Anything recognizable is the property of J.K. Rowling. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.
Please do not read if you are not of legal age in your country. This is not a happy go lucky romantic story. There is less than consensual sex in this story.
Home Again
Together they got to their feet and brushed away the snow that had gathered on their hair and shoulders. Hermione wouldn't let the older man pull his hand away and by the time they left the little cemetery he didn't want to. They walked in solemn silence to the house Severus had grown up in and for a moment he didn't want to go any further. It was the hopeful look the brunette Gryffindor gave him that made him join her on the stoop.
They entered the house and Severus actually wondered if it was the same one he had left a year earlier. Hermione had considerably brightened the place, replacing dark wallpaper with bright cheery patterns, and opening windows. The single thing that stopped him cold when he entered the sitting room, was seeing the book he had been reading the night of the war still laying in the exact same place he dropped it.
Hermione followed his line of sight. "I kept expecting you to come back." She sighed. " I also didn't touch your room or the lab. I wanted it to still be home to you when you came back."
"How did you know I would?" He watched her play with the ring on her hand.
The brunette spun it completely around her finger. "Hope." And then she smiled.
Severus just looked at the younger woman, face unreadable for a moment, then he pulled her into a tight embrace. "For the first time in my life, this is home."
Hermione pressed her face into his chest and slipped her arms around his waist. She felt him kiss the top of her head and she couldn't help but smile.
"I missed you."
"You missed me." He sighed against her hair. "Why?"
"Because I started caring when you rubbed my feet, even though you didn't have to. And I could have used your skilled hands while pregnant with Fay." She joked.
Severus squeezed her tighter and breathed in her scent. Still the same as the day he left. "Let's go upstairs." She tilted her head up and breathed the words against his neck.
Slowly the potions master held her at arms length. "Would you really invite me to your bed?"
"I invite you to my bed and give you all that I have." She whispered the vow.
Gently, as if afraid he would hurt her, Severus raised his hand to her cheek and felt the velvety skin there. Minutely, she tilted her head up and he took the invitation. He kissed the younger woman gently, barely brushing their lips together.
"Come upstairs." She cajoled.
"But I don't want to hurt you again." He was obviously slightly dumbfounded that she would invite him to her bed.
"You didn't hurt me then, and I know you won't hurt me now." The older man still didn't move. "You said you regretted not being able to be gentle then, so make it up to me now. Show me what it can really be like." Hermione rested her head on his chest again.
If she hadn't been pressed up against him, she likely would have missed the tiny nod of his head. Hermione lead the older man up the stairs and through the door on the left.
