"Have you spoken to Minerva today?"

Hermione looked up from the copy of Arithmancy Today she'd been perusing since they retired for the evening with a rather adorable arch to her eyebrow. The way she studied him for a moment urged Severus' uncertainty into overdrive. He suffered in quiet agony as she perused his features through eyes twinkling with a mixture of amusement and commiseration. Surely she could read the turmoil in his she prolonged his torture, whether on purpose on simply because of her need to leave any written material in the most organized way possible, by taking her time to carefully turning down the corner of the page to mark her place. Finally, she laid the periodical aside and turned her full attention on him. "I have."

Severus nodded. The answer, though limited to two words, offered more guidance than a full thesis on interfering witches. Minerva had cornered his wife, provided her with classified intelligence gathered during the old cat's visit to his office, and disclosed the entire theory behind the enchantment used to uncover one's best choice for life mate. He smiled inwardly as he gently eased from her mind. Legilimency was a bloody brilliant weapon to have in his arsenal. But Merlin help him if his feisty wife ever discovered him mid-mind skim.

Satisfied, he was willing to forgo further conversation to give time to contemplation of his next move, then he noticed Hermione's frown. This had the potential to end poorly if he didn't proceed. Drawing a deep breath to fortify his courage, he asked, "Was it a particularly illuminating exchange?"

He lifted his eyebrow when she giggled at his inquiry. There was a flash of something in her eyes…Damn, she knows.

"It was." She reached over and carefully entwined her fingers with his, forcing him to abandon the parchment he'd been abusing since they retired for the evening. For once, he didn't pull away. "I find any insight she can offer on the man I love absolutely enlightening." She smiled gently. "Especially when it involves something as powerful as true, unadulterated devotion and fealty. An incontrovertible joining of the heart, mind, body, and soul of two deserving people." She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed each digit as she refused to relinquish the hold she had on his gaze. A feeling suspiciously like hope bubbled in his soul, and he tightened his grip on her hand. She wanted him to see. Wanted to be unreservedly open with him so he would never question her commitment to them. To him. "I'd like to believe the assurances she offered were at least partially founded in fact."

His eyes roamed her features, searching, scrutinizing every inch until the first of his shields cracked almost painfully. This was it. There would be no going back if he didn't end this conversation soon. Yet, for once, his brain seemed to hold no sway over his tongue. "And what assurances was our dear deputy head able to impart?"

Hermione's eyes flashed then darkened to a brown so deep there was no descriptor adequate for it. Her fingers trembled beneath his. Her pulse vibrated her pulse points with such power, the flesh covering them jumped with each beat. She was the perfect study of a tigress hidden inside a bashful maiden. She flicked her tongue beneath her lips to wet them, and he nearly came undone completely. "That you love me as fiercely as I do you."

Then suddenly the shy seductress was gone, replaced by a girl who wore her uncertainty like a woolen cloak around her shoulders. "That there is very little dissimilarity in our…level of experience…unlike what I originally thought." She swallowed hard and looked away from him. She paled despite the rosy glow along her cheeks. "Aside from a rather sloppy, and quite disgusting, kiss from Ronald Weasley during the Final Battle, I have never—"

Resistance was futile. Slowly, carefully, Severus reached for her. Drew her into his arms and placed a firm but soft kiss against her mouth. Gently demanding, he deepened the contact, slipping his tongue through the gap in her lips when she gasped. It glided against her own with a timidity that requested her participation as gently as a whispered plea to her ear. Carefully calling on all the instincts Minerva assured him would exert themselves when the time came, he requested more. And Merlin, did she responded in kind. Soon only simmering passion he never knew could exist bloomed between them.

She tasted of honeyed chocolate and strawberries and the elf-made wine she indulged in with her evening meal. And she smelled of—he breathed in the scent of her skin so tantalizingly close beneath his nose where it rested against her cheek—herbs, new parchment, and vanilla mingled with a lavender musk all her own. She was his Amortentia, and her aroma filled his very soul to the brim with longing and love and peace and contentment. He was drowning in it, but he didn't care. She was all that existed. All that would ever exist.

And she needed to know the truth before either of them passed the point of coherence.

Curbing his desire long enough to ease away from her, he stroked her cheeks with his thumbs until her eyes fluttered open. Deep in the amber depths was nothing but the light of devotion. Beneath the warmth of her gaze, the rest of his shields crumbled. The rest of his reservations fell away like dust from his cloak. "I love you, Hermione."

The declaration was barely more than a whisper, but it carried the strength of steel tempered in the fires of disappointment and regret. It was pure, unadulterated truth torn from the depths of his soul just for her. Only for her. And she smiled in response.

Hermione raised her fingers to his cheek. They quivered against his flesh. Slowly, she traced the smile lines, then moved to his lips. Despite the exquisite feel that urged his eyes closed, he didn't allow his gaze to waver from hers. The sound of her breathing regulated to match his. The jump of her pulse beneath his fingertips as he gently grasped her wrists to still her exploration was in precise rhythm with his. This was perfect synchrony. Absolute harmony. Merlin, but he wanted more.

"Show me," she whispered, pulling him along with her as she stretched out on her side of the bed. "Love me, and let me love you."

And he did. Completely. Passionately. Eternally. He just hoped to Merlin it was enough.