Chapter 36: The Provoking Of Emotions

{A/N: Here's Another Update...The reviews were greatly appreciated...Late Post...}

My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

The Front Room, Spinner's End, Muggle World...

Still attempting to catch his breath, Severus Snape looked up at the sofa where his obsidian gaze fell upon the equally winded Virginia Holton. He could hardly believe what he thought he heard as he slowly sat up in a bid to better gauge her reaction. She didn't seem to move, possibly due to the frantic aspect of their recent coupling or that she might have realized what she had said. Either way, curiosity had gotten the better of the Potions Professor and he simply had to know if what she said had been true or given the moment a reaction to the pleasure he had induced.

"Virginia." said Snape meeting her eyes as he continued his ragged breathing. "What did you say just before the end?"

The auburn haired woman sighed knowing there was no way to avoid the inevitable.

"I said I loved you." she admitted meeting his gaze.

There was a moment of silence before Snape got to his knees and leaned beside her on the sofa.

"Was it real or was it a result of...?" he began unsure he really wanted to know the answer.

"I...I honestly don't know Severus." she replied exhausted. "I mean I care a great deal for you and the way you...well it was different...without the wine I mean."

Snape smirked at this.

"I have to admit it was a bit different from what I had planned for our second encounter." he replied. "I simply couldn't go another moment without...well your bloody teasing didn't help."

Virginia burst into giggles at his admission.

"I see nothing amusing about tormenting a man so badly that he practically takes you against the front door." said Snape narrowing his eyes at his current lover.

Virginia had been at ease as she let her hand lazily roam along his naked sweat slick form.

"I've been dreaming about you ever since that night." she confessed. "Sometimes I'd shower and you'd appear and have your way with me up against the tile as the water streams down on us."

"Interesting." he replied. "Are we in the exchange of fantasies phase of the relationship?"

Virginia smiled and playfully smacked him with a sofa pillow.

Snape laughed and pulled her down from the sofa causing her naked body to fall onto his as they both crashed back against the hard wood floor. She had been fine using his body to break her fall but he had bumped his head and found himself back on the cold floor.

"Serves you right git." she said smiling down at him.

"Indeed it does." he agreed as she straddled his hips.

A slight groan escaped him from the contact with her naked warmth.

The Potions Master's lengthy pale finger roamed along her slender hips and up to her freed breasts.

"You are so perfect." he said in a nearly breathless whisper. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were made for me."

Virginia let out a soft moan as she looked down at Snape her fingers running along his muscle toned pale chest.

"I'm so glad that I know you Severus Snape." she said leaning down and capturing his pale lips in a heated kiss.

He returned it with equal passion knowing all the while that he could never let her go after this.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Snape's Bedroom, Spinner's End, Muggle World...

The familiar scent of jasmine had been something of a comfort as Severus Snape scooted his body against the nearby wall in a bid to give the slumbering Virginia more space in his childhood bed. He had his pale arms wrapped around her and she seemed at peace with it not at all giving a care as his lean body pressed rather tightly against her own due to the small size of the bed.

She had asked him about the other bedroom, the one on the far side of the hall way and he simply admitted that he never ventures in there. He also told her that when he does return home from the school where he teaches, he stays in the exact same room.

Virginia had thought the whole thing to be strange and impressive at the same time.

In truth he had not wished to go anywhere near the bedroom Tobias Snape committed a great number of atrocities against his mother in. Venturing into the kitchen due to Virginia having cooked breakfast was enough of a stretch for him.

The Potions Professor had been content to have the warmth of his lover's body pressed against him. He would have stayed beside her in bed for a while longer but the call of nature had gotten his attention. Rolling the heavily slumbering Virginia Holton onto her side before slipping her out of his arms, Snape noticed an odd tattoo along one of her forearms.

Gently running his fingers along it, Snape could barely make out the words M-U-D before she suddenly pulls away from him and glares as if he had done something wrong.

"Virginia?" he said coming to the realization that she might have been so uptight due to the fact that she was physically assaulted by someone before. "Where did you get that scar?"

"A long time ago." she replied quickly as she wrapped the bed sheet around it in a bid to hide it. "Some deranged woman with an ax to grind gave it to me."

Snape wondered why he had never seen it before today as he reached out taking her trembling hand into his own. Without a word he noted that it said the words he had dreaded his entire life after having said them to the last woman he had ever loved.

{M-U-D-B-L-O-O-D}

Virginia seemed to be ashamed of the scar not looking at him as he ran his fingers across the raised and long ago healed skin. She gasped when he pressed his pale lips into the flesh of her forearm kissing the ugly scar as if it had been the most lovely part of her. To say she was caught off guard was an understatement.

"S-Severus you don't have to..." she began rather nervously.

He placed her trembling hand onto his bare chest where she could feel the intense beating of his heart.

"You are very beautiful." he said meeting her eyes despite her attempts to hide them. "This scar merely illustrates just how unique you are...do not let whatever monster made this mark win by hiding yourself in shame...no doubt that is what this was intended to be...a mark of shame...but you have nothing to be ashamed about...if anything it should be viewed as a symbol of your survival and a rallying cry for any in a similar situation."

Virginia met his gaze with a bit more confidence.

Snape kissed her scar once more than her soft pink lips.

"You don't need to hide from me." he said with a look of absolute admiration behind his obsidian eyes.

He then got up off the bed and made his way to the loo to answer the call of nature so to speak.

Lying back against the soft pillows and the crisp white bed sheets, Virginia Holton seemed pleased with his definition of her formerly hideous scar. No one had ever spoken of something she had been ashamed of quite so brilliantly before. It spoke volumes about the kind of man Severus Snape had been and what he valued most. Feeling a pang of guilt at being the only one privy to her deception at his expense, she rolled onto her side and tried her best to make the most of this situation. She had come to the conclusion that if she could somehow make him happy then it was all well worth it.