Chapter Twenty-One

The Importance of Perfection

Strolling back into the room, glass of water in hand, Sirius nearly laughed at the sight that greeted him. Severus' head had lolled back onto the cushion of the seat behind him as he stroked his hand idly over Hermione's wild hair and Hermione . . . .

She was curled up in Severus' lap, still. Her eyes were closed and she breathed evenly, her cheek pressed against the man's chest.

"I cannot believe she fell asleep," Sirius said in a whisper.

Severus smirked in a rather un-Severus-like manner as he shrugged. "To be fair, that was a bit rigorous."

Setting down the glass, Sirius tapped a finger against his chin in thought. The other man's eyes brows drew upward slowly as he waited.

"I have it. Give her here," he said, kneeling and holding his arms out for the sleeping girl.

Carefully handing her over, Severus climbed to his feet. "Should I even ask what you are planning?"

Sirius only grinned as he rose and turned on his heel to leave the room.

Hermione shifted, aware of the blissful sensation of warm skin pressing to hers as she stretched. Realizing slowly that she was in a bed, yet she didn't recall falling asleep in one, she blinked open her eyes.

She found herself laying on her side, with Sirius—stripped down as bare as she—facing her. Which meant those were Severus' arms holding her from behind.

What an impossibly lovely thing to wake to. It made her wonder if, perhaps, she was still asleep. This did seem the stuff of pleasant dreams, after all.

Then Sirius grinned wickedly at her.

Biting her lip, she stared back at him a long moment before she could speak. He was so beautiful that such a sinful expression from him stole her breath. "What's that look for, then?"

"Mm." Running the tip of his finger down, over her throat and lower to tease her breasts, he spoke while holding her gaze, "I returned to find you asleep. I am wondering how you will make that up to me, Dearest."

Her jaw fell as she tried to think of a reply. The task was no small feat, as Sirius raked the edge of his nails around her nipple, and Severus' hand sank down to cup roughly between her thighs.

"I have an idea," Severus murmured, his voice in her ear sending a delicious shiver through her.

"Oh? Do tell," Sirius said, playing along as he met the other man's eyes.

Severus smirked. "Well, there was one skill we never had the opportunity to test her on. You could have her show you how talented her precious little mouth is before you take her."

Grin widening, Sirius nodded as he shifted his attention back to Hermione. "What do you say, Dearest? Does that idea appeal to you?"

The air caught in her throat as she nodded. The very thought of it set off a giddy warmth in the pit of her stomach. "Oh, gods, yes," she said in a breathless whisper, a scandalized giggle escaping her.

"Well, then." He rolled onto his back and folded his hands behind his head. "Show me."

Biting her lip, she glanced back, meeting Severus' gaze.

The dark-eyed man nodded encouragingly as he dropped a kiss on her bare shoulder. "Go on, my good girl."

She thought she would never tire of hearing him call her that as she slipped from his embrace. Rising up, she leaned over Sirius, meeting his gaze and simply holding it for a moment.

Hermione saw a hint of color wash through his cheeks—something she never dreamed she'd see from one of her former trainers—and bent her head to catch his bottom lip between her teeth. She nibbled at the delicate skin only until he caved in and kissed her. Then, she pulled back, grinning triumphantly as she shifted to straddle his hip.

She moved along his body slow, skin sliding against skin, as she dragged her lips and the very edge of her teeth over his jaw, and down his throat. She paused there a moment, lapping teasingly at the pulse below his ear, before she moved lower, biting at his collar bone and then dropping quick, wet kisses down his chest and over his abdomen.

He was so hard—she could feel him pressing against her as she slid further down. There was something wicked and delightful in the way his cock brushed between her breasts as she nipped and lapped at the hollow of his hip bone.

Rising up over him once more, she balanced her weight on her knees and the palm of one hand as she wrapped the other around the base of him. She brought her lips down over him, lapping and suckling at the head of his cock as she gently worked her fist over him.

She flicked her gaze up to see how he sank his teeth hard into his bottom lip as a groan rumbled out of his chest. So lovely a picture, she nearly stopped.

Or, she must've stopped without realizing, because Severus reached over, gripping his hand into the hair at the back of her head and urging her to continue. Nodding against his hold, she slid her mouth along Sirius' skin, pressing the tip of her tongue along the delicate line beneath as she moved.

She drew back, gasping in shock as Severus' fingers slid into her.

"Oh, gods," she whispered, even as she heard him give a satisfied chuckle at her response. Hermione shivered as Severus withdrew and thrust his hand forward again, and again.

She struggled to hold Sirius' gaze as she said to the man beside her, "I . . . I don't think I can focus on him with you doing that."

Severus tutted at her, as he used his hand on her hair to urge her head lower, once more. "Oh, my good girl, that's precisely why I am assisting you."

He guided her to work her mouth along Sirius' cock, even as he continued rocking his fingers into her. She shifted in his embrace, repositioning herself a little.

Again, he tutted—he was causing her enough troubles, already. "Do not worry, I will not make you come just now."

Sighing around the warmth of Sirius in her mouth, she nodded again. Her lids drifted down and she let Severus control her motions, sliding her mouth around Sirius in deliberate, sucking pulls.

Her body clenched around Severus' fingers, warm and tight and she made the most wonderful little mewling sounds of pleasure in the back of her throat. It was all he could do not to take her again, right then.

But then even he couldn't be that selfish to Sirius.

Sirius groaned, again, as he clenched his jaw, his head tipping back. The way she jumped and shivered against him ever so slightly as she drew on him—presumably each time Severus' hand entered her—only made him more eager. Only made it more difficult to not simply give in and let her make him come.

"Oh, dear," Severus said, a smirk curving his lips as he looked up, noticing the other man's state.

Hermione was so very wet, and Sirius didn't look as though he'd last much longer with that perfect little mouth of hers working on him.

He leaned close, whispering in her ear, "You will want to take him, now, my good girl."

Only when she nodded did he withdraw his hand from between her thighs and relinquish his grip on her hair.

The movement seemed reluctant, and perhaps it was, as Hermione let Sirius' cock slip from between her lips. She straightened up, straddling his hips as she had earlier. Reaching her hand between their bodies to position him, she braced her other palm against his hip bone.

Then she removed her hand and dropped herself down, causing him to enter her in a sharp, deep thrust. He let out a gasp, some profanity mingled with the rushed breath, as her head fell back and a sweet shiver wracked her for a moment.

Sirius unlocked his fingers from behind his head and reached toward her, cupping her breasts as she started rocking over him.

Her eyelids fluttered as she shivered again and covered his hands with her own. He followed as she guided him to catch her nipples between his thumb and forefinger in rough, but playful pinches.

He jerked his pelvis beneath her, chuckling when she cried out in shock at the way the motion buried him even more deeply inside her.

Hermione trembled, stilling a moment at the delicious warmth that washed through her again and again as he repeated the movement, lifting his hips from the mattress to drive up, into her.

"You poor thing," Severus said in a gentle, drawling whisper. "Never fear, my good girl. I did say I was here to assist you."

His hands clamping over her hips, Severus urged her into motion. He pushed her forward and pulled her back in deep, grinding motions, working her against Sirius' thrusts.

She let her head fall back against Severus' shoulder, her tight grip on Sirius' hands loosening, but clinging, still. Sirius' motions beneath her—driving his cock into her so hard and deep—and Severus' fingers digging into her hips as he guided her had taken all burden of movement away from her.

Turning her head, she nuzzled her face against Severus' throat, muffling an ecstatic scream as Sirius quickened his pace.

With nothing left to her, her body responded the moment she felt the rhythm of Sirius' thrusts turn erratic. He bucked against her, trying to control his motions as her body clenched around him, her muscles going taut.

"It's okay, Dearest," he said in a breathless whisper.

When she dropped her head from Severus' shoulder to look at Sirius, he lifted his hand from her breast to dip a finger between her lips.

Smiling as she nibbled and sucked at his skin, he continued, "Come for me now."

She couldn't help a gasp, his finger falling from her lips, as his already unsteady thrusts became sharper, still. Her body pressed back against Severus as she pushed herself, forcing her muscles to tense further.

Severus made a funny little grunting sound over her shoulder as he shifted behind her. He adjusted his hold on her, allowing him to guide her into grinding harder against Sirius.

A moan tore from her throat and she trembled against Sirius and Severus as her orgasm crashed over her.

Sirius gripped her thighs as his head fell back. The sweet, tight clenching of her body around him as she came pushed, him over the edge as well.

"Oh, gods," she managed in a grating, breathless whisper as he thrust into her, hard and almost violent, one final time. Severus kept her moving, kept her rocking over Sirius, even as her orgasm began to ebb and delicious aftershocks arced through her, causing her to shudder each time Sirius' cock slid into her and withdrew.

The rocking slowed, stopping entirely after Sirius was spent.

Sirius relaxed beneath her, and Severus slid his hands from her hips up to her shoulders. He eased her forward as she caught her breath, guiding her to rest her head on Sirius' chest.

Under Severus' dark-eyed gaze, Sirius slid his arms around Hermione. He turned to lay on his side, moving her with him. Her face was burrowed down between his neck and the pillow and she wrapped her leg around his.

For a moment, Severus could only watch them. He always wondered—it wasn't jealousy, it wasn't, he told himself—if Sirius meant more to her than he did. If, somehow, they'd never been equal in her eyes, despite her words to the contrary.

But then, she reached her hand toward him, beckoning him to lie on her other side.

Nodding—he had missed how she almost seemed capable of reading their minds, sometimes—he tugged the covers out from beneath the pair. He covered them both and then crawled underneath, pressing himself against her back.

"So doting," Sirius murmured, smirking.

"Silence, you," Severus responded with an indignant sniffle.

Hermione, quiet the entire time, finally worked up the courage to ask. "So . . . did you enjoy me?"

When no answer came, she pulled her head from Sirius' neck to look at him, and then Severus, in turn. They were each gaping blankly at her.

"Oh, my good girl," Severus said, shaking his head as he smoothed her hair back from her face. "If only you knew . . . ."

Nodding, Sirius cupped her cheek. Pressing a soft kiss to her lips, he said, "You were perfect, Dearest."

She smiled, content with their answers.

Ignoring the sensation of tears clogging her throat, she nodded back and snuggled down between them, once more. This could never happen again, that made perfect the most important thing she could give them.