I Will Always Find You

AN: Sorry it took me so long guys; but RL\'s been a killer. The god damn mac machine at the bank ate my debit card, I got inujred in an unfortunate cat chasing accident, and one of my my best friends broke up with her boyfriend, who then got his nose broken by her brother, so my life\'s been a bit hectic. LOL


Reviewers:


lydia: Thanks. I\'m glad you liked it. I worked hard on it to make it good. LOL I even wrote the whole chapter out and then decided I didn\'t like it and started over!


angel: I\'m glad it was good. I agree. Beethoven is my favorite composer. Fur Elise is my favorite classical song. Hope you like this one!


Cristie: I tried hard to make it romantic. I\'m not really a big romantic; but sometimes you just need romance. LOL I wasn\'t upset that she didn\'t like the story. Like I told her, I can\'t please everybody: but I was very upset that she called it garbage. That really made me mad. I\'m just glad I have the rest of you guys to cheer me up! Thanks!!


bobbie: LOL You\'re welcome. I\'m glad that you\'re enjoying it so much! LOL


Susan: Thanks, and don\'t worry about it. I don\'t get mad when people point out mistakes; I just get mad when people call my work garbage. *fumes* Ooops! Sorry. LOL I\'m a little bitter. LOL


Julie: I\'m just full of surprises huh? Glad you liked it.


Tithen: I\'m glad you think so. You can thank Sunflower for the regression. I didn\'t put it in the first draft; but she thought it would be better if I put something in about Hermione being afraid. LOL I guess she was right.


Danu: Yeah me too. He\'s just a big softie. LOL Glad you liked it.


fraser: glad you enjoyed it. Hope you like this one.


JTBJAB: I\'m glad you liked it so much. LOL Hope you had fun on your holiday!


SnapeNoMiko: Thank you!!! You\'ll have to keep reading and find out! LOL


Kakate: That\'s how it goes I guess. LOL It doesn\'t really bother me \'cause I started it before the book came out, so if it turns out it\'s not cannon, oh well. Thanks. I\'m really glad you like it.


Tainted Angel: You\'re right! It is hard to write smut. LOL It was fun tho, and I\'m glad you liked it.
I\'m almost done with this story; but I\'m gonna try and get at least one more smutty scene in here for you guys. LOL

lydia: Thanks! Hope you like this one!


queenp: Thank you. LOL I never could remember how to spell minuets. It\'s just one of those things. I suppose I COULD look it up; but what can I say, I\'m a little on the lazy side. I try to fix mistakes when I can get a minuet or two. Thanks for pointing the minuets one out. Don\'t be shy about letting me know about others!


Ch. 19 Nosy Friends


Hermione turned over in her bed and smiled. She was feeling a little sore; but she was quite happy about it. At least this time she was sore for a good reason.


It was Saturday and Sera was due for a visit; but looking at the clock, Hermione decided that she had time to lounge in bed for awhile.


She had slept in Severus\' arms for awhile and had awakened in the early morning hours. She\'d woken him up briefly to let him know she was going back to her rooms.


He\'d smiled at her, kissed her tenderly and told her he loved her before she got up to find all of her clothing.


It wasn\'t hard, as Severus\' spell had neatly folded everything and placed it on one of his beautiful carved mahogany chairs.


He\'d watched her dress with half lidded eyes and it had almost made her stop what she was doing and get back into bed with him; but she reasoned that she should be in her rooms when the boys came to wake her.


She\'d given him a last lingering look before blowing him a kiss and going out into his sitting rooms to retrieve her robes and use his fireplace.


Hermione spotted her robes lying haphazardly across the back of the chair she\'d been sitting in at the table and threw them on over her clothes.


When she tried to use the fireplace she remembered that Severus had blocked it. Not wanting to bother him , she tried to end the spell; but couldn\'t.


Sighing in irritation, she went back into his rooms and tapped on his back to wake him. \"Severus, I can\'t get out. Your fireplace is still sealed up.\"


He chuckled in a sleepy sort of way and Hermione couldn\'t help but think that it was adorable. Then she shook her head in disbelief. Had she really just thought of him as adorable? Well she\'d just be keeping that little tidbit to herself.


He got up, unmindful of his nudity, and stretched, allowing Hermione a lovely view of his pale body in the minimal light. She watched him, a tad embarrassed; but she still liked the view.


Then he grabbed his wand and sauntered into his sitting room. With a few words the spells were dropped.


Before Hermione could move, he had grabbed her and initiated a knee weakening kiss. After she had been reduced into a puddle of nerveless jelly, he released her and turned to go back to bed, throwing \"Goodnight love,\" over his shoulder.


\"Bastard,\" she breathed, watching his tight muscles rippling under his skin as he walked back to bed.


She could hear him chuckling while she regained her senses. When she had, she stepped into the fireplace and flooed back to her rooms.


Now the sun was shining in her window, reminding her that spring was coming fast and so was the battle. She allowed herself a few minuets to wallow in her bed, wondering how long she had until Ron and Harry decided that it was time for her to wake up.


After a bit she decided she\'d like a nice long bath, and reluctantly left the warmth of her sheets. As she got up, she realized just how sore she was, and was thankful that she had her own bath to soak in as long as she liked.


She decided on Vanilla scented mist and sighed in comfort as the hot water in her bath relaxed her and soothed her sore body.


When she was done in the bath, dry and dressed, she decided to beat the boys to the punch and go down to the common room. They smiled when they saw her.


\"Morning \'Mione, we were just going to come and wake you up,\" Harry said.


\"I\'ve been awake. I was in the bath.\" She replied affably.


\"So where were you all night? We sent Ginny in to get you around twelve thirty and you weren\'t there,\" Ron asked casually, though Hermione detected a hint of curiosity in his eyes.


\"Oh, I was about,\" Hermione replied vaguely, inwardly cursing.


\"Come on \'Moine. We know you\'ve got a bloke, just tell us who he is,\" Ron whined.


Harry looked from Ron to Hermione, also looking quite interested.


She looked at them both and then shook her head. \"That\'s none of your buisness Ron.\"


They rolled their eyes at each other. \"I told you she had a bloke, mate.\" Ron told Harry.


\"You two are so immature,\" she replied.


\"Okay then, don\'t tell us,\" Harry laughed.


They didn\'t mention it again, and Hermione didn\'t know wether to be relieved or not. She knew they wouldn\'t forget.

She suffered the rest of the morning listening to quidditch talk. She was relieved when she saw that it was close to lunch time, and excused herself to go and meet Sera.


She had only a few minuets to wait before Sera showed up at the doors.


\"Good morning, Sera,\" Hermione greeted her.


Good morning, Hermione. And what a beautiful morning it is.\"


Hermione agreed, looking past Sera onto the grounds. The snow was beginning to melt away and patches of green were showing through.


\"Shall we?\" Sera asked, her eyes twinkling merrily.


Hermione laughed, \"Sure.\"


Severus greeted them at the doors and led them into his sitting room. The room was back to normal, except the table was still there. Only it was set for three this time.


Hermione smiled at him, and he smiled back, giving her a small wink. This did not go unnoticed by Sera, who smiled at the pair.


\"You two are so cute.\"


Hermione had the grace to just blush furiously; but Severus gave her a look of disbelief.


\"I don\'t believe I have ever been mentioned in connection with the word cute before.\"


Sera laughed. \"Well you should really see the two of you.\"


They carried on their converstion over lunch. When they were nearly finished eating, Dumbledore popped up in the fire.


\"Hello, Severus, Hermione, Sera. I\'m sorry to bother you; but I wanted to remind you all there\'s an order meeting tonight.\"


\"Quite all right, Headmaster,\" Severus assured him. \"Thank you.\"


Dumbledore looked surprised. \"Well Severus, I can see that this relationship is working well. It\'s already done wonders for your mood.\"


Hermione gaped at him blushing, and Severus smirked at her. Sera merely giggled behind her hand, her eyes dancing nearly as much as the cheeky headmaster\'s.


\"Did you really think we were going to escape his notice, Hermione?\" Severus asked, amused.


\"Well I had hoped,\" she replied primly.


They shared a laugh and the headmaster left after explaining that he had more people to remind.


Sera had to leave shortly afterwards, and assured them she would be at the meeting that night. She decided to use Severus\' fireplace instead of walking to the apparition point, and bid him and Hermione farewell.


When she had gone, Severus gave Hermione a hungry sort of look. She laughed. \"Want to put up those wards again?\"


\"Definitely.\" His lust darkened eyes sparkled in a way that rivaled Dumbledore\'s.


Hermione felt her heart speed up in her chest. Her breath sped up as well, and she could feel herself reacting to him already.


Her stomach clenched slightly as Severus put up the wards, never breaking eye contact with her. When they were in place, he put his wand back in his pocket and slowly approached her.


She stood still and watched him, spellbound by his eyes. He stood in front of her for a few seconds before leaning in to softly brush his lips against hers.


He grinned at her rakishly and she giggled shaking her head.


\"You\'re impossible.\"


\"That I am love. I\'d love to make love to you again; but unfortunately I think you light need to rest a bit first.\"


She nodded. \"Yes I think so too.\"


\"Doesn\'t mean you can\'t stay for a bit though.\" He gave her another wicked grin, and she giggled.


He captured her lips in a searing kiss and Hermione felt her knees weakening.


\'Damn he\'s good at that!\' She thought.


They kissed until Hermione thought her lungs would explode from lack of oxygen, and she pulled back, gasping for air.


Severus leaned his forehead against hers and smiled at her. She smiled back eyes sparkling and gave him another small peck.


She sighed and snuggled into his arms. \"Unfortuately I have to go find out what Ron and Harry are doing. I\'ll most likely have to spend the afternoon with them.\"


He nodded. \"Yes, you can\'t be lurking about down here all day. I do have work to do you know.\"


She laughed, \"Well then, I might as well just leave when Sera does every Saturday.\"


He tightned his grip on her waist. \"I wouldn\'t go that far, love.\"


After a few lingering kisses, they broke apart and Severus lowered the wards so she could leave.


~'

The next few weeks were even busier than before. The younger children had to be gotten through thier finals so that they could be sent home, and more parents came to take their children out of the school.


Severus and Hermione saw little of each other except for Saturdays. The headmaster had cut off her grading nights because he wanted her to patroll the hallways just to be safe.


Hed been apologetic about it; but it didn\'t help Hermione\'s temper reguarding the whole thing.


She\'d taken to patrolling the dungeons last so she could at least sneak into Severus\' rooms for a quick kiss, if not more.


Severus was looking more and more harried as the days went on. He had a lot of responsibilities to be getting on with and on top of that, he was summoned at least three times a week.


\"He\'s nervous.\" he\'d told Hermione. \"Even though we kept the prophesy from him, somehow he knows that this is the big battle. It\'s him or Potter and he\'s doing everything he can to make sure it\'s him.\"


Hermione had remembered something when he\'d told her that. As she kicked herself mentally for forgetting, she\'d kissed him and run off to discuss it with Dumbledore, leaving a confused Severus in her wake.


AN: Hope it\'s okay. I kinda lost my focus for a while; but I\'m dragging my muse away from whatever is distracting her at the moment. LOL