(A/N - This story is NOT about to go all BDSM! Just a little dominance from Severus to pique Hermione's interest ...)
Severus kissed down the cord of her neck, nipping her skin lightly with his teeth as he travelled down to her shoulder, pushing her skimpy strap out of the way of his questing mouth. Hermione shivered, all-over gooseflesh under his gentle touch.
"Don't think, Hermione," he commanded in a soft tone. "Don't think. Just feel. Let me play you like the exquisite instrument that you are. Allow me to lead you."
The deep rumble of his voice washed over her like she was swimming in warm melted chocolate, and it was helping her centre and clear her mind, wiping away everything except that which his lips and words were doing to her.
"Stand still."
He moved around until he was in front of her.
"Why did you wear your pyjamas tonight, Granger?"
"They're comfortable," she replied. "I generally wear pyjamas at home, and I was thinking we were just going to have a relaxing evening ..."
She trailed off as soon as she saw his raised eyebrow, and a disbelieving, expectant expression that she'd last seen in the Potions classroom.
"Excellent. Now tell me the truth."
His black eyes flashed with dangerous amusement as they searched hers.
"I thought they'd be quicker for you to take off, Sir."
"Much better answer. Let's test that theory, shall we?"
He reached for the hem of her vest top and pulled it smartly up over her head. He didn't even have to tell her to lift her arms as they rose of their own accord. He ran his palm over her chest, smoothing over the soft cup of the bright lemon-yellow bra.
"Interesting choice of underwear."
He gave her a wicked look that she suspected he'd honed to perfection over the years, in order to persuade witches to drop their knickers for him.
"I like it," she grinned.
"As do I. But I would like it much better if it were lying useless on your living room floor."
He leaned in to catch her lips in a soft kiss, simply stroking his lips across hers in a maddeningly slow sweep. She could not help but let out a small moan of pleasure into his mouth, and as she raised her arms to cradle his neck, to draw him even closer, he reached behind her to undo the hooks of her brassiere.
Before he could release the hooks, however, they were startled by a silvery feline Patronus leaping through the wall towards them. The sleek Siamese cat opened its mouth to convey a message in a female voice.
"Headmaster Snape, I am sorry to interrupt your ... evening, but there has been an incident at school which requires your urgent attention. Two Slytherin girls have been apprehended in the third floor bathroom. Please could you return to the castle."
The cat regarded them both suspiciously before dispersing. Severus quickly ran through the female members of staff to determine the caster of this unfamiliar Patronus. It didn't take him long. Sabrina. The witch had kept her distance from him since term began, and had given him no reason to doubt her, although his innate spy's instinct was still not entirely certain that his new professor could be trusted.
He reluctantly removed his hands from Hermione's bra. Very reluctantly.
"I have to go, I am sorry."
"I understand. Go to your school, Headmaster."
She rested a gentle hand quickly upon his chest before shrugging her top back on over her underwear and walking over to the cloak-stand to retrieve his many articles of clothing that hung there. She put his coat, cravat and travelling cloak in his hands, and pointing her wand at the pile, she cast a Vestia charm to clothe him ready to leave. He was impressed with her wandwork. Even his cravat was tied exactly as he liked it.
She took his other coat, the one that she had borrowed the morning after their tryst atop the the Astronomy Tower and shrunk it so that it fitted in the pocket of his cloak.
Once dressed, he pulled her in to a tight embrace.
"I am so sorry. I will make this up to you," he murmured, regretfully, into her hair.
"You will not. This is the reality of our lives and the responsibilities of our respective positions."
She tipped her chin up and kissed him softly on the lips.
"Until next time."
"Indeed."
He looked down his long, hooked nose at her.
"Where should I ...?"
"From my foyer. You can Disapparate from there, but not into it. My security."
She opened the heavy door from her flat into the plush, carpeted private apparition foyer, and watched from the doorway as the wizard in head-to-toe black turned on the spot, his cloak billowing behind him as he Disapparated away from her with a surprisingly soft crack.
She sighed heavily, and closed the door on the now starkly silent and empty foyer.
- xxx –
Severus landed directly outside the ubiquitous girls' toilets on the third floor. The same toilets that contained the less-than-salubrious entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the same toilets where Harry Potter had almost murdered Draco Malfoy with a spell that Severus had invented, and the same toilets where the woman he'd just left had illegally brewed Polyjuice as a precocious second-year student.
Sabrina Cordoba, along with the Head Girl, Slytherin Eleanor Flint, were outside, apparently waiting for him. The witch must have known he would not take long to respond to her Patronus alert. She looked at him for a split-second longer than strictly necessary, and he was certain she had noted his kiss-swollen lips.
She could fuck off.
He had no time for her games tonight, and was now mightily annoyed at his evening being interrupted. This had better be good.
"What happened?" he barked, abruptly.
Eleanor Flint spoke up first.
"Two third-year Slytherins, Headmaster. One of them is a Parselmouth, and some other girls have apparently been goading her for a while about having the ability to open the Chamber of Secrets. Tonight, they decided to test it and well ... see for yourself."
She opened the door to the bathroom, which Severus privately hoped would be free of the depressing, droning presence of Moaning Myrtle, and ushered her teachers in. The circular pillar of sinks with the snake tap that had been used thrice to open the Chamber of Secrets in recent history looked as if it had been desecrated by Muggle dynamite. Literally nothing was left but a pile of rubble.
Severus surveyed the scene.
"I suppose that the ability to speak in Parseltongue is of little use if you do not know the correct incantation in either language," he observed, drily.
Surmising the situation succinctly and accurately in a single sentence, he then turned on the heel of his dragon-hide boot and left the bathroom, the two witches following him, letting the door swing closed behind them.
"Where are the two culprits, Professor Cordoba?"
"They are with their Head of House, Professor Sinistra, in her office. Do you wish me to escort you there?"
"Since that was my office for best part of the last forty years, I am sure I can find the way there unaccompanied," he deadpanned, taking a perverse pleasure in the disappointment and slight annoyance on her face.
Judging the rubble of what was left of the column of sinks to be beyond repair, even with magic, the Headmaster drew his wand and cast a sealing spell upon the bathroom door, and a repelling charm to stop anyone attempting to tamper with it. There were plenty of other female bathrooms and toilets in Hogwarts, and if they proved insufficient, he would conjure more. It was well beyond time to leave the Chamber of Secrets, the corpse of the Basilisk that lay within, and the disgruntled ghost of its one fatal attack, to finally rest in peace.
He strode off to Aurora Sinistra's office, readying himself to visit his wrath upon the two silly Slytherin girls who had caused his promising evening with the Minister to come to a premature end.
He didn't give a shit about the bathroom.
However, if one thing was certain; the quantity of emeralds in the Slytherin House hourglass were going to fall in some large number tonight.
- xxx -
Hermione was having Sunday lunch at Ron and Lavender's, and a freshly child-free Harry and Ginny were also there, since their three were all now at Hogwarts. Hermione was taking great delight in snuggling with newborn Fuchsia Rose, inhaling her sweet baby smell and stroking her soft cheeks. She loved babies, just so long as she could hand them back.
Harry and Ron were playing Mini Quidditch with Freddie and Archie in the back garden, not so much actual Quidditch, more just chasing around on broomsticks two feet off the ground, which was actually quite hilarious, the sight of her friends' long legs dragging along the lawn.
Ginny, with her steadfast refusal to allow her mother to domesticate her, had soon become bored of pretending to help Lavender in the kitchen and had been shooed outside with the boys and was now zooming around on her own impressive racing broom, far higher than the Quidditch players below. She was probably a better flyer than all of them, having played professional Quidditch for years in the Holyhead Harpies, an all-female team, before settling down to raise a family with Harry. Ginny now wrote for the sports pages of the Daily Prophet, but Hermione knew she was keen to do something more challenging now that Lily was at school.
Lavender was an excellent cook, having learnt at the knee of her fearsome mother-in-law, whom she revered. Hermione personally felt that was a lucky accident, and shuddered at the blows she and Molly would have come to if her own and Ron's relationship had ever blossomed. Lavender was far better for him, proved by the table she had laden with food, the smells of which drew Ron and his boys from the garden.
Once they were all seated around the table, tucking in to a delicious chicken and ham-hock pie, Harry remarked he'd heard that Luna Lovegood was marrying her long-term boyfriend, the Magizoologist Rolf Scamander. The women made awww-ing noises and Ron rolled his eyes, spooning pie into Archie's waiting mouth with one hand, and into his own with the other.
"They've been abroad for so long," Ginny remarked. "I can't wait to see Luna. Do you think they'll get married in England?"
"Not sure," Lavender replied. "It wouldn't surprise me if Loony insisted on some bizarre tropical wedding experience somewhere exotic."
"I'm sure she'll have something incredibly personal to them." Ginny replied, no doubt remembering hers and Lavender's huge weddings, planned to the last detail by Molly.
Hermione agreed, and quietly hoped that Luna would do something unique and wonderful.
"What about you, Herms?" Harry asked, gently teasing her. "Have you made time for any wizards in your busy schedule recently?"
"I have, actually," she replied, slightly prickled, and a little defensive of her fledgling ... whatever it was she had, with Severus.
"I knew it!"
He snapped his fingers in delight.
"Aidan's been acting oddly since the night of the Summer ball! You went home with him, didn't you Hermione?"
Hermione vaguely recalled dancing with Harry's colleague Aidan Hannover at the ball; however for some unfathomable reason it wasn't her prevailing memory of that night.
"No, Harry, I'm not seeing Aidan, or any other wizard who works at the Ministry."
"A witch then! Ha!"
Ginny thought she had it sussed.
"Not a witch either, Ginevra, I am not a lesbian, thank you very much."
Hermione looked around the table at the four pairs of eyes all focused on her. These were her dearest friends. Friends that she loved so deeply she considered them family. They were all looking at her quizzically. Why shouldn't they know her news? They only wanted her to be happy. Her ... thing ... with Severus was not something to hide from them, or be ashamed of.
"If you really want to know, I'll tell you."
They all looked at her, eager to be nosey gits, that was true, but also eager for their friend to find happiness.
"But I will warn you right now that it is private. I cannot have any gutter rag picking up on a juicy story. I have to protect my public image."
She glared at them all before continuing.
"I'm aware I sound quite prissy right now."
Everyone laughed.
"We know, Hermione," Harry reassured her, "nothing leaves this table."
"That's good to hear, Harry. Because I have been seeing Severus Snape."
Harry's eyes widened behind his glasses. Ron dropped both spoons he was holding into his son's pie, splattering Archie with chicken sauce. Ginny's face curved into a filthy smirk as she folded her arms triumphantly, and Lavender had to quickly recapture the baby as she nearly lost her grip and let Fuchsia slip down her lap onto the floor.
"You dirty dog, Minister Granger."
She might have known that the outspoken Ginny Weasley would be the first one to find her tongue.
"I bet he shags like a demon."
"Ginny!"
Harry turned on her, appalled and impressed in equal measure by his wife's mouth.
Hermione couldn't help grinning at the tableau vivant before her.
"That is all you're getting right now. It's all very new and we are still getting to know one another. Trust me, if it becomes serious, you four will be the first to know."
Ron was muttering under his breath whilst returning his attention to feeding Archie, his face a little flushed but keeping his composure. Every so often the words 'Snape' and 'bloody disgusting' could be heard, and were largely ignored.
"Just be happy, Hermione," Harry told her, "that's all we want for you."
"I think I am," she replied, with a warm smile.
"I bet you are," snorted Ginny, burying her sniggers into a goblet of wine.
Hermione blushed beetroot.
- xxx -
The fortnight leading up to the Halloween feast was busy for the Headmaster. He had delegated the organisation of the castle's festive adornments to Pomona Sprout, whom he had strong suspicions was growing a monster crop of enchanted decorative mini-pumpkins in Greenhouse Five.
He himself was in the process of putting the final touches to the conjuring of an enormous treehouse at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. In fact it was far more than a treehouse, it was a sumptuous wooden chalet with stairs to lift it merely a few feet off the ground, several rooms and its own small kitchen and bathroom.
It was to be the permanent residence of his new Care of Magical Creatures professor, Rolf Scamander, and his new wife, the former Luna Lovegood, now Madam Scamander. They had married in Iceland a week before, but Severus had recruited him just after the beginning of term. Scamander was to replace Hagrid, who after having finally had a limb removed by a particularly aggressive Blast-Ended Skrewt, had agreed that at almost a hundred years old, it was time for him to retire as a professor.
Hagrid was to remain in his gamekeeper's hut on nominal duties until the end of his days, and would continue to be fed, clothed and cared for by the school. The half-giant had nowhere else to go, for Hogwarts was his home and he had devoted his life to its service. The school would now return that steadfast loyalty.
Severus remembered far too many dreadful nights during the war, nights when he'd been summoned to Voldemort and returned to the school too weak and injured to even open the huge iron gates he had somehow managed to Apparate in front of.
On these nights, Hagrid would always find him, sooner or later, whilst walking the ground with his boarhound, Fang, and a large lantern, and he would summon the help Severus needed, either by alerting Dumbledore, or by carrying his battered and broken body to the infirmary himself, in his own strong arms.
Severus would not forget such compassion, especially coming as it did at a time when most were unconvinced of his true loyalties. He would care for and protect Hagrid as he had done for him. He'd even bought him a new canine familiar, a huge Bernese mountain dog that now answered to the ludicrous name of Tiny.
The treehouse had been built at the request of the Scamanders, who, after so many years travelling, were reluctant to live within the restricted confines of the castle walls. Severus had surprised himself with the speed he had agreed, telling himself that it would be most prudent for them to be in close proximity to the creatures.
In truth, he knew he had scored a major coup in hiring Scamander, as a prominent naturalist he was a wonderful role model who would infuse Care of Magical Creatures with information and experience, rather than a display of the most revolting and dangerous creatures Hagrid could find.
No offence, Rubeus.
Scamander was currently the Chief Consulting Magizoologist to the Daily Prophet, and since he had fulfilled this role at distance whilst on his world travels, he could easily continue whilst teaching and living at Hogwarts.
It was a quick decision for the Scamanders to marry, return to England and start putting down some roots. Severus strongly suspected that Lovegood was pregnant. Time would tell.
He found himself most unexpectedly envious of their decision to settle down and begin the next phase of their lives without fear or hesitation. It was a shame really, that he was too old and set in his ways for anything like that ... wasn't he?
He banished the tiny seed of doubt from his mind.
What a preposterous notion.
- xxx –
Two weeks later, Severus was back in the Headmasters' office following the conclusion of the Halloween feast. Pomona had indeed adorned the entire castle with thousands of enchanted glowing pumpkins. Everywhere you looked, a tiny, cheery pumpkin could be seen. There was even a small one on his desk, for Merlin's sake, heaven knows how she had snuck that one in.
He threw off his robes, coat and cravat, opening the top of his white shirt with one hand and removing the stopper from the decanter of firewhisky simultaneously. He poured himself a generous measure into a heavy-bottomed glass, and settled back into the comfortable chair behind his desk.
At that moment, a scampering silver otter burst into the room, leapt on to his desk, and stood fully upright with its hands on hips, giving off all the sass.
"Knock, knock. Trick or Treat."
He let loose with a short bark of a laugh before his mouth curled up into a smile. He stood up immediately and Apparated directly outside the front gates, making sure he landed himself with a loud crack. She was there, waiting for him with a wide grin spread across her beautiful face.
"Hardly a trick. For you are a treat indeed, Granger."
He wrapped his arms around her and Apparated them back into his office.
"Happy Halloween, Headmaster," she smiled.
"Is it the policy of the Ministry to provide personal festive greetings?"
"It is now."
She gently took hold of the open collar of his shirt with both hands, and pulled him down towards her, lightly kissing over the scarred flesh on his throat, causing him to sigh in delight.
"Now that is good," he sighed as her lips moved all over. "Let it be known that I approve of the new policies heartily."
He smirked and tilted her chin up with his fingertips so that he could kiss her lips.
They continued to kiss and stroke and touch whilst they demonstrated exactly how much they had both missed one another. It was some minutes before the silence was broken, when Severus looked around and took note of the walls of portraits eyeing their snogging session with indecent interest.
"If you will pardon me, Madam," he said to Hermione, "I have some nosey old farts to deal with before we can continue."
He raised his wand and turned to face the portraits with his eyes narrowed; casting the strongest Notice-Me-Not and Muffliato charms he could muster. For good measure, he also blocked off the Floo connection and cast a spiky ward on the office door.
They were now hidden from the sight and hearing of the bored, beaky portraits. If a single one of them disturbed him, he would turpentine the whole bastard collection of paintings from their very frames.
They knew it, too.
Satisfied, he turned back to Hermione, who had removed her travelling cloak and shoes, and was standing before him barefoot in a short black knee-length dress. From the gleam in her eye, he wondered what else she might have taken off.
"Now, Headmaster, I believe that the last time we were together, you were instructing me in something, and we were rudely interrupted. Correct?"
He nodded, and took a step towards her, listening intently as she dropped her voice a tone.
"I should very much like you to continue where you left off. However since we are in your office, rather than my living room, you should know that since our meeting here earlier in the year, I have fantasised, many times, of you taking me across that exact desk."
Severus felt his dick spring to attention in his trousers at her blunt admission. This witch was something else. Take her across his own desk? Of course he fucking would.
He took her hand and led her to the chair behind his desk, and he stood before it, unbuttoning his shirt whilst looking her straight in the eyes. He let her push the white linen apart and run her small hands all over his chest and stomach, which was an utterly blissful sensation, especially with the scent of such promise in the air. He left it hanging loosely from his shoulders, and still looking at her, he started to unfasten his trousers. She caught on quickly.
"On your knees, Miss Granger, if you please."
He sent a wandless cushioning charm to the floor for her and she dropped, taking his trousers and shorts down with her, revealing him fully erect and purple-headed in anticipation. He sat down in his chair and settled himself languorously, but in great anticipation.
Hermione licked around the moist head of his cock, circling him with her small tongue. He clutched the arms of the chair, and leaned his head back.
Circe, she felt like heaven upon him!
She took him in her mouth and began to slide down his considerable length. When she bottomed out he had to look down in wonder at the Princess of Gryffindor between his legs with her pink lips wrapped around his cock.
His fantasy. He almost came right there and then.
She dragged her mouth back up, hollowing her cheeks and gently humming to increase his pleasure. And down again. And back up. And again. And again. His balls felt like rock. This was so good. And yet ... he had other plans.
He took himself in hand, gently easing her mouth from his cock. She looked up at him, lips glossy and wet from her efforts. She was so fucking gorgeous, wanton and ready, just for him. She had no idea of how sexually alluring she was, and that, undoubtedly, was part of her appeal. He stood, and pulled her up with him.
"Remember Granger, don't think, just feel," he growled hoarsely at her.
He spun her around and laid her face-first over his desk. She squeaked in surprise and not a little pleasure. He grasped her legs at the ankle and ran his hands up her legs, under her skirt. He was unsurprised to find she had either foregone or removed her knickers. He leaned over her, crushing some of his weight on her, and placed his lips directly at her ear.
"No knickers, Granger? Filthy girl."
He straightened, and flipped her skirt up over her bum, spreading her legs with his knee and cupping her sex with both hands, pulling her labia apart and dipping his fingers deliciously inside.
"This is what you wanted isn't it? This is what you need from me? Tell me!"
"Yes!" she cried out. "Yes, Sir, I need you to touch me."
He held her open with his thumbs and rippled all eight of his fingers over her pussy, dipping ever so slightly into her holes, flickering across her clitoris, touching her everywhere. She screamed out in delight. What this wizard was doing to her was unlike anything she had felt before. She loved the feeling of being spread helplessly across his desk, no need to take responsibility, no need to make any decisions other than to simply receive her pleasure at his hands.
Severus felt the power build within him. He felt long-buried desires come to the surface, almost as if they were sentient and aware that they were finally being set free. He wanted to dominate this woman, to draw her orgasm from her, but also to love her. The dual desire was a brand-new feeling.
He had her face-down on his desk, presenting her soaking pussy for him to do whatever he desired, she was panting for his touch. His. And not because she was being forced, coerced, paid, or tortured. She was willingly consenting. She wanted him. She might even love him as he already loved her. He found this notion increasing his already raging arousal.
It was time to set himself free.
He stepped forward and pressed his rock-hard cock to her entrance.
"Beg me, witch. Tell me you need this."
"Severus, I want and need this more than you could ever believe possible."
He thrust inside her.
She gasped and flung her arms against the surface of the desk. He pulled out almost all the way, and thrust again. He brought his hands to her lower back and hips, pushing her into the wood of the desk. He held her there tightly and began to speed up, pistoning himself in and out of her, irrepressibly turned on by her cries of bliss. He could feel his orgasm approaching as rapid and unstoppable as the Hogwarts Express.
Keeping her hips pinned to the desk with one hand, he slipped the other hand underneath his aching balls to pinch her clitoris. It was all she needed to tip her over the edge and she climaxed, screaming his name, her inner walls pulsing against his invading penis.
Hearing his own name screamed with such passion, such abandon, toppled him over his own cliff and he let go with a roar, reaching his own, heady orgasm, forcing every last drop of his semen deep inside her.
For minutes they stayed in that position, attempting to get their ragged breathing under control. Finally he pulled out of her, lifting her from the desk and turning her into his embrace. They stood there dizzily. He kissed her sweaty forehead, brushing her hair away, whilst kicking out of his trousers so he stood naked.
"Come."
He kept his arms around her and led her through a door in the wood panelling that led directly into his bedroom chamber.
"Stay."
They walked to the enormous mahogany four-poster bed in silence, sinking together into the middle of the dark, sumptuous, forest-green sheets. He pulled a quilt over the two of them.
"Stay. And don't ever, ever go."
She snuggled up to him in acquiescence and they both closed their eyes in inescapable sleep. Neither had enough energy for another word, not that any further words were needed.