Chapter 53

A/N: We're getting to the end of fifth year! I'm really excited to find out how you all like what I do for what would have been Hermione's sixth year. That's right! No more secrets. Everyone will know very soon. Please Review!

***

At breakfast, Hermione watched Harry with no small fascination. He was hiding something; she could feel it. She finally said, "Harry, how have your dreams been lately? Any interesting ones?"

Harry paused; a look of guilt flew across his face. "Uh, nothing really," he said.

"Don't lie to me, Harry Potter," she hissed at him, and he looked at her strangely.

"You looked just like Snape just then. Sounded like him too," he observed.

"I couldn't care less," she spat. "Don't lie!"

When she perceived that he was about to give her the brush-off, something in her snapped. She dove into his mind and started tearing through it. Harry jumped up and tried to break the contact, but she had him. She burrowed through and saw what he had seen. He had penetrated through to The Hall of Prophecy.

She grabbed him by the front of his robes as the people around them gasped. She quick-marched him into the outer hall and tore into him.

"What the fuck are you doing? Do you want to die, Harry? Is that it?" she screeched as she grabbed the front of his robes, shaking him with all the fury she could summon.

"Why did you...how did you do that?" he sputtered.

"Because she knows Legilimency, Potter," a voice whispered from behind them.

Hermione stopped her assault on Harry and turned to read the rage in Severus' eyes. His face looked calm and cool, but she knew inside he was seething.

"If I can teach Miss Granger how to become a proper Legilimens and Occlumens, surely you can at least learn the rudimentary basics," he sneered.

"S-she didn't even have her wand out!" he said incredulously. "H-how could she do that?"

"Do you think the Dark Lord will need a wand to strip-mine your mind, Potter?" he whispered. "What the Dark Lord can do makes what Miss Granger did seem like the work of a Muggle magician."

"Now, do you understand, Harry?" Hermione asked him. "Tell him what you've seen. Tell him!"

Harry confessed his last dream and described the Hall of Prophecy to him.

Snape glowered at him. "You are pathetic!" he spat. "You go to your common room and stay there until Professor McGonagall collects you. GO!" he roared.

Severus whirled around on Hermione. "As for you, my little Legilimens, follow me." She followed him obediently as they walked up to the dais. Severus whispered to Minerva, and Umbridge spoke up.

"Is there a problem, Snape?' she said curtly.

"No," he said, looking irritated. "I have a disciplinary problem with two Gryffindors. Since one is all but an apprentice of mine, and the other a meddlesome troublemaker, I am simply informing their Head of House."

McGonagall stood imperiously as she glared at Umbridge and swept down the hallway with Severus and Hermione behind her. When they got to McGonagall's office, she demanded an explanation.

"My wife performed Legilimency on Potter right in front of the school," he snapped angrily.

Minerva gasped at Hermione and said, "What on earth could have possessed you to do that? Now he knows you are a Legilimens!"

Minerva sat down behind her desk, and Severus crossed his arms and looked at her questioningly.

Hermione sat as well. "Look, I'm hanging around teenagers all day long, my physiological and emotional health hasn't been the most stable these past months, and what is worse is the fact Harry tells me boldface lies like I'm an idiot. He deliberately held back the information that he had penetrated through to the Hall of Prophecy. You-Know-Who is two steps away from getting Harry there and retrieving the prophecy."

"Severus," Minerva asked. "Is it truly this bad?"

He shook his head. "Potter has been continuously difficult to reach. He either lacks the ability or simply refuses to close his mind."

"I think that it may be too late," Hermione whispered. "I can't help him if he keeps hiding from me."

"So, what should we do?" asked Severus jovially. "Obliviate him again?"

"You are taking far too much enjoyment from this, Severus," Minerva warned him.

"No more mind alterations. It's too much," she decided. "After all, Hermione is living near your quarters and is being tutored by you. Everyone knows how thirsty for knowledge Hermione is and how exceptional a student as well. So, we'll let him believe Hermione has taken up the discipline and has been successful."

Minerva looked at Hermione pointedly. "You will have to deal with this outcome, Hermione, and iron this over. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Minerva," she replied, chastened.

***

Hermione found Harry brooding in the common room alone when she walked inside. "Harry," she called.

He looked over at her and gazed at her strangely. "There is something very wrong, Hermione, very wrong. I may not be able to understand all the 'subtleties' of Occlumency, but I do have a rather keen memory, and there is just something that is not adding up. First, I remember you back in third year mumbling in your sleep about two guys named 'Regulus' and 'Travers.' Now I know, because I've talked to Sirius, that he had a brother named Regulus and that a Death Eater named 'Travers' killed the woman he was in love with: Marlene McKinnon. Then, there was an Occlumency lesson that is fuzzy in my memory, but I keep getting flashes of déjà vu whenever I look at you lately. Then there is this strange relationship between you and Sirius. I know you both don't get along, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Now, you're a Legilimens! I want to know the truth, Hermione."

"Harry," she said softly, "you need to focus on closing your mind. I know you have rationalized skiving off on Occlumency because of what happened with Mr. Weasley and that snake. But I'm telling you, Harry, stop it. Don't continue in this."

"Fine," he said distantly, and he sat back down, looking out the window, brooding. Hermione left him, feeling unsettled. She wondered if Remus was letting Sirius get away behind his back and talk with Harry. If so, what were they talking about?

***

Hermione was working again on the rotation schedule when Severus burst through the door and threw Harry inside. She was in one of her more revealing nightgowns and looked up in shock and horror. She hastily put on her robe while Harry watched her, breathing hard and shaking his head.

"This isn't real. It can't be!" he said.

"Severus, what are you doing?" she yelled at him.

"This nosy little bastard decided to sneak into my personal Pensieve and rummaged through my private memories!"

"What did you see, Harry?" she asked nervously.

"You were there...back with him...under the stairs of the owlery. You had to be seventeen or eighteen. You knew all about him being a Death Eater, and you talked about my mum and dad. Then you were kissing and..." He stopped short, blushing.

"I can't handle this," Harry continued. "She's sixteen! Aren't you? I don't even know you!"

He looked at her so sadly, so lost and confused, Hermione nodded her head and turned around so she wouldn't have to face what was coming next. "You're right, Harry. You can't handle it. Severus, I think you should do it."

Severus flashed his wand and said, "Obliviate!" He Stupefied the boy wizard and poured a Sleeping Draught down his throat. He Levitated him out to settle him back in his office.

"How daft are you?" she snapped at him. "How could you leave that Pensieve out there for him to find? Great. That's fan-bloody-tastic! How many times are we going to have to Obliviate the boy?"

"Not again," Severus answered. "I'm ending this nonsense once and for all. We can't risk it. Not now."

"What are you talking about?" Hermione yelled at him.

"I'm through with Occlumency lessons. That little shit can hang for all I care!" he roared back at her.

"You can't do that!" she shouted as she followed him into the office.

"Go back and get some clothes on before he wakes up and I have to Obliviate him again!" he snarled.

Hermione set her lips in a straight line and went back inside to change, slamming the door behind her.

***

Harry was a bit weary the next few days. Hermione was grateful that O.W.L.'s were right on their heels. He and Ron needed to study and apply themselves to their books.

Hermione also discovered that Harry and Cho had officially called it quits. It had been a terrible row that ended badly. Harry remained in a foul mood, but he was focusing on his work, and that was good enough for Hermione.

She didn't even mention the word Occlumency to Harry, but made a deal with Ron that he would inform her of any strange dreams Harry had. For a while, Ron had nothing to report, so things remained relatively calm. Severus and Hermione began to have sex again, not as often has they had been before the assault, but they were getting there.

Finally there was a break in the calm. Fred and George had decided enough was enough and devised a magnificent blowout exit that would become stuff of Hogwarts legend. It was just like the day of Umbridge's first day as headmistress. The fireworks exploded and were sent whirling down the halls, screeching as they flew. They conjured a massive Stink-sap pit that trapped anyone that stepped into it. It was mayhem on a grand scale, just like they had always wanted. Just before they gave their final bows, they both hollered, "Accio Brooms," and they hurtled across the hall with the chains still attached to them. Hermione could only imagine what Umbridge's office wall looked like.

Umbridge was running through the halls, screaming, "STOP THEM!" However, she and her Inquisitorial Squad were too late. As they left, *Fred turned to Peeves the Poltergeist and said, "Give her hell from us, Peeves!" *

And so went the infamous Weasley twins, a pair Hermione hadn't seen the like of since the days of James Potter and Sirius Black.

***

The next few days had order completely broken down. Students were eager to pick up the role of head troublemaker in ways that left the school in total chaos. What was worse was that none of the teachers seemed to care. Hermione decided to stay out of the way and focus on honing her Charms and Transfiguration abilities and help Severus whenever he needed her.

Voldemort was calling Severus more frequently. He always returned tired and morose. Most of the time, he sat drinking from a Firewhisky bottle while Hermione tended his wounds. She had tried once to ask him how he got his wounds, but he had looked at her so viciously that she had muttered, "Never mind," and gone about her business.

Lovemaking was becoming a thing of the past. All their progress had gone pear-shaped. He rarely touched her anymore, and it saddened her. They were just getting to the point where they had been before Sirius' attempted rape, but now Severus clung to the edge of his side of the bed and went out of his way to avoid any physical contact with his wife.

Hermione missed him. She missed his strong arms, his demanding kisses, and frankly, she missed the act itself. She was changing, growing more into the voluptuous woman she remembered and had missed being. She went to bed in tantalizing outfits and watched demurely as her husband followed her through heavy-lidded eyes full of lust as she deliberately began to put on nighties that were no longer fitting properly. It was worth the discomfort of having her breasts nearly spilling out of the tops of her cups if it caught his attention.

***

One evening, Severus came back from one of his countless summons to find Hermione reading on the couch in yet another sexy nightgown. He stripped off his Death Eater weeds and stalked over to her. At first, he stood and raked his eyes over her. However, to her shock, he fell onto his knees and buried his head in her lap in-between her legs.

"I miss you," he murmured against her stomach as he grasped the sheer material of her nightgown.

"Severus!" Hermione said alarmed. "Are you hurt?" She ran her hands over his back and shoulders, and he shuddered.

"You smell so sweet here; you always smell so sweet and clean," he whispered as he clung to her.

"What's happening to you?" she demanded as she put her book down.

He began to kiss and nip his way down her belly to her quim. "You can't imagine the horrors, the pain...I feel so dirty all the time," he choked out.

Hermione cradled his head in her arms. "I still love you, Severus."

He spread his hands up her back and clenched the material in his fists. He looked up at her, his lanky hair mussed and damp.

"I've done and seen terrible, horrific things, Hermione," he confessed. "I can't get the screams out of my head. He's so much more powerful than before. I can't stop any of it. The things he makes them do...the sport of it all. I come back here, and you are so fresh and sweet, I don't want to risk soiling or hurting you."

"Why would you hurt me?' she asked as he placed his head back down on her lap.

"I see things," he whispered as his eyes looked haunted. "The sight of them arouses me. The women are mindless and fearless. They do the most degrading things, and they look at me. Sometimes they want me, and I have to hide. They laugh at me, call me a heartless, unfeeling prig. It hurts. It hurts so much. I see the women degrading themselves, and I fantasize about you submitting to me as they do, and I-I am ashamed," he mumbled as he kept his head down in her lap.

Hermione took a stabilizing breath. "Tell me, Severus. Tell me what it is that you desire from me?" she asked directly.

He lifted his face. "No, Hermione. I don't want to humiliate you," he insisted firmly.

"Just tell me at least what it is the women do that arouses you?" she asked.

His face flushed and he said, "They let themselves be tied up while the men take turns. Bellatrix, she loves it. She taunts me, calls me queer because I won't fuck her."

"Her verbal abuse arouses you?" she whispered.

"No," he said as he hid in her lap. "It's the submission, the eagerness for more. She will take them all on and never grow tired. She just sits on a table naked and opens her legs. They all rush to her to be the first one. She does it in front of me. I'll be standing somewhere, and she'll expose herself to me. I walk away, and they laugh at me. Lucius especially likes to tease me, asking me if I'm getting enough at school. They are so perverse, and I feel I'm being dragged down into hell with them all over again."

"Severus, what if I were to do what she does? Would it help?" Hermione asked timidly.

"I don't want her, Hermione!" he shouted in frustration into her lap. "I don't want what she does. I want you and the things we do."

The vibrations from his voice against her lap sent tingles up her back. He slid his hand up her naked thigh where she sat on the couch, her legs bracing each side of him. He placed a finger on the crotch of her sheer knickers and stroked a finger up and down.

"You're damp," he replied. "It's fresh; I can smell your arousal," he whispered.

"Well," she explained, embarrassed. "Your head is in my lap. Your warm breath is tickling me through my knickers."

Severus inserted a finger sideways into the crotch of her knickers and felt along the cleft. Hermione was starting to breathe shallowly as Severus pulled her towards him by her waist. He nuzzled his nose against the dampness of her knickers and inhaled her scent. He reached up and dragged her knickers off and hiked her feet up on the edge of the couch. He slid his hand over her mound gently and pushed his fingers inside her and massaged her walls.

Hermione squirmed, and he withdrew his fingers and took out his engorged cock. He got on his knees and pulled Hermione down onto him, impaling her wetness upon his hardened sex. He leaned back little by little as she swayed her hips slowly, teasing him with completion. He fell completely onto his back and surrendered to his wife's control.

"Show me you like it," he whispered as she rocked back and forth, his hands still spanning her waist.

"I've always liked it," she groaned as she began to grind against him.

"Hold me down," he asked shyly.

"Oh!" said Hermione in surprise. "You want me to dominate you?"

She fell forward and pinned his wrists above his head. Her breasts swung in his face, and he eagerly caught a nipple between his lips. He sucked greedily, and Hermione began to cry out her orgasm. As she finished, he began to thrust up against her. His mouth was slack, and his face was completely relaxed.

"Hermione," he whispered. "My Hermione."

She leaned down completely and kissed him tenderly on the lips. "Yes, I am all yours...yours to pleasure you and to be pleasured by you."

He grasped her tightly to him as he spent himself inside of her. When he opened his eyes, he said, "Please tell me it's over. Please say you're not afraid anymore," he asked urgently. "I can't bear this distance between us."

She stroked his face. "I trust you, Severus. I know you would never hurt me," she whispered.

"I need you, Hermione. I need to touch you and be with you. I need to feel myself inside you when I'm falling asleep. I miss holding your breasts when we hold each other," he choked out nervously.

Hermione felt a surge of desire for her husband. She missed it as well. It had been so long since they'd had that height of trust and honesty.

"Yes," Hermione said. "Let's go back to the ways things used to be. Maybe now, things will change, the more we talk about it."

He rolled them over and kissed her passionately. "I love your body," he said. "You are becoming quite the woman. Your hips are rounder, and your breasts are fuller. I love it."

"Me too," she admitted as she hugged herself against him. He got up, and she followed him into the bathroom. They showered and washed each other, relearning all the intimate places they had been neglecting.

Once in bed, Severus held her possessively against him, his hands reaching around and cupping her naked breasts as he sighed deeply. Hermione felt safe and warm, surprisingly relaxed and at ease. Perhaps now it was over, and they were going to be all right after all.

***

A/N: All italicized sentences with asterisks belong to J.K. Rowling. The rest are mine.