A Long Way Back ~ Editing

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 3 ~ The First Step Back

Hermione awoke the next morning to Ying and Yang yowling and pawing at her hair to be let out.

"Stop it!" she growled, swinging at the cats. But they were used to it and neatly ducked and continued harassing the witch until she sat up scowling.

"All right. All right. I'm getting up," Hermione snarked, rolling out of the bed and stretching in her heavy flannel granny gown. It hung straight down her body. She rubbed her eyes, scratched her ass, then went and used the loo. The cats kept up a steady song of yowls until she opened the door. Both flew down the hall and the stairwell. But instead of turning left and heading for the door, they turned right and headed for the back of the house.

"Hey!" Hermione called after them. "Where are you two going?"

The cats kept going. Aggravated, Hermione followed them.

Presently she began to smell something she hadn't smelled in years. Sausage. She picked up her pace, heading for the kitchen.

To call Hermione's kitchen a kitchen was an understatement. It was huge enough for at least twenty cooks, with several huge pantries, coolers and stoves. She even had a grill in there. But she only used a single stovetop burner to make her porridge or spaghetti.

And that wasn't porridge she smelled.

She arrived at the huge double doors that led into the kitchen, Ying and Yang impatiently yowling outside the door. She walked into the kitchen and stopped cold.

Severus was in there, dressed only in his silk boxers and a pair of black bedroom slippers. His wand was stuck in the waistband of his boxers and he was cooking. His scarred muscular back flexed fluidly as he quickly scrambled some eggs. A few sausages lay glistening on a platter as well as a small stack of toast and jam. The smell of fresh coffee filled the kitchen. Hermione hadn't had coffee in ages. She normally drank water or a weak tea.

Severus dumped the scrambled eggs on to the platter next to the sausages, then stirred another pot on the stove and cut the heat off from under it. Platter in hand, he turned to see Hermione staring at him.

He nodded at her in greeting, walked over to the huge kitchen table and set the platter of sausages and eggs down, closely followed by Ying and Yang. The familiars had never smelled anything so delicious. It was even better than cat food. The wizard went back for the toast, jam and a generous cup of coffee then returned to the table. Hermione's eyes swept over all the food.

"Where did you get all that?" she asked him.

"I went to the Early Bird Market this morning," he said, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

Severus pulled the entire platter of sausage and eggs in front of him, licking his lips in anticipation. The wizard began eating as Hermione watched him. Severus used to make breakfast for her when he stayed overnight. The same breakfast he was eating now. The only difference was he cooked naked. She imagined he only wore boxers right now for her sake. Severus looked up at her and swallowed.

"Oh, and I made a pot of porridge for you," he said, picking up a fat, juicy sausage and biting into it.

Porridge, dry spaghetti and canned sauce were all Hermione had in the pantry. It was all she ate.

"Mmm, that's good," Severus said, chewing the piece of sausage enthusiastically.

Hermione looked at the rapidly disappearing food on the Potions Master's plate, then walked over to the cabinet, removed a bowl, then took a spoon out of the lower drawer and walked over to the stove. Severus had left a large spoon there, and she spooned herself out a steaming bowl of porridge. Severus watched her with a little smirk.

Hermione had loved sausages, eggs and toast with jam. Not to mention a nice cuppa. When the Potions Master located the kitchen last night and scrounged about for victuals, all he found was a large supply of porridge and spaghetti with canned sauce. The only thing in the cooler was a carefully wrapped bit of butter. Severus hated porridge, and made some spaghetti, which he found horrible with canned sauce. He was used to making his own sauce with fresh ingredients.

The wizard determined right then to go to the market first thing in the morning and buy some decent food. If that was all Hermione ate, no wonder she looked as she did. She was sadly lacking in nutritious food.

With true Slytherin intent, Severus apparated to the market as soon as the sun came up, and purchased a few items that he knew Hermione once enjoyed. But, he was not going to cook for her or offer her any of it. If she wanted it, she'd have to ask.

Hermione walked over to the cooler, carefully unwrapped the butter and put a minute bit into her porridge, then wrapped it back. She carried her food over to the table just in time to see Severus take a blissful sip of black coffee. Scowling, she sat down and started eating her porridge quietly.

It didn't help that Severus was quite vocal of his enjoyment of his breakfast, slurping and chewing exaggeratedly. Hermione found her mouth watering at the crisp snap of sausages, and the wizard's delighted sighs of pleasure as he bit into the buttered toast, lavishly spread with strawberry jam.

Hermione's eyes washed over his pale, muscular chest. Her throat felt a little tight.

"Couldn't you at least have put some clothes on?" she snapped at the wizard, irritated.

Severus stopped eating and arched an eyebrow at her.

"I do have clothes on…more than I normally do when making breakfast," he said looking down at his boxers, then at the witch. "Breakfast is always better in the buff, as you should well remember."

There was a hint of purr in his voice when he said this.

"There'll be no 'in the buff' around here, Severus," she said, frowning. "Anyway, how do you keep getting past my wards? They are supposed to be impenetrable."

Severus gave her a smirk.

"Let's just say I picked up a few very potent curse-breaking spells in my travels. They work equally well on wards," he replied, running his toast around the plate sopping up the sausage juice. He noticed Hermione was eyeing the last sausage on the platter. He sat back and patted his rippled stomach. Hermione's eyes shifted away.

"Ah, I'm stuffed. Would you like the last sausage?"

Hermione was about to say yes, when the Potions Master picked up the sausage, snapped it in half and gave it to Ying and Yang, who snatched their pieces from his hand and ran off to separate corners to eat their prizes.

Hermione's stomach gurgled loudly.

Severus eyed her.

"You sound starved, Hermione. Better shovel down that porridge," he said, rising from his chair and clearing the table. He strode over to the sink, washed the dishes, dried them and put them away. Then he turned and folded his arms, leaning back against the sink.

Hermione couldn't help but notice he was quite toned, even more so than when she was with him. Probably from climbing about on mountain slopes and running through rain forests pursued by natives. He didn't have an inch of fat on him. He was lean, but not skinny with well-defined musculature. Her eyes dropped for a moment to his boxers, then she reddened and looked away. No doubt that particular muscle was still in fine form as well.

Severus saw Hermione color and shook his head slightly. He was tempted to say something but decided against it.

"Your wand is in the study," he said.

Hermione looked at him. That's right. He had taken her wand last night.

"Fine. I'll get it later," she said.

Severus nodded then said, "I hope you don't mind but I put some things in the pantry and the last cooler."

"Fine with me," the witch said shortly, spooning her bland porridge into her mouth.

"Good. I'm going to go get dressed now," he said pushing away from the sink

Hermione's eyes flicked over him.

"Thank the gods," she replied.

Severus cocked his head at her.

"There was a time you'd hide my clothes to keep me from getting dressed," he purred at her.

"That was a long time ago, Severus. I was a different witch then," she responded. "I'm a different witch now."

"That you are, witch" he said soberly. "That you are."

He left the kitchen, trailed by Ying and Yang.

Hermione let out a long sigh and pushed her bowl of porridge away. The wizard had some nerve walking around her home next to naked as if he owned the place. He was insufferable. Like she really wanted to see his taut, lean pale body…

Suddenly an image of the wizard naked, poised and erect appeared in her mind.

Horrified, Hermione forced the image of Severus' ample male attributes out of her head.

"Damn it," she hissed, shaking her head as if she could empty it of the image.

She didn't need to think of him naked. There was nothing the wizard had she wanted but the elixir. Just the elixir.

Hermione's eyes curiously shifted to the far cooler where Severus' food was, then back toward the kitchen door, listening carefully. She didn't hear anything. Severus must have gone.

The witch stood up, walked over to the cooler, opened it and gasped.

There was a huge strawberry chocolate cheesecake in there…her favorite. There was also sliced ham, eggs, cheese, sausages, sweet pickles, sourdough bread, strawberry jam, a container of pumpkin juice and a brown wrapped package of meat. A crisp head of lettuce and a nice ripe tomato sat on the lower shelf

Hermione looked back toward the kitchen door, then gingerly picked up the package of sliced ham, unwrapped it and took out a piece. She quickly wrapped it back, returned it to the cooler and closed the door. Then she stuffed the whole piece of ham into her mouth quickly as the kitchen door opened and Severus walked back in. He saw her standing in front of the cooler.

"Checking out my supplies, Hermione?" he asked her.

"Umm-hmmm," she nodded, her mouth full of ham.

Severus had been standing right outside the kitchen door and heard her open the cooler and unwrap something. Most likely whatever it was, was in her mouth now. He waited until she closed the cooler to enter and catch her.

"Are you eating something, Hermione?" he asked her.

"Umm umm," Hermione murmured, shaking her head in negation as Severus walked closer, studying her face. Her lips were tightly closed and her cheeks slightly puffed out. The Potions Master delicately sniffed in her direction, his nostrils pulsating slightly. The wizard cocked his head and folded his arms. His biceps were quite noticeable when he did this.

"I distinctly smell sliced ham," he said, his lip quirking. "Have you been in my ham, Miss Granger?"

He was using his old Professor voice and asked her that question as if asking if she had been in his Potions stores.

Hermione looked up at him for a moment, then gave up…openly chewing the ham. It was delicious. The witch couldn't remember anything tasting so good. She swallowed then scowled at Severus.

"Well, you are using my cooler after all. I should be able to get a taste of something," she said, looking at him defiantly.

Severus looked down at her.

"I'm not complaining, Hermione. I don't blame you. I've seen your pantry. A very sad affair," the Potions Master said. "But you are right. It is your cooler after all. Feel free to get a 'taste of something' any time you like."

Hermione looked at the wizard in shock. She had expected him to at least rib her a little for raiding his food stores. But he didn't. The wizard just turned and left the kitchen.

Hermione stared after Severus for a moment, then turned back to the cooler. She hesitated for a moment, then opened it, and with an openly lustful look took out the entire strawberry chocolate cheesecake. She headed for the table, stopping for a fork on the way.

The hell with porridge.

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Severus smiled to himself as he headed for his second floor bedroom. Getting Hermione to eat something other than porridge and spaghetti had been rather easy.

It seemed Hermione was still a slave to her passions. Her culinary passions anyway. Severus planned to keep her favorite foods in the cooler and let the witch eat as much of it as she liked. She would fill out and become more vibrant with proper food. Maybe become more like she used to be.

As he walked down the gloomy hallway, Severus scowled up at the heavy closed curtains draped on the windows facing the grounds. There was a time when he preferred dark, dank corridors. But he was not that wizard anymore.

Severus pulled his wand out of his elastic waistband, then began to remove every single curtain and scourgified every single window until the corridor was filled with light. Ying and Yang blinked at the unaccustomed brightness, then began to scamper about and play, chasing the motes of dust Severus shook loose while cleaning the windows. They were having a ball.

Severus surveyed his handiwork. Now the corridor had some color to it. The walls were a rich mahogany and the floors covered with green marble tile. A bit of cleaning would make them stand out even more. But one thing at a time.

The Potions Master headed up the stairwell to get dressed and prepare himself for Hermione's inevitable temper tantrum when she discovered all the curtains gone. Maybe he should have held on to her wand a bit longer.

Severus shrugged.

He wasn't repentant at all. Hell, he lived here too. Besides, if anyone needed a little light in her life, it was Hermione Granger.

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A/N: There we go. Please review.