A/N: You've all been delightfully patient, so here's the chapter you've been waiting for. Enjoy!

'Just because you're no longer a student, doesn't mean I couldn't find some way to punish you.'

'I have no doubt about that, sir.'

Severus plays these two lines of dialogue through his head on a constant loop and feels his stomach clench each time he remembers that look she gave him when she said sir. Fucking hell. This woman was going to be the absolute death of him.

As if sitting beside her all evening for dinner wasn't maddening enough, being able to feel the heat of her thigh next to his and smell her intoxicating perfume, he's now standing beside her in a darkened corner of the room and away from prying eyes. It's almost as if the gods are fabricating every possible situation for them to be alone together.

'I'm glad you came,' Hermione says, jolting him out of his reverie as she shifts her weight to the other foot and pops her hip. The circlet on tinsel on her head is slightly askew now and her hair looks a little wilder from her running her fingers through it. It seems to be an absent-minded habit of hers.

'Me too,' Severus says quietly. 'Surprisingly.' They're both holding glasses of whiskey and he takes a sip.

She lifts her eyebrows at him playfully. 'Surprisingly,' she repeats and places a hand to her chest in mock offence. 'You wound me.'

Severus arches an eyebrow and she giggles. Is she flirting? Is she lonely? Is she like this every time she drinks? It's driving him mad not being able to understand her.

'Hermione,' he says suddenly and the tone of his voice makes her laughter die on her face.

'Yes?'

He sighs. 'What are you doing?'

She blinks. 'What – what do you mean?' She looks embarrassed and Severus kicks himself.

'Look,' he says gently, trying a softer approach. 'It's Christmas Day and you're standing in a dark corner with a man almost twice your age. You should be with your friends – or out having fun.'

He sees her swallow hard. 'I – look,' she sighs. 'This is embarrassing, but it's Christmas and if you can't say it at Christmas, when can you –'

'Hermione –' he hates himself for cutting her off, especially when he sees her cheeks immediately flush. 'I want you to make sure you're not just saying this because you've had a few drinks. I put what happened last time down to the tequila.'

She blinks. 'That's not why it happened,' she says quietly.

'Then why did you …' Severus clears his throat and his eyes briefly dart over her shoulder before he lowers his voice: 'then why did you kiss me?'

It's the first time either of them have said it out loud and Hermione takes a deep breath. Severus watches her chest rise and fall and has to tear his gaze away.

'I –' Hermione attempts to tell him but it catches in her throat. She wets her lower lip with the flick of a pink tongue and tries again: 'I don't know.' She admits and shakes her head. 'You – we –' she clears her throat. 'Fuck. Give me a moment.' With a shaking hand she lifts her glass to her mouth and takes a deep drink of whiskey. 'I kissed you because I wanted to,' she looks at him and he sees fire in her eyes. Severus feels that tightening sensation across his chest again.

'You – you wanted to?'

She nods. 'I know I'm a bit all over the fucking place and I know it came out of nowhere but you made me feel really good at that party. I felt like we really had a lot in common. So yes, the tequila helped but I kissed you because I wanted to.'

Severus opens his mouth but nothing comes out. He stares dumbly at the beautiful, defiant young woman in front of him and doesn't understand how this has happened or what he ever could have done to deserve this.

'This is so humiliating,' she mutters, looking down. 'You probably just see me as a kid.'

'I don't,' he says suddenly. 'You're not a child.'

Hermione looks up. 'I know it's stupid, Severus,' her voice has dropped despite the din of conversation at the other end of the room. 'But I really want to kiss you again.'

Severus' mouth feels dry. He looks at her glass. If George Weasley had put Love Potion in that whiskey there would be no corner of the globe and no enhancement that would save him.

'Give me your glass,' he says suddenly.

Hermione blinks and her head pulls back in surprise. 'What?'

He extends his hand. 'Please?'

'This is insane,' she hisses. 'What do you think is in there?'

'I'm around a Weasley twin,' he says. 'The answer to that question is never-ending.'

'Oh my God,' Hermione laughs. She actually laughs. 'Severus, this has nothing to do with –'

'Just give me the glass, Granger –'

' – Why is it so unbelievable that I want you!?'

They both stop talking very suddenly and stare at each other. Hermione's eyes are wide at her confession.

'You want … me?' He repeats slowly. 'To do … what?'

Hermione bites her lower lip and narrows her eyes. 'I can't tell if you're stalling to try and let me down slowly, or if one of the greatest minds of this wizarding generation really is that obtuse.'

He shakes his head. 'You're drunk. I'm an old man.'

She sighs. 'Fine,' she says. 'I get it. You've been there for me and I got the wrong idea. I apologise for wasting your time.'

'Hermione –'

'And I might be a little tipsy, but at least I'm being honest.'

'Will you please listen to me!' He rasps. 'I –' he looks around. 'I don't want to have this conversation here.'

She seems to shake herself back to reality as she looks around the room as if she had completely forgotten where they were.

She nods. 'That's … a good idea. Let's slip out through the hallway,' she says. 'There's a broom closet we can –'

'Hermione, we're not sixteen,' he says derisively. 'One of the rooms will be fine.'

She looks at him. 'Yes, and do you want to be the one to explain to any of the people in this room why we snuck off to a bedroom if they walk in?'

'Locking charms exist.'

'You're right,' she says sarcastically. 'That would be so much easier to explain.'

He looks at her. 'Fair point.'

She rolls her eyes. 'Double agent my ass,' she mutters before knocking back the rest of her whiskey and placing it on a table near them. He can't help but smirk as he does the same.

Severus follows Hermione as she leads him through the door closest to them and into the hallway. She slips off her heels as they ascend the stairs, holding them in one hand whilst the other holds her dress.

On the first floor, she turns off down the hallway and comes to a halt in front of a closet. She drops her skirt and opens the door, stepping in, dropping her shoes and stepping back into them.

With a brief examination of what the fuck he's doing by hiding in a broom closet with Hermione Granger, Severus shakes his head and follows her inside, closing it behind him.

'I feel like a teenager,' he grumbles in the halflight. 'And why is the broom closet not on the ground floor?'

'This is the second broom closet,' she explains as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. 'The best one is by the back porch.'

'Of course,' Severus rolls his eyes. 'Yes, this is obviously the second broom closet.' Bloody Potter and his bloody brooms.

She giggles a little and then sighs. 'I'm sorry,' she says suddenly. 'I don't blame you for being so cautious around me. I feel as if I'm being so … confusing.'

'It's not that,' he says. 'Hermione, I've thought of nothing but that kiss since the party.'

'You – you have?'

'Yes,' he says. 'But I kept telling myself you regretted it. That you're going through so much and you were lonely and drunk and –'

Hermione shakes her head. 'I was all of those things, you're right.' His heart sinks a little. 'But that's not why I kissed you.'

His breath catches a little in his chest.

It might be the dark, cramped closet, it might be the whiskey, it might be the fact it's Christmas, or it might even be the fact that they're kind of into each other. But whatever it is, not even reciting potions ingredients can stop the adrenaline pumping through Severus' veins and heading straight for his cock which is straining in his trousers.

Her breathing is staggered and the lowlight makes Hermione's eyes look black with lust. His eyes drop to her lips – plump and parted. She really does want him, he thinks incredulously.

'Please,' her voice is barely even a whisper as she begs him: 'Severus, kiss me, please.'

Fucking hell.

Without another second thought, he leans down and kisses her. It's different than before – less surprising but still as all encompassing to his every sense. Hermione moans quietly into his mouth as if in relief and her arms wrap around his neck, holding him close to her.

It's as if the floodgates have opened and his body is acting without him as Severus finds himself walking her backwards, hands gripping her hips, until she hits the side of the closet. He pushes her up against the wall as their kiss becomes deeper and needier. Hermione threads her fingers through his hair, pulling slightly and sending pleasantly maddening sensations across his scalp.

Severus pushes his entire body up against hers and he presses one hand to her breast, squeezing firmly and eliciting another moan from her.

'Yes,' she breathes. 'Fuck, yes.'

'Can I touch you?' Severus growls between kisses and she nods eagerly.

'Yes,' she almost begs. Their hands both begin to desperately pull her dress up enough for Severus to run a hand up her thigh and the feeling of her smooth skin is enough to drive him mad.

'Let me feel you, Granger,' he bites out. 'I want to know if you're as wet as I think you are.'

His fingers move to between her legs where he can feel her heat as he teasingly runs a finger up the juncture of her legs which are still covered in what feels a lot like lace underwear.

'Please,' she mewls, kissing him with increasing desperation and longing, her arms locked back around his neck. 'I need you.'

Severus moves her underwear to the side, unable to resist, and he feels how wet her pussy is already. Her knees almost give out the moment his fingers hit her clit but he wraps his other arm firmly around her waist and presses her harder against the closet wall for support.

'Gods, you're soaking,' he growls.

She nods. 'All for you, sir.'

'Good girl.'

He pushes against her entrance and she gasps a little, clinging to him as his long fingers settle inside her. She's tight and it's all Severus can do to not come undone himself as her walls contract against his digits. He curls them upwards and gently coaxes profanities and moans from the lips of the Golden Girl herself.

She's trembling with each pump of his fingers as the pad of this thumb nudges against her clit and it doesn't take long. Their lips are millimetres apart, foreheads pressed together.

'Severus,' she gasps his name with glorious desperation. 'I'm – I'm going to come,' her breathing is laboured and her nails dig into his shoulder blades.

He continues to stroke her. 'Come on, girl, give it all to me,' he breathes into her ear. 'I want everything you've got.'

'Severus –!'

She contracts around him and Severus feels how much more wet she is as her entire body tenses and then relaxes.

'Oh fuck,' she drops her head backwards and rests against the wall, looking up to the ceiling of the closet. 'Oh my fucking God.'

Severus removes his fingers, lightly rubbing her clit as she comes down from her high until the sensitivity is too much and she squirms. He pulls his hand back, fingers covered in her. He wants to taste her so badly.

'Severus –' Hermione looks at him properly. 'That was amazing.'

He raises an eyebrow. 'That was one handed and standing up in a broom closet, Granger,' he says as he casts a quick cleaning spell on his hand. 'You've no idea.'

She laughs. 'Clearly my standards are low.'

'You don't say.'

Severus steps back from her, cock still aching, but unsure of what happens now. Hermione smoothes her dress back down and straightens the tinsel crown on her head. 'How do I look?' She asks. 'As if I've just had a quickie?'

Severus tries not to laugh. 'You're glowing,' he says.

'Could be the whiskey,' she counters.

'Maybe,' he says. 'Or it could be that orgasm.'

Hermione groans with a smile. 'Gods,' she says. 'How can I thank you?'

'It's not transactional,' he says curtly.

She shakes her head, still with a smile on her face. 'No?' She pouts a little. 'Fine – I was going to get on my knees for you –'

Severus swallows hard. 'I think we've been gone long enough,' he says against his better judgement. Fuck, what he wouldn't give to have this woman on her knees in front of him right now.

'You're probably right,' she gives a theatrical sigh. 'But I wonder …' She presses herself flush against his chest, kissing him hard whilst her hand snakes downwards, seeking out his throbbing erection.

'Oh,' she breathes into his mouth as her hand grasps it through his trousers making him hiss and a hand comes upward to fist her hair at the back of her neck. 'Oh, no, we can't be having this,' she says gently. 'I need to take care of you.'

'Please,' he grits. 'I –'

'But you're right, it's not transactional and you're a gentleman,' with a grin, Hermione steps backwards leaving him breathless and hot. 'See you downstairs,' she whispers, and with a kiss on his cheek, opens the door and leaves.

Severus stands there in shock, his cock almost painful and straining against his trousers.

Women are far too powerful after an orgasm.