Amidst the Ruins

~A/N~

By the way I do not own any of these characters, they do belong to J. K. Rowling. I am not making any money off of this, I\'m just borrowing them for my own selfish enjoyment.

Thanks a ton to all who have read and reviewed and thanks for looking past all the errors, considering I don\'t have a beta, there are probably quite a few. There will be a bit of lime in this next chapter and hopefully if they get along well enough there will be some lemon in the one after that. I also think I forgot to write into the previous chapter that Snape just threw his cloak on over his pajama attire. I\'m not completely sure though, I have to go back and check. To the readers: =) Thank you! You guys roxor my soxors!=)


Chapter IV

After two hours had gone by Snape\'s fingers and toes had gone numb from the cold air and he noticed that Hermione had began to shiver violently. He mentally punished himself for not reprimanding her for picking something that wasn\'t warmer when she had transfigured her outfit.. To his own surprise he found himself pulling the edges of his cloak out and around her small frame enveloping them both into its warm folds. Hermione, as cold and sleep deprived as she was, leaned back onto his warm chest.

Snape looked down as her body went limp. She had fallen asleep or passed out. Considering how he felt it was more likely that she had fallen asleep. His eyes were beginning to sting and get heavy from the hours of cold air blowing into them. It was only a little while longer before they would arrive at a place he hadn’t been to since his younger Death Eater days. This castle held many memories that he had tried hard to forget. As much as he would rather continue to forget, there was no place else that had remained hidden from the Death Eaters. This had been his safe haven that first year he had begun to think about leaving the order.

Snape touched down lightly, managing to not wake Hermione. He cradled her in his arms and walked quietly through the dew drenched grass to the remains of a huge archway that led into the ruins of a castle. To the average person it was nothing but an old destroyed castle but to those who knew what to look for there was a hidden doorway that led into the underground rooms that Snape had setup so long ago. After carefully finding his way down the long, dark set of stairs he lit the torches in the first room which revealed a lavishly decorated great room done in Slytherin colors. He walked through this room down a narrow hallway and turned into the last room on the left. As he lit the torches in this room he was shocked to see that the earth from above had collapsed in, filling the room to it\'s edges . This was going to make things so much more uncomfortable for him. He turned carefully and went to the room directly across from it. He lit the torch and to his relief this room was still in tacked. He went to the large four poster bed and laid her down gently, then he carefully undid her boots and took them off. Finally he made sure to pull the blankets up close around her. He didn’t remember this place being this cold when he was younger.

Snape stood beside the bed watching her as she peacefully slumbered. This would be one of the last times she was going to be able to slip into oblivion and forget what had happened tonight. Tomorrow when she woke everything would come back to her and she would no longer be able to have the carefree life of a child.
He grabbed the large comforter from inside the armoire and headed into the great room where he laid uncomfortably down on the only couch. Tomorrow he would be sorry he had slept on a tiny, cramped couch but for tonight he was well beyond caring. As he was about to slip into sweet nothingness he thought of the way Hermione’s soft lips had given way to his willingly and then he was out.

The next morning Hermione woke and sat up startled. Nothing looked familiar and there were no windows so she could not tell the time of day. Where was she? Was last night a dream. She got out from under the covers and noticed her boots had been taken off. Now if a Death Eater had caught her he would not have taken the time to take her shoes off, of course she wouldn’t be sleeping in a bed either she would be chained to a wall or worse. She quietly padded across the soft, thick rug that covered the middle of the room. She stopped at the door to listen for any kind of sound. There was nothing but the sound of the fire burning from the torch next to her, it her opinion it was way to quiet.

Hermione peered around the corner cautiously only to find a long, narrow hallway with a light shining at the end. She crept down the hall past all the closed doors to the light at the end. As she came around the corner she was surprised to see a room that was as richly furnished as the bedroom she had woken up in. There were dark, green velvet drapes that ran from ceiling to floor and tables and chairs done in dark cherry wood. On one side of the room was a wall covered with old dusty books. Hermione crossed the room and began to look at the titles. Most seemed to have something to do with potions or Defense Against the Dark Arts. That’s when she remembered she had come with Professor Snape and it was high time she found him. She turned on her heel and sleeping there, right in front of her, was professor Snape.

At first Hermione blushed and turned away for Snape was lying on his back with one arm covering his face and the other hanging limply off to the side. He was tall enough that in order for him to lie on this couch he had to let his legs dangle over the arm rests in a haphazard manner. This all didn’t bother her it was the fact that his comforter had pretty much slid off of him and his robe was open all the way down the front leaving his torso completely visible. During all the rush and confusion of last night she had not realized how good he actually looked. He was in the same clothes as the night before but she could now make out the fact that his entire body was toned and smooth. From his, just the right size pecs, all the way down to where his pants hung just low enough to see the shadowed lines of his hipbones, to the fine dusting of black hair trailing from the top of his pants, up his lower abdomen to his bellybutton. He was perfect in her mind. At this point she realized she was staring at Professor Snape in a not so student like fashion.

“Did you need some help with something Miss Granger or where you trying to burn holes through me with your eyes?” Snape said sardonically.

Hermione blushed and tried to think of something to say.

“I – I was just noticing that the couch you’re sleeping on is a Victorian butterfly back sofa from the 1800\'s. They’re very rare you know.”

She quickly began to stare at the ceiling or anything that would keep her from having to look him in the eye. How awful! She had just been caught staring at her Professor. She was kind of happy now that Harry and Ron had not been here to see this.
Hermione decided to change the subject.

“Um, just where are we anyway?”

“We are hidden deep beneath the ruins of a castle called Chateau Parmi le Nuage.”

“That’s French for castle among the clouds, right?” Hermione said as she chanced a sideways glance at him.

“How very astute of you Miss Granger.” Snape said as he very carefully tried to stand up.
He stood to his full height and began to rub his lower back. He knew he would be extremely sorry for having slept on that damn couch. Hermione saw his look of pain and slowly walked towards him.

“I can help you with that, you know. I was studying to become a medi-witch at one point but I decided there were better ways for me to help others.”

“No Miss Granger, I do believe I will be just fine without the help of a barely trained medi-witch.” He tried to bend over and pick up the fallen comforter and about half way down he grabbed his back and put his hand out to lean against one of the other chairs.

\"Look, you can\'t even bend over to pick things up! If you\'re to be of any help in finding a cure we\'ll need to have you fully functional!\" Hermione reprimanded.

“Alright Miss Granger, you may help me as long as it doesn’t involve any kind of potion. After seeing some of your mishaps in class I wouldn’t wish that on Voldemort himself.” He said with a harsh tone.

Hermione’s feelings were hurt by this but she would not let him see that he was getting to her. She would just pretend that he had said nothing mean at all.

“Actually, this involves a muggle form of treatment….”

“Miss Granger, I hope you seriously don’t believe I will take some small pill you hand me.”

“No, this has nothing to do with pills. Sit here on this footstool and take off your robe.”

Standing in place, Snape crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.

“If you don’t want my help then tell me now so I can get on with trying to figure out what happened to everyone back at Hogwarts.” She said with a huff.

Snape walked slowly over to the footstool and dropped down onto it like a pouting child. Then he let his silk robe slide down his shoulders to rest around his waist. Hermione just couldn’t stop from being surprised with Professor Snape. His back was clear and smooth and had defined lines. Best of all he had a strong, clearly defined, line down his spine. That was her favorite part on a guy’s back. She hadn’t seen one in person but after all the years of hanging out with Pavarti and Padme she had seen her fair share in the magazines they had brought.

Hermione stepped up right behind him and gently moved his shoulder length hair off of his neck. Snape’s senses went wild as she did this. Had any woman ever touched him so gently? Of course he had been with women before but that had been when he was a death eater and all the women he had come in contact with had either been a victim or a fellow death eater. He could not remember a time that he had been with someone in a gentle way. Why was he comparing this to times he had been with other women? He was not with Hermione now nor would he be in the future. She was a student and he a professor. What was making him think all these inane thoughts?

Hermione gently began to massage the base of his neck and worked her way down kneeding every muscle as she went. Snape sat with his head lowered, enjoying every second of release from his aching muscles.

“Professor Snape what do you think happened back at Hogwarts?”

“If you remember anything Lucious said, you would remember him referring to a potion. Which means it was either used as a vapor and they breathed it in or they were covered in it or they drank it. What do you remember from that night Miss Granger? You are the only one that can answer your question.”

“It was the punch then. I didn’t drink any of it and none of the other stuff could have happened without me noticing or being affected by it.” Hermione reasoned.

“Very good Miss Granger, then we shall start looking for potions with similar symptoms as soon as possible.”

This was the point where he was going to stand and begin to get to work but as her hands slid lower and lower over his bare back he began to lose all thoughts of being productive. He began to think about how soft her hands were and how amazing it was to have them sliding over his exposed flesh. Several improper thoughts began to creep into his mind and as she got to the waist band of his pants he grabbed her wrist causing her to flinch from his forcefullness.

“That will do Miss Granger. We will begin looking for a potion as soon as we have changed and had some breakfast.”

He released her wrist roughly and pulled his robe about him quickly and stood to leave the room.

As he was lumbering off, Hermione meekly asked “What will I change into? I had no time to get any other clothes.”

Snape continued out of the room and over his shoulder he said “I have clothes left here from when I was younger. Perhaps, you are large enough to fill them.” And he was gone behind the door of his old room.

Hermione was confused. Did she say something wrong? Maybe she hurt him? She could have sworn she had done it right. She sighed. She would never understand him. She walked into the room where the ceiling had caved in and there was a huge pile of earth lying on top of the bed. The armoire was against the wall right next to the door so it was still accessible. It was made of a light colored wood and the doors to it were very simple but they had beautiful doorknobs made of some kind of blood red stone cut in the shape of a crystal. She sorted through all the clothes looking for something comfortable and not too moth eaten. Most of the stuff was not to her liking but they would have to do. She pulled out a pair of black cargo pants and examined them for any damage. Not finding any, she slipped them on and surprisingly they were not too much larger than she was. \"He must have been a pretty scrawny kid\", Hermione thought with a bit of a chuckle. For a top she found a t-shirt that was rather baggy all around and came down just above her knees that had a red logo on the front that said Evil Inside. \"Oh well, best I can do for now but at least I can shrink them a bit. \" she thought as she looked in the mirror hanging on the inside of the door. She reminded herself of a homless person or perhaps a child that decided to play dress up.

\"Recedentia\" she said aloud causing her clothes to shrink and fit to form.

Now as she looked in the mirror the shirt had become tighter and hung just above her bellybutton, baring her midriff and just barely showing her present she had bought herself on her 17th birthday. Not many people in the muggle world understood piercings and in the wizarding world they were pretty much unheard of. She paused for a moment and looked at her bellybutton piercing with pride. She remembered how happy it had made her to finally be able to get it done, of course she had had to keep it a secret considering her parents would have had a fit if they had found out. As she continued lokking over her outfit she decided the pants had taken well to being shrunk as they fit snuggly around her waist and hung very low on her slender hips, showing off her favorite shadowed lines of her hip bones in the front. at the bottom they flared out and drug slightly on the ground over her chunky boots. \"Perfect if I do say so myself.\" she thought to herself before exiting the room to begin looking for a cure for her friends and classmates.