3 months:

Hindsight, Hermione decided, was definitely 20/20.

"When's Snape coming over?" Harry asked, scooping Sebastian out of Ginny's arms and making him gurgle happily. Her son had started following the sound of familiar voices, watching Hermione as she moved about the room and gracing everyone he knew with a gummy smile. Harry did everything in his power to make Sebastian grin at him, even if it meant risking Ginny's ire by stealing him away.

"He should be by soon," Hermione smiled from the couch, watching Harry as he gently laid Sebastian down on his tummy amidst some toys. The wards in front of the fireplace shimmered briefly as Sebastian was brought close to them and Hermione eyed them approvingly. Molly's book had been more than just helpful, it had been brilliant; it was chalk full of helpful charms and spells, the best being the ones on how to ward a magical home against a magical baby. All of the wards were keyed directly to Sebastian which meant everyone else could come and go through them but only Severus or Hermione could bring Sebastian through any of the safety wards, including the one around the fireplace.

"He seemed a bit fecked off when he called through the Floo earlier," Harry noted, tickling Sebastian's sides and watching his feet kick out wildly.

"Harry, don't swear in front of the baby," Ginny said, nudging her boyfriend with her foot. "He'll understand you one day. Do you want his first word to be a curse?"

"Severus would murder you," Hermione grinned devilishly.

"Don't look so pleased about it," Harry shot at her.

"I'd help him," she informed her friend and rolled her eyes at his wounded look. "And yes, he did seem irritated. He said something about a shipment of supplies being botched but he was so rushed that I barely caught any of it."

"It's nice that he comes by for dinner every day," Ginny said, curling her feet under her as the two witches sat on the couch and watched Harry tease Sebastian. Hermione smiled as Harry made exaggerated faces and pretended to eat her son's toes. Sebastian hadn't noticed as he was too busy helping his uncle on the road to baldness.

The Floo flared green, causing Sebastian to let go of Harry's hair and look up in shock as Lavender stepped out of the fireplace.

"Hello little man!" she said immediately, spotting him on the floor in front of the couch. She barely bothered to brush her robes off before she was settled on the floor, her back against the couch and a hand running gently over Sebastian's mop of black hair.

"Hello to you too Lavender," Harry grinned wryly and Lavender flipped him off with her fingers before she turned around to look at Hermione. "I hounded Kingsley like you asked. He said he'd consider your request to work out of the house but only if you stopped sending your lackeys after him."

"My lackeys?" Hermione snorted. "Asking you and Harry doesn't count as having lackeys. And I didn't say hound him, I said remind him. There is a difference."

"Dad was asking for you too," Ginny grinned. "It seems your weekly visits with mum have spilled over into dinner table talk and she convinced him that Kingsley would be more willing to listen if the words came from someone older."

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. Some things about Molly would never change but she found that she didn't wholly mind. The older witch had been coming by once a week for lunch, mostly to talk to Hermione about raising seven magical children, but also to spend time with the younger woman. Hermione visited the Burrow on days that Molly knew Ron wouldn't be by. She had never expressly stated it but since she had gotten that first emergency owl saying that 'something' had come up and could they reschedule she had a feeling Molly was trying to avoid an all out battle over her kitchen table. They were slowly mending their relationship and while they still butted heads, Hermione found that she was getting back to that place where she felt she could trust the older witch implicitly.

"Hey look!" Harry cried, drawing everyone's attention to the floor where he lay face to face with Sebastian. Hermione watched, a smile fit to split her face, as her son pushed himself up with his hands for the first time, lifting his head and shoulder's high off the charmed blanket, and looking directly at his uncle.

Lavender and Ginny clapped, the latter crying "Good job Sebastian!", as the Floo turned green once more and Severus stepped out into the sitting room.

"You're just in time!" Lavender exclaimed, her face alight with excitement. "Sebastian is starting to lift himself off the ground!"

Hermione laughed as his little arms gave out and he slid back down to his belly, not worried about him hurting himself because of the Cushioning Charms that were always placed on the floor. He frowned slightly, clearly unhappy with where he found himself, and Harry laughed as he looked up at Severus.

"He definitely looks like you Snape, he's got your patented facial expression down already," he joked.

Hermione winced internally and looked up to see how Severus would take this gentle teasing that Harry was prone to delivering only to find that he was glaring daggers at her. She blinked, shocked and struggling to process his unexpected reaction, when he spun on his heel and strode right back into the Floo without a word to any of them. She watched as the green flame consumed him and he disappeared from her view. A stunned silence ensued and it felt like eons before Ginny broke it.

"Well, I haven't seen him look that livid since the time Luna, Neville and I tried to steal the Sword of Gryffindor from his office."

Harry turned and looked up at her, his face apologetic. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay Harry," she said, standing up and waving him off. She frowned angrily at the fireplace as if the man in question as still standing in front of it. Carefully, she stepped around her baby and leaned down to place a quick kiss on his head. Straightening, she turned and grabbed the Floo powder.

"Watch Sebastian for me for a bit? I should be back pretty quickly."

They all nodded in unison and Hermione didn't wait for anything else as she tossed the powder into the fire and called out, "Spinner's End!"

She stepped into the flame and felt it rush around her like a maelstrom before a sitting room she'd never seen before came into view and she exited. Her feet landed on a threadbare rug and she could feel the cold of the stone below it through her socks. A quick look around her revealed a small room made smaller by the bookshelves that lined every wall and the sparse furniture that dotted it. Three chairs, two of them piled high with parchment and books, lay about the room with a small table equally burdened as their only company. The one thing missing was Severus.

"Severus!" she yelled, taking another step into the room.

She heard a muffled thump seconds before the bookcase to her right opened and Severus stepped out of it. His face was calm, his eyes shuttered, and when he looked down his nose at her he was every inch the Professor she had grown up around.

"What on earth is wrong?" she demanded, walking up to him, torn between concern and anger.

"Contrary to what you may think, your presence is not wanted, Miss Granger," he said snidely. "Please see yourself out."

Without waiting for her to say anything, he turned on his heel and proceeded back up the narrow stairs that she could just see behind the bookcase. The anger she had been holding at bay flared to life as she watched the book case slowly close behind him. Without thinking about it, she leapt forward and yanked on the side of the hidden door, pulling it open so violently that the books on the other side of it knocked about precariously.

"How dare you!" she hissed at him, following him up a few steps. He paused and glared down at her. "'Miss Granger', is it? Was I 'Miss Granger' when you were fucking me on my floor, Severus?" she demanded, stomping up the wooden steps until she was one ahead of him and almost at eye level. "Was I 'Miss Granger' when I gave birth to your son?" she yelled in his face.

Something shifted in his expression and she was close enough to him to see the flare of anger that he had clearly been hiding earlier come to life in his eyes. "That's right, he's my son," he growled, his voice hard and cold. "Mine! Not Potter's!" he spat the name as if it tasted foul on his lips and leaned forward into her personal space, making her back up involuntarily until her back pressed against the wall.

"Are you...jealous?" Hermione breathed, frowning. It was a concept that hadn't really occurred to her earlier and now that it was, her mind was racing trying to figure out if she was right.

"What could I possibly have to be jealous of, Hermione?" he sneered at her, his warm breath wafting over her face and smelling slightly sweet. "That Potter and your friends see more of my son than I do? That they are witness to so many of these so called 'milestones'," he waved his fingers in the air in an imitation of quotes. "Or perhaps I should be jealous of the fact that my son smiles for Harry fucking Potter when he barely seems to know who I am?"

"He's only three months old!" Hermione said defensively. "The only person he knows for sure is me and that's because he's with me all the time!"

"And why aren't I?" Severus countered angrily. "I'm his father, am I not? I thought you wanted me to be part of his life, or was that just the hormones talking?"

Hermione gasped and pulled her head back, smacking it off the wall behind her without really noticing. Her mind flew to the conversation she had had with Harry months ago in her bedroom at Lavender's as Severus' words gave her a sense of déjà vu.

"Did Harry tell you...?" she asked quietly, not quite believing that Harry and Severus had sat down to have a civil conversation about her and her feelings.

"I was there," he sneered. "Your dear friend thought to force a reconciliation between the two of us, but he never came out to get me, so I listened at the door."

"That was a private conversation!" she spat. "How dare you violate my privacy like that?"

"The same way you violated my right to know that you were pregnant?" Severus hissed and his voice took on that deceptively calm tone she had only heard a few times. "If we're going to be comparing points here, Hermione, we really ought to talk about how you hid my son from me for almost nine months and would have hid him for the rest of his life had you had the chance."

"I admitted that I was wrong for that," she said, glaring at him and how close he was to her. It was a strange contrast, the coolness of the wall at her back and the warmth of his body barely brushing hers in front.

"Admission doesn't clear guilt," he growled softly, taking a step back and leaning against the other wall, his hands clenched in tight fists against the banister.

"No, it doesn't, but what would you like me to do, Severus?" she ground out, her patience at an all time low. "I'm trying to make things work here but you! You don't talk about anything! You don't tell me what you want, or expect, or how you feel! All this time I've been waiting for you to show some sign that you might be ready to talk about what we're going to do in the future, how we're going to raise our son and if it's going to be together or not and you're too busy brooding instead of talking to me!"

"What would you have me say?" he yelled at her, his face twisted with rage. "Would you have me bare my soul to you in some idiotic romantic gesture? To have you mock me behind my back with Miss Brown? Is that what—"

His tirade was cut off as Hermione reached up and slapped a hand over his mouth as if he were a naughty boy. His eyes went impossibly wide and she wondered for a heartbeat of a time whether or not anyone had ever dared to put hands on Severus Snape like this before.

"What I want is for you to tell me what you want," she said softly. "I want to know if you want a future with Sebastian, with me. I need to know."

The fight seemed to leave him at her admission and he slumped against the wall, making no move to push away her hand. His eyes held hers as she slowly took it away and waited for him to speak.

"I—Hermione," he began, frowning and looking down at where her hand had come to rest against his chest. "I want—"

He couldn't seem to form the words and Hermione felt tears of frustration well up in her eyes. Why couldn't the man just talk to her? What was so hard about that? How was it that they had gotten to this point without being able to talk to each other? They had a son, for crying out loud, but they couldn't have a discussion about their future, or how they felt about each other.

"I want..." he began again and slowly, he reached for her hand, pulling it away from his chest and holding it in his own. "I want to try."

Her limbs, held tight and tense during their yelling, suddenly felt loose and unable to hold her up. She slumped against the wall behind her, an unconscious mirror image of his own pose, and put a shaky hand over her eyes. Without warning, her breath shuddered and she felt her eyes sting. "Yes. I want that, too," she choked.

"Okay," he murmured. She heard the stairs creak as his weight shifted and his fingers gently touched the back of her hand. "Don't cry. I don't know what to do when you cry," he confessed.

She laughed suddenly, dropping her hand to look at him. His face was, for the first time, completely open and completely bewildered. "You hold me. That's what you do."

"Okay," he said again, reaching for her this time and pulling her close to him. She went willingly and slipped easily into his embrace. She sighed softly as she fit her arms around him, her feet balancing awkwardly on the stairs next to his and her head against his wool covered chest.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't realize."

"Which part?" he asked, the sound of his voice deeper and stronger with her head pressed over his heart.

"All of it, really," she murmured, holding him tighter. "But mostly about Sebastian."

"I want to know him the way your friends do," he said quietly. He sounded hesitant with his words, as if he wasn't sure of them, or himself.

"You're his father," Hermione said. "You take priority, always."

"Do I?" he asked, genuinely curious. She pulled back and tilted her face up to look him in the eye.

"Yes," she said softly. "You do."

Her eyes darted to his mouth and back before she slowly pushed up onto her toes and cupped his face with her hand. He watched her, his eyes unreadable and she smiled slightly, remembering the first night she had kissed him.

"Last chance," she whispered.

"I don't need it," he murmured back, leaning down and sealing his mouth over hers.

Every nerve ending in her body sang as she wound her arms around his neck and pulled herself ever closer to him. They had shared a grand total of two kisses since that night and both of them had been initiated by her, leaving him stunned. This time, he was an active participant and it made all the difference.

His hands grabbed at her clothes, pulling her flush against him and making her feet scramble for purchase between his legs. One hand let go of her waist and reached out, grabbing on to the banister to prevent them from slipping.

He pulled back just enough to breathe. "We shouldn't be doing this here."

"No," she agreed.

"Is this wise?" he asked.

"I have no idea."

"Are we stopping?"

"Not on your life."

The smallest of smiles graced his lips before he dipped his head and kissed her once more, slanting his mouth against hers and making her arch back to keep her body in as much contact with his as possible. She groaned and shifted her grip to his collar, pulling him down to her and making the pair of them stumble awkwardly on the stairs. Only Severus' hand on the banister kept them from falling as they broke apart and stared at each other, lips shining and chests heaving slightly.

"Last time we didn't make it to the bedroom," she grinned at him. "Do you think we can beat our record this time? Perhaps the floor of the bedroom?"

"I prefer to exceed expectations," he smirked at her and reached out for her hand. "I have a perfectly good bed and this time I plan to use it."

She chuckled, letting him draw her up the narrow stairs and on to a dimly lit landing that stretched down a long hall with several closed doors. He passed two and stopped at a third, a thick wooden door with a brass knob. He turned to face her, his expression just a little bit wary.

"Last chance."

Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed a fist full of his robes with one hand and the knob with the other, turning it as she spoke. "Shut up and kiss me," she growled pushing open the door as she pulled him along.

He complied without complaint, kissing her almost feverishly as they came to a stop in the middle of a room that she was too busy to take note of. Her hands quickly divested him of his cloak, pushing it off his shoulders and letting the deep green material pool to the ground. He had a distinct advantage in the fact that her Muggle jumper was designed with a deep V neck and did not resist as he pulled it aside to reveal her neck and collar bone. His lips latched on to her skin and she almost lost her focus as her fingers fumbled with his many buttons.

"We're going to have to do something about you and your buttons," she said hoarsely, slapping her palm against his chest and forcing her magic out of her fingertips. This time, however, she had a bit more control and merely made the garment unbutton itself instead of shed them entirely.

"I must confess, I like how easily frustrated you get over them," he murmured, his voice deep and smooth against her ear. She shivered and turned her head to nip at his neck. She felt the twisted skin of scar tissue and for a split second Severus froze over the contact but Hermione didn't let him linger on it as she traced a muscle up behind his ear, kissing her way into his hair.

"Why do you always smell like herbs?" she murmured, pulling his jacket open without looking and letting her hands wander over the white shirt she knew to be underneath.

"I'm around them," he said simply, his own hands slipping under her both her jumper and the tank top underneath to caress her skin. The feel of his fingertips tracing her ribs made her shiver again and a delicious heat unfurl in her gut.

"Good point," she murmured, her hands working the tails of his linen shirt out of his trousers as quickly as she could.

"Hands up," he said softly into her ear. Hermione didn't even think about not complying and lifted her arms up over her head. It wasn't until Severus was peeling off all her layers, leaving her in just her bra and jeans that her self-consciousness kicked in.

As soon as the sweater and tangled tank top were free of her limbs she snatched at it and held it to her chest, making Severus arch an eyebrow at her.

"I—I've changed a bit," she said hesitantly, the embarrassment cooling her ardour slightly. "Since, well, last time."

"There is nothing wrong," he said softly, stepping closer and gently pulling on the sweater that she held tight to her chest and stomach, "with looking like a woman who has borne a child."

"I know," she insisted, even though she really didn't know. "I just...I haven't—Christ."

"Let me see you," he whispered, tugging on the sweater a little more. This time, she let it go, feeling the blush creep up her chest and neck as he dropped her clothes onto the floor with his robe and let his eyes rove over her. They glittered darkly in the dim light of his bedroom and she fought the urge to wrap her arms around herself. She had gained a bit of weight that she hadn't been able to lose yet, making her thicker around the waist and thighs; her breasts were still heavy with milk and while definitely round and full, she knew that they weren't as perky as they had once been.

"You think you're not beautiful?" he asked softly. "Because you have scars? Because your body is not what it once was?"

"I...," she trailed off, confused, as Severus began to shed his clothes, slipping out of the wool jacket he always wore and swiftly unbuttoning the linen shirt that was half out of his trousers as she watched. When his shirt opened to reveal a pale chest dotted with black, curly hairs, she understood the point that he was trying to make.

During their last tryst, Hermione had been far too drunk to really see Severus as they fucked on the floor of her hallway. Like she had said, they had never made it to the bedroom—though she had had plenty of dreams about what might have happened had they gotten there and even more about all the things that could have happened in other areas of her flat. The reality, however, was quite different. Scars of various sizes, some long and thin, others fat and ropey, dotted his chest and hips. One in particular drew her eye, it started just under his left nipple and crossed over his stomach, marring the soft roundness of his navel, and disappearing under his trousers. Her eyes catalogued all of this before slowly dragging back up to his dark eyes. He said nothing, just watched her, waiting for her verdict. She could only imagine how it felt to put himself on display in such a manner, especially for such a private man.

If one could look past the scars that marred his body, Severus was still quite fit. He was by no means well defined but his stomach was flat and hard and his shoulders lined with wiry muscles that belied a hidden strength. Part of her wanted to walk up to him and kiss each of those scars that had no doubt caused him immeasurable amounts of pain but another part of her knew that that was not what he wanted; he wasn't looking for reassurance, he was trying to provide it.

Slowly, she reached down to unfasten the button on her denims and draw down the zip. She struggled to hold his gaze as she slid the material down her thighs and stepped out of the protection it afforded. There was something extremely intimate about undressing in front of a man, especially when he refused to let you look away from his hooded gaze.

Mirroring her movements, Severus shed his trousers, his eyes burning hotly as she stood there in her bra and knickers. When his belt hit the floor with a hard thunk she dared to release his eyes and let her gaze wander down to the tented grey boxers he wore, her breath catching slightly in her throat. She felt a thrill of excitement go through her at the evidence that he wanted her still.

She quickly closed the gap between them, one hand going round his waist and pulling his hips flush against hers and the other to the back of his neck to pull him down for a kiss. He groaned at the contact while both of his hands came around her, his large palms spanning her back and his fingers fighting with her bra. He quickly managed to free her of it and together they stumbled backwards towards his bed until Hermione's knees hit the edge.

She sat down hard but didn't think to let go of Severus' neck and shoulders when she did. The result was him falling forward to knock his forehead off of hers.

"Ow!" Hermione laughed. Her hand flew up to forehead as she grinned at him sheepishly. "You've got a hard head."

"One could make the argument that your Gryffindor head is harder," he laughed, rubbing at his own.

Hermione let the sound of his laughter fall over her as she pulled him down to her, this time avoiding a collision, and lay back on his bed. His body quickly covered hers and another thrill shot through her at the newness of it all. They may have had sex before, but they had never done this.

"Kiss me, Severus," she whispered against his mouth.

"As bossy as ever," he murmured, pressing his lips against hers before she could retort.

She lifted her legs and wound them around his hips, bringing his erection into close contact with her body. He grunted at the sensation and she grinned triumphantly, taking advantage of his momentary distraction to roll them over. Their kiss broke as they turned and she sat up, straddling his hips comfortably.

"I hope you're not attached to these," she said cryptically, grinning down at him.

"Attached to what?" he asked, his mouth wet from her kisses.

Hermione concentrated for a second before she waved her hand over the area of her groin, where it was nestled against his. She felt the shimmer of her magic ghost over their skin seconds before the rest of their clothing disappeared.

The change was instantaneous. The feel of his hardness against her slick skin was glorious and she couldn't help but shift her hips, watching his eyes roll back into his head as his mouth fell open. His hands came up to her waist—whether to hold or guide, she didn't know but nor did she care—as she continued to shift back and forth.

"Hermione," he choked out her name as his hands tried to still her movement. "This is going to be over before it starts if you don't stop."

"Accio Wand!" she turned and held her hand out, watching her wand slap into her palm handle first. Swiftly she turned about and aimed it at the skin just below her navel and, with a whispered spell, more magic danced along her skin. She felt the tingle spread throughout her womb and knew that she had done the spell correctly.

Tossing her wand aside, she heard it roll off the bed and hit the floor with a small clatter but she didn't care.

"Look at us, learning to do things properly," he said as he watched her, his eyes burning. She noted that he didn't call his son a 'mistake'.

"In a bed and everything," she whispered, lifting up to grab hold of him and guide him into her body.

Words ceased to matter as she slowly lowered herself onto him, feeling his body fill hers until he was fully seated. That sensation of fullness equated to rightness in her mind and she took a moment to savour it before planting her hands on his stomach and rising up. Severus' hands clenched around her hips as she set the pace, rocking atop him with a steady rhythm that gradually picked up pace.

"You're beautiful," he murmured softly, sitting up to cup her face. He released her waist to prop himself up and flex his hips in time with her thrusts. "Did you know that? You're beautiful."

She didn't know what to say to that and so she kissed him instead, a wordless thank you. She dug both hands into his hair, pulling it back from his face so that she could see his expression as she rode him. His eyes fluttered closed and his mouth dropped open once more, small sounds of pleasure slipping from his lips as they moved together.

"Hermione, I'm—," his eyes flew open as he reached between them to touch her. His fingers found her unerringly, rolling her swollen flesh sweetly and making her back arch as she lost the rhythm.

Severus picked it up, planting his feet against the floor and thrusting up into her hard.

"Hermione, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm going to come."

"Come with me, then," she murmured back, pulling him in for a kiss just as pleasure exploded through her body, spreading from her groin to suffuse her limbs with an addicting warmth. She pulled away from his mouth, throwing her head back as a whispered 'Yes' fell from her lips.

Severus grunted, his hand moving around to her back to press her close to him as her orgasm washed over him and ripped his own from his body. She clutched his head close as he pressed his face to her collarbone and groaned her name against her damp flesh, his hips still thrusting into her as he rode out his pleasure. She was sure her heart was about to pound right out of her chest but in that moment, she wouldn't have minded. That feeling of rightness was compounded by the tightness of his arms around her and the wild beat of his own heart against her breast.

Slowly, Hermione came down from her high and released her death like grip on his slightly damp hair, letting her fingers slide down his scalp to his neck where they rested.

"I'm—"

"Not sorry in the slightest," she breathed, the fine sheen of sweat on her body beginning to cool. He looked up at her and smiled crookedly, his face relaxed and happy for the first time in weeks. She hadn't seen that look on his face since he had given Sebastian a bath in her kitchen sink.

"Neither am I but I wasn't going to say—," he tried again but she cut him off once more.

"Move in with me," she offered impulsively, biting her lip and looking down as her fingers fidgeted with the ends of his hair. She barely caught the widening of his eyes before she zeroed in on the dip of his collarbone. "It doesn't have to be permanent, Merlin knows my place is too small for that, I'm going to have to get a bigger flat once Sebastian gets older anyway but I could maybe put a bed in the nursery, or you could, I dunno, sleep in my bed," she babbled, not even bothering to finish sentences or take a breath. "If you wanted to, that is. I couldn't fit a very large bed in the nursery, it's a bit on the small side as it is, but we could make it work, you know? And that way you'd be able to see more of Sebastian, I want you to see more of him, you're right, you know, he needs to know you better. Besides, I could use a—"

She broke off at the distinct sound of something being knocked over downstairs and a male voice cursing. "What was that?" she asked, eyes wide.

"That was what I was trying to tell you," he lifted a sardonic eyebrow and shifted slightly, reminding her that they were still intimately connected. "I'm pretty sure you have a search party after you."

"Oh shit!" she groaned, climbing off of his lap and looking for her wand. "I told them I wouldn't take long and..." she trailed off, eyes darting about for the familiar piece of birch. With her luck, it was probably under his bed.

Her gaze spread wider and she realized that their clothing littered the area of his room directly adjacent to his bed. Thankfully, that area was close to his desk and chair, which happened to have a long black dressing robe draped over the back of it. She lunged forward and seized it, throwing it about her shoulders and quickly belting it around her. The material was much too large, as evidenced by the fact that the belt went around her arse instead of her waist, but it would have to do.

"I'll be back!" she said and ran from the room, her feet thundering down the stairs and, once again, leaving Severus Snape slightly stunned in her wake.

Hermione burst from the hidden stairway and scared the crap out of Harry who spun around on his heel, brandishing his wand.

"What the—Hermione!" he spluttered. "Why are you in a robe? Is that...? Oh hell," he groaned and turned back around. "Put some damn clothes on, witch!"

"Harry, I have clothes on," she said, as if explaining this to a toddler. "They just happen to belong to Severus!" she added, smiling cheekily, not that he could see.

Harry groaned and kept his back turned to her. "I take it things are fine then? No one is hurting the other?"

"Depends on your definition of pain," she said thoughtfully, unable to resist teasing him. "I was thinking that this robe has a pretty long sash so I could probably use it to tie Sev—"

"LALALAI'MGOINGNOW!" Harry yelled, clapping his hands over his ears and dashing for the fireplace. He had to remove one hand from his ear as he reached for Floo powder and threw it quickly in, yelling out Hermione's address almost before the flames at turned green.

Hermione watched him disappear with a self satisfied smirk and turned around to head back upstairs. She had only just pulled open the still slightly ajar door when she came face to face with a smirking Severus. He was wearing what looked like his white linen shirt transfigured into a robe and a grin that could only be described as 'shit eating'.

"Hmm, still listening from doorways, I see?" she arched an eyebrow at him.

"I was a spy for twenty years, witch," he said, pulling her closer by the sash of the robe she wore. "Some habits die harder than others."

"How about some new habits?" she asked smiling as she leaned against him. "Say...breakfast in bed on Sundays?"

"That would be lovely," he grinned. "I like my bacon crispy."

She pinched him as he laughed. "Git," she muttered, enjoying the unfamiliar sound of his mirth.

"Come back to bed," he said, pulling her by the hand with a smile still on his face.

She couldn't say no to that, now could she?