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Angelnomiko: I am sorry this took so long but I have two more updates lined up. I hope you like it.



Snapril: I am a huge Kingsley fan. He fascinates me more than Remus... I wished Jo did delve deeper into his character in HBP. Remus bores me.



Aunt Becky: Wow, thanks. I ADORE Kingsley, as you’ll find out when we get to Lemon pie but plot has to come before pie is made.



Sampdoria: This pairing has been in my head since he first stepped into the pages. I think Kingsley’s wonderful.



Northstar: Thank you. I hope you like this one to.



Love’s First Flame



Ginny looked at Hermione over the dinner table. Molly hadn’t cooked any dinner because she spent the entire afternoon looking for her watch. She was confused. She was sure she had it strapped on tight this morning. How could it have disappeared? So, Hermione and Ginny undertook the hefty task of cooking for about fifteen people.



Hermione looked across the table at Kingsley and he noticed her smiling at him. He wished that she would be a little more discreet. No one knew that they had stolen a secret, passionate kiss apart from Molly. He picked up his fork and twirled it in the pie.



He smiled, as he tasted the tenderest piece of beef he ever ate. “This is beautiful,” he said.



“Thank you,” Hermione said shyly.



The twins dropped their forks and turned to Hermione as one. “Marry us!” they said. “We don’t mind sharing!”



Hermione laughed, Molly scowled, and Kingsley looked down on his plate.



“No Gred and Forge,” she said warmly. “I don’t think I’d want to be shared.”



“Shame, this is a lovely pie,” they said.



“Shut up!” Ron exclaimed. He looked slightly embarrassed by his brother’s behaviour.



Hermione picked up a piece of meat and placed it in her mouth and ate it. Kingsley watched her mouth close around the cube of beef and he squirmed in his seat. Didn’t the girl realise that she was sitting at a table practically full of males?



“What was work like today?” Molly asked her husband.



“It was busy, and there have been sightings of a certain man.”



They never mentioned Snape’s name around Harry in case he hexed the person who said it. The boy was volatile enough as it was.



“Really?” Kingsley asked.



Arthur looked at the Auror and nodded. “He was seen somewhere in Yorkshire.”



Hermione’s fork clattered on her plate. She looked at her plate flushing slightly.



“Where?” she asked eventually in a quiet voice.



“On the Moors,” Arthur replied. “Actually, near a ramshackle Castle!”



“I knew it!” Hermione exclaimed. “He’s of Yorkshire birth. It spoke to me when I first met him.” Harry looked up and narrowed his eyes at his female friend. “He’s of Yorkshire descent; as am I!” She said in a tone of voice that seemed to them as if she had said it all along.



“How do you know that?” Kingsley asked in his warm, calm voice.



“His surname is indicative of either Yorkshire or Norfolk patronage. His first name clinched the deal. There was a Roman Emperor who went to Yorkshire to put down a rebellion against the Empire. In fact that’s how my family came to England, we were related to the Emperor.”



Kingsley blinked. “Anything else?”



Hermione blushed slightly when she realised that everyone at the table was listening to her with rapt attention, including Harry. She picked up a bit of pie and shrugged her shoulders before she continued:



“He also reminds me of a Yorkshire King who existed five hundred years ago. He was called Richard. Apparently not the best looking of men but clever, cunning, a strategist, and a politician, he had a high respect for women, and he gave people jobs if they had the brains to do it and not because they paid him. He was fairly forward thinking for his time, unbeknownst in the Middle Ages.”



“I thought he killed his nephews?” Remus asked in his Lancashire accent.



“I suppose a Lancastrian like you would say that!” Hermione said to him with a naughty twinkle in her eyes. “Richard had nothing to gain by murdering those Nephews of his. Recent studies has shown that the children weren’t entitled to the throne due to the fact that their father was a bastard born of an extra marital incident involving the Queen and a Lord. Richard was actually the rightful King of England. Henry Tudor had more reason than Richard to see those nephews six feet under, or perhaps Lord Stanley, Richard’s traitorous friend and Henry Tudor’s step father.”



“Ancient history,” Remus said grinning. Hermione felt a little taken aback at that.



“So is the hatred between Slytherin and Gryffindor,” she replied coldly. She drew her seat back and stormed out of the room.



“What’s the matter with her?” Ron asked.



“I still can’t believe that she’s still defending him,” Ginny replied.



“I can,” Kingsley said. “Hermione has the sweetest heart that any one soul can possess. She feels that everyone should be given a chance.”



“How do you know?” Harry asked.



Kingsley sighed. He had tasted her that’s how he knew. Her mouth was sweet, and her skin soft. She had a heart melting way about her that only a man that loved her could say what he said.



“I know because that’s the way she is,” he replied silently.



He excused himself and tried to find her. He walked into the Morning Room and saw her standing by the window. Her arms were wrapped around her waist and she was sobbing. He walked up to her.



“Hermione?” he asked stepping tentatively towards her. She turned on her heel. “What’s the matter?” he asked.



“I just can’t believe Severus Snape is as evil as everyone else thinks he is,” she said.



Kingsley sighed. He looked at her smiling face and looked down on the floor. “Hermione,” he said, “I can’t believe it either.”



“What?” she asked.



“I don’t want to believe it any more than you do,” he sighed. “He came to Hogwarts when I was almost finished. He was a lonely little boy. I felt sorry for him.”



Hermione walked up to him. She was still emotionally charged from their first kiss. She stroked his face and wrapped her arms around his neck. She nuzzled her face in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist.



“I want to continue what we started in the Library,” she whispered. Her cool breath made him shudder with delight. She pressed her soft lips on his skin. He grabbed onto her tightly. She pushed her stomach against his causing him to groan. “Kingsley,” she sighed.



His hands stroked up her spine, he circled them around her tensed shoulder blades making her say his name. He placed his hands in her hair and tangled her golden strands within his long fingers. She smiled a little before placing her tongue on his neck. He hissed and drew her head closer to his body.



“No, Hermione.”



“But I want this,” she sighed. “Please, Kingsley, I can’t get that kiss out of my head.”



“Really,” he said. “Listen, Hermione, kissing is different to the actual act you know.”



“I know,” she said.



“I want to be certain it’s something you want before I can do it,” he replied.



“I do want it,” she said.



“How do you know?” he asked.



Hermione sighed. “I’ve liked you longer than today, you know.”



He smiled. She looked at him and tilted her head and brushed her lips on his. He held her against his body, gripping onto the thin fabric of her dress. She murmured softly against his harsh lips. He parted his mouth and slipped his tongue gently inside her mouth. Kingsley couldn’t believe that this was happening. He was lucky to have this woman wrapping her tongue around his mouth. He felt his blood rush to one area as he grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up. She broke the kiss panting slightly. Her face was shining like before.



Her fingers flew to the clasp of his cloak but he stopped her from undoing it.



“I want our first time to be special, Hermione, we can’t rush into it like fools,” he kissed her head and then her fingers and placed her feet on the ground. She looked at her hand and looked up at him.



“Yes, Kingsley,” she sighed.



He smiled and walked out of the room. She followed minutes after but wasn’t hungry. She went upstairs because she wanted a bath. A very COLD bath! She had just started to draw it when she heard two voices outside the door. One was her prospective lover’s and the other was Remus.



“Remus, I have to tell you something,” Kingsley said. “I’ve fallen in love, I think.”



“Wow, that’s great!” The Werewolf exclaimed joyfully. “Who is the lucky woman?”



“It’s Hermione,” Kingsley said in a low voice.



“What?” he asked. “She’s beautiful and intelligent, but I thought that she was going to become Mrs Ronald Weasley.”



Shut up, Remus, Hermione thought. Ron and I are ancient history.



“Well, it appears she likes me too,” he sighed. “I’m wondering, should I tell her?”



“Tell her – oh, um! no you shouldn’t,” Remus said. “Not yet. If you have gained her affections wait a while for them to grow. You don’t want her to hate you just as soon as she’s started liking you.”



Kingsley closed his eyes and sighed. He smiled a little and sighed. “She’s a beautiful girl, and I don’t want to let go of that.”



“She is a beautiful girl,” Remus agreed. “But my paws are full with Dora at the moment.”



“I heard she lives up to her name all right,” Kingsley said.



Remus said nothing, and Hermione heard no more. She walked back to the bath and checked the temperature and smiled. This should cool her body heat down if it didn’t cool down her curiosity. Kingsley obviously had a secret. What could the sweetest, calmest man in England be hiding?



^~^~^~^



Harry was sitting on a bed holding a small black box. He kept flicking it open, and then he closed it only to flick it open once more. He was so nervous come Ginny’s seventeenth birthday he didn’t know what to do. This was her present. He had brought it against his better judgement because, he reasoned, if she did die he knew she’d rather die Mrs Potter than Miss Weasley.



He looked at his watch. Her birthday was tomorrow and no one knew of his plans for the next day. He was about to close it when Ron walked into the room. He saw Harry holding the square box and his eyes widened.



“What’s that for?” he asked.



Harry blushed. Ron was the last person Harry wanted to catch him holding this. He knew Ron was sometimes more protective than he should be and he definitely could get the wrong idea.



“It’s for Ginny,” Harry said.



“Oh yeah,” Ron said interestedly. Harry sighed. He turned the box around and Ron’s eyes widened. “Bloody hell, Harry! I know you like her a lot but isn’t that just a bit expensive? She’ll only lose it you know!”



Harry’s blush crept further down his neck. “It’s my ring,” he said. “I’m going to ask her to marry me tomorrow.” Ron’s expression turned incredulous, he scoffed, and then burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?”



“Are you serious, Harry?”



“Deadly,” Harry said in such a fierce cool voice it stopped Ron’s laughter immediately. “It’s about time you stopped being such a prat, Ron, I thought you had learnt your lesson with Hermione.”



Harry got up off the bed and pocketed the ring. He walked out of the room. He needed somewhere, where he could breathe. He walked down the stairs and into his study. He had warded the room so that NO ONE could enter there when he was in it.



He stroked the ring and smiled a little, he knew she was going to love the ring, he just didn’t know if she was going to say yes. He got up and picked up some Firewhiskey and poured a small glass for himself. He had chucked it down his throat and was about to pour another glass when the last person he wanted to see knocked it out of his hand. It was clear he had forgotten ONE thing, and that was the fireplace.



^~^~^~^



Kingsley was pacing the Library. He wanted to go to her but he was too scared to. He paced the room and smiled a little at the thought of her pale golden flesh cavorting, and writhing underneath his. Then he frowned as he remembered that . He was clear of it, but only time could tell if it would come back to haunt him.



He sighed and closed his eyes. He wrapped his cloak about him as a sign of comfort and to make himself easy, he walked out of the door and strode to the staircase. He took the stairs two at a time and knocked on her bedroom door.



“Come in,” she said.



He opened the door and strode into the room. She was lying on her bed reading a book. She put the book down when she saw him walking up to her. He smiled showing his perfect white teeth, and he sat down on the bed. He stroked her stomach with his hand causing her to sigh.



“I wonder why you aren’t married, Kingsley,” she moaned.



“The right one never came along in my youth,” he murmured. I am hoping that, that may change though, he thought.



She lay back, allowing his hand to stroke around her belly, he inched his hand further up her body. He curved it around her ribcage before leaning down to kiss her breast through the cotton fabric of the dress. She shut her eyes enjoying his gentle exploring of her body. He removed his hand from its position.



He pushed it up and she moaned as his fingers brushed against her nipple. He blushed at the thought of her gaining pleasure from his touch. She smiled at his shyness. He was about to lean down and kiss her when someone shouted out his name.



“You don’t have to go,” she sighed.



“It’s Harry,” he said. “He sounds like he really needs me.”



Hermione groaned in frustration. Why can’t people just leave them alone? She shook her head and smiled, though, at what was to come. She nodded.



“Of course,” she said in an understanding tone of voice that belied what she truly was thinking.



Kingsley offered a wistful glance towards her and walked out of the room. He took the stairs slowly and hesitantly.



“Where were you?” Harry asked.



With a very beautiful young woman, Kingsley thought. “Here and there.”



Harry nodded and walked towards his study, he looked behind him to see if the tall man was following him. Once they were in the study Harry sat down on his chair.



“Why did you summon me?” Kingsley asked. He was worried that Lupin may have told Harry about him and Hermione.



“Turn around,” Harry said in a cold, harsh voice that didn’t suit him.



Kingsley did so in one fluid movement. His almond shaped eyes widened considerably.



“What the hell?” Kingsley asked.



“Nice to see you to,” a cold voice said.



Kingsley’s heart plummeted. If anyone could ruin his chances of having a relationship with Hermione then this man definitely could.



“Why are you here?”



“I am here to tell all,” he stepped out of the shadows. His hair was greasier than ever but that was not important to Kingsley. What did shock the usually stoic Wizard was the other man’s appearance. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in months. “What’s the matter, Shacklebolt, not seen an emaciated man before?”



“Snape,” he said. “What’s happened to you?”



“Things that normally happen to a man that’s been on the run and can’t get a decent meal.”



Kingsley shook his head. Severus Snape was just a skeleton with a thin covering of skin. His cheeks were completely hollow; his eyes were sunk deep into their sockets and held little to no warmth. Kingsley felt an enormous swell of pity for this man. No one deserved this! He waved his wand on the desk and some sandwiches appeared on the desk.



“Eat,” Kingsley said kindly.



Severus rolled his eyes and shook his head. He had always found Kingsley to be too kind a man for his own good. He walked up to the desk but staggered. His hand grabbed the back of the chair but they slipped and he fainted on the floor taking the chair with him. Kingsley bent down and felt Snape’s neck for a pulse.



“Is he dead?” Harry asked in an almost gleeful voice.



“That’s beneath you, Harry,” Kingsley said quietly.



Kingsley quickly stripped Snape of his robes and gasped. Harry wondered what had made Kingsley turn pale. He got up and walked around the desk.



Right over Snape’s heart was a black scorch mark so bad it went right down to the bone. It scarred his otherwise porcelain chest so badly that even Harry was uncomfortable at his previous thoughts of wanting him dead.



“How did he get that?” he asked.



Kingsley shook his head. “There is only one person that can help him through this.”



“Who?”



“Hermione,” Kingsley said calmly.



“No, she’s like a sister to me,” Harry hissed.



Severus groaned and rolled his head. He opened his eyes and he tried to get up but he couldn’t.



“Miss Granger is the only one that has a modicum of sense,” Snape said. “I would rather her try this than either of you!”



How could he construct sentences after that? Harry thought. He shook his head. Even he knew that it was best, this time around at least, to let Snape have his own way.



^~^~^~^



Hermione came out of Snape’s room half an hour after she went in. Kingsley looked worried.



“Is he okay?” Harry asked.



Hermione sighed. “He’s been touched by some VERY Dark Magic, Harry, I mean darker than usual. He will need time to heal. He will also need to be left alone.”



“Did he threaten or hurt you in any way?” Kingsley asked.



Hermione sighed, and smiled. She looked up at him and shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that I don’t think. He kept me out of the fight the night he killed Dumbledore because he didn’t want me hurt. He told me so himself and I believe him. He has no reason to lie now.”



Kingsley sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted to hug her but as Harry hadn’t known that they had even shared a kiss yet it would be inappropriate and she might not like being presumed upon. She sighed and walked up to Kingsley and wrapped her arms around him. She needed his calmness and strength to soothe her, that burn horrified her. She didn’t know how Snape could have survived something as tortuous as that.



Harry looked at this and tilted his head to one side. Something was going on. He hadn’t seen Hermione hug anyone like this before. He furrowed his brow and was about to ask them what that was all about when Hermione broke the hug. She stepped back and looked into Kingsley’s eyes. She forgot that Harry was still there and she tiptoed up to brush her lips on his.



“Er?” Harry said coughing to bring her attention to him.



Hermione looked at him and shrugged her shoulders. Harry was normally good at making two and two add five. Let him think what he wants to think. She brushed Kingsley’s cheek with her hand before walking away.



“Wow,” Harry said. “Can you tell me what that was all about?”



“I’m beginning to think you’re the know-it-all, Harry, not her!”



Harry shook his head. He walked away to go back in his study, he now had two extra problems to mull over: One was Snape; Harry was left a little shaken at his former Potions Master’s appearance, he supposed that the least thing Snape wanted was sympathy, and that was the last thing Harry was going to give him.



The other problem was of his lifetime friend and, what he considered, as a fairly recent acquaintance. Hermione and Kingsley were acting fairly strangely around each other. He had nothing against the Auror; he just thought that the fact that Kingsley was old enough to be Hermione’s father was – well – perverted to say the least. He had enough bridges to cross before confronting that one besides he couldn’t help but think he might have read more into it than actually was. He’d been wrong too many times before and now he was finally prepared to take a step back and let time decide.



A/N – Thank you for the ratings and the reviews! I hope more of you do after this chapter. So, Ginny and Hermione have a plan to have their man... but distraction comes in the form of Snape – well it’s me so it had to happen eh? I really hope you like this next chapter... Btw, Richard the Third is a person I’d love to meet from history.