All the way

Hermione sat on her sofa with a glass of wine in her hand, the half empty bottle on the coffee table in front of her. She sighed and swirled the deep red liquid before taking a big sip.

She didn\'t really mind about her job. She had never liked working in the corrupt Ministry. She was frowned upon by jealous purebloods for her brilliant work and research because they deemed her unworthy, and she damn fed up with it all.

She didn\'t really need the job that badly. Minerva McGonagall had offered her the job as Potions Professor at Hogwarts, but Hermione had turned her down because at the time she was still torn over whether Snape was innocent or not. She felt that it would seem wrong. However, Minerva had said that she would find a temporary replacement so that the place was always open, should she wish to fill it.

Hermione sighed and downed the rest of her drink, then poured another generous amount into the glass. Maybe she should floo Minerva tomorrow after she and Luna had visited Snape. Hermione couldn\'t help but think that letting her temper get the better of her was a little thick on her part. Oh well, she thought, at least she had more time to spend on the appeal.

She gulped down the wine and set the glass on the table; it wouldn’t do to have a hang over in the morning. Hermione stood up and walked into her small bedroom.

It wasn\'t really that small, just over taken by a huge king-sized bed. Hermione shut the door and let her robe drop to the floor, leaving her naked. She walked over to her bed and crawled, exhausted, under the thick covers. Snuggling down, Hermione could only hope that Minerva’s\' temporary replacement really was going to be temporary.

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

Shit! Hermione was late. She had always been a deep sleeper, but to have not heard the alarm completely... It was ridiculous!

Tumbling out of the shower, Hermione quickly cast a drying spell on her body and hair, and grabbed her pants from on top of the toilet seat. She pulled her pink under wear on and then the matching bra.

Dashing into the bedroom, she let a frustrated growl at the time. Hermione pulled open her wardrobe and frantically looked through it. She needed to look business like, but friendly.

She pulled out a black V-neck top and a knee-length, light blue, denim skirt. She shoved them on and smoothed out the creases. Quickly, she threw on a pair of flat, round-toed, light blue pumps with a white bow on the front.

Hermione threw her hair back into a rather messy pony-tail and grabbed her black bag from her dinning room table as she ran to the front door.

With her hand on the door knob, she suddenly cursed and spun around drew her wand.

\"Accio coat!\" She cried and then caught the flying garment in her out stretched hand. Finally she left her flat and warded the door, then donned her black and grey tweed coat and apperated.

*

Luna heard the \'pop\' of apperation behind her and turned slowly to see Hermione looking rather ruffled.

\"Hello Hermione.\" She said kindly.

\"Alright Luna?\" The other witch asked and she did up her coat and adjusted her bag on her shoulder.

\"I\'m fine today, thank you, though a little nervous.\" Luna said truthfully.

\"Well,\" Hermione said looking up, \"I think I should warn you, he looks nothing like he used to. I was appalled at the state he was in!\"

\"The poor man.\" Luna said thoughtfully, \"We should go right away.\"

\"Yes, I’ve got the port key with me,\" Luna watched as Hermione drew a folded piece of parchment out of her bag, \"Come here.\"

Luna wandered over to Hermione and they both touched the port key.

\"Ready?\" Hermione asked.

\"I suppose.\" Luna said in a dreamy voice.

\"Ok. One, two, three... Portus!\"

*

Severus had been up since the early hours, awaiting his visitors. He stopped pacing his cell and stalked over to the barred door. Peering through the metal, he could see right the way down the corridor to the desk at the end.

A rather fat guard sat behind the desk, reading some sort of magazine. The groan he omitted told Severus exactly what sort of magazine.

Severus was about to start pacing again when he heard voices. Female voices. His pulse raced as first Hermione came into view, but was then blocked by a tall, thin woman. He watched as Hermione stated their business and the guard checked in a book.

As the guard began to stand, Severus quickly stumbled back over to the bed. He craved human contact enough to wait at the barred door, but they didn\'t need to know that.

Not nearly soon enough, keys jingled, the door was opened and the two women stepped in. Despite her height, Luna Lovegood looked like the child she once was, where as Hermione looked like the most delectable young woman in the world.

Luna entered the room first, walking as if in a daze, like always, while Hermione hung back and shut the door. He knew she was watching as Luna Approached him and shook his hand.

\"Hello Professor Snape, How are you feeling?\" She said in a distant voice.

\"How does it look like I am feeling?\" He sneered and then said in a tired tone, \"Awful.\"

\"I expect you are,\" She nodded wistfully and then seemed to snap back to earth with a start,\" Well, I came her to thank you for saving me and Hermione and would like you to know that me and The Quibbler are right behind you. Every other paper inn the wizarding world will be against you, and it’s the least I can do.\"

\"Thank you,\" Severus said sincerely, \"I appreciate it.\"

\"It\'s no problem.\" She shrugged, \"I best be off, I have some editing to do.\" She turned and walked over to the door where Hermione was stood. Severus dearly hoped that she wasn\'t going to; he wanted to see what she had on under that coat.

\"Owl me when you get anything worth writing about, alright.\" Luna said as she hugged Hermione, waved to him and left, shutting the door behind her. At last, he had Hermione to himself.