Author's Notes: You guys, as always, are awesome at reviewing. I'll be a bit busy over the next couple of days, so I don't know that I'll be able to update again before Monday. Enjoy the lemons. Next update: "wedding." Keep reviewing :)

Two days before their wedding, Severus sat across from Hermione at the kitchen table. He was spinning the Admonitor on his left wrist lightly as he often did when he was lost in thought. His eyes were unfocused.

"Do those bother you?" She asked.

"Hmm?" He asked and his eyes refocused as he looked at her.

She nodded toward his wrists. "I'd imagine they're annoying."

"They are charmed so that I do not notice them in my day-to-day activities. It is easier to get caught doing dark magic if one is unaware of the magic monitoring bracelets," Severus explained.

"I suppose that makes sense," She said. He twisted the bracelet around his wrist again. There was a knock at the door. Severus answered it, taking a letter from a House Elf.

"Not even bloody married yet, and I'm already fetching your mail," He grumbled as he handed her the letter.

She opened the envelope as she sat down on the couch. He moved into the laboratory to bottle and label the second batch of Strength Potions. After a few minutes, Hermione appeared in the doorway.

"Severus?" She called.

He glanced over his shoulder as he labeled the vials. He noticed she was holding a letter in her hand. "Yes?"

"Did you... Send a letter to my father?" She asked.

He swallowed. He turned back around so that his back was to her completely and finished labeling the vials before levitating them to the shelf. Waving his wand, he cleared his work station and cleaned the cauldron. Another flick of his wrist sent the cauldron to a separate shelf.

"Severus..." She said his name again. He winced.

"Yes," He said, without turning around. "I sent a letter to your father."

"Why?"

"In two days, you will be my wife. I believed it my duty as your betrothed to defend your honor." His words were laced with sarcasm, but their meaning was sincere.

"My honor?" She raised an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't get yourself all worked up. It was not so chivalrous, I assure you," He sneered.

"You... gave my father a dressing down?"

"Hermione, I assume he and I will end up sitting in the same room at some point. If you think I am going to allow him to equate you to some dog breeder's bitch in front of me..."

She moved quickly across the lab, grabbed his face, and pulled his mouth to hers. He stood, frozen for a moment, and then kissed her back feverishly. Her hands moved to his fly. He was already nearly completely hard and straining against the fabric of his trousers. He moaned against her mouth as he pulled her hips flush against his own. He moved his mouth down her jaw bone and found a sensitive spot just below her ear, and she gasped loudly. Pushing his trousers down his thighs, she dropped to her knees.

He looked confused for a moment, and then he realized what she intended to do. "Hermione," He said, and then she took him into her mouth. "Oh, sweet Merlin..." He said loudly as she pulled his pants down to his ankles. He staggered back a bit and his butt hit the lab bench. She moaned and the vibration had him seeing stars. He touched the fingers on his left hand to her head lightly as his right hand gripped the edge of the table hard. Swirling her tongue on the head, she looked up at him. He bucked hard into her mouth as her eyes met his.

She pulled back from him and smiled up at him, teasing him. He whimpered. She took as much of his length as she could tolerate into her mouth. The noises, her moans, her eyes... He ground his teeth together. He ran his fingers through her hair. His hips twitched against her. "Stop," he grunted suddenly.

Immediately, she withdrew her mouth and looked at him. His breaths were coming heavy. He reached for her hand, she took his, and he pulled her up to her feet. "I would quite like to learn how to return the favor..." He said lowly. His eyes were fiery.

She blushed, despite having just been on her knees before him, and then led him to their bedroom. He began to kiss her again, his slender fingers, usually so delicate and graceful, fumbled with the button on her jeans. Sliding the zipper down, he pushed her jeans and underwear off her hips and down to her ankles. She stepped out of them and pushed his trousers down again as he stepped out of his. They pulled each other's shirts off and he fumbled with the clasp of her bra. He growled, and then finally unhooked it. His arms wrapped around her back and he pulled her against his chest. Despite how sensitive he was to touch, he did usually maximize skin-to-skin contact the few times they had been intimate. She laid down on the bed and he kneeled on the rug on the floor.

Grabbing her hips, in a display of sexual confidence, he pulled toward him until her butt was on the very edge of the bed. Then, he looked at her and she could see the uncertainty in his eyes, the questioning of what to do next. She put one leg over his shoulder and arched her back. Taking the hint, he kissed the inside of her thigh and pushed her legs a little further apart. His nose brushed the trimmed curls between her legs, and then he kissed her lightly.

She gasped and clutched at the bed. Tentatively, he stroked his tongue between her folds, and then moaned as he tasted her for the first time. His tongue was slow, exploring, his dark eyes watching how her body responded to each flick. She looked at him, and then put her right hand in his hair. "Here," She said and guided him gently by his hair so his efforts were focused on the right spot.

He moaned when she arched against his tongue, and then she shuddered at the vibration. He flicked his tongue, lapping at her. Her hips were jumping up slightly off the bed, her left hand fisting the sheets, and her right tangled in his hair. "Faster," She moaned a plea. He obeyed, a willing student, and moved his tongue faster. "Oh, fuck, Severus," She cried out, and her entire body contracted as she came.

He moved his mouth to the inside of her thigh again, kissing her, and she looked at him with heated eyes. Moving more toward the center of the bed, she beckoned him with a finger. He moved between her legs, and she guided him to her entrance. His eyes grew wide, somehow still not believing this part was actually happening, despite what had just occurred. She tugged at his hip with her free hand and he slid inside. He gasped loudly, and buried his face in her neck. He held very still for a moment, and her nails dragged down his back, over several scars. He was breathing heavily. Then, he began to move against her, more rocking than thrusting, exploring the feel of her around him in a way that was so innocently desperate. She held him close as his body began to tremble and struggle against his fast approaching orgasm. Hooking her ankles around his hips, she pulled him deeper. He was moaning loudly now, grunting.

"Yes," She whispered against his hair.

"Hermione..." He grunted as he pushed himself deep inside of her and came. He stayed on top of her for a moment, relishing in the ecstasy. When their breathing slowed, he rolled off of her onto his back, and then reached down off the edge of the bed for a wand. Pulling one up off the floor, he saw it was hers, and handed it to her. She cleaned both of them, and then laid there quietly for a moment.

"I could be convinced to send more angry letters if this is the response I'll get..." He chuckled. She slapped his chest lightly, playfully.

"I was thinking about the whole pregnancy stipulation..." she said. He looked at her. "Muggles do a thing they call natural family planning. I've been tracking my cycle since I first started when I was in my second year. The potion doesn't interfere with the hormones like muggle birth control does, so I already have a pretty good idea of what's happening when. Using that, we could... avoid certain things around the right time." He looked back up toward the ceiling. She continued, "If we're trying to make the best of this situation, we should probably have a decent foundation before fulfilling that part of this law. We have five years after all."

"Indeed," He said.

She looked over at him. His eyes were searching the ceiling. There was an uncertainty on his face. "This," She said and gestured between their naked bodies, "Is not because of the law. We might have been pushed into each other's lives because of the law, but this is the natural part in unnatural circumstance."

He met her gaze, searching for a hint of insincerity. Finding none on her easily read facial expressions, he nodded. She moved and laid her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating as they laid there in the bed in silence. He always tensed in moments of affection even more than he did in moments of sexual desire. As nervous as sex made him, as uncertain as he was about sexual intimacy, he was more so about anything that could be construed as romantic in nature. He didn't push her away, usually, but he did not initiate anything of the sort, other than occasionally holding or touching her hand briefly.

He, unsurprisingly, was not much for cuddling, but he mostly tolerated her accosting his person before sleep, and on the couch while they read, and sometimes in the middle of the night when she'd consumed too much of the bed. According to him, when he'd wake her late at night and instruct her to move back to her side of the bed, she was a personal space heater and it was impossible to sleep with her draped over him. She smiled when his finger tips on her naked back startled her from her thoughts. It was the first time he'd done that. His nails drew light circles over her back.