AN:This chapter contains situations unsuitable for younger readers. If you are underage or dislike not so graphic sexual situations, please skip over the bottom of the chapter.

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Around three in the morning, after a couple hours of light, fitful sleep, Bridget started having vivid nightmares. Most were horrors Remus was likely being subjected to. Others were of the muggles fighting with, beating, them. The one, though, that was really bad was a what if nightmare. What if they had seen her transfigure? What if she was in her hands? What horrors would they do to her? What if... What if muggles sold her to Voldemort, who hated her father?

Severus heard her, waking him from his own sleep. He got up from the couch and made his way in to check on her. She was thrashing on his bed, the top half of her body uncovered. He could see blood running from the wound on her shoulder. He walked over and gently shook her. "Bridget, wake up." She could hear him, but he sounded so far away. Her hand reached out for the voice. He took her hand and held her still. "You must come back to me." He did not realize what he said.

She gripped his hand and struggled through the haze. Finally, she blinked her eyes open. "S... Sev... Severus?"

"Yes." He let go of her hand. "I'll be right back." He left her side and disappeared into the other room. He went to his personal stash of healing potions and picked up a salve he kept for use after Death Eater meetings. He returned to her and gently rubbed the salve on her shoulder. The wound healed much more than it had been. The area was no longer tender.

He moved to cover her up as she sat up. She pulled the sheet around her and gave him a sad smile. "I don't want to sleep again right now."

He sat down next to her. "What do you want to do?"

She shook her head. She was not sure what she could do. "Find him, end my speculation. But, right now we can't do that."

"You are right, we can't." He hesitated a moment. "I can... I have a potion that will..." He hesitated again, uncertain how she would take his offer and unsure why he cared how she took it.

Bridget watched him. Hesitation was not a trait she was use to when it came to Severus Snape. "Will?" She coaxed.

"Take the nightmares away so you can sleep," he finished. He did not know why he suddenly felt... self-conscious, worried. He wanted her to want, trust him and his work.

She looked at him, uncertain. She knew the potion would work. Yet, she did not want to sleep. She wanted to talk, with him. However, he seemed to not want that. "Alright."

Seeing her own hesitation before her answer, he took a rare moment to kick himself for his reputation. "If you don't want it, that's alright. We can sit for a while."

Where was the Severus she had fought with? Where did this new one come from? She smirked at him, trying to change the mood. "Any side effects I should know about?"

"Well," looked and sound serious, "the beard will fall out in a few days."

She blinked at him, looking appalled. He just raised a brow and watched, waiting. "Beard?" Her voice was higher pitched than normal.

"Yes," still stone-faced and serious sounding, "and the chest hair, too."

"Chest hair?" Her eyes widened. "I think I'll pass."

"I'm sure that Lupin will find it extremely attractive."

She frowned, rubbing her stomach as it growled. "He may. What does that matter?"

He raised his eyebrow again. "You mean you don't know?" He pulled out his wand and summoned a plate of sandwiches and a glass of milk for her. He thought she and Lupin were an item. They seemed awfully close. He had to get himself out of the blunder he just made.

"Don't know what?" She frowned further. She took a sandwich and the milk, nodding to him in thanks.

"The boy has a crush on you, may even think he's in love with you." Granted, Remus was no boy to him by age. They were the same age. Still, in intellect, most everyone was a child to Severus.

She looked at him in shear shock. "Remus?" Her voice was filled with her shock.

"No, his mother," Severus dead panned. Why was it hard to believe Remus liked her, as Severus assumed he did?

"Why would he? I mean..." She looked at him still stunned.

"Perhaps it's your personality." He admitted, her wit and knowledge was an attractive quality, the fact that she kept him on his toes. "Or, the fact that you are not unpleasant to look upon." She blushed lightly and looked down at the thin sheet wrapped around her nude body. Nothing much was left to the imagination. "I have seen you fully nude in the infirmary. Why blush now?" Of course, she only got redder when he said that.

"My personality?" She went back to their conversation, trying to ignore the way him looking at her made her feel after what he said. "I thought you disliked my personality."

"Not really. As I have made quite clear, I would like the defense against the dark arts position. With my background, I believe I may be the best equipped to teach it."

She gave him a warm smile, picking up another sandwich and eating it. "And, as I told you the first day we met, you are even better equipped to teach potions." Her smile became fond. "You are the best at it." She touched her shoulder.

"I am aware of that," he answered matter-of-factly.

She laughed merrily. "Always the smug one."

"Let me see your wound." Though he was not conscious to the fact, yet, he merely wished to touch her again.

She uncovered her shoulder. "That one doesn't bother me now. You have a true gift."

He gently touched her wound, letting his fingers linger a little longer than necessary. "Are there anymore?" She pulled the sheet free of her upper half, exposing a long gash on her right ribs. Her arm rested over the area so he had not seen it before. He gently rubbed salve on the gash, his hand gently brushing the underside of her breast by accident. She could feel heat pooling in her at the small touch. She looked at him in awe for a moment before attempting to mask her feelings. To late for he had caught the look. He pulled the rest of the sheet away. "Roll over," he told her with a very soft voice after making certain he had found all wounds on her front.

Bridget rolled over without a word. Severus gently rubbed the salve into a gash going from the top of her butt up her lower back, after warming the salve between his hands. He started at the top, working his way down to her bottom. Mind reeling from the sensations, she tensed slightly. He looked up at her reaction. "Is there a deeper injury?"

"N...no," she answered in a soft whisper. Her body was growing hotter and hotter. He finished rubbing the salve in then looked her over further. He lifted her hair to check the back of her neck and her scalp. Then, he looked over her arms and legs. He found a small cut on the back of on knee. He put the salve on it as well. She panted softly, not realizing she was. "I'll be right back. Don't move. I have something that will take care of that bruise."

"Bruise?" She looked over her shoulder. She could not see any bruise.

"Yes, bruise." He left the room again for the other salve.

She watched him leave and walk back in. "Where is..." Her words were cut off as he again started rubbing salve on her bottom. She gasped, the gasp ending in a moan. He was surprised by the reaction. He continued to rub the salve into her skin very gently. She arched toward his hand slightly, wanting to feel more. He watched as she arched again, higher this time. She whimpered.

Before he realized what he was doing, he bent forward and lightly kissed the spot. His lips lingered a moment as she moaned again. Encouraged, and not sure how he ended up doing what he was, he kissed the area a few more times. Then, he started working his way up her back. Even with a human sense of smell, he could smell that she was aroused.

Each kiss was as light as the first. She whimpered beneath him. Her body tingled, waiting for the next touch of his lips. Once all the way up her back, he pushed her hair out of the way and kissed her neck then her ear. He did not let his hands touch anything but her hair. "Roll over," he whispered in her ear as he kissed it again.

Slowly, she did as bid. She looked up at him with bright, lustful eyes. He kissed his way down her neck, not once kissing her lips. He made his way to her breasts, taking each nipple into his mouth to suck on, it, and nip lightly. She arched up toward his mouth. Her breathing heavy panting. She cried out softly in pleasure. He continued down over her abdomen stopping as he reached her curls. She whimpered, hands finding their way to his hair, feeling the silk strands.

Finally, he started to pleasure her. He still did not touch her with his hands. She arched into him, begging him with soft words to finish her off. He licked at her, sucking in all the right places. He coaxed her to climax. She called out to him as her body tightened. She panted as her body and mind came down from the climax. Her mind was full of shock. She looked at him. Her eyes were still bright and full of lust.

"You should rest before your first class." He moved up to lie besides her, not touching her. She gave him a confused look wondering why he did not want pleasure himself. "Rest now." He kissed her on the lips, deeply. He tried to get his point across, all could wait. They had time but she needed to rest. She kissed back then rolled onto her side to sleep. After a moment he pulled her into his arms, holding her as close as he could. Both of them falling into a content yet confused sleep.