She's a Lady

Hermione winced at the brightness of the light when she woke up the next morning. She Lay back and rubbed her eyes, for a few moments she lay confused and then the previous night came flooding back to her. She groaned and rolled over to sit up, raking her fingers through her hair she looked around the room, she couldn't see Snape anywhere in here, perhaps he had slept in the living room. She smirked at the thought of Severus Snape asleep on a sofa.

She got up and walked around the room, it was large with a huge bed and wooden furniture and decorated well -if very pink- somehow Hermione didn't think Severus knew quite how pink the room was when he booked it, which brought her mind to it's next question: what on Earth was Snape doing in a hotel room in muggle London? She shook her head and told herself that she couldn't care less what Snape did in his spare time, still she was curious.

Hermione caught sight of a door that led off of the bedroom and guessed it must be the bathroom, she looked down at herself. Well, she needed a bath and she was in no particular rush to get back to normality. She grabbed a fluffy pink towel from a chair by the door and entered the bathroom.

~*~

Severus yawned and rolled over in bed.

THUD. Owch. He looked around him to see he was not in his bed at all but rather on the floor by the sofa in the living area. What the bloody hell was he doing in here? Annoyed by his fall and rubbing his arm he got up and walked through to the bedroom. He needed a shower.

Still in a sleepy haze he entered the bathroom, he stopped suddenly, now he remembered why he had been sleeping on the sofa. Hermione was stretched out in the large tub in his bathroom, her eyes were closed and she was humming gently to herself. Severus moved to say something but found he couldn't, through the water he could see ever curve of her body, she had certainly matured since her time at school, her haired had been tamed into loose curls which fell past her shoulders, she had lost any baby fat and was now long and leaned with slightly tanned skin. She was beautiful.

He shook himself and his face resumed it's customary scowl. He coughed to alert her to his prescence.

Hermione's eyes opened and widened with surprise. She covered herself with her hands and grabbed for the towel at the side of the bath. "How dare you?!" she demanded "Get out!" She shouted at him.

He opened his mouth to make a comment about this being his bathroom and then realised how childish that would sound, he glared and stormed out. Hermione wrapped the towel around herself, shouting through the door to him "You could have knocked you know!!"

He shouted back at her "Miss Granger, it strikes me as this being more your own fault! You know how to lock a door for goodness sake, stupid girl! I know you've given up on magic but that that mean you need to give up on common sense!"

She stormed out of the bathroom grabbing her things and brushing past him.

"Where do you think you are going?" He demanded, striding after her.

"Anywhere that's far away from you!" She growled at him.

"Miss Granger sit down!"

She stopped. She pouted at him, crossed her arms and plopped down in a chair. "What do you want now?"

He stopped for a moment, what *did* he want from her? He smirked at her and said "I think it is what *you* want from *me*, namely my money. You will remain here for the rest of the week"

"I will do nothing of the kind!" She said, outraged.

"You will if you know what is good for you. Now go and get changed at once."

"Not before you tell me what it is you're doing here. If Dumbledore sent you to bring me back i'm not interested, i'm fine!"

"Oh yes I can see that" He smirked "Do not flatter yourself Miss Granger, I am simply under orders to pose as a muggle until we can determine whether a certain man is a threat. I am keeping a muggle man under observation, my years as a spy mean that I am the obvious candidate for the task. Running into you was simply an unwelcome coincidence, however, keeping you around may prove useful. You have much knowledge of the muggle world and besides, i'm keeping you off the streets"

"Oh, my hero" Hermione drawled sarcastically. "Fine, but I'm staying for the money, nothing else." She got up and walked to the door of the bedroom "Oh, and Snape?"

He glared at the way she had adressed him and she grinned "Have fun sleeping on the sofa"


AN: I'm trying soooo hard not to make Severus OOC. It's really difficult when trying to play out a certain plot. Obv. Hermione is going to be because of what she's been through. Also in my little deluded world Dumbledore is alive and everything is as it was before HBP. (Because it's my story and that's how I want it, so there!)

Thankyou to all my lovely reviewers:

Snapslave, Angel and Pamela: There ya go another update for ya! I shud b updating regularly but i'm pretty much writing this as I go along so who knows? (Snapeslave i heart your enthusiasm! Thanx!!)

SnapesPet: I'm sure theyre going to be doing a lot of discussing ;)

Falcon: I did double check and I think i'm ok, disclaimers are up blah blah blah. Thankyou!

Kade: Thanyou for pointing that out to me, I don't have a beta yet and my computer keeps crashing (twice I had to rewrite Chapter 1!) so things are slipping through that I havent spotted. Keep checkin for me! :)

Shmoe: OMG! Classic idea! I'll put it on my 'To Write' list! Any ideas for main characters, etc?

xxxxPainexxxx