A/N: Hello everyone. Thank you everyone for all the rockin reviews. I loved them all. Wow, we cleared the 1,100 mark on reviews, I'm stunned. lol. Thank you too, everyone still adding me to their alerts/faves. Glad a few of you took time to check out my banner, but I must be honest, it's so not my artwork at all. I found the pic online and went from there. lol. Take care all, and as always Please Read and Review.
Oh, one last thing, to the reviewer who inspired the time travel debate, you know who you are. The very, very, very long response I sent you wasn't meant harshly at all. I thought about it later and hoped I didn't scare you off by what I said, or that you thought I was ranting at you about it. I just like debating that topic. Its fun for me. =)
Special Thanks to both of my lovely Beta's, Kristine Thorne and PandaHeart. You guys have done tremendous work and I really appreciate it.
Disclaimer since I haven't posted one in a while: I do not own anything pertaining to the HP universe. I only borrow the characters and play with them for fun, for free, and because I have a very pervy mind. lol. Though if I could could take any of them...I would gladly take Severus...maybe Lucius as well (as long as he is nice about it). Both are down right sexy as hell. I'd even consider sharing...maybe. lol.
Chapter 37
Hermione spent the rest of the week in the house with the guys. She found that all of her clothes from her trip back in time where here in the house. Which was something that she was happy to find; otherwise she wouldn't have had any fresh clothes to wear.
They were all stored in the master bedroom. Her toiletries all in the master bath that had a huge bathtub that looked like a small swimming pool, reminding her of the bathtub in the prefect's bathroom.
It had a huge shower as well, which held two separate shower heads that could be set to feel like it was raining gently, or pouring like a waterfall, plus, settings to make it feel like somewhere in between the two. A double sink vanity rounded off the whole room nicely.
She ended up sleeping in that room, along with Severus in the huge four-poster bed covered in soft satiny bedding of ice blue and cream. The whole room was done in the different shades of blue, varying from dark midnight blue to a pale almost white blue, and it was mixed with the same cream color as the bed. The ceiling had been charmed like that of the Great Hall, reflecting the weather outside day or night.
Hermione loved it. She found she loved the whole house in fact. She had even checked out the few rooms Severus hadn't ventured into as well. It was perfect. Something she might have chosen for herself, had she so been inclined and been able to afford it.
She spent her time floating between all three men. Spending time with Fred as he devised new gags for his shop. She didn't try most of them. But she did laugh when he did. Especially the one that made him sound like a chipmunk when he spoke for over an hour.
She found out that Minerva and Dumbledore both had ensured that Sirius had been cleared of all charges against him, so he too could go out and continue on with his life after leaving. His home and his vaults would be restored to him as soon as he proved that he lived after all.
Hermione spent time with Sirius as well, Severus joining them on occasion. When Severus was around, Sirius flirted with her constantly, mostly to annoy Severus. It was just like it had been during her time during their seventh year together. Though they seemed to get along better as she had seen on her first day back while she made dinner.
Sirius did enjoy pointing out how she had been attracted to him during her fourth and fifth year. Much to Severus' annoyance, but she had laughed and told him that she never said it wouldn't happen. Simply that he would be too old to do anything about it when it did.
This only led him to point out that he wasn't too old now, which she had laughed as she pointed out that now she wasn't interested. Something he was well aware of, having seen her engagement ring. A ring he had known about for a while now since he had spent so much time alone with the dark man in the huge house.
Severus and Minerva had been his only visitors before the war, since Remus hadn't been allowed to know of Sirius living until after the war. Remus had been upset about being kept in the dark, but he had understood the need for secrecy.
Remus had been thrilled to learn that Sirius had lived after all and had made a point to visit, as well, when he could to help keep his old friend company. Then, helped to keep the peace after all three men had been forced to live together in the single house. Though there were days when he just wanted to hex all three of them. Their arguments would try a saints patience, and he wasn't anywhere close to being a saint.
Remus came by to visit when he had time to slip away from the castle after her return. Keeping her filled in on what was going on, though she knew most of it since she had been there herself before she went back in time.
She did give him that huge hug when Remus came to see her after her first day back, just like she told him she would. He told her about how he had missed her after she left. Then, when he met her during her third year, how hard it was not to comment in some way about things from his past.
He did well for the most part, but he found himself almost slipping and saying something about her time in his seventh year, his vow the only thing that kept him doing it. Making him realize part of why she had made him take it to begin with.
He told her how sorry he was that he tried to attack her during her third year. Saying that he couldn't believe that she didn't send more harmful hexes at him when he was only seventeen, since it wasn't the first time he had attacked her.
Hermione had merely shrugged and said she would never hurt him. Not if she had a choice in the matter. She knew that he didn't have control when he was in his wolf form without his potion.
She always wondered why he hadn't taken his potion that night, but never asked. She didn't want him to feel any worse if it turned out that he simply had forgotten to take it. But she wondered too if maybe it hadn't been available to him yet in his past, she couldn't honestly remember when he started to take it. Either way, she didn't speak of it.
She had gone down and worked with Severus in the potion's lab a few times as well. But when he couldn't keep his hands to himself with her around, she had found that she couldn't go down there often.
Inevitably they'd end up with her back pressed into a wall or her sitting on a table, as he shagged her passionately. Once he had even cornered her while she had sat on a stool in the lab. Though for the life of her, she had no clue how he kept them from toppling over with the force of his driving thrusts, as she sat on the edge of the stool with her legs wrapped around him. All in all, his desire for her was something she enjoyed, but her body wasn't up to his constant intense bouts of lovemaking as much as his was. It seemed he was indeed doing his best to make up for lost time with her.
If it wasn't for the healing potions and mild pain potions he brewed and kept stocked for her, she would never have been up to the next time he attacked her. Which wasn't that long from the time before. She had seen him smirking a few times at her inability to keep up with him, though he told her that her body would eventually adjust. Part of her hoped he would adjust to having her and slow down a bit. Though it was a small part and she didn't really encourage that same small part to grow either. She actually liked that he couldn't keep his hands to himself.
The others had initially found it funny that they'd try to go into the kitchen for lunch or dinner and find their hands flying away from the door from the wards the couple had set. Or they'd try to get a book from the library only to find they couldn't enter that room sometimes either.
Fred on occasion visited the potion's lab to work on new things for his joke shop. But after he walked in on Severus attacking Hermione, after they had forgotten to ward the door one day, he was leery of going down there again. At least without knocking several times first, then opening the door slowly while calling out.
Fred had never wanted to see Severus naked at all, and even though he thoroughly loved Hermione, it was more sisterly than anything else and didn't want to see her in quite that position again. Sirius, of course, had laughed his tail off after learning of it. Seeing Hermione blushing so hard at having been caught with her knickers down, quite literally, had made the Marauder's day.
Even Severus had cracked a smile at her embarrassment before finally chuckling as well. Annoying Hermione greatly to be the butt of everyone's amusement. Especially since it had been Severus that had started the whole mess. He had of course apologized, but it lost its sincerity since he had still been laughing at her while telling her that he was sorry for laughing at her embarrassment.
A few days of them going at it like rabbits and the others no longer found it as amusing. Especially since they didn't have a reason to lock people out of rooms themselves. Sirius hadn't had a woman since the day he was supposed to have died. The same was true for Fred.
Neither begrudged the couple having each other, but it made them realized just how lonely the house was at times. And how long each had gone without female companionship. Sirius before he died, had only been able to go out to find a willing witch every so often for a while night shag, even then, it was only if he was pollyjuiced. He had been hiding from not only the Ministry, but Death Eaters as well. Four witches since his escape from the feared prison didn't make for a happy animagus, especially since he'd been denied a decent bird for his twelve year long up.
Seeing how much their rather frequent lovemaking was bothering the others, Hermione told Severus they needed to be a bit more discrete. Keeping their shag-a-thons to their bedroom, at least until the others were able to leave again.
Severus had tried to keep his lust for her from taking over after the second day she was back. He wanted her to have a chance to fully get to know him again. He didn't want their relationship to be based solely on sex. But Hermione was just too tempting to resist her for long. Though he did try. But seeing him trying his best to keep from touching her seemed to only make her try even harder to get him to break his resolve at times.
She understood what he was doing. Trying to give her time. Telling her things about himself constantly. Sometimes telling her things she already knew, but she never pointed it out. It only made her love him more, seeing what he was doing. But she knew her time was limited on how long she would get to see him before she had to go back to school. She refused to let him keep his distance physically when she felt it was still a miracle that he was here at all.
Especially since she wanted him just as fiercely as he wanted her. He had always been able to arouse her easily in the past, but now it was even easier. She had always thought he was handsome in his own way. But with him having filled out like he did, she just wanted to constantly run her hands over him. Plus, he was great in bed. More so now than before, and she had thought he was really good before.
She told the others they were welcome to stay after they were brought back to life in the wizarding world. But the two simply stared at her for a moment before letting her know, as politely as possible, that even as much as they loved her home, they refused to stay in it a moment longer than necessary.
Not only had they spent too much time in the house, they didn't want to witness any more debauchery if they didn't have to. Severus hadn't minded her offering them the choice of staying, but he was secretly glad the others chose not to. He didn't want to have to share her while she was home if he didn't have to.
He knew she would have to return to school soon, and he already knew Minerva had planned on giving Hermione permission to apparate back and forth as much as she wanted too, given that her grades didn't slip and it didn't interfere with her studies. Also, as long as she was discrete about it and none of the students were aware of her doing it.
Severus had been offered the chance to take back his position as potion's professor at the start of the new school year, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. He had done that before and he hadn't really enjoyed it. Plus, by the time he took up the position again, Hermione would no longer be a student there. He had no incentive to want to take the job.
Hermione told him that the choice was his, but pointed out that the new professor was an idiot in comparison to him. She knew the students would learn more with him than with the new professor. Severus said he'd think on it. She again told him that she would respect his decision either way.
The day that she knew she left to go back in time, she gathered everything she wanted to take with her to Hogwarts. Severus acted normally, but she sensed his edginess at her leaving soon.
She found him in the library reading that evening, sitting on the overstuffed chair. He looked up as she entered the room and she came to sit on his lap, cupping his face gently in her hands.
"Severus, I'll only be gone a few months. We've been parted before for longer than that. After I graduate, we'll never have to part from each other again. At least we shouldn't have to. Besides, Minerva has already said I'll be able to apparate to you. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it daily, but I'll still come see you." She told him softly.
He gave her a tiny smile, one he truly didn't feel was real. "I know, love. But I just don't want to miss a single day with you anymore."
She stroked his cheek softly. "Neither do I. But I'll come see you as often as I can." She kissed him softly.
"Oh, come on you two. You can't do this every second of every day." Sirius said from the doorway.
Hermione pulled away and looked at the Marauder, giving him a smile as Severus scowled at the interruption. "You must be happy to know that today is your last day here." She told him.
Sirius grinned at her. "Kitten, I can't wait. Not that I haven't enjoyed my time here and your role in saving my life, but a man can only go so long without a change of scenery or a nice bird to shag. You two should be aware of the second one since you can't seem to go longer than five minutes before one of you mounts the other."
Hermione blushed. "Sorry."
However, Severus was smirking, not the least bit ashamed at getting Hermione naked as much as he did. As he said before, he had twenty years to make up for, and he was doing his best to make up for as much lost time as he could.
Sirius opened his mouth, but at the sound of the door opening, they all stood quickly with their wands ready. Severus tried to block Hermione, but she stepped around him, ready to fight with them if need be. Though these days there wasn't much to fight. It was simply habit to be ready for anything after so many year of terror and war.
They heard Minerva call out and relaxed again, lowering their wands and waiting for her arrival. Harry arrived in the room first and dove for Hermione. Wrapping his arms around her and holding her so tight she almost couldn't breathe.
"Mione, were so sorry. We didn't mean to fall on you. When we couldn't find you anywhere, we went to tell McGonagall what happened. She said she already knew and brought us here. What's going on?" Harry asked her, still holding her tight, his face buried in her neck. She held him just as tightly since it had been so long since she had seen him. She'd missed him. Him and Ron both, they were her best mates and she loved them as such.
Harry knew they had hurt her. They had seen her head hit the floor and heard the harsh crack that sounded. Was worried she had been hurt, then she disappeared and they were frantic when they didn't find her anywhere.
They had gone straight to find McGonagall and now he was hugging her, seeing she was just fine. He let her go and looked into her eyes. She did seem fine too.
He realized Ron wasn't standing next to him, so he looked away from her and saw Severus standing beside him. Harry's jaw dropped and he took a step back as his eyes widened.
"What…? How…?" Harry's eyes stayed locked on the dark man that was supposed to be dead. "You're dead." Was all he could get out of his mouth.
"H…H…Harry." Ron said slowly, staring at the other supposedly dead man in the room.
Harry couldn't tear his eyes from Severus. It was impossible. He had seen him die. He saw the life oozing out as the man bled from the gaping wounds in his neck. They hadn't been able to save him, and there hadn't been time to even really try that much. Though Hermione had done what she could. He remembered having to drag her away from the dark haired man now staring at them. Saw Snape's eyes close and thought he'd stopped breathing too.
"Harry, it's okay." An achingly familiar voice said.
Harry tore his eyes away from Severus and turned towards the voice. The sight that met his eyes had him backing up another step, as his eyes grew wider. "You're dead. I saw you. You fell into the veil." Harry said softly, still in shock as he stared at Sirius.
Severus sighed in slight annoyance. "You didn't tell them either?" His eyes on McGonagall.
Minerva sighed as well. "They were too frantic at the thought of Hermione being hurt and wouldn't listen to anything I had to say."
Sirius moved closer to Harry. "Harry, just breathe. I didn't fall into the veil. It's a long and complicated story. Why don't we all sit and we'll talk about it all, okay? But there is one more person we should have join us for this too."
Sirius glanced at Minerva. "Will you go get him? I'm sure the boys would like to see him. He's in his room, and lets pray he hasn't blown it up again."
Minerva went up the stairs quietly. Harry was staring at Sirius. "You didn't die? Where have you been then? Why did you let us believe you were dead?"
Hermione moved over to Harry. "It's part of that long, complicated story. But it had to be done that way. Things have happened and they couldn't be changed, or anyone let in on them until it was time?"
Harry's eyes met hers. "You knew? You've known Sirius wasn't dead? How could you let me think he was, Hermione? I thought you were my friend." He snapped at her.
Severus growled. "You selfish little prat, she didn't know either. She didn't know until a few days ago."
Harry looked at Severus and growled right back. "She didn't tell me a few days ago either."
Sirius saw Severus' eyes harden and saw his lip curl, ready to snap again at the boy, and by the twitch of his wand hand, he was ready to hex him too. Sirius quickly intervened. "That Hermione didn't know we were alive." Sirius said gently.
Harry turned back to Sirius. "What do you mean 'that Hermione'? There's only one and she has been keeping this from me. My so-called friend didn't care about me enough to let me know that my only family member was still alive."
Hermione gasped and Severus snarled. "You daft sod. The Hermione that has been at your school all week didn't know we were alive. We had to make sure she didn't know. This Hermione hasn't been anywhere but here all week."
Ron frowned, not understanding at all. "That doesn't make sense. There is only one Hermione and she was with us at school until an hour or so ago." His voice soft, but confused.
Hermione swallowed, Harry's words had hurt her deeply. "When you both knocked into me, you sent my time turner spinning out of control. I blacked out from hitting my head so hard. When I came to I was in nineteen seventy-seven. I just got back last week and had to hide here until the other me went back again."
Harry stared in shock. "You went back over twenty years?"
Severus was still glaring at Harry. "Yes. She ended up with a skull fracture thanks to you two moronic twits. She had to be rushed to the hospital wing. Luckily, Poppy was able to heal her before any permanent damage was done. Had she not been seen lying there on the floor unconscious, she could have slipped into a coma or even died."
Harry and Ron looked back at Hermione in horror at the thought of what could have happened. "Hermione, we're so sorry. We didn't mean for you to get hurt." Ron said. "Are you okay?" He thought she looked fine.
She smiled softly. "I'm fine. That was months ago."
"Months?" Harry said. "But you have only been gone maybe an hour or two."
Sirius glanced back at Severus and saw the dark haired man was still angry at Harry's remarks to Hermione. Sirius didn't blame him, he was kind of upset about them himself. "Harry, you have to remember that time travel isn't an exact science. Albus didn't know how to get her back right away. She was with us for over six months."
"Six months? Blimey." Ron said.
Harry frowned. "Us? She was with you guys?" Harry asked. When Sirius nodded, a light seemed to go on in Harry's eyes. "You saw my mum and dad?" He asked softly.
Hermione's smile grew, but didn't get a chance to say anything else.
"Hey, what's the big deal? I was in the middle of something upstairs." Fred said.
Ron looked over at the redhead that had joined the small group in the library. "What are you doing here, George?" Not noticing that he wasn't missing one of his ears.
Fred rolled his eyes. "I shouldn't have to wear a name tag with my own bloody family."
Hermione laughed softly. "Ron, it's not George. It's Fred."
Ron paled at he stared at his brother, his mouth opening and closing like a fish a few times before he could finally speak. "If this is some kind of joke…it's not funny."
Fred grinned at him, ruffling his brother's hair. "It's not a joke little brother. Besides, if I was going to joke with you, I'd find a better one than this to do."
Ron's brow knitted before grabbing Fred in a huge hug. "Fred? But you died. We all saw you fighting the Death Eaters. Heard the explosion. You died with the others in it. We never found your body, but you had to have died with how close you were to it." He pulled back and again looked the grinning redhead up and down, still looking a bit disbelieving at seeing his brother alive.
Fred stepped back, opening his arms and turning slightly so his brother could get a full look at him. "It's really me, little brother."
Hermione went over to Ron, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze, noticing Harry still watching her speculatively. "He didn't die, Ron. Sirius saved him at the last second and Minerva brought him here to hide out until now."
Harry was still staring at Hermione. "I don't understand…why are they being hidden? Why not tell us right away?"
Severus sighed. "We couldn't risk our being alive changing anything. We couldn't let anyone know until Hermione left again to go back in time."
Minerva spoke up. "Why don't we take this into the kitchen where we can all sit around the table with a drink and answer everyone's questions?"
They all nodded and headed that way. Harry gave Hermione a small glare, still thinking she had hidden this knowledge from him for a long time now.
Hermione saw him and sighed, letting the others leave. Severus slipped his arms around her and hugged her to him when they were alone. "I'm sorry, Hermione." He told her. "Your friends are idiots and I hate to see them hurting you like this. If it would make you feel better, I'll hex the hell out of Potter for you."
Hermione laughed softly as he held him to her, leaning into him slightly and taking comfort with her friends hurtful words. "It's not your fault. He's not an idiot, he just thinks I let him purposely believe that Sirius was dead for years when he obviously wasn't. If anyone gets to hex him though, it'll be me. I know a few good ones I found in the library here."
He kissed the top of her head softly. "You always were too clever."
She smiled and pulled back. "Lets go talk to them. He'll calm down when he learns the truth." She took his hand and went to the kitchen.
A/N: Okay everyone. Here comes the big discussion that fills Harry and Ron in. I know several of you wanted her time in the past kept a secret, but these are her best friends. She couldn't hide any of this from them. More coming soon. Take care and please leave me your thoughts.