"Close your eyes," Hermione whispered to the man towering over her. His Stygian eyes bore into her hazel, silently refusing. She repeated herself more sternly. "Close your eyes."

"Why should I?" Severus's liquid baritone voice asked.

"I said so."

"Excellent reasoning. You have certainly convinced me to close my eyes and trust that this whim won't involve something embarrassing."

She raised an eyebrow. "Close your eyes, or I will never talk to you again."

"That would be a relief."

"I will never kiss you again."

He reasoned this, then replied, "How am I to believe that's true? I could force you..."

"I'm a witch. I could stop you." She drew herself up to her full height, head held high.

"I am a more powerful wizard," he replied, taking a large step towards her. "You would be at a loss against my energies." He leaned over, cradling her cheek in his large hand, inches from kissing her.

Hermione pursed her lips and shoved him away, face contorted in aggravation. "You're so difficult! Just close your eyes!"

Severus smirked, slowly approaching her again.

"Close them... or else," she warned, pulling out her wand.

"Or else what?" he replied, tapping his head. "I'm skilled at both wandless and wordless magic, do you really think you can hurt me?"

Hermione frowned. "Fine, don't close your eyes. Just go away and don't talk to me. I'll do it by myself..."

Dark eyebrows furrowed. "Do what by yourself?"

"Not telling you," she countered, smirking. "Unless you close your eyes."

"You are... an intractable girl. You know that, right?"

"Most certainly."

He nodded, then closed his eyes. "Do what you must."

Hermione grinned widely, wearing a look that probably would have frightened Severus had his eyes been open. She snatched a colourful apron from the counter, and walked to the temporarily blind man. So he wouldn't be able to tell what she was doing, she reached up, pulling the apron over his head while running her hands through his hair. He wrapped his arms around her in response.

She walked around him, fingers running across his chest, and then his back, as she deftly tied the strings behind him. Continuing her walk back around him, she stood in front of him again, silently casting a holding charm on the apron, then kissed him lightly. "Open your eyes," she whispered.

He did so, but didn't realise anything different, being distracted. He kissed her hungrily, hands running through her wild brown hair. He moved down to her neck, nipping at it gently as Hermione lifted her head up.

When he opened his eyes, though, he caught glance of the not-black material that wrapped around him.

Severus pulled off of Hermione, taking a better look at what she had put on him. "Insufferable! You are insufferable!" he yelled, attempting to take the apron off. Her charm was strong, though; even if he tried to hex it off, it would just get tighter.

"You're better off not trying to get rid of it," she said slyly. He glared at her angrily. She smiled innocently, continuing, "Now, we best get started."

He blinked slowly. "I refuse to play whatever little game you've cooked up."

"Ooh, you've almost just said what we'll be doing this afternoon!"

Severus stared at the chipper girl, thinking of what he said. "No. I am not cooking."

"Well, good. We're not cooking, we're baking!"

His eyes widened in slight horror, and he shook his head. "No."

Hermione chuckled at how serious he was about it. "Just pretend it's like potions. Here. Accio bowl. Accio flour." She continued on calling things until she had summoned all the ingredients, bowls, and measuring tools they'd need.

"Now this," she said, pointing to the large bowl, "is like our cauldron, sort of."

He was still staring at her. "I dare say we won't be cooking anything in there, though."

"Don't be picky. Now, shall I go on to demonstrate how this is like potions?"

"No, that's ok. I'll just stand here and watch."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "I don't think so." She forced a bunch of measuring cups and spoons at him, and pointed to all the ingredients. "You, dearest Severus, will be measuring out what we need as I tell you to."

"And why should I?"

"Need we start this fruitless argument again?"

"Yes. I don't want to bake."

"But the result is so tasty!"

"I'm not a big fan."

"Well, I am," she countered, then started to fire off instructions on how much of each ingredient to add. He participated reluctantly at first, but found it was rather like potions, having to measure everything out to exact specifications, or the final product would not be correct.

Hermione stirred the ingredients together with a hand mixer, then called, "Accio chocolate chips."

A bag of semi-sweet chips came to her hand, and she sliced it open with a Severing Charm. "Chocolate chip?" she offered, holding the bag out to Severus.

He stared down at it, eyebrow raised, and plucked a single chip out. As he ate it, he reasoned, "Not too bad."

"Nutter," Hermione mumbled, eliciting a glare from the solemn man. She popped a few in her mouth, then poured the rest into the thick, light brown batter. She took a spoon, and began stirring them in, having great difficulty.

Severus reached over, brushing her hand to take the spoon away. With a strong arm, he stirred the sweet confections in. Hermione looked up at him with a smile on her face, then back down at the mixture.

"That's good," she said after about a minute. She scooped a bit out with her finger, and tasted it. "Mmm," she approved, and got another scoop, holding it up to Severus's face. "Try some!"

His lip twitched—his form of a smile—and leaned in a bit to lick the batter off Hermione's finger slowly. She bit her lip in response, and when he was done, she snaked the hand around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss.

She ran her tongue across his bottom lip until he opened his mouth to let it enter. He slowly backed her against the warm oven, hands roaming through her hair. Her arms snaked around his back, resting there as she pulled him closer. A moan escaped her throat as he rubbed her head softly.

Slowly, she pulled off, and whispered, "We need to get the batter onto pans and in the ovens."

Severus looked at her forlornly, so she added, "But they take twenty minutes to bake."

He smirked and said, "Ok, then, where are these pans?"

Hermione summoned them, and they set to work putting accurate dollops of dough onto the pans. They were done in about ten minutes, and Hermione stuck them in the oven, setting a timer.

Severus approached her from behind, wrapping his arms around her. "Now, where were we?"

She turned around in his arms, kissing him softly. "Right around there."

He nodded and, walking her backwards into the living room, said, "We should bake more often."