Two

-+-+- Severus -+-+-

Severus stormed through the Floo in his chambers at Hogwarts and tried his hardest to control his urge to kick a very good replica of a Ming vase he had had commissioned and had lovingly placed near his fireplace.

He failed and then cursed himself as he cast the repairing spell that reassembled the splintered porcelain that had scattered across his worn black carpet.

At least they had gotten the mice back.

All right, she had gotten the mice back. He had been busy fending off some working class louts who thought he was an abusive boyfriend.

Of all the nerve! Why didn't they go investigate the shrieking ninny at the bar if they wanted to be rescuers?

Screaming about a rat in a Wizarding pub... it was like protesting the Houses at Hogwarts. How did that silly nit not know it was someone's pet, anyway?

He ran his hands through his hair and paced for a moment.

Granger had come to his rescue. No one had come to his rescue since--- No! He refused to think of anything from that time any longer.

Sentimentality didn't suit him.

He took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts.

Green eyes swam in front of him and he let them. Sometimes it wasn't worth fighting. He felt her hands on his shoulders... her lips on his... her telling him what a moron he was for forgetting the crushed chalk in his Floating Potion and bleaching his eyebrows white.

He chuckled in spite of himself. He hadn't thought of the look on her face as she tried to slap a lid on their over boiling cauldron in years.

But he had seen it again tonight. When Granger had let the mice loose.

His heart skipped a beat and he felt the blood drain from his face.

He needed to stop thinking so much. He went to a dark oak cabinet and said the word that caused the magical lock to release.

Rows of colored potions bottles lined the shelves. This was where he kept the good stuff. His fingertips lightly caressed the bottles until they finally fell on a dusty red bottle.

A Sedatus Potion. He had two left.

He wouldn't be going anywhere. Why not?

Severus uncorked the bottle and tipped it into his mouth.

He gagged and spluttered, but drank it all. He tossed the bottle on the carpet and shook up some phosphorescent potions he had sitting on a shelf. He flopped down in a black, broken down, Muggle recliner before extinguishing the lights in the room.

In a few moments he began feeling warm and slightly mushy inside. He breathed deeply as he watched the glowing potions bottles swirl in the darkness.

In theory, Potions were supposed to enhance one's strengths and suppress one's weaknesses. It's why he desired to become a Potions master in the first place.

But in the end, he supposed, Potions were to blame for all his failings.

It was Potions where he met Lucius, Potions where he had first competed against Lily for their respective house points. It was Voldemort's promises of superior Potions knowledge that had lured him down the dark path of unforgettable regret he felt with his every breath.

Severus felt a tear stream down his face, but was suddenly blinded by green flames leaping up in his fireplace.

He yelled an oath and was surprised when he heard Granger's voice call out. "Professor?"

Before he thought about it he said, "Come in, you ninny! Just get those flames out!"

"I'm terribly sorry!" Granger said quickly and he heard a soft thud as she walked into the room.

He quickly wiped the tears from his face and shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "What on earth was that?"

"I tripped over something," Granger called out from the darkness. "I think it's a bottle."

Severus swore and tried to wipe all of the traces of tears from his cheeks, but his cheeks felt so... funny.

-+-+- Hermione -+-+-

Hermione held onto the bottle she had stepped on. She hated to think she had damaged anything he had been working on that had been photosensitive.

As she righted herself, her grip on the bottle slipped and she discovered the bottle had no stopper in it.

She slipped her head and the bottle under her cloak and she lit the end of her wand to read the label.

When she did, she frowned and whipped the cloak off her head. She stormed over to him and shined the light in his face.

He winced and tried to cover his face but she grabbed the hair on top of his head and he took his hands away from his face to glare at her.

"Unhand me at once!" Snape scowled at her.

"Your pupils are the size of platters!" Hermione said disgustedly. "Good God, how long have you been a potions popper?" She examined his face more closely. "Have you been crying?"

"Did you have a reason for being here, Miss Granger, or is dropping by someone's house to make yourself feel self superior just part of your nightly ritual?" He swiped her hand away and smoothed his hair down.

"I wanted to apologize." Hermione shook her head in disgust. "Don't know what I was thinking."

"You were thinking if you hadn't poked at that bloody bag like a twit none of this would have happened." Snape snapped at her. "I can only imagine what next week's meeting is going to be like."

"It wasn't your fault," Hermione said quietly. "I had Mrs. Johnson explain what happened."

"You woke her up?" Snape said after a moment's hesitation.

Hermione chuckled. "Yea. I think I scared her with the way I looked."

Snape reached out and tilted Hermione's wand up so he could finally see her face in the darkness.

She had pulled her hair back into a hasty ponytail, small streaks of white running up the sides of her head to the bushy mass of hair held behind her. Her eye was bruised, but not as swollen as when she had talked to Mrs. Johnson through the Floo.

Hermione was absolutely sure he would not have reached out to her if he hadn't been under the influence of the potion. His hand even touched hers briefly and he didn't flinch.

"Go to the wall over there." Snape gestured with a shadowy hand. "Get something out of the good cupboard."

"The 'good' cupboard," Hermione repeated flatly.

She knew about people like this. It all made so much sense. Separating yourself from others. Developing a caustic personality to keep people away. Long hours spent alone.

It was all too easy for a Potions master to become overly dependent on his craft.

Hermione found the cupboard easily and opened the already cracked door.

She tried to read a bottle in the low light, but it seemed to be covered in a light film of dust. She took a deep breath and blew on the bottle.

In the darkness, she had not seen the rest of the cabinet, and her breath now dislodged all the dust trapped within its recesses. She began violently sneezing.

"As you can tell, I do this all the time," Snape said behind her in a sarcastic tone.

"Point--*achoo*--taken!" Hermione shook her head and coughed a little before going back to examining the cabinet's contents.

She found the dustless ring where the potion he had taken had sat. Next to it was a small blue bottle with a Latin label. She chose it and drank down the sweet liquid. The tenderness around her eye started fading quickly.

"Thank you," Hermione said. When silence followed she said, "Mind if I have a look?"

"I'm surprised you didn't already." Snape sighed from the darkness behind her.

Hermione took that as consent and poked around a bit more in the cabinet.

She saw potions for luck and potions for disaster. Potions for fortune, fame, and glory. A tricky little mood potion that took weeks to brew, and one outlawed under the present Ministry that had a stopper date of 1932.

"You know how much trouble you can get into for that Heartless Potion?" Hermione said incredulously, but as she started to turn to face the darkened room her eye was caught by a faded photograph pasted to the inside of the cabinet.

Hermione had seen a school photo of Snape's mother once so she recognized her face at once. She was a smiling young woman in this picture, even though her arm was in a sling. Her good arm was wrapped around a little boy Hermione could only guess was Severus. His hair was shaggy and black, and he was playfully struggling with his mother. A small, child sized potions set lay on a table in front of them with a ribbon tied around it.

She found herself smiling at the photo.

She wished she had one like this of her and her mother, but her parents really didn't understand what she did.

"My grandmother took that picture."

Hermione whirled around and almost banged into Snape, who was looking over her shoulder, his pupils round and shining. His hair still mussed up in the front.

"She finally called the police and they took him away for three weeks." Severus shook his head. "He broke the other arm when he got out."

"I'd have killed him," Hermione heard herself blurt out. She was shocked by her boldness. It really was none of her business.

"I did a quite a few years later." Snape sighed. "But not after he killed her first."

Hermione's eyes shot to his face. He was shaking his head.

"The Ministry knows. Don't feel like I've burdened you with a secret. They ruled it self defense." He reached out, past Hermione, and brushed some dust from the picture. A corner of his mouth quirked.

Hermione was stunned. She felt rage build up in her gut, but she said nothing. She wanted to reach into the picture and plunk them out, keeping them safe, but she knew she couldn't.

It was infuriating.

"Good," Hermione sneered, her voice quavering with outrage.

"When did you get so jaded, Granger?" Snape asked. There was no snide tone to it. A side effect of the potion he was on was contentment.

"I don't know," Hermione said quietly. "I wish I could tell you."

Severus selected a bottle on a shelf that looked identical to the bottle she had found on the floor. "I won't tell if you don't."

"You just sit here in the dark and watch your potions swirl?" Hermione chuckled.

"I find the introspection and visual stimuli... stimulating," Severus said, trying to sound lofty and failing miserably.

"You were crying in the dark when I came in," Hermione scoffed.

"I would have stopped pitying myself within the hour and then start drawing out hypothesis for experimental potions." Severus shook his head at her as if this were the only reasonable thing to do on a Sedatus Potion.

Hermione took the bottle from him. She looked at it. Ran her fingers over its red enamel surface.

"It takes over a year to brew, you know," Snape boasted.

Hermione tried not to laugh.

Gods, it had been years. The last time she had indulged in a Sedatus Potion she was with Viktor in Bulgaria. They had studied cloud formations for an afternoon and made notes on experimental Transfigurations.

One of those ideas had led to a grant that had funded the rest of her education and padded her parents' retirement fund.

She unstopped the bottle and drank it in one gulp. Then she made a horrible noise.

"Oh my God, what's wrong with it?" Hermione spluttered. Her potion hadn't turned out half this terrible tasting.

"Wrong?" Snape frowned.

"It tastes horrible!" Hermione said, making a hideous face.

"It's made of fungus and rotten vegetation; it's hardly going to taste nice." Snape smirked at her.

"Didn't you cut it with mint and lemon?" Hermione was starting to gag at the residual taste in her mouth.

Snape opened and then closed his mouth. He seemed to gather his thoughts, and his face took on a look of satisfaction. "I generally don't waste time on frivolities when making potions."

"Oh, I see," Hermione said lightly. "So you didn't think of it, then."

-+-+- Severus -+-+-

Severus felt annoyance in his dreamy haze. Mint and lemon, indeed.

He watched her walk over to his broken down recliner and flop down in it. The light on her wand went out, and he heard the chair squeak as she pulled the arm to make the foot rest come out. Then the light on the end of her wand went out, leaving the row of glowing potions to lightly tinge the room with a hint of light.

Fine. He always liked the carpet anyway. He lay down, spreading his cloak out underneath him, making sure not to smash the pouch of mice in his pocket.

"Why are you on the floor?"

Granger's tone suggested she put that action at about the same level as 'pissing in public.'

"Because you're in my chair."

There was a sound like bending wood, and then she said, "Now there are two chairs."

He tentatively pulled his wand out. He rarely used his wand when taking a potion that altered his perception, but this was a simple light spell.

As the tip of his wand glowed, his eyes widened at the large black throne sitting next to his broken down recliner. It was where a small end table had been. Hermione was covering her eyes so she wasn't blinded by his wand.

"Very funny," Severus said. He had tried to sound annoyed, but the spell made him feel so content that he just sounded vaguely cranky.

He climbed onto the throne and found what looked like a hard surface was quite soft and conforming to his body.

"How did you make this?" Severus asked, genuinely interested.

There was a pause in the darkness next to him. "I told you, I got a grant for experimental transfigurations."

"This is amazing." Severus ran his hands over the light surface. "This material... what is it?"

"You should see what happens when you pour a permanency and strength potion over it."

He could nearly hear Granger smirk in the darkness, and he felt a flutter in his stomach.

He really should have eaten something before taking the potion. What an odd feeling. Maybe the potion was a bit old.

"Please owl me a copy of your findings. I would like to read them." Severus settled into the throne.

"I will."

He heard Granger settle into the chair beside him, and as his hands explored the chair he found a handle on the side.

"Does this recline?" Severus asked incredulously.

"Yup," Granger said. Now it sounded as if she were stretching. "And I can show you how to make them transparent if you like sunbathing in the nude."

"I beg your pardon?" Severus doubted he would ever feel relaxed enough to let anyone make fun of him.

"That idea was popular enough to fund me a trip to Iceland for a symposium on the properties of star fruit and its application to modern potions." Granger stopped settling and sighed. "It was brilliant."

Severus didn't know if she was talking about her spell or the symposium, but he imagined the statement was accurate either way. He pulled the handle and let the chair cradle him as he reclined back.

They watched he potions swirl in silence for a moment before he asked, "Why did you break your coworker's nose?"

"He made me feel stupid," Granger said. "I hate it when people make me feel stupid."

Severus frowned. As much as he hated to admit, Granger was one of the most intelligent witches he'd ever known.

"Why did you start a brawl in a pub?" Her voice sounded small, like she didn't expect him to answer.

"I can deal with the normal insults." Severus sighed. "You killed Dumbledore. Traitor. Turncoat. Greasy git. Blah blah blah."

"But?" Granger prompted.

"But I'd had a bad day, and he insulted my mother."

"Oh." Granger sounded like someone knocked the wind out of her.

Then she surprised him again.

"What the hell is wrong with people?" She sounded angry.

There was that flutter in his stomach again. Perhaps he should eat something.

"Would you care for me to make a list?" Severus snorted.

Granger snorted back, and Severus found himself smiling in the dark. He was glad she couldn't see.

He sighed in resignation. His curiosity was getting the better of him. "Tell me about your masters' thesis."

"Oh!" Granger chuckled. "That! Well, it all started at the star fruit symposium."

And so she told him. It was nothing less than brilliant, even though it didn't effect him since he didn't tend to brew exotic potions. He didn't really expect anything less.

He kept feeling that feeling in the pit of his stomach, and it was starting to annoy him.

"Are you hungry?" Severus asked lazily.

"I am." Granger sounded almost apologetic.

"We could order chips from that new takeout place in Hogsmede," Severus suggested.

"We could go for curry in London."

Severus could practically hear her grin.

"Should we go out in this state?" Severus asked her. "The potion still has a couple hours to go before it wears off."

"Live a little."

Severus heard Granger pull herself up in his chair, and he grabbed the handle that would make him sit up.

"I'm not sure this is a wise course of action." Severus frowned. Since he had gotten older, he had gotten far more cautious about things.

"I used to do this all the time with Viktor." Granger's wand shone in the darkness again. "We'll just pop in and out. We'll be fine."

Against Severus' better judgment, he agreed.

Taking the Floo to Diagon Alley had been rather simple and they passed through the Three Broomsticks into Muggle London. The fog was heavy, and Granger transfigured their cloaks and robes into Muggle wet weather clothing. Snape had always been cautious not to use his wand when taking potions, but Hermione used hers with ease.

They stomped down the sidewalk, past pubs and closed shops until they found a tiny little restaurant with three tables inside and a queue out the door.

"Good Lord," Severus said as they joined the queue. "Every pub let out at once?"

Granger chortled at him. "Been awhile since you've gotten out?"

It had been quite awhile, actually. He used to go out occasionally, when he found himself in London doing errands, but with the rise in catalogue sales in the Wizarding World, he didn't get a chance to get out much anymore.

"Well, never mind." Granger waved one of her hands. She seemed uncomfortable with his silence.

They stood in line for a few moments, listening to the young people around them.

Snape's eyes fell on a small glowing box some Muggle girls in line were fiddling with. It seemed to have a small typewriter pad attached to it. He was trying to figure out what it did when a high, brassy voice rang out.

"Can you stop staring at my tits?"

A short girl with long black hair was staring at Snape. She was wearing a rather low cut shirt and too much makeup, in Hermione's opinion.

"I beg your pardon?" Snape looked taken aback.

"You're staring at my tits!"

"I was looking at that... whatever it was you girls were fiddling with." Snape sneered, and the other girls cringed, but the girl that had accused him wasn't backing down.

"Like you've never seen a cell phone before!" The girl looked disbelieving.

"That's a phone?" Snape blurted out.

"Listen," Granger cut in. "He's been working with tribes in South America for three decades. No, he doesn't know what a cell phone looks like."

"Well, I think you're lying!" the black haired girl accused accurately.

"And I think you're an annoying bitch," Hermione snapped. "And if you don't want people staring at your tits, you might want to put them away when it's this cold. You look like you're smuggling gumdrops."

Then Hermione heard a deep laugh by her side, and she realized Snape was laughing.

The sound was quite nice. Hermione was enjoying it immensely before the black haired girl slapped her.

Severus had just enough presence of mind to register that, technically, two women were fighting over him before he noticed a large, red-haired man stalking in their direction.

It was too late to just leave, however. Hermione had already jumped on the other girl and seemed to be... pulling out tufts of her hair? Severus mused for a moment about Muggle beauty devices before the red-haired man seized both girls and tried to tear them apart.

Severus probably would have let him, had he not kicked Hermione in order to save his girlfriend's hairdo. At that point he had to step in, he had reasoned to himself.

-+-+- Hermione -+-+-

Hermione sat on the edge of a cot in a lonely cell, staring at her hands. She'd really done it this time.

They'd even taken her wand.

She probably shouldn't have pulled it out in the first place. Especially in front of Muggles.

But that big one had hit Snape on the nose, and she heard it crunch.

Now they were going to ship her off to Azkaban, at least for a while.

She was shaken out of her reverie when she heard two sets of footsteps march up the hallway to her cell. A jangle of keys. A lock turning. The door opening.

Then Snape came through the door and it slammed shut behind him.

She looked at him sheepishly.

He glared at her. He opened his mouth.

He closed it. Suddenly he looked very tired.

Snape walked over to her and sat next to her on the cot.

Hermione glanced over at him and realized he was looking at her.

So she started giggling.

She knew it was hysteria. That she was terrified they'd put her in Azkaban. That they'd snap her wand. That they'd take away her research.

But he started chuckling back.

His nose was straight once again and the swelling was going down. She assumed the Ministry healers had set it and had given him a healing potion. She knew it must be sore.

So she reached out and flicked it.

"Ow!" Snape scowled in hurt surprise. "What was that for?"

"For checking out that silly bint's tits and getting us into this mess!" Hermione chided him.

He smirked. "Well, it's not like yours were out or anything."

"You'd look at them if they were out?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not dead yet, contrary to popular hope," Snape said sarcastically.

Hermione thought for a moment. An evil grin spread across her face. Snape looked taken aback.

"I'd like to see your scar," Hermione said, a smile still playing over her lips.

"What?" Snape snapped at her.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

-+-+- Severus -+-+-

Severus instantly knew she wasn't talking about showing him a scar. He felt very warm all of a sudden.

His eyes were drawn to the front of her robes.

He found himself loosening his collar.

He kept it buttoned extra high these days and charmed the buttons to keep them from slipping when they were fastened. This was the first time he wanted to show it off.

He pulled the stiff collar away from his skin and closed his eyes as she leaned in to look. He wasn't expecting to feel her light touch against the hard scar tissue, and he flinched, but forced himself not to pull away.

His breath got raspier. The potion had nearly worn off, but her touch still felt like sparks against his skin.

"I think I might be able to help you with that," she said finally.

His eyes flew open, wondering how she had known what was going on under his robes.

"I'm working on an experimental potion for skin regeneration. It was originally for Arthur..." Hermione trailed off.

"Has he tried it yet?" Severus asked.

"No one has." Hermione sighed. "It has about two more weeks of brewing."

Severus nodded. It was always tragic when your work got interrupted.

"Well," Hermione said with a small smile as she started unbuttoning her robes. "I guess we did have an agreement."

Part of Severus told him if he was a gentleman he would stop her.

The part that was throbbing under his robes was reminding him how long it had been since a woman willingly touched him and he really wanted to see her with less clothing on.

She opened her robes and exposed a blue, low cut bra. Severus reached a hand out and brushed his fingers over the tops of her breasts.

She looked sincerely surprised, but enthusiastic at his touch. She leaned into his hand and their eyes met.

He hooked a finger into the top of her bra and pulled the stretchy material towards him. He looked into it before he pulled it down and let go. The stretchy material caught her under her breast and pushed it up, leaving her bare.

She gasped, but watched as he lowered his head to her. His lips gently wrapped around her nipple and when she began weaving her fingers through his hair he knew he had her.

He pulled down the fabric of her other bra cup and gripped her breast firmly when it was free of its confines. She groaned and squirmed, making their little cot squeak.

He gently guided her down to the cot, and she snaked her hand down to run over the bulge in his robes.

He swore when he realized just how much he wanted her and how quickly he was going to last, but before he could explain her, she had pressed her mouth to his.

His nose screamed in pain, but he tried to ignore it.

"I-" Severus didn't know why he was still so afraid she would reject him. "I want to---"

"Severus, fuck me," Hermione demanded in panting breaths. "Fuck it, I need it, fill me up, stretch me out, make me come all over your---"

Severus crushed his lips to hers. If she kept that up he'd be done all over her instead of in her. The idea made his mind reel.

He yanked her robes up and found her panties gone already. Was that normal? Did she often go commando? He found himself desperately wanting to know these things.

He pulled his own robes up and felt her hand go around him, trying to guide him gently, yet impatiently into her.

As he pierced her, he felt her back arch underneath him, watched her breasts bounce, her mouth open in a groan and he felt himself smiling.

He reached down and started rubbing his thumb against her clit.

"No," Hermione moaned. "I don't want to finish so soon."

"If you don't, I will, and you'll lose your chance," Severus said gruffly.

"Never mind then," Hermione groaned and grabbed Severus by the hips, pulling herself up and slamming herself against him.

'Weasley got bored with this?' Severus heard himself thinking. 'What's the other girl? A Chinese contortionist?'

"Harder!" Hermione barked.

"Bossy little thing, aren't you?" Severus observed as he threw himself on her and started to grind into her.

She started to groan louder and her fingers dug into his hips as she got closer to her climax.

He cupped on of her breasts and watched her face as he twisted one of her nipples.

She practically struggled against him as she approached her climax, then she buried her face in his robes to muffle her screams.

He took himself out of her briefly so he could hoist her legs up on his shoulders, then pierced her again.

She reached her hand up and ran her fingers through his hair as she caught her breath. She started clenching herself around him, making it harder for him to pull out. He felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead and he exploded in her.

It felt like it was never going to stop, his legs shaking from the force. Her legs slipped off his shoulders and he moved each of his arms in turn to let her put her legs down, still gripping him deep within her.

He shuddered for a moment more before laying on her to catch his breath.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of contentment flooding through him, much more powerful than the last, tiny bit of residual potion he was still feeling.

They heard footsteps and Severus practically leapt off Hermione, spilling their combined mess onto the inside of her robes. He reached for his wand to clean them up quickly, but quickly remembered they had taken it from him.

She was hastily trying to button her robes, and he smoothed his robes down before pulling hers back to where they should be instead of bunched around her waist.

There was that key in the lock again and to Severus' surprise, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter walked through the door, wearing their red Aurors robes.

The years had been good to Harry. His hair was still thick, although peppered liberally with white. Ron however, had lost a lot of his hair, a horseshoe of light red running around his skull.

Ron looked from Hermione to Severus, shaking his head. "Couple of delinquents, Harry. Don't know what we're going to do with them."

Severus felt instant relief. They wouldn't hesitate to torture him for sure, but they wouldn't joke with Hermione unless everything was fine.

"What's the bad news?" Hermione ran her hands through her hair.

"Well, only a few people saw you pull off that stunning spell and I got them all." Harry shrugged. "Most of them were drunk anyway."

"All the witnesses say that silly cow started it, so you're fine there," Ron said. He was still shaking his head.

"But you did perform magic in front of Muggles," Harry said, raising an eyebrow at them.

"And if I didn't know better, I'd say you two were under the influence of something." Ron folded his arms across his chest.

Severus and Hermione both suddenly found themselves trying to look innocent, but failing miserably.

"So they've given you a huge fine, but you got off," Harry said, shaking his head. "For some daft reason they're giving you your wands back."

Harry pulled Hermione and Severus' wands out of the sleeve of his robes and handed their wands back to them.

Hermione leapt up from the cot and threw her arms around Harry.

"Thank you!"

"I figure after all this time I probably owe you one." Harry grinned at her. "It's late and now we have oodles of paperwork to go through, so we're going to be off. Just keep yourselves out of trouble for a couple of weeks. If I have to read anything more about you two in the papers I might vomit."

"The Prophet?" Hermione looked confused. "We're in the Prophet?"

"High profile divorce means its high profile when you start dating again." Ron shrugged. "And it's not like you two have been all that discreet, have you?"

Severus blinked in disbelief. Hermione looked just as stunned.

"Well, anyway, you're free to go," Harry said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Hermione, Ginny would love to see more of you. Stop by sometime next week. Please."

"I will." Hermione smiled at him. "Tell her I'm good for Thursday."

"Will do." Harry nodded to both of them. "Night."

Ron nodded to them and he left with Harry, leaving Hermione and Snape in the cell.

"Well, I guess we can Apparate out of here," Hermione said with a sigh.

"I suppose we can."

They looked at each other for a moment.

"I suppose now comes the time to pick a spot to Apparate to," Snape said off handedly.

"I suppose it does," Hermione said, fiddling with her wand.

She glanced at him for a moment. "You know... when I tripped over that bottle in your room I think I dropped something. I should retrieve it.'

"What did you drop?"

"I don't know. I'll figure out something later."

Severus quirked a corner of his mouth at her. "Indeed."

"Meet you outside the front gates?" Hermione grinned coyly at him.

"I'll see you there."

They raised their wands together, and in an instant and a pop, they were gone.