"And I'm going to take care of you," Severus said, his voice was like velvet, so rich and sumptuous that Hermione wanted to bathe in it.
"Yes, Alpha," she managed to whisper.
Were it not for the steady ache between her thighs, she could easily listen to him speak for ages. Images of what could be flashed through her and in them she saw so much potential between them. So much they could have been and so much they still could be.
The sheer amount of hope crushed any grief she had felt.
She didn't know what happened after she broke the vials in his potions lab, but he was here and she could feel the steady thump of his beating heart as she pressed herself against his chest. The scent radiating from him was so much more nuanced than what she had scented in his chambers. The woodsmoke and herbs were still present, but there was an underlying scent of freshly mown grass and cool winter days.
Just being near him soothed the pain in her abdomen and calmed the fire burning through her veins, but she knew it wouldn't last. She'd read every book she could get her hands on and had a good idea of what was to come.
Nothing in those books had prepared her for the way the fevers and the cramps made her feel as if she were simultaneously burning from the inside and out.
Nothing in those books had prepared her for the wave of calm that washed over her when he cradled her against his chest.
Nothing in those books had prepared her for the sheer need she felt when she looked at him and the tingles that floated over her skin when he touched her.
She felt so empty.
He was different from what she remembered—younger and less careworn. The way he spoke to her was devoid of the biting comments and sarcastic wit she remembered from her days sitting in his classroom, mesmerized by the spiky scrawl written on the board that she attempted to follow to the letter to earn even an atom of praise. This Severus looked at her as though she were the most precious thing in the world and the way he spoke to her with such care and concern threatened to rend her heart from her chest because she knew with absolute, unmistakable clarity that she could love him.
She couldn't linger on the thought as another cramp tore through her midsection and the pinpricks of fever settled under her skin and pierced through her like tiny needles.
"Alpha," she sobbed, clutching desperately at his shirt, fingers pulling and distorting the dark fabric. "Please, it hurts."
Strong arms wrapped around her frame, still thin from months of malnutrition, and she felt the pain ebb once more as she melted against him. She could have never imagined the pull nor the instantaneous feeling of rightness that coursed through her as he held her.
It was so simple and yet, so profound.
"Shh. I've got you," he said quietly, his lips moving against her curls. "We need to get you cleaned up, first. Can you tell me what happened?"
She tugged the memories to the surface of her mind, blurry in the haze of her fever. Everything hurt and she knew he wasn't coming and she'd sought something to dull the pain. "I needed a pain potion and I tripped over the rug."
"Where were you?" he asked, pushing the curls from her face to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
She looked towards the door leading out of the potions lab. "The one just outside of the bedroom, in the sitting room. It was dark blue with gold embellishment around the edges." Hermione was amazed she recalled any details at all. She hadn't been exactly coherent when she'd stumbled out of his bedroom and away from her tiny nest.
Her fingers itched. Her nest. She needed to go back to it.
Severus knew exactly the rug she was talking about. He'd found it rolled up in the attic of the old Prince estate and had carted it to Hogwarts with him where the elves were more than happy to restore it for him. But, she couldn't have been in his chambers; he would have known the moment she passed through the wards. It seemed highly improbable, if not impossible.
Hermione rubbed at the scent glands on her wrists and picked at the hem of the dark shirt with the tips of her fingers. The way it rubbed against her skin was uncomfortable and she wanted it off, but his hand stilled hers when she went to lift it over her head.
"Not yet, little one," he breathed, squeezing her hand. As much as he wanted to feel her bare skin as it moved against his own, there were things that needed to be done, things to be said. Severus forced down the voice in his head telling him to take her, to mate her.
Omega is slick for us.
We need to take care of our Omega, she needs our knot.
Omega is ours.
Leaning down, he caught the scent of his herbal soap as it clung to the shirt she was wearing. The fabric was richer than anything he owned and soft to the touch as he stroked his hand along the curve of her hip. His fingers grasped the dark fabric between them at the hemline.
"Where did this shirt come from?"
She turned to look at him, amber eyes wide. Every emotion she felt was inscribed upon her features and it would be so easy to simply dip into her mind, but he refrained. She was so expressive, his Omega as she gazed up with him with a sweet smile.
Severus would give her the world.
"From your wardrobe, in the bedroom." The tiny Omega nuzzled close to him, her face pressing against his neck and her nose rubbing against one of his scent glands. He slammed down his Occlumency shields before he pushed her to the floor and rutted against her, right there against the cold stones.
His Omega did not deserve to spend her heat on the floor of his lab.
"Smelled like you. Needed you, Severus," she said. Her tongue darted out to taste his skin and he knew their time was limited as he strengthened his shields, tucking everything he felt into a tidy box in the back of his mind. This Omega would be his undoing. The fever was burning through her at a rapid rate and it wouldn't be long before she was completely lost to her heat.
Severus' mind was spinning with the possibilities, but he offered her only a small hum in response. The scent of her so close to him was overwhelming and the feel of her tongue against his neck was heaven. Despite his shields, his instincts forced to the surface his need to ensure she was cared for and reminding him of her scraped hands and bruised knees and how he'd yet to do anything about them.
Even such tiny injuries made his heart clench. She was hurt and he hated it.
Carefully, he stood, cradling the Omega to his chest. She threaded her arms around him and sighed so contentedly, it made his chest ache. He'd lied directly to the Dark Lord without detection and because of this Omega, his shields were already in danger of turning to dust.
Hermione felt better than she had in a week as he carried her through the small flat. He took careful steps around the furniture as they moved swiftly from one room to the next. She tried to pay attention to the flat, but her mind would only focus on her Alpha.
How lovely he smelled.
The door to the bedroom was opened.
How kind and strong he was.
He set her down onto the bed and it only vaguely registered that it was tidy; she was so absorbed in him. The fluffy pillows were back at the headboard and the blankets were smooth and unmussed.
How good his knot would feel when he was buried inside of her.
Oh Gods, just the thought of his knot caused a rush of slick from deep within as he walked away from the bed. Why was he walking away? Had she displeased him?
She looked frantically around the bed. Her nest was gone. Alpha was displeased because her nest was gone. Hermione started to whimper as she frantically reached for pillows and blankets and started fluffing them and stacking them in the exact configuration they needed to be, and then restacked them again just to be certain.
He returned quickly, long pale fingers carding through his dark hair and the sound of running water coming from the small lavatory she had seen off of his bedroom. He paused in his steps and exhaled a heavy breath. Hermione could see his body go rigid with the force of his control and for the first time, she caught a glimpse of the Severus Snape she had known. He was there, buried somewhere in this younger, kinder version of himself and it made her heart soar.
"I'm sorry, Alpha," she said with a frown as she tried to move one of the blankets only to accidentally topple over some of the pillows. Severus caught her around the waist as she scrambled for it, nearly launching herself off of the bed.
"It's a beautiful nest," he whispered. "Perfect."
She felt his hot breath course over her mating gland and she leaned back until she could feel the outline of his lips against the tender gland through her shirt.
Bite me. Alpha, bite me. Please.
Severus jerked away from her, breathing heavily, then gently guided her off of the bed on shaky legs and into the lavatory. Hermione pouted at the loss of his mouth so close to her gland.
She needed it.
She had goals she wanted to accomplish. Finish out her schooling. Take her N.E.W.T.S. Get a job working… somewhere. But at this moment in time, it was all pushed aside as her instincts screamed that she needed him to take care of her, to mate her, and to make her belly round with their child.
Her mate.
"We need to clean your hands or they might get infected," he said, gently turning her hands up so she could see the bloodied scratches criss-crossing across her palms.
Hermione nodded, "And then you'll take the hurt away?"
She could be good. She could wait if Alpha wanted her to wait.
She could.
He nodded and stepped into her space, stealing her breath as he wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her to sit on the marble countertop near the sink, placing both of her palms under the cool water. His lips grazed her forehead as the water washed away the bits of dirt, dried blood, and whatever ingredients had been in the vials she broke in the potions lab. Reaching for a cake of soap, he lathered his hand and grazed his fingertips over her palm, cleaning the tiny scratches with care.
She was struck by the intensity in his gaze and he tended to her wounds. He kept her close, one arm wrapped around her as though she might disappear and she leaned against him. Her fingers toyed with the buttons of his shirt when he released one of her hands to clean the other one.
Until this moment, she hadn't understood. She hadn't truly comprehended what being in the presence of her mate would be like. She'd watched as her own mother and father moved in sync with each other for years, but this was so much more. She wondered if it had been the same for them, this instant need to fall into their arms and exist upon some ethereal plane until their grounding voice sent you plummeting back to earth.
A small voice in the back of Hermione's mind told her how explosive they would be. She knew Severus Snape would not be an easy man to live with. Even this younger, kinder version would likely have a hell of a temper, but she could give as good as she got. It could have been her heat, but the thought of arguing with him about theory and spell creation and runic translations made the arousal burning in her belly flare.
Her hands were dried with a hand towel and he swiped a clear balm across the scrapes. "All done," he said, turning the faucet off after washing the rest of the balm from his fingers.
He leaned against the countertop, palms resting on the cool marble with Hermione centered between them. Dropping his forehead against hers, Severus nuzzled his nose along the soft skin of her cheek, breathing in her scent and slowly, carefully, dropping his shields.
"Tell me your name." His voice was quiet and restrained as one hand came to rest at the small of her back, though his fingers itched to travel north and cover her mating gland.
She threaded her thin arms around his neck and tilted her chin up, capturing his lips in a soft, sweet kiss. "Hermione."
The sound of her name lit a fire in his belly that raged with uncontrolled desire. It took everything in him not to pull her to the edge of the counter and grind his pulsing hardness against the center he knew he would find hot and slick and ready for his knot.
This precious creature deserved more than a quick coupling. She deserved to be worshipped. She deserved for her name breathed like a prayer on the lips of a repentant sinner. She deserved so much more than him, but she was his.
It was rare that Severus ever had anything that was truly his own. Growing up, everything was second hand, shabby and worn and now that he was a professor, everything was provided for him, but he didn't truly own any of it, save for the antique rug, his wand, and his clothing.
He had nothing to offer, nothing to give, but he would spend his days trying to be worthy of her.
He would care for her, protect her, and love her.
She was his, and his alone.
No other Omega he had ever scented had come close to the way she smelled, and she smelled like utter perfection, like she was meant for him. And even if he hadn't read the studies and the books and heard the stories of Alphas and Omegas finding their mates, he would have known her by her scent alone. Still, some small part of him worried that they would be too different; that apart from their biology, they wouldn't be compatible.
Severus couldn't stomach the thought and he'd barely spent an hour in her presence.
He savored the way she tentatively explored him, fingers combing through his hair while her lips pillowed against his. He cupped her jaw in his palm, fingers splaying along the hard line and over the curve of her neck.
A soft moan was pulled from this throat when the tips of her fingers brushed over the scent gland at his neck.
"I need you, Alpha," she begged, pulling back just enough that her words were not muffled, though her lips still moved against his.
"Tell me what you need, little one." The words were barely past his lips when she grasped one of his hands and pressed it against her center. He could feel the slick there, seeping through her knickers to coat his fingers. When she pressed his fingers against her core, her head dropped to his shoulder and she moaned, low and warm and full of need.
It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
And it was all for him.
When her small hand palmed him through his trousers, his control shattered, a feral growl ripping from this throat as the hand at the small of her back crushed her against his chest.
She was no churchmouse, his Omega, and that suited him just fine.
"Please, Severus. I need your knot."
The way her lips parted and those six perfect words rolled off of her tongue made him want to rip the shirt she was wearing from her body and take her on the counter top. They made him want to sink his teeth into the gland at the back of her shoulder and pierce through her delicate flesh until they were joined. They made him want to bury himself inside of her and never let her out of his bed.
He needed to feel her, to taste her, to fuck her.
To show her he could be everything she needed.
"Bed, Hermione. Now."