Given the Chance

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Given the Chance

By: Goddess-Isis-112

Chapter Four: Sleeping Arrangements

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Granger's eyes were on him once more, and it was driving him mad. He could feel it within every fiber of his physical body; her cinnamon brown eyes were boring into his skull, studying him as if he were one of his very own rare Potions ingredients. He gritted his teeth, refusing to acknowledge her stare, though it was beginning to grate more and more on his nerves. How in the world did I ever think this bossy know-it-all was arousing? he thought darkly to himself. Her inquisitiveness is absolutely infuriating, and if she does not take her eyes off of me soon...

"What is it that you find so appallingly interesting that you must stare so rudely, Miss Granger?" he finally snapped, and she jumped in surprise at his sudden reaction, which left her fumbling for words. When she hadn't answered, he looked at her for the first time in a several hours, and gulped. Her cheeks were flushed with humiliation and her bottom lip was tucked underneath her teeth, a habit that he usually found quite annoying, but at the moment was almost appealing. This is why you're not to look at her more than you should, Snape! his mind growled at himself, shifting his position on the ground. She will be the end of you! Be strong man, be strong!

"I'm sorry, sir," she whispered from across the room, looking away from him. "I-I j-just c-couldn't help myself..." Whatever answer he had been expecting, it wasn't that, and he felt his jaw drop slightly before he could prevent it, and refusing to look like a gawking teenage boy, he clamped his mouth shut and crossed his arms across his chest. Get your mind off of smut, get your mind off of smut, get your mind off of smut...the mantra repeated itself over and over in his head before he allowed himself to reply.

"If this is your attempt to acquire the top marks in Potions at the end of term, Miss Granger, I assure you, it has failed miserably," he hissed, only causing her to growl back indignantly.

"With all due respect sir, I am a hard worker, and it was not a habit of using compliments that allowed me the top rank in my class!" she shot back angrily. "Honestly! Is it so hard to believe..." Her voice faltered and she looked away from him.

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"Finish your sentence, Miss Granger."

"No. It wasn't important."

"Miss Granger..." There was a dangerous tone to his voice now, but Hermione bit her lip, refusing to abate his curiousity.

"I wonder what time of day it is?"

"The last time I checked my pocket watch, it was nearly 9:30 at night but-"

"Really? Well, I should really transfigure this sink into a bed-" At the mention of a bed, both fell into an uncomfortable silence, and Hermione cursed under her breath at her poor choice of words. She then tried to cover up her mistake by doing the only thing she knew how in situations such as the one she was currently in, and that was to babble rapidly. "-or rather, two beds because of course, it would be positively weird to only have one bed in the room with the two of us-" Hermione, just shut up already!, her mind yelled, but once she started rambling it was nearly impossible to stop- "and of course, it would be even more weird if we actually shared one bed, but then again, I haven't the faintest idea how we would fit two beds into this tiny complex, but it would be possible to have bunk beds, I suppose. But I'm rather afraid of heights so you would have to take the top and I'd have to remain on the bottom-" Snape's face colored slightly as did Hermione's at the implications, but the girl would not stop. "Maybe bunk beds aren't as good an idea as I had originally thought, but then we are posed with the problem of having one bed or two, and yet, I'm unsure as to how-"

"Miss Granger, please, you're giving me a headache," Snape interrupted, burying his face in his hands so that his words came out muffled. "Just stop, for Merlin's sake, stop!" He sighed. "I merely asked for the completion of your previous statement, not an essay on the pros and cons of bunk beds."

"But shouldn't we figure out the sleeping arrangements-"

"I am curious as to what you were going to say, Miss Granger, before you ranted into a horrible disaster, so if you would-"

"No." Hermione bit her lip once more.

"Is it really so hard?" he asked in exasperation.

"What's it to you if I finish the sentence or not, sir?" she fired back.

"You were about to lecture about beliefs, Miss Granger," he answered back, his voice smoothly dark. "If you honestly think that a correction of my beliefs is in order, then enlighten me." He ended with a sarcastic smirk, and once again, Hermione found herself quietly lost in the blackness of his eyes, in the curve of his lips, and she visibly gulped. His silky voice caressed her ears with nothing else but a discomforting pleasure, and the words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Honestly, sir, is it so hard to believe that you're attractive?"

The words were finally spoken, and teacher and student merely stared at each other.

"You were right, Miss Granger, it is your bedtime," he replied, his voice barely audible. "You are tired and are obviously having delusions."

"I'm not sleepy," she replied just as softly.

"Go to bed."

"No."

"Ten points."

"I told you, I didn't care about that anymore."

"Twenty points."

"It may not seem my place, but why do you deny-"

"Thirty points," he hissed angrily. "You are correct once again. It isn't your place. Now transfigure your bed and go to sleep."

"I need to use the toilet," she answered, her cheeks aflame, but never taking her gaze away from him.

"Fine," he spat. He hurriedly backed away from the corner in which the toilet resided, and as Hermione made her way across the room, Snape made the point of keeping as far away from her as possible. He faced the wall, keeping his expression firm and trying not to listen as Hermione relieved herself. But as the sounds of her pulling down the necessary garments reached his ears, his imagination went into overdrive, fantasizing about removing the rest of her clothing along with her knickers, which he assumed, were probably dangling around her knees at that moment. The sound of a flushing toilet was music to his ears, and he turned around in relief but right before Hermione had the chance to pull her knickers up to its proper spot, and he caught sight of her creamy thighs before she pulled her skirt down in alarm. She wrapped her school robes around herself protectively and without another word, she marched to the other corner of the room where the sink was. Snape turned his back to her, his cheeks red, and he looked down angrily at the bulge in his pants.

As Hermione washed her hands, she thought of Snape eyeing her legs, and it was enough to make her uncomfortably aroused. It had been a moment of unguarded interest on his part, and as much as she hated to admit it, the look in his eyes turned her on more than anything else had ever done so in the past. He wanted her; she could tell, but something was holding him back, besides the ethics of a student/teacher relationship. Not that that mattered much anyway. With her use of the Time Turner, she was well beyond legal age, and it was her final year at Hogwarts as a student, and even that was drawing to a close soon. There was something else in his eyes that made him hesitate, and she pressed her lips to a line in determination. She had to find out what it was, just to ease her sanity-

She shook her head a bit, wanting to chuckle at her riddiculous thoughts! Hadn't it been earlier that day in Potions, when she was reminded of what a horrible git Snape was, when he had been picking on Neville? And here she was, about six hours later, unable to think of him as anything other than a man whose barriers she wanted to break through, but why? Why was she suddenly so interested in him?

Unable to answer her own silent questions, she dried her hands and grabbed her wand from her school bag. Clearing her things away, she pointed her wand at the sink, and a few seconds later, Hermione's answer to the bed problem lay where the sink used to be. In its place was a single, huge four poster bed, big enough to accomodate a party of four people. What was even more interesting was its color scheme.

"Green, Miss Granger?"

"I always did like the color green before I ever attended Hogwarts," she admitted, "and even though my liking of the color has lessened somewhat due to a few Slytherins, it still remains a hidden favorite." He arched an eyebrow in amusement, but as he looked over the bed again, he stiffened.

"Decided on transfiguring only one, then?"

"We can share," she said, somewhat shyly. "It is big enough for the both of us. I promise I won't get in your way or anything."

"I think I'd rather take my chances on the floor."

"Honestly, Professor, stop acting like a teenaged prat and share the bed with me," she sighed. "I didn't transfigure it to this size only to keep it to myself. Anyway, If I tried to transfigure it into two separate beds, they would be side by side anyway. Might as well save myself the trouble and make one huge bed instead." Snape did have to admit that Hermione did have a point. The bed occuppied much of the space, and there really was no room for a second bed, but to share a bed with the one woman who had him so bloody excited did not sound like such a good idea, especially since that woman was his top student. He stared at the bed wearily until she finally sighed.

"Fine," she said impatiently. "I'm going to bed. The invitation to sleep on the other side is still open to you, if you should decide to take it." Pointing her wand at herself, Hermione transfigured her clothes into a comfortable pair of flannel pajamas, and after parting the curtains of the bed, she crawled in. "Good night, Professor," she called out, stifling a yawn.

He hesitated before whispering, "Good night," a few seconds later, unsure as to whether she had heard him or not. He remained on the floor by the foot of the bed, and after about ten minutes of complete, boring silence, the gentle sound of snoring greeted his ears. With Hermione asleep, Snape realized how lonelier it felt without her there awake with him, and although he was reluctant to admit it to himself, he actually missed the sound of her voice arguing with him. But should he take her offer of sharing the bed? He stared at the green curtains for another fifteen minutes before the lure of the comforts of the bed called to him, and his posterior complained as he shifted on the cold, hard floor.

It isn't as if you'd actually be sleeping with the girl, he justified to himself. You'd just be sleeping in the same bed, but not sleeping sleeping together. Besides, she offered. It made sense to him; as long as he kept his composure, nothing questionable was going to happen. With a definite nod, he grabbed his wand and transfigured his robes into an identical set of pajamas he normally wore, and walking quietly to the opposite side of the bed, he crawled in.

Green satin sheets?! he mused as his fingers ran across the material, and he looked over to where Hermione was curled up into a ball. All I need are the handcuffs, he thought in amusement, and chuckled softly at his absurd fantasy. The bed shifted slightly under his weight, but Hermione hardly seemed to notice, for she remained deep in sleep. Snape reached over and pulled a bit of the covers to his side as he settled on the edge of the bed, trying to ignore the pounding of his rather nervous heart. When nothing happened for the next ten minutes, he began to relax, and he closed his eyes, willing for sleep to take over.

But then the moaning started.

At first, Snape wasn't sure whether or not he was hearing things, but a mewing sort of sound escaped from her lips, and he turned around to stare at her. Was she having a terrible nightmare?

"Ooh," she muttered, in a tone he'd never heard her use before. "Severussss...." His groin shot to attention, and he sat up straight in amazement as he stared at the sleeping girl. Her eyes were moving rapidly behind her lids, and he was sure she was dreaming. She moved slightly to lie on her back, and a sudden thrusting of her hips into the air only caused him to widen his eyes even more.

"Pleassee," she groaned. "Severusss..."

"Holy Merlin," he muttered, and lay back down, shutting his eyes tightly, trying to ignore the fact that Granger was lying in bed next to him while having dreams about...he could only imagine. Think Divination, think Divination! he commanded himself, but her moans demanded his attention, and he risked another look at her, only to see her reach down between her-

"Severusss," she hissed, biting her bottom lip, and he immediately turned away. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep! his mind yelled at him, but for the next five minutes, he endured the most arousing sounds he had ever heard from Hermione Granger before she fell silent. He was beyond hard when she was through, but with a pause in her constant moaning, he was able to focus on Divination and had gratefully lost whatever had built up. He forced his eyes shut and fell asleep before he had another chance to hear Hermione once more.

Despite the enormous amount of space between the two of them, midnight had found them both in the center of the bed, Hermione with her head tucked under his chin while his arms wrapped protectively around her, and they slept more peacefully than they had previously before.

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TBC...