Outside the Fire

Notes: I'd forgotten about AFF and that I hadn't updated this. Completely AU now, by the way. Moonglow

“Too young,” Toss
“Too pretty,” Toss
“Too old,” Toss
“Too inexperienced,” Toss
“Too stupid,” Toss
“Too…hmmm..” The floor was littered by scrolls; the faces of witches and wizards peering out from under the edges, smiling and waving.
“What are you doing, Severus?” Hermione started picking up the parchments and rolled them carefully, placing them neatly in a pile on his desk. They had finished brewing for the evening and Severus had disappeared into his living room, leaving Hermione to finish bottling and cleaning up.

When she’d cleared a space beside him on the sofa, Hermione levitated the tea things over to the table beside her and poured him a cup, adding just a touch of milk to his and a generous splash to hers, waiting for the ‘nursery tea’ comment to be sneered at her. It came right on schedule and she ignored it, as usual.

“Severus?”
“Hmmm?”
“May I ask what you’re doing?”
“Oh, the headmaster has asked me to look over the candidates for my replacement.” Severus said absently, still reading the parchment in his hand.
“And you agreed?” Hermione put a hand to his forehead, “are you feeling all right?”
“Sarcasm doesn’t suit the young, Hermione,” he sent her a withering look that she ignored as well; “I just don’t want the buffoons at the ministry undoing all my hard work, that’s all.”
“Severus, the day you care about what the ministry does is the day I pose naked in Playboy; it’s not going to happen.”
“I have my reasons.”
“And you’re not going to tell me? I’m crushed.”
“I can tell.” He sent her a sideways look and then tossed the scroll to one side as she blew him a kiss. Taking her tea out of her hands, he put it on the table and then pulled her onto his lap, lifting his hands to loosen her hair from its normal, tidy braid. Fluffing it out, he laid her back against the arm of the chair and unbuttoned her blouse, arranging her so the swell of her breasts peeked out from the material.
“There, my very own Playboy model.” He smirked at her.

Hermione entered into the spirit of things and posed for him, pouting until they were both laughing at the absurdity of it all. Satisfied that he’d distracted her sufficiently, he slid a hand into her open blouse and cupped a lace-covered breast. Their laughter died as Severus bent his head to kiss her, no urgency in his actions, just the long slow give and take of lips and tongues sliding together.

Reluctantly pulling away, Severus sat back and tugged sharply on his waistcoat, taking a deep breath to steady himself. It wouldn’t do to lose control, and the more time he spent with Hermione, the more he was in danger of being reckless. This wasn’t what they’d agreed on, but in the weeks since they’d admitted their feelings to each other it was harder to even remember why it mattered so much.

Hermione sat up and straightened her clothes, knowing that this was as far as they’d go tonight. They were already risking it by being together in Severus’s quarters rather than in his office, but Hermione’s revision schedule didn’t allow for too many of these interludes. She was deliberately pushing herself to achieve her highest grades ever and make him proud of her. He even teased her a little over her obsession with timetables, and made sure she took time out to relax at least once a week with him; lazing in bed after their lovemaking and not talking about anything in particular. Hermione would miss him when he left, but at least they wouldn’t have to hide their relationship anymore.

Quickly braiding her hair again and making sure she was presentable, Hermione sat back next to him and sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder and smiling when he curled an arm around her to encourage her to snuggle up to him.
“Are any of the candidates any good?” she asked casually.
“One or two have potential, the rest are the usual morons the ministry seem to drag out of the woodwork,” Severus snorted, resigning himself to the fact that Hermione wasn’t going to let this go.
“How did you manage to get the headmaster to allow you to vet them? And don’t deny that you manipulated him into it.”
“I have my ways, and no, I’m not going to tell you how I did it. A man must have some secrets.”
“Damn.”
“Anyway, you won’t be spending that much time with them, because you’ll be busy with Poppy.” There was an undertone of smugness in his voice that made Hermione suspicious. She sat up and frowned at him.
“Severus?”
“Yes, Hermione?”
“Is there something that you’re not telling me?”
“Not at all.” Severus fell back on years of training and kept an innocent expression on his face. It didn’t fool Hermione, who had seen the exact same expression on Harry and Ron’s faces over the years, usually when they had something to hide. Normally she would pester and pester them until they caved, but she knew that tactic wouldn’t work with Severus. She’d have to be as sneaky and him and bide her time until he let his guard down.

Severus watched the speculative look in her eyes and breathed out in relief when she decided not to push it. He didn’t want her to find out that he was still a little insecure about her feelings, and sought to minimise the risk of her being pushed towards someone closer in age to her than he was. She would exact a subtle revenge on him for not trusting her, and he would rather tell her in his own time, preferably when she was too tired from sex to object to his machinations.

“Speaking of Poppy, she asked me how I was getting on with you.” Hermione decided to change the subject.
“And what did you tell her?”
“That I was learning a great deal from you.”
“Yes?”
“Yes. Of course, I didn’t tell her what else you were teaching me.”
“I should hope not!” Severus snorted, handing her a fresh cup of tea made the way she liked it.
“I shall be glad when we can be out in the open though, Severus. I hate sneaking around like this.”
“So do I, but you know the consequences as well as I, Hermione.”
“I know,” she sighed into her tea and they sat quietly together, each of them impatient for the term to pass.

Hermione put her empty cup down on the table and leaned over to kiss Severus on the cheek.
“I’d better go.”
“I’ll come with you as far as the great hall. I could do with deducting a few points along the way.” Severus smirked and gathered up his robe. Hermione rolled her eyes and followed him out of the room, admiring once again his long-legged stride and billowing robes. And he’s all mine, she thought smugly.

~~~@~~~

May segued into June without them realising it and Hermione realised that time was running out. She was forced to give up her time with Severus and it showed in her increasingly quick temper and occasional tearful outbursts. Ron and Harry finally took pity on her and dragged her off to the Room of Requirement where she found Severus waiting for her. They stayed just long enough to hear him start to scold her before heading down to the dungeons and their Slytherin partners.

It was a much calmer and apologetic Hermione that returned to Gryffindor much later that night and came over to them, hugging them with a whispered ‘thank you’. Ron patted her back and smirked at Harry, mouthing ‘I told you it was a good idea’ and getting an eye-roll back. It wasn’t a hardship for him to spend extra time with Draco and from the state of Ron’s hair it had looked like Millie had had a good time as well.

Exams were due to start in a couple of days, and now maybe Hermione would get a complete night of sleep rather than sitting up poring over her books. Harry wasn’t really worried too much about his own performance in his exams; although Draco was determined they do well, if only to prove to the world that he had brains as well as looks.

Harry just wanted to finally be free of school and to be able to do what he wanted without feeling he was under a microscope. He and Draco had discussed this, and with the help of Severus and Hermione had decided to travel the world before settling down somewhere that was unplottable. Seven years of expectations and he’d had enough; he’d fulfilled everything that Dumbledore had planned for him and now he intended to be free.

Giving Hermione a gentle hug, he pushed her towards her room, and then indicated to Ron to join him in their dormitory. Sweeping some parchment from his bed, Harry flopped down and waited for Ron to sit on the end before casting a silencing spell around them.
“Can I ask you something, Ron?”
“Sure,”
“What do you really think about me and Draco?”
“That’s a bit of a loaded question, Harry.”
“I know, but I’m asking you to be honest with me.”
“I’m not going to deny that at first I wasn’t happy about it, what with Lucius being what he was and how Draco had been an arsehole all his life.”
Harry snorted and nodded.
“But now..now I think you’re good for each other. Draco can help you to understand wizard society, and I know you’ve been feeling a bit out of your depth about that, and you can teach Draco how to be a Muggle.” Ron grinned at the thought of Draco in a car.
“So you’re okay with me being gay,”
“Harry, wizards intermarry with all sorts of species, do you really think gender matters?”
“It does where I come from.”
“Yeah well, you don’t have to go anywhere near them anymore, do you? We’re all of legal age and barring Unforgivables, no one can do much to us. Especially you and Draco. Anyway, what’s brought this on?”
“I was just thinking about Hermione and Severus. There’s just as much censure against old men and young girls as there is against gays, and I’m a bit worried about how people will react to them.”
“Their friends won’t care and Severus doesn’t give a toss about anyone else. Hermione knew the consequences when she fell for him, and at least her dad likes him. He does like him, doesn’t he?”
“They got on okay that time at Christmas, and that was before Severus slept with her, so yes, I think he does like him.”
“Good, that’s one less thing for her to worry about.” Ron flopped back on the bed next to Harry and looked over to his best friend, “So, any idea where you and Draco are going first?”
“Italy first, then Greece. We’ll work our way round the world from there.”
“You will keep in touch, won’t you?”
“Don’t be daft, Ron, of course we will. You, Millie, Ginny and Blaise will be the first to know when we get back, not to mention Severus would kill Draco if we didn’t contact him regularly.”
“Huh, for someone who professes to hate kids, Snape certainly worries a lot about you two.”
“Try telling him that to his face,” Harry grinned at him.
“No thanks.” Ron shuddered and they both laughed. Rolling off the bed, Ron stood up and nudged Harry’s foot with his knee.
“Get some sleep, Harry, because it’s your turn to Hermione-watch tomorrow.”
“I’ll be glad when exams are finished.” Harry groaned.
“Me too, mate, me too.”

~~~@~~~

It was over, finally, finally over. Two weeks of nerves, two pounds of chocolate later and she’d finished. Hermione sank onto her bed and heaved a sigh of relief. The results wouldn’t be known until the beginning of August, but she was confident that she’d done well. A party was in progress downstairs, but all Hermione really wanted was a cuddle from Severus and then maybe twenty four hours of sleep. The sleep was a definite probability, but she hadn’t seen Severus since breakfast and then it was only a fleeting glimpse as he blew in and then out again.

Feeling a little depressed, Hermione shed her clothes and pulled on her nightgown, slipping between the sheets and snuggling down, waiting for Crookshanks to join her on the bed. The firm thud of his body landing next to her made her smile and she ruffled the fur around his neck, feeling the rumble of his purr in her fingers.
“As much as I appreciate you, Crooks, I wish you were Severus,” she whispered.
“Unfortunately I never mastered the art of transforming myself,” Severus’s voice came from the depths of the armchair by the fire, and Hermione sat up with a shocked gasp before scrambling out of bed and launching herself at him.
“Severus!”
“I gather you’re pleased to see me.” He said when she released him.
“I’ve missed you,” she hugged him again.
“I can’t stay too long, though, I just called in to see how you were.”
“Just tired, that’s all. How did you get in, by the way?”
“That would be telling, and no, I wasn’t seen.”
“I know better than to question your sneaking abilities, Severus,”
“So you have learnt something over the past few months.”

Hermione’s reply was forestalled by a jaw-cracking yawn and so Severus took pity on her and guided her back to bed. Pulling back the covers, he tucked them round her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“Sweet dreams, my love,” he whispered and she smiled up at him dreamily.
“You too, Severus, and you’ll dance with me at the ball, won’t you?”
“What ball?”
“The one Professor McGonagall mentioned to me tonight. The one that’s taking place two days before we graduate. Didn’t anyone tell you about it?”
“I doubt the headmaster would think I’d be interested. But yes, I’d be pleased to dance with you. Give the old coot something to think about, eh?” he bent and kissed her again before standing up and wrapping a very familiar cloak around his shoulders.
“Hermione?”
“Yes?”
“Wear blue robes.” Before he disappeared under the hood and the door closed quietly behind him.

Smiling to herself, Hermione closed her eyes and went to sleep, dreaming of tangos and black silk scarves.

TBC