Maternal Instinct

"Severus Snape! Wake up right now and explain yourself!"

Growling, Severus rolled onto his back. Seconds later, he was poked hard on the shoulder. He growled again, almost incoherently, "Go back to sleep."

But she persisted, poking his shoulder again, "No. I won't. And you aren't going to either. Open your eyes now or I’ll scratch them out. And with the mood I’m in, I’m likely to carry out that threat."

Suppressing yet another animalistic noise, Severus flipped over and pulled Hermione down beside him. She yelped and tried to get away, but he tightened his arms, drawing her nearer and tucking her warm body as close as possible to his.

Slowly, he opened one eye and looked at her glowering face; he couldn't help but smirk, "Go. Back. To. Sleep." He closed his eye, then added after a moment, "Or shut up."

He felt her indignant exhalation against his neck, "Don't you dare tell me to shut up! I can't believe you didn't wake me up! You aren't the one that will have to put up with Ron! I really do have stuff to do today! How am I going to get out of here without Corrin seeing me? If she finds me, I won't be able to get away! I can't believe -"

Severus' eyes snapped open and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers.

""""""""""""""""""""

Hermione squeaked and tried to push his tongue from her mouth using her own. After several seconds of this, Hermione felt him smirking against her mouth and realized what she was doing. Quickly, she drew her tongue away from his, but he pressed closer and followed her retreating muscle with his, until she pulled away completely.

His hand had found its way up, his fingers tangling in her hair, as he said quietly, "It's Sunday. You can't possibly have anything important to do. Weasley is an idiot. Corrin's probably chasing that cat. You're here. I'm here. This," He shot a quick glance down at the mattress, "is called a bed. There are two things that you can do in a bed and now I am giving you the choice of which activity you would prefer."

Hermione scowled at him, "You can go back to sleep. I'm going home." She tried to get away from him, but was unsuccessful. She sighed, "You'll have to let me go at sometime."

He closed his eyes again, "No I won't."

"Yes you will. You have to go to Hogwarts tomorrow." She smirked.

"I'll take you with me."

"What about Corrin?"

"She can come too."

"But you have to teach. I might get away then."

"I'll lock you in the dungeons."

"But I’ll have my wand."

"I'll snap it."

"I'll steal your wand."

"I'll hide it."

Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.

"""""""""""""""""""

"What was that?" Severus asked quietly. He could feel her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

"I said... It's probably not a good idea to hide it because you might forget where you put it..."

He opened one eye slowly, suspiciously "Are you trying to imply that I’m getting... old?"

Her eyes narrowed as she examined him carefully, then she tilted her head back and nodded, "Yes. That's pretty much what I was implying."

Severus closed his eyes, took a deep breath and gathered himself together. Then he flipped them both over, pinning Hermione to the bed, "Old indeed!"

"""""""""""""""""""""

Slowly, Hermione pushed open Ron's kitchen door. She had managed to get away from Severus before they had gone too far. And, like the Slytherin he was, he had succeeded in distracting her from demanding an explanation about why he didn't wake her up and send her home last night.

Ron looked up from the paper he was reading. Then he looked at his watched, "I think it's been a bit longer than five minutes since you left."

"I'm sorry, Ron -"

"There's something going on between you two, isn't there? Yes! I know there is! I thought he was married!"

Hermione winced, "He was. They divorced."

Ron threw the paper on the table, "You know what he's doing, don't you! He's just using you to look after his kid, you know that! Once that girl's old enough to look after herself, you'll have to leave!"

"Are you saying that it's impossible for someone to just like me for who I am?” Hermione retorted, her hand on her hip.

"Yes!" Ron sighed, "No... I mean... Krum used you with the excuse of having children and you're just gonna fall for that all over again!"

"Except, Ron, what you seem to forget is that everyone knows that I can't have children!" She screamed, "And you can't tell me that you never used me! You never wanted me to work! You just wanted me to stay at home with any child that we might have had! And then, when I miscarried, you just LEFT! YOU JUST LEFT! I WAS ON MY OWN!"

All the colour drained from his face, "It... It was hard for me..."

"WHAT ABOUT ME! IT WAS MY BABY TOO!"

"L-look Hermione..." He stammered, "I-I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... upset you..." He took a deep breath, steeling himself, "But Snape can't be trusted and I just don't like you staying over there all the time."

Hermione was about to reply angrily, but the kitchen door shut behind them. She whirled around and pulled open the door, but all she saw was two flashes of red before the people disapparated.

""""""""""""""""""""

Severus pulled the front door open rather roughly. He was still annoyed that Hermione had been able to escape so easily... maybe he really was getting old?

No. That was stupid. Albus was old, and he and Minerva still managed to go at it like rabbits! There was a reason he stayed in the Dungeons and it was because the only other free teachers rooms were directly next to Minerva’s; a person who couldn't see that the walls were made of stone would have thought they were made of paper, judging by the noise they let through.

Just thinking about it made him shudder.

As soon as the door was open, two red headed people bustled in. Bewildered, Severus shut the door and turned, only to have a long-nailed finger thrust in his face.

The person growled in a deathly low voice, "You be nice to her or, Merlin help me, I will castrate you and it will be painful. The only slimy things in jars will be your slimy things."

The second person said reproachfully, "Really, Ginny dear. I wish you wouldn't be so violent. I thought that I had brought you up better than that."

Ginny Weasley lowered her finger slowly. She gave Severus a sarcastic look, "Excuse us one moment."

She spun around and stalked over to her mother. They muttered some words, which resulted in Ginny nodding triumphantly and Molly shaking her head in the 'where-did-we-go-wrong' way.

However, Molly spoke next, in a motherly tone, "I really am sorry for this intrusion, Severus darling," - Severus shuddered - "but we... overheard a conversation and we just wanted to have a little chat with you, dear."

He hated it when she spoke to him like that, but a few years ago he had realized that Molly and Arthur were nice people and they had, for some strange reason, earned his respect. Probably because they put up with Fred, George and - the worst of all their children as far as Severus was concerned - Ron.

"Yeah, just a little chat," The younger Weasley agreed, smiling sweetly, "And then, if we find out your hurting Hermione, I'll cut your bollocks off."

"Ginny!" Molly gasped, "Don't use such language! It's very unladylike!"

It seemed that Ginny Weasley really was the definition of 'fiery redhead'. Growing up and leaving Hogwarts had certainly done nothing to take away her temper. Severus actually felt a twinge of fear; she looked like she might actually carry out her threats! Very, very nasty threats.

"Really, dear," Molly said to him, "All we wanted to say was that Hermione has been though a lot lately and we don't want her getting hurt. She hasn't been very lucky with men. Just look at that mess with Viktor Krum, and I have to admit that Ron wasn't as helpful with her first miscarriage as I had hoped he would be. She just needs someone nice to look after her. Now, I’m sure she told you that she can't have children, but as I’ve heard that you already have a daughter, I’m sure you won't want any more children. I mean no offence, but," She laughed slightly, "You work with children. I'm sure you must get tired of them. Anyway, I know that you won't put any pressure on her to have any. Just do try not to be too harsh to her. As I said, the poor dear has been though a lot recently."

Severus sighed, "I can assure you, Mrs. Weasley, that -"

"Oh!" Ginny cooed suddenly, "Aren't you just adorable! No wonder Hermione likes working with you!"

Corrin wandered slowly down the stairs giving Ginny a mistrustful look, "Where's Hermione? I heard her this morning... Who's that, daddy?"

"That," He answered smugly, looking at a glaring Ginny, "would be a Weasley."

Corrin frowned with childish innocence, "What's a Weasley?"