Chapter 14.

Deborah rolled onto her side, facing him. She lay her arm across his chest and hugged him. He lay still, paralyzed by his anxiety. She rested her head on his chest. His heart was pounding rapidly and he was shivering. He's truly terrified. She kept that thought hidden, he was miserable enough without knowing how much she was picking up on his fear and embarrassment. This is what happens when a pack of sadistic little bastards torments someone far beyond his capacity to endure, she thought.

Her hand moved gently over his arm, his shoulder, his chest. She traced his collarbones. Reaching, she stroked his cheek and as she had suspected, it was damp. She rose up on her elbow and kissed his cheeks, his eyes, his throat. He gradually began to respond, hesitantly at first. He wouldn't open his eyes and look at her, couldn't force himself to speak. She whispered to him, small encouragements. Her hand lazily floated over his stomach, his hip, up his side. She spoke softly again, telling him how much he meant to her, how amazing it felt to be with him.

He was acutely aware of her touch on his body, aware of even the slightest shift of the sheets against his bare skin. When she ran her fingers through his hair, it was familiar and reassuring. She stroked his cheeks with the backs of her nails, the odd sensation was somehow exciting. She held him as if he were something beautiful and precious. It nearly brought tears to his eyes again.

He tentatively began to explore her body. She continued to stroke him, guiding his hands. He was shocked to find how sensitive he had become and how quickly his body responded. He closed his eyes and sighed.

He rolled onto his side toward her. He was less self conscious now, becoming languid, his mind lazy and his body at ease. Nothing had been forbidden to him. He felt warm and completely accepted. She stroked the length of his side and caressed his thighs and buttocks. He loved the soothing feel of her touch. "Is this headed where I think it is?" he whispered hoarsely.

"It's headed wherever we feel like taking it." She pressed her lips against his, a little less tenderly than before and fondled him. He heard his own breathing change to ragged gasps; he could hear his heartbeat in his own ears. He felt aroused to the point of aching.

His instincts overtook his fears.

He felt himself become wrapped in her arms and legs and enveloped in her heat, and somehow at that moment the years of abuse and obsession no longer mattered. He had become that he was created to be; a powerful wizard, unafraid to love and to be loved.

He lay on his back surrounded by rumpled bedding. His body was exhausted but his mind was drifting like smoke, sifting through the tangle of feelings and sensations he had experienced, trying to make some sense of what had occurred. The white haired wizard returned from the bathroom and straightened the covers, pulling them up to keep him warm; there was a chill in the air and his skin was damp from exertion. She slipped in next to him and brushed the dark strands of hair from his face.

He was shivering and he wondered if it was truly from the cold. Deborah moved up against him to comfort him with her body. She lay her arm across his chest and he took her hand and held it tightly next to his skin. It was so terribly difficult to talk and yet he had to. "I never thought this would happen," he said in almost a whisper. "I thought that there was something horribly wrong with me."

"There there wasn't anything wrong with you at all. People lied to you and abused you and made you afraid."

"Did you know about all of it?"

"Probably most of it. I can block out your thoughts if they aren't extremely strong, but the ones you had about the way the marauders tortured you were like screams. I've blocked you from reading me some of tonight."

"Why?"

"I knew that it was painful for you to deal with being naked and vulnerable. I didn't want for you to have an even tougher time and be embarrassed about my knowing how difficult this all was for you. Snivelus Greasy. What a crock. There isn't anything snively or cowardly about you. As for the greasy," she sighed and stroked his dark damp locks, "what can I say? My hair is the same way, damnit. I fight that battle every day. I never did grow out of it."

"What? You're still here?" Deborah yawned and stretched. Snape was lying on his back beside her, staring at the ceiling. He rolled over and took her in his arms and kissed her. She smoothed his tangled hair back and smiled. "So, how do you feel this fine morning?"

"Tired. Slightly sore." She snickered at that one and he chuckled along with her. "I was greeted by a revolting sight this morning. When I opened my eyes, your little friend Hoople was sitting at the foot of the bed, staring at me. After an amazing night of making love, there's nothing I'd rather wake up to in the morning than the sight of your bug-eyed minion."

"I see that I'm going to have to give Hoople another talk on human expectations of privacy. Either that or you're going to spend a lot of time being sick." She ran her arm in a sweeping movement across his back and pulled him closer. He made a sound that was nearly like a purr. They enjoyed the closeness. He feels different, she thought. Like he's at peace.

"I believe that I could lie here all day. Except for one small detail. We have to get you moved down to the dungeon by tomorrow evening at the latest. I hope that those elves have cleaned that place out. I have never even looked in there but it was probably coated in two feet of dust."

"In that case I better get up and get going. Do you think that the two of us can fit in my shower at one time?"

As it turned out, they could.

Snape's old gym suit had somehow ended up in her closet and Deborah had some equally ratty cut off jeans and a t-shirt, which seemed to be the clothes best suited to getting her new quarters in order. They had a quick breakfast then moved on to the Slytherin dungeon to have a look at the guest quarters.

It was far better than they had hoped for. Obviously someone had wanted to impress the guests because the suite was huge. There was a good sized sitting/living area with an adjoining small office, a large bedroom with a walk-in closet and best of all, the bathroom.

"I can't believe that this has been here all this time and I never knew about it. It's like a cathedral!" He was right, it was amazing. The bathroom was huge, with a raised pool instead of a tub at the far end. A separate shower stood off to one side. There were three doors, which they checked out immediately. One went to a toilet and the other two were closets for linens and towels. The ceiling was at least fifteen meters high. "I could live in this place, there is literally room to live in here." He walked up the green marble steps to the pool. One side was fashioned as an underwater bench. "Nice and deep in here, and almost large enough to swim in."

The elves had done an admirable job of readying the place. The marble facings of the walls and the green flagstone floors gleamed. "Sev, I think we're going to have to put this pool to use tonight," she said. He walked behind her and put his arms around her and rested his cheek on top of her head. Ah, it felt so good to be able to do that and not wonder if he was going to be rejected.

It's pretty weird to have a bathroom that's as large as the rest of your quarters, but a good weird. I'll share with you.

I would like that. He held on for another moment. "OK, let's go to storage and you can pick out your furniture."

Deborah brought the bed from her old rooms with her and swapped a storage bed in as a replacement. She found a dark brown leather sectional set, which she arranged around the fireplace. She ditched the heavy green curtains and hung cream crochet lace ones instead. More light entered from the high dungeon windows, an effect she liked. She had a few changes in mind, changes that were going to take some planning and precise magic. But within a couple of hours her new quarters were comfortable. Severus had crashed on the sofa early in the endeavor, bored with furniture arranging. Poor thing, she thought. Something must have worn him out last night. She found an afghan and covered him.

Near noontime, Minerva McGonagall visited with a flower arrangement as a housewarming gift. Deborah thanked her and set them on a table, then cautioned her to be quiet then led her around the sofa. Severus was sprawled half on the sofa and half onto the floor snoring softly. Minerva covered her face with her hands and choked. They fled into the Slytherin common room and closed the door. "This is the help I get on moving day." They both broke out laughing.

"Our last night before the heathens arrive."

They lounged in the pool, drinking beer. "Oh, if your students could see you now."

"No, thank you. They create enough 'Professor Snape' artwork as it is without any additional inspiration."

"We won't be hanging out on the astronomy tower deck for a while. I'm going to miss that place."

"I will as well."

"I'm going to brush off my magical architectural skills and do some modifications to the sitting room…why are you looking at me that way?"

"Deb, is there anything you haven't managed to get involved with at one time or another? Aside from learning to stay on a broom?"

"Please. I was in wizarding college for seven years. I was already a wizard, so all I needed to do was to take a huge number of credit courses-my thesis was waived and I only had to do a handful of requireds. So I spent six and a half years taking every sort of thing that appealed to me. It was like a big party.

"You didn't have to major in anything? You just played around?"

"I majored in wands, which was already my hobby so it was playing for me. Minored in magical healing, much of which I knew from the war. So yeah, it was a party for me. I needed something to keep me occupied and not sitting around day and night thinking about losing Ian. I'm a lot better now and I've moved on with my life. But I still think about him sometimes. There is no way you can ever forget someone you loved who died protecting you."

Snape didn't know what to say to that. He just put his arms around her and sat with her. She slid her arm around him. "Life goes on, Sev. We don't do honor to our dead by not living our lives."