Left to their own thoughts

Thank you again to everyone who has read and left a review. I really appreciate it. This next chapter doesn't contain as much of the lyrics as I have been putting in, but that's mainly because I felt some of it would have detracted from the actual text and flow of the story. And just for those who are wondering "The Jeep Song" is during Hermione's POV, and "Truce" is during Snape's.

Props once again to my beta and sounding board: Kat

Legal Schtuff:

All characters belong to J.K Rowling

"Truce" and "The Jeep Song" belongs to The Dresden Dolls

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione sat on the edge of the old claw foot porcelain tub as she turned on both the hot and cold water. Leaning down to put the stopper in, she adjusted the water once more, making sure that the water was more or less pure hot, with a dash of cold thrown in to prevent scalding herself. As the water slowly filled the large tub, Hermione began to undress, her thoughts wandering once more to her obstinate house guest. It had been a week since the incident in the kitchen and their confrontation in the study afterward. True to his word, there hadn't been any more shared kisses or embraces. Hell, I haven't even seen him this last week, she thought sullenly. Am I really that easy to ignore? That easy to walk away from? Hermione had been glad, in a way, that she had been able to lose herself in the work that her classes provided her, but a certain Potions Master was always on the edge of her thoughts.

She softly began to hum as she finished undressing and tamed her wild hair into a knot at the back of her neck. Turning off the taps, she muttered a stasis charm to keep the bath hot before swinging a leg over the tub, hissing softly as she slowly began to sink into the steaming water. "Mmmm," Hermione purred. Leaning against the back of the tub, she rested her head on the edge and closed her eyes. Why bother trying to figure out the real Snape, when I could just daydream, she mused as her thoughts began to wander back to last week, and what could have happened.

~~~

Severus Snape had run from very few things in his life. This was the first time he could remember that he was fleeing from a girl who could almost pass as his daughter. I'm not running from her, he insisted. I'm merely doing what is best for her. Not to mention removing myself from the temptation that she presents. He was still waking up in the morning from dreams where he had never stopped kissing her in the kitchen, but instead ended up taking her on the kitchen table. Another favorite dream of his, was when he would dream how she had gone down on her knees that day in the study and used that clever mouth on a certain part of his anatomy. Many was the morning that he had needed to perform a simple cleaning spell on the himself and the sheets.

It had been slightly difficult to avoid her this past week. She kept hours that were similar to his own, though that didn't entirely surprise him. It made sense that she would be up until all hours studying; she had done just about the same thing during her time at Hogwarts. Sighing slightly, he quietly walked up the stairs and into the study. He wasn't quite sure where she was, or if she was in the house at all, but he knew he didn't want to run into her. After starting a fire, he sat down in a worn chair and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. Not seeing her and living in the same house was almost as bad as when he had first begun to notice her, and then found her everywhere. It had been exhausting keeping up his facade of disinterest and dislike for her.

Gods, I need a drink, he thought. Looking around the room, he noticed two things. One was that there was a decanter of firewhisky discreetly sitting on a small table across the room. And two, that curious music-playing black box of Hermione's was sitting next to the firewhisky. He had been wanting to get a look at the clever device, after the second time he had caught Hermione singing along to the sounds it produced. Getting up from his seat, he walked across the room and ran his hands over the object. It felt sort of smooth and cool beneath his palms. The few dials and buttons looked up at him temptingly. Pursing his lips, before deciding to try fiddle with the item he warded the door. He began flicking the one switch that he found and was immediately rewarded with a slight whirring noise and a flicker of light on a panel. Hmm, so what does the number twelve mean, he wondered.

~~~

Meanwhile...

Hermione stifled a small yawn. Droplets of water rained down upon her head as she stretched in the bathtub. Must have fallen asleep there for a moment, she thought. Looking at her fingers and deciding that she couldn't have been out for very long, based on their slightly pruney look, she rolled her shoulders, working out the last few kinks from the troubling week. She reached over for the sponge and body wash, softly beginning to hum again. Squirting a generous amount of her homemade soap, she began to work the sponge into a lather, sliding it up and down her arm. Soon she found she was singing as she washed herself.

I've been driving around town

Your '96 Jeep Cherokee

The words of the song almost had her rolling her eyes at herself, as she began thinking about Severus. True, he didn't drive a Jeep, but whenever she had left the house this last week, she had caught herself looking whenever she thought she had seen his usual billowing robes. Why can't I stop thinking about him for just a minute?

You'd think I'd hate the sight of you

She knew she was attracted to him, though Merlin knows he wasn't what one would define as classically handsome. Still, that hair that had a habit of falling in his eyes, so that your fingers just itched to move them, and those fathomless dark eyes of his, had been haunting her dreams this past week. Not to mention his voice, dark and silky. And in his way he could be a bully, with his sarcastic remarks and disinterested, even sometimes cold tone. But then she'd remember how he had been during the final battle. How he had for years been working against Voldemort as a spy, and the danger that had put him in. Besides, it was his intelligence and dry sarcastic sense of humour that drew her to him.

She wasn't sure when she had first noticed Snape in that particular way, but she had a feeling it had started with the last year of Potions class and how she would find herself fixating on his hands, the long nimble fingers, and wondering what it would be like to link her own fingers with them. What those hands might feel like sliding along her skin, running through her hair...Whoa there, she thought. If I don't stop this, I'm going to have take a cold shower instead of a hot bath.

Every time you see a light blue Volvo driving by

Pushing aside the more lurid of her thoughts, she resumed washing herself, thinking all the while on what she could do about her current problem. I know he wants me. I know it. So why does he keep running? Gently biting on her bottom lip, she put the sponge down and leaned against the back of the tub again. Maybe he doesn't want me...maybe he regrets everything. Hermione let out a long sigh. She wasn't exactly sure what the reason was behind Severus keeping her at an arms distance. Really the question is, is he worth it to keep pursuing, or should I just give him up, she thought.

~~~

Presently, Snape was well on his way to getting drunk, after figuring out Hermione's CD player. After playing with the buttons for awhile, and turning the dials this way and that, he hit upon getting the thing to play at a decent level. The music wasn't too bad, not quite something he would have listened to on his own, but he didn't feel like fiddling with the damnable thing anymore. Sitting back in the same worn chair as earlier, he took another swig of the firewhisky. The room now had a decidedly melancholy feel to it, with the music playing filled with a sad piano and even more despondent voice calling out to him.

You call it over, and I call you psycho

We'll call it even...

Severus half snorted to himself. As if anyone would admit to sharing a bed with me. While it was true that he had indulged in the random taking of a Muggle prostitute in the past, he hadn't really been intimate with anyone in a long, long time. Who really wanted to admit to having sex and enjoying it, with the hooked-nosed, greasy great bat of Hogwarts? Who indeed, he thought glumly. Hermione, a voice whispered in the back of his head; Hermione seemed interested, it insisted.

She's a child, Snape answered.

She isn't, and you know it. Wizards twice your age have arranged marriages with witches younger than her, the voice argued. Or are you afraid of losing her? it taunted. Afraid of scaring her away like you did Lily?

Snape set down the empty glass, refilling it once more. Lily. I haven't thought about her in ages, he thought. He remembered his long-ago crush on the intelligent red-headed Gryffindor. Lily had always been kind toward him when Black and Potter had taunted and insulted him. Sometimes she would even help him gather his books and scrolls together after the pair had caused Severus to drop them. It was after these few instances that he had taken to noticing her more. How intelligent she was in the few classes that they had shared together.

Didn't last long though did it, the voice sneered. Nope, you just had to go and verbally strike out at her.

She was getting too close , Snape answered defensively.

Too close to what? She only wanted to be your friend.

Still upset that Daddy didn't love you? The voice taunted darkly.

It doesn't matter anymore, Snape thought. He's been dead for at least ten years now.

True, very true, the voice agreed. Still, it mused, where does that leave the know-it-all?

Ex-Death Eater, the voice corrected him.

Doesn't really matter now, does it?

Didn't they? the voice mused.

Severus decided to stop debating with himself and just go up to bed. He was drunk and he was tired. He was also horny, but that was beside the point. Standing up, he took care of the fire and walked out of the study, into the darkened hall.

~~~

Hermione paused in the bathroom. What was that? She tilted her head, trying to listen, when it finally dawned on her what she was hearing. It's music. Severus must have figured out how to make my CD player work. She couldn't recognize the song, but she thought it sounded like one of the slower, sadder pieces. I guess I wasn't the only one who was lost in their own unhappy thoughts tonight, she thought. Keeping an ear out for the music playing in the study, she finished towel-drying her hair. Slipping a faded green nightshirt over her head, she hung the towels up to dry and silently opened the door. The house was dark; looking out into the hall from the bathroom it looked like one great yawning mouth. With everything Hermione had faced in her young life, walking through a dark house still gave her the willies sometimes. Taking a deep breath, she turned the bathroom light off and started to quietly walk up the stairs. She paused quickly when she heard the creak of the study door as it opened and a slurred curse that must have been Severus bumping into something. He's drunk, she thought. Which means he won't put up as much of a fight, a dark voice in her head whispered. Hermione suddenly got a very sly smile as she began climbing the stairs again, while forming a plan.

~~~

"Bollocks!" Severus cursed, as he shambled from the study towards the stairway. He wasn't sure how he had knocked into the wall, but he knew there would most likely be a bruise somewhere on his person in the morning. He only hoped that if Hermione was home, his stumbling around didn't wake her up and bring her downstairs to investigate. With the amount of firewhisky that he had drunk, he wasn't sure he could refuse her tonight. Passing by the bathroom, Severus decided to stop and use the toilet before going back to trying to shuffle up the stairs. As he was finished and fastened his trousers, he noticed the damp towels hanging up. Fingering the bits of cloth, he could tell they hadn't been wet for very long. Hermione must have been in here while I was drinking in the study, he thought. The idea that only a hallway, a door, and a tub full of water had been separating him from a naked and willing Hermione, made the confines of his trousers a mite tight. It wasn't just the hallway and door that kept her from you, a voice reminded him. Don't forget your own insecurities. Snape mentally waved the voice away, deciding not to pay as much attention to it as he would have had he been sober. Then again, if he had been sober, he would have also noticed the small slit of light that was coming from underneath the door to his room.