All the way

Over the next week, the news of Professor Granger lying to the Head Mistress to keep the students from getting in trouble spread through out the school like wild fire. The students were careful to make sure that no teacher heard, however.

Pat and Annie lapped up the lime light. Every one was so envious of them for having Hermione as an Aunt. It was brilliant. Annie wasn\'t sure why Lucius would have helped them to think of an idea for a prank; it didn\'t seem to benefit him in any way.

One part of her said forget it, he was being nice. The other part said tell Pat and work out what he gained by it.

Annie yawned. She had always hated Professor Binns\' lessons and she hated them even more since the lesson with Hermione. Learning about Voldemort could be so much fun; going places, seeing people, but no. They were stuck in a stuffy classroom, listening to a dead teacher drone on and on and on...

Starting, Annie looked over her shoulder; some one had tapped her on the back. It was Lucius, grinning at her again.

\"What?\" she hissed.

\"Nothing.\" He said innocently. Annie rolled her eyes and turned back to the front of the room. Just as she was starting to doze off, something landed on her desk.

Picking up the paper airplane, Annie looked over to Pat, who was sitting next to her. Normally she was the only person who sent her notes, but she was omitting the tiniest of snores, with her head on their desk. Frowning, she opened the note.

Hello.

Annie looked behind her. Lucius was giving her the \'go ahead\' look. She took up her quill and started to scribble.

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"

\"Pat!\" Annie called down to the common room, \"Can you grab my bag? I forgot it!\"

Pat shook her head. Annie was like her twin, but she would loose her head if it wasn\'t screwed on. She picked up her cousins bag from in front of the fire and raised her eye brows in a silent question as a crumpled piece of parchment fell out.

Pat bent down and picked up said parchment. It read:

Hello.

WHAT!

Nothing.

Quit disturbing me then.

Oh, I’m sorry, I didn\'t know you were actually listening to this dribble.

Go away.

Ok

Are you gone?

Yes.

Well your obviously not!

Well stop writing then.

No. you.

Fine.

Fine.

Bye.

Bye... NO! Leave me alone.

Ok

Starting from... NOW!

Ok.

Pat grinned. It looked like Annie had a boy friend. But who...?

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"

Lucius sat in the Slytherin common room, alone. His \'friends\' had already gone to bed, since it was well past midnight. He was very confused. He was feeling things for a Professor that he was sure he should not be feeling.

It was a sort of need. A need to be near Professor Granger and a need to hear her words of comfort. When ever she was close by, he longed for her to reach out and hold him like she had on Halloween. He wanted her attention and he wanted to think that she thought about him all the time.

Lucius scowled. He was a Malfoy; he was not supposed to need any one. But didn\'t everybody need some one. His father had needed him when he was feeling down about the stuff with Snape, hadn\'t he?

And, to add to this little problem, he couldn’t seem to stop tormenting a certain Gryffindor. He didn\'t even know her that well, but something about her made him want to see her all fired up. She was generally laid back and easy going, but when something got up her nose it was a spectacular show.

Lucius yawned and stretched. He would have to get a grip on himself. Hermione -as he called her in his mind- was his Professor, not his mother, and Annie was a Gryffindor and a Weasley. He put his rampant feelings down to hormones and left the common room for bed.

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"

Meanwhile, Hermione jumped awake, the sound of the floo breaking her dreams. She looked over to Severus. He was still fast asleep.

Deciding to let him sleep, Hermione hopped out of bed and silently made her way through his rooms to her living room. She seemed to be unnoticed by the red head that stood by the fire and the black haired man that had placed himself on her sofa.

\"I...I don\'t think I can do this Harry.\" Ron muttered.

\"No Ron. You have to; you pulled your wand on her and you\'ve been a right ass all the way through this thing.\" Harry implored, \"If I was Hermione I’d never talk to you again.\"

\"Oh Gods, don\'t say that.\" Ron covered his face with his hands.

\"Why?\" Hermione stepped into the room and the boys jumped, \"It\'s true, I might never speak to you again.\"

\"H-H-Hermione,\" Ron stuttered, \"Harry can you give us some... you know, privacy?\"

Harry nodded, \"Ok, but I want you home in an hour, and if you\'re not...\" He left the end hanging as he threw powder into a newly lit fire and stepped into the flames. He spoke his address and was gone.

Hermione headed towards the sofa and sat down, eyeing Ron.

\"So...\" She motioned for him to speak.

\"I just wanted to say,\" Ron mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck, \"that I’ve over reacted a bit,\" He didn\'t sound very convinced, \"and that I’m...\"

\"Sorry?\" Hermione prompted.

\"Yeah, that. S-s-sorry.\" He seemed to take a life time to say it.

\"No you\'re not.\" she said frankly and his face fell, \"But I appreciate the gesture.\"

Hermione stood up and hugged him gently. He put his arms around her as well; like old times, Hermione thought.

\"So,\" Ron said as they sat down on the sofa, \"Hagrid told us that you should be leaving here soon, \'cos your work with him is over and all. When are you going? Christmas?\"

\"Well, actually Ron, I’m not leaving; I\'m going to stay.\" she told him quietly.

\"What? I thought... Why are you...? Hermione?\" he stuttered.

\"I like teaching,\" Hermione explained, \"its fun and I like being back in the castle.\"

\"Is it because of him?\" Ron asked angrily, \"Is he making you stay? Why would you want to hide down here with him?\"

\"Ron, don\'t you get it? I like him!\" Hermione nearly screeched.

\"WHAT!\" He exploded, standing up. How had this meeting gone so wrong in so little time? They had just made up and now he was getting in a strop again.

\"Ron!\" she hissed, \"Shut up!\"

\"SHUT U-?!\" he stopped as Hermiones bedroom door opened and Lily walked out, rubbing her eyes.

\"Auntie \'Mione? Why are you shouting?\" She moaned. Oh Merlin! If Lily had heard then Severus must have!

\"Ron,\" Hermione said as she got up and went over to Lily, \"When I get back I want you gone, and if you aren\'t you will be in BIG trouble.\"

Hermione picked up Lily and went back into her bedroom. She put the little girl back into bed and shushed her back to sleep.

\"Hermione?\" It was Severus. Had Ron gone home yet? \"Hermione? What are you doing, it’s nearly 2 o\'clock?\" Severus said as he entered the bedroom.

\"Lily got up, that was all.\" Hermione whispered. She felt the bed dip behind her and then his arms circled her waist as he nuzzled her neck.

\"Come back to bed, I\'m tired.\" He murmured.

\"Alright.\" Hermione stood up and followed him back to his rooms, hoping that Ron had really gone, since she had not heard the floo.
____________________________________________________

Hermione hardly slept for the rest of that night. She listened out intently for any noises or signs that Ron might still be in their rooms.

Severus seemed to be asleep, but every so often, when she would become restless, he would put a calming hand on her hip. It could have been something that he did innocently in his sleep, but Hermione knew that he was normally very still in the night.

Finally, just as Hermiones eyelids were drooping, the bedroom door opened. Immediately, she was awake and sitting up, alert.

\"Auntie \'Mione?\" Hermione sighed as Lily hopped into the room.

\"Yes dove?\" Hermione smiled as she patted the bed. Lily jumped on the bed and crawled over to Hermione and into her lap.

\"This came out of the fire.\" The little girl held out a folded letter and Hermione took it and read.

Dear Hermione,

Ron told me what happened and I’m so happy that you\'ve been able to make up; I was starting to get stressed!

I was going to come and pick Lily up, but then I remembered that it was Tonks and Remus\' anniversary and I was thinking that you could bring her over to the party tonight at the Weasleys, so I could take her from there.

Thanks so much for looking after her. See you soon.
Luv,

Harry. Xxx

Hermione smiled at the kisses at the end. But what had Ron told Harry to make him think that they had made up? Had they made up? Yes, at first they had, but Ron had gone off on one again.

Lily tugged on Hermione arm and she looked down.

\"Lily,\" She said in a voice with exaggerated excitement, \"Guess what!\"

\"What?!\" She punctuated the word with a small pull on Hermiones hair.

\"You\'re going home! To Daddy!\" Hermione gasped. Lily squealed and threw herself into Hermiones arms. After a moment, she pulled back frowning.

\"You will come and visit, won\'t you?\" She demanded.

\"Of course I will, dove.\"

\"Good.\" Lily smiled as she fastened herself back around Hermiones neck.

\"Why don’t you go and get dressed and then we can go and have some breakfast?\" Hermione said, depositing Lily on the floor by the bed. She beamed and ran from the room.

\"Interesting...\" Severus said from behind her. Slowly, Hermione turned around; Severus was holding the letter, \"If you haven\'t seen Weasley since Halloween, how did you make up?\"

Hermione sighed; she hadn\'t planned on telling him that Ron had come to see her, since she thought that they still weren\'t speaking.

\"Harry brought him here last night - well, 2 in the morning actually - and we sort of made up, but then we started to have another fight. Luckily, Lily came out just in time to stop it and I went to put her to bed and told him to get out. He has obviously told Harry that we did make up.\" Hermione explained quickly.

\"Why didn\'t you tell me last night?\" Severus scowled.

\"Well, you said you were tired and it was nothing really -\"

\"Nothing? Nothing?! Hermione, unless you have forgotten, the last time you saw him, he pulled his wand on you and was most probably ready to cast an unforgivable!\" He sat up straighter and pulled her into his chest, stroking her hair, \"You should have come and got me.\"

\"Severus, I can take care of myself,\" Hermione told him kindly, \"I don\'t need you to look after me.\"

\"I know, but I want to take care of you and look after you, like you deserve.\"

Hermione didn\'t reply, because she didn\'t know how to. How do you answer a statement like that? Should she tell him that she wanted to do the same for him? -Because she did- Should she shrug it off? Should she ignore it?

Hermione wasn\'t used to people looking after her; she was usually to busy looking after them. She didn\'t like depending on people, because they let you down.

Except, she couldn\'t help but feel that Severus would never let her down, because he shared her fears of being left; that and he loved her - according to him.


They sat in each others arms for what seemed like a life time. Severus reveled in the feeling of Hermione curled up against him; in the last couple weeks these quiet moments together had been few and far between. Severus was starting to hope that the moment would never end.

But alas, it was not to be. The Potter child -as he now called her in his head- bounded into the room and onto the bed. Severus let out a low growl as Hermione pushed away from him and welcomed the-girl-who\'s-father-lived into her lap.

Over time, he had become jealous of this little devil child. Lily was sickeningly sweet and he was sure that she knew more than she let on, as she was very observant. But what maddened him the most, was the fact that Potter-the-third-generation took up more and more of Hermiones time.

If he had a class first thing, he didn\'t see Hermione because she was getting Lily ready to go to the Weasleys; then he wouldn\'t see her all day because they were both teaching and if they had a free period together, Hermione would always be chatting with the Weasley or Malfoy spawn; at the end of the day, he wouldn\'t see her because she would be putting Lily to bed, or one of them would be doing rounds, or there would be a staff meeting, or a party that she wanted to go to -and he wouldn\'t let her go alone- and when they finally got to bed, she would be to worn out to do any thing except cuddle and sleep.

How low had he sunk? Being jealous of a child! Honestly, it was ridiculous, wasn\'t it?

Severus spent the rest of the day trying to catch Hermione on her own, but as soon as breakfast was over, she left him with the black-haired, green-eyed monster and went off to see some one or some thing; she didn\'t explain at all.

Severus watched as Hermione left his rooms. He sighed in longing as she turned and smiled at him before she shut the door behind her. He was tugged from his staring by an annoying little voice and a frustrating smile.

\"Uncle Se-vie...\"


Hermione was planning to have a walk by the lake and have some time to think by herself. She rounded a corner and had the distinct impression that she was being followed.

The school was deserted as it was the Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas and the students were getting presents for their family. Hermione carried on walking and stopped suddenly, hearing footsteps that certainly weren\'t hers. She turned and saw nothing.

She had a feeling that she knew who it was, but she wanted to see what they would do. Hermione set off again and walked all the way to the entrance hall. She spun around quickly and sure enough was faced with a guilty looking Malfoy.

\"Why are you following me, Lucius?\" She asked kindly, but bluntly.

\"I... well you see, Professor... that is, I was wondering if... you would come to Hogsmeade with me?\" He stuttered. Hermione raised her eye brows and he soon realized the other meaning of his words, \"No, I don\'t mean - I mean for my father. I need to get him a gift, but I have no clue what to get. I thought perhaps you would help me.\"

Hermione sighed; she hadn\'t been planning to leave the grounds, but seeing as she already had her coat and scarf on...

\"Alright, come on.\" She turned back towards the doors and started to walk, hearing him running to catch up. \"So,\" Hermione started as they walked out of the castle and along the path to the village, \"Does your father drink?\"

\"Yes, he likes Fire Whiskey.\" Lucius told her.

\"Well, I have an idea.\" Hermione smiled.

\"You do?\" He looked up at hopefully. She nodded and smiled. As they carried on walking, it began to snow. Hermione loved the snow; it made her feel warm, as odd as that sounded.

Hermione quickly ushered Lucius into The Three Broomsticks and tucked him away in a dark corner, so that he could warm up by drinking fire whiskey and not get caught. She went up to the bar and called over Madam Rosmerta.

\"Hey Hermione!\" The flamboyant woman beamed.

\"Hi,\" Hermione said quickly, \"Do you have any of that fire whiskey? You know the one that’s been left to mature over 50 years?\"

\"Yes,\" Rosmerta smiled, \"I have one bottle left, but its 100 Galleons.\" Hermione sucked in a breath.

\"Can you save it for me please?\" Hermione asked.

\"Certainly darling.\" Hermione went back over to Lucius and told him the price. He frowned.

\"I only have 75 Galleons.\" He sighed.

\"Look, as long as you don\'t tell any one, I’ll give you the rest of the money.\" Hermione couldn\'t stand to see people disappointed. She pulled out her purse and extracted 25 Galleons.

Lucius Handed over the rest of the money and Hermione quickly brought the vintage whiskey. Lucius finished his drink and they left the bar. After establishing that they didn\'t need anything else from the village, they walked back up to the castle.

Hermione didn\'t notice that Lucius was lagging behind, until something hit her in the back. Slowly, she turned around; Lucius was gathering more snow in his hands.

Ducking his shot, Hermione gathered her own ball and launched it. The snow ball shattered on his shoulder and Hermione fell over, laughing at the look on his face.

Lucius gathered a lump of whiteness in his arms and dumped it on her. Spluttering, Hermione sat up and saw him clutching his sides and doubled over in hysterics. Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket and levitated a huge patch of snow over him.

He looked up when he noticed the shadow over him. He gasped and she took that moment to drop the levitation charm. Hermione crawled over to the squirming mound of snow. She laughed as Lucius managed to burrow his way to the surface.

\"Ok,\" He gasped through his laughter, \"You win...\"

Hermione and Lucius lay in the Snow until their laughter subsided. Finally, Hermione sat up.

\"Come one,\" She groaned as she got to her feet and offered him her hand, \"We should go.\"

\"S\'pose,\" Lucius grunted and she pulled him up. They walked back to the castle in silence and when they got to the front doors, Lucius turned to her.

\"You look like my mother,\" He told her, \"Well, at in the photo that I have of her.\" Hermione just nodded; she didn\'t know what to say. \"That’s probably why Father went with her, because she looked like you.\"

Hermione put her arm around his shoulders and guided him into the building.

\"Lucius,\" She said as she sat him on a bench just inside the doors, \"Why do you keep telling me these things about your parents? I knew your father and no offence, but he was a nasty piece of work. I have never known your mother, and yes, she probably did look a bit like me, but so do lots of people. Why do you feel the need to tell me all of this?\"

\"I don\'t really know,\" He frowned, \"I just trust you I suppose. No ones ever really listened to me before like you do.\"

\"I\'m your Professor,\" Hermione told him, \"My job is to teach you and listen to you; I get paid for it.\"

Lucius frowned. \"So I’m just another part of your job, am I?\" He spat out bitterly.

\"No, you know that I didn\'t mean it like that.\" Hermione said earnestly as she put her arm around his slumped shoulders, \"I meant that -like you told me the second time we really met- I am no one special -\"

\"You are to me!\" Lucius blurted out. He slapped his hand over his mouth and stared at her wide eyed.
____________________________________________________

Lucius wasn\'t looking so shocked over what he had said; he had his mouth covered and his eyes wide because he realized, finally, what he felt for his Professor. He looked up into her warm brown eyes and felt... love.

No, not that kind of love. He felt like the love he held for his Professor was filling the hole where he should have felt love for a mother.

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"

From the shadows, Severus snarled, showing his teeth. He knew the look on that boys face... Love. He had seen it so many times and was sure that he wore the same expression when he was around Hermione. There was only a slight difference in the way that Malfoy looked at Hermione, but it was unmistakable love.

Severus was about to revile himself, when Hermione spoke again.

\"Now you listen to me,\" She told the boy firmly but kindly, \"I... am... your... Professor. I know when I was your age that I had a favorite teacher, but I never thought them special. Please tell me what you\'re thinking, so that I can help.\"

Gods, why did she have to be so nice?! Severus was fuming. He knew that she would never do anything with a student, but it didn\'t stop him from imagining. He could see small tears forming in Malfoy’s eyes. He had never seen a Malfoy cry, so this should be interesting.

\"I just...\" The boy swallowed hard and Hermione gathered him further into her arms and lap, \"No one really thinks... about... me...\" He said through silent sobs, \"They expect... me to be like my father and his father... cold, unfeeling... but I just want one person... Like my father and Grandfather had... some one to look after me... I\'m only fucking eleven!\"

After his last word he broke into racking sobs. Severus suddenly understood and felt that it was now safe to swoop back to the dungeons. He was still pretty angry though; this was one more child to take up her time. Severus sighed and decided that he should go and check on the devil child.

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"

Hermione held the crying boy tightly. She felt so bad for him and saw now what he wanted; a mother. He was right about people expectations of his character. She rocked them as his hands fisted in the front of her robes, pulling her impossibly close.

Hermione knew that they had become closer since Halloween, but she wasn\'t sure about his feelings for her. She was his Professor; wasn\'t there some rule against these types of emotions?

Not that Hermione minded him thinking of her as a mother figure. She loved children and loved to spread her love around; although Severus was the only person who got a certain type of love out of her. She wondered what Severus thought about have children of his own.

After a few minutes, Hermione heard Lucius\' sobs turn to sniffles and his sniffles soon stopped. Hermione looked down at the wet patch on her shoulder. She stroked his hair and gently tilted his head up.

\"You ok?\" She asked quietly. He nodded silently and burrowed back into her shoulder. They sat there a while longer before Hermione heard people out on the grounds.

She guided him back down to his common room and watched him walk in, then turned and hurried towards her rooms

\"Severus?\" she called. Severus strode through the door that linked their living rooms, \"Where\'s Lily?\" Usually, the girl would be hanging on Hermiones leg before she was even through the door.

\"Minerva took her out to get her a new dress for tonight.\" Severus told her as he pulled her into his and kissed her deeply, \"How long have they been married?\" He asked as they drew back for breath.

\"Remus and Tonks? Um... about... three? Yes three years I think.\" Hermione told him as she started to unbutton her coat.

\"And what have you been doing?\" He sounded quite innocent, but Hermione knew better.

\"I went to Hogsmeade.\" She answered as she shrugged off her coat and flung it over the back of the sofa as she pulled off her scarf.

Severus picked up her coat, \"How did you get so wet?\"

\"I had a snow ball fight,\" She explained and then said in a lower tone, \"With Lucius.\"

\"Really,\" He carried on in his innocent tone as they moved to sit on her sofa, \"So you just... bumped into him?\"

\"No, he asked me to go with him.\" She glanced at him and quickly added, \"To buy a present for his father.\"

\"And that’s it? You went to Hogsmeade, had a snow ball fight with Malfoy and then came back here? Straight back here?\" He seemed to be pressing for some thing and Hermione couldn\'t lie to him.

\"No,\" she sighed, \"Well, yes, we did come straight back to the castle, but we had a bit of a chat before we came back here.\"

\"I know, I saw you.\" Severus said bluntly. Hermione rolled her eyes and frowned.

\"Then why did you ask me all that stuff if you knew that we had been talking?\" She huffed.

\"I wanted to see if you would lie.\" He said, straight to the point.

\"You thought I would lie to you?\" Hermione scowled.

\"I was just checking,\" He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head, \"Old habits die hard.\"

Hermione rubbed her hand up and down his black chest, \"I suppose I should go and pack Lily’s things up. I can\'t believe that she’s leaving so soon.\"

\"Not soon enough is more like it.\" Severus muttered. Hermione swatted his arm, playfully.

\"She adores you.\" Hermione told him.

\"No she adores you. Do you know what I found her doing today?\" Hermione shook her head against his shoulder, \"She was sitting on the sofa, with a rubber chicken and a toy mouse at her feet, playing -and I quote- \'Potions Professor\'. It was rather amusing to see her acting like your twin. She was all \'Gods\' this and \'Merlin\' that.\"

Hermione chuckled, \"She\'s a darling though. They all are.\"

\"You like children, don\'t you?\" He said wistfully.

\"I think that \'like\' is an under statement. I love them. I love the way that they can put all the faith in the tiny belief that in the end every thing will be fine. I love the way that they see things so clearly: It\'s black or white, right or wrong, good or bad.\"

He nodded, \"If you put it that way I suppose I can see why you could like them.\"

\"You don\'t like kids?\" Hermione asked, a little disappointed.

\"I don\'t dislike them, if that’s what you mean,\" He told her, \"If they were my own it might be different though.\"

\"Have you ever wanted some of your own?\" Hermione looked up to catch his eyes.

\"I never really thought about it before. I didn\'t expect to live to see the end of the war, being a spy and all that. But now... I’m not totally opposed to the idea.\"

Hermione smiled and rested her head back against her chest. Severus stroked her hair and soon she was dozing.