A Winters Tale

Chapter 7 Attacks and Antics

By awakening Hermione found herself alone in the huge four poster she'd come to think about as 'our bed' in the last hours. Only an auburn hair on the deserted pillow next to her and the slight ache in her thighs as she stretched proved that the last night with the handsome stranger hadn't been a dream.

Hermione turned and put the hair from the pillow, thoughtfully curling it around her index finger. Looking at it she thought she could smell her lover's lemon drops and lavender fragrance and her heart jumped by remembering it.

"Albus," she whispered, suddenly sad and feeling so lonely it hurt. Where was he? And why was he already gone? The sky outside the windows still looked pretty dark, the winter sun hadn't risen entirely yet, so it was early - too early for her husband to leave the bed chamber already. Yet by thinking of him Hermione suddenly became aware that the man she was to meet for breakfast would not be 'her' Albus - the Albus in whose arms she'd felt so right and happy. By now he was back in being the headmaster with his silver mane and the heavy robes. The thought of it made Hermione so sad she felt her eyes burn with tears. She longed for his warmth and the comfort she'd found in his embrace, she still thought she'd feel his long, firm form against which she'd snuggled the last night before falling asleep. When would she see this Albus again? And how was she to deal with the headmaster now, longing for his younger self?

Crying her eyes out wouldn't do - so much was clear. He'd praised her courage in the night and Hermione had felt very proud of it. She wouldn't let him down now and so she allowed herself one last little sigh before she energetically pushed herself out of the warm bed and walked to the bathroom he'd prepared for her. Being already too nervous for a bath, she took a quick shower, brushed her teeth and tried - once again a futile attempt as the mirror told her immediately - to tame her bushy hair. Dressing herself in her school uniform which had laid neatly pressed on a shelf in her new closet - she took a long look in the mirror, searching for something new in her features. But it was still the old, plain Hermione looking back to her. Nothing had changed, though she felt as if everything had. She wasn't a girl anymore, but a woman, a lawfully wedded wife and - Hermione felt a little tremble by the memory of it - her husband's very own lover, the one who made him purr and moan only a few hours ago.

"Hermione?" His voice sounded from the bedroom, once again hoarse and even more cracked as she remembered it.

"Here I am!" She answered and went to the bedroom, looking at him as he stood in the door to the stairs, the light from the window behind him shimmering in his long hair. He was, Hermione started with one gaze, looking even more buttoned-up as the day before in his dress robe. It was once again purple and gold this morning - a silken under robe with a very high collar, a brocade over robe with wide sleeves and a matching hat. Even his benevolent smile looked to Hermione as if he'd put it firmly on his face by willpower and with thinking so every idea of kissing him for getting back something of the warmth she had felt in the night was gone. Suddenly it seemed unimaginable that she really had shared the bed with this man, the thought of it even made her blush and look at her feet.

"I hope you slept well?" he asked now and to Hermione it sounded like the polite question a stranger in a hotel would ask someone he'd just meet on the buffet by collecting breakfast.

"Yes, I did," Hermione answered with the same politeness, still staring at her feet and fighting against tears. She wouldn't cry - she wouldn't allow herself to! "I hope you slept well too?"

"Oh yes." He was stepping in the room now, but not looking at her, but to the fire. "I've spoken with Professor Snape," he said, and Hermione registered that he now used the title again. In the night it had been 'Severus' - and hadn't he really asked her to befriend the cold man? In the morning light even the idea of it sounded odd. "He agreed," Albus proceeded now, "to take you up with your honor project and he'd like to see you in his office after dinner."