Who Do You Think You Are?!

disclaimer: no, neither ladykyo nor the separatesisters own Harry Potter, or the characters therein. We'd like to, but we don't. Feel free to give them to us if you like, though.

Okay, so I don't get kicked off this site, even though we know Hermione's canon birthday, in this story she is of age. Construe that any way you like: American standards, British, canon, or Dutch. But I won't mention the whole thing again, okay?

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Chapter 6: Because the Night Belongs to Lovers. . .

Because the Night, 10,000 Maniacs

Take me now, baby, here as I am
Hold me close, try and understand

Severus looked sharply at the woman who'd been his student; she was the brightest witch of the age, of age, and she didn't want to spend the night alone.

Hermione was afraid of what she'd said. She never took initiative in that way, and now she had to backtrack.

"Th that's not exactly what I meant. It's just that I don't think either one of us could sleep after everything that happened today," Hermione said, flustered over her mixed meanings. Not that what she had just said would clear everything up.

"Granger, you said that you don't want to be alone. What exactly do you think I am inferring from your invitation?" Severus said, a half-smile beginning to quirk the corners of his mouth. "Besides, if I were to stay in here, what would people think Ron, Harry, your beloved parents? And if you were to fall asleep, I would be able to end your life quickly and without a chance for you to defend yourself."

"You are the one who keeps referring to what Harry 'thought he saw'. But if you don't want me to trust you" Hermione trailed off, smirking at the older man.

Severus weighed that for a moment. Here was a child woman, he corrected himself whose life he had made hell for six long years, yet she was going to offer her trust on the off-chance that her best friends were wrong about what they'd seen or heard. He swallowed hard and fought his baser instincts.

"I thank you for that, Hermione, more than I think you know," Severus said quietly. "Shall we spend the time talking? When you do drift off, I'll head over to my desk chair, and you need not fear that anyone will get in here to harm you."

Hermione nodded and scooched over while patting the covers. "Have a seat and tell me a story."

Severus stiffened before he sat on the comforter, facing Hermione as she piled pillows behind her and offered one to him. He took it and placed it in his lap.

"Thank you, Hermione. What shall we talk about?" Severus said, and he cursed himself for sounding the fool. He sounded like a gawky teenager, and he had thought he'd outgrown that. He continued to fuss with the pillow until he noticed Hermione staring at him. He realized he still wasn't wearing a shirt, but the room was bloody warm. She could deal with a bare chest, couldn't she?

"Ron usually folds the pillow in half, puts it behind him, and leans back. I don't know what you're doing, but I think the pillow is ready to sue for peace at this point," Hermione laughed, and Severus glared at her. "Sorry. Well. . . Did you ever play quidditch for Slytherin?"

"No. I played for fun in this village and occasionally I played during break times at Hogwart's. I tried out for the team, but when the Captain saw James Potter play along with his cohorts, he decided I just wouldn't cut it against them. Just another thing to chalk up to that old feud," Severus said, dumping the pillow behind him and sitting up straighter, his legs off the side of the bed.

"It wasn't James's fault, you know. It was that Slytherin captain you would have been a dedicated player."

"Ah, yes, and I must have just turned to potions-making to comfort myself, is that how it goes?"

Hermione glared at him before she continued. "Not necessarily. Were you ever in love while you were at school?"

Severus regarded her for a moment before he closed his eyes to think about whether or not to answer her very personal question. Finally, after a few moments he opened his eyes and spoke.

"Yes. She had the most beautiful expressive eyes and beautiful silken hair; I think I loved her, as much as I'm able, but others got in the way."

"Lily was a beautiful woman, Severus; James never thought about whether or not you would be hurt by his actions," Hermione said, placing her hand on his.

Severus snorted. "I'm not talking about Lily, Hermione; I loved her as if she were my sister. I loved N another woman. She would have married me, but for my blood her family wouldn't have me. She was pregnant and didn't know it. They married her off to a wealthy man with the right blood and the child is none of your concern," Severus said, leaning away from Hermione as his memories began to overwhelm him.

"Now you can answer a question for me: why do you insist upon spending your time with Potter and Weasley when you could have graduated early and have a career teaching at Hogwart's or in the Ministry of Magic?"

Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed

Hermione thought for a moment, and as she sat there quietly, Severus began to notice how much she had truly grown in the short time between her last class with him and this encounter. Her hair was longer and not as bushy, surely do to copious amounts of anti-frizzing serums; her face had gotten thinner thanks to stress, and the promise of the gangly study-bug from six long years ago was fulfilled in shapely legs, hips and a rear end to dream about, a soft belly that bespoke her confidence and lack of body-image issues, and a bust that begged to be worshipped and played with. Severus stared at her body, not caring that it was inappropriate.

'No, sir, it would have been inappropriate a few months ago, when she was your student. But she's not your student anymore, and of age. Show her what a man can do, not what her little toy thinks he can,' Severus heard his desire in a loud, clear voice, and he wondered how long it would be before she fell asleep so he could duck into the master bathroom to relieve himself of the ache in his groin.

Not that Hermione was making it any easier on him or experiencing any less of a lecture from her carnal half. Without realizing it, she was twisting in such a way that the scarlet robes were bunching around her thighs and straining against her breasts. Hermione was silently wishing a breeze would blow through, not just to cool off her heating blood, but to be blame for the reaction the man across from her was having on her body.

"I spend my time with them because 1) they love me for being me, even though I nag them and do my best to keep them on the straight and narrow and 2) they can accept the times when I do, and I quote, 'very un-Hermione things' like punching Draco back in our third year."

"Or chasing down a former professor and let him save you, and let him kiss you?" Severus said, moving closer to the young woman.

"I didn't let you kiss me," Hermione said, her voice taking on a husky quality.

"But you didn't stop me. Would you stop me if it happened again?" Severus whispered, beginning to give in to himself.

"I I wouldn't know. And it would be impetuous of me to make the decision based on previous experience. But it would be even more un-Hermione of me to wait for it to happen again to decide," she said, wetting her lips as she leaned back from the man. She licked her lips again, inadvertently teasing him.

"You have been doing many very un-Hermione like things all day. Would Hermione slap a teacher?" Severus said, closing the distance between them. He inhaled her scent, sweet vanilla and cinnamon sin, as he reached a hand up to her cup the side of her face. His thumb stroked her cheek down to her jaw, and Hermione leaned into his palm, breathing softly into it.

"No, I don't think she would, even now," Hermione breathed in his musk, wintergreen and pine, masculine yet comforting.

Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command

Severus looked at Hermione turning her face into his touch and something inside him changed, began to heal and grow as her lips gently kissed his palm. He took his other hand off the bed and put it behind her head, supporting her and yet pulling her closer to him. When her lips were a breath away from his, she sighed and he couldn't control himself anymore.

Severus closed the distance between their mouths in a heartbeat, his lips touching hers in the softest kiss he could muster. He'd not been with a woman in so long, a real woman who came alive in his arms as she did. Hermione gasped as he slipped a hand down her neck and shoulder, coming to rest on her ribs, his thumb gently brushing the underside of her breast. Severus slipped his tongue into her mouth and tasted her again, this time the sweetness of her surrender to him.

He wrestled her tongue for a while, slipping his around so he could explore her exquisite mouth while she alternately gasped and sighed. He pulled his tongue away from hers, and she followed, trying his mouth as he had hers, playfully nipping with her teeth. Severus brought his other hand down to her other side, cupping her other breast while she leaned her head back.

Severus moved his mouth from hers down to her neck, leaving a warm wet trail down one side and up the next. He stopped at her ear and his breath tickled her between her ear and her hairline. Hermione giggled as he ran his tongue over the shell of her ear. Her hands moved to his shoulders, roving over the muscle she'd never noticed before.

Hermione pushed him back slowly, her eyes meeting with his. Severus's eyes had gone almost completely black, with dark green fire burning at the edges while Hermione's eyes were a creamy, dreamy chocolate brown. She studied him for a moment before she lifted her lips for another kiss.

Severus broke the kiss that time, his breathing ragged and shallow. He wiped his mouth carefully, inhaling their mingled scents. He swallowed hard as he reached for Hermione again.

"Hermione," he whispered as she closed her eyes, "Open your eyes for me; they are exquisite eyes that I want to see."

She opened her eyes and a blush crept up her cheeks. "But if I close them, do you promise you won't disappear?"

"I won't leave, but if I kiss you again, and believe me, I want to kiss you again, this won't stop there. It can't stop at another kiss," Severus said, pulling her closer, knowing she wouldn't stop him.

"I know."

Take my hand, come under cover
They can't hurt you now

Hermione let him kiss her again, hungrier this time than ever before. She'd never been kissed like this before, and she rather liked it. Her hands roved over his shoulders and back, tracing the many scars, even the own from his Dark Mark; she didn't even find it strange that the mark didn't bother her any more. She scraped her nails down his sides and he groaned into her mouth.

"Hermione," Severus whispered, pushing her back against the bed. He continued to lick and kiss his way down her body, stopping over parts he liked. He stopped at the neckline of her robes, licking around it until Hermione was reaching up to remove them herself.

Severus grabbed Hermione's wrists as she reached for the neckline of her robes. He placed her hands on his neck, letting her guide him as she liked. He reached up and began to pull the robes away from her bust; when the fabric resisted, he grew impatient and ripped the silk all the way down to her belly button.

Severus's breath on her skin made Hermione shiver and giggle as if she were a mere school girl. He caught her eye and smirked at her.

"You've seen nothing, my dear," he said against the side of her breast. He licked the side of her breast in long laps until he reached her taught nipple. He latched on and suckled lightly at first. Hermione gasped at the warm wet contact, pulling back slightly in her pleasure. Severus raised his head to look into her eyes, and Hermione mock-glared at him.

"I have two, you know," Hermione said, pushing his head to her other breast. Severus latched on as if he were a starving man, suckling and kissing, licking and biting until Hermione couldn't take any more.

"Please," Hermione mewled in pleasure. Severus smiled at her and continued his ministrations. He paid her cries no heed as he played on, using his hands and mouth on her until she cried out again. "Please!"

"Please what?" Severus said, pulling his face from her breasts, while keeping his hands in place, playing as he watched her reactions.

Not able to form any new words, Hermione said yet again, "Please," while reaching for him. "Please."

Her eyes were large and luminous in the pale moonlight streaming through the window. The passion and the flames from the hearth had warmed her skin. Severus watched her chest heave in her desire and turned to look quickly at the hearth; without another word, he lifted her and carried Hermione to the plush rugs in front of the fire.

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

Hermione shivered at the fire, turning her face from Severus to the flames, her torso bared to the firelight. He back was to him, and he couldn't stand it.

"Never turn your face from me," he hissed, wrapping his arms around her waist and turning her to him.

"Never," Hermione growled back, pushing her mouth to his throat, nipping at him before she trailed kissed down his chest. She reached for him and Severus pulled away, his eyes aflame as he held her at arms length.

He kissed her roughly and left her at the fireside, his face burning from the shame of what he had been about to do. He trotted to the door leading to the sitting room and slammed it behind him.

Hermione, shaken by his abrupt departure, gathered the robes about her and sat staring into the fire, her face hot with shame and anger.

And longing.

Here's the reposted chapter. . . Sorry about the stuff tagged on at the end. Both my beta and I missed that. grins sheepishly

Tchau!