Chapter 15

Snape had busied himself with correction the last minute papers that students turned in, it was

nearing the Christmas holidays and many students were running around franticly trying to catch up

on last minute work, which meant of course that Snape was doing the same thing. He hated how

little many of the students seemed to care about their studies, sometimes he considered throwing it

all away, moving to some far off place, finding and island, build a house and live there, never coming

out again. He had these same thoughts every at the same time, right before Christmas break and

right before the end of term, it was always the same. One year though he had almost gone through

with his plan, he had found and unplottable island between Russia and Alaska. He was ready to go,

but something in the back of his mind told him to stay, told him that something good was coming.

And to his amazement it did, Voldemort had returned and that meant that he was a spy once more.

It gave him a sense of doing something worth while, he did not care if he won or lost the battle as

long as it gave him something to occupy his mind. And my, oh my, did his mind wander, and it more

often then not, got him in trouble. It got him in trouble with Dumbledore, more often towards the

end of the war, when he had found something worth daydreaming about. He had to be much more

careful in the presence of Voldemort though, if he had been caught daydreaming about 'the filthy

mudblood' as she had come to be known by the Death Eaters, then that would have meant the end

for him, and the war may have had a much different outcome. Yes he had thought of Hermione long

before she had thought of him, he can remember the exact moment that he had realized that he felt

more for her then he should.

~*~

It was the first week of summer after her sixth year, she had decided that she would not be going

back to Hogwarts the next year and was discussing this with Luna who was staying at the burrow.

They had both been invited along with Harry to stay for the summer, Snape needed to find out if she

was going to go with Harry to find the Horcruxes. He made his way down to the lake by the burrow

and found Hermione and Luna sitting on the dock their feet submerged in the water. He did not

think anything of it, he of course did not care if he was interrupting any kind of personal

conversation, and he was his usual surly self. Then he noticed how the sun shown off her hair, how

when she turned her head her curls cascaded over her shoulder, reflecting the brilliant sunlight. He

noticed the overly large sunglasses she wore and decided that she had not put on makeup as of yet,

it was only 8 am after all, oh how he wished that he could see her when she woke in the morning,

how beautiful she would be. Then he noticed the bikini that she was wearing, it was a pale shade of

pink, and it complemented the tan she now had perfectly. He noticed how perfectly her waist

narrowed, how toned her arms and legs were, how well her breasts filled out the small bikini top. He

had not expected her to be this beautiful, she had always been the annoying little first year in his

eyes, but now seeing her so exposed made him realized how perfect she really was, how he would

one day be with her. As he approached them Luna looked up,

"Hello Professor, what brings you down here?"

"I uhh…" Yes what did bring him down here he seemed to have forgotten and after a quite noticeable pause he remembered. "I was coming to ask if the two of you planned to aid Harry in his hunt for the Horcruxes."

"Oh no not me, I have a wedding to plan." Luna said in a very bright voice. Hermione on the other hand did not seem as thrilled to see him; to her he was still the jerk of a teacher that he had been back at Hogwarts.

Hermione simply nodded at him. Luna then jumped up "I need to go find George, I have some err business to tend to with him" This business never fooled Hermione she knew exactly what 'business' Luna spoke of, it was the only time Luna seemed to think about what she said before she said it and it greatly amused Hermione who gave a small smile as Luna left.

Snape took her place on the dock, which was much closer to Hermione then he had calculated. Hermione gave him an odd look then quite rudely said "What do you want, Professor."

He could not remember a time when she had been so openly rude with him.

"Firstly there is no need to call me professor anymore, as you have decided not to return to Hogwarts." Snape said calmly.

"I never told you that," Hermione spat back.

"No but Molly did, she is very worried about you"

"And did she send you down here to talk to me, because if she did then you can turn around and leave right now."

"No I am here of my own accord thank you, I simply wanted to know of your planes for this summer."

"I am going with Harry and that is all you need to know."

"Well then I think that you should know that Harry has decided to work from the burrow, he will not be leaving here permanently."

"WHAT? How would you know that?"

"Because I just discussed it with him, we decided that it would be safe to stay here."

"I am going to go have a word with Harry, if you don't mind," Hermione said as she got up an stormed off towards the house. Snape watched her go, a twinge in his heart told him to follow but his common sense told him to stay, and stay he did.

After that he made every effort to get Hermione to warm to him and his efforts paid off, in no time she was calling him by his given name, and refrained for storming out of the room when he entered, and much to his joy he found that she would often joke with him, and enjoyed his company.

~*~

Yes he remembered every detail of that summer, right down to the look on her face when he

hugged her crying form after a rather bad argument with Ron. Snape had hated him before but now

he had a whole other reason to hate him, he was keeping him from the woman he loved. It bothered

Snape to have to compete with a boy half his age for the love of Hermione, and their age difference

bothered him, but it bothered him a little less every day. Now his main concern was that if Hermione

took an apprenticeship then she would be living in quarters with another man, by herself, and he

could do nothing about it. He feared loosing her to another man, and feared even more having to

compete for her love again. He would never give up her love willingly, no he would fight for it with

every last fiber of his being, he would lay his own life down for her. These thoughts brought tears to

his eyes, and he did not realize it until his vision was so blurred that he could not read the essay in

front of him. He put the paper down and stood up from his desk, he looked at the clock 1:34 a.m.

How he hated late nights of grading papers, he paced his office trying to think of some way to calm

his nerves, he left his office and headed down the hallway, to where he did not know, but he was

going there and in a hurry. He found himself outside the entrance to Draco and Hermione's dorm, he

entered the dorm and made his way to Hermione's room, he climbed into the bed next to her, he

could smell the sweet fragrance of her hair, he kissed her neck and she rolled over.

"What are you doing here, is something wrong?" She added seeing the tears on his cheeks.

"No I was just thinking of you, of us," He said then placed a kiss on her forehead. She closed her eyes and was swept up in sleep almost instantly. Snape on the other hand lay there for what felt like hours before he too felt the pull of sleep.

There they where, to people in love, who were not meant to be, a forbidden love that would be frowned upon had it been discovered, and yet they slept so peacefully as if none of that mattered as if they were untouchable. They were not untouchable by any means.

A/N: Ok I hope you liked it, it is a bit longer then the last one but only by about four hundred words. Please keep reviewing, and let me know if I should do one on Draco.