A/N: Here's the final chapter. Thanks again to Cat (quaffswinegaily) for the Britpick, and to everyone who has been reading, alerting, favouriting, and/or reviewing. I am greatly appreciative. I am considering following one reader's suggestion and writing a companion piece (what could Hermione and Severus get up to in the Extra-Restricted Section?). If I do write it, it may or may not be appropriate for this site, but will definitely be posted at my homepage, Ashwinder, and The Petulant Poetess (check my author profile).

Chapter 11: All's Well That Ends Well

Everyone surged toward Dumbledore, surrounding him and exclaiming in delight at his clearly improved health.

Poppy called, "I must examine the headmaster, so please give us some room!" They largely ignored her.

"I feel fine, Poppy. Never better, in fact."

Still, Poppy alternately cajoled and bullied everyone until they finally assisted her in moving Dumbledore to the hospital wing, where she thoroughly examined him. She soon pronounced him in perfect health, though she still insisted he must spend the night in the infirmary so she could keep an eye on him.

As soon as the waiting group received word of his recovery, they hurried to his bedside, welcoming him back and expressing their delight that they had been able to restore him to health. Albus expressed curiosity about what had happened and how they had fixed it – and why he had gone to sleep in the infirmary and woken on the Quidditch Pitch. To Severus's secret delight, Bill decided to leave the explanations to the others, saying he didn't want to leave Fleur alone for too long. Madam Hooch also took her leave, commenting she had Slytherin and Gryffindor third years in the morning, so she needed her rest.

The rest of the group began talking all at once, until Albus interrupted with a laugh, "One at a time, please. Severus, perhaps you would oblige?"

"Certainly, Albus. It all began with a pair of children singing a nursery rhyme while playing with wands they had somehow acquired …" He explained as succinctly as possible, with the others occasionally interjecting additional information where they felt it warranted. He gave Hermione most of the credit for realising the children were involved, but he glossed over what they had been doing just before she had that revelation. He could only hope no one noticed that both he and Hermione appeared unaccountably warm when he described that part.

Eventually, upon hearing of the Summoning Charm that had restored him to health, Albus commented, "What a clever, strange way to do it, Severus. To draw the magic all the way back from the stars would require a lot of power. How did they manage if they had hidden all of it?"

"Apparently, several people stored their magic in smaller, more local objects, such as teapots or children's toys. The person who blended most effectively with the Muggles of the time – someone who was perceived as beyond suspicion – would retain just enough magic internally to be able to retrieve the rest of his or her own from the storage object. Then, once that person's magic was back in place, he or she would be available to assist others. Only the people who were most worried about being persecuted went so far as to hide their magic in the stars, since it took the combined efforts of at least three spells, and preferably three times three, to effectively retrieve it. We think it had such a negative effect on you due to both the imprecision of the wand movement and the Sleeping Beauty Hex that hit you so soon afterward."

"Fascinating," Dumbledore said. "I wonder what other forms of magic have been lost to legend and nursery rhymes over the years. Perhaps we should research it and add it to the curriculum …"

Hermione interjected, "Oh, that would be wonderful, sir! I'd be happy to assist with the research should you decide to go forward with it."

"Of course you would," Ron said dryly, and everyone laughed, even Hermione.

"Perhaps we could work on that together," Severus suggested smoothly. He ignored the startled looks this elicited from everyone except Albus and Hermione herself. He didn't care what anyone else thought – clearly, this was the perfect project to solve the problem he had begun puzzling over now that Albus was well: how to ensure that he would spend a significant amount of time in Hermione's company? "We did, after all, work quite effectively together on this problem."

"What a wonderful idea," Dumbledore agreed happily, and it was settled.

Eventually, people began drifting off to find their beds. Minerva left first, clearly exhausted after the strain of the last few days. Soon after, Filius and Poppy took themselves off as well, leaving only Severus, Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hermione wished the boys would leave, so she could talk to Severus alone, but they showed no signs of excusing themselves any time soon, and Hermione suspected they were planning to see her home on their way out. Finally, she decided to take things in hand herself. "I'm exhausted," she began. "I wonder if I might stay here at Hogwarts for one more night, Professor Dumbledore? If I Floo home now, I'll have a thousand things to do before I get to sleep."

"Of course, of course! No need to rush out. You know you're all welcome here any time you like."

"Great!" Ron said, standing. "We'll walk you to your room, Hermione."

"Oh … er …" Hermione stammered, trying to think of an excuse to go with Severus instead. She caught his lip twitching in amusement before he came to her rescue.

"Hermione, I believe you left your notes and some books cluttering up my sitting room. If you want them before you leave Hogwarts, you should get them now, as I will not be available to retrieve them with you in the morning."

Hermione just managed to restrain a conspiratorial grin as Ron muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "git" under his breath, and Harry glared at Severus. She said very seriously, "Oh, I really do need those. We should go now, if you don't mind, as I'm anxious to get to bed as soon as possible."

"We'll walk with you," Harry said, standing also. "Right, Ron?"

"Right."

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione said firmly. "Your rooms are in the complete opposite direction. It's perfectly safe for me to find my own way."

They looked ready to protest, but Severus said, "Don't worry, gentlemen, I shall endeavour to ensure that your friend gets herself safely to bed."

"See?" Hermione said. "Off you go, then." She shooed them out into the corridor, calling a good night to the headmaster as she went. Fortunately, they were too accustomed to following Hermione's orders to continue to protest, and they headed off toward their quarters before Severus had finished saying good night to the headmaster and joined her in the corridor.

The entire walk to Severus's quarters was accomplished in silence. By the time they arrived, Hermione was beginning to wonder if she had misread the situation and he actually just wanted her to get her things and go back to her own quarters.

"So," she said a bit awkwardly, "I really should find my notes and books and things and … er … head back to my quarters."

"You'll do no such thing," Severus growled, herding her toward the bedroom as he began loosening the fastenings of his robes. "As I recall, we had a bargain. Something about you returning to my bed tonight if I was ready for dinner on time?"

She grinned, relieved. "Oh, I thought maybe, now that the headmaster is all right … well … I wasn't sure … especially with everyone seeing us leave together … Harry and Ron are going to be difficult about this if we … well, you know …"

"Upsetting those two dunderheads is hardly a deterrent," he said softly in her ear, making her shiver even as she protested the appellation.

"They're not … ohhh …" she moaned as he began nibbling on her neck. After a moment, she forced herself to try again. "… not dunderheads …" She wrapped her arms around his neck and began kissing him in earnest.

She felt him smile against her lips. "We'll debate that later," he whispered.

"Much later," she agreed with a contented sigh.

As she drifted off to sleep (very much later), she heard him whisper, "Now that I've got you, I'm definitely keeping you, Miss Granger, whatever your dunderhead friends think. Or anyone else, for that matter." The last thing she remembered of that night was feeling him kiss her forehead.

Severus woke once again to find himself breathing into a bushy mop of hair. It was, like last time, attached to a delightfully curvy female form. Fortunately, there was no need to hurry out of bed this morning. While Hermione had been saying good night to her friends, Severus had paused to ask the Headmaster for a day or two to recover from the stress of the past few days. Dumbledore's eyes had twinkled as he had happily agreed that Severus should take the rest of the week if he liked.

He began to lightly stroke Hermione's naked back, and eventually she began to stir. "G'morning," she mumbled, tilting her head back to look at him sleepily.

"Good morning," Severus replied. He pushed her hair aside and kissed her then began nibbling on her neck. Soon, she was writhing and moaning beneath him. He found himself rather amazed at his good fortune – this pretty, smart, powerful witch responded so passionately to him, the 'greasy git of the dungeons.'

Yes, he was definitely going to do his best to keep her, he thought, as they dozed in the aftermath.

A while later, Hermione stirred again, propping her chin on his chest to look at him. "Did you mean it?" she asked without preamble.

"Mean what?" he asked, perplexed.

"Last night, you said you wanted to keep me, no matter what anyone thought."

Severus felt his cheeks grow warm. "I thought you were asleep," he grumbled. "And anyway, what if I did mean it?"

She smiled. "Then I'd say that's a very good thing, since I'm definitely planning to keep you."

"Then we're in agreement," he murmured, kissing her once more. Then he sighed. "I suppose the dunderheads will be looking for you if you aren't at breakfast."

She smiled. "They're not dunderheads, but yes, I'm sure they will." She paused. "What time is your first class?"

"Not until next week," Severus replied. At her questioning look, he added, "Albus has allowed me the week to recover if I like."

She grinned. "Want some company?"

"Most assuredly," he replied, pleased.

An hour later, as they sipped tea in bed, Hermione said suddenly, "There's something I've been meaning to ask you about."

"You have a question? I'm shocked." His voice was dry, but there was no sneer, so Hermione didn't take offence.

"I know, I expect I'll probably have to revive you with smelling salts at any moment. Nevertheless, what I want to know is what all that was at lunch with Lucius the other day?"

"You'll have to be more specific than 'all that' if you expect me to have any idea what you're talking about."

"You and Lucius seemed to be having some sort of unspoken conversation. What was it about?"

Severus's eyes widened and he flushed slightly. "Nothing important, I assure you."

"Well, if it wasn't important, why won't you tell me?"

Severus muttered something under his breath.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"If you must know, he was trying to get you to unwittingly tell him about your work at the Ministry. He didn't really mean anything by it, of course – it's just what he does. A habit, really."

"Oh, so you were warning him to stop? That's sweet."

Severus frowned. "I'm not sweet."

"Of course you aren't. Now, I'd like to have a shower. Care to join me?"

Severus agreed with alacrity, relieved that he hadn't been forced to reveal the rest of what had been communicated in that silent conversation. She definitely didn't need to know that Narcissa had been after him for months to find a nice witch and settle down, or that Lucius had apparently concluded Hermione was the perfect choice. After all, Lucius would be quick to realise he could only benefit if his longtime friend were to align himself very closely with a war heroine.

Severus could have told Hermione all this, of course, but why bother? She was satisfied with the other part of the conversation, and he couldn't have her wondering if his reasons for wanting to keep her related to anything other than true physical and mental attraction.

He'd much rather have her focused on other things for the foreseeable future.

They were just getting out of a shared shower when the banging started. Ron's muffled voice came through the door. "Snape! We know you're in there!"

"Let us in!" Harry added.

Severus looked at Hermione. "Are you ready for this?"

She shrugged. "We knew it was coming. Go let them in before they give me a headache with all that racket."

The banging and shouting continued as Severus approached the door. As he reached it, Ron called, "What'd you do with Hermione?"

Severus opened the door before answering. "I'd advise you not to ask questions for which you won't like the answer."

"What does that mean?" Harry demanded.

Hermione, with her hair still wet and once again wearing Severus's dressing gown, stepped out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. "He means that it's none of your business what he did with me. Or what I did with him, for that matter."

"You … and … and … him?" Harry sputtered, looking shocked.

Ron turned ghostly pale, looking back and forth between Severus and Hermione and opening and closing his mouth convulsively.

"Yes, Harry. Severus and me. Now, if that's all, we'd really like to be alone. I'll owl you in a few days." She took advantage of their shock to push them back out into the corridor. As she was shutting the door, she heard Ron mutter something about needing to be obliviated.

Smiling fondly, she turned back to Severus. "Now, what did you want to do with your week off?"

His smirk was full of satisfied glee. "I believe I need rest. Lots and lots of rest."