Old Posters,Paper Flowers, and Angel Wings

A/N originally beta ed by Buffy XO and Coley Terrific. There are quite a few DH spoilers in this story. IF have not read the book yet and want to be suprised then maybe you should not read this.

Hermione Granger was lying in a charmed tent, staring at the ceiling. She and her best friend Harry Potter where on the run from Death Eaters, desperately trying to finish their mission of hunting Horcruxes, and to finally defeat the dark wizard, Voldemort.

Harry found her in his godfather’s house, as she hoped he would. She had been heartbroken when she was told that her other best friend, Ron, had been taken, and they could not wait for him. She prayed that she would see him again, as she did care about him greatly.

She would focus on their mission to protect Harry, but at night when they were not talking about what to do next, she was haunted by her pining for, of all people, Severus Snape. Their encounter happened months before, when she was waiting for Harry to find her at Black Manor.

Hermione never expected to see this house again, not for a very long time if ever. When she was forced from her hiding place at the Burrow it was the only place that she could think of that Harry would meet her at. It was a comfortable place where there was a lot of warmth and friendship at one time. This was a house that she expected to see her best friend’s godfather in all the time, but knew that he wouldn’t be back. She still missed Sirius Black daily, a pain that hardly ever went away.

She was in a simple blouse and skirt, not her normal attire. For whatever reason, she wanted to feel pretty today. She wanted to feel different, like she did and Bill and Fluer’s wedding. She attracted some head turning, a feeling that she enjoyed a lot. Charlie, Fred, George, Harry and Remus all cranked their necks as they walked by admiring her.

As she went upstairs (as quietly as possible to avoid waking Mrs. Black), she heard a soft sound coming from Sirius’ childhood bedroom. She wondered for a moment if it could be his ghost.

“No,” she said softly to herself, “You are being silly.”

It was probably the Black house- elf, Kreacher, acting in his usual nutter manner. However, it was not the old house -elf, but her old Potions professor and current Hogwarts Headmaster, Severus Snape. He was on the floor sobbing over a ripped picture. He wore his usual attire of black slacks, white shirt and long black waistcoat. However, he was barefoot, his waistcoat unbuttoned and white shirt was opened three buttons. She knew that she should run for help but somehow she did not have the heart to do it. She saw his spine straighten, knowing that his senses sharpened into full defense mode in response to her presence.

As he leapt to his feet drew his wand and pinned her to Sirius’ poster-clad wall. After recognizing his “intruder,” his face morphed from fearsome back to his normal bored expression. He dryly said, “Oh, it’s just you. What are you doing here Miss Granger?”

Tensing and feeling her upper arms begin to bruise with the force of his grip, she replied, “I could ask you the same thing, Professor. Why risk coming here when everyone is after you?”

He turned his dark eyes away from her face, in an effort to hide his ashamed look and said, “That is really not your concern Miss Granger.”

Her brown eyes roamed the room, in a search to make sense of his presence. She asserted, “It is Professor. I live here, and you are wanted for the murder of Professor Dumbledore. This is the room and home of your worst enemy, which leads to the question, what is going on here?”

It was then that she saw a picture discarded onto the threadbare carpet in his haste to hex her. It was a ripped picture of a woman with dark red hair and familiar green eyes. Recognition flickered within her eyes and she knew that the woman was Lily Potter. She then asked herself, “What would Snape be doing with a picture of Harry’s mum?”

As if to answer her thoughts, he followed her gaze and said, “Yes, Miss Granger, that’s Lily. I knew her well. In fact, I loved her and she loved me until Potter took her away.”

Now everything started to make sense to Hermione. Snape had loved Lily. He still loved her. Since Harry looked identical to his father, Snape channeled his longstanding resentment and heartache into making Harry’s life miserable. However, it was even more very interesting that despite hatred Harry and James, Snape still saved Harry’s life, and her own, more than once. For that reason alone, she decided to hear him out before alerting anyone of his presence.

She asked, “Professor, there is a spell to tongue twist you if ever you should return from Mad- Eye Moody, how on earth did you get past it?”

He finally let his grip on her arms fall slack and regarded her for a moment. She could tell that he was battling internally about what to say next.

“Very well, Miss Granger, if you must know, I did kill Dumbledore, but not out of malice. Malice is the key ingredient to Moody’s spell. I killed Dumbledore out of compassion and to preserve the Order. Dumbledore was already dying, a product of a curse on the Gaunt ring. He used his destined death to save Draco, who he knew would be ordered to kill him. See, Dumbledore knew that he was going to die within months and that Draco was no murderer. Therefore, he asked me, knowing that the Dark Lord would turn to me to ensure that his plan to assassinate Dumbledore would succeed, to do just that. It would spare him a painful death and save Draco from his father’s path. His plan worked, as I am still in the Dark Lord’s inner circle, Draco is safe and Lily’s son is still alive.”

In response, Hermione unconsciously lifted her hand to stroke his long dark hair. She felt him tense at first, but relaxed when he realized that she didn’t pity him. She knew that he went through so much and never got a thank you or compassion from the Order that he helped save. Sinking them both to the carpet, she took his head and put it in her lap as an overdue, comforting gesture.

It was an odd feeling sitting in Sirius’ old room full of wizarding photographs, muggle pin-up girls and pictures of motorcycles. She felt his presence so strongly in here and yet, strangely, her only thought was of the man in her lap. These men, who was an enemy of Sirius’ and yet, still, made her heart swell. It was an odd pairing, but also seemed to make sense. They both loved another so intensely that it consumed them. The losses of the ones they loved still haunted them today. Severus proved his love by protecting the son of the woman he loved, but also the son of a man he hated above all others. He hated James more than he even hated Sirius. She was also haunted by memories of someone she loved so deeply that she would have died for him if she could. This was the same someone that haunted her soul, even after his passing three years ago. Severus was lucky he at lest knew Lily's love. Her love for Sirius turned out to be unrequited.

Lost amongst her own thoughts, she didn’t notice when Severus’ hand started to caress her thigh, in a smooth, innocent motion. Innocent as it was, it still invoked emotions in Hermione that she thought where buried with Sirius. It was then that he finally lifted his head and looked at her with red, swollen eyes. They connected in their shared loss of love and sought to find comfort in each other. He dipped in slowly and kissed her, softly and tentatively at first. He pulled away and looked at her face, as if to gauge her reaction. When he sensed no objection, he kissed her again, with more passion and hunger than before. As they continued kissing, she pushed off his waistcoat and began to finish unbuttoning his shirt. She caressed his now bare chest. He was a beautiful specimen; it was as though the ancient Greeks sculpted him. He gave a deep growl that sent shivers down her spine and wetness forming between her legs. He unbuttoned her blouse and caressed her breasts through her bra. Then he jerked it up to bare her breast to his hungry gaze. She gasped in both surprise and pleasure at his impatient act and then took a deep breath in anticipation at what would happen next. He proceeded to nip and suck at her breasts, making her moan with pleasure and arch herself upward to give him better access.
“Please, Severus, fuck me,” she begged in a raspy, lust-filled voice. As if to further make her point, she undid the buckle of his pants and pushed them, along with his underwear down.

He gave her a lusty look before he unzipped and pushed off her skirt. He licked the wetness of her underwear before he moved it aside to gain access to her wet and glistening womanhood. Hermione felt as though she was on fire with lust and anticipation. He spread her legs and buried himself in her warmth, slowly at first to allow her to adjust to his size, and then he started to quicken the pace.

“Your cunt is so tight, so good,” he rasped as his lust took over. He played with her nipples as he quickened the pace, fast and hard.

It did not take long for her to feel the orgasm building in her body. “I’m cumming, I’m CUMMING!” she cried. He heard her cry and worked himself deeper and harder into her, working her further into a hot wet orgasm screaming, “FUCK, FUCK YES!” as she came.

He followed spilling himself into her grunting, “HERMIONE!” as he fell exhausted panting against her shoulder. As soon as he recovered, he stripped them of their remaining clothing, picked her up, and carried her to the bed where they fell into a deep, satisfied slumber.

Hours later, she woke to an empty bed, but a peaceful feeling in her heart for the first time in three years.


It was now two months since her encounter with Professor Snape, and she was still haunted by him. That was something she never expected to happen as she was in love with someone else, haunting her for years with thoughts of what might have been. Ironically it was in his room where she slept with his worst enemy, releasing her grief and leaving a dull ache instead.


What he told her with his lost and haunted look, and most of all by the way he entered her making her feel loved and whole haunted her.

The information he told her shocked her but nothing shocked her more than he did all of this, sacrificed so much to protect Harry out of love and devotion to his late mother Lily.

She really hated knowing what he told her. She wanted to clear him from the charge of murder, but if she did, she risked exposing him as a Phoenix Agent. She wished she didn't have to be haunted by the guilt of knowing and not saying anything.

It really hurt her to know that he probably did not think about her the way she did. She was a probably just a substitute for Lily Potter and nothing more. She sighed and closed her eyes.


There was no use in worrying about what had already happened. It was done, and it was time to accept that. She just hoped it would not come back to bite her.

Meanwhile

Severus Snape was returning to his quarters in Hogwarts after a long day work. It still amazed him that he was appointed the job of the man that he killed. He missed the old Headmaster dearly, the only real friend since Lily he ever had. He knew what he did had to be done, but it turned his stomach to do so. He knew that he was hated, something that he was used to and expected. What he did not expect was the compassion and comfort of Hermione Granger. He fully intended for her to run for help, to have him arrested for the death of Dumbledore, someone she loved like a grandfather. Strangely, she did not. Instead she stayed and listened to him and offered him comfort of caring rather than out of pity. If someone told him that he would sleep with Hermione Granger and enjoy it a year ago, he defiantly would have hexed them. She was a know it all, an insufferable thorn in his side. But somehow she changed and grew into a lovely woman who could sympathize with his pain. He fully expected to be haunted by Lily for the rest of his days and nights. He did not expect to be haunted by Hermione and the of the night he spent with her, the way she shuddered and screamed his name, the sweet smell of her hair, the smoothness of her skin, her warmth that fit him like a glove. He cursed his break in armor, he showed his hand, something that a spy never does. Anything could happen if the wrong people got a hold of that information, that and the personal shame of letting his “mask” slip. He goes to his room where the torn picture lay on his dresser. His love and his friend Lily, she was all that he thought about, but now he was also haunted by bushy hair and chocolate eyes. He cursed her for bewitching him, he was just a substitute for that mutt Sirius, and he meant nothing to her. Now he was left haunted by her, knowing that he could not have her.

Watching him silently and unknown to him, was a figure that resembled the woman in the picture. She was wearing a green blouse and brown pants, with brown penny loafers. She sighed and left the room and walked into another place that is in between. A man with shoulder Length Black hair and tattoos was waiting for her. He was wearing black leather pants, striped waistcoat that was open three buttons.

“I never thought of you as a voyeur Lily” he teased as she approached him. The woman once known as Lily Evans Potter smiled at him. “Padfoot what are you doing here?” The man once known as Sirius “Padfoot” Black gave her a grin. “Looking out for my best friends girl of course!” Lily shook her head at that and gave a small laugh Sirius never really grew up. Her face darkened a little at the thought of her son, outnumbered with danger all around him. Sirius could sense her mood darkening, came forward and gripped her shoulder. As if he could read her mind he said “Harry is as tough and intelligent as his father, he will be fine. It was plain when you briefly saw him when he was attacked in the graveyard all those years ago.”

She just nodded, but she could not help but worry for him, she was his mother.
“You where a good mother Lily, you still are. You risk your wings ever time you take glimpses of him, knowing that it could cost you everything.”

“You where a good Godfather also Sirius. You risked so much for Harry, much more than anyone could have expected. Still are the way you peek in at him with me.”
“Prongs would have my skin if I do not look out for you when he is gone on assignment. Speaking of James, he will be back soon, we should get going,” He replied.

He held out a tattooed hand and she took it walking hand and hand with him to her husband.