Chapter 19

Chapter 19

After Severus left, Hermione took a deep breath and turned to face Harry. He was still looking out the window. After a long silence, she asked, "Do you hate me?"

"Hate you?" he replied, seeming startled. "No, I don't hate you. I don't understand what you see in him, but I guess it's not my business, is it?" He paused. "Are you sure he's not using you?"

"He's not," she said firmly. "He wouldn't do that. He cares about me."

"How do you know? Has he said so? And he's Slytherin, so even if he has said so, how can you trust him?"

"He doesn't have to say so," she said, but she heard a slight defensive edge in her tone, which made her angry. Nevertheless, she forged ahead. "He shows it all the time."

"How? By shagging you? I hate to tell you, Hermione, men like that don't need to care about a woman to shag her."

Hermione found herself irritated by his condescending tone. "Really, Harry? How about to not shag her when he desperately wants to? Does he need to care about her to do that?"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're not shagging him, Hermione. It's completely obvious."

"Not that it's any of your business, but if it were up to him, we'd have waited a lot longer than we did. I seduced him, not the other way around." Her voice rang with pride – she had, after all, managed to undermine the man's legendary self-control.

"Ahhhh!" Harry yelled, putting his hands up to his hears. "Don't say that! Please don't tell me that! I don't want to hear it! I don't want to know about it!"

"You started the conversation, Harry," Hermione pointed out, reluctantly amused by his reaction. "Don't blame me if you don't like where it went."

"Fine," he said. Suddenly he smiled. "I propose a deal, then. How about you promise never to tell me anything remotely related to you and him shagging ever again?"

"That's not a deal, that's a request," she said when he fell silent. "What do I get out of it?"

"Well," he said, apparently unsure what he could give her in return. Then he brightened. "How about I promise not to say 'I told you so' when he breaks your heart?"

Hermione frowned. "That would be nice, Harry, but I would hope that, as my friend, you wouldn't say that to me if my heart were broken regardless."

He looked uncomfortable. "You're right." He thought for a minute, but apparently couldn't come up with anything he considered suitable. Finally, he said, sounding frustrated, "Well, you think of something, then."

Hermione smiled, knowing exactly what she wanted from him. "How about you agree to be civil to Severus?"

"For how long?" he asked warily. "And do you mean all the time?"

"For as long as I'm friends with him," she said firmly. "And yes, I do mean all the time."

"But what if he's not civil to me? Can I at least defend myself?"

Refraining from commenting on the whine in his voice, Hermione focused instead on answering his question. "That won't come up. He's promised he'll be civil to you." Her own voice rang with confidence – she knew Severus would keep his word.

"But he's Slytherin!" Harry protested. "His word can't be trusted!"

"I trust him," she said stubbornly. "But fine, you can be uncivil if and only if he's uncivil first."

"Fine," he said. She knew he figured Severus wouldn't be able to resist being nasty to him, which would mean that he had given up nothing. But she had known when Severus had been here earlier that there were several times he had wanted to hit Harry, or worse, and he hadn't. So, now that Harry had agreed to be civil unless provoked, she was cautiously optimistic that things would work out all right.

She said, "It's really late and I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Feel free to use the shower or whatever. Stay up as late as you like."

"All right," he replied. "Good night, Hermione."

"Good night, Harry."

Severus also stayed up for a while when he got back to his quarters. Although Potter had calmed down by the time Severus left, he still wasn't entirely sure that Potter wouldn't rip into Hermione again as soon as they were alone, and he wanted to be awake if she arrived upset.

So, instead of going right to bed, he paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, wanting to just use the Floo network to peek in on them and make sure she was really all right. But he didn't want Hermione to think he thought she couldn't handle her annoying friend's temper, so he resisted the urge to take even a quick look. He didn't like it, though.

It would be so much simpler if he hadn't grown to like her so much – if he could just shag her when he felt like it and not think about her at all the rest of the time. Instead, he missed her when she wasn't around – to the point where he had fabricated that ridiculous excuse to go see her this evening, inadvertently setting in motion that entire confrontation with Potter. It really hadn't occurred to him that Potter would be sleeping in Hermione's room.

Frowning, he realized that his displeasure over that state of affairs had been forgotten as they dealt with Potter's angry reaction to seeing them kissing. He still didn't like the idea of any male who wasn't a close relative sleeping in Hermione's room with her – except him, of course. Perhaps he would try to discuss that with her again tomorrow.

Now, he worried about whether that insensitive lout Potter would hurt her feelings. In a way, Severus was glad he had triggered the confrontation when he was around to defend her and to deflect some of Potter's ire onto himself. He was used to it, and as annoying as it was to have to censor his own words, he wouldn't have liked the idea of her facing that reaction on her own. He suspected that Potter's reaction would have been that bad regardless of how he had learned of their relationship.

Severus just had to hope that the worst of Potter's anger was spent by now, and that they had simply said good night and gone to bed, separately, as soon as Severus had left. He doubted it, though.

It would be unlike Hermione to just leave it be. She would probably ask Potter if he was mad or something, and then Potter would question again what she was doing with a 'Greasy Git,' and then they would be arguing again – this time, with Severus not there to support her.

After a while, he forced himself to go to bed. As he had once told Hermione, his temper was bad enough when he was well-rested, so he didn't want to have to deal with Potter when he was tired. After all, he had assured her that he would be civil to her pain-in-the-arse friend.

He was just dozing off to sleep when she slid into bed beside him. He turned to look at her, seeking any sign that Potter had upset her again.

"Did you miss me?" she asked eventually.

"Never mind that," he replied. "Are you all right? What did he say?"

"Oh, he tried to warn me that you can't be trusted and that you're probably just using me for sex, and I told him I trust you and if you're using me for sex, you're not doing it very well. He didn't want to hear that, so we made a deal that I won't tell him anything related to our sex life, and he'll be civil to you unless you're uncivil to him first." She smiled proudly, "So, you see, things are going better than I had hoped."

His attention was stuck on an earlier point, however. "What do you mean, I'm not doing it very well? You told him sex wasn't that good?"

"No!" she exclaimed, blushing and looking horrified that he would think that. "Why would I tell him that when it's amazing? No, I mean that I told him it would be hard for you to use me for sex, when you've been holding out on me for ages, and I finally had to seduce you."

He was slightly mollified to realize she hadn't been complaining to Potter about his prowess. Still, he pointed out, "You didn't really seduce me, you know."

"Well, what would you call it? I practically had to beg, which I wouldn't do for just anyone, you know."

"Seduction is more calculated than what you actually did, Miss Know-It-All. What you actually did was, you wore down my resolve, just by being around me. And with a lot of kissing," he added ruefully.

She smiled. "I think I'll take that as a compliment, Severus." She kissed him lightly, then said, "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome," he replied, realizing suddenly and much to his chagrin that he was now fully aroused. "But if he didn't upset you, what are you doing here?"

She gave him a mischievous look. "Well, I went to bed and managed to go to sleep, but then I had a very disturbing dream, and I woke up feeling ... wicked," she replied. "And Harry was sound asleep, so I snuck out to come see you. Do you mind?"

"No, I don't mind," he growled, and pulled her closer. "But I think it's time to stop talking now." He kissed her deeply.

When he paused to unbutton her nightgown, she reached for his pyjama bottoms and purred, "Oh, I totally agree, Severus. No more talking."

The next morning, Hermione and Harry arrived at breakfast before ten, and Hermione led him over to where she usually sat with Severus. Since it was the weekend, a more informal atmosphere prevailed than existed on weekdays, and people were coming and going whenever they felt like it. Severus wasn't here yet, which was probably a good thing, since Harry was still a bit of a celebrity. Even so long after the final battle, the students still looked up to him. And of course, the professors wanted to say hello and catch up. He greeted them all with good humor, chatting easily with those he knew and liked, being courteous but briefer with those he either didn't know or didn't care for.

By the time they arrived at their seats, then, it was nearly ten-fifteen. They sat down, and Hermione immediately started to worry because Severus wasn't there yet. What if he had changed his mind? What if he was annoyed that she had slipped out without waking him, when she had woken up just as dawn was breaking?

Of course, she had wanted to wake him, but based on recent experience, she had thought that would likely lead to another round – or perhaps two – of lovemaking. And then, who knew if she would get back to her own room before Harry woke up?

Finally, five minutes later, Severus appeared. Hermione could almost feel a lot of the room hold its collective breath – those who knew their history couldn't help bracing themselves for some kind of drama. Hermione was well aware that they fully expected one of two things to happen: either Severus would find a seat elsewhere, or there would be an explosion of the ongoing tension between him and Harry. She really hoped their promises to her would prevent either of those outcomes, though.

He approached slowly, and when he was close enough, he said, "Good morning, Hermione, Potter. I apologize for being late – I didn't sleep much last night." He sat down in his usual chair to Hermione's left. Their food immediately appeared, and Hermione quickly took a sip of pumpkin juice.

Harry said, "Snape."

Hermione, although pleased that Harry was at least trying to be civil, felt herself blush lightly at Severus's implication – she just knew he was thinking about why he didn't sleep much. She worked to keep her tone even as she said, "Good morning, Severus. I'm glad you're here now. I'm starving." Then she could have kicked herself, because although he didn't actually smile, she could feel his amusement as he apparently drew a conclusion as to why she was so hungry. She felt her blush deepen, knowing that his conclusion was probably correct.

He leaned closer and said, for her ears only, "You left very early, Hermione. You should have woken me."

She glanced at him, wondering if he was angry, after all. But his expression gave nothing away. She whispered, keeping her voice light, "Sorry, but I wanted to get back to my room before Harry woke up, and I thought the odds of that would go down substantially if I woke you."

In a soft, teasing tone, he said, "Perhaps, but now you'll have to find more time for kissing later."

From her right, Harry broke in, "Hermione, if you want me to be civil, you should probably stop whispering with him right in front of me."

"Sorry," she replied, glancing at him apologetically. She asked the first thing that came into her head. "So, what did you want to do today?" She took a bite of toast.

"I was kind of hoping we could go to the Quidditch match," Harry replied.

"Hermione hates Quidditch," Severus said flatly. She glance at him just in time to see him slide half of his orange onto her plate.

She gave him a questioning look, which he either ignored or didn't see, then hastily refocused on the conversation, saying, "Well, no, I don't hate it, exactly. I mean, it's not my favorite thing ever ..."

Her voice trailed off as she saw that Harry was glaring at Severus and, unsure what else to do, she ate a section of the orange. "I know it's not her favorite thing," Harry said, with exaggerated patience, "but she doesn't mind going once in a while."

"But why should she have to waste time on something she doesn't enjoy?" Severus asked silkily.

"She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to," Harry said. "She asked me what I wanted to do and I told her. It's up to her if she'd rather do something else instead."

Hermione broke in before Severus could respond. "Okay, stop, both of you." She shook her head in frustration. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here. I'm perfectly capable of deciding for myself, without any help from either of you, whether or not I want to go to a Quidditch match."

They both looked at her, and neither one said anything. Honestly, she wanted to smack them both for putting her in the middle, again. If this was their idea of civility, it wasn't much better than incivility, in her estimation. And the decision wasn't clear cut, anyway. She didn't really want to go, but she didn't want to disappoint Harry, either. Harry finally said, "Well? Do you want to go to Quidditch, or not?"

She sighed and decided to just tell the truth. "Honestly, not really, but you shouldn't let that stop you from going. I mean, it's one thing to go and watch my friends play, but other than that, there are probably a hundred other things I would rather do."

Harry looked disappointed, but Severus looked smug, so she kicked him under the table. He flinched slightly, but all he said was, "There, it's settled. Potter will go to Quidditch, and we'll do something else, and then Potter will rejoin us later."

Hermione looked at Harry anxiously, "Is that all right with you?"

"I suppose it will have to be," Harry said, a little less graciously than Hermione would have liked. She kicked him under the table, too. He let out a yelp, and said, "What was that for?"

"For ..." she paused, not sure how to answer. Technically, he hadn't crossed the line into outright rudeness. Neither one had, actually. But they were both being provoking, nonetheless. She snapped, "For being ungracious about being civil."

She stood and said, "I'm going back to my room now. Alone. I trust you'll manage not to kill each other." She took the rest of the orange and her toast and walked out, leaving them both gaping after her.

After Hermione left, Severus and Harry ate in silence for a few minutes. Severus considered going after her, but decided he would let her cool down first. Eventually, Potter said, "I thought we were being civil, for Hermione's sake."

"She can't be expecting miracles," Severus replied. "She must know we aren't going to suddenly become bosom buddies."

"Still, we could probably do a little better," Potter argued. "It's only for another day and a half, after all."

"This time," Severus grumbled. "Unless you're planning to drop out of her life completely after this weekend?" He didn't quite manage to keep the hopeful note out of his tone.

Potter rolled his eyes. "Not a chance. Someone has to be around to pick up the pieces when you break her heart."

"And what makes you so sure I'll break her heart?" Severus asked sourly.

"Because ... well, because you're you, I suppose," Potter replied, unhelpfully, in Severus's opinion.

"Ah," Severus replied, rising. "On that note, I believe I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your breakfast. Enjoy the Quidditch match."

He headed out to find Hermione. If she hadn't calmed down yet, he would simply have to charm his way back into her good graces.