lying in that bed with me, talking about books. No one my age wants that. No, you stop worrying about me. If you want to walk away because you don't want this, that's fine. But believe me when I say I know what I want, I know what I don't want." She'd crossed her arms during her speech and Severus couldn't help but admire her angry stance.

"And what do you want?" He put his hands on her shoulders.

She looked up into his face as her posture relaxed. She tiptoed to plant a kiss on his lips, wrapping her arms around him. He returned the hug feeling a little more at ease. His mind drifted back to last night; neither them expected anything more than what they did, which was to lie in each other's arms, talking about nothing in particular. For Severus, he was old enough to not want to rush into things. Hopping into bed straight away with someone was something to be done when you were only interested in what your cock has to say.

This feeling was new for him though; other than Lily, he had only ever been interested in getting his end away. He knew the likelihood of surviving the war had been slim, so the thought of settling down had never occurred to him before. Was that what he wanted with Hermione? To settle down? No. He said to himself. It's too early to even be contemplating that. But a little voice in the back of his mind disagreed.