Chapter Twenty-One
The clock in the other room began to chime loudly. It was five in the morning. Groaning, the singular occupant in the bedroom rolled over and tugged a pillow over his head. He was not only angry that that clock had awoken, but he was reminded that not only was it a new day, it was his birthday – the day of the year he dreaded most. He was finally 38 years old, and much too old for his liking. The least time could have done for him was make him look his age instead of older.
Sighing, he pushed himself up into a sitting position of the bed with his legs slung over the side. Severus then stood and went to the bathroom, washing his face and examining it in the mirror above the basin. He had fewer lines marking his skin than he had before the war, so he could say that his looks had improved, though marginally, since then. He had no idea why Hermione even loved this face.
Not wanting to question or tem fate any further, he gave up on scrutinizing himself, and went to take a shower. He dressed in his normal black attire, and robes, and went to his private workroom to check on the first trial of his and Hermione's Potion. It was in it's final stages and needed monitoring every nine hours. He had checked it just before going to bed the night before.
Three hours later he was in the Great Hall for breakfast. He sat in his usual seat beside Albus, hoping that the old man would keep his trap shut for once.
'Good morning Severus, and Happy Birthday,' he exclaimed loudly enough for the other staff to hear.
Minerva had to cover her mouth with a napkin as she laughed at the look that fell over Severus' pale features. He narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster as the rest of the staff present followed suit and wished him a happy birthday. 'Brilliant,' he muttered under his breath as he absently stabbed at a sausage.
'Oh, cheer up you grouch,' Pomona Sprout said gleefully, not backing down even when Severus threw a glare at her.
After breakfast, Severus went back to his office in a mood, summoning his notes for class and storming back to his classroom to prepare the notes on the board for his third years to copy down. He hated his Birthday. He hated today, and he hated teaching. He went through the same routine every year, but it still stung just as much every year. He hated getting older – getting too old to have a life.
His first class arrived five minutes later, all chatting loudly. For some reason, this got on his nerves more than usual. 'Get inside quickly and begin taking the notes from the board,' he snapped at them, and they all went dead silent and went in to do as he had told them. 'And when you're done, turn to page 349 and make a summary of chapter twelve for you homework.'
One Slytherin boy had the nerve to groan aloud, and Severus walked over to him and leaned down, glowering at him coldly. 'Twenty points from Slytherin for your cheek, Stevens,' he said darkly.
No one dared to even breathe loudly for the rest of the lesson, and left as soon as they could when they were dismissed to their next class. Severus returned to his office and slumped into his chair. He had a free period before the next class. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair just a little and groaning as his head throbbed. Bloody hell – what next?
He summoned a headache Potion and gulped it down in one, cringing at the slightly bitter taste of it and leaning forwards on his arms to rest his head for a little while. He was tired, and bitter and angry – not to mention in pain. This was why he hated his birthday so much. What was the point of having birthdays? You just got older and more incapable of the simplest of things.
'Severus, may I come in?' said a voice from the doorway.
He sat up sharply and looked to the doorway, only to see Minerva standing there with a small, understanding smile on her face. 'I don't see why not,' he said, indicating a seat for her to sit in.
'Severus, don't you dare for one moment think that you are the only one who despises growing older. You most certainly are not,' Minerva said in a tone that gently scolded him. 'I am far older than you, and have more to worry over age.'
'Women live longer,' he murmured quietly.
'Oh stop that nonsense. Some women outlive others, while some do not. I would like to think that I am one of the ones that may live longer, however, my family line has been littered with witches that have unusually short lives,' she said in a strained voice. 'I do understand how you feel.'
Severus sighed and swallowed before he found the courage to admit what was making this year worse than others. 'I – I'm worried that I am too old for her – Hermione. I feel too old for her and like I will just hold her back from her life,' he said with a soft sigh, rubbing his sore eyes. 'I don't want to be a burden.'
'Severus, you are not too old at all. Do stop feeling so sorry for yourself and just take it as it comes,' Minerva scolded firmly. 'That girl loves you a great deal. You both deserve each other, and I expect you to take care of her and treat her well.'
'I would never treat her poorly,' he said immediately.
'I know that, but I am just warning you. You might be angry at the moment, but do not take out your insecurities on her,' Minerva said imploringly.
'I won't do that, Minerva. I can assure you of that,' he promised.
'Good,' she said, standing from the seat, and pulling a wrapped package from her robes with a small smile. 'Happy Birthday, Severus.'
She put the gift on his desk in front of him and left the office. He sat and stared at the gift for a while, until he tentatively reached for it and lifted it closer to examine it. It weighed and felt just like a book. Typical Minerva – she always got him a book. But then again, she could have done much worse and bought all sorts of horrible things for him – like Albus did. He remembered receiving a particularly lurid pair of purple socks one year, but had lately just received candies that he would never eat.
He smiled at the last gift he recalled. It was a particularly large box of lemon sherbets that only Albus ever ate when he was in Severus' chambers. Sighing, he picked himself up from his chair and went back to the classroom to erase the board from the previous class and put up those for the next class – Double Potions with the useless Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw class.
As promised, his class arrived on time, and probably hearing from the third years, went to the classroom without making any noise, and sitting down without making a peep. He almost smiled evilly at them. He gave them the instructions, and they all wrote notes before getting out their cauldrons and other equipment and beginning to brew their potion for the day.
The class sped past and Lunch was on their heels. He ordered his class to clean up after they had finished brewing and bottle samples for him and to leave. He stored the samples in a section he had left clear for them and went to lunch also, suddenly hungry after not eating breakfast properly that morning. He ate a sandwich in silence, giving his colleagues withering looks, and sweeping his gaze over the students.
He caught sight of Hermione down on the Gryffindor table, sitting with Harry and Neville, chatting amiably and smiling brightly. He felt his heart lighten then, just seeing her had made him feel a little bit better. He was still surprised how that had happened and felt his features soften a bit more. He swallowed his last bite of food and got up from the table, nodding to Albus and Minerva as he left, watching Hermione with her friends as he walked away.
He returned to his office to find that there was a package sitting on his desk with a note attached to it. He unfolded the parchment, and stared down at the neat and cursive writing that he knew all too well. It was from his Hermione. She had been down there, and he had missed her. Damn!
Dearest Severus,
I came down here and wanted to see you, but you were already out for lunch. I'm sorry I borrowed some parchment and your quill to write this. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday, and I will come down to visit you later tonight if that is agreeable with you. I hope you enjoy your present!
Love Always,
H.
He smiled at the letter, and folded it carefully, tucking into his pocket, before examining the large wrapped parcel on his desk. It was in silver paper with a Slytherin Green ribbon fastened on it decoratively. His heart swelled, and he immediately began the process of unwrapping it without damaging the paper or the ribbon in the process. When the paper fell apart smoothly, he saw four individual boxes. He lifted the lid of one and almost gasped, and then opened the other three too.
Before him was the most exquisite set of glass Potions vials he had ever seen. Each had a jeweled stopper of different colour and looked to be hand blown glass of the finest quality. When did she have the time to go to all of this effort for him? His heart swelled with love for his witch, as he picked up one and began to examine it. It was flawless, and when he cast a charm on it to see how secure it was, he found that it would hold anything, and was break proof.
'Smart girl,' he murmured to himself.
The rest of the day passed rather quickly after that, and he release his last class in a better mood than he had been in all day, or ever on his birthday. That simple and beautiful gesture from Hermione had brightened him up considerably, and he had not assigned this class any homework. He retreated to his chambers with the few gifts from his colleagues and Hermione, placing hers in spot where he could admire them for a while, depositing the book on a table in his library, and slumping onto his bed tiredly.
He slept for a while, and woke to take a shower, before going to the Great Hall for dinner. He ate in silence, but this time, when someone spoke to him, he didn't bite their head off.
'How was your day, Severus?' Filius asked from beside him.
'Passable,' he replied quietly.
'Oh wonderful, I heard the students mentioning that you were a tad unhappy earlier this morning, but I'm glad it has only improved,' Flitwick squeaked sincerely.
'Yes, my day has improved significantly since then,' he replied politely, inkling his head at the older Wizard.
'Well, I say Severus, that is a first,' Albus said cheerfully, causing chuckling to erupt along the table.
Severus merely narrowed his eyes at the old man and returned to eating his food without speaking to anyone. Once dinner was over, he returned to his chambers and went to his bathroom, brushing his teeth and changing into his sleeping trousers and pushing his feet into a pair of slippers as he exited to go to read. He reached the sitting room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Hermione there.
'Hermione…' he said softly.
She smiled at him and walked to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, pressing a kiss to his chest. 'I did say that I would be coming down here,' she murmured, continuing to kiss upwards until she reached his lips and pinned him with a hard, possessive kiss – their first kiss since the weekend.
When she broke away, she released him and allowed his gaze to travel over her. She was wearing her school robes, and to this he let his eyebrow quirk up in question. She smirked and led him towards his bedroom, making him sit down on his bed, standing out of his reach and grinning secretively.
'Be patient, my love,' she said with a smirk at his impatience.
'I have been deprived of you for long enough, Hermione,' he growled, reaching out for her to come to him again. 'I will not wait any longer, minx. Now come to me.'
She shook her head. 'Ah, ah Severus,' she chastened lightly. 'I make the rules tonight, and you will hav to behave yourself or I will just leave.'
He smirked and dropped his arms at her assertiveness. She began unbuttoning her robes, peeling them off to revel that she was wearing the sexiest thing he had ever seen. She was wearing dark green lingerie with silver embroidery and matching suspenders that held her sheer hose to her lacy knickers. Overall, he was as aroused as a man could be with his witch standing in the middle of his room in no more than a few scraps of lace, silk and cotton.
'Wow,' he said breathlessly.
She smiled wickedly at that. 'I'm glad you approve,' she said, teasingly running her hand along the top edge of her knickers resting on her hips and letting her hand slip beneath the material as she rubbed herself a little.
'Merlin…Hermione…' he said, feeling his arousal becoming painfully hard. If he didn't touch her soon, he would be spending himself prematurely.
'Do you like this, watching me touch myself?' she asked seductively in a way that surprised him a little. Who would have thought that someone so seemingly innocent could be so damn seductive?
'Yes… gods, I love seeing you touch yourself,' he said as her other hand cupped one of her breasts and squeezed.
'Oh? So you don't want to touch me? Shall I just pleasure myself tonight?' she asked innocently, walking towards him as she removed her hand from her breast and her knickers.
'No, I want to touch you,' he said raggedly. 'Please, gods… let me touch you love. Let me make love to you…'
She smiled in satisfaction, gently pushing him backwards to lie flat on his back, before she swung a leg over him and straddled his hips, grinding her moist centre into his hardness. 'That's good. Consider this to be your second birthday present,' she said, leaning in and kissing him forcefully, grinding her core into him.
When she came back up for air, they slowly removed her undergarments, and his sleeping trousers were disposed of pretty quickly following that. Severus then proceeded to torment and tease her just as much as she had him, brining her near to release, and then backing off and kissing her mouth. After he could hold on no longer, he claimed her and brought both of them to their release in short order, repeating the process three times before they fell asleep in each others arms.
That night, Severus slept with a look of contentment on his face for the first time he ever had on his birthday, and it had all been because of Hermione. He would have to remember to ask where she had gotten her under garments from. He had really enjoyed removing them, and wondered if she had any more, and what he would have to do to convince her to wear it more often.
He grinned and wrapped his arms around his witch tighter, closing his eyes and letting her snuggled further back to him. He was the happiest man alive, and he wondered just before sleep claimed him, if Hermione would ever consider marrying him. He resolved to think a little more on that, considering there were only four months left of the school year, and Hermione would graduate.