Chapter 6.

There was one thing that made him relax more than everything else, and it was brewing. It had always been like that, even when he was only a young boy. In the last years of the war relaxing had been impossible but brewing had given him the chance to clear his mind, calm his fast beating heart and loosen his stiff back. Stirring a cauldron had him entranced even if he never allowed himself to lose concentration and blew up a potion. It could be both relaxing and challenging and he loved studying the way different ingredients mixed together.

That morning, after his cuddling with Miss Granger the previous afternoon and his 'heated kiss' with Alba at night, he had woken up with the urgent need to calm his overstimulated senses and mind. For what concerned his aching cock, he had taken care of it already as soon as he had got up from bed. A freezing shower and his bone had dropped immediately. He had had a very vivid dream featuring both Hermione and Alba doing naughty things to each other while he watched them languidly stretched on his bed. Then the two women had walked catlike towards him and he had spent the night fucking them senseless. Severus had woken up all sweaty and achy, but the dream had been absolutely worth it.

Years of self-restraint and his nightly masturbation sessions with Alba had been doing wonders to his libido. He wasn't old, not by wizard's standards, but he had never craved sex as much as much as he was those days. I need a damn shag!

So, it was when brewing a new butch of Pepper-Up to sell to a couple of Apothecaries that a brownish owl interrupted his reverie. He looked at it for a couple of seconds before picking up some food for the bird and approaching it. It was a beautiful owl, with both light and dark feathers and a long beak, a bit similar to his own really. He fed and stroked it gently before retrieving the envelope that was tightly tied to one end of the large package with a red ribbon. Severus only seldom received letters, apart from the monthly subscription to Potions Weekly and a couple of other magazines he read, and for this reason he was very curious about the content inside the parcel.

However, when he untied the ribbon and read the very short missive which contained only two words, he had no doubts on who had sent it. Thank You, it said in a very elegant handwriting he had seen so many times on her essays during his years as Potions Master and DADA Professor at Hogwarts. Hermione Granger had sent him a gift, a book if he had to try a guess, to thank him most likely for what he had done for her the day before. Bloody Gryffindor sentimentality!, he thought to himself opening the squared package.

Her gift was indeed a book, one of the very first editions of Moste Potente Potions, and one he greatly appreciated. The volume was old and battered with its barely held-together sheets of paper, but he knew it was worth a small fortune and wondered why the heck the girl had decided to give it over to him and not keep it for her. As a child she had been a pain in his arse but now, even if he had seen her only two times, he found her company to be not as bad as he had imagined. Well, she wasn't a girl anymore.

What had happened the day before… he hadn't hesitated a moment before going against the Weasley boy. He had grown up quite a few inches, but he was still taller than him and much more dangerous. It was true that the Aurors would immediately know if he were to use dark spells, but his bag of tricks was so vast he didn't really need to use dark magic in order to inflict pain to someone. Nevertheless, he would have incapacitated him if he had tried to attach him or cause any harm to Hermione.

Severus was quite the bastard type of man, but he had never willingly hurt physically a woman. He had already seen too much abuse in his own home, when his father would come home drunk and beat first him and then his mum. It had been a relief when the man had finally died, but at the point the damage had already been done. Her mum had suffered from depression for years before closing her eyes for ever and him… well, he would be permanently damaged.

Carefully closing the valuable tome, he put it on a shelf and went to sit on a stool next to his workbench. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, clearing his thoughts and calming his mind. He didn't really know what his problem was, apart the fact that he was falling for a girl half his age that he had never seen. He knew nearly nothing about her and even of what he knew, he wasn't totally sure it was the truth. However, what he had with her he had never had with anyone. There was a strange intimacy between them that went beyond the physical affinity provided by what they did at night. It was more. It was a lot more and it scared the hell out of him.

The day passed quickly with him brewing and trying not to think about the mess that was his own life, and when night came, with it came also the anticipation that went with the thought of seeing Alba and talking to her.

'How are you feeling today?' he asked after replying to her greetings.

-Better, thanks to you., she replied, and he was glad to hear that he had been able to help her at least a little. -You're an amazing man, Leo.

'And you an amazing woman, my cheeky little thing.'

-What about you? We always talk about my problems, never about yours. How are you?

'A bit edgy today if I have to be honest.' He replied honestly. Besides, it was all her fault if he was feeling that way.

-How come? What happened?

'Not much really. I just have many thoughts in my mind.'

YOU! You are my 'many thoughts in my damn mind!

-Such as?

'Such as you, for example.' He typed after some thought. He wasn't sure he wanted to give her all this power over him but then again, she already had a lot, and he had no doubt she knew it.

-And what sort of thoughts are you having about me?

'Many sorts. That's the problem.'

He had thought she would start teasing him, telling him naughty things until they both ended up naked panting over each other, him with a hand around his erect shaft and her with two fingers pumping inside her glistening pussy. But no, one more time she surprised him understanding the delicate moment and trying to be a confident to him. Perhaps she wasn't playing with him; perhaps she really cared about him and would not use the power she had to hurt him like everyone had always done.

-You told me once I could talk to you. You can too, you know.

'I don't know what to say.' He said, but it wasn't true. He knew what he wanted to say but he wasn't sure it would be the right thing to do. He had never been good at opening his heart.

-What would you like to say? Or to tell me?

'That I like you.' He finally wrote and swallowed hard, knowing he sounded like a lost and lovesick puppy. 'Even if I don't know you and you're way too young.'

-I'm more mature than you think. And I like you too. What happened yesterday... It had never happened with anyone else. I have never reached to anyone like that, never felt the need, but with you everything is different.'

At those words his heart swelled, and he had to inhale deeply to stifle a scream. She liked him. Alba had already told him once, but it always came difficult to him to accept love in any form. To think that someone could find him sufficiently acceptable to love was disconcerting. He had never had real friends, only convenient ones, and only a few people had ever cared for him.

'It felt like really kissing you.'

-And now I want to really kiss you.

'And me you.' He told her typing quickly his reply. He wanted to feel again what he had experienced the night before, only in real with her pressed against him and her smell under his large nose.

-Leo, I need to set my life to right first, but then I'll throw myself at you and kiss you senseless.

Her words hit Severus hard, making him shiver. What she had said was something he deeply desired, but he had dreamt of love nearly all his life and had never really conquered him. Love rejected him and he wanted no illusions of a happy life, one where he could cuddle in bed with the woman who had stolen his heart. But he knew it was just too difficult, perhaps even impossible. Alba was only 25 and would be changing her mind very quickly. Besides, she deserved better than him. Everyone deserved someone better than him.

'Do not make promises you are not sure to be able to keep, Alba. Never do it.'

-It's not a promise. It's a wish, one I have now. Do you really think it's only difficult for you? I'm falling for a man twice my age I know nothing about apart from the fact that he is a good man.

She is falling for me… she is falling for me; and she thinks I'm a good man… if she only knew the truth. If she only knew what I had been forced to do all my life, what a horrible person I am.

'Perhaps I'm not good at all. You can't really know.'

-Oh no, I know that. And I know it because if you wanted to hurt me you wouldn't be arguing with me about this.

'I would like to meet you one day, even if only to say hello and give a face to the woman I have been talking to for days.'

-I would like that too., she asked then added like an afterthought. -Are you going to sleep anytime soon?

'I don't know. I think I'll lay down in bed, but usually sleep comes very late.'

Severus didn't sleep much at all. It had been like that for years and even now that he was virtually a free man, he couldn't seem to be able to stop that habit. He would sleep for a while but then nightmares would assault him, often making him trash around, others making him scream so hard his throat ended up raw. Memories of what he had been forced to do and watch as a Death Eater hunted him, and the eyes of those he hadn't been able to save were branded behind his lids. His scars would forever burn his flesh, no matter how hard he tried to forget.

-You think too much! You need to relax!

'Any suggestion?' He asked, hoping she had some nice idea on her cheeky mind. He wasn't really feeling much up to masturbating right then, as his mind was clouded and he felt somewhat sad, even if he didn't really know why, but for her he would make an exception.

-Perhaps...

'What do you have in mind?'

-I would like to show you something. It's what I usually do when sleep doesn't come. It helps me relax and besides, you know, the way I usually masturbate with people... It's not the same way I do it when I'm alone at night.

That caught his attention and he leaned over just a fraction, sitting more comfortably and steepling his fingers on his lips. And how do you did it then, mh?

'Ah no? I'm curious now.'

-It's difficult to explain.

'Show me then.'

-Only if... Will you stay with me tonight?

He read her text a couple of times, trying to understand the meaning of what she had just said. What did she mean by that? She certainly wasn't asking him to go over to her place, or her to his, was she?

'What do you mean?'

-Keep the connection open. Sleep the night with me. I would like to wake up tomorrow, with sleepy eyes and a messy tangle of hair, and say good morning to you. Would you do that? I usually fall asleep immediately after getting off...

The thought of doing something like that made his heart ache. It sounded so intimate and it certainly wasn't something he had ever done before. No woman had ever slept next to him after having sex and he had never had the pleasure of waking up with a warm body next to his. Perhaps Alba really cared for him, otherwise why asking him something like that? And yet, he wasn't sure about it.

'Are you sure?'

-Why not? I trust you.

'I don't know. It sounds a bit creepy, but I would like to fall asleep watching over you.'

-Then it's settled, isn't it? Get comfortable. Good night, Leo.

Soon after, Alba opened the connection, and he was finally able to see her. Everything was dark, except for her and the bed behind her shoulders which seemed to be just barely lighted by a soft lamp on a drawer in proximity. She was wearing a pink T-shirt and, when she stood up from her sit, she removed it. He now found himself face-to-face with her small breasts, whose nipples were probably hard from the chilly hair of the room, and he looked at them breathing deeply. She was utterly beautiful. Severus had never seen something so deliciously perfect.

She moved her fingertips lightly through her torso, grazing her nipples in a feather-light touch, until first her hands then her arms covered them to his eyes. One moment later she gave him her back and put on an oversized fluffly nightshirt with a wood which had two big cat ears stuck at each side of her head. That way her face would stay covered. She longed to see her, to give a visage to that adorable woman, but they had never talked about showing themselves to the other and perhaps it was best that way. He was ugly, his features too sharp and his nose too big, and he would scare her off immediately. Anyway, he wished he would be able to meet her eyes and see if that cheeky smile that always played on her lips would also reach them.

He watched her move and saw that she wasn't wearing any trousers but only a pair of plain knickers which left half of her cheeks bared. Before crawling on the bed, she removed her underwear, and then settled with her belly on the mattress and her arms and legs stretched. Even if not clearly, Severus could see her pussy and he longed to crawl behind her and massage those perfect globes before placing his mouth oh her lips. He saw her head sneak around and spread her labia which were already glistening with moisture. When she raised her arms and her hips started moving up and down on the mattress, he stopped breathing. The sight was nearly hypnotic, and he couldn't look away. She was moving like she would if she had a body under her, her labia trapping a cock under them. The friction of her pussy grinding again the linen was doing wonders to her cunt if the juices he saw escaping from her were any indication.

Severus was totally mesmerized by the sight and while he was hard, he couldn't find himself to take off his cock and wank at her display. No, he couldn't. This was her time, and he had no rights. Besides, he wanted to concentrate on her. The curve of her spine that ended in her round globes was perfect and her pussy… well, he would sunk in her immediately if he had the chance. She was a sensual being and an erotic sight to behold. Her movements grew erratic and he knew that she had to be near. His fingers reached the screen and he lightly touched it where her spine arched and, even if he knew she couldn't feel it, for him it was like being together with her in that bed which now smelled of her sweet smell, of her sex. He saw her arch her back like a cat when her orgasm overwhelmed her sensitive body. Alba, tired and satisfied, collapsed on the bed and, when she finally allowed herself to relax and succumb to sleep, she stretched her legs showing him her glistening folds and the result of her delicious self-lovemaking.