Patrimony
Chapter 7: Afterglow
Hermione awoke, alone, in the vast lake of Snape's four-poster bed. They'd made it there, barely, after Snape began his second assault on her body, and before Hermione had paid him back in kind this morning.
Then, there was the delightful argument they had, about how Snape didn't consider fellatio as a viable option within the terms of their contract. After all, it did not further their chances of conception. She'd countered that, strictly speaking, they had already exceeded the minimum requirement of once a day, and that any further sexual activity would be considered discretionary. Of course, he was Severus Snape, so he'd had to try to win the debate. He'd set his jaw, and launched into an utterly unnecessary lecture on the mechanics of conception. Hermione simply rolled her eyes, leaned forward, and took him into her mouth. That had silenced further argument.
Hermione stretched her naked, well-used body against the rumpled sheets. Amazing. The whole thing was amazing. The sex, the arguments, the exhausted, entwined slumber. Most amazing of all, she was now officially Snape's lover. She chuckled to herself. Wasn't life a strange and mysterious thing?
As was his morning habit, Severus Snape stood in front of his library windows, drinking a veritable cauldron of black tea. On a normal day, he would follow his tea with a moderate run, followed by an hour's Kata practice, all before the dunderheads began to stir in their warm little beds.
But not today. Today he had spent the whole of the morning in bed with a naked witch. A witch with whom he'd spent most of the night wrestling. It was now past noon. A deplorable lack of discipline. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, and he had no commitments until the afternoon patrol. However, if he remembered an early morning conversation correctly, Miss Granger was now late for a scheduled engagement.
Snape was not only unsettled by how time had escaped them, but he was also somewhat chagrined by how enthusiastically he performed his duty last night, and again last night, and again this morning. Had she not responded with such exuberance, he might have chided himself for lack of finesse. However, Miss Granger had left him with no doubts as to her satisfaction with the exercise. Thus, he determined not to let his slip worry him. He wasn't getting soft. Still, the war had been over for a decade, he was entitled to make some… adjustments.
There was, however, the matter of the marks he'd left on her body. It was adolescent, and unconscionable. He was mortified to recall, albeit vaguely, how strongly he'd felt the instinct to mark her, claim her as his own, make her his. He shuddered. How very…primitive. And utterly unlike him.
At any rate, at least he could fix the evidence. He'd altered a healing draught, adjusted it so it wouldn't harm anything should they happen to have conceived last night. He set the brew to wait by the side of Miss Granger's cup.
As if summoned by this thoughts, Miss Granger appeared in the doorway, disheveled, and wearing one of his cotton tunics. She yawned, and shuffled over to hug him. "I hope you don't mind about the tunic. I think you divesto'd my shirt into nothingness last night. I'll bring this back to you tonight. Oooh. Coffee!" Before he could readjust her expectations, she had lunged over to her cup. Her face fell when she looked inside. "Tea? Who drinks tea in the morning? Well, you, apparently. I should have known." She noted the small vial beside the cup. "What's this?"
"A mild restorative, with a healing draught. I enhanced it to take care of those, uh, marks."
"Marks? What mar…?" Her eyes widened and her mouth fell into an "O." "Severus Snape did you mark me? Did you give me a hickey?" She ran into the bathroom. Snape heard her screech from his place in the living room.
"You did! You hickey'd me all over the place!"
Snape cringed.
"I'm not proud of the fact. This potion will remove them."
Hermione emerged from the bathroom, chortling. "What if I don't want to take the potion? What if I want to keep them? What if I'm fond of them?"
Snape looked horrified.
Hermione laughed even harder. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" She threw back the potion, took a dubious sip from her teacup, and grabbed her purse.
"Thank you for a wonderful first evening together." She wand-waved herself tidy, gave Snape a kiss on the cheek, and rushed for the door. "Oh, and when I see you tonight I'll be bringing coffee."
As the door closed behind her, Snape looked utterly bemused. That woman was utterly maddening. What on earth had he gotten himself into?
End Chapter Seven
AN: Once again, I thank each and every one of you who have provided feedback. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun with a bunch of "imaginary friends"!
