Chapters 81-90

Perfect Timing

‘And he’s very good at that,’ Lois observed.

‘You noticed that, did you?’ Hermione gave her friend a wry grin.

‘Couldn’t help it during eight months of voice therapy. Now,’ Lois briskly changed the topic. ‘Let’s talk about something else. How was your honeymoon? How are things between you?’

When Hermione didn’t answer right away, Lois frowned. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘‘All right’ is not a phrase I would use in connection with Severus and myself at the moment,’ Hermione admitted. ‘He’s almost like one of those Russian dolls. You know the ones that have another and another and another doll inside? The moment you get through one of his shells, you find yourself confronted with another layer of…’ Hermione shrugged helplessly. ‘…of Severus Snape. Mystery and pain. Horrible experiences he doesn’t want to talk about.’

‘But he did take you to Chartres.’

Hermione smiled. ‘Yes. He did. Though he didn’t tell me a lot about it. I mean—about why he ended up there and exactly what it means to him.
‘But it’s an amazing place. And he knew so much about it! Oh, and the town is so charming, really picturesque. We had a wonderful weekend.’

‘Did you now?’ Lois raised her eyebrows suggestively.

A fierce flush spread over Hermione’s face.

‘Don’t ask,’ she mumbled. ‘It’s too embarrassing.’

‘How embarrassing exactly?’

oooOooo

‘…so you see, it’s really killing me. He just needs to look at me and I—I want him.’ Hermione’s cheeks burned when she covered them with her cold fingers.

‘We kiss, and it’s amazing. Mind-blowing. No offence to Ron, but he still has a lot to learn in that respect. And while Viktor was very physical, he didn’t have style. Severus is simply…’ Hermione shook her head, at a loss for words. ‘He’s…Merlin. Awesome. Words fail, angels sing. And I can…uh…feel that he does want me. And he even admits he does. But whenever I want to do something about it, he draws back. And says something about ‘not yet’ and the right timing. It’s frustrating.’

Lois snorted. ‘It sounds like your Severus is a bit of a perfectionist. If you want my advice, lean back and enjoy the ride—in every sense of the meaning. You know, there is more to sex than losing your virginity.’

‘Lois. I did have two boyfriends. And besides: I’ve read books.’

At that her friend laughed out loud. ‘I know you will find that hard to believe, Hermione, but there are some things you can’t learn from books.’

Then Lois grew serious. ‘I understand your impatience, Hermione. But—even though you have been working together for a year—you barely know each other simply as a man and a woman. When did you kiss for the first time? In March? It’s not even the middle of May now! I’m very much aware of how unusual your situation is, but that is all the more reason to take things slowly. You are married. You can’t simply break things off if your relationship doesn’t work out.
‘Intimacy between a man and woman is a wondrous thing, and there is really far more to sex than mere intercourse. I rushed through my first time when I was fifteen, Hermione. And then I was sixteen and pregnant. It took me many years to realise just how much I missed by rushing headlong into adulthood like that.
‘Be grateful that he’s allowing you the time both of you need, even though society expected him to relieve you of your hymen in your wedding night. You’ve got all the time in the world. Enjoy it.’

oooOooo

‘You were not at dinner.’

‘I’m sorry. Lois showed up after she’d accompanied Alina back to her House. And we ended up talking until Ron came over to take Lois home.’ Hermione sighed. ‘That was about fifteen minutes ago.’

‘Hmm.’ He gave her a piercing look. ‘Is the headache bad?’

She glanced at Severus, taking in the deep cleft between his eyebrows and the way the lines around his mouth cut into his face.

‘Not as bad as yours,’ she said. ‘Did you take anything yet?’

He shook his head. ‘When Lois and Alina finally left, Dumbledore saw it fit to ‘wake’ from his faked nap. He had the gall to tell me that he finds Vaisey’s idea creative, if utterly inappropriate. Then Minerva wanted to discuss a strategy with me for what we are going to do when parents, the Daily Prophet, the Ministry of Magic or all three of them come knocking on our door because of Slytherin methods of punishment.’

‘Oh.’ Hermione gnawed on her lower lip. ‘Do you…do you think that will happen? Anything of that?’

‘Probably. With my kind of luck we’ll get the article in the Daily Prophet first. ‘Muggle-born Student Tortured While Under the Care of Notorious Ex-Death-Eater’—a headline worth Galleons if ever I’ve seen one.’

Hermione stared at the black and white figure of her husband and felt like crying. Just a week ago they had returned from their honeymoon-weekend, and she’d believed that everything would be all right. Finally.

‘What—what will happen in that case?’ She hated how her voice trembled.

Suddenly Severus stood right in front of her. ‘Hermione? What’s wrong?’

‘I’m scared,’ she whispered. ‘I couldn’t bear it if they did anything to you.’

An expression of surprise and concern crossed his face, before he sighed and drew her against his body, hugging her tightly.

‘Nothing will happen to me,’ he murmured, placing a gentle kiss on the side of her neck. ‘Maybe a disciplinary hearing at the Wizengamot and an official reprimand by the school board. The Wizengamot will tell me that I shouldn’t allow students to torture each other. The school board will admonish me to keep things that belong inside Slytherin inside Slytherin. And the Howlers will complain that I didn’t take care to see Alina ‘properly’ punished.
‘Don’t worry about me.‘