Strong Enough

CH 27 WONDERWALL

Zephyr, you\'re the best

Thanks, you know where!!

Not mine, hers

\"There are many things that I
Would like to say to you,
But I don’t know how,
I said maybe,
Your gonna be the one that saves me,
And after all,
You’re my Wonderwall\"

Wonderwall, Oasis

Severus and Hermione were silent as they walked through the corridors, hands still entwined. When they reached his quarters he dropped the wards, pulled her in and reset them, then without breaking his stride or her hand walked directly to his bedroom.

He shut the door and pulled her to him in a passionate kiss. She tore his robes and shirt off and they only broke from the kiss when he pulled her t-shirt over her head. She dropped to her knees and began to uton ton his trousers, pulling them down to his knees, followed by his silk boxers. She took his hard cock in her hand and began stroking, running her tongue along the length, stroking his sac and taking one of his balls in her mouth. He groaned and slammed one his hands on the door for support, the other tangled in her long hair. She took him in her mouth and lightly grazed her teeth along the tender skin, until she felt herself being lifted to feet.

He dragged her over to the bed and pushed her down onto it. He pulled his wand and pointed it at her, \"Vestem exuo.\" He said and then did the same to himself, ridding them of their remaining clothes. He climbed onto the bed and began kissing her, starting from the ankles andkingking his way up her legs to her inner thighs. She could feel herself trembling under his touch as she parted her legs for him. He slid his tongue in between her folds and greedily began lapping the juices that had already formed there, she felt her whole body shuddering under his ministrations and shouted his name as she felt herself going over the edge.

He lifted himself to kiss her and tasted her own juices on his tongue. She flipped him over so he was on his back and straddled him, positioning herself over his cock. She very slowly lowered herself onto him, both gasping at the sensation, they stayed like that for a moment, just staring at each other and trying to find the words to convey what they were feeling, and coming up with nothing. She put her hand to his face and stroked his cheek, to them it had become the ultimate sign of affection. She leant over and traced her tongue down to his neck following the serpent tattoo over his shoulder aown own his arm and he shuddered with lust for the woman before him. She began to ride him, first slowly and then picking up speed. He reached up to cup her breasts and began to pull and pinch her erect nipples. She brought both hands to his chest for support and stared into his face realizing that she had never felt this way before. She felt fam familiar tightening around her abdomen and thrust forward with as shout as Severus d oud out her name and shot his juice into her body.

She lifted herself off and lay next to him, both drenched in sweat and breathing hard. \"Hermione,\" said Severus, turning onto his side to face her.

\"Yes.\" She replied, brushing a stray lock of hair from his face.

He captured her hand in his own and kissed the palm. \"I know it must have been hard for you to defend this relationship to them,\" he said gently.

\"Not as hard as it would have been if you hadn’t been there,\" he kissed her forehead and she continued. \"We made a deal, we are a team, me and you, and I’m not giving up on it because of other peoples hang ups.\" They lay there for a long time, just touching and kissing until they fell into a peaceful sleep, both to scared to say the three words that they had never said before and that could change everything between them.

~*~*~*~

The next month passed quickly and sadly for the staff and students of Hogwarts. More children lost their families, and the staff mourned for old students.

Hermione was more and more frequently called away from the castle, but always returned for the D.A lessons, and as often as she could, to his bed. They both knew their feeling for each other were getting stronger and it terrified them both. E tim time she left, Severus felt like his heart was being torn out. The fear he felt was replaced by an overwhelming relief every time she walked back into the room of requirements, bold as brass and like she hadn’t been out risking life and limb.

On the last week of February, Hermione missed all the D.A lessons. She didn’t turn up to dinner and by nine o’clock on Friday night there was still no sign of her.

Severus was standing, no, pacing in Dumbledore’s office with the headmaster and Minerva. They had bought him there as he was terrifying the younger students, by snarling and shouting every time somebody passed the entrance hall where he had been standing. He had Hermione’s magical phone clutched in his hand like a lifeline.

\"Where the hell is she?\" Severus snarled for the fifteenth time in as many minutes.

\"Severus, why don’t you sit down and have a cup of tea?\" Suggested Minerva kindly, placing a cup down on the small table near Severus’s pacing. \"I’m sure she’s fine, it’s just that she doesn’t have a nine to five job, she can sometimes get held up.\"

Severus swung around to face the two people who meant nearly as much to him as Hermione did \"A cup of tea does not, despite what you think, make everything alright,\" he spat. \"You do not have any idea whether or not she is alright and the fact that she does not have a nine to five job is exactly why I am so goddamn worried.” He swept the cup across the room with such force that it shattered against the wall.

\"Severus calm down.\" Said Dumbledore firmly, as the younger man slumped down in a nearby chair, holding his head in his hands. \"You are not helping anyone by getting so worked up.\" He looked worriedly at Minerva. It had been a long time since they had seen Severus in such a state, and their own worry for Hermione, mixed with worry for him, was making the atmosphere very tense.

\"You don’t understand.\" Said Severus in a desperate voice. He was replaying the last night he had seen her over in his head. He couldn’t remember if he had said and done everything he could have to let her know how he felt. (You should have told hesaidsaid the voice in his head, (what if something really bad has happened to her, and she never knows how you feel.) He was torturing himsend hnd he knew it, thinking the worst. He had never had anyone to worry about on the outside before and it was killing him. He couldn’t even contemplate life without her in it now; such was the effect she’d had on him.

Suddenly the door to the office swung open and Hermione stood in the doorway. He had always thought of himself as a hardened man but he could feel the tears in his eyes and the sight before him. She was beaten and bloody, holding her right arm at an odd angle, cut in several places including her head. She was shaking in a way that Severus could sympathize with and she had a black eye, but to him she still looked like an angel.

Hermione had never been so glad to see anyone in her life, as she was to see Severus. It was the thought of him that had kept her going through the last week, and seeing him in front of her now made it all worthwhile.

He strode over to where she was standing and caught her in his arms, lettine tee tears fall, holding her so tightly that he was sure he must be hurting her, but not able to let go.

Hermione let out a small sob of relief as she wrapped her good arm around his neck, he was holding her a little too tightly as she was sure she had a couple of broken ribs but she didn’t care, she couldn’t think of a time when she felt safer.

Severus held her face in his hands \"Thank Merlin you are all right,\" he said fiercely.

\"I’m fine,\" she smiled weakly and then her legs gave way under her. Severus caught her before she could reach the ground. \"Albus, can we use your floo, she needs to see Poppy,\" he said, never taking his eyes off her.

\"Of course,\" said Dumbledore, worriedly, grabbing a handful of powder and throwing it into the fire. \"If you are up to it in the morning, Hermione, I would like the two of you to join us for breakfast, here.\"

Hermione nodded and let Severus lead her through the fireplace to the infirmary.

As soon as she had been checked over by Poppy, Severus took her back to his rooms. Once they were settled in bed, Severus gave hequesquestioning look.

She sighed. \"Can we not do this now Severus?\" She asked wearily. \"I will explain it all to you and Dumbledore in the morning, for now can you just hold me?\"

Severus wrapped his arms around her tightly, his relief at getting her back turning to rage inside him. He wanted to know where she had been, and who had done this to her, but she was obviously exhausted. She fell into a deep sleep almost immediately, and, as Severus watched her sleep a shiver ran through bod body, as he vowed to himself that he would not sit back and watch her go through this time and time again on her own.

~*~*~*~

The next morning, Severus awoke to find himself alone in the bed. He salt ult upright, a thrill of fear running thr him him. Surely she hadn’t been called away again so soon? He got up and put on his robe, calling out her name and searching his rooms. When she didn’t appear he floo’ed her rooms, nothing. He walked to the window and found his answer. She was running around the grounds, the early morning sunlight picking out the red highlights in her hair, she had on a tight black vest, jeans which had been cut off into shorts and running shoes. He did a cleansing spell and quickly dressed, striding out of his rooms and onto the grounds via a secret passage he used to use to go to meetings without being seen.

Hermione loved to run. It always made her feel so alive. She was trying to clear her head. She needed to sort out her feelings.

She had followed a lead to an abandoned nightclub in muggle London, which she found out from her sources, was being used by Lucius Malfoy and some of the lesser death eaters he was allowed minor control over. By the time she realized that Lucius wasn‘t there, she was surrounded. She had never taken on so many at once, and weakened by the Cruatius curse that was put on her from behind, she thought that she may have made a gross error in judgment, by not calling for back up, then she had heard Severus\'s voice in her head from the night they had confronted Harry, calling her passionate, intellectual, beautiful, loyal and strong and she had taken strength from that to fight her way out.

She stopped running when she saw him storming across the grounds towards her, robes billowing out behind him. She realized, at that moment, that for the first time since her parents died, that as strong as she may be, she needed someone again, she needed him.

He came to a standstill in front of her. \"What the hell do you think you are doing?\" He shouted. \"Last night you could hardly stand and this morning you think you’re up to a cross country run, are you mad?\"

\"Yes, quite possibly,\" she said, sarcastically, stretching out her body.

\"Have you forgotten that we are supposed to be seeing Dumbledore this morning?\" He said angrily.

\"I have already seen him,\" at Severus’s look, \" I was up early this morning and so I made my report to the ministry and Dumbledore at the same time.\"

\"Were you intending to tell me what happened,\" he hissed, \"or am I not important enough to be informed of why you came back after being missing for a week, looking like you’d been jumped by a street gang.\"

Hermione made a mental note to find out one day how he knew so much about the muggle world. \"Severus, don’t talk to me like that,\" she said angrily. \"I’ve told you before about treating me like one of your students. The only people I have to report to is the Ministry, if I decide to tell you it’s because I choose to and not because you bullied me into it.\"

\"It’s him, isn’t it?\" He shouted at her. \"You won’t tell me because it’s something to do with Lucius?\"

She jumped at his words. She couldn\'t explain her need to be the one to capture Lucius, she just knew that she had to do it.There was no way she was telling him that, he already had the g idg idea. \"Don’t start,\" she warned. \"I will not put up with your macho bullshit, Severus.\"

He grabbed her by the arms. \"Tell me.\" He said dangerously.

\"Get off me.\" She snarled, pulling her arms awa"I w"I was following a lead, it didn’t go where I expected it to, alright? They surrounded me, I got out. End of story.\" She began to walk away.

\"Why, Hermione, why didn’t you contact anyone?\" He began in a rant. \"You must have known we would be worried out of our minds. It was just plain thoughtless of you to not let us know you were alright, or not as the case may have been, what made you think you could do this on your own or did you not want anyone to find out who you were following?\" He finished, eyes narrowed.

\"Gods Severus, leave it alone will you? Why the hell are you getting so worked up about this anyway?\" She shouted.

\"Because I’m falling in love with you, you selfish bitch, and I was terrified that something had happened to you!\" He yelled.

\"Well I’m falling in love with you too, you arrogant bastard, and I didn‘t tell you because I didn‘t want to admit that the only thing that got me out of there was the thought of coming back here to you!\" She shouted back at him.

They both stood in stunned silence for a moment, and then Severus grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him, kissing her hard. She responded by putting her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss.

As they sunk into the long grass, bodies pressed tightly together, neither of them noticed the large tabby slinking towards the castle, looking suspiciously like the cat that caught the canary.


Kiss, Kiss

Aoibheann; Thank you so much!! xx
Nesscafe; I thought that Ginny sticking nosenose in would stir things up nicely and look it worked. You update when you can love, just let me know o.k? xx
Deb; Hope this was a good chapter to greet you on your return, and that you are alright xx
Estrilda; Oh Estrilda, please don’t pout (that sounds like my sort of tactic!!) I hope this one was a bit longer for you! xx
SandraM; Quite right!! thanks xx
Cookie; I’m sorry love, but like I keep saying, the whole RL thing keeps me pretty busy!! If you can find me a millionaire who won’t mind sharing me with the other half and my computer then I could live out my life as millionaire playgirl and fanfic writer full time!! I will tell you soon why Ginny is there, promise!! xx
RedWritingHood; That was my favourite part, Sev’s description. It’s how I see her!! xx
PotionMistressM; I must admit, Harry is my least favourite character, esp after OotP closely followed by Ron, so I enjoyed writing the confrontation between them all!!
You will not have Sev all to yourself, I will come over there and fight you for him, wrestling school or not!! big kisses xxx
Shem; Don’t worry, I won’t tell!! but as you can see, all is well at the moment!! My D.A sessions are not going to get smutty so you can just drag your head out of the gutter. How was naked Sev, not much I know but there will be more, this I promise!!
Not dumbass at all, am glad of any kind of review *am review whore, obviously!*


Big thanks again for reviewing over the Christmas period, it was the only chance I got.!!
I do update as often as I can but realistically it will be about once a week as my RL is impossibly busy at the moment!

Check for updates at:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/grrarrg0908/

Kisses and a Happy New Year
GrrArrg