WARNING There be lemons ahead... rough sex, Dom, mild pain (Totally consensual) If this makes you uncomfortable, skip the break (-) section

The next afternoon Hermione woke, sunlight streaming through the enchanted windows and across her face. She cracked her eyes open long enough to see the face of her beloved just next to hers. He looked much younger in sleep. His face was no longer lined with the worries and miseries of a life spent in unhappiness. His thick, long black lashes fanned out across his cheeks, which were blushed just the slightest bit in the warmth of the bed, his mouth just slightly opened and relaxed in repose.

Hermione smiled to herself, remembering the night before and how magical his proposal had been. Wizard or not, she could never have imagined someone going to such great effort to propose marriage to her. This man that knew her so well, would someday soon become her husband, and would help her raise her daughter who had always looked so much like him, no matter how impossible it was. She began laying gentle kisses along his jaw, nibbling here and there as she went. When she reached his ear, she ran the tip of her tongue along his outer shell and breathed just slightly. With a light stretch, and the rumbling groan from the pit of his chest, Severus awakened and turned his still sleep bleary eyes to his fiance.

"Good morning, future Mrs. Snape"

"Good morning, Mr. Snape. How did you sleep?"

"Better than I have in years. It would appear that having you by my side, and promising to be in my life, has been most beneficial for me." He said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Well, it's already almost half one, perhaps we should get up and shower and dress and go see Minerva." She said as she trailed her fingertips along his exposed chest, running her hands over the sparse, silky hair that was splayed sporadically across it.

"Then I suppose you'll have to stop doing that, or we won't be leaving this bed anytime soon." He said as he stood and rolled out of the bed. She frowned slightly before following his actions, and heading towards the loo.

Approximately one hour later, a very satisfied, newly engaged couple made their way from the dungeons to the headmistress's chambers. Hermione had a brilliant smile stretched across her face, that she found nearly impossible to get rid of, while Severus, master of masking his emotions, had just the slightest smirk on his face that he just couldn't get wipe off.

With a simple knock of his hand on her door, and her softly-spoken "come in you two," they opened the door. Lorelei, who had been previously playing under Minerva's desk, ran to her mother, squealing excitedly, and threw her arms around her neck. Hermione hugged her tight, burying her nose in her daughter's sweet smelling curls. She then picked her up, sitting cross-legged on the floor, and asked her, "Lorelei, Severus would like to know if it's okay with you for him to be your daddy?"

The child screamed happily, as if she knew exactly what her mother meant with her question. Upon hearing her mother say the words Severus and daddy, she immediately ran over to Snape tossing herself into his arms and said "Daddy" as she snuggled her face into his chest and hugged him tightly. Hermione looked up at Severus, and as their eyes connected, Severus finally let the tear fall from his eye that he had been trying to hold in ever since he first met the child of the woman he loved.

"Good. Well now that that's settled, sweet Nimue's tits, Severus, did you really need to get the woman and ice rink to wear on her finger? How on Earth is she ever supposed to get anything done with that thing weighing her down?" She asked, with a small giggle and a smile spread across her face.

"You knew. You knew all along that he would be proposing last night, didn't you? Why you evil woman, not giving me any hint at what was about to happen. Whatever happened to Sister solidarity?"

"I assure you, my dear, there was no harm intended, and no lack of solidarity. Indeed. I simply wanted the man to be able to do things the way he wanted. And it certainly seems as though you were quite surprised by it, though it was obvious to everyone else."

"What do you mean everyone else? Who else is there?"

"Why, I believe that she means me, my dear child." Albus spoke up from his portrait, the painted twinkle in his eye glimmering as brightly as it had before his passing. "I must say, Severus, I believe I agree with Minerva on the size of the ring, though one could never deny its beauty. It certainly seems to match the beauty of its owner."

"Thank you, Albus. We appreciate your blessing in our endeavors. Now if you don't mind I do believe I would like to spend the rest of my day with my family, before the weeks are through and those dreaded dunderheads are back for the new school year and I have to share my fiance with all of them." Severus said with only mild contempt and impatience.

"Certainly, my boy. My best to the both of you, and I look forward to meeting more of your children someday."

As the two left with their tiny charge, Severus turned to Hermione and said, "Did he say 'more of your children?'"

"I do believe he did, love. Wonder what he meant by that?" She said.

"No idea, my sweet. No idea."

So the days and weeks went by, in a flurry of commotion. Hermione had created lesson plans and syllabi, written tests and examinations, as Severus simply set up his classroom for another start of term. They worked together frequently when they could, trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible, before the school year would start.

It was one day, just a few before the term was set to begin, when most of the teaching staff was already back in the castle, that it happened. It was their first fight. And not just any fight; it was a knockdown, drag-out, No Holds Barred fight that could have easily ended the relationship.

Hermione had some last-minute things that she needed to set up for her classroom. She knew Severus was complete already with his preparations, and she didn't wish to ruin the last of the good weather and peace and quiet for the rest of her family, so she had told Severus to take Lorelei out to see Hagrid and meet some of his creatures. How was Severus to know that a girl just slightly over 1 year of age could move so quickly and so near invisibly? One moment, he had been holding her in his arms as they spoke with Hagrid about his most recently acquired animals, and the next she was out of his sight and he couldn't find her. Hagrid and Severus searched for at least 10 minutes before he realized that he was in deep shite. He summoned Minerva with his Patronus, who summoned every other teacher at the school, including his fiance.

The message had found Hermione carefully stacking books, nearly completed with her classroom tasks, which she immediately dropped to the floor, and rushed to locate them next to Hagrid's Hut, fear stricken and tear stained in a harried daze.

The first thought in her mind was that someone had taken her child. It was so hard to move on from her past and to change her thinking. Regardless of the fact that she had caught the last of the known Death Eaters, she would always be fearful for her life and her child's. She moved at a frantic pace, searching everywhere that she could see and hear. The rest of the teachers searched the castle and the grounds closest to where she had gone missing. Hermione, Severus, Minerva, and Hagrid had searched into the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

As upset as Hermione was, Severus was almost more so. He knew this was bad. Obviously losing a child anytime would be bad, losing the child of the woman that he loved and wanted to marry could not have been worse than facing Voldemort himself. He loved that girl like she was his very own, and he could not have been more frantic to find her.

After nearly two hours of searching the forest, Severus heard giggles coming from somewhere slightly farther ahead of him. He alerted everyone else in the area, and they began to converge on the location of the sound. Hagrid was the first to actually lay eyes on her, sitting calmly, cuddled up next to a unicorn foal and its mother. He quietly gestured to Severus and Hermione to stay silent and just watch. Both of them cried tears of relief at the sight before them, the innocent creatures recognizing her pure soul.

Needless to say, the fight that erupted that evening could not have been worse. With Lorelei spending her last night before term started with her grandma Minnie, Hermione laid into the dour professor more than anyone he could ever recall before. The Dark Lord himself could not have done a better job.

"I thought you were watching her! I thought you could understand the importance of watching a small child. I thought I could trust you with her. I thought I could trust you with her safety, with my safety. That girl is my heart and soul and if anything were to ever happen to her it would kill me. I would cease to exist. I would no longer be able to draw breath without that child by my side. How can I ever trust you with her again?!" She raged.

"How dare you speak to me that way? How could you say any of that to me? I love that child as if she were my own. You think you would be the only one unable to draw breath without her? Think again. When I asked you to be my wife, I meant everything I said to you. I want to be her father, I want to raise her and be in her life. She is my daughter, just as she is yours, regardless of the fact that I may not have provided the sample that created her. She is also my heart and soul. I made one fucking mistake, I looked away for a moment, Hermione. I swear to you it will never happen again. If I have to put a tracking spell on that girl, I swear to you, I will never lose her. Never again."

"Your God's damned right you won't. I will never leave her with you again! How am I supposed to marry a man that can't even keep an eye on my child when I'm not around?"

Hermione had long ago dissolved into tears. She cried with her grief at almost losing her child. She cried at the grief of the loss of trust she had with her soon-to-be husband. Or would he be? She cried at the idea of losing this man, who had simply made one mistake, one that she had made herself at least once or twice. Perhaps she hadn't done it to this degree, but Hogwarts was a big place, and hadn't she herself been lost there a time or two? Perhaps she was simply being too hard on him, especially when it seemed as though he was being plenty hard on himself.

She sobbed, huge racking breaths leaving her body in gulps and shudders. Her face was ravaged by tears, and her body shook with tremors. As her legs trembled, and her knees finally gave way, she braced herself for the impact with the floor, only to find herself pulled into his strong and comforting embrace. She melted into him, crying into his neck, soaking his silk shirt. He made gentle circles on her lower back with one hand, as his other hand carefully wove through her curls.

"I know, my sweet. I was just as terrified as you were. We have to stay a team, we must stay together. I swear to you, you can trust me, and I will never let you down again. Please love, please say that you still want me. Please say that I can keep you both in my life, for I don't know what I would do if I lose you, either of you."

The sweetness of his words, and the gentleness of his actions soothed her soul and set her ablaze. Her adrenaline was crashing and her body needed to reaffirm life. Right here, in this moment, with the man she loved, and had, in all honesty, forgiven the moment she had seen his distress, she needed him to set her free.

"Severus, love me. Please. I need you. Now." She begged, as her sobbing tremors, turned to passionate pleas.

"What the lady wants-"

"Dammit, Severus! Fuck me now!" She yelled. She didn't need his sweet, caring coupling, she needed filthy, harsh, life-affirming sex. Down and dirty. Severus was no stranger to the feelings going through her from the sudden change in hormone levels, and he was certainly no stranger to harsh sex, but he had never thought that his fiance would be willing to indulge in that side of himself. If he were being truthful, he had never thought he would have the desire to engage in that particular kind of carnal knowledge with her, with someone he loved. But damn if he wasn't feeling willing now...

-SKIP AHEAD-

With a low growl, Severus threw her down onto the edge of the bed on her back, immediately grasping the edges of her light cotton shirt and ripping it up the center, exposing her lace encased chest to him. Her gasp of surprise only spurred him on to tear her denim cut off shorts over her hips, dragging her panties with them. With a careless flick of his wrist, the scrap of lace on her chest was torn from her body and cast aside with the rest of her clothing. She lay before him, trembling not from fear, but from anticipation and passion.

He grabbed her hips and turned her roughly onto her stomach, her feet not quite reaching the floor, as her chest pressed into the mattress. He placed one large palm in the center of her shoulder blades, abrading her hard nipples against the cotton of the comforter, as the other hand lifted, then fell, with a loud SLAP against her right cheek. She yelped in surprise before hearing his harsh words.

"How dare you question my feelings for your daughter!" He barked.

SLAP! This time, she moaned as the sting resettled itself in her aching, already soaked cunt.

"How dare you think of her as anything to me, other than my own!" This time he thundered the statement, as he adjusted his hand placement and pressed her down harder, wrapping her long tresses around his fist and pulling them taught.

SLAP! He began alternating sides, letting down with a rain of harsh cracks upon her posterior as he worked out his hurt at her words.

"You are both mine. Do you understand me?!" He roared. "I protect what is mine, and I will make no exceptions, just because she simply does not share my DNA!"

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

"Do you understand?!" He bellowed, tugging her hair and pulling her face out of the harsh cotton to answer.

"Yes." She said on a breathy moan.

"Louder, witch. Tell me who you belong to?"

SLAP!

"Oh Gods! You, Severus! We belong to you!" She cried out, squirming in reaction to the pleasure/pain.

"That's right, witch. Now how shall I make you mine? Shall I take this sweet, tight little pussy of yours? Would you like that?" He asked, his voice now pure gravel, as he slowly smoothed his hand over her bright red, abused skin of her arse.

"Oh please, Severus. Please fuck me!" She moaned, arching her back temptingly.

"Who owns this pussy, Hermione?" He leaned over her back and whispered into her ear, making her shiver in delight.

"Fuck- You. Only ever you, Sev." She sighed.

With a harsh thrust, he was inside her, his immense girth nearly painful with its rapid intrusion. He held himself inside her before pushing just a touch farther, and grinding into her cervix, making her see stars. Her whimpers drove him on, as her hips began to buck backwards, urging him to begin moving. He obliged at a brutal and bruising pace, gripping her hips just this side of painfully. She was sure to be bruised in the morning.

"Do you like that, witch? You like how I fuck that pretty little pussy of yours?" He asked.

"Yes! Oh Yes, Sev!" He felt her walls begin to tremble around him already. Pulling out of her abruptly, he flipped her onto her back and tossed her to the center of the bed, and with a flick of the wrist, her hands were bound together and pulled over her head.

"Keep your eyes on me. I want you to see who owns you, who makes you feel this good, Hermione. I want to see what I do to you that no one else can." He growled.

"Yes, Severus." She answered.

He began a torturously slow pace, building her release gradually with each measured stroke pushing into her womb and grinding against her clit. Her moans and whimpers at being denied the quick climax she had been so close to, only making him push her harder. When he felt her walls start to tremble again, he pulled back, seating himself halfway out of her, before pinching her clit hard. She cried out in near ecstasy, her back arching and eyes rolling back. She was so close, just a bit more, and she would be there, but he sat and waited.

"Please. Please, Severus! Oh Gods, Please fuck me!" She was approaching the edge of her desperation, prepared to do anything to help him give her the final shove over the cliff to nirvana. But still, he denied her, leaning his body over hers and laying his mouth over her ear.

"Say you are mine, Hermione. Tell everyone in this castle that you and your daughter are mine to care for, mine to love, mine to protect. Tell them all who you belong to, Hermione." He said in his silky, persuasive baritone.

"We belong to Severus Snape! Always!" She yelled, her voice cracking with exertion and unmet desire.

He began pounding into her, his fingers finding the tight buds of her nipples and pinching, lightly at first, then applying more and more pressure until she flinched, then backing off just enough to send her to heaven. She was a shuddering, wailing mess, as her body contorted underneath his. He plowed through her convulsions, drawing them out, before releasing her hands and leaning forward. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding tightly, as he smoothed his thrusts and slowed his pace slightly. It was much less brutal, but no less passionate and powerful, as he began pushing her towards a second and more powerful climax.

-END OF ROUGH STUFF-

"I love you, Hermione. I will never stop loving you, or caring for you. I will always be whatever you need me to be, witch. All you need is but to ask for it, and you shall have it from me." He whispered. His voice was no longer full of anger or hurt at her harsh arguments. It was full of love and concern. His voice was hope and peace and support. His voice was her warm blanket in a harsh winter storm, it was what guided her way home. He moved within her, shuddering now and then, as her muscles clenched in warning of her impending crest. He held her tightly and kissed her neck, her jaw, her nape and shoulder, before biting at the place where neck met shoulder, just enough to give her the final push overboard, before following her into the abyss.

Together they floated, still moving as one, their magic surrounding them, a white yellow light engulfing the entwined figures in its soft glow. Their movements slowed as they groaned out each others names, as if they had been ripped straight from their very souls, before finally halting, each struggling to regain their breath.

"I hope- that was- to your- satisfaction" Severus said, as he tried to breath normally, running his hand through her tangled mess of curls.

"Bloody hell- Sev. Fucking perfect." She breathed simply.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked, regaining his speech.

"Well, of course, but not in any way I didn't want and enjoy." She said, looking at him reassuringly.

"I should have been more gentle. After everything you've been through, I didn't think you would ever want something like that. I'm afraid I went a bit overboard." He said, looking at the scattered and rumpled bed sheet sheepishly.

She placed her hands on either side of his face, bringing his obsidian gaze to meet her whiskey colored eyes.

"I had no idea you wanted something like this. Don't ever hide yourself from me again, Severus. I love all of you, not just the gentle parts. Sometimes I want it hard, too, regardless of what I've been through. I know it's you and that you are so very different. This relationship is about what the both of us want and need. Be honest with me and I will be honest with you. Clear?" She said softly.

"As crystal, my love." He whispered back in awe. "You are bloody marvelous. So perfect for me. I love you, Hermione. And I'm so sorry about today, love." He said, ashamed of himself.

"It was a mistake, Severus. Don't beat yourself up for it. I've lost her once or twice myself, love. It happens. We'll just be more careful, alright?" She stated.

"Alright." He breathed, as he pulled her carefully into his arms, settling her in their preferred positioning with her head on his chest, one arm and one leg flung across his torso and thigh.

"So that's what they mean about make up sex." She said absentmindedly. His shocked laughter was abrupt, but put a smile on her face.

"Indeed. I believe it is." He replied. She snuggled down into his arms and they both fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.