sweet as lemonz: true enough about Snape. As for Draco, Adrian isn't nearly as lenient as her grandfather.
WARNING: RATING HAS INCREASED
Chapter 19: Easter
Easter brake, as short as it was, was marked by most of the students leaving for home leaving the castle once again almost empty. I busied myself marking all the papers for the younger years that I'd had due before the break and I was determined to get them done as quickly as possible so that I too could enjoy the break at least a little.
On the second day of break just after lunch Harry came into my office. "Um, Professor, I was wondering if you'd come down to the room of requirement and help with the DA lesson. We're doing duelling today, we figured it would be safest when there's not too many people in the castle, but we thought it would be better if we had a Professor there just in case anything happened."
He said all of this extremely fast and it took me a moment to process his request. Glancing at the pile of essays left to mark and then back at Harry I said, "Well it sure beats anything I have to do."
I was just on my way to the door when a jet-black owl started rapping on the window behind me. Waking over I opened the window and the owl flew in and landed on my desk before extending its leg so I could take the letter it was carrying. Unrolling it I immediately recognised Severus' writing. Adrian, it read, meet me in my rooms after all the dunderheads are in their dormitories.
I smiled as I folded the letter and placed it in my pocket. The owl was hopping around on my desk trying to get at the drawer where I kept the owl treats.
"He spoils you," I told it as I fed it a pair of treats. Gobbling down the treats it hooted before flying back out the window.
I closed the window before turning back to Harry who had a look on his face that said 'I think I know who that was from' but to his credit didn't say anything about it.
- - - - -
That night just after ten o'clock when all of the students should have been in their dormitories I headed down to the dungeons. Pausing outside the entrance to Severus' rooms I listened for a moment before whirling around and reaching out into seemingly thin air and pulling Harry's invisibility cloak off him.
"You'd better have a pretty good explanation for this."
"You're meeting Snape, aren't you?"
I sighed, "I fail to see why that matters."
"You said that you'd just dated him as students but it meant nothing now which meant that he had to have hurt you sometime. So why are you back with him now when he could just hurt you again?"
I stared at Harry in shock as I realised he'd followed me for the sake of protecting me. "Harry, if Ron or Hermione were to do something terrible and then come back and sincerely ask for your forgiveness would you give it to them."
He looked troubled before saying, "I guess so."
"This is the same thing. And I know you and Severus don't like one another but you're going to have to trust my judgement, alright?"
He nodded slowly and I handed him back his cloak.
"Now, head back to Gryffindor tower and enjoy tonight with your friends."
I waited until he had disappeared around the corner before letting myself in to Severus' rooms.
He stood up as I walked in. "You did get my message, I was beginning to wonder."
I decided not to mention my encounter with Harry, as it would only irritate him. "Sorry, I got held up."
Gesturing for me to sit down he moved off to get something only to return with a bottle of wine and a pair of glasses.
"You know that the students would probably die of shock if they saw you doing this," I commented thinking of Harry.
He smirked handing me a glass. "Quite possibly."
Taking the glass from him I leaned over to brush a soft kiss on his lips only to be rewarded with one of his rare smiles.
Lifting up his right hand he brushed my hair back off my face stroking my cheek with his thumb. I reached out to touch his left arm only to have him jerk it away and I remembered that was the arm he had the Dark Mark on.
"Sev, it doesn't matter," I said softly.
"It was a mistake, I never should have done it."
"It doesn't matter," I repeated.
Putting my glass down I took his arm and pushed up his sleeve so I could see the Dark Mark. I felt him shiver slightly as I ran my thumb gently over it. This was the first time I had actually looked closely at one and I had to grudgingly admire the ingenuity behind its creation even if it was a frightening use of dark magic that bound two people together as master and servant. The mark was a good representation of Voldemort; evil, but brilliant.
I looked up at him to see the firelight flickering across his uncertain expression and leaned over to kiss him. "It doesn't matter, you're still perfect to me."
Pulling me closer to him he kissed me and I tangled my hand in his hair, which isn't half as greasy as it looks. Wine forgotten I took my lips off of his and started trailing kisses across his jaw and down his neck until my lips came into contact with the collar of his shirt. Slowly I started undoing his shirt trailing kisses across the exposed skin listening to his low moans.
Leaning up to kiss him on the lips again I felt him suddenly pick me up.
"If we're going to do this," he whispered huskily in my ear, "We're going to do this properly."
Then he lay me down on his bed and set to work removing my robes in the most teasing manner possible, I'd forgotten how good this man was with his hands.
I got his shirt off and felt him kick off his pants and boxers leaving us both very naked.
"I love you," he murmured in my ear then he enters me and I held tightly to him sinking my teeth into his shoulder.
Afterwards I lay in his arms listening to his heartbeat as he stokes my hair.
"I love you too."