Back to Life

Thank you everyone that has been taking their time out of their busy days to read my work. It means a lot to me.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!

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Chapter Eighteen


“There has to be something you can do to stop him from doing this!” Ron demanded.


Hermione sighed, looking over to Ron and Harry both watching at her with pleading in their eyes. They had come to her in the vain hope to convince Severus not to start the school year early. What with so many students already there for one reason or another, he had thought it a wise idea to get them to work on their schooling especially if they were in a OWLs or NEWTs year.


Which meant that both Harry and Ron, as they were staying at the school to help out, were expected to study for the exams. Hermione picked up one set of texts and set them in front of Harry. She then did the same for Ron.


“If you want to be aurors, you’ll need these NEWTs,” she told them. “I suggest getting over to the intern center and signing up for your internships as well. From what I heard when I was there, places are going fast in the fields you two want.”


“But, Hermione!” Ron whined. “Can’t you fuck Snape into putting it off?”


She stared at him in total disbelief and was going to say something when the door slammed shut behind them. Ron and Harry spun around to see a furious Severus Snape.


“Miss Granger knows better than to even think to do that, Mr. Weasley,” he growled. “How dare you think that you could come here to convince my paramour to change my mind using our personal life to do it!”


“Ron,” Harry hissed. “Apologize!”


But he just stood there too terrified to say anything.


“Get out!” Severus hissed at them.


The boys both ran out of the office. Snape went over and sat down, clenching and unclenching his fists. Hermione went back to scheduling her days now that she had more things to do.


“I can’t believe that you wanted that fool,” he muttered.


“I was young,” she told him.


“Love, you’re only a year older,” he pointed out to her.


She looked up to him, but said nothing.


“You have a point,” he murmured, smiling as he watched Hermione walking over to him. His hand went to her waist, as her thighs bracketed his legs. “Close the door, love.”


Hermione leaned down, kissing his lips lightly as she shut the door magically. She warded it as well as put up a silencing charm, as she felt one of Severus’s hands slip down and under her robes. Hermione smirked against his lips when he froze.


“No knickers? Naughty minx,” he purred, nipping her lips gently.


He was about to push her robes up when the sound of breaking wood had Severus taking Hermione to the floor and covering her with his body to protect her from the splinters. When the chaos settled down, she peaked out from under her lover’s shoulder to see the door to her office in ruins.


“Stay here,” he told her, as he got up slowly, wand at the ready.


“Uh, Severus?” she whispered, looking away from him.


“Not now, I need to see what did that…” She stopped him and made him look where her desk chair used to be.


The chair was now a pile of wood and buried in the wall behind it was a golf ball sized lead ball. Hermione went over and felt at the small crater. She went from there over to the hallway, looking around. There was no one there. Across the hall there was window that was closed, but from the looks of it the latch was loose.


“Severus…” she whispered.


“Yes, I know,” he muttered. “They’ve stopped trying to hurt you. Now they want you dead.”


***


Hermione sat, listening to the others arguing about how best to protect her. She had stopped trying to participate fifteen minutes before when Severus told her that she obviously didn’t know how to take care of herself and she had best leave it to those who did. If she wasn’t so positive that this attack scared Severus badly, she would have left the meeting entirely. But as it was he had yet to let her get past five feet of him, never mind leave the room.


“Severus, my boy, she cannot live life in a bubble,” Albus told him gently. “You know this as well as she does.” He looked over to Hermione. “What do you think must be done?”


“Thank you for asking,” she said. “I do believe a trap of some sort is in order…”


“No!” Severus was to his feet. “I will not have you endangered, because of your misplaced Gryffindor courage!”


“Will you please stop yelling, Severus?” Minerva asked him tightly. “None of us here are deaf.”


“Yet,” muttered Harry. “If he keeps it up, we just might be soon enough.”


“The only reason I mention the possibility of a trap is because we need to find this person quickly before the school year starts,” she told them. “I don’t want to put more students in jeopardy than there are already.”


“And what about you?” Severus asked her. “Aren’t you worried about yourself?”


“Of course I am,” she replied. “I would be a fool if I wasn’t. But you seem to forget something.”


“And what is that?” Severus inquired.


The door to the meeting room opened, letting in Draco, Narcissa, and Lucius Malfoy. Following them was Fred and George Weasley along with the rest of the Weasley clan. Next were the girls from Hermione’s small therapy group. Hermione went over and greeted each of them personally. When she reached Lucius, all she did was nod her head. Smiling he did much the same. Once she was finished, she went back over to Severus.


“We aren’t alone,” Hermione whispered to him. “We’ll have help.”


“But what if it’s one of them?” he asked, his voice tight with emotion. “What if…” She stopped him from speaking by kissing his mouth.


Pulling back just so, she breathed, “You worry too much.”


“You don’t worry enough,” he muttered, pulling her into his lap. Several there gasped at the sight of the battle hardened man treating her so tenderly and with a protectiveness none of them had ever seen out of the man before.


Hermione smiled to herself.


“Why are you smiling so?” Severus asked her, sounding somewhat nervous.


“It just occurred to me that you would be a great father,” she murmured.


Lucius Malfoy and Harry Potter choked on their drinks at hearing her words. Narcissa rolled her eyes even as Draco was pounding on his father’s back. Meanwhile, the twins were doing everything in their power to get Harry to actually be sick at the thought of Hermione and the big nosed headmaster. By the time their mother pulled them away by their ears, the former boy-who-lived looked green.


“Merlin help us all, witch, no I would not!” he exclaimed.


“Yes, you would,” she disagreed sweetly. “But that’s an argument for a different day.” When he opened his mouth to speak, she pressed her finger to his lips and said, “Until then, will you consent to be my husband?”


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Okay time for the Review-Sing-A-Long!!! The answer to the last one was "She's Always a Woman" by Billy Joel. Sugar cookies go out to little, old me, morgana (I hope you're feeling better), arrabella, Voracious Reader, sheedy, makaem, and Foofie! If I missed you, I'm sorry.

Time for the next song! "for we've come to order lepers back to review in Southern France (no, no, No, NO!)" Well, there it is. What? You want a hint? Okay, this came from a musical comedy about a religious group trying to recover from some set backs (the plot of the musical) that I personally think is so funny! Have a great day everyone!