Warning: Lemony bits! And related language
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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE – MEETINGS, GOSSIP, AND NEED
Hermione woke Monday morning feeling significantly better about life. She hadn't realized how much she had missed her friends until the three of them just sat down to talk. Hermione knew they still didn't trust her one-hundred percent and that was okay, at least they were going to give her a chance. She also woke up with Severus fitted against her back again, his hands still to himself but she could feel his breath in her hair and the way his larger body guarded her back from the cold.
"Good morning," she whispered, smiling.
"Morning." He grumbled back.
"It's chilly this morning."
"I never had a fire last night."
"How do you stand that?"
She felt the tiny tensing of muscles she knew were his shoulders shrugging.
"I should start wearing flannels I guess."
"Don't dream of it." He growled in her ear, pressing his hips forward.
She had been politely ignoring his erection but now that he had brought it up directly, she let her breath catch at the combination of his smooth voice and the pressure of his hard member against her. She experimentally rolled her hips back, appreciating the length of him rubbing between her arsecheeks. Severus hissed through his teeth and his hand lashed out to grip her hip so he could grind against her in response.
"Do you like the shorts?" She asked breathlessly but the innocent curiosity got broken up with sensual pauses as they ground against each other without rhythm, their bodies straining and frantic.
The fucking shorts. How could he not like them? They were thin and barely covered her round arse. It took him everything in his power not to picture her in them all day long; he would never get a break from the excruciating erection he always got near her. To answer her question, Severus moved his hand from her hip to her arse, grabbing and kneading one side, palming the indecent amount of flesh the went uncovered by the shorts, pushing his fingers up past the hem to touch as much of her naked skin as he could. Her tiny panting sounds were driving him insane and he thrust powerfully against her, his hand snaking forward under the shorts and between the backs of her thighs to her heat.
Hermione gasped, her body jerking, trying to press hard enough back against his cock to find relief and simultaneously trying to expose more of herself to him. Severus groaned, pressing his face into her neck. She was so wet; the heat spreading from her pussy was like wildfire. He rammed his fingers into her depth and between her cries and the pleasure that shot straight from his fingers to his cock, he thought they both would cum. Severus growled at the idea, he already cum in his briefs once grinding up against her arse, he wasn't going to do it again.
Severus moved his hand from between her thighs to free his straining member from the brutal confines of his briefs and groaned when bare flesh met bare flesh; he thought the sensation might make him blind with need. And she was so ready for him, wiggling against him and panting. Severus fumbled with her shorts, trying to find a way past them and shouted, pushing away from her to the other side of the bed, flat on his back.
There was a pause before Hermione flipped over to look at him concerned, "Severus?"
"I've been summoned." He growled, and this time his voice was pure rage.
Hermione looked down at his left forearm that he was clutching tightly and jumped out of the bed, snatching her wand, summoning his robes and mask to fall on the bed. "Go to him, it's about Harry right?"
"Yes." He hissed, tumbling out of the bed to magic on the Death Eater robes; he didn't have time right now to deal with all of the buttons and such. He stormed across the room to the fire place, took a handful of floo powder, and turned to look at Hermione for a long moment. She approached him, holding out the mask he had forgotten on the bed. He took it and tucked it under his arm.
"I'll hold down the fort." Hermione tried to joke, her lips twitching into a partial smile.
Severus' lips pressed together and he tossed the floo powder and turned into the green flames, disappearing. Hermione stared at the empty fire place for a minute before getting dressed and heading down to the Great Hall early for breakfast.
SHSHSH
Hermione was done with classes by the time Severus returned from his meeting and although the grounds were alight with the bright afternoon sun, Severus looked exhausted as he slid into the Great Hall for lunch through the staff door, arriving somewhat late. Heads turned to look at him but only Hermione kept her gaze steady on him.
"What's going on?" Hermione whispered.
Severus glanced up and waved his hand to put a silencing charm around them. "He wanted to know about Potter and was pleased by how upset he was about you."
"What else?" She demanded.
"The Carrows said Potter has been sulking about and will be relatively easy to apprehend whenever the Dark Lord pleases."
"What game is he playing, leaving Harry alive?"
"He wants Potter to see how powerful he can be before he kills him. It's vain and I'm certain will give the light an advantage. The meeting lasted so long because other spies in other places had nothing good to report, lots of cruciatuses were passed around."
Hermione shuddered. "Were you-?"
"No. Not this time." After Severus removed the silencing charm around them and took a swallow of tea he said, "After lunch we will start your other lessons."
SHSHSH
Minerva passed the tea out to her guests with a wave of her wand, settling back into her armchair with a nervous clearing of her throat. "Thank you all for being here."
"Naturally, Minerva, we've quite the problem on our hands." Filius Flitwick said.
"Four spies among us, not counting the students." Pamona Sprout said, sipping her tea.
"Four?" Hagrid questioned, "surely you don' mean—"
"Miss Granger, yes Hagrid." Minerva interrupted. "We all know Severus has claimed her and we all know what that means."
"I haven't even heard of thralls being made since the last war." Filius quipped.
"Well, now we all know one personally." Pamona sighed.
"And how do you know it's true?" Poppy cut in.
"The two of them knock heads and whisper under silencing charms at every meal. And I swear to you I saw Severus smiled once." Minerva seethed.
"She follows him everywhere, doesn't look even a touch bothered by it." Pamona said, "We all know Severus isn't the greatest company."
"Besides," Filius squeaked, "I am fairly certain a bright girl like her wouldn't willingly follow Dumbledore's murderer."
There was silence for a moment after that.
"I don' believe it one bit." Hagrid grumbled. "There's summat goin' on we don' know bout."
"I agree," Sybill said airily, waving her cup at the group, "with the half-giant. Some things that look dark aren't always so…"
The group stared at her.
"For someone who predicts a lot of dark omens and deaths, that's quite upbeat, Sybill." Poppy muttered, raising her eyebrow.
"Don't get me wrong dear, death does surround the pair, but they themselves are not darkness."
Everyone exchanged looks, glancing between Sybill and each other, not particularly sure what to say or what that meant.
"So what do we do?" Pamona asked helpfully.
"We need to keep an eye on Miss Granger," Minerva said, "And we need to make sure no one gets close to Mr. Potter while he is here, he's practically in a trap."
"If indeed Miss Granger is a thrall, it is to be expected that she and Severus are engaging in... intercourse." Poppy said quietly.
"Rape, you mean," Minerva spat, "I did try to convince Miss Granger to return to Gryffindor tower but Severus intervened the first time and the second Miss Granger suggested that was not in anyone's best interest."
"That's vague and disconcerting." Pamona twittered.
"It is indeed." Responded Filius. "Do we have other options?"
Minerva sighed. "With the government overrun with Death Eaters I'm afraid not. There's no one to report Severus to."
Each person glanced into their tea cup, some looking over to stare at the fire. It seemed too much was going wrong.
SHSHSH
Hermione stood by the cauldron with her fists on her hips and her legs spread apart, giving a deadly glare to the innocently simmering potion, not minding the tendrils of frizzy hair that danced across her face or the sheen of sweat across her forehead. Severus thought she looked ravishing, although, he had also had the same thought when she had been hunched over the cutting board for the fourth time that day, her hair a bloody wreck, muttering to herself, her trousers spattered with potions ingredients that had artfully gotten past her smock, and her robes bunched in odd places. Merlin help him.
"Do I ever have to make that potion again?" She seethed.
"Not for a long time I would assume."
"Is that the easiest potion you're going to teach me this semester?"
"One of the hardest, actually." Severus said, standing up from his stool and prowling towards her. "I wanted to start you out tough to see how you learn under pressure and to know just how much I will have to fix."
She scoffed. "And?"
Severus paused, toying with her, looking down his nose at the potion. "Some of your technique is lacking but the results are adequate."
Hermione let out a breath. "Thank you." She said, loosening the stiffness of her stance.
He cocked and eyebrow and put a stasis charm on the potion, he would bottle it later. "Why don't you clean up? It's almost time for dinner and you might frighten the children."
Hermione shot him a death glare and he smirked although he was certain real murder was in her eyes. If a potion could be killed, Hermione would have done this one in several times. She stomped out of the lab and into the hall, crossing straight across the bedroom to her bathroom and slammed the door. Severus' lips twitched and he smirked. Really, her potion had turned out perfectly, eventually. She had struggled with preparing the ingredients correctly but he was impressed she figured it out by the fourth try. By the time Hermione emerged from the shower, her mood seemed greatly improved and she wandered across the room, running her fingers through her wet hair, to pick out clean robes for dinner. Severus cleared his throat.
"What?" She said, her mind only partially returning from its musings.
He cocked an eyebrow and blatantly surveyed her form. He was pleased when she blushed.
"I live here too." She snapped, but it didn't have quite the impact she was going for, what with her standing in her towel with messy wet hair in front of the closet.
"I'm not complaining." He smirked, pretending to return to his notes.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Perv." She mumbled and grabbed her robes, returning to the bathroom. As she changed she shouted out past the door, "I'll be at the library late to work on an essay for runes." She came out of the bathroom, fixing her hair in a loose braid.
"Just keep an eye out for the Carrows on your way back."
"Naturally." She said as they left the rooms and headed to the Great Hall.
They ate mostly in silence, Hermione noticing the other professors whispering and glancing her way. She wondering what they were discussing and had the uneasy feeling they were talking about her and Severus. She didn't like it. At the end of the meal, they left together, Severus going one way to do a patrol before retiring for the night, and Hermione to the library. Severus paused in one hall where he could watch Hermione start for the library corridor, her book bag slung over one shoulder.
After his rounds, Severus returned to his rooms to shower. The hot water helped to relax his tense muscles and he thought about what else would really help him. He thought of Hermione's small hands gripping his shoulders and running her palms down his arms and back up, the teasing smile he liked to think was reserved only for him, the image of her in that towel. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against his right arm where he leaned against the wall. The way she had stood proudly and defiantly after tackling the potion. He thought back to the morning, how utterly close he had been to having her, and groaned at his painful erection. He gripped his shaft and wondered at all of the ways he could take her; the towel came back to mind, standing by the potions bench with wet hair as she sorted ingredients, it would be so easy to come up behind her, free his cock and grind up against her arse through the measly protection of the towel. Severus' breathing picked up as he stroked himself, twisting his palm over the leaking head. He could push her shoulders down so she bent over that table, scattering the ingredients, and he wouldn't even have to lift the towel to thrust into her from behind, but he would anyway, just so he could see her arse jiggle with every thrust. She would shout and keen for him, coming all over his cock as she gasped his name. Severus grunted as he thrust his hips into his orgasm, his cum shooting out in spidery tendrils against the shower wall. Severus stood there a long moment, his spent cock in his hand, catching his breath. Fuck. Hermione Granger was going to kill him. He hoped next time she was bloody well ready for him, because he was wasting too damn much seed day dreaming about her when she was right here with him all the time, and more than wanting to receive him.