Author's Notes: OK so it took a bit longer than planned but here it is! Very close to the end now!
Disclaimer: You know how it works, I don't own it and I'm poor as a church mouse!
All My Agony Fades Away
Chapter Thirty-Two
Hermione dropped the paper onto the table in front of her with a sigh. The Prophet's headline glared up at her with the most unflattering picture of her on the front.
'Golden Girl Granger Strikes Again'
She narrowed her eyes at the rubbish written as front page news. She didn't even notice Severus enter his chambers.
'Once again the Golden Girl, Hermione Granger has snagged herself a famous wizard. Previously linked to such famous wizards as Harry Potter, Victor Krum and Ronald Weasley it seems Miss Granger has now ensnared the sexy, dark and mysterious war hero: Severus Snape. Who could blame such a tragic hero for falling for the wiles of a younger witch after having been so misunderstood all these years? It is unclear what Miss Granger's intentions for the wizard are but our sympathies are with her newest victim when the time comes that she will undoubtedly move on to the next famous wizard. For more details go to page five.'
"I hate her! I fucking hate her!" Hermione spat.
"Not having a good morning I take it?" an amused voice asked from behind her. She spun around to find Severus standing by the entrance to his living quarters. She had practically moved into his rooms over the past couple of weeks, it seemed they both got a better night of sleep when they shared a bed.
"I take it you haven't seen this utter rubbish." She huffed.
"If it is utter rubbish, why would I have need to read it?" he asked simply.
"Don't act all smart with me Severus." She growled. "Honestly! The majority of the wizarding community reads this and she's making me sound like some horrid man-eating slut!"
"Slow down, why exactly are you in the paper?" he asked. Placing a couple of books back on his shelves and removing his outer robe.
"You really haven't seen it? No one has said anything to you?" she squeaked out. Sighing, she held out the paper for him to take.
"Do I want to read this?" he asked, seeing the pictures of each of them on the front and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Oh don't worry, besides the fact that our relationship is now public knowledge there's not a bad word about you." She huffed.
"I find that hard to believe." He murmured as he turned his attention to reading the text. After a short while, he turned to the second part of the article, which Hermione herself had yet to read. His face remained expressionless until he finished and tossed the paper towards the fireplace. "What did you do to incite this woman's temper?"
"I…nothing!" Hermione spluttered. "Well…alright, that's no entirely true but she started it!"
"What did you do Hermione?" he asked firmly.
"I blackmailed her. She wrote a story about Harry and I being romantically involved, all lies! Then when I went to the ball with Viktor she wrote all about how I was just working my way through famous wizards and had jilted the innocent Harry Potter and all that crap. I didn't do anything to provoke that and because of those articles even Molly was angry with me!" she exclaimed. "Then she started writing about how Harry was lying and…I might have taken things into my own hands. I found out that she was an unregistered animagus. She didn't write anything else about Harry or Ron or I without my approval. Until now."
"It would seem that she either does not believe your blackmail to be a threat or more likely, she has now registered with the ministry." He said.
"What did the rest of the article say?" she asked.
"Nothing that you would want to read. I shall be having words with Minerva about students talking to the press though." He frowned.
"Students…they actually got quotes from students?" she asked, her face draining of colour. "Are we going to be in trouble?"
"I rather doubt it." He smirked. "No rules have been broken Hermione, even the quotes don't suggest anything incriminating."
"Then what did they say?" she asked.
"That I have been seen to be protective and doting on you and that the two of us are rarely seen outside of my chambers on weekends, with several crude speculations of what goes on behind closed doors. They asked your friends Potter and Weasley for their insights but they both refused to comment; an incredible moment of maturity on their parts, for which I am incredibly grateful." He sighed, moving to stand in front of her.
"How is implying that we spend all our time shagging in your rooms not incriminating?" she asked.
"Because…it is being done in the privacy of our rooms, away from young impressionable eyes." He smirked. "No breaking of rules." With that he swooped his arms around her and lifted her off of the ground.
"Eek! Severus what on earth do you think you're doing?!" she spluttered, as he carried her to the bedroom.
"Just what everyone else already believes us to be doing." He said, before covering her lips with his to prevent any further questions tumbling from them.
Losing herself in the heat of his mouth, Hermione allowed him to lower her to the bed. He followed her down, covering her with his body and grinding his hips against hers in a most enticing way. She groaned as his hardness ground into her most sensitive spot.
She moved her hands to make quick work of his jacket and then shirt to allow her fingers to graze his skin. His lips left hers and wandered their way down her neck to her collarbone, where he began undoing the button of her cardigan to kiss below it.
He lost his patience as she began to buck her hips against his in return. Yanking her cardigan from her arms and her thin vest top over her head, he moved to yank down her skirt and tights before shoving his own trousers down.
It only took a moment for him to get positioned and ease his way into her. She felt so hot around him, so wet for him. He let out a grunt as he bottomed out inside her, holding himself still for a moment as she reached up to kiss him.
"Don't tease me." She murmured against his lips. He smirked in response and began to rock his hips against her, working up to a rhythmic thrusting. He loved it when he was able to take him time, it meant he could clearly watch her body's reactions as she gradually lost control. Watching how her moans grew more frequent, how her eyes fluttered closed more often, the flush that grew over her body. He loved hearing her breath catch and feeling her muscles clench around him, growing more slick by the moment until the warm rush of her orgasm came over her.
It always pushed him over the edge. He liked to pride himself in having self control and in being able to hold his own pleasure back but once he felt her muscles clutching him greedily and her fluids coating him…he was lost. Every single time.
Hermione tugged her skirt back on and looked around the bedroom floor for her cardigan. She glanced back at Severus, who had simply tugged his underwear on and then stayed sprawled across the bed to watch her.
"I hope you're proud of yourself." She scolded. "I now have no tights or stockings left at all! You really must learn to stop ripping them when you take them off of me."
"Or perhaps you should have the foresight to vanish them before I can get to them." He shrugged.
"I'm going to have to buy more now and that means facing the public after that retched article." She huffed, tugging off her skirt and finding a pair of trousers from a pile in the corner of the room.
"When did your clothing find its way in here?" he asked raising a brow at her.
"The elves seem to bring my clean clothes back here if they take them from the laundry here." She shrugged. She found her comb and began to attempt combing her hair into submission. He watched in amusement as she went and found her cloak and shoes and then her bag.
"Do you have any belongings in your room?" he chuckled.
"Some clothes and some books…actually all the books that I leave here seem to end up on your shelves too…why wouldn't the house elves put them back in my room?" she asked, staring at one of her books that sat in order on his shelf. She looked back towards the bedroom where he had finally gotten up and put on a pair of trousers.
"Who knows these things, elves are curious creatures." He replied. "Are you going right now?"
"Well…it's Sunday so I'm hoping it won't be too busy. I'd rather do it now before news of me seducing yet another beloved hero reaches everyone." She explained. She made her way over to him and briefly kissed him goodbye. "Try not to make anyone cry while I'm gone."
He shook his head as she vanished through the fireplace, the cheeky witch hadn't changed at bit. She still harped at him and he still snapped at her.
Hermione practically stomped her way down to the dungeons. She had made her shopping trip as quick as possible and even then people were giving her funny looks. Then there were the people shaking their heads at her, as if she was doing something wrong! To top it off one woman actually dared to tut at her and tell her she ought to be ashamed of herself!
She growled her password at the portrait for her room and made to step forward, nothing happened. She huffed and repeated the password. Still nothing. Wonderful, as if her day wasn't bad enough, she now couldn't get into her rooms.
She spun on her heel and traipsed her way along the dungeon corridor before marching up the staircases towards the headmistress's office.
"Snickers." She murmured. The statue moved to allow her up to the headmistress.
"Ah, Hermione." The older witch greeted. "I did wonder if I would be getting a visit from you today."
"You mean you know?" she frowned.
"Of course, I'm terribly sorry about all this." She sighed. "But you know how it is."
Hermione's heart began to pound in her chest. Did she mean that she was locked out of her rooms on purpose?! Was she going to lose her job?!
"I've contacted the students and parents in question about the matter as well of course." She replied. "You have my apologises but that vile woman…well she would've found a way to write something about you with or without the students help."
"I'm confused…" Hermione admitted. Minerva stopped pouring tea and looked up at Hermione with a frown.
"Is that not why you're here? The article? Severus already came barging in earlier about the fact that students had been gossiping to the papers, I assumed that was what you can here for as well." Her eyes widened as Hermione let out a breath of relief. "Good heavens my girl whatever is the matter?"
"I can't get into my room. The portrait wouldn't let me through…when you mentioned the article…" Hermione started sheepishly.
"You thought I was asking you to leave?" the older woman ask sadly. "Don't be silly Hermione, you and I both know most of the stories in the paper are complete trash and even those with a grain of truth are usually changed to suit whatever will get the most readers."
"Right." She flushed, sipping her tea and feeling a little silly for jumping to conclusions.
"So your password wasn't working?" the Headmistress asked.
"No." she sighed.
"Lolly." Minerva called. A pop signalled the house elf's arrival. "Could you please tell me if there is a problem with Miss Granger's room?"
"Um…Headmistress…greatest apologies Miss and Headmistress but Miss Granger's rooms isn't being there." The elf said shakily.
"Not there?" Hermione asked. "They were there yesterday, how can they simply not be there?"
"The doorway must have closed." Minerva frowned. "Lolly, do you know how long the room has been inaccessible or if Hermione's belongings are still trapped inside?"
"Miss Hermione's belongings is being in her Master's chambers Headmistress. The…forgives Lolly for speaking Headmistress buts…the castle has been known to make changes befores." The elf said timidly.
"You're telling me the castle decided that I was living with Severus now and so it swallowed my rooms?" she asked incredulously.
"You and the master is special Miss Granger." The elf shrugged.
"You're probably the first pair to be blessed by pure magic in this castle for a very long time, if ever. It…magically at least could be viewed the same as a bonding or marriage." Minerva nodded.
"Oh." Hermione mouthed, not really sure what more to say to that. "I'm guessing Severus got a surprise when all of my things magically appeared."
"We should go and have a look, Severus has been out gathering pixies and doxies for class since not long after you left. With any luck we will get to see his reaction first hand." The older witch suggested. Hermione let out a laugh at the glee on the Headmistress's face and heartily agreed. With that they both made their way to the dungeons, Hermione feeling somewhat more light-hearted than she had been earlier.