AN: I'm sorry this is so late! I finally managed to upload my book today! (squeee!) I've spent most of the afternoon breaking into spontaneous dance numbers. Thank god I was alone…it would have scared the pants off anyone else. (doffs imaginary hat) And so I give you the next chapter! I'm still on adrenalin high so I dearly hope that this isn't total gibberish! I added a totally gratuitous instance of Snape's first year speech…just because I love to hear him say it.
Four dozen eyes stared at him in rapt attention.
"I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even…put a stopper in death." He raised an ironic eyebrow. "If you aren't as big a group of dunderheads as I normally have to teach."
Predictably, since this was a class of Ravenclaws, there were several who were absolutely salivating, practically panting to prove that they weren't dunderheads. Conversely, there was one smirking girl who was both arrogant and clumsy…pure-blood, he knew the type. He made a mental wager with himself that she would meet or exceed Longbottom's record for melted cauldrons.
He assigned their first potion, and managed to keep the children from blowing themselves, or him, into bite-sized bits. On the first day, it counted as a win.
His wife's hands smoothed the muscles of his neck.
"You are a mess, love."
"First years are bloody walking disasters waiting to happen. You take your eyes off them for one minute and they'll manage to turn a perfectly harmless potion into a weponized vapor of death. I don't know who is worse, the first years, or the sixth years." He groaned as her clever fingers moved along his spine. "By sixth year they're intolerable because they've well enough on their OWLS to test into the class, and they are completely distracted by rampaging hormones…the only good thing about them is that there's only one class."
Hermione kissed his temple.
"Why did Minerva assign all of the first years and your sixth years for the same day?"
"Because she's a sadist, it's a common trait for cats."
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye as she rolled her eyes at him. He'd been in such a state when the day was done that he'd barely touched dinner in the Great Hall. When they had returned to their rooms, she had ordered him out of his robe, frock coat, and shirt, and onto the floor so she could administer the current (highly satisfactory) massage.
He did a partial sit-up and kissed her neck. "I'm sorry my love, I've been remiss. How was your first day of teaching all levels of Transfiguration?"
She smiled brightly. "Fantastic. I adore the seventh years. There are a couple of truly fine minds in the class. I kept my sixth years busy with theory so I won't have to worry about the little monsters being distracted until next week…well, distraction at this point won't cause anything more lethal than grammatical errors at any rate." She put her head on his chest. "I didn't realize what a relief it was to get rid of the students who didn't really want to take the class in the first place."
He let out a rumbling laugh.
"That's the honest to Merlin truth." He wound a curl around his finger idly.
She sighed. "Shall I ask the house elves to bring you something to eat? You barely touched dinner."
He smirked and pretended to leer at her. "I can think of better things to do on my night off."
Hermione sniffed. "Can you?"
He rolled so that she was under his body.
"Yes witch, I certainly can." He kissed her long and deep, savoring the now-familiar taste of her lips and the blackberries that she'd eaten for dessert.
She ran a hand along his cheekbone. "You know, if you'd take an apprentice like Minerva asked…"
He snorted. "I have no interest in giving up my precious evening hours with you to potty train some wet-behind-the-ears neophyte."
She pulled her legs into a graceful cross-legged sitting position as she tucked her robes neatly around her. That slight, lady-like movement was more entrancing to him than he could really express. It was something about the way her hands moved along her legs…oh wait, she was talking again and looking earnestly into his eyes.
"I'm just saying that within a year you wouldn't have to teach the first years anymore."
He rolled his eyes and buried his nose in her sensitive neck. "You have no idea how brilliant you really are, do you? I'd be three years before I allowed an apprentice to take on my dunderheads…and their first assignment would never be the first years."
She raised a brow. "But you were teaching all levels by the time you were twenty."
He smirked. "How did you find out about that…no, wait, never mind. I am almost certain that Minerva let the cat out of the bag."
She shook her head at him.
He kissed her hand. "I'm afraid you must face the realization that not only are you a brilliant witch, but you also married a man of superior intellect." He picked her up.
"And until I have a student as brilliant" he kissed her as he walked toward the bedroom. "As hard-working" another long kiss as he opened the door "And as wonderful as you, I will not take an apprentice."
She smirked up at him as he closed the door and glided to their bed.
"Don't think that I don't know what you're doing Severus Snape. I know when I'm being distracted."
He nipped her lower lip and kissed her softly.
She pulled him closer. "But I must admit; it works every single time."
AN: ok, ok, I admit…I'm enjoying the honeymoon phase as much or more than Severus and Hermione…lol I'll update again this weekend.