A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update! I have been really busy the past week or so; my BFF came down to visit, my mom has been on vacation, and I've been working a lot. But finally, I have time to update!

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

And obviously, Deathly Hallows isn't happening, hehe. But the book was AMAZING!

Talk is Cheap

Chapter 8

Hermione stood up quickly and looked at herself in the full length mirror on the back of her door. Her hair fell in soft curls around her face, her eyes glowing warm in the candlelight. She was wearing a simple, sleeveless, pure white dressing gown. She ran her hands down the front of her gown, smoothing it gently. She shook her head suddenly: Why do you care what you look like? You're going to see Professor Snape! But that was just it… She was going to see the man she had kissed just nights ago with more fire than she knew she possessed. She grimaced and sat back down on her bed, looking across the room into the mirror at her reflection. She couldn't do it. She couldn't go to the dungeons. She was too scared. Scared? Hermione Jean Granger, you are supposed to be a Gryffindor. You're supposed to be brave. Go ahead, sit up here like a coward. Don't go tell Snape what you think of the situation, her conscience raged. Hermione stood up defiantly, knowing what she had to do. She slipped into some white flip flops and left her room quietly. It might have been the brave thing to do, but she wasn't quite brave enough to stop by Harry and Ron's dormitory to tell them where she was going. This was something she had to do on her own, without their disapproving looks.

AAAA

Just down the hall, Ron had just revealed his plan of attack to Harry. Harry was pounding his fist in the air.

"Ron, that plan is excellent! That will keep Snape's mouth shut, stop him from tormenting Hermione, AND we'll get benefit from it too. Ron, you're brilliant!" he exclaimed, clapping Ron on the back. Ron grinned, stood up, and took a bow.

"Thank you, thank you," he said, bowing toward Harry.

They both laughed heartily, knowing they could start their plan first thing in the morning. Nothing could happen tonight; Hermione was already safe in bed, while Snape was no doubt lurking in the dungeons.

AAAA

But Hermione was not safe in her bed. She was stealing through the corridors, watching for Filch or Mrs. Norris at her every turn. As she drew closer to the dungeons, the hallways got darker. She pulled her wand out of her pocket and muttered "Lumos." A little burst of light came out of the tip of her wand, and she realized she was nearly to Snape's classroom. Her breath caught in her throat as she reached the door. "Nox," she whispered, and the light went out instantly. As she reached to knock on the door, she realized it was open a little. She peeked inside; the room was completely dark. Where was Snape? She pushed the door open, and she heard a tiny creak. She bit her lip and muttered "Lumos" again. The light shot out of her wand and she saw the door that must lead to Snape's living quarters. That must be where he was. She swallowed, her Gryffindor spirit moving her forward. She stepped up to the door, and gave it a quick knock. She heard footsteps approaching the door.

AAAA

The knock stopped Severus's pacing up and down in front of his fireplace. Who in the hell is that at this hour of night? If it's Filch telling me he heard a suspicious sound in the library, I'm going to slug him. What if it's… no… it couldn't be. He strode to the door and turned the knob quickly. "What do you wa—" his words were cut off at the sight of Hermione Granger standing there in her dressing gown. Keep it together, Severus.

"P-Professor Snape? Could I, er, have a word?" she asked quietly, sticking her wand back into her pocket, not quite looking him in the eye.

You could have quite a lot more than that… No. No no no. Severus's thoughts were at war with one another. How could she look so beautiful standing there in front of him? But how could he be having these thoughts about a student? He tried to stop his mind working by responding.

"Have you been drinking, Miss Granger? Because if you have, I am afraid I am going to have to decline," he said coolly, looking down at her, a bit of a smirk playing on his lips.

"No, Professor. Not at all. I just…" she trailed off, looking up into his black eyes for the first time.

"Well, then, Miss Granger, come in, I suppose," he said, stepping aside so she could come in. As she walked past him, he smelled the slightest trace of vanilla. He sighed deeply and closed the door behind her. She walked straight to the fireplace, holding her hands in front of it. She had become quite a bit chilly, walking through the airy castle in a sleeveless dressing gown. She had small goosebumps all over her slightly tanned arms, and she rubbed her hands over them as she turned to face Snape. "Well, Miss Granger, what is it you need?" he asked, resisting the urge to wrap his arms around her.

"Professor Snape, I—I know what you were trying to say at dinner tonight, you know, the, uh, comment you made to me in front of Ron and Harry," she said very quickly.

"Miss Granger, if this is about the points I took from Gryffindor, I'm sorry, there is nothing I can do about it now. The damage has been done. Maybe next time you will watch where you put your hands in public," he said coldly, trying to push the thoughts of touching her soft skin out of his mind.

"But Professor, that's not what I—"

"Oh, Miss Granger, what do you take me for? Some kind of idiot? I know Weasley and Potter sent you here, to try and appeal to my better nature, to get Gryffindor's precious House points back. Well, I assure you, Miss Granger, I have no intention of doing anything of the sort. In fact, I should probably take more because of your—" it was her turn to cut him off.

"PROFESSOR! I DON'T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT THE POINTS, OKAY?! THAT'S NOT WHAT I CAME DOWN HERE FOR!" she screamed, her chest heaving up and down. Snape jumped, taken aback. He had never seen her raise her voice before.

"It isn't? Then… why?" he asked, thoroughly confused.

"Professor, we need to talk about what happened. I know we said we'd pretend it never happened, but… I can't. I can't do that," she said in a low voice, avoiding those dark orbs that seemed to bore into her soul. "I'm with Ron now, Professor, and I can't be thinking about that kiss with you. I can't. It just isn't right. I mean, you're my teacher!" she said, seeming horrified with the rules she had broken.

"Miss Granger, I assure you, that kiss meant nothing. We were both drunk; our judgment was seriously impaired. There isn't anything I wish I could do more than take that kiss back," he said, but even as the words left his lips, he knew he didn't mean them.

"Really?" This seemed to calm her for a moment.. but only a moment. "But, I can't stop feeling your lips on mine. It's got to stop, Professor Snape. I'm going insane!" she said wildly, pacing in front of the fire very quickly, her vanilla perfume wafting under his nose with every step she took. He reached out and stopped her pacing by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know how to stop this. But you must trust me," he said in almost a warm tone, looking down into her brown eyes. She considered this a moment, and then nodded slowly.

"How, Professor?"

"We must kiss. Again," he held a hand up at the look of protest on her face. "If we kiss now, when both of our judgments are quite normal, we will see that the passion we—(he did not hesitate at his use of the word we)—felt that night was just a product of the alcohol in our system. We will both be at peace again," he said, slowly taking his hand off of her shoulder.

"You mean, you've been thinking about this too?" she asked incredulously, although she knew he had because of the comment he made to her earlier in the night. She just wanted to hear it straight from his mouth.

"Of course I have! Can you imagine what would happen if Dumbledore found out about this? I would lose everything and so would you. Your education here would be over, and your mind, Miss Granger, is too great to waste," he said, turning away. She smiled at the back of his head, and stepped toward him. She put her hand on his shoulder and turned him around gently.

"Okay, Professor. Let's put an end to this," she said, stepping closer to him, taking his right hand in her left. He nodded curtly, and put his left hand around her waist. He leaned in toward her, pushing a lock of hair out of her face. She closed her eyes slowly, preparing to feel his lips on hers. This is going to end it. I'm going to see that I didn't really want Professor Snape. It was just the tequila. Her heart rose to her throat as his lips touched hers.

Gently this time, not forceful. He let go of her hand, bringing both of his to her bare arms, rubbing them softly and slowly. She kissed him back ever so softly, just standing there, feeling the touch of his hands on her arms. They weren't rough, as she had imagined them to be. They were soft, but a little calloused, the hands of a man. He ran his tongue along her lips. She smiled, allowing him to slip it inside her mouth. She did the same, kissing him back with just as much fervor as she had that drunken night. She took both of her hands, closed them over his, and brought them down in front of them. She broke the kiss, looking up at him, breathing heavily. For the first time since she had known him, his black eyes were twinkling.

"Professor?" she ventured softly.

"Hmm?"

"I don't think that worked out quite as you had planned," she murmured, still holding his hands.

"No, Miss Granger, it didn't," he conceded, not taking his eyes off her.

Hermione realized what she had just done. She had cheated on Ron. With Severus Snape. Her eyes widened.

"Professor, I—oh, God. I just cheated on Ron," she said, dropping his hands suddenly. He saw the hurt in her eyes.

"No, Miss Granger, we had to do that. To make sure there were no real feelings between us. Remember?" he whispered.

"But, Professor Snape, I—" she instantly understood the depth of what had just happened.

"What? You what?" he asked, longing to hear the words he had never heard before.

"I-I… I should go," she said, starting toward the door. Severus's heart constricted. She had her hand on the doorknob when she turned around to face him again. "But you should know," she said, just loud enough for him to hear, "I think that kiss did everything but put an end to this." She left on those words, but not before giving him a faint smile.

Severus just stood there, her words and smile replaying in his head.

AAAA

Hermione was beside herself, but knew she could not, under any circumstances, let Ron and Harry know that she went to the dungeons the night before. And they most definitely could not find out what had happened in Snape's living room. She really had went to the dungeons with the intention of ending the feelings she was having. She couldn't help it if that's not what had happened at all…

Potions that day would prove to be as interesting as a class could be. Snape and Hermione avoided eye contact as much as possible, but Ron and Harry figured it was just because of the exchange at dinner the night before. After all, they were boys, they were sort of oblivious to their surroundings. Snape even avoided Ron and Harry's table; he didn't pick on them once.

Hermione did notice that Ron and Harry were acting sort of strange, laughing at random times, usually when looking at Snape. Hermione was suspicious; she loved her best friends, but they could sometimes go to crazy lengths to protect her. She leaned over and whispered, "What are you guys up to?"

"Nothing," they said together, turning back to their potion. She shook her head.

When class was finally over, Ron and Harry hung back. Hermione was heading for the door. "Come on, let's go," she said impatiently.

"No, 'Mione, go ahead, we have a question for Professor Snape," Harry said, "go ahead of us, we'll catch up," he said, waving her out the door. Hermione conceded, but had no intention of going ahead. She nodded, stole a quick glance at Snape, and shut the door. She dug in her bag for something she knew Fred and George had given her at some point… Ah ha! The Extendable Ear! She brought it out, holding it to her ear, listening to what was going on on the other side of the door.

AAAA

"Potter. Weasley. What do you want?" Snape said quietly, cleaning his desk area.

"I think you know exactly what we want, Professor," Ron said, taking a step toward his desk.

"Leave Hermione alone," Harry said simply, stepping next to Ron.

"Potter, I don't know what you're talking about. Now if you would kindly leave my classroom. I believe Professor Flitwick is expecting you," he said coldly.

"You do know. That little comment of yours at dinner last night didn't go unnoticed. We know what happened the night Hermione was drunk. And if you don't leave her alone, we're going straight to Dumbledore," Ron said, his fists clenching angrily. Snape lost a little color in his face.

"And that's not all. You start treating Gryffindors better. Don't take points from us for no reason. Especially Ron and I. We are no longer your entertainment. You shall no longer have control over us," Harry said quietly but deliberately. Hermione gasped.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. You are way out of line. You have no right to—" Snape said, but stopped, knowing they had information on him that could end his career at Hogwarts quicker than you could say bezoar. Harry and Ron looked at each other, knowing they were victorious.

"I believe we have an understanding then, Snape," Ron said defiantly. At that point, Hermione burst in.

"How COULD you?!" she said, tears running down her cheeks, looking from Snape to Ron to Harry.

"We're taking care of him, Hermione, don't wor—" Ron said, stepping toward her, trying to take her hand. She jerked it out of his reach.

"Not him, YOU!" she screamed at him and Harry, her brown eyes wild with anger. "You had no right to come down here and try to threaten him!" she rushed to Snape's side, facing Ron and Harry's white, shocked faces. "This is not any of your business! This is something between Professor Snape and I. No one else! I can't believe you would try and use this situation to your advantage!" She was so angry she couldn't see straight. Snape just stood there, shocked at the situation he now found himself in.

Ron and Harry were speechless. Hermione crossed her arms and glared at them. She stalked over to them and pointed a finger at both of them.

"As of this moment, we are not speaking. Get out," she said, as if it was her classroom to throw them out of. Harry sighed and started toward the door. Ron just stood here, staring at her.

"Ron, out. I don't want to see your face right now. You're unbelievable. Both of you," she said, turning her back on them. Ron stood there a second, but seeing it was impossible, turned to follow Harry out of the room.

When they were both gone, Hermione looked up to face Snape, her eyes filled with tears. "I didn't tell them to do that… I would've never, in a million years… thought they would.. so embarrassed.. can't believe it…" she wasn't speaking in complete sentences, she was so angry.

Snape's features softened as he took a step toward her.

"I know," he said simply, reaching his hand out to hers. She took it, looking into his dark eyes.

Her anger at Ron and Harry was rising inside her. She'd do anything to get them back for what they'd done… Especially Ron…

TBC

So, a bit of a cliffy! And yes, this still is a R/Hr story, but there is going to be some Hr/SS in here too, obviously. It's just the way my mind took me, I hope you all still like it! I think this is my longest chapter yet. I hope you all enjoyed it. PLEASE read and review! It really means a lot to me! And if you haven't yet, check out my one shot, If There Hadn't Been You and review that one too! Love love!