Chapter Text
Avoiding the lumps and ditches in the long grass, Hermione trudged over to the long high wire fence and conjured two squashy arm chairs, which appeared snugly together as if attached, and promptly dropped into one of them. She turned her head and looked over the back of her chair at Severus and watched as he traversed the terrain, a deep frown on his forehead. When he got to Hermione, he placed himself slowly and deliberately into the other chair, stoic as ever.
"I don't think there will much to see at this time of the evening," he said, as he watched her pull out an open bag of sweets from her pocket and place them on the arm of her chair.
"I said that to you earlier," she said, incredulously, chewing on a sweet.
"Yes, well, you were late," said Severus with a smirk, obviously hoping that this would get a rise out of her.
I see that smirk, Severus Snape, she thought to herself. But I will not rise to your bait.
"You were the one who was late," said Hermione. She smiled at the way his eyebrow rose higher than she thought possible. "I can see the gates from my office and when I saw you weren't there I decided to start marking some homework."
She reached out her hand, and placed it over his eyebrow to push it down. "Put that eyebrow away," she said. He cleared his throat and shifted in his chair.
"I was in a meeting with Minerva that I couldn't possibly walk out of," he said stiffly.
"Yes, yes, I know," said Hermione, mockingly.
Severus crossed his arms with a huff and said, "Those are no good for you, you know," gesturing at the bag of sweets.
"I don't care," she said, flippantly. She threw a sweet at him and it bounced off his forehead and landed in the middle of his folded arms.
"Try it, you might like it," she said with a giggle.
He looked down at it as if it had severely offended him, but he picked it up tentatively with finger and thumb. He held it up to his nose and sniffed.
She let out another giggle, and he frowned at her.
+++
She laughed aloud as he held the sweet to his nose. It was a real belly laugh, full of joy, that he had only heard twice before in the time that they had been colleagues. Her eyes sparkled with mirth, and his heart skipped a beat at the realisation that he had made her laugh like this.
The last time he had heard it was during Christmas lunch, about three months prior, and it was Lupin, the Defence against the Dark Arts Professor, who had made her laugh. Severus did not know what Lupin had said or done, but he did know that he had felt a pang of something that felt strangely like jealousy at the ease of their friendship. Hermione and Lupin had been sitting close to each other, talking during the meal, and she had placed her hand on Lupin’s arm as she laughed.
The time before that had been about three and a half years ago. Hermione had been the Transfiguration Professor for a mere six weeks and she and Lupin had been chaperoning the Hogsmeade trip. Severus was waiting with Filch in the Entrance Hall so they could tick off each student as they came back. He had heard Hermione and Lupin before he had seen them; they had walked through the doors into the Entrance Hall, laughing jovially with their arms linked. Lupin had made her laugh so uncontrollably that she had thrown her head back and she could hardly walk properly; Lupin himself was in a similar state. He remembered thinking that they looked like a pair of drunken teenagers.
At the time, Severus had just sneered at their adolescent behaviour, but looking back, he realised that he had always wanted that sort of friendship and camaraderie. He had never had that in his life, not with Lucius or even Lily, and his relationship with Albus had been more like father and son.
She brought him back to the present by placing her hand on his arm, still doubled over with laughter. His eyebrow was still tingling from when she had placed her finger there earlier, and now her hand was on his arm; he was not used to such contact. Side-Along Apparition was about as much as he could take. Could he get used to it? Yes, his heart said.
The sight and sound of her laughing was contagious and a chuckle rose up out of his chest in a low rumble.
Hermione looked at him then, her cheeks flushed with the laughter, a bright smile on her face.
"Oh my gods, Severus, did you just chuckle?" she asked him, melting into laughter again.
"It has been known to happen," he said, as he put the sweet into his mouth.
+++
She giggled still more, but when his lips opened and his tongue came out to catch the little sweet, the giggling stopped and her mouth went dry. His tongue disappeared along with the sweet and she found herself staring at his lips as he sucked. Oh my.
She mentally shook herself. She was leering at her ex-Professor's mouth like a horny fool. She managed to wrench her eyes away from him but she couldn't stop the tingling sensation that she could feel all over her body. She had recently started to enjoy his company but the tingling was new.
Hermione and Severus had first been on one of these outings back in late January. She discovered that he left on his own once or twice a month, just to get away from the castle and real life for a while. She thought back to the first time she had found out.
Hermione was walking through the grounds outside the castle, clearing her head, when she spotted the dark stalking form of her colleague.
"Professor Snape," she called, when she caught up with him. "Out for a stroll?" she asked, as he stopped and turned towards her.
"Professor Granger," he said silkily, as a form of greeting.
"You can call me Hermione," she said. "We have been colleagues for over three years now."
"If you insist, Hermione," he said. Hermione enjoyed the sound of his voice speaking her name. "Now, I have business to attend to, if you don’t mind," he said curtly, turning to continue his journey.
"Business? Didn't I overhear you telling Minerva you were going to the pub?" she said, laughter in her voice. "I wouldn’t mind walking with you. I might bump into Remus and Harry. We could have a few drinks with them. It would be lovely to catch up..."
"Cease your babbling, woman. I admit I am not going to the pub. I am merely… getting away from here! And you should not have been eavesdropping." He turned yet again to walk towards the gates.
"Wait," she said, following him, "Can I come with you?"
He turned back around then, his body rigid, and sighed. His face was completely unguarded, and she could not quite place the look he gave her.
"What makes you think I want any company?" he asked quietly. Coming from him, that sentence would usually be dripping in venom, but it was filled with curiosity, as if he actually wanted her to answer the question.
"I need to get away as well. And I promise I won’t babble…" She quieted herself by placing two fingers to her mouth to stop herself from doing just that.
He stood there for a good thirty seconds, staring at her, she was about to admit defeat when he gave a curt nod of his head in agreement.
+++
"How much do you think we’ve missed?" he asked her, as he took a sweet.
Hermione thought for a moment and then said, "Quite a lot, but it’s a clear night, so we can watch the stars if nothing else."
She sat back against the chair, and watched as Severus' tongue and lips made her go tingly again. She nearly groaned at how the sight turned her on. She looked up at the bright stars instead, thinking.
She still had trouble believing that she and Severus had become…what was it…friends? They had always been civil as colleagues, him overly so, but since January, it had become more than that. When she joined him so many weeks ago, she had thought it was a one off, but she had happened across him when she was, once again, taking a walk through the grounds exactly two weeks later.
She had been walking past the main gates when she had spotted him walking towards her. She remembered the awkwardness that had hovered between them.
Hermione was standing in front of the main gates with her arms crossed, watching him. At first, she thought he was going to walk straight past her, but he paused when he reached her.
"Are you…?" she started to ask.
"Yes," he answered quickly.
She had no idea why she was just standing there. Was she waiting for something? She didn’t know, and he wasn’t even looking at her. She watched as his hands repeatedly clenched and unclenched into a fists. After several seconds of wanting the ground to swallow her up, he finally spoke.
"Would you like to…?" he started to ask, still not looking at her
It was like he couldn’t say the whole question, so Hermione slowly approached him and said, "Only if you don't mind."
Instead of saying anything, he took hold of her wrist, and dragged her through the gates to the Apparition point, where they vanished with a crack.
After that, it had become normal for her to be there every three weeks after dinner. Then, when they got back, they would walk up to the Entrance Hall together and go their separate ways. They didn’t see much of each other within the school. Occasionally they would go to The Three Broomsticks with some of the other professors, and they saw each other at the staff meetings and meal times, of course.
She unconsciously rubbed her wrist where he had grabbed her. He hadn’t left a mark, but she had berated him for it when they had appeared at their destination.
They heard a low rumble from behind them, and they both looked around.
"Oh, here comes one now," said Hermione. They watched the aeroplane fly over them and land on the runway.
"I love that sound," said Hermione.
"As do I," said Severus. "They are fascinating."
Hermione wanted to laugh out loud again when she realised that Severus’ comment was reminiscent of Arthur Weasley but the urge was gone as suddenly as it had appeared. Thinking of Mr. Weasley, the current Minister for Magic, had her thinking of Ron whom they had lost in the Final Battle, along with Tonks and Fred. She had cried for weeks when it had happened, but now, eight years on, there were no tears. She had mourned him, and she had moved on. There was still sadness in her heart when she thought about him though.
+++
They sat there for a long time watching the aeroplanes, stargazing and identifying constellations in-between. However, Severus had sensed a change in Hermione’s demeanour. Her frown lines had deepened, and she was quiet and pensive.
"I think it’s time we were getting back," he said, getting to his feet and offering his hand to assist her.
"I could sit here all night, you know," she said, taking his hand and standing up.
"I’m sure you could, but it’s past your bedtime," he said, smirking, hoping she would respond the way he thought she would.
"Yes, I suppose it is," she said quietly.
He didn't want to ask what he was about to ask, because it wasn’t in his nature to be sympathetic, but there was something about this woman that made him want to know what she was thinking.
"Are you alright?" he asked, thinking immediately that perhaps he should have kept quiet.
She looked at him quizzically and said, "Yes, I’m fine, I’ve just…been thinking about Ron, that’s all."
She sniffed and started to walk away, banishing the chairs as she went.
Oh Gods! He did not do crying females. He definitely should not have said anything. She was going to burst into tears. He was about to dig out his handkerchief when she looked back at him.
Her eyes dry, she said, "I hardly ever think about him these days, but when I do, I visit his grave with some flowers."
"Do you want to do that now?" asked Severus, surprised at her lack of tears, "because I’m not sure where we’ll get flowers at this time of night," he said, unable to control the sarcasm.
It happened again. She laughed that laugh that made his heart jump. He inwardly cursed it for doing such a thing, but soaked up the sound of her nonetheless.
Twice. He had made her laugh like that twice in one evening. He tried to stop himself from relishing that thought, but it was too late.
"No, you fool, I’m going to go tomorrow. I’ll ask Pomona if she’ll let me pick some of her flowers," she said, "but thank you for making me laugh, I needed that."
"You’re very welcome," he said,
He held his arm out to her, and she stepped into his embrace. They used to Apparate with just their arms linked, but at some point, it had morphed into this, and, although Severus would quickly deny it, it was his favourite part. Apparating with her in his arms.