On Marriage

On Marriage, Chapter Fifteen - The Wedding Night

Hermione half-woke, a smile upon her face. She was warm and comfortable and well-rested and pleased, when she yawned and stretched, to discover that Crookshanks was not in his usual place, curled against her stomach. This made rolling over and snuggling deeper into the blankets easier, as there was not a protesting bundle of fur in the way. She sighed happily, the soft blankets pulled against her cheek, and wondered how much time she had to lie in bed before she had to get up for class.

Oh, no, there was no class, she remembered vaguely, beginning to drift back to sleep. In fact, a voice in the back of her mind continued, there wouldn't even be breakfast to miss if she overslept because she wasn't at Hogwarts anymore. She was on vacation.

Hermione sat up with a start, the room spinning with the sudden motion. Vacation? No, she wasn't on vacation. She was on her honeymoon!

Instinctively, she looked at the far side of the bed. It remained unmussed. She then turned her gaze outward into the bedroom. It was still dark, lit by a single gutting candle on the vanity, and it was also empty.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she began to wonder what exactly was going on.

There was still light, though dim, filtering beneath the door to the outer room. Hermione listened closely, but heard no sign of anyone on the opposite side. Quietly, she opened the door and peered into the room.

The fire in the grate was lit, though dying, and the room seemed both larger and deathly quiet in the absence of the house elves. Severus sat on the short sofa, head hanging as though he were asleep.

Tentatively, Hermione stepped into the room. She could see a book open on Severus' lap. She cringed to think of how stiff his neck would be when he woke in the morning, then leaned down to close the book and set it on a side table where he would be sure to see it when he woke.

She got as far as touching the book when a hand reached up and grasped her by the wrist. Hermione let out a startled yelp and found herself staring into Severus' dark eyes.

"Do you make a habit out of sneaking up on people to steal their reading material?" he asked, not unkindly. He released her wrist and, instinctively, Hermione stepped away.

Her heart hammered and she worked to control her breathing. "I thought - I thought you were asleep," she stammered, her cheeks pinking at the apologetic tone in her voice. As much as the occasional afternoon teas had left her marginally more comfortable in his presence, this was a completely different situation.

"I am not," he replied, then closed the book and set it aside on his own.

They stared at one another.

"Well," Hermione said after a quiet moment. She tried not to fidget. "I suppose I'll go back to bed then."

"Miss Granger - Hermione, you have no need for worry. You will sleep unmolested by me," Severus said as Hermione took the first steps back towards the bedroom. She stopped in her tracks.

"Pardon?"

"I said," he began again, looking over his shoulder at her, "that you have no need to worry. That is the Mistress Chamber," he explained, nodding to the bedroom from which Hermione had come. "The Master Suite is through that door." He turned his gaze to the third door in the room, the one Hermione knew did not return to the hallway.

"Oh," she said simply.

They watched each other again.

"I thought we had to-" Hermione began after a moment's awkward silence, but her voice died away at a look from Severus. As the room was in half-light and the fire was behind him, it was difficult to tell what exactly his expression had been, but Hermione stopped talking anyway.

"Not immediately," he said.

"Oh," she repeated.

The awkward silence was threatening to return, and Hermione knew something had to happen to break the tension. So, surprising them both, she stepped back towards the sofa. She took a seat on the second cushion, drew up her knees and placed her chin upon them as she stared into the fire. Severus watched her for a moment but did not speak, then turned his own gaze to the flames.

Several moments passed in relative quiet. The dying fire popped and cracked periodically, but neither Severus nor Hermione spoke. The flickering of light proved to be somewhat mesmerizing and Hermione found that her eyelids slowly began to grow a bit heavier. She had no idea what time it actually was, but had noted that it was still quite dark outside when she'd left her bedroom.

Hermione barely noticed the slightest rustle of fabric as Severus adjusted his position on the small couch ever-so-slightly. She was more aware of the fact that his movement has caused her own cushion to shift beneath her. "You're going to become ill," he said quietly.

Hermione lifted her chin from her knees and turned her head to Severus. "I am?" she asked. She hadn't been aware that he was watching her but, at some point, he had apparently shifted his attention from the fire. His gaze was stern, as she imagined that it always was, though she was glad to note that neither his dark eyes nor his voice suggested that she had done something horribly wrong.

"The room is chilled and you are wearing neither a dressing gown nor slippers," Severus noted, glancing at the bare toes that rested on the sofa cushion.

Hermione followed Severus' gaze down to her feet and wiggled her toes without realizing that she had done it. She looked back up at him and smiled slightly.

"I hadn't even noticed," she admitted. She had been so startled by the remembrance that she was a newlywed that she had abandoned her bed without thought to the chill in the air. Now that he mentioned it, Hermione was much more aware of how much cooler her back was than her toes and she wrapped her arms a bit tighter about her knees. Her pajamas were somewhat thin, which hadn't been an issue when she'd been tucked beneath thick blankets. Severus himself was still in his wedding clothes. He had removed his outer robes and loosened his collar, but otherwise remained fully dressed. Hermione discovered that she was not at all surprised by this.

Severus watched her for a moment longer, then reached towards the back of the sofa to reclaim his coat. Before she properly realized what was happening, Hermione found that he had opened the jacket and draped it about her shoulders. Even though she was somewhat shocked at the action, Hermione found it touching and couldn't help smiling.

"Thank you," she murmured. Severus responded with a slight nod and a dismissive noise and turned his attention back to the fire. Hermione turned her eyes back to the grate, but found that she was much more aware of Severus beside her than she had been only a few moments earlier.

She was sleepy, she decided. It had been a long day and emotions were obviously running high, even if both she and Severus were outwardly calm at the moment. They had gotten married, and months of planning didn't seem to have prepared either one of them for it one bit. Well, perhaps it has Severus, Hermione mused. He wasn't being hateful at all, and prior to their engagement the idea of sitting side by side on a small sofa and gazing into a fire without him snapping at her would have been ludicrous.

What a strange thing marriage is going to be, Hermione thought sleepily. Buried beneath Severus' jacket and knowing what a decidedly un-Snapeish thing it was for him have offered it, she couldn't help the tiniest of smiles. She almost laughed.

Hermione was pulled from her thoughts by another rustle of fabric. She looked up as Severus got to his feet. He watched her with remarkably expressionless dark eyes for just a moment.

"It's late. I suggest you return to bed."

Hermione nodded, but did not immediately move.

"Breakfast will be served in this room tomorrow morning," Severus continued. He watched her for another silent moment, opened his mouth as if to say something and then stopped. He gave her a slight nod instead, then stepped around the edge of the sofa towards the room he had termed the Master Suite.

"Goodnight," Hermione said to his back.

Severus paused at the doorframe. "Goodnight, Hermione."