'Come, let's take a bath' he said, getting out of bed.

'A bath?' she asked a little nervously, rising to a sitting position in the middle of the bed.

'Indeed, a bath. Unless you object?' he stopped and looked back. The fireplace was the only source of light in the room, and while giving it a romantic vibe, it definitely did not allow him to observe her face as well as he would like to.

'I am not sure…' she replied after a while.

He came back to bed and sat behind her, her back to his chest, his tights around hers. He put one hand on her waist, and with the other he started stroking her throat. She wasn't too sure if it was simply a caress or beginnings of something more. Something that would make her toes curl and her skin tingle. She would love to focus on that something, but she could not, as his suggestion did not sit well with her, and she had a feeling he would not just let it go.

'What is it?' he asked, continuing to stroke her throat. The other hand was rubbing circles around her belly button, unhurried.

'I've scars…' she whispered.

'I know, I helped to treat some of them. I also kissed most of them by now, I think' he whispered back, straight into her ear. That sound shot straight to her core, giving her goosebumps and rousing certain feelings in her belly.

'But you will see' she replied, a bit unfocused now.

'I saw already, my love' he replied, continuing to stroke her belly and her throat unhurriedly, and talking right into her ear.

'But… It's dark here, and it usually was whenever I was here. I don't want you to see them, I don't want anyone to see. In the bathroom the light will be harsh, and you will see…' she forced out with great difficulty. She focused on his hands, never stopping their stroking, never wavering. She willed his hands to go either up, or down, it didn't really matter, any distraction would be useful right about now. As long as they moved to one of the areas that could provide her with something more substantial to focus on.

'Why don't you want me to see them?' he asked.

'Why do you always make me say things? My scars are ugly, and I don't want you to see them!' she bit out.

'I make you say things, because we cannot own things if we are afraid to name them, you know that. As for the scars - I don't care about them. What I do care about, is the fact you are luscious and exquisite, and I want to sit you down on the edge of the tub, and eat your pussy while being able to look up at your face and see the pleasure in your eyes. Trust me, the only thing that will be distracting me from that view will be your tits, which always seem to be begging for attention, but what can I do? I can't be in two places at the same time. So I repeat, I don't care about your scars. Why do you care?' his tone was incredibly level, you would think he was talking about the weather.

She felt her pulse speed up.

His hands continued their gentle stroking, but she was sure he could feel her heart jumping out of her chest. She could feel the excitement for what was to come spreading through her body, but the anxiousness, the tension, they weren't gone yet. Those horrible feelings were still there, lurking in the back of her mind, ready to pounce at any moment if given a chance. They wouldn't just melt away, because she knew he would never drop a topic. He was like a dog with a bone.

She forced herself to speak.

'I think I care not out of vanity, but because I failed. I didn't protect myself from Dolohov, I allowed him to beat me. And this scar is a reminder of that. A reminder of what happens when I fail, when I slip, when I am not good enough. The other ones don't bother me so much, but this one, I don't want anyone to look at it. I don't want to look at it myself.' she explained in a quiet voice.

'Did you know he was a professional curse breaker? And thirty years your senior. I am not entirely certain I could take him on easily, and definitely not when I was fifteen. The standard you measure yourself against is ridiculous. And it's getting in the way of your orgasms.' he explained, and then he seemed to make a decision.

One of his hands went up, the other went down, and he started stroking the undersides of her breasts leisurely, staying well away from the nipples.

'Do you think you would like to try to take a bath with me?' he asked after a few moments, once he felt her melting into him. His hands moved on her breasts, and started rubbing her nipples, with the gentlest of touches, barely there. 'Come with me to the bathroom, sit on the edge of the bathtub, and enjoy yourself?' he continued whispering into her ear, sending shivers down her spine with every sentence. 'Then we could get into the water, and I would lather and sponge every inch of your skin. I think I made you properly filthy, here in this bed and before in the lab, spreading you on the workbench like I did. You definitely need a bath'.

'I don't think I know how to say no to you, Severus' she gasped out, as she bit her bottom lip.

'Just say yes, love.' he said, as he licked her earlobe.

'Yes'.