The Opening Act:

How in Merlin's name did this happen?

Is my life spiraling out of control?

Do I really care?

Maybe this is a dream.

A really, really good dream.

All of these thoughts spun through Hermione's mind as Professor Snape (Severus? Dare I think of him as Severus?) led her to the huge fourposter bed by the hand like he was escorting royalty and there was nothing abnormal about the fact that his ENTIRE mouthwatering body was on display.

He guided her to climb onto the bed covered in a sumptuous Slytherin green quilt before leaving her with a lingering kiss to the top of her hand and a heated look from his deep black eyes that made her catch her breath yet again for what had to be the hundredth time in the last half hour. Dream or not, insanity or not, I am going to enjoy this moment to the absolute fullest.

And gawk at that incredibly fine ass as much as I can get away with without being too blatant about it, she added with a secret grin as he turned away from her and held out his hand to Ginny, who was chewing on her lip and looking undecided all of a sudden.

"Come, Miss Weasley… Ginny… The invitation was for both of you, unless you've changed your mind already?"

God, that voice! I just want him to speak to me forever. Hermione shifted restlessly on her knees on the bed, hoping to alleviate some of the ache in her core. (It didn't work.)

Ginny gnawed on her lower lip for another moment. "Well, no, not really. It's just that… You two seem so… into each other. I don't want to feel like an intruder on your moment."

She has a point. Snape… Severus?... and I do seem to be connecting… or something. She looked at the man in question, who turned his head back over his shoulder with a raised brow, clearly leaving the decision up to her again, and nearly got lost in his eyes, emphasizing her thought. But I don't know if I have the courage to be here all by myself with him. He's gorgeous and sexy and appears to be in a shockingly good mood for once in his life, but he's still intimidating as hell. Decided, Hermione forced herself to stop gazing at the mesmerizing man and caught Ginny's eye. "Stay, please. I want you here." I don't think I can do this by myself, she conveyed as best as she could with her eyes, not quite willing to say it aloud in front of Snape and admit to being a bit chicken.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when Ginny's expression cleared and she smiled. "All right."

Ginny stepped forward and took the offered hand of their just turned ex professor, blushing softly as she met his eyes. "Such a gentleman."

He smirked as he raised Ginny's hand to his mouth and kissed the top, letting his mouth linger for a moment that was slightly shorter than the one he'd given Hermione, but not rudely so. "When I want to be," he murmured in a husky reply, obsidian eyes twinkling as he glanced between the two girls. And then he helped Ginny up onto the bed as well.

Merlin. Hot. So hot. Hermione was feeling a sudden urge to fan herself and toss off all of her clothes all at once.

Ginny glanced at Hermione as she was settling into a kneel as well, her eyes wide, and mouthed 'Wow.'

Yep.

They watched with wide eyes, and spinning around as necessary, as the man Hermione had always assumed to be rather shy or ashamed of his appearance because of how he kept himself so covered up all the time lazily crawled onto the bed as well and then reclined on top of the covers, head on a pillow, and then laced his fingers together behind his head. His smirk was still firmly in place as he drawled, "As I would never presume in regards to what you are comfortable with doing, how about you two take over the show for a bit? I am at your disposal to do with as you wish."

The girls exchanged excited glances. Christmas! Or maybe even better than Christmas! I get to do whatever I want to Professor Snape! Hermione swept her gaze over his long, lean, but oh so deliciously muscled body. Merlin, where to start? It all looks good. Even his feet are elegant.

Ginny was the first to move, tossing off her robe and flinging it to the floor. "I don't know 'bout you, Mione, but I'm roasting."

Hermione copied her. "Agreed. Someone finally turned up the heat in the dungeons," she said with a teasing flick of her eyes at the naked man in the bed.

Severus' mouth twitched further upwards, but he said nothing.

Hermione didn't consciously realize it, but he was practicing being as unintimidating as possible. Unconsciously, though, Severus was sure she had, because she'd relaxed instantly when he'd done nothing more than lie down on the bed and invite them to take the lead.

It was possibly the first time in his adult life that he'd ever actually practiced being the opposite of intimidating, though. He had to be intimidating to his students to make them respect him, his classroom, and the volatile ingredients they worked with. He'd had to be intimidating with his fellow teachers when he'd first starting teaching at only twenty-one years of age so they took him seriously, and he'd generally kept up the persona, now out of habit more than anything. And he most definitely had to be intimidating to survive as a Death Eater in Lord Voldemort's vicious court. And even more after he became a double agent, constantly having to prove himself in the most heinous ways that he'd really rather forget, but was cursed with reliving in his nightmares.

Fortunately, he also had some wondrous dreams to offset the nightmares.

And the star of said dreams was currently disrobing on his bed right in front of his VERY grateful eyes. (The hard as stone phallus that jutted up from his pelvis gave proof to that.)

Hermione kicked off her shoes, letting them hit the floor with a thump. Ginny copied her. Then her hands went to the bottom hem of her jumper and she pulled it up and over her head. Ginny copied her. Their scarlet and gold trimmed black jumpers went flying, joining the robes on the floor. The girls looked at each other, glanced at Snape, who looked enthralled, and then looked back at each other, silently daring the other to continue.

As one, they reached for their Gryffindor neckties, and with deft fingers, they loosened them and pulled them up and over their heads and long hair. Hermione looked at the loop of her tie and then over at the Professor; the veins in his arms now stood out in stark relief as he clenched his hands together to keep them where they were behind his head. She looked back at her tie as an idea formed, smiling wickedly. "Hey, Gin, is it just me or does the Professor look like he could use a little help keeping his hands still?"

Ginny twirled her tie around a finger as she pretended to think for a moment. "I do believe you're right, Mione. He IS looking rather tense."

Severus' brows rose up to near his hairline as he deciphered the girls' intentions. Before he could even voice a protest, it died in his throat as Hermione crawled around him on her hands and knees until she was on his far side. Merlin, how does she make a relatively shapeless white shirt and a generic black skirt look so incredibly sexy?

And any further protests he may have thought to speak completely abandoned him as she stopped by his head and traced a finger down the length of his forearm; it felt like sparks shot out of her finger and into his flesh. Hermione's breath caught as she looked at her fingers in surprise for a moment, but then she returned them to the skin of his arm and stroked him again. She bit her lower lip, eyes alight with mischief and an undertone of lust that did funny things to his insides. "Sir, you said we could do whatever we wanted with you… Did that include tying you up?"

Not exactly what I had in mind, to be perfectly honest, but it's YOU asking so… He heaved a longsuffering sigh and gazed up at the ceiling as if completely put upon. "I suppose you can tie…"

He didn't get to finish as the girls squealed (Merlin, I hope they don't do that regularly.) with delight and grabbed his wrists, tugging them from behind his head. I'm in trouble, he thought rather resignedly as he glanced from one maniacally giggling female to the other as they bent over his hands and looped their ties over his wrists. His arms were tugged up and to the sides towards the ornately carved posts at the head of the bed. Of course, they didn't reach; the bed was HUGE after all, so the girls whipped their wands out of their… Sweet Circe, Hermione keeps her wand in her stocking! That is so bloody hot! … and deftly lengthened the scarlet and gold striped ties so they could tie his hands to the posts while still giving him an inch or two of slack for comfort's sake.

Severus heaved another sigh when they were finished, just for show. But to be perfectly honest, he was actually even more turned on than before. If it was anyone other than Hermione doing the tying, he'd be putting up a hell of a fuss right now and probably cursing the person almost, but not quite, to their death. (His murdering days were over and hopefully never to be revisited.) But it was her, and he had this nearly uncontrollable urge to please her in whatever way she wanted. (It had made teaching her properly for the last year quite an exercise in self control, to say the least.)

And if that meant being tied, well, he'd survive. It's not like he couldn't get out of the binds in an instant if he was so inclined; his wand was only a few feet away at the end of the bed and easily called to his hand, tied or not. The dominant side of his personality was definitely grumbling, but Severus ignored it.

Now satisfied with her binding job, Hermione glanced over at Severus (she'd decided to throw caution to the wind and call him by his first name in her mind) and found him looking at her rather intensely, but she couldn't quite figure out what his expression actually conveyed. There was lust there, obviously (his blatant erection supported that without question), but there was something else in his midnight eyes that had her heart stuttering in her chest. She'd almost call it… devotion… but that just didn't make sense with his usually acerbic and standoffish personality, so she kind of refused to even contemplate it or hope for it.

Pushing aside her musings over Severus Snape's enigmatic looks, Hermione asked, "Is this all right… Sir?" She purred out the title of respect playfully as she traced her fingers over the open palm of his long fingered hand that made hers look tiny in comparison.

His fingers twitched in reaction, nearly closing over her hand before he remembered himself as he answered in his deep and husky baritone, "It's survivable, I suppose." This time, Hermione was sure the light in his eyes was of the teasing variety. She flashed a grin at him before ducking her head and planting a soft kiss in the palm of his hand.

His sucked in breath was all the encouragement she needed to continue her daring ways.

Hermione started an exploration of the muscles of his arm with her fingers and mouth, laying nibbling kisses on the soft flesh that covered hard steel. She made sure to pay extra attention to the blurred and burnt looking scar of his Dark Mark, just to reassure him that it didn't bother her; she had her own battle scars, after all. Glancing over, she saw Ginny performing a similar exploration of her own with his other arm, but he kept his head turned firmly towards Hermione, watching her with those unfathomable eyes again.

Catching her look, Ginny grinned across his body. "His arms are all kinds of fine, aren't they? I'd almost say he works out or something, but that just doesn't fit the image."

Hermione traced her fingers over the muscles of a bicep that had a line of scars on it made by what looked like werewolf claws. He didn't get muscles like this from pushing a quill around over parchment, that's for sure. She hummed in agreement to Ginny's statement even as more pleasurable tingles travelled up her arm from her fingers. She was starting to get used to the magical energy that seemed to radiate from his skin and into hers wherever she touched, but it certainly had startled her at first. It must have something to do with how powerful he is, all that magic flowing through his veins, just waiting to be released. What a turn on. Hermione's hand paused on his bicep as she flicked a raised brow at him. "Is Ginny right? Do you work out?"

Severus snorted in derision. "Hardly. Such pastimes are for the vain. But I do engage in an occasional bout of fencing with Lucius or Draco, and I enjoy swimming in the ocean in my free time."

Oooooo, sexy. Very much fits the image of an old-fashioned gentleman. I like it. Hermione kissed his shoulder in approval.

Ginny agreed. "That explains a lot. And I… Wait, did you say Draco? The Ferret fences? Like a gentleman?"

Severus rolled his head the other way and he frowned fiercely at Ginny. "I would appreciate if you didn't call my Godson names, Miss Weasley. And yes, he…"

Ginny's eyes went wide at the same time Hermione's did and the other girl interrupted their man candy. "MALFOY IS YOUR GODSON?!" Ginny all but screeched. "How did we not know this!?"

Severus huffed out an exasperated sigh. "Because you didn't need to know. And…"

"It explains a lot, though," Hermione interjected. "The favouritism, how you protect him, and so on."

Severus basically growled in his throat. "The next person who interrupts me is going to lose ten points from Gryffindor."

The girls snapped their mouths shut.

Severus glanced from one to the other. Finally. Perhaps it is past time to put some misconceptions to rights. "Now, as I was saying; yes, Draco is my Godson. And yes I know I've shown him a bit of favouritism in the past. And yes, he knows how to fence like a gentleman. And ride and drive horses. And fly a broom with the best of them. Not to mention manage the estate and family businesses, which he did with only a modicum of assistance from Narcissa while still attending school, and under great pressure from the Dark Lord, while his father was in Azkaban. I realize he's been more than a bit of a prat and a bully, mostly as a product of his biased upbringing, but he's working on getting past that. Even Lucius has come to see that pure-blood fanaticism is simply not a viable course of action."

He paused to take a deep breath and calm himself back down, closing his eyes for a moment. "I suppose what I'm saying is that it wouldn't hurt either of you to at least try and be civil to the boy. He doesn't deserve your scorn. You've obviously demonstrated the ability to look beyond my past as a Death Eater, why can't you do the same with him? He didn't even have a choice about it, and I did." Severus huffed softly. "I did, and how I regret it now." After all that, he kind of deflated, relaxing the tension in his muscles as he looked from one girl to the other to see their reactions.

They were speechless with nearly identical expressions of slack jaws and wide, blinking eyes. Severus found that satisfactory. He focused on Ginny's eyes, curious to know if his words had any impact, for Draco's sake.

Oh.

Oh!

OH!

Now I feel like a right bitch. I don't think I've ever been nice to him. Not once in seven years. Not that he ever showed me that he deserved it. But still, would it have killed me to be the nicer person just once? Maybe… Maybe I won't snub him the next time he walks by. I suppose I could even smile a bit. That couldn't hurt anything, could it?

Severus turned his face away, pulling out of Ginny's mind. Well, I guess that's a start. Draco's going to have to do the rest if he wants a chance with her.

"Professor," Ginny said softly, stroking his arm gently as she stared at it. "I'm sorry. I didn't know any of that, but that's no excuse. You're right about us; we have all treated Draco like rubbish, more so this last year than ever. I can't speak for anyone else, but I promise I'll do better."

"As will I," Hermione said from his other side, also stroking his arm apologetically.

Then the girls sat quietly, thoughts turned inwards, petting his arms pretty much unconsciously.

Severus gave them maybe half a minute to stew before he drawled, "This is lovely and all, but if you two are no longer in the mood, I'd appreciate if you would untie me."

Hermione snapped her head up as she realized that things had definitely gotten off track. She shook it quickly after double checking Ginny's expression. "Oh, no, Sir. We're just getting started. I've dreamt of having you at my mercy for years; there's no way I'm letting you go already." She paused, blushing. "Ummmm, perhaps not always in quite such a… revealing… scenario." She swept her eyes down and back up his body appreciatively, deliberately lingering in the middle both times. "But my fantasies may have strayed in this direction of late," she admitted.

Ginny laughed as Severus squirmed slightly at Hermione's words and his cock twitched visibly. "Oh, methinks the good Professor is enjoying this a little too much," Ginny said with a wicked gleam in her dark amber eyes as she tickled his armpit hair naughtily. "But I do like the idea of having him tied and helpless, so I think continuing our explorations is just the thing. But first, I think we're still a little too overdressed, don't you, Mione?"

Hermione glanced down at herself in mock amazement at how much clothing she was still wearing. "You're right, Gin. It certainly isn't fair that we haven't given our handsome Professor the same show that he gave us. You would like to see more, wouldn't you, Sir?" Hermione said, fingers already on the top button of her white shirt and playing with it teasingly.

Severus inhaled through his nose audibly. And if his eyes had been any other colour, they would have seen his pupils expanding. "Oh, yes, My Own, I most definitely would like to see more." I've waited what feels like forever to see more.

Hermione started unbuttoning almost out of necessity, because his voice was once again working its magic on her body temperature. And the way he calls me 'My Own'... My god, that just makes me melt.

On the other side of Severus, Ginny was already shrugging out of her shirt. She didn't seem to care that Severus only had his eyes on Hermione. Perhaps she'd already resigned herself to being the supportive third wheel that hopefully got an orgasm or two out of the deal. And considering neither of the girls had gone on a date for months, an orgasm that wasn't self induced would be worth whatever lack of attention she had to bear with. Hermione felt kind of bad for her, but at the same time, she still wasn't quite willing to send her away. That might even be cruel at this point anyway.

Hermione quickly caught up to her, leaving her in just her red lace bra on her upper half. And then her hands were on the fastenings of her simple black pleated skirt and it was whisked off her legs and tossed to the floor as well.

Severus thought he might have forgotten to breathe as soon as the shirt came off of Hermione because he couldn't quite seem to catch his breath. She was slender without being skinny, and her torso seemed like an acre of creamy smooth skin that begged to be adored by his lips and tongue. If he wasn't tied up, he probably would have his hands on her already. Her matching red underwear set was the perfect frame for her assets and complimented her golden skin tone in a mouthwatering way.

He was dying to get his hands and mouth on the luscious globes of her breasts that were half exposed by her bra, and the curve of her hips out from her narrow waist just begged for attention. "Merlin, My Own, you are exquisite," he all but gasped out through a throat tight with emotion.

Hermione felt her cheeks flush with pleased heat. Flustered at the compliment from the world's most uncomplimenting man, she tugged on one of her many curls "Thank you, Sir."

"Severus, My Own. Please call me Severus. I don't want to be your 'Sir' anymore," he all but begged, eyes once again locked on hers.

Hermione's cheeks heated further. She looked over at Ginny and they exchanged looks of amazement.

'Holy Merlin!' Ginny mouthed clearly, fanning herself with her hand.

No kidding!

Hermione looked back at his hopeful and waiting expression. "All right… Severus." The smile he gifted her with practically stopped her heart, it was so relieved and exuberant. I honestly didn't know he could smile like that. And… did he get his teeth fixed? I don't remember them being quite so white and even before. Not that he ever smiled enough to show his teeth much, but still…

Shaking off the random sidetrack of a thought, she ran a finger over the elastic band of her thigh high stocking. "Would you like these off or on… Severus?" She asked because she'd heard that some men preferred the stockings on, liking the look of them, and she wanted to please this man as much as she could in return for the gift of his name and his beautiful smile.

The dark eyed man flicked his gaze downwards and focused on her stockings for a moment before looking back up at her face. "Off, please. I want to see as much of you as you are comfortable showing me."

Hermione was pleased with his answer and moved to roll the stretchy black material off her leg. I think you'll be seeing ALL of me in no time at all at this rate.

She glanced up when Ginny said, "I think I'll leave mine on. I have a feeling I'm not going to be staying as long as you are, Mione."

"Ginny…"

"She's not wrong," Severus said softly, still looking at Hermione.

Hermione sighed, knowing he was right. She returned to her task of removing her stockings.

Severus turned his head over and, for the first time, gave the girl clad in only royal blue underwear and black stockings an appreciative once over. "Not that you're not absolutely stunning as well, Ginny, and I would like to make you feel good in thanks for being here for your friend, but you are right to assume that I will probably give most of my attention to Hermione and that I will endeavor to keep her with me for as long as possible this afternoon."

Ginny leaned over and kissed his cheek, letting her soft lips linger on his somewhat rougher skin. "It's okay, Sir. I understand. And I wish you both every happiness," she whispered against his cheek. "You really are perfect for each other, you know," she said, smiling and sitting back up. "There aren't two more swottier know-it-alls in the entire Wizarding population, I'm sure."

Severus chuckled and Hermione tossed a rolled up stocking at her friend. "Thanks, Gin."

Ginny tossed it back with twice as much force, smirking. "You're welcome, MY OWN."

"Shush." Hermione rolled her eyes at the red headed girl. "I like it."

Ginny rolled her eyes right back. "You would."

"I'm glad, truly, that you like my endearment for you, Hermione," Severus interjected with utmost sincerity. But then he changed his tone and expression. "But you two are getting off track again and I'm STILL tied up, thank you very much. If this was how you focused on your studies, you'd both be T level students." He was teasing, but since he did it with his best annoyed teacher tone, he doubted they'd pick up on it.

Hermione raised an indignant brow, putting her hands on her hips as she knelt on the bed beside him.. "Troll level?! Really? Surely what we've managed so far is worth an Acceptable or Poor at the very least!"

Severus somehow maintained his stern expression even though all he wanted to do was laugh. She is so predictable. He raised an imperious brow in return. "Perhaps… if you're extra diligent from now on, I might be convinced to raise your grade to an A."

Hermione huffed, giving him a fairly serious glare. As she moved her eyes over to her friend, Severus let his mouth twitch into a tiny smirk for half a second. Gotcha, My Own. Now he was guaranteed that Hermione would do her utmost to drive him insane and he couldn't wait.

"You hear that, Ginny? SEVERUS doesn't think we're doing a good enough job with our portion of the show!"

"We can't have that, now can we?" Ginny's tone was amused. Severus glanced at her and received a wink in return. The minx had caught on to his game, but she was perfectly willing to play along. "Shall we torture him a bit, then?"

Hermione grinned evilly. "Definitely."

Severus finally let his amusement show, smirking deeply. "Do your worst, ladies. I dare you."

Hermione looked at his face and saw the shining eyes and twitching lips and knew she'd been had. It didn't change her determination one bit, though. She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Challenge accepted, Sevi darling." And then she bit the bottom of his lobe none too gently.

His breath caught at the pleasure pain, and then he was attacked on the other side by a second pair of lips and teeth on his collarbone, prompting a faint shiver.

And just like that, there were suddenly four feminine hands all over his chest and stomach while their mouths attacked his neck and shoulders and down to his pecs to tease his nipples and then back up again. His body was in an overload of sensations in no time, but all he could think was, She called me Sevi darling. And I liked it.

Severus had always hated the nickname 'Sevi'. He was all right with 'Sev' and had been called such quite often over the course of his life. Lucius still used the abbreviated version of his name on occasion, in fact. (Usually when he was teasing him.) And of course, Draco called him 'Uncle Sev', which sounded fine. But 'Sevi'… It usually made him shudder in revulsion. But coming from Hermione's sweet mouth, and with the added 'darling' on the end, teasing or not, suddenly made the nickname sound almost perfect to him.

He wanted to hear Hermione call him 'Sevi darling' for the rest of his life.