The long weekend went by too fast. She wasn't sure what it said, but she thought the time she'd gotten to spend at Hogwarts was some of the best of her life. Harry was nice, and despite knowing her secret didn't act strange or weird around her. While her focus had been on Severus' potions classes on Friday, she'd visited Professor Sprout's greenhouses on Saturday as well.

She wasn't sure how Crookshanks (though he was unnamed until she spotted him) ended up at Hogwarts, but he was here! Severus said sometimes Hogwarts would take in the felines that the Magical Menagerie had a difficult time homing. They could prowl and hunt throughout the castle to their heart's content and would get attention from students and staff.

This was the case with Crookshanks it seemed. He wasn't her familiar. She understood that, but she'd been so relieved to see that he was happy and healthy. He had found his way into Severus' quarters Saturday night, almost as if he was searching for her. He'd even curled up on her lap for a while. Maybe he had been looking for her? She wished she knew how it all worked. Severus thought he'd been there for a couple of years but as Crooks wasn't his he hadn't paid that close of attention. To know that he wasn't cooped up in a cage or something for years because she hadn't been here to take him really eased her mind. And her heart.

Both realized her being spontaneous was a one time thing, at the very least not something she could get into the habit of doing. She couldn't take long weekends off any time she wanted to. She had school work she needed to focus on. Gratefully, Severus understood that and was not bothered by the appearance she'd choose her education over him.

Both seemed glad that she'd made the excursion. Something shifted with the visit. Prior to that it had seemed somewhat surreal. A dream. Her visiting, though, them spending an entire weekend together that wasn't at Malfoy Manor had been a good move. She'd been afraid he would find it too forward. Other than Harry knowing about it ahead of time he seemed okay with being surprised.

She got a workout almost daily it seemed walking to the owlery housed in the magical part of campus after that weekend visit. She wished she could have Perceval at her apartment, but she'd wanted to try her hand living among No-Majes after nearly seven years. So, the school owlery was her only option. Their correspondence before then had been regular but somewhat sketchy. Since then, though, rarely did two days go by without a letter. Sometimes it was just a quickly penned "Good morning, I hope you had a pleasant night". And sometimes it was "This dunderheaded student looked right at me while stirring clockwise despite knowing that was not what needed to be done". Others reading their letters would probably think they overshared every tedious event and maybe they did. For now. She had no doubt once they were more … secure and certain in what they were doing that would change and the newness of being able to correspond with her would wear off some.

As it turned out, her parents demanded in no uncertain terms that she come home for Christmas  and expect to be there for more than just a night or two since she had not been home for the holidays in years. She couldn't blame them and in truth she missed Christmas with her mum and dad in her childhood home. Severus understood, said he had expected it, and assured her that he and Harry would spend it with the Malfoys as they did every year.

They were to meet in London for a couple of nights before spending New Year's Eve at the Malfoys.

She stood outside of her parents house for a few minutes disillusioned. It had been so long since she'd been home. She loved her parents for letting her do what she'd wanted (needed) with her education even though she knew it was hard on them she was never home. Lesser parents would have forbidden it, all of it. Not just Ilvermorny but Hogwarts, too. She was reminded again of how very lucky she'd gotten in the parents department.

They were going to worry if she was much later so she removed the spell and walked to the front door of her childhood home. She opened the door that led to her parents' house. She breathed in the familiar scent that was not quite home but certainly the place that laid the groundwork for who she was today.

"Mum? Dad? I'm home," she called.

"Hermione!"

Her mum gave her a big hug and her dad was right behind her to do the same. Hermione probably hugged them for a minute or two longer than was normal though neither seemed to notice. This was the first time she was seeing them since her memories of that timeline had been returned.

Once upon a time, she thought she'd never see her parents again. She'd altered their memories and sent them away with no knowledge of having had a daughter. She had no idea at the time if she'd ever see them again, and if she did if she'd be able to return their memories.

How had she done it? She couldn't even imagine being … driven to that conclusion being her only option for ensuring her parents survived.

She supposed it didn't really matter. They were here. They were her parents. They remembered her. They loved her even if they didn't completely understand what exactly she was or what she was doing. They wanted her home for Christmas for that reason.

Love.

"You look so grown up!" This was said while her mum was smoothing down her hair much the way she'd done when Hermione was little.

"Mum," Hermione said.

"You haven't been home in ages so I'm allowed to say that."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. We know you've been focused on your studies and are so proud of what you accomplished. We're just glad you are close enough to get here for Christmas this year."

"Me, too," she said. "Same room?

"Yes," her dad said. "Nothing's changed."

"Okay. Let me put my things away. I'll be back down in a few minutes."

She went up to her room then and set her backpack down, pulling the shrunken suitcase out of it that had her belongings for the break in it.

Magically, she organized her room a bit. Putting a few knick knacks from her childhood in a box she'd brought with for just this reason. The box of items would remain here, but she just felt better knowing she'd done it.

A flick of her wrist and her very pink room was now a more likable teal. She nodded in approval. Much better.

She then looked at the stuffed parrot that was still keeping watch over her bed and had been from the time she was a baby. Her cousin had given it to her. He'd been four and apparently liked the idea of having a baby cousin. The parrot, Mango, was her first friend. By all accounts, her first bout of accidental magic involved Mango (this according to her parents, she certainly had no recollection of it). She smiled at the parrot, removing him from the shelf and setting him on her pillow.

"Maybe I'll take you home with me, yeah?"

She hadn't taken Mango with her to Ilvermorny for some reason. She realized now that she missed him. He had been in her room, standing guard over her bed until she went to school. He would again! Was that childish? She hoped not.

She made her way downstairs then. Dad was watching television. She knew he'd get the breakdown from her mum so headed to the kitchen and settled on a stool there to talk with her mum.

"How's school?"

"Good," she said. "Busy."

"I would be suspicious if you didn't say that."

She filled her in on her classes. Her mum was much more engaged than she had been when she talked about magical classes because she understood the classes she was taking now.

"Everything's going well with you and Dad?"

"Yes. Keeping busy. Thinking of our future since it seems obvious you won't be returning here. We've talked of retiring in a few years, after you're done with school, of course."

"Oh?" she asked. Retiring? Were they old enough to do that? Really? She knew how old they were, that wasn't it. She just hadn't stopped to think of her parents not working. Not being dentists. Not being here in this house for her to come visit.

"Not immediately, we're in no hurry. We have a few years left in us. We're just getting things together to plan for that eventuality. We were older when we had you," she said.

Hermione knew that, of course, she just hadn't stopped to think they were toward the end of their working lives. That seemed so permanent. A sign they were getting older.

"I know, Mum, it just startled me. I don't think of you as being old enough to retire."

"Well, we have been overall quite frugal. Your education withstanding."

"I know."

She never wanted for anything, but they didn't live a hugely extravagant lifestyle either. Hermione fixed her tea when her mum set the service in front of her. Everything was virtually the same. She was pretty sure if she opened the cupboard to the left of the sink she'd find the same glasses that had been there for years. The drawer under the counter below that cupboard was the everyday flatware she'd set the table with so many times growing up.

It was kind of eerie. The thing was she really didn't feel as if she belonged here. This was her parents' home. Her childhood home, but she was no longer a child.

She was no longer that child.

She hadn't felt as if it was home for a long time. Possibly even before Ilvermorny.

"Any boyfriends?" her mum asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione said, almost choking on her tea. She wasn't avoiding talking about Severus, but she didn't think it would come up so soon.

Her mum pointed to her bracelet and Hermione shook her head.

She no longer thought twice of wearing it. She probably should have taken it off at first, of course her mum would notice it. At least the mudblood scar had almost completely faded now. She wasn't sure how she would explain that one to her parents. They knew the broad strokes of the wizarding war, but that was about it. She'd told them enough that if they were ever questioned in Diagon Alley they'd have a plausible story as to why they were there and who (what) they were.

"Do you remember Viktor Krum?"

"Mm, I do," she said with a nod. "He plays that wizarding sport, right?"

"He does," she said. "Quidditch."

"It's not him, is it?"

Interesting.

Hermione had never gotten the impression her mum disliked Viktor. They'd met once when Viktor was in London for other things and Hermione happened to be visiting at the same time. That had been Easter holidays her third year and the last time she'd flown home until she was done with Ilvermorny.

"No. I accompanied him to a birthday party for someone from Hogwarts. I thought it would be good to meet some magical people from Hogwarts since I'll be here now. You remember Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived. It was his eighteenth birthday at the end of July. I thought a little brain break before college was called for. Anyway, I met someone there," she said.

"Oh?"

Hermione sipped on her tea. Her mum didn't scold or yell at her that she'd been back in Britain over the summer and hadn't come home. There was no way she could lie about where she'd been.

"I'm glad that you have had a friend like him, but I'm also glad that you don't have to choose between coming home and going to a party anymore."

"I know, Mum. I'm sorry. I should have said something, but I honestly wasn't sure I'd have a good time and not just turn around and go back to Ilvermorny."

"But you didn't turn around and leave, I take it?"

She wasn't sure how to say the next part. She wasn't ashamed. At all, but she knew her muggle parents might not approve. Despite the story she'd weaved over the years, they were not squibs and other than their exposure to the magical world due to her involvement they were as muggle as they came.

"He's a professor at Hogwarts. He teaches potions."

"Ah," her mother said. "That's similar to muggle chemistry. Right? You are quite adept in it judging by your letters and your Professor Brown's desire to steal you away from us. What you might yet apprentice in?"

Hermione nodded with a slight smirk. Glad her mum knew what subject she had been so focused on the past seven years. And glad this hadn't escalated into an argument. It very easily could have. She had been rather … devious about how she'd gone about getting here for that weekend.

"Well, Professor Brown did not steal me away, but otherwise, yes. Exactly right. Anyway, we started talking," she shrugged.

"And he's sending you bracelets?"

"Yes," she said. "It was for my birthday."

She showed her mum the bracelet, each of the charms. She glossed over the door. Her mum seemed to recognize that, but pursued another line of questioning.

"Why a lion?"

"He thinks I would have been chosen for Gryffindor had I gone to Hogwarts and he could not find a Wampus cat."

"I see. It's pretty even if it seems very soon to be gifting you such an item." She didn't sound disapproving exactly, but she clearly wasn't thrilled. "What's his name?"

"Severus Snape."

"Is he in school, too?"

"No, Mum, I already told you that he is a potions professor."

"Oh, right. I didn't realize they hired professors so young. The ones at Ilvermorny all seemed older. At least that was the impression I was left with."

Here goes nothing.

"He'll be thirty-nine in a couple of weeks," she said.

Her mum regarded her, lips thinned as she took her in. Hermione didn't fidget or shrink down as if she was doing something wrong.

She wasn't. They weren't.

Her mother was quiet, thinking no doubt. She liked that about her mum. Her dad, too, actually. They weren't the type to rush to judgment.

"Well, the magical world does live longer, right?"

"Yes," Hermione said cautiously. Could it really be that easy?

"Does he make you happy?"

"Yes," she said.

"As you've never said that about anyone, male or female, before I will trust that you're not making knee jerk reactions based on hormones."

"Mother!"

"Promise me, Hermione, that you'll be careful until you finish school."

"We're not…"

She really didn't want to have this conversation with her mother, especially since she suspected they would get to sex eventually. She hoped they would anyway.

"Promise me, Hermione. You are too smart to have your future sidetracked because you let your hormones and passion get the best of you. One time is all it takes. If he's older than you, he may think it'd be a way to keep you tied to him. Just be careful. You cannot assume he will think of the repercussions or how bright your future should be. He does not know you."

She was blushing. She knew the heat on her face was not a result of the tea, but due to her mother basically telling her if she was going to have sex to use protection. She supposed it was better than trying to deny the possibility existed and tell her to just not have sex, or avoid the conversation entirely.

It was then that she realized (again) she'd lucked out in the mum department. It was an awkward conversation, for sure, but her mum was approaching it rationally, adult to adult even if she still viewed Hermione as her little girl (and likely always would). And she still hadn't yelled at her for being in Britain in July but not coming home or even saying anything about it until now.

"I really don't think you have to worry about that, Mum. We haven't done more than kiss, and, well, the friend of Viktor's the party was for. Severus took him in when he was a baby after his parents were killed. You may have read about him in the Prophet when you picked one up from time to time. I mentioned his name moments ago. Harry Potter."

"What does that have to do with you ending up pregnant?"

"Nothing, other than he's a responsible man who's been raising someone else's child for the past seventeen years. I doubt he's in any hurry to become a father any more than I am a mum just starting college."

She paused while taking a sip of her tea.

Did Severus even want children of his own?

He had spent the last seventeen years raising a child, Harry and Draco were the same age. So his ward and his friend's son had grown up together. Would he want to go through that again? He'd taken Harry in when he was fifteen months old, so still diaper (nappies, they're nappies here, Hermione! She really was trying to reacclimate to the British way of thinking of things) age but a little better than newborns who had to be changed every three hours or so.

She had no idea. They hadn't talked about it as they were still at the beginning of whatever this was. Yes, he'd made his intentions known that he wanted to pursue a future with her, but that was as far as they'd gone. What did that future entail exactly, she wondered? A child? More than one? Were they going to be a society couple as the Malfoys were?

"I've made you think of something."

"No, well, yes, but not that. I'm not going to get pregnant, Mum. There are spells and potions to prevent such things that are more reliable than No-Maj means."

She waved her hand, clearly not wanting to dive further into the topic than they had. That was more than fine with Hermione. She just hoped her mum had heard what she'd just said. She would be responsible.

"As long as you are careful," she said.

"I will be if we get to that point."

"Well, I hope you will one day, Dear. A grandchild before we get too old to be able to play with him or her would be nice."

Hermione rolled her eyes. First she was telling her not to get pregnant and now she was telling her not to wait too long to do so.

"I know, Mum."

"Will I meet him?"

"I imagine so. I haven't asked him, but as he's asked to court me and calls me his intended I would expect for him to realize meeting my parents would come with the territory."

"And his parents?"

"His mum is a nurse in London and his father is in prison, I'm not sure where."

"Prison?"

"He was an abusive husband and father."

"Oh," she said, lips tightening again. "He's okay?"

"He is," she answered, knowing exactly what her mum was asking her. She was not asking after Tobias Snape. She was asking if Severus was prone to having a temper, too.

"Good," she said with a nod.

They were quiet. She was allowing her mum time to acclimate to the fact that she was in college and had a boyfriend. College was always an expectation. A boyfriend. Well, she'd never had one before and her mum would know that.

"Severus. It's rather a … formal name, isn't it?"

"Unlike Hermione you mean?"

"I suppose."

From there she filled her mum in on the indepth guided tour of Hogwarts he'd given her in July. She told her of his role as a spy. She told her of his childhood, his friendship with Lily, and that Harry was his only friend's son.

Overall, she thought her mum had handled it well. That meant her father would because he tended to fall in line with her mum's feelings on things.

The holidays hadn't been bad. A little stressful because of the idea that the next time they saw their daughter she might have a man with her. Not just a man either, but one of the strongest wizards in Britain. Her dad wasn't sure how he felt about meeting a man who was seeing his daughter that he could not scare. That was a dad's purpose, after all, to threaten a daughter's suitor into toeing a straight line.

Soon, though, she was off to the Savoy for a couple of nights with Severus before they headed to Malfoy Manor for New Year's Eve. Harry was spending the time with Draco so she didn't feel as if she was taking Severus away from anything. She didn't get the impression holiday excursions at the Savoy had been a common occurrence for him until this year.

He was waiting in the lobby when she got there. He was looking at the newspaper, but she could tell that he wasn't really reading it. No one else would notice, but she could guarantee that he knew what everyone else in the room was wearing and doing.

Twenty years of no war or Dark Lord but he was still a spy and practicing the vigilance Mr. Moody preached. He likely had a target on his back from a lot of people. Voldemort followers who felt he betrayed their Dark Lord. Order members who never truly believed he was on their side. People who thought he had become Harry's guardian for nefarious purposes. People who wanted to get to Harry so would try to get there through Severus.

He stood at her approach, folding the newspaper and setting it on the seat he'd just vacated. He kissed her on the cheek before offering her his hand, which she took and he led them to the lifts.

Their room was fabulous. It looked out over the city in a very picturesque view. It made her wonder how long ago he made the reservation to get such a room.

"There are two beds…" he said. He seemed almost hesitant and bashful with that statement.

"Are you expecting to need two?"

"I did not want to presume…"

"I agreed to stay with you, I did not request separate rooms. I don't think you're being presumptuous. I don't plan on sleeping alone here or at Malfoy Manor, though I cannot promise more."

"I'm not expecting more, Hermione," he said.

She set her bag down and walked to him, sliding her hand to his shoulder. "You should."

"Well, eventually, of course, I would hope but this is new. For both of us. Until a few months ago you were not aware there even was potentially an us."

"I think I always knew, I just didn't know who." It went with that old soul thing that people called her, her knowing things she shouldn't know.

"I have a gift for you."

"Severus," she said. They had agreed no Christmas gifts. This, staying here and taking in magical London for a day or two with him over the holidays, was all that she wanted.

"Hear me out. You are a single, attractive, smart witch who is now on a university campus with no curfews or restrictions on your comings and goings."

"Am I single?"

"Cheek! Unmarried, is that better?"

"It is."

He pulled a small jeweler's box from his pocket. "I tried when purchasing your bracelet to find something that would suit your current house rather than the lion. Harry, believe it or not, gave me an idea, which led to this gift."

He opened the box and slid a beautiful ring out of it formed in the shape of a wampus cat with two yellow topaz stones for its eyes. Wrapped around the wampus was a snake with the same yellow eyes.

"Oh Severus," she said, running a finger along the ring.

"It is enchanted. If you are ever in danger you only have to touch it and say my middle name. It will portkey you to my muggle home and I will be notified."

"That's so sweet, but I'm sure…"

"Ease a wartime wizard's mind who still remembers seeing you at the end of a second war battered, bruised, and starving. I saw it, Hermione, it isn't just a memory that I have. I experienced it."

She nodded. Of course, he had the advantage in that. He actually had encountered her. Well, that Hermione anyway. No doubt there were differences.

"Very well."

He gestured to his right hand where he had a similar ring on his right ring finger only where her wampus was the prevalent animal his was the snake.

"Is yours enchanted in the same way?"

"It is," he said.

"They're lovely," she said. "Will you put it on me?"

He slid it over her right ring finger, casting the charm that would adjust it to the correct size. He murmured something, she assumed to activate the enchantment.

"Thank you," she whispered, reaching up to kiss him.

"I realize it's not the type of ring you probably expected…"

"I wouldn't expect that type of ring months into this, Severus. This is lovely and if you want me to wear it on my left hand I will. I mean if that was your thought behind getting it for me."

"You would?"

She wished she could take the surprise out of his eyes at that admission. It really bothered her that he truly didn't understand he deserved this. Them.

"I would, of course."

"And that won't lead to questions?"

"What could anyone say? I'm an adult, my grades don't depend on you and never did. Clearly you're not using your standing or position to take advantage of me. I've told my parents about you."

"I suppose, but I would think that our age difference."

"No one cares, Severus, and why would thinking of my future be a bad thing on your part? Even if anyone did care. I don't care and as long as you don't care either. Well, we're all that matters." She kissed the side of his mouth. "Show me magical London, Severus," she whispered.

"Gladly," he said. "Did you need to change or anything?"

"No," she said. "Oh," she said, extending her right hand to him. "I'll let you do it."

He moved the ring from her right hand to her left.

"Mine will stay."

"Don't want all the single witches to think you're taken?"

"Yes, my odd witch, you caught me," he drawled. "In my experience only one ring goes on the other hand for a man and as I bought the rings it belongs on my right."

"Then I look forward to one day seeing that finger no longer bare."

"As do I," he said.

He offered her his hand then, which she took, lacing her fingers through his as they set out to explore magical London.

They spent hours walking, stopping where they wanted at various shoppes or eateries to try various types of hot drinks (they both vowed no tea tonight), and just enjoyed being out amongst others who had the same idea this evening before the end of the year. There was a wizarding market they browsed through that was positively filled to capacity likely with last minute shoppers for the end of year festivities. She wondered if the Malfoys would come somewhere like this for their party and that gave her a fit of giggles. She just couldn't picture Lucius or Narcissa Malfoy wandering aimlessly, browsing. They probably did, but she knew they had elves to do preparations for them.

They wandered to muggle London, too.

They decided at the last minute to take in the most recent James Bond release at a muggle theater. Neither of them were familiar with the other options so went with The World Is Not Enough as a safe option. It was James Bond after all.

There were silences once in a while but she didn't think he found them any more uncomfortable than she did. They hadn't been as frequent the weekend at Hogwarts, but that was because other than his quarters it was rarely ever just the two of them.

Two people weren't going to have something to talk about twenty-four hours a day. They did have an interesting discussion at dinner after the movie about Mr. Bond and previous film installments about the spy's adventures. He seemed impressed she was as familiar with Bond as she was (thanks to her father).

Eventually they made it back to The Savoy, where Severus knew how to access the magical part from this side of things. (She did, too, now she supposed not that she'd ever have an occasion to come here again.)

He stopped at the desk to check for any messages, which he had one of.

"Harry," he said, gesturing to the envelope. She hoped he didn't think he owed her an explanation.

"Oh. He's not mad that you're here with me, is he?"

"No," he said. "Not at all. The Malfoys are like family to him."

"As admittedly odd as I find that, I'm so glad he had that growing up, Severus. Really."

They made their way up to their room where Severus read Harry's letter while Hermione went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. She only noticed now that it was almost two in the morning. She wondered if they'd wake up in time to even get breakfast, and found she didn't care.

Honestly, sleeping in with Severus sounded more fun than anything else they could do anyway.

"How's Harry?" she asked when she returned to the room.

"He's fine. He says he hopes we enjoy our time together."

"That's it?"

"Essentially. A letter from Krum with potential quidditch contacts."

"Oh, good."

"I assumed that was your doing."

She shrugged. "You said you knew he wanted to play professionally."

"Of course I do. I'm not upset."

He scanned the letter again, setting it aside to finally pay attention to her. She'd feel insulted that he hadn't noticed she was wearing something not exactly skimpy but definitely not flannel pajamas. It fell to her knees and was dark green and silky. The straps were thin, the decollete low which made her paranoid.

She knew what her scars looked like, faded as they were (she wondered more than once if they would ever fade completely). He'd seen them, but that was different. She wasn't spending the night with him then. She loved that he showed a letter from his ward such focused attention though, so wasn't offended. It told her how truly fond of Harry he was. That wasn't the impression she had from his first experience with Harry, so she was glad a difference was made for them both personally as well as the defeat of Voldemort as a whole.

It had to be somewhat … healing to have his friend's son with him. To know that Sirius and Remus weren't insulting him at every turn but in fact respected him because of his (successful) efforts with Harry.

"Wow, Hermione," he said, a hand going to his mouth.

She held out her hand, which he took as she hoped. "I still don't know what I'm ready for, but I've never been real girly before."

"You chose well."

"It's a little more revealing than I anticipated. I think I envisioned having it on under something."

"I've seen swimsuits that expose more."

"My," she shrugged. "Scars."

"And I've told you that they don't bother me. They are less noticeable now than they were in July but even if that wasn't the case. I don't care. I wish I could explain why you have them, but I suppose since you were already born when I underwent my task they couldn't completely be erased. I don't know how it works."

Wandlessly, he removed his shirt. She swallowed, other than her father she'd never seen a man without a shirt before. Not this close anyway. Of course she'd seen men out mowing their yards or whatever.

"I have my own, Hermione."

He pointed at his midsection. "Muggle appendectomy, only to find out it wasn't my appendix at all. Mum took me to a wizarding healer and I was fine in no time. I still have the appendix, by the way. So I have a scar with nothing to brag about even being done to get it!"

He pointed at several others. "Torture, torture, torture."

He stepped closer, taking her in his arms. "We survived. We are here."

He slid a finger along the scar at her collarbone. "This is a symbol, to me and to Harry, of your bravery. No one else may know what it, or the others, represent, they don't need to. I know, Harry knows, that the world is a better, safer place because of you."

"It's really not. You did all of the work…"

"Not so. You had to do the work the first time to get the knowledge. I couldn't have done what I did without the information you gave me. I wouldn't have done it either without knowing you. If you had told me of your task prior to doing it yourself, I could have embarked on it, but I wouldn't have known what or where the items were. I would not have known that Harry had a piece inside of him. The Dark Lord could have returned if I hadn't gotten rid of that piece! So I may not have finished! The Room knew what it was doing putting us together and when it did it."

"I agree," she said, glancing up at him finally.

"There's my Hermione," he murmured before kissing her.

It started slow and simple but escalated quickly into something deeper where lips parted and tongues met. He slid his arms around her waist, cupping her ass and groaning softly at the feel of the satiny fabric beneath his hands. She presumed that was the reason anyway.

He broke the kiss, kissing her jaw and then lower along her neck. He was slow, one might say methodical, but she wasn't sure that applied just now. Maybe. Finally he found the top of the scar near her collarbone and grazed it with his lips and tongue before moving to the spot above it where her shoulder and neck joined so he could mark her as he was fond of doing.

She slid her hands along his chest. Getting to know the feel of him under her fingertips as she went. She liked how he felt. Some she imagined might find him too thin, but she thought he was perfect. Strong without being threateningly bulky. She wasn't sure she'd be comfortable with someone like muggle weight lifters. Even Viktor when he'd embraced her made her feel stifled and he wasn't hugely muscled.

She gasped when he lifted her into his arms, giving a soft laugh at how easy it was for him to do so.

"I amuse you?"

"I just always thought that scene from Gone With the Wind was very cliched. Who would really be able to carry a woman?"

"You are a pretty slight woman, Hermione, it is no hardship to carry you."

"Okay," she whispered.

"And I promise you I will not leave in the morning."

"You've seen that movie?" That surprised her. It didn't strike her as his type of film.

"My mother is fond of it."

"I can see that," she said with a slight nod.

"Just to be clear so I do not get accused of lying later, I do have to return to Hogwarts eventually."

"I know," she said with a soft laugh as he set her gently on their bed. "We're not at cross purposes either so I think you're safe from me taking up with whoever Ashley Wilkes would be in our story."

"I will be right back," he murmured, kissing her. "Do not go anywhere."

"I'll be here."

"Good. I am counting on it."

She watched as he walked to the bathroom and moved the bedding so she was under the covers. He came out a little while later clad in only sleeping pants. He waved his hand to turn out the lights before joining her in bed.

"Can I hold you?"

"I think I would be upset if you didn't."

"Far be it from me to upset my witch," he said.

She shifted onto her side and he positioned himself behind her so he could wrap his arm around her, drawing her against him.

"Today was fun," she murmured.

"It was," he admitted and she knew that wasn't easy for him to say. Being a holiday weekend they were among crowds no matter where they really went. She knew he wasn't fond of crowds.

"Thank you," she murmured. "Thank you for going outside your comfort zone and showing me a nice evening."

"Thank you," he said, kissing her ear. "For wanting to be with me. For this," he said, grazing her nightgown with his thumb. "For being you."

"Good night, Severus."

"Good night, my Hermione."

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com