Hermione's New World

Harry was bored. After spending the first half of the summer at his dreadful uncle’s house, he was freed from them by Remus and Sirius (yes, he’s alive in this story…just presumed dead the year before) and brought to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place where he, Ron, and half the other Weasley’s were training and helping run things for the Order.

However, he and Ron had now been stuck alone for the pasts 36 hours, and had run out of fun things to do while stuck inside the old house.

“I wish Mione was here.” Ron said, breaking an hour of silence.

“You always wish she was here.” Harry laughed, “But I miss her, too. Dumbledore said she’s busy doing some research and won’t see us until school, likely.”

Ron sighed. “Maybe we should write her.”

“Oh? And what new news would we have to tell her? Nothing has happened since the last owl you sent this morning.”

“We could always beg her to come and help relieve our boredom. I’m sure she’s not having any fun, either!”

“Yes, I’m sure you would like to help her relieve something, but you know Hermione…”

“I know, I know…still, why couldn’t we…”

“Nothing, Ron. I am sure she’ll write us back by tonight. Hopefully she’ll have something to talk about. And if you’re a good little boy, Ron, we can beg her to at least spend Saturday…”

His words were broken off as a book Ron had thrown hit him in his head.

Meanwhile, at Cambridge…

“Hi.” The young man said. “My name is Regan.” He winced inside, hating to lie to her.

“Regan? My name is Madeleine…” She stammered a second… “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The two shook hands.

“Likewise. Hey, I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been here longer than I have and was wondering if you were up for grabbing a bite to eat or something.”

Hermione thoughtfully chewed on her lip. She looked at the young man before her. He was definitely in his early or mid-twenties. His medium length strawberry blonde hair was ruffled at the sides which accented his nearly flawless fair skin. While perhaps average-to-good looking to some women, Hermione thought he was GORGEOUS!

“I suppose I could do with a bit of a break. I…I would love to join you.”

He smiled.

An hour later they were sitting in a pub talking just about everything thing…everything muggles talk about, that is. Hermione had just made a vague comment about going to school very far away, which sent Regan’s mind spinning.

“Er…you’re not, well…um..do you mind if I ask how old you are?” He asked, starting to panic a little inside *Please don’t be underage!”

“That’s actually a two-part question.” Hermione laughed. “But I am of age, that much I will tell you.”

He laughed, assuming she meant the muggle terms of mental and physical age. No doubt her mental age was the higher of the two. “So what is your major? I couldn’t help but notice the books you were looking at.”

Luckily, Hermione already had a cover for this as well. “I have a passion for history, but a knack for chemistry. So I thought I would try to find a project combining the two fields. From there it has led to a couple of theories worth pursuing.” *At least that’s not a lie* she thought wryly.

“Regan” was impressed by the striking young woman before him.

They talked for hours. Each one sharing parts of themselves never shared before, yet each was holding something back.

As Regan walked Madeleine back to her campus apartment, which had its own patio and door out front, he approached the subject.

“So you really go to school that far away?”

She solemnly nodded her head. “And you’re going on assignment.” Regan had explained he was an Anthropologist working in forensics. He was about to a multi-month assignment.

He also nodded. “I guess…I guess it’s too much to think that we’ll see much of each other. I wish it weren’t this way.”

“I feel the same.”

“I should probably walk away now.”

“Yes,” Hermione replied. “You probably should.”

Instead he leaned down and kissed her. It was a soft kiss, yet promised so much more. Tentatively he reached to hold the back of her neck with one hand, the other snaked around her waist and pulled her close. She responded by letting him deepen the kiss and reached to put her arms around his neck.

“Would you like to come inside?” Hermione asked when they finally paused to catch their breath.

He nodded, but since the door was already open he kissed her heatedly and picked her up, bringing them both inside. He stopped long enough to let her close and lock the door before descending upon her again.

The kisses heated to an intensity neither had experienced before, and before she knew Hermione had led him toward her bedroom.

“Do you want me to stop?” He asked as he realized her legs had just hit the bed. “I can stop now, but…”

“No…don’t stop. I want this.” She said in a voice that both begged and demanded.

Before laying down the pulled off each other’s shirts, tossing them aside before pulling into another searing kiss. Gently he laid her back, his hands feeling her soft skin. Moments later, as they lay on the bed, naked, he paused.

“Are you..I mean…have you done this before?”

She smiled. “Made love? Unlikely. But I am not a virgin, although it has been awhile.”

He sighed in relief. While an experienced man, he knew she was right. They were going to make love. He’d never loved a woman before, but somehow that was all changing rather quickly.


Meanwhile, in the dungeons of Hogwarts…

Severus made his way back to his chambers, more than ready to drown himself in a bottle of firewhisky. He had too many emotions creeping into his conscious…the type of emotions he liked to either rid of or keep neatly tucked far, far away from mental reach.

Sure, he had tormented the girl along with the-boy-who-lived-yet-was-a-twit and the Weasel, but he had done so with purpose. And while Potter and the Weasel annoyed him to no end he actually had respected Hermione in his own way, yet gave her just as much torment.

If she and the Weasel were going to follow Potter into war, then he figured he would just prepare them as much he could.

But know Hermione is his daughter…or rather, she has been all along but the knowledge is giving him feelings he never thought he would feel before. He wanted to protect her. To take her and hide her away somewhere so that no one could find her. Let Potter and the Weasel fight Voldemort alone. Then again, they wouldn’t have lived through their first year without her, let alone others…

Severus slammed back another glass of firewhiskey. *Perhaps I’ll check up on her again tomorrow. *

There was another thing that bothered him…Hermione was involved with the war…and so was the young man she met tonight. Not that the latter mattered much to him, but it could still complicate things. The question was how.

That night he dreamt of an eleven-year-old bushy-haired girl raising her hand in a classroom that was full of deatheaters.