Chapter 6
Twenty minutes later, Severus returned to the lab to find it empty and sparkling clean. All of the used equipment was neatly in the correct place, the ingredient detritus was gone, and Hermione was nowhere to be seen.
"Hermione, where are you?" he called out, stepping back into the hallway. There was no reply. He walked towards the kitchen just in time to hear the back door click shut.
"Oh, Severus, I thought I would make it back before you returned. I wanted to take my supplies back and retrieve the things I'll need to control my hair." She gestured to her mass of hair made frizzy from the potions steam. "This is going to require a bit of effort to calm back into anything resembling a manageable state."
"Show me what you use on it, and perhaps I could concoct something better suited to your particular hair type," Severus offered, secretly hoping that it would be yet another reason to spend time with this strong willed yet charming young woman.
Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of Muggle shampoo that worked moderately well on her mass of curls. As she handed him the bottle, the contents of the bag became visible. Severus saw a mass of emerald green and silver in the bottom of her bag.
"What's this? Muggle shampoo? You're a witch. Surely you know it is possible to brew hair potions and the like. Didn't you use Sleekeazy's Hair Potion in your fourth year?" he asked, examining the Muggle concoction in his hands.
"I did, but it took far too much product and time for it to be useful as a daily way to control my hair. I have been shampooing with that and braiding my hair when I sleep to keep it contained for years," she replied.
"I'll whip something up for you after we finish our sauna," he promised. "Let's go, it should be ready now."
Hermione followed him down a hallway and through what appeared to be his bedroom.
"Sorry to have to lead you through here, the sauna is attached to my en suite and there is not another access point," he apologised.
"Don't worry about it. It seems that you're building is laid out identically to mine, we just utilize the spaces differently is all," she said while following him into the spacious bathroom.
There was a small area for the toilet blocked off to give a sense of privacy and a huge showerhead positioned directly above a drain in the floor. To one side of the shower there was a glass door which led into the sauna. The sink was located across from the door of the sauna and beside the opening to the toilet area. There was enough space for a bench and hooks in the wall for removing clothing and placing towels to wait. Hermione set her tote on the bench and started removing her clothes. This was fairly quick process because she was only wearing a skirt, tank top and bra. Hermione did not glance over at Severus beside her who was also removing his clothing in a quick and efficient manner. As soon as Hermione's clothes were folded neatly she grabbed the towel off the peg marked guest and wrapped it around her body in a self-conscious way.
Severus glanced briefly at Hermione and seeing that she was hiding herself behind a towel, decided to attempt to make this first portion as easy as possible for them both by stepping under the shower head which immediately started pouring water heated to the perfect temperature down upon his head. As soon as he was thoroughly rinsed, he stepped through the door into the sauna.
"Take your time, I know the first time can be a bit unsettling. The showerhead will spray at a temperature charmed to please you-neither too hot nor too cold. When you have thoroughly rinsed and saturated your hair and body please feel free to join me," he said quietly and shut the door to the sauna so that Hermione could have a moment of privacy.
Drawing upon her Gryffindor courage, she placed the towel back on the hook and stepped under the showerhead. She braced herself, not quite believing that the magical showerhead would know what temperature was most pleasing to her. She let out a small gasp of delight when water of the perfect temperature flowed over her head and down her body. It took her a few minutes of standing under the water to brave entering the sauna. She knew when she opened the door and stepped in that Severus, a man she had recently come to think about more and more as a man and less as a teacher, would get a full view of her body fresh from the shower.
Severus sat on the bench in the sauna and threw some water on the hot stones. The steam hit his body and felt wonderfully bracing. His first time experiencing it was memorable in that he thought he'd never get used to it; in fact, he lasted only a few minutes before he decided the entire practice was ridiculous. After trying a few more times, he soon learned to really enjoy a good hot sauna. He had consulted with some of the villagers and found out that the first time he hadn't allowed the sauna to heat up enough and therefore it was a mild sauna and those were often less enjoyable.
As he sat there waiting for her, he thought about the brief glimpse of her curves he had seen when she was removing her clothing and focusing herself on not looking at him. He knew it was not the most gentlemanly thing to do, but he could not resist peeking at her from behind his hair. Now his body seemed to be ignoring the Finnish ideal that sauna was not a sexual occasion, it was simply for the purpose of cleansing the body. Severus found himself waiting with great anticipation for Hermione to buck up her courage and step through the glass door into the sauna.
Severus threw some more water onto the hot stones just as Hermione opened the door. He realized at that moment how stunningly beautiful and perfectly to his taste she was. He also noticed that he had half an erection and if she lowered her eyes even slightly she would be sure to notice.
Deciding distraction was the best policy, he said"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to be met at the door with a huge wave of hot steam. Please close the door and sit down. The higher up the benches you go the more intense the experience. I suggest choosing the middle bench for your first time in a sauna."
Hermione closed the door tightly and sat down on the wooden bench. Severus was seated on the top bench. She noticed that he looked a bit flushed when she opened the door, but figured that was from all the heat in the room. He didn't seem to notice her body and Hermione didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
They sat there together in the hot sauna for a while, with Severus occasionally throwing additional water onto the kiuas. There was surprisingly little feeling of awkwardness during this time and Hermione felt herself start to relax deeply. She shifted slightly to the left and the side of her breast brushed Severus's knee.
Hermione blushed Gryffindor scarlet. "Oh, sorry, Severus, I must have started to fall asleep. It is so relaxing and peaceful in here." She sat up straight again and moved a little ways away from him. She chanced a look at his face only to realize that his groin was right in front of her face and he seemed to be aroused. Not that Hermione was an expert; she'd only ever been with Ron and he was pretty much the same size aroused or not.
Severus tried to control his reaction. He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts before responding. The touch of her breast on his knee had nearly robbed him of his good sense. He had been watching the rise and fall of her breasts for a few minutes before she nearly fell over.
"If you're feeling so hot and relaxed as to fall asleep, Miss Granger, might I suggest you rinse off and wash that mess you call hair. It is traditional to return to the sauna after washing in order to bring out the after sweat." He scowled and looked fixedly at the wall in front of him.
"Hermione, you said you would call me Hermione. I am sorry if I embarrassed you with my lack of grace, but it does seem a tad ridiculous for you to call a woman you've been sitting naked in a hot steam room for half an hour with by her surname, don't you agree, Severus?" Hermione put a subtle emphasis on his name before she stood up and slipped out the door.
Hermione took a deep breath and stepped under the spray, she found soap and her shampoo on a shelf in the corner. She hadn't noticed Severus put her bottle of shampoo there. As she worked the lather into her hair, she pondered how she might convince Severus to give her a chance. They worked well together in the lab today, and he had been perfectly nice up until he called her Miss Granger a few moments ago. As she rinsed her hair, a plan came to her: she would just be straightforward with him and ask him what he thought of going for a roll in the hay with her. There could be no strings attached if that's what he wanted. They could be neighbours that just had sex occasionally. It made sense to her since besides Misty he was the only person in town she could hold a conversation with. Hermione smiled to herself as she stepped back through the door only to run straight into Severus knocking them both down in the process.
Severus had an idea too: he would seduce Hermione. He wanted to be with her, wanted more than just casual sex, but he wasn't about to let her get away if casual sex was all she wanted. Time to see just a bit more of her delectable body. He stood and made his way to the glass door of the sauna just in time to be bowled over by a slippery wet Hermione and try as he might to keep his balance, they somehow both ended up on the floor.
"Well, if you wanted to be on top all you had to do was ask," Severus said with a small chuckle, watching Hermione flush prettily. He was certain it was from his words and not the heat of the sauna. One of his thighs was pressed between her legs and there seemed to be an extra slickness coming from her core. Could it be? She was aroused, by him, and laying on top of him breathing heavily. It wasn't doing any good for his now straining cock.
"Oh, Severus, I'm so sorry. I am so clumsy. I was lost in my own thoughts and didn't see you coming out. You must want to wash yourself. Here let me try and get off you." Hermione sped through this all the while trying to push herself up off of him with as much dignity as possible.
Once they were both on their feet again it became almost painfully obvious that they were aroused. Neither could find an appropriate place to look and their eyes kept straying back to each other.
Severus waved a hand and the fire beneath the kiuas went out. He stepped under the showerhead and quickly scrubbed his body and hair. When he turned around Hermione had a towel wrapped around her body and her hair was magically piled into a knot at the top of her head. She was holding out a blanket-the blanket, the one that Severus had admired in her store window before going in to ask for her assistance.
"I thought we could go out and lay in the sunshine on this blanket in your backyard. We can cast a privacy charm if you haven't already done so. Let the sun dry our bodies. What do you say?" she asked hesitantly.
"Sounds splendid. Why did you ever knit such a blanket? Slytherin house colours don't seem like they'd be something you would enjoy knitting." He took the blanket from her and led the way back out of the bathroom to the double doors that led out into the back garden from the bedroom. He spread the blanket in the middle of the garden on top of the soft grass and gestured for her to remove the towel and recline upon the blanket. "I have had the strongest privacy wards that I know of set on my back garden since the moment I made this place my home. We are perfectly protected from any nosy neighbours," he informed her.
Hermione neatly folded her towel and placed it at the edge of the blanket and turned to face him. "I made this blanket shortly after hearing of the arrival of a tall, dark, handsome stranger coming to town. For some reason I could not help but think of you. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to actually be you. I thought you were dead. Harry said you died in the Shrieking shack. I was so stunned to see you standing in my shop that I nearly fell off my stool. How did you end up here?"
"Have a seat at least. If you want all the details of the story, it will take some time to tell," he replied.
They sat on the blanket under the bright sunshine and Severus recounted to her his making of the antivenom, how he consumed it, his travels after it took effect, but then suddenly he stopped talking. He had reached the point in his story where he met Greg and Rachel. He was unsure how to tell Hermione about what happened in that small home in Marchin, but knew that if he really truly wanted to start a relationship with her that he must be honest.
"You have twice asked me how I communicate with the locals. I acquired the ability to perform a Translation Charm, invented in Canada. I was going for my daily run in Marchin when I came across a local couple who were speaking English. Turns out that the lady of the house is Canadian and uses the Translation Charm taught to students in their sixth year at the Royal Academy to communicate with the locals. It helps one understand and makes one understood by others." Here Severus paused and looked unsure of how to tell the rest of this honestly sordid tale. "Turns out the couple had some, uh… shall we say particular kinks; have you heard of cuckolding in the modern sense of the word?" Severus asked while watching Hermione's face for any reaction at all. She shook her head. "Well, in its modern form cuckolding is when a couple decides that the woman shall be allowed to have as many lovers as she wants and shall be allowed to tell her partner about them or have him watch because the partner is not able to sexually satisfy all the needs that the woman has. Both parties consent to this and there are often even contracts drawn up to enforce the couple's rules." Severus said all this and then it was his turn to flush scarlet.
"Okay, that sounds very strange but I am not one to judge others on how they choose to live their lives, I just would never be able to do such a thing," Hermione announced vehemently.
"They wanted payment for teaching me the charm. Well, Rachel was sweet and would have given it to me just for keeping their secret-they live in a Muggle community see-but Greg suggested that she take me upstairs and show me her charms and so she did. I slept with her. The deal was I get taught how to perform the charm on myself and others only if I gave Rachel as many orgasms as she could possibly handle. I think the grand total was 6 before she declared herself satisfied and allowed me to leave."
Hermione blushed again. If he gave that other woman, this Rachel, six orgasms in one go, he must be a skilled lover. I can't wait anymore. I'm going to throw caution to the wind and go for it. As soon as the thought left her mind she was leaning forward and pressing her lips to Severus's. He was stunned into immobility for a brief moment before he pulled her into his arms and returned her kiss with passion.
