She glowed. The early dawn light cradled the curls fanned across the pillows until it mirrored an ethereal halo. Severus could do little else but stare and memorize the features of her face, the steady breaths that past her parted lips, and the small hand curled and tucked near her chin while her other arm reached into the center of the soft space. She was on her side, aimed into the center of the large bed of his room, and he mirrored her position. The duvet had slipped down her body to pool near her hips. It revealed the smallest glimpse of her breasts and dusky nipples, the soft stomach, and curve of her backside.
He wanted to push it away from her so he could trace his fingers over her soft skin. He continued to marvel at her as she slept, and chanced the motion of brushing a small curl off her forehead. He was pleased when his actions did not cause her to wake. He wanted to relax in the quiet joy of sharing his bed with the woman he loved.
"I was actually thinking about you. I was wondering how one goes about being in love with a dead man?" She said.
Severus could scarcely breathe, and the corner of his mouth gave an involuntary twist, unable to hide the shear pleasure at her words. When he replied, he was unwilling to keep a true smile from spreading across his lips. "I imagine it is much the same as loving a live one, only warmer."
He had never experienced this before: the woman he loved returning those feelings. He had never been more grateful for Hermione's unending Gryffindor tendencies. While he had known for a while how he felt about the witch, he had been unable to articulate the words, his previous experience coloring the possibilities of falling in love. But now the words had been spoken by her, and Severus found the fear was gone. He grabbed hold of the seat of her chair and pulled her sharply toward him. As her eyes opened in surprise, the chair skidded to a halt into the space he had created between his legs. He watched the shock leave her face and the barest blush begin in the apples of her cheeks, breath hitching as he gently cradled her face between his hands. "I love you, too."
Severus felt her face crinkle into a smile beneath his palms, her warm brown eyes softening, and he blazed at the touch of her fingers in the tendrils of hair at the base of his neck. He stroked a thumb across her cheek, then tipped her face gently to gain access to her lips. Their kiss was a tender, languid push and pull of lips, tongue and breath. Severus moved his hands to hold her curls and the back of her neck; he noted hers slipping further into his hair and around the curve of his scarred neck to rest near his heart. When the barest moan began to rise in her throat, Severus withdrew his lips and rested his forehead against hers. "Stay with me."
Hermione answered him by slipping into his lap, straddling his hips and arms encircling his neck. "For how long?"
Severus raised his eyes to hers, kissing her briefly and trailing his mouth along her jaw to the curve of her ear. "Tonight. Tomorrow. Always, Hermione. Stay always."
Slowly, the pair extracted themselves from the kitchen table and moved upstairs. Severus leading them to his room, his hand firmly clasping Hermione's fingers as she followed closely. Over the course of their relationship, Severus had never shown her this room. There had truthfully been no purpose to. When their evening work would be complete, Hermione would return to her flat. Or, on the rare occasion she fell asleep, it was always on the couch in his study and she would be gone by morning light.
He opened the door, pulling Hermione by her hips to rest her back against the doorframe. She made quick visual inspection of his refuge: large bed covered in neutral cream and grey linens, dual chocolate brown leather reading chairs under a window that were more inviting than harsh, a fireplace along the wall opposite the bed, dressers on either side of the door they occupied, and doors leading to the bathroom and closet-one next to the fireplace and one near the bed. Her eyes returned to him and her arms came to rest on his. He could practically feel her thoughts churning, and he worked to keep from delving into her mind to read them. "What is working through that head of yours?"
"I hope that bed is as soft as it looks." She gave him a cheeky smile and pulled his lips to hers, kissing him with a restrained fervor. He reciprocated, then escalated by pushing his hips against hers in the doorframe. Severus was rewarded with a stuttered breath and moan from Hermione. She arched into him, breasts pressing against the planes of his chest. He encircled her waist with his arms as hers found purchase across the back of his shoulders. Severus gripped the back of the cashmere sweater she wore and shifted the angle of his mouth against hers as their kiss became more heated.
It was his turn to release an unexpected moan when her tongue delved into his mouth at the exact moment she traced her hands down his back to grab his ass to further grind their hips together. He broke from her sweet mouth to guide her toward the bed. He wanted her. With every nerve ending alight in anticipation and longing, he wished for nothing more that their skin against each other as he thrust into her while exclaiming his love for her. But he knew little of her expectations or level of comfort with these situations. Severus' own experiences were limited to early pubescent exploration with Lily (one summer afternoon they had stripped, stared, and touched without climax before embarrassment had overwhelmed them both), and a rage-fueled, drunken loss of virginity in his early twenties to a nameless Muggle woman after Lily's death. With a tremendous amount of restraint, Severus stilled their movements halfway to the bed, resting gentle fingers at her waist. "Hermione," he began. "I make no assumptions about what we do tonight. Nor do I presume to know your level of experience. All I ask is if you do not wish to continue that you tell me."
He had not expected the smirk that graced her lips in response. "I'm not a virgin, Severus. But your thoughtfulness concerning my comfort and consent is one more reason I will enjoy everything we are about to do."
He raised his eyebrows at her blunt confession. She laughed sweetly and turned toward the bed. "I suppose we better get this out of the way now."
She unbuttoned her jeans and began stripping them from her legs. Severus watched her with great focus as her slim legs were uncovered. "I have slept with one person, Severus. It meant everything and nothing at all."
He shifted his weight as she began to slip the sweater over her head, falling away to join the pair of discarded jeans on the floor. He inclined his head at her to continue, both her words and actions, for his enthusiasm was unwavering despite her story. Each incremental exposure of skin made his erection ache. "It was Harry, during the hunt. Ron was gone. We only had each other, and we lost ourselves one night. The despair and hopelessness was overwhelming us and compounded by that damned locket. We chose to regain what we were losing-connection, love, hope,desire-by being with each other. It wasn't planned, and it wasn't repeated. We don't speak of it, and you are the only other person to even know about it."
Severus watched her reach for the hem of the camisole she had underneath her sweater. He wasn't sure what to make of her confession. Part of him wanted to be livid that Potter was the one-another Potter gaining more than him from the woman he loved. But he realized he had no hatred for the young man. Hermione's relationship with Harry was everything that he was unable to have with Lily. It wasn't a romantic, familial, or platonic love. It transcended the confines of traditional boundaries, and Severus found there was little jealousy in that, just a sad envy for what could never be for him.
"Severus?"
He realized he had drifted away on his thoughts. But he was soundly earth bound again by the gravity of Hermione Granger standing in his bedroom in nothing but a matching grey set of bra and panties, and he was speechless. He took two strides to close the distance between them, crashing his lips to hers and possessively sliding his arms around her waist and behind her neck. He felt her smile against his lips and he tongued them open to his ministrations. Her fingers began working at the buttons of his blue shirt, quickly stripping it off his shoulders. As she deftly undid the buckle and zipper at his pants, Severus removed the grey lace bra from around her. They both gasped as skin made contact with skin for the first time.
Severus felt her nipples pebble against his chest and he stepped out of the pants that pooled at his ankles. He bodily walked her to the edge of the bed. Her knees buckled as they connect with the mattress, and she fell gracefully back onto the duvet. Severus took in the beautiful form of her as she looked up into his eyes, thoroughly unashamed of her nakedness. His erection strained against the confines of his briefs, and he saw the small darkened patch of arousal against Hermione's panties at the apex of her legs.
"You are so beautiful," he stated as he began to climb onto the bed. She surprised him by lifting her legs to plant her feet atop the mattress, simultaneously moving herself further into the expanse as she opened her legs to him. He stopped his movements, once more taking in her vulnerable and welcoming position. He hooked his thumbs into his waistband as Hermione moved to do the same. Then they were both bare to each other, nothing left between them but the breaths that escaped their lips.
"Severus, please," Hermione said. He was unsure what she was pleading for, but he situated himself between her open legs and leaned over to kiss her passionately. She moaned and rocked under him, searching for purchase and he kept just enough distance between them. She only stilled when he ran his hands down her body, stopping to palm her breasts, and reached her warm center.
"I want you," she said, voice clear and certain. "I love you. Please, Severus, make love to me."
He pulled his hands away to grip his aching cock, guiding it to slide between her folds and tease the slick wetness. He moaned as the heat began to envelope is member, and he pushed into her. "I love you, Hermione."
A/N: We made it y'all. You'll not the change of rating on this story. I didn't, and still don't, set out to right smut/lemons/etc., but I do write what fits best at the moment.
Please leave a little love.
-Archer
