AN: I'm back to updating this story! I have 39 chapters, so the issue isn't writing, but finding time to edit my chapters. Hopefully things will calm down soon...maybe?

In the meantime, have a safe and Happy Halloween weekend, and if you don't celebrate it, I hope you have a safe and fun weekend!

Thank you for all the support! It is very deeply appreciated!

Hermione did her best not to allow the chaos of the morning to distract her from what needed to be done throughout the day. There were potential donors to meet, a speech to the Wizarding London Chamber of Commerce to give, and a dinner with Ron to anticipate. She suppressed the urge to flee to the library and research the causes of sleep apparation. The last thing she needed was anyone to see her with a book on sleep disorders and suspect she was ill. Who wanted an ill Minister of Magic, especially one who risked scandal by not waking up with the fiancé who loved her? If the truth were to come out, how could she overcome the scandal of waking up next to Severus Snape?

Severus Snape. His name sent a chill up her spine. Why on earth would she apparate to his bed? She never dreamed about him, nor did she have any desire to see him after the way he snubbed her during the Malfoys' wedding reception. There was no reason for her to be drawn to Severus Snape, yet she had been his bed, reveling in his touch the way she once had with Ron.

Oh Merlin, did she enjoy his touch? No, it couldn't be that! She loved Ron, and only Ron, correct?

Feelings for Ron aside, this situation had other potential complications. Severus Snape did not feel any affection for her, meaning he would not remain silent for the sole purpose of protecting her career. Her chest ached just thinking about Snape going to the media, telling everyone about his unexpected morning visitor. No, that wasn't Snape's style. If anything, he'd would want to pretend it never happened. Still, it wouldn't hurt to find time to ask him what his silence would cost.

How could she go about doing this though? Dealing with a Slytherin was never easy. If she was too direct, he may take advantage of her situation and make an unreasonable demand, like free potions ingredients for life if she was elected Minister. Or, he could demand a bribe so he could quit Hogwarts and start anew. Could she interest him in moving to Irkutsk or Kiev?

If it was a bribe he wanted, it would be hard to procure the money, though if it meant keeping her political career alive, she'd find a way. Somehow, she'd find what Snape's price for his silence was, and would make sure to meet it.

Standing in front of her apartment door, Hermione's thoughts were flooded with the feeling of Snape pressed against her body, holding her as if she mattered to him. The memory was not revolting. In fact, it brought a half smile to her face.

Her stomach churned. What was wrong with her? A former professor/ex-Death Eater had his hands all over her, a woman who was running for Minister of Magic and was engaged to the love of her life. There was nothing sexually arousing about the situation. Yet here she was, wondering how much it would take to shut Snape up, and whether or not after shutting him up, he'd give her a hug so she could feel him against her again.

She shuddered before taking out her key, opening the door, and strolling inside, hoping she gave the appearance of a woman who was at peace with her life and eager to see her fiancé.

"'Mione," Ron gave her that boyish smile he knew she loved. "You're late."

"I know, I'm sorry," she kicked off her high heels, yearning for the day she never needed to wear them again. "My campaign meeting ran longer than I would've liked."

"Is there anything going on I should know about?"

"Probably not. I mean, it's mostly stuff about how to get the focus away from the Malfoy wedding and back onto me."

"The day I don't see Draco's stupid face plastered on the front page of The Daily Prophet can't come soon enough for me," Ron scowled. "I mean, do we have to know everything about his honeymoon in Paris?"

"I agree, this whole Malfoy wedding thing is distracting everyone from the issues at hand." She closed her mouth, Was it such a terrible thing that the cameras were off her? If they were she'd have more time to bribe Snape into silence. Might be nice to take advantage of the relative silence and get this sleep apparation thing sorted out.

"Yes, and it's annoying to see my sister with Draco. I mean, how come they're soul-bonded and we aren't?"

"I don't know, but there's no point in dwelling upon it. It only upsets us."

"I'm not upset, but it makes me sick to think of my sister stuck with him for the rest of her life."

"Can we please focus on something else?" She cradled her head in her hand. "I've had a long day, and want to focus on something more pleasant than the Malfoys."

"Fine, what's for dinner?" Ron asked.

"Excuse me?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I'm hungry, and would love something to eat."

"You've been waiting all evening for me to make dinner?"

"Well, I had some Doritos while I waited, but yeah, I'm still hungry."

"How much is, 'some?'"

"The whole bag." He blushed.

"Ron! How could you?" She snapped. "I was going to have those for my lunch tomorrow."

"Don't be in such a snit. We can buy more."

"Not at this late hour."

"We can do it tomorrow morning then."

"I won't have time!"

"Geesh, there's no need to shout! It isn't a big deal."

"It is if I don't have enough to eat during my meeting tomorrow."

"Like I said, I'll buy you some tomorrow morning."

"Don't bother," she groaned as she trudged to the fridge. "You'll be too busy at work, and I'll be too busy rushing between meetings."

"About work," he drawled.

"What now?" She exhaled.

"What now?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "What is that supposed to mean?"

She began rummaging through the fridge. "It means half the time you go into work hungover, or you run into some kind of trouble investigating a case."

"I've been doing fine so far."

"You were hungover this morning and were late by a couple of hours." Hermione pulled out a frozen lasagna. "Does this look good?"

He nodded.

"Good," she examined the box. "It'll take about an hour."

"But I'm hungry now," he whined.

"How can you be after eating all my chips?"

"They aren't that filling."

She groaned before putting the lasagna away and rummaging through the freezer again.

"Anyway," Ron continued. "I came into work despite being a little hungover. I hated it, but I did it."

"That's very responsible of you." She pulled out some frozen BBQ chicken wings. "Do these look okay?"

"How long will it take to make them?"

"Twenty minutes."

"That'll work."

"Good," she began to preheat the oven.

"I don't know why I went in though," he continued. "Everyone was so unreasonable about everything."

"What do you mean, unreasonable?"

"They wrote me up for being tardy and missing an excessive amount of days."

"They wrote you up?" She snapped.

"I know," Ron replied. "They're being so unreasonable. So I miss a couple of days because I went to a party. It isn't like we weren't all there and drinking. You'd swear nobody at work has ever been to a wedding from the way they act."

Her mouth was open.

"They were so upset about it, they forced me to fill out a bunch of paperwork," he huffed. "Like I want to help process some illegal potions operation documents. There are other people who can do that. I should be out in the field, no matter how much my head hurts."

"You have to be more responsible than that," Hermione retorted over the dinging of the oven. "You could lose your job."

"I'm not going to lose my job," he argued. "People like me too much."

"They aren't going to like you if you're unreliable," she put the chicken into the oven.

"I'm not unreliable. I just don't always show up for work."

She groaned.

"Oh don't look at me like that! I know what I'm doing," he argued.

"What are you doing?"

"Being a good employee."

"You obviously aren't succeeding in getting people to believe that because you got written up."

"Please," he waved his hand down. "It's not a big deal. I'll suck up to Williamson and everything will be fine."

"It won't be fine if you cost me the auror vote," she argued.

"What?"

"If people see you as unreliable and as a lazy auror, they won't take my campaign promises to provide more support for the auror department seriously."

"Damnit, is everything about your campaign?"

"For now, yes."

He groaned.

"Like it or not, we're public figures. We have to act like everyone is watching us, which means behaving responsibly," she argued.

"Don't use that tone with me! I'm not two."

"Then stop acting like you're two!"

"Stop acting like my mum!"

"Stop making me act like your mum and take some responsibility for your life!"

"Why don't you mind your own business and let me do what I want to do?"

"Because we're partners," she argued. "We're supposed to do things together, not apart."

"Look, you have your career, and I have mine," he replied. "Let me worry about my career, and you worry about yours."

"Our careers intersect and reflect upon each other, whether you like it or not."

"Well I don't like it."

"I don't always like it either, but we knew when I agreed to work for the Ministry it would be this way."

"When my dad gave you that job, he didn't think you'd become a raving harpy obsessing over things like a literacy program or getting house elf rights."

She glared at him.

"Look, I don't want to argue tonight." He drew closer to her.

"It's too late for that," she backed away.

"Look," he exhaled. "This is supposed to be our night of romance."

"You're being about as romantic as a hernia."

"I'm trying!" He threw up his hands. "Good God I try to tell you anything, and you turn it into an argument. I try to tell you things that are important to me, and you turn them into something about yourself and your stupid campaign."

"I'm sorry," she took a deep breath. "You're right, you were trying to confide in me, and instead of listening I jumped down your throat."

"I'm sorry too," he softened his voice. "I shouldn't yell at you."

"You shouldn't," her lower lip quivered.

"I just don't know," he sighed. "This isn't the life I wanted. I thought we'd be in a different place. When we moved in together, we thought we'd have a few children by now. That keeps getting put off."

"I promise you, once I win this election, we'll get married and start our family."

"I know, but seeing Ginny and Draco marry and then coming home only to argue with you," he swallowed. "I thought we'd be in a different place."

"What are you saying?" Hermione's throat constricted.

"I'm saying I love you, and I need this to work out," he put a hand on her shoulder. "I' meant for anyone other than you. I need you, even if I don't always show it."

"I need you too," she took his hand and squeezed. "There's nobody for me other than you."

"Why don't we forget this write up business and go back to being romantic?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea."

"Good," he gave her a kiss on the lips. "All we should care about is that we're in love. Our love is strong enough to conquer anything, even a few disagreements."

"It is," she pressed him against her, knowing that whatever happened, they would always have each other's love. In the end, that would be enough to sustain her, the memory Severus Snape's body spooned into hers be damned.

Severus cast the last of his wards and slumped into his chair. Those should be enough to keep out any pesky know it alls with sleep apparation problems.

He picked up a light blue teacup and took a sip of his masala tea. Despite his best efforts, his mind wandered to the feeling of Hermione against him, and the aroma of her strawberry shampoo. It was comforting, enticing, stirring feelings in him he hadn't felt in years, yearnings for an intimacy he'd given up on ever achieving.

He scowled and took another sip of tea. This was ridiculous. He needed to be focusing on preventing her from returning to his bed, not dwelling on how pleasant the morning had been until he destroyed the moment by yelling at her.

It was quite the quandary though. Nothing about the situation made sense. If Hermione was caught with him, there would be a scandal. By all accounts, she wanted to win the election. Why would she jeopardize that for an unwelcome overnight stay?

He snorted. The day he understood Gryffindors was the day he quit his job to move to Irkutsk. Kiev was supposed to be nice this time of year, so that was an option too.

After taking another sip of tea the tension left his muscles. This morning was a fluke. There was no possibility of seeing Ms. Granger again, at least not in his quarters.

Tomorrow morning promised to be more peaceful than this morning had been.