Author's Notes: Chapter starting out with a little background on the
Professor's school days and the beginnings of his rivalry with Malfoy.
Pure conjecture. Probably flying directly in the face of canon, but it's
my story and I'll make stuff up if I want to. It helps set up some of the
upcoming plotline I've got lined up. I'm not sure we really know much
about Snape's school days save the whomping willow incident with the
Marauders. So this may not really be all that far from the mark. Chapter
ends in an explosion of lemony goodness. (Semi-explicit sexual scenario,
read only if you aren't offended by such things.)
Oh, there really is such a thing as chocolate mead. It's hard to come by, and takes at least a year to age before you can drink it, but it is absolutely divine. There are some who claim it's a powerful aphrodisiac, the combination of chocolate and alcohol. As chocolate is so important in the magical world, it would be natural for witches and wizards to be in on the chocolate mead thing as well.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it from the books or movies, it doesn't belong to me.
Chapter 39: Sanctuary from the Cold
The professor helped Mira into her winter cloak, and they left for the tailor shop, huddled close to each other against the wind and snow.
"Merlin's beard, Mirabelle! I really wish you would learn how to apparate."
"Sorry, maybe you can help me find a tutor so I can brush up where I'm lacking in magical skills?"
"It certainly wouldn't be a bad thing for you to further your magical education. I'll find you somebody to study with during the holidays."
Mira gave his arm a squeeze and smiled. She tucked the hood of her cloak up under her chin, and they stepped up the pace, to get in out of the cold as quickly as possible. Inside the shop, Snape followed Mira up the stairs to her little apartment. To chase away the cold, she took out her wand and lit a fire in the tiny fireplace located in her small sitting and dining room. Like the rest of the apartment, it wasn't very spacious nor was it very luxurious. Just enough room for a cozy little sofa and tea table in front of the fireplace, an easy chair and bookshelf by the window, and a small dining table and pair of chairs against the back wall. Directly behind the sitting room was a little step in kitchen. She took his cloak and her own, shook them out, and hung them on wall pegs near the fireplace to dry. Underneath the cloak pegs was a little rack next to the hearth, where they set their shoes and socks to dry from the slushy ice in the streets.
Snape sat on the sofa, basking in the warmth of the fire while Mira went to her bedroom and changed from her work robe into a silk lounging robe. She returned to the sitting room and leaned over the back of the sofa.
"Would you like a drink? I can make tea, or something stronger if you wish."
"What kind of something stronger?"
Mira went to the kitchen, opened a small cabinet, and shuffled through a small selection of bottles.
"Brandy, Elderflower wine, and a bottle of something Jules and Maggie sent over for a Christmas gift, chocolate mead."
"Chocolate mead? That sounds interesting."
"Then chocolate mead it shall be."
Mira took a glass goblet out of the cabinet, poured a generous amount of the coffee colored liquid into it, and carried it into the sitting room.
She handed the professor his glass of mead, flopped down next to him and leaned back across his lap, resting her head on the arm of the sofa. He took a sip of the drink, and nodded appreciatively.
"Very good. Not at all what I expected."
"I thought it was nice too."
Mira turned onto her side, so that she was facing him, and watched him stare pensively at the fire.
"Tell me. What was it like when you were in school? You said you never fancied any of your teachers, but did you have a girlfriend?"
"Yes, I had one. From fourth year until my family was killed."
"What was she like?"
"Pretty, but very vain. Haughty, and aloof. Very much a social climber. Not very studious, no ambitions of higher education. By no means dim mind you, she was gifted with a flawlessly calculating mind. Mean and nasty to those she felt was beneath her or who had displeased her, which was virtually all who crossed her path. Essentially, she was a well born young witch sent to school to bide time until she was married off to a well born young wizard to complete an alliance between families."
"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that she was one of those arranged pairing kind of things?"
Snape took a long drink of the mead, and reached across Mira, setting the goblet down on the tea table.
"Why? Does that shock you? You've seen the home I lived in as a child; you heard the story of my family's ambition. Until the aurors attacked the Death Eaters at my home, I was destined to marry her after graduation."
"But, your family was killed, your home was destroyed, so you were no longer a prime catch to a social climber, right?"
"Precisely."
"Wow, I'm sorry you got dumped like that, but I'm glad you weren't saddled with her, she sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant woman."
"I'm glad too. I never loved her. I barely tolerated her. Granted she was pretty, in an aristocratic sort of way; and cunning enough to manipulate me into considering myself lucky for being promised to her."
"She sounds like a complete bitch."
"You should know, you've dealt with her in the tailor shop. Narcissa Malfoy. Back then, she was Narcissa Bryce-Prescott."
"No way! You were gonna be forced to marry Narcissa?"
"Not forced. I could have rejected her. I would have been disowned, but I could have rejected her."
"Would you have?"
"Probably not. But the issue was resolved for me by fate."
"So, she dumped you and took up with Malfoy?"
"Lucius was my friend. Not a best friend by any means. In Slytherin house, you rarely bring anybody that close to your circle of trust. But he was as good of a friend as any could have been. He was a good match for her, not quite as good as one with my family would have been though. His bloodline was apparently tainted with mental illness a few generations back. Narcissa's parents rejected Malfoy's father's letter of intent, leaving my family's bid for her hand at the top of the list. But, Malfoy was not completely dismissed, and was named as second in case the marriage contract with my family fell through. Needless to say, she dropped me as soon as the news of my family's destruction reached the school. The contract was rendered null and void. Oh, she pretended to mourn with me that day, but had already taken up with Malfoy by the next morning. That was the end of any sense of civility between Lucius and myself."
"Well, you're rid of them now."
"I wish I were that sure."
"Well, I've heard the rumors. Lucius was killed, Narcissa sent their son away to live with relatives on the continent, and she rarely leaves her home nowadays."
"You do know his body was never recovered and accounted for, don't you?"
"Well, maybe she had it brought home for burial? You said yourself that you saw him dying on the battlefield."
"Dying, not dead."
"But his injuries were lethal? Weren't they?"
"Probably, but who can say? There are ways to bring people back from the brink of death. Some actually lead to a fate worse than death. I wouldn't put it past Narcissa to have used dark magic to restore him, or at least to keep him just this side of death."
"So, you think he's out there? Not just Lucius, but You-Know-Who too?"
"I don't know. I would like to think that the battle ended the threat of Voldemort once and for all, but in the back of my mind, I know it isn't that simple. He survived near annihilation twice before. Why not again? Lately I've been having a feeling of foreboding. As if this new peace is merely the calm before the storm. Maybe it's just paranoia from my past working its way into my consciousness, but something feels wrong."
"Let's not talk about it anymore, you're creeping me out. We get to spend so little time together during the school term, I don't want to waste it on depressing conversation."
"What kind of conversation do you want to waste it on then?"
"What were you like in school? Were you a quidditch jock? A bookworm? A class clown? Or were you a dark and brooding loner?"
"Why does that even matter anymore? My time at Hogwarts was over twenty years ago, and has absolutely no bearing on my life today. The school experience is highly overrated if you ask me."
Mira chuckled, sat up, and pulled herself onto her knees beside him. She leaned in, kissed his cheek and whispered to him.
"It's okay, dark and brooding loner, calm down. I don't care who you were in school. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't all that popular at school either. And besides, you do know what happens to boys who were dark and brooding loners, don't you? They grow up to be the sexy dark bastards that our mothers warned us about."
He smirked and whispered back to her. "And did your mother warn you well?"
Mira laughed a wicked laugh and climbed onto his lap, facing him. "Apparently not well enough."
"Apparantly so."
She twined her fingers in his hair, and drew him closer for a kiss. "So, what time do you have to be back at the school tonight?"
He rested his hands on her hips, and reclined against the back of the sofa.
"It's Saturday night, the day before the end of term feast. Technically, I don't have any school obligations until tomorrow afternoon. I can stay longer if you like."
"I'd very much like."
Mira clasped her knees around his outer thighs and leaned back, stretching for the goblet of mead on the tea table behind her. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on her hips, pulling her closer against him. In one fluid movement, she pulled herself back up and took a long drink of the mead, settling back down on his lap. They kissed again, and he could taste the bittersweet flavor of the cocoa and honey wine on her lips. He ran his hands along her sides, following the curves of her waist, and skimming over her hips as he felt the warm soft flesh underneath the thin fabric of the robe.
Their lips parted, and he drew his wand from his tunic. He reached around her and performed a banishing spell on the tea table, sending it sliding across the floor. He then transfigured the Persian rug into a large fur throw. He gripped her tightly around the waist with his free arm, and lowered her to the ground.
She looked up at the professor, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her lips and handed him the goblet of wine.
"Fur, Severus? Aren't you quite the playboy."
"It reminds me of that robe you had on last week. The one with the fur trim."
"Aaah, the one you couldn't keep your hands off of."
"That exact one."
She stretched out across the black fur blanket and rolled from her side to her back, stretching like a giant cat in front of the fire. The professor drank the last of the wine, set the empty goblet on the tea table and lowered himself off of the sofa, onto his knees. Feeling the effects of the strong wine and the warmth of the fire, he distractedly unbuttoned his over-tunic and laid it across the arm of the sofa. He stretched out next to her, propping himself up on his elbow. With his free hand, he ran his fingers through her hair; gently untangling the curls and fanning it out in a halo around her head. Then he crawled above her, supporting himself on his hands and knees.
Mira reached up and untied the simple tie closures at the neck of his old fashioned linen shirt. He sat back on his heels and pulled the shirt off, tossing it onto the sofa. Mira pulled him down on top of her, and kissed him hungrily, drawing his bottom lip between her teeth. With a sigh, she broke the embrace and pushed him off of her, onto his back. She pulled herself up, and threw her left leg over him, straddling his hips.
"Well, well. It would appear that chocolate mead has a rather interesting effect on witches. It seems to have turned you into quite the little vixen."
She leaned over his chest and gave him a lingering kiss. He reached under the skirt of her robe, and ran his hands up the outsides of her thighs to her hips. His suspicions were confirmed; she had nothing on underneath the silken robe. Feeling his arousal, Mira pulled away, lightly dragging her fingernails down his chest and stomach as she sat back on his thighs. He gave a low deep groan and arched his hips against her.
She reached down and grabbed the hem of her robe, pulling it up and over her head, and tossed it across the room. Snape let his hands wander from her hips to just above her waist, and pulled her down against his chest. Mira slid down his body, stopping to unbuckle his belt and unbutton his trousers. She eased them off, and tossed them onto the sofa with the rest of his clothes. She slowly slid back up his body, grazing her breasts lightly over his skin, until she was eye to eye with him.
He reached around her back, one hand between her shoulders, the other one gripping her waist.
"Enough teasing."
With a growl of exertion, he flipped over, turning the tables on Mira. She found herself on her back against the fur throw, with the professor kneeling between her knees. He reached down and trailed his hands along her legs, his fingers catching on the belled anklets. He grabbed her ankle and bent her knee back and to the side, so that he could see what he had felt
"I wondered what I've heard jingling all evening."
He looked down at her with one eyebrow slightly raised and a wicked smirk on his lips.
"Now, where was I, before I was distracted by your exotic little ankle bracelets?"
He grabbed her other ankle, and bent her other knee back, exposing her completely. She inhaled sharply with anticipation and squirmed against the silky fur as he moved closer. Her breath caught in her throat as he entered her and started moving with the perfected rhythm of a long-term lover. She rested one of her ankles on his shoulder and wrapped the other leg tightly around his body, pulling him closer. Mira found her place in the rhythm and started moving along with him. Attuned to each other's bodies, they prolonged their lovemaking to the threshold of exhaustion before bringing each other to climax.
Afterwards, they silently rested in a loose embrace, catching their breath and basking in the afterglow. Snape noticed that Mira's breathing had become deep and steady. He looked down at her, and realized that she had drifted off to sleep with her head resting in the crook of his elbow. He gently shifted position, so that he could prop himself up on his side, without waking her. She sighed in her sleep and turned onto her back.
The professor reached over and gently brushed a stray lock of hair off of her face. He stroked her face with the palm of his hand, feeling a twinge in his heart over how beautiful and serene she looked in the glow of the firelight.
"Sometimes I wonder if you have any idea of just what you mean to me." He sighed. "I'm afraid I take you for granted much of the time, and I intend to change that."
He bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead, his hair falling forward and brushing against her cheek. She stirred lightly in her sleep and turned her head a little towards the fire. When she drifted back into deep sleep, he rested his cheek on the side of her forehead, and watched the rising and falling of her chest. He twined his top leg over hers and rested his free hand on her stomach, letting his mind wander.
Oh, there really is such a thing as chocolate mead. It's hard to come by, and takes at least a year to age before you can drink it, but it is absolutely divine. There are some who claim it's a powerful aphrodisiac, the combination of chocolate and alcohol. As chocolate is so important in the magical world, it would be natural for witches and wizards to be in on the chocolate mead thing as well.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it from the books or movies, it doesn't belong to me.
Chapter 39: Sanctuary from the Cold
The professor helped Mira into her winter cloak, and they left for the tailor shop, huddled close to each other against the wind and snow.
"Merlin's beard, Mirabelle! I really wish you would learn how to apparate."
"Sorry, maybe you can help me find a tutor so I can brush up where I'm lacking in magical skills?"
"It certainly wouldn't be a bad thing for you to further your magical education. I'll find you somebody to study with during the holidays."
Mira gave his arm a squeeze and smiled. She tucked the hood of her cloak up under her chin, and they stepped up the pace, to get in out of the cold as quickly as possible. Inside the shop, Snape followed Mira up the stairs to her little apartment. To chase away the cold, she took out her wand and lit a fire in the tiny fireplace located in her small sitting and dining room. Like the rest of the apartment, it wasn't very spacious nor was it very luxurious. Just enough room for a cozy little sofa and tea table in front of the fireplace, an easy chair and bookshelf by the window, and a small dining table and pair of chairs against the back wall. Directly behind the sitting room was a little step in kitchen. She took his cloak and her own, shook them out, and hung them on wall pegs near the fireplace to dry. Underneath the cloak pegs was a little rack next to the hearth, where they set their shoes and socks to dry from the slushy ice in the streets.
Snape sat on the sofa, basking in the warmth of the fire while Mira went to her bedroom and changed from her work robe into a silk lounging robe. She returned to the sitting room and leaned over the back of the sofa.
"Would you like a drink? I can make tea, or something stronger if you wish."
"What kind of something stronger?"
Mira went to the kitchen, opened a small cabinet, and shuffled through a small selection of bottles.
"Brandy, Elderflower wine, and a bottle of something Jules and Maggie sent over for a Christmas gift, chocolate mead."
"Chocolate mead? That sounds interesting."
"Then chocolate mead it shall be."
Mira took a glass goblet out of the cabinet, poured a generous amount of the coffee colored liquid into it, and carried it into the sitting room.
She handed the professor his glass of mead, flopped down next to him and leaned back across his lap, resting her head on the arm of the sofa. He took a sip of the drink, and nodded appreciatively.
"Very good. Not at all what I expected."
"I thought it was nice too."
Mira turned onto her side, so that she was facing him, and watched him stare pensively at the fire.
"Tell me. What was it like when you were in school? You said you never fancied any of your teachers, but did you have a girlfriend?"
"Yes, I had one. From fourth year until my family was killed."
"What was she like?"
"Pretty, but very vain. Haughty, and aloof. Very much a social climber. Not very studious, no ambitions of higher education. By no means dim mind you, she was gifted with a flawlessly calculating mind. Mean and nasty to those she felt was beneath her or who had displeased her, which was virtually all who crossed her path. Essentially, she was a well born young witch sent to school to bide time until she was married off to a well born young wizard to complete an alliance between families."
"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that she was one of those arranged pairing kind of things?"
Snape took a long drink of the mead, and reached across Mira, setting the goblet down on the tea table.
"Why? Does that shock you? You've seen the home I lived in as a child; you heard the story of my family's ambition. Until the aurors attacked the Death Eaters at my home, I was destined to marry her after graduation."
"But, your family was killed, your home was destroyed, so you were no longer a prime catch to a social climber, right?"
"Precisely."
"Wow, I'm sorry you got dumped like that, but I'm glad you weren't saddled with her, she sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant woman."
"I'm glad too. I never loved her. I barely tolerated her. Granted she was pretty, in an aristocratic sort of way; and cunning enough to manipulate me into considering myself lucky for being promised to her."
"She sounds like a complete bitch."
"You should know, you've dealt with her in the tailor shop. Narcissa Malfoy. Back then, she was Narcissa Bryce-Prescott."
"No way! You were gonna be forced to marry Narcissa?"
"Not forced. I could have rejected her. I would have been disowned, but I could have rejected her."
"Would you have?"
"Probably not. But the issue was resolved for me by fate."
"So, she dumped you and took up with Malfoy?"
"Lucius was my friend. Not a best friend by any means. In Slytherin house, you rarely bring anybody that close to your circle of trust. But he was as good of a friend as any could have been. He was a good match for her, not quite as good as one with my family would have been though. His bloodline was apparently tainted with mental illness a few generations back. Narcissa's parents rejected Malfoy's father's letter of intent, leaving my family's bid for her hand at the top of the list. But, Malfoy was not completely dismissed, and was named as second in case the marriage contract with my family fell through. Needless to say, she dropped me as soon as the news of my family's destruction reached the school. The contract was rendered null and void. Oh, she pretended to mourn with me that day, but had already taken up with Malfoy by the next morning. That was the end of any sense of civility between Lucius and myself."
"Well, you're rid of them now."
"I wish I were that sure."
"Well, I've heard the rumors. Lucius was killed, Narcissa sent their son away to live with relatives on the continent, and she rarely leaves her home nowadays."
"You do know his body was never recovered and accounted for, don't you?"
"Well, maybe she had it brought home for burial? You said yourself that you saw him dying on the battlefield."
"Dying, not dead."
"But his injuries were lethal? Weren't they?"
"Probably, but who can say? There are ways to bring people back from the brink of death. Some actually lead to a fate worse than death. I wouldn't put it past Narcissa to have used dark magic to restore him, or at least to keep him just this side of death."
"So, you think he's out there? Not just Lucius, but You-Know-Who too?"
"I don't know. I would like to think that the battle ended the threat of Voldemort once and for all, but in the back of my mind, I know it isn't that simple. He survived near annihilation twice before. Why not again? Lately I've been having a feeling of foreboding. As if this new peace is merely the calm before the storm. Maybe it's just paranoia from my past working its way into my consciousness, but something feels wrong."
"Let's not talk about it anymore, you're creeping me out. We get to spend so little time together during the school term, I don't want to waste it on depressing conversation."
"What kind of conversation do you want to waste it on then?"
"What were you like in school? Were you a quidditch jock? A bookworm? A class clown? Or were you a dark and brooding loner?"
"Why does that even matter anymore? My time at Hogwarts was over twenty years ago, and has absolutely no bearing on my life today. The school experience is highly overrated if you ask me."
Mira chuckled, sat up, and pulled herself onto her knees beside him. She leaned in, kissed his cheek and whispered to him.
"It's okay, dark and brooding loner, calm down. I don't care who you were in school. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't all that popular at school either. And besides, you do know what happens to boys who were dark and brooding loners, don't you? They grow up to be the sexy dark bastards that our mothers warned us about."
He smirked and whispered back to her. "And did your mother warn you well?"
Mira laughed a wicked laugh and climbed onto his lap, facing him. "Apparently not well enough."
"Apparantly so."
She twined her fingers in his hair, and drew him closer for a kiss. "So, what time do you have to be back at the school tonight?"
He rested his hands on her hips, and reclined against the back of the sofa.
"It's Saturday night, the day before the end of term feast. Technically, I don't have any school obligations until tomorrow afternoon. I can stay longer if you like."
"I'd very much like."
Mira clasped her knees around his outer thighs and leaned back, stretching for the goblet of mead on the tea table behind her. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on her hips, pulling her closer against him. In one fluid movement, she pulled herself back up and took a long drink of the mead, settling back down on his lap. They kissed again, and he could taste the bittersweet flavor of the cocoa and honey wine on her lips. He ran his hands along her sides, following the curves of her waist, and skimming over her hips as he felt the warm soft flesh underneath the thin fabric of the robe.
Their lips parted, and he drew his wand from his tunic. He reached around her and performed a banishing spell on the tea table, sending it sliding across the floor. He then transfigured the Persian rug into a large fur throw. He gripped her tightly around the waist with his free arm, and lowered her to the ground.
She looked up at the professor, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her lips and handed him the goblet of wine.
"Fur, Severus? Aren't you quite the playboy."
"It reminds me of that robe you had on last week. The one with the fur trim."
"Aaah, the one you couldn't keep your hands off of."
"That exact one."
She stretched out across the black fur blanket and rolled from her side to her back, stretching like a giant cat in front of the fire. The professor drank the last of the wine, set the empty goblet on the tea table and lowered himself off of the sofa, onto his knees. Feeling the effects of the strong wine and the warmth of the fire, he distractedly unbuttoned his over-tunic and laid it across the arm of the sofa. He stretched out next to her, propping himself up on his elbow. With his free hand, he ran his fingers through her hair; gently untangling the curls and fanning it out in a halo around her head. Then he crawled above her, supporting himself on his hands and knees.
Mira reached up and untied the simple tie closures at the neck of his old fashioned linen shirt. He sat back on his heels and pulled the shirt off, tossing it onto the sofa. Mira pulled him down on top of her, and kissed him hungrily, drawing his bottom lip between her teeth. With a sigh, she broke the embrace and pushed him off of her, onto his back. She pulled herself up, and threw her left leg over him, straddling his hips.
"Well, well. It would appear that chocolate mead has a rather interesting effect on witches. It seems to have turned you into quite the little vixen."
She leaned over his chest and gave him a lingering kiss. He reached under the skirt of her robe, and ran his hands up the outsides of her thighs to her hips. His suspicions were confirmed; she had nothing on underneath the silken robe. Feeling his arousal, Mira pulled away, lightly dragging her fingernails down his chest and stomach as she sat back on his thighs. He gave a low deep groan and arched his hips against her.
She reached down and grabbed the hem of her robe, pulling it up and over her head, and tossed it across the room. Snape let his hands wander from her hips to just above her waist, and pulled her down against his chest. Mira slid down his body, stopping to unbuckle his belt and unbutton his trousers. She eased them off, and tossed them onto the sofa with the rest of his clothes. She slowly slid back up his body, grazing her breasts lightly over his skin, until she was eye to eye with him.
He reached around her back, one hand between her shoulders, the other one gripping her waist.
"Enough teasing."
With a growl of exertion, he flipped over, turning the tables on Mira. She found herself on her back against the fur throw, with the professor kneeling between her knees. He reached down and trailed his hands along her legs, his fingers catching on the belled anklets. He grabbed her ankle and bent her knee back and to the side, so that he could see what he had felt
"I wondered what I've heard jingling all evening."
He looked down at her with one eyebrow slightly raised and a wicked smirk on his lips.
"Now, where was I, before I was distracted by your exotic little ankle bracelets?"
He grabbed her other ankle, and bent her other knee back, exposing her completely. She inhaled sharply with anticipation and squirmed against the silky fur as he moved closer. Her breath caught in her throat as he entered her and started moving with the perfected rhythm of a long-term lover. She rested one of her ankles on his shoulder and wrapped the other leg tightly around his body, pulling him closer. Mira found her place in the rhythm and started moving along with him. Attuned to each other's bodies, they prolonged their lovemaking to the threshold of exhaustion before bringing each other to climax.
Afterwards, they silently rested in a loose embrace, catching their breath and basking in the afterglow. Snape noticed that Mira's breathing had become deep and steady. He looked down at her, and realized that she had drifted off to sleep with her head resting in the crook of his elbow. He gently shifted position, so that he could prop himself up on his side, without waking her. She sighed in her sleep and turned onto her back.
The professor reached over and gently brushed a stray lock of hair off of her face. He stroked her face with the palm of his hand, feeling a twinge in his heart over how beautiful and serene she looked in the glow of the firelight.
"Sometimes I wonder if you have any idea of just what you mean to me." He sighed. "I'm afraid I take you for granted much of the time, and I intend to change that."
He bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead, his hair falling forward and brushing against her cheek. She stirred lightly in her sleep and turned her head a little towards the fire. When she drifted back into deep sleep, he rested his cheek on the side of her forehead, and watched the rising and falling of her chest. He twined his top leg over hers and rested his free hand on her stomach, letting his mind wander.