Pillow Fight

A/N: Thank you all kindly for your reviews. I don’t know how many more chapters, just a few¸ I think. But I’m glad so many of you have come back to find this story enjoyable. Again, thanks for your praise & encouragement.





There was a warm rag on his brow. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The lighting in the room was dim, but he could just make out the outline of a figure seated at his bedside. His lips stuck together and what should have been coherent words were heard as just a muffled grunt.



“Don’t try to talk,” Molly Weasley’s voice was less than tender. “You great big fool, what on earth were you doing out in that storm in the first place?”



It was not the figure he’d expected to be tending over him. And then his mind was reeling. Where was Hermione? Had they managed to help her? Struggling against aching muscles and throbbing appendages, Severus tried to sit up in the bed.



“You great big twit,” Molly hissed. “Stay down in bed before you injure yourself.” Her arm pushed heavy on his chest and forced him back against the mattress. “You’ve some nerve.”



“Is that any way to treat the injured, Mrs. Weasley?”



Her voice was like a symphony playing a sweet tune that floated from the doorway to his ear. Severus felt a twinge in his lips and if Molly had been looking down on her patient, she would have noticed that he was smiling.



“You ought not to be out of bed, Hermione. You had quite a nasty bump on your head and need to rest.”



“I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks to him.”



Molly narrowed her eyes at the girl. She didn’t care for the idea of Severus Snape traipsing around in the woods with Hermione Granger, not during the storm and especially not alone together. “Hermione, I am quite capable of tending to this— man.” She said. Her tongue had been ready to label him all the things she thought were good and appropriate for the situation, but Molly Weasley prided herself on keeping her composure in front of her children. Granted, Hermione Granger was not her child by birth, but over the years she’d come to treat the girl the same as she treated Ginny and her sons. “Go on back to bed.”



“Mrs. Weasley, with all due respect, I’d like to see how he’s doing. He carried me all the way here and from what I understand he was injured quite badly. He saved my—”



“Yes, well if he had simply thought to apparate the two of you back to the porch he wouldn’t have had to carry you all the way here.”



Hermione pursed her lips. She was quickly losing her patience with the matriarch of the Weasley clan. “Perhaps you’re forgetting how difficult side-along apparation is, and even more so when the person you’re attempting to take with you is unconscious. Plus he was injured and with weather that fierce who knows what would have happened.” She said.



Molly Weasley had opened her mouth as if ready to fire back several statements that would blow holes all through the girl’s theory, but after a moment she closed her lips and turned her head back to the man who was laying in the bed, eyes open and gazing up at her, trying to strain his neck to see the girl in the doorway.



“Now, if you don’t mind…I’ve been schooled in mediwitch basics,” said Hermione. “I can watch after him for a little while. I’d like to talk to him alone.”



To Molly Weasley this idea was no better than the two of them alone in the woods together, but with little good reason to back up that opinion she nodded her head and stood from her chair. “Watch his temperature; he’s been spiking a fever. Remus thinks an infection might set in, that wound in his leg was deep.” Without another word, she moved past Hermione out into the hallway and closed the bedroom door.



Hermione, who was still a little weak on her feet, moved quickly across the room and stood over the side of his bed. She hesitated for only a moment but then dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him.



Severus coughed a bit when she squeezed his chest, but did his best to lift his good arm and wrap it around her back. Though his left wrist was healing in a splint (there are some shatters that even magic can’t fix right away) the pain seemed to radiate through his whole body. “Water,” he muttered.



“What?” she pulled her head off of his chest. “Oh! Yes.” Hermione moved back and grabbed the pitcher that sat on the nightstand beside the bed. Pouring him a glass she again knelt beside him, helping tilt his head up so that he could drink from it without choking. “There,” she said and placed the glass back on the nightstand.



Severus cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he said. He closed his eyes for a moment trying to gather his thoughts. He had been overly concerned about her, but it seemed she was fine, if a bit clingy. A clingy woman was a terrible thing, generally speaking, but this was different somehow. “Hermione?”



“Yes?” she said, almost afraid to say it.



“I don’t know about all this…” he said.



Hermione was quiet for a moment. “I don’t either.” she said. Her hand brushed his hair back from his face. “But I know that whatever this is…providing we don’t almost die in another storm…well, I wouldn’t much mind it if it continued…”



He closed his eyes. He couldn’t deny that he too wouldn’t mind if it continued, but he wasn’t sure it was the best course of action, knowing that things were the way they were. It took him great pains to open his eyes and catch her gaze. With his good hand he clasped hers. “Hermione,” he started slowly. “It’s not that I mind…” he paused for a moment. “It’s just unwise.”



“Unwise?” she said, as if trying to be sure that she’d heard him correctly. “Unwise?”



Severus sighed. “Hermione, you cannot deny who I am.” He said.



“And that matters?” she said. “I’m of age— Hogwarts is over—”



“And by my alliances alone I put you in danger simply by staying in this house at times.”



There was silence. He didn’t know what to say. Her eyes were unreadable. And then Hermione burst out laughing. This caused him to frown.



“Severus Snape. Do you have any idea who I am?” she pulled herself up from her knees and climbed onto the edge of his bed, despite his protests. Helping move him over, Hermione sat in bed beside him and she rested her head on his shoulder. “Harry bloody Potter is my best friend and you think that being with you could possibly add more danger to that?”



“You underestimate the dangers that are thrust upon me…”



“So I do then,” she said and shifted so that she could face him. “You act as if saying this is going to deter me.”



“Then I won’t allow it.” He said.



Hermione rolled her eyes. “You’re bound to a bed, running a fever, with a shattered wrist and an injured leg. If I wanted to take you right now what would stop me?”



“So it is about the sex…” he said.



Hermione cupped his face and pulled him into a kiss, despite his groan of protest. But it only took a moment for his tongue to find hers and his body to shift as best as he could manage onto his side. She ran her fingers through his hair and let one hand trail down his chest, underneath his shirt. He pulled back slightly, gazing into her eyes, his breathing heavy.



“Perhaps we should wait until you’re…recovered?” she said with a smirk. Her hand had been making lazy circles over his chest, until she stilled her fingers. Slinking one digit over the next, she walked her hand down to his trousers and let her hand slide beneath the waistband. “Wouldn’t want to cause you any further…discomfort…” she teased. Hermione curled her fingers around his member which was only half erect, but pulsing as she stroked the length of him.



Severus could not suppress his groan. His entire body ached, and yet she was managing to elicit a most pleasurable sensation in his nether regions. Her fingers had him fully hard in just a matter of moments and he longed to return the favour, but with one wrist shattered, and one leg out of commission, he felt helpless. “Kiss me,” he muttered. And then he cried out. “Gods, Hermione!”



When he’d asked for a kiss, she had been in just the right position to grant his request, in a manner of speaking. Hermione had managed to maneuver herself down along his body and had her lips pressed against his tip, her tongue circling around it. She licked him, eager to pull his length into her mouth, and he continued to groan, arching his hips toward her.



“Hermione mum just wanted me to— ah!” Ron cried. He threw his hands to his eyes.



Hermione shot up from where she had been and fell back off the bed, and Severus grabbed at the sheets to cover his shame.



“What the hell—” Ron started, trying desperately to back his way to the door without looking on any further.



“Get out!” cried Hermione. “Now!”



“I’m trying!” he shouted. And with two more fumbling steps backward he fell back into the hallway and grabbed the door to pull it shut.



Hermione pulled herself up off the floor and sat back on the edge of the bed. She leaned over to kiss his cheek but Severus pushed her back with his good hand. “No.” he said.



Hermione frowned. “I know that was awkward—”



“Leave me,” he said.



“Severus,” she frowned and edged over on the bed. He pushed against her as best he could but she leaned further over. “I know that’s put you out of the mood, but honestly I didn’t ask him to barge in here.”



“I don’t care.” He said and turned his head away from her.



“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do,” she said, and wrapped her hand tightly around his shattered wrist.



“Aaah,” he cried. “Let go, damnnit.”



“Severus—”



“Hermione, so help me—” he growled.



Three heavy knocks fell on the door. “Hermione Granger, you had best be decent, so help me!” shouted the voice from outside the door.



Releasing his wrist, Hermione stood from the bed, marched across the room and yanked the door open. Her eyes were greeted with the glowering stare of Molly Weasley. Several other members of the Order stood behind her, spread casually up and down the hall, though it was mostly her sons, and Harry. She flushed profusely. She hadn’t been expecting the entire house to be standing in the hallway. All eyes were trained on her, except for the twins, who for once were looking modest and almost ashamed, with their heads tilted down.



It was almost a full body paralysis. Hermione found that her embarrassment had routed her to the floor. With a tiny squeak, she whirled around and made to dash back into the room, but crashed right into Severus, nearly sending them both to the ground. He steadied them both by gripping the frame of the door and pressing his weight hard against it.



Severus narrowed his eyes and glared into the hallway. He wrapped his arm around Hermione’s waist, although it pained him to do so, as his good arm was still tightly gripping the doorframe. A soft gasp and a few whispered words filled the hallway and he growled. “If you’ve something to say, Potter, say it.” He snapped.



Harry glared at Severus but held his tongue. He didn’t want to cause Hermione any further embarrassment. Molly Weasley didn’t know what to say. No one seemed to move. But a sudden clang from downstairs broke the silence.



“Oi!” cried Tonks from somewhere downstairs. “Where is everyone? We’re back and we’ve got news!” she cried.



“Hello? Molly? Arthur? Harry? Anybody?” the voice of Remus Lupin carried up the stairs. “Blast, where is everyone?”



Fred and George were the first to move. “Come on,” they said and motioned to the others. “They’re waiting downstairs.” And they headed down the stairs. This was a first, as in a situation like this the twins would have been the first to poke fun and the last two to leave.



Ginny, who refused to look Hermione in the eye, grabbed Harry by the arm and turned to follow her brothers. “The twins are right; we should all head downstairs, all of us that are able.” She said.



With careful shuffling everyone filed out of the hallway, heading downstairs. Everyone except Hermione who was still being held by Severus. “You should go,” he said. “You are able,” he muttered.



Hermione frowned. It took all she had to keep her welled up tears from splashing over her rims and falling down her cheeks. She tore from his grip and raced up the hallway, taking the stairs to the attic two at a time. Her running didn’t stop until she was leaned against the attic window— where the rain was still pouring down against the glass— and she was sure she was alone. And then the tears came.



She had been foolish. And her feelings were out of control. She did have a fondness and a respect for Severus Snape, and they had had incredible sex. But perhaps he was right— it was unwise, though not because it was dangerous unless her self-esteem and reputation were taken into consideration. He was older, and a double agent to boot. And what did she have to offer him other than great sex? Tucking her knees up to her chest, Hermione wept into her arms and rocked slowly back and forth.



The hand on her shoulder would have gone unnoticed if the owner of said hand hadn’t collapsed to the floor beside her. Sniffling, Hermione turned her head to the side and bit her lower lip. She couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes.



He’d lost his balance trying to touch her, and a fresh wave of pain shot through Severus’s body. It had been a strenuous hike up to the attic, but he sat beside her and with his good arm, pulled her as close as he could manage. “If you’re going to be a sniveling ninny I’ll have none of you,” he said quite sternly.



Hermione choked a bit as she sniffled. “Just— just go…” she whimpered.



“Yes, with my shattered wrist and injured leg,” he said. “That happened while rescuing you, might I add.”



“Re—rescuing me?” she said through her tears. Hermione shifted herself over and Severus, who had been leaning against her, fell to the floor, his shattered wrist beneath him. He stifled a cry of pain and narrowed his eyes at her. “You didn’t have to rescue me,” she hissed. “You wouldn’t have had to rescue me at all if you hadn’t dragged me out into the woods to tell me that it didn’t have meaning!”



“Drag you out into the— this is madness!” he growled. The frustration and anger was more from the unbearable pain than anything else but try as he might he couldn’t control himself. “All because of some silly fuck that we shared! I with my business flaunted all through this house, broken bones, a broken arse and a broken heart!”



Hermione was just as quick to fire back. “Well thanks to you this house thinks I’m a harlot, I had a concussion and—” she faltered in her words. “What?” she cried as his words echoed in her ears. She blinked. “Did you—”



“No.”



“But you said—”



“I misspoke,” he spat and then turned away from her.



“I see.” She said. “Misspoke.”



“Indeed.” With terrible difficulty Severus managed to stand. “Now, you should be at that meeting.” He narrowed his eyes at her.



“Yes, yes, I suppose I should.” Said Hermione. She walked to the door of the attic and paused with her back facing him.



Severus closed his eyes and felt his chest tighten. And then he felt two tight arms around his chest. “What are you—”



Hermione pressed her lips hard against his. One hand guided him backward until she had him pushed up against the wall. He hardly had time to respond before she’d pulled her head back and stared into his eyes. “Broken heart?” she asked. “Why can’t things just be, not everything has meaning and you’ve got the bloody nerve to say you’ve got a bloody broken heart?”



Severus stood silent. Words escaped him. Not once in his life had he allowed himself such an admission of feelings, and never aloud. Could one night of physical intimacy have led him to such ridiculous conclusions? But it had been so much more. The others, he had longed for them to leave his bed, but with Hermione he’d prayed that when he awoke the next morning that she’d still be wrapped in his arms. There was something about her, and he couldn’t dismiss it no matter how hard he tried. Fear had kept him from acknowledging it until now.



“You— you— urgh!” she cried. Frustration was hardly the word for it. But how could she remain frustrated with someone whom she had a strong emotional and physical attraction to? “I don’t know what on earth you—”



Severus captured her lips in a kiss. Her words drowned in his mouth, but a moment later her tongue was tangling with his. “Stop,” he said after a moment. “This is what got us in trouble the last time,” he muttered, and pulled her closer to his body with his good arm. Hermione bit her lip and looked up into his eyes with an innocent yet apologetic gaze. Severus sighed. “Help me back down to the room,” he whispered.



“Ok,” she smiled.



* * * * * *



Fluffy, feathery, fuzzy pink blurs whirred around the room. Ginny shrieked as a large pillow knocked her off the bed. “Tonks!” she cried. “Back me up! I’m under attack!”



The metamorphmageus giggled and gathered as many pillows into her hand as she could. But despite her efforts, she was no match against Minerva, Fleur and Hermione. The daiquiri glasses were set in the far corner with a protective bubble floating around them. Five women giggled hysterically as one of the pillows tore at the seams and bright pink feathers flew everywhere.



“Tickle her!” cried Hermione. She grabbed a feather and pinned Ginny down. Her two cohorts did the same, each tickling an area of the young redhead.



Ginny squealed and thrashed uncontrollably as three feathers attacked her body. Tonks dove over the bed and tumbled over Minerva, knocking her flat on her back. Several more shrieks and giggles rose from the girls as they rolled around on the floor with the pillows.



They were too caught up in their fun to have heard the door to the spare bedroom on the fifth floor creak open. “Ahem,” Severus cleared his throat and attempted to announce his presence. But no one seemed to notice him. Ginny’s arms and legs were waving around in the air trying desperately to escape the tickle torture at the hands of her friends. Hermione had her back to the doorway. “Ladies!” he shouted a fair bit louder.



The giggles stopped. Feathers floated to the floor in silence, and all hands moved away from Ginny Weasley. Hermione turned her head to see Severus standing in the doorway and she blushed.



“Ees your master ‘ere to retrieve you?” Fleur snickered.



“Stuff it,” Hermione said. She rolled her eyes. It took her a moment to climb to her feet. Her eyes fell back to the door. “Five more minutes?” she mouthed to him.



Severus rolled his eyes. “You said that a half hour ago,” he muttered.



Ginny snickered but Minerva squashed a pillow against the younger girl’s gut. “Ooof!” she cried, and doubled its fuzzy pinkness.



Four witches watched in awe as Severus Snape crossed the room and hefted Hermione up onto one shoulder. She kicked, but only slightly, in protest. “Put me down, you great bat!” she cried.



“Won’t you stay and play?” Tonks asked with a smirk.



“I’m being hauled off, you ninny, help me!” Hermione cried.



“Not you,” Tonks blew a raspberry in Hermione’s general direction. “Him.” She said with a wink.



Severus ignored the other witch and stalked out of the bedroom, entering the room next door. He deposited her on the bed and waved his hand at the door, warding it from unwanted intruders. Crossing back to the bed he sat down beside her. It had been nearly three months since his injury and he appeared to have made a full recovery.



Hermione pouted. “I was having fun.”



“Indeed.” He said and then pushed her back beneath him. His face hovered just a breath above hers and he watched her eyes flutter closed.



But a moment passed and nothing happened. Hermione opened her eyes and frowned. “Kiss me,” she said.



Severus smiled, and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. He scooted back and a confused look crossed Hermione’s face. A fuzzy pink pillow crashed down across her chest. “Severus!” she cried.



A deep baritone laugh erupted from his chest. Hermione grabbed the pillow and smacked him several times upside the head. “You’re unbelievable! Oh!” she cried. Severus began tickling her ribs. “Stop it!” she cried. “Stop it! Stop it!” Her fingers tried to retaliate but he dodged, catching her by the wrists. “I give! I give!” she cried.



“That so?” he smirked and yanked her top up over her head. His lips were quick to catch her nipple and he nipped her.



“Ah!” she cried. Hermione grabbed his head and pulled him up into a fierce kiss.



In the room next door, Minerva sighed. “They’re louder than we are,” she muttered. “And there are four of us.”



Ginny shuddered. Her best friend with one Severus Snape was not a thought she cared to have floating around inside her head, despite her own encounter with the man. “You know…I think I’m going to go find Harry…” she said. Finding her top, which had somehow managed to come off during the fun, Ginny dressed and left the room.



“Zat means zee party ees over…” Fleur sighed. “Vell, at least Bill ees home,” she smirked. Taking two of the pillows and a handful of feathers, she too left the room.



“Well, off with you then,” Minerva said to Tonks.



“No, unfortunately not.” Tonks frowned. “Remus is out on a mission tonight.”



Minerva wrapped her arm around the young woman. “Yes, well goodness only knows where Albus is, dear.”



“Did you want to go and have some tea?” Tonks offered.



“No.” said Minerva.



“Ah, well, then I suppose I’ll be off, then.”



“We could go have another daiquiri in my room perhaps?” Minerva offered, pulling the younger witch closer to her.



Tonks blushed. “Well, alright.”



As the two witches left the spare room they moved a little slower down the hallway.



Severus and Hermione were oblivious to the eavesdroppers just outside their door. She was panting and he was growling. Her nails were digging his back as he thrust harder into her. He held both of her legs up over his shoulders and drove harder into her. “Oh!” she cried, her eyes rolling back into her head. Another thrust and she was screaming his name. “Severus!”



His hips gyrated forward harder and he could feel her tightening around her. Their bodies were slick with sweat and in one of those rare instances the two of them reached their climax at exactly the same moment. Her walls clenched him tight as his hot stream of seed flooded into her. She whimpered as he tried to pull himself out of her after he’d finished. Hermione was well aware of his habit of not wanting to collapse atop his partner. “Don’t…” she panted.



Too weary to resist her, Severus collapsed atop her. “I’ll crush you,” he muttered.



“It feels good,” she whispered. Her eyes were glazed over and the warmth of his body made her tingle with delight. He was nestled inside of her and there was nothing more comforting in the entire world. “Kiss me,” she said.



He obliged her. His lips met hers. It was a sloppy kiss, and lazy. Languid strokes of his tongue tasting her lips and hers touching his, but neither cared. Severus shifted slightly onto his side, pulling her closer, guiding her head to his chest. She nestled there as if she’d belonged there against him all along and smiled. “I think I love you…” she said. She’d known it from the night in the attic, but it was the first time she’d said it aloud to him.



“You think?” he smirked. Severus kissed Hermione’s forehead. “I…” he let his words trail off.



“I know…” she said. I heard you last night.



Severus’s eyes grew wide and a look of alarm washed over his face. He was certain that she had been sleeping last night when he’d whispered those three words into her ear. “I thought—”



“I know,” she smiled and kissed his cheek. “And I don’t think. I do.”



Severus breathed a soft sigh of relief. “All this from a pillow fight,” he said.



Hermione giggled. “Yes, well…” her words were lost in his kiss as they snuggled close to one another. It wasn’t long before sleep claimed them both, with sheets tangled over them and their bodies touching everywhere. A pillow fight is the last thing that anyone would ever imagine Severus Snape taking part in, however, Hermione Granger, the woman snuggled in his bed every night that he was not out risking his life, knew better.







The End