December 1978

Eileen had always loved Christmas, but the joy of spending that special holiday with her two-month-old twin grandsons was indescribable.

She showered them with gifts and took a lot of pictures of them with their mother.

She looked at Florence with her heart full of pride; the young woman was an amazing mum, she took exceptional care of those babies, hardly ever letting Eileen or the house elves do anything to help her.

February 1979

It was a cold night.

Florence was the only one awake in the house. Her godmother was at a meeting at the day care centre in Hogsmeade where she worked; and Tiffany and Sam had already gone to sleep.

That week would be Florence and the twins' last one at Eileen's, Florence felt it was time to go home with them.

She missed her house and Hogsmeade; also, being at Eileen's she risked meeting Severus.

Florence sighed, her four-month-old baby boys were sleeping peacefully in their crib, and the house was silent; she sat on the bed, opened the book No Cuts: healing through magic, and started reading the chapter her teacher had told all the healers-in-training to read.

Her classes at St. Mungus had started two weeks ago and she was loving them! During the day, Florence left the twins with Eileen at the day care centre in Hogsmeade and felt free to focus on her studies, knowing they were safe with their grandma.

She reached for her cup of tea on the nightstand and a picture caught her eye – that photo had been taken by Eileen on Florence's first summer there, almost three years ago.

Florence and Severus were hugging in the picture, he even had a small smile on his lips.

She closed her eyes, feeling her chest tighten – she missed him.

His absence in her life was like an open wound, always hurting, always bleeding. And their shared dreams, which still happened occasionally, were always hot and romantic, feeding her love for him.

She knew she had to put a stop on those dreams, they weren't helping her forget him, they only made the pain worse.

She reopened her eyes and tried to focus on her book – tried being the key-word, for that was his room, she could still remember the many nights they had spent making love on that same bed; when she looked at her sons, it was hard not to think that they had been made on that exact mattress.

She forced herself not to cry, sipping her tea, taking deep breaths and turning a page on her book.

Then she heard noises downstairs.

Getting up quickly and taking her wand with her, Florence left the bedroom, silently.

She magically sealed the bedroom door and went to the stairs, seeing the kitchen lights were on and walking quietly downstairs.

In the living room, she saw a black coat thrown over the sofa and her heart skipped a beat.

Severus.

He was there!

And suddenly she was taken by a strong mix of emotions, her veela standing up in attention and growling inside her mind, angry and hurt.

Our lives could have been so much different. She thought, going to the kitchen and stopping by the door, finding him making a sandwich by the sink, his back to her.

Then she silently attacked:

Locomotor Mortis.

"Protego!" he cast, turning around to face his attacker, "Florence? Why did you attack me? I could have..."

"You could have done nothing!" she interrupted angrily, "You didn't react fast enough, your guard was down."

"Of course it was down!" He replied with a scoff, "I don't expect to be attacked in my mother's kitchen!"

She looked at him, noticing how he had changed in the six months she hadn't seen him. His hair was longer and his shoulders were broader, he looked physically stronger than she remembered. Her veela started to change from anger to desire and Florence felt her body warming up.

Severus looked down her body, noticing how she looked even sexier than he remembered, her breasts were bigger and so were her hips. Her hourglass figure was even curvier, and the way the dark green silk nightgown she was wearing touched each curve was making his mouth water.

He could tell her veela had awakened, her eyes changing colour and the sweet vanilla scent, so uniquely hers, was calling to him.

But suddenly a soft baby cry was heard, followed by a second stronger one and Florence moved quickly, "Excuse me." she said before running upstairs.

Severus stood there in the middle of his mother's kitchen in shock.

The babies.

He knew her kids had been born, he had seen them in dreams – images of them seemed to appear every time he had a horrible nightmare, stopping him from dreaming about being tortured. But the reality of their existence hadn't hit him until then.

He sat down at the table, eating his sandwich, trying to hear anything from upstairs; but it seemed that the babies had stopped crying.

He wanted to go up there and blame Florence for everything that was happening to him, blame her for how unhappy he was, how tired and old he felt. But he knew there was only one guilty party in that story, and it wasn't her.

Severus finished his sandwich in complete silence, still trying to listen to what was happening upstairs. But he heard nothing; after the babies' cries had stopped, there was only silence.

Florence and her kids were in his bedroom, and he needed to get in there to grab some clothes and take a shower.

So he got to the upstairs corridor and saw that the door to his bedroom was half-open. He walked in, being careful to not wake them up.

Florence was asleep on his bed, and near the bed he could see a beautiful dark-blue crib.

Suddenly taken by a feeling he decided to call curiosity, Severus walked to the crib and looked inside.

The two baby boys were fast asleep with their tiny hands near their faces. They looked exactly like they did in his dreams. He couldn't say the real colour of their thin hairs for it was a little dark in the room, but he could feel the power of her veela blood in them, weak but there.

The babies were beautiful and he felt calmer as he watched them sleep.

Severus reached out his hand to touch their faces and hands, feeling that they were both warm and soft.

One of them opened his eyes and grabbed his index fingers with his small hand, looking up at him. Severus was afraid the boy was going to start crying but, unexpectedly, the baby gave him a toothless smile, his dark eyes staring up at him curiously. His chest felt tight and Severus walked away from the crib, grabbing some clothes in the wardrobe and going to his bathroom.

In there, he could see Florence had enlarged the space, there was even an armchair in the bathroom now, and her things were all over the sink cabinet, a white lace bra was hanging from a wall hook.

Severus tried to ignore it all, taking a towel from inside the cabinet and getting into the shower stall.

Florence had woken up when Severus walked into the room, but she didn't move.

She watched as he walked to the boys' crib and touched them – her heart beating madly inside her chest when James woke up and stared at his father.

She waited for the bathroom door to close and then she got up to check on her son, but the boy was fast asleep once again.

She walked to the bathroom door and listened to the sound of the water hitting the floor, imagining the hot water running down Severus's body... and her own body trembled in desire, her veela hadn't forgotten the emotional pain he had caused them but still she yearned for him – that very sexy and wet male specimen in there was her fated one and she wanted him.

Florence hadn't felt any sexual desire since they had conceived the boys; during pregnancy it had been rare the day when she masturbated – only in their shared dreams she'd felt on fire.

But she could feel herself loosing control as she leaned against the wall.

She missed him. His body, his voice, his touches... she wanted him badly.

Florence was brought back to reality by the bathroom door opening and tried to move quickly and reach the bed before he saw her there and asked questions, but she wasn't fast enough.

Severus opened the door and saw Florence there, blushing and trying to get to the bed fast... and he knew what she had been thinking; his own body reacting to hers as soon as he had opened the door. And before she could reach the bed, he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, looking up at his face, trying to ignore the purring veela in her mind telling her to just rub against the hard male body holding her.

"What were you thinking just now, Miss Delacour?" he spoke in a low, seductive tone.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she blushed even more.

He pushed her against the wall by the bathroom door, one leg going between hers. She tried to push him away but couldn't make him move, he was too strong and her legs were already weakening.

Florence felt his hands traveling down her body, going under her nightgown.

"Stop it, Severus," she tried to sound angry, "Let me go."

"I don't think I can, love..." he pressed his towel-covered hard cock against her lower abdomen, "I can sense it, you know..." he murmured, running his nose up the side of her neck, holding her close to him, "Let me hear how much you want me, Flor... admit it. Say that you need my kisses, my touches, my dick inside of you- pounding into you, driving you crazy with pleasure."

"No," she lied, her hands on his chest with the intention to push him away but actually touching his hard muscles, desire taking over her body.

And he went on: "Let me hear you say that you want me to fuck you until you can't walk or talk or think without remembering me," he licked her earlobe and softly bit her neck, "Tell me how your pussy is creaming for me, that no one fucks you like I do," he hoisted her up, grabbing her thighs.

Florence moaned softly, her skin growing even hotter, her need completely fogging her brain; she knew he could deliver on each one of those promises and she wanted them all and more.

Severus looked at the crib and knew he couldn't fuck her in the bedroom. So he walked back into the bathroom with her in his arms.

There, he transfigurated the small armchair into a larger sofa and sat with her straddling his lap.

He ran his hands up her body, "Silk, Flor, fucking love seeing your delicious body in silk," he whispered as he took her nightgown off, exposing her body to his eyes.

Florence moaned at the feeling of his large hands running up her body, while his powerful body rested between her legs. She gave up trying to resist him and touched his shoulders, caressing down his pecs and abs, as she licked and kissed every part of him she could reach. His taste on her tongue was addicting, she needed more, she wanted all of him.

He fisted a hand on the back of her head and kissed her lips, making her whimper as his tongue circled hers; he unhooked her bra and pinched a hard nipple as he trailed kisses down her neck.

"Don't press on them too much," she whispered, "I'm still breastfeeding, milk will come out."

But he seemed to ignore her warning, his hands playing with her breasts as usual; and the milk that dripped was used as lubrication as he kept touching and pulling on her nipples.

She kissed down his jaw, licking and biting his neck; then she moved down between his legs, kissing his hard abs; kneeling on the floor, she pulled his towel away from him and had his cock in her mouth in seconds. His groans and sighs making her even hotter.

Severus looked down, not wanting to miss one second of the delicious view in front of him, as she slowly sucked and licked him, giving special attention to his balls as her hands removed her knickers from her body.

He was tense with need, he hadn't felt that all-consuming desire for a year, now it burned him, controlling his body.

She rolled her tongue around the swollen hot head of his cock and deep throated him, making him groan – he loved when she did that.

Florence let the hard flesh slip from between her lips just to teasingly lick him and then get it all in again; he fisted a hand in her hair, grinding against her face, going absolutely crazy with the way she swallowed around his cock.

"Fuck! Florence, that's... Fuck!" he couldn't put words together.

She licked his dick once more before sitting back on his lap.

He kissed her lips and grabbed her hips, forcing her down on him and his member parted her drenched folds, making his way into her body.

Florence gasped, wrapping her arms around his neck, her whole body trembling from the pleasure of being his again.

She looked down at him, touching his face and kissing him slowly, her tongue meeting his in a wet sexy dance.

"You're a dream, Flor," He whispered, touching her hips, feeling her moving slowly on his dick, "Too fucking good to be real."

She sat down on him, getting all of his cock deep into her, arching and moaning his name, pushing her breasts right at his face

"My obsessions... how a dreamed about these," and he sucked on one nipple.

"I'm breastfeeding," she reminded him.

But he didn't stop, sucking anyway and using his teeth to bit on the sensitive tips, "They're deliciously bigger," he groaned.

She was moaning loud, circling her hips, moving up and down, riding him faster, sometimes stopping just to feel him completely inside her body, circling her hips with him deep inside.

"You like that cock deep up your cunt, don't you, love?" he talked dirty to her, running his hands up her thighs, gripping her waist and forcing her down on his lap, grinding against her outer lips, making her feel all of his hard dick.

Florence moaned, swivelling her hips, her channel tight around him; she moved her hips up just to sit back on him, fully taking his thick cock as deep as it could go.

"Fuck," he groaned, "Look at you, fucking yourself on my cock," his dark eyes never leaving her face and body, he didn't want to miss a second of watching Florence impaling herself on him. There was no woman that had him that hard and aching, no woman put on the delicious show she did for him.

"Ooh, Severus, ooh, yes!" she was losing her rhythm, the pleasure taking over her body, so he gripped her ass tightly, helping her sit on him harder.

She kissed his lips again, his tongue wrapping around hers, fighting for dominance. Florence tangled her hands in his long hair, trying to control their kiss. But it was impossible; the feel of his cock deep within her pussy was making her lose all senses.

She threw her head back, completely lost in pleasure. Her moans increased and he felt her pussy clamping on his cock.

"Are you cumming for me, love? Oh, yes, cum on my dick!" he growled.

Florence almost screamed his name as she orgasmed. He held her hips to help her keep moving, and he never stopped fucking her, his eyes on her face and going down to watch her breasts bounce as she rode his dick.

Her veela kept moaning in his mind, demanding more, so he forced Florence's hips up and down faster, and then she gasped his name, her body becoming rigid again as her hips bore down on his length, forcing him deep inside of her as she rode out her second climax of that night.

And he couldn't delay his own orgasm any longer, forcing her hips harder on his lap, getting lost in the feeling of her wet and tight cunt, he came deep inside her body.

Florence could feel every jet of his warm seed filling her up, dripping down her pussy lips.

She laid her head down on his shoulder with her eyes closed, as they were both gasping for air. She rubbed her nose on his neck, feeling his hot sweaty body against hers, his half-hard cock still buried inside her.

She missed him, more than she wanted to admit, she wished they never had to leave that bathroom, she just wanted to stay there in his arms forever.

Severus moved under her and she felt his cock move inside her, sending jolts of pleasure through her body.

"Sev... I missed you," Florence murmured, kissing him slowly; she kept her eyes closed and began moving her hips up and down again.

"You want more, love?" he whispered, loving how she didn't seem to get enough of him.

"Yes... you know I need more!" and she was moaning his name and circling her hips again.

"I want you under me, Flor - have you spread your legs for me and take all I give you."

She moaned and nodded, "Yes, please, Sir."

Then he rolled them over on the sofa, getting on top of her, his much larger body covering hers, pushing her thighs apart as far as they'd go as he forced his cock deep into her.

"Take it, love," he groaned, lowering his head and capturing a nipple in his mouth, making her moan louder, keeping his thrusts deep and hard.

He licked, sucked and bit one breast then the other and Florence ran her hands through his hair, pulling on the strands.

He fucked her, touching every sweet spot she had, feeling her get completely lost in his arms; she spread her legs wider.

"More," she begged in a whimper.

"Fucking sweet cunt," he hissed, feeling her channel clenching on his dick, "Want more, love?"

"Yes!" she shouted, her hands going down his back, grabbing his arse and trying to force him deeper.

Severus lifted her hips off the sofa cushion and increased the speed of his thrusts, hitting her cervix, pressing against her g-spot, and making her scream in pleasure.

Florence closed her legs around him, her heels digging into his arse pulling him to her.

All he could hear were her mewls and moans; all he could see was her delicious sweaty body undulating under him; then he could feel her pussy clenching around his cock again, holding him in tightly.

"Cum for me, love," he ordered horsely.

And she climaxed, his name on her lips, her nails digging into his lower back. It was too much for him; he put himself deep inside her and came too, filling her up with his load.

"Fuck, Flor..." he moaned, kissing her lips as his body relaxed onto hers.

He lay down beside her, before he squashed her under his larger frame, letting his dick slip from her hot body, and Florence laid her head on his chest, feeling his arms around her, holding her close; both of them panting.

"I love you, Florence..." he whispered, unable to stop himself, "Marry me."

She quickly raised her head from his chest, glaring at him, "You know my answer to that question," and got up from the couch, grabbing her nightgown and her knickers from the floor and putting them on.

She walked towards the door without another word.

Severus quickly got up from the sofa and stopped her by grabbing her around the waist and pulling her to him.

"I do know your answer!" he said looking into her eyes, holding her close. "It's yes! You're mine! You want me as much as I want you. You need me as much as I need you. Why won't you accept it?"

"I can't..." she had tears in her emerald eyes, her hands on his still naked chest; she closed her eyes feeling the tears fall, using occlumency to stop him from accessing her mind. "I can't expose my children..."

I have to protect the boys and you. she thought, touching his face:

He let go of her waist; as beautiful as those two baby-boys were, Severus couldn't deny that they were a permanent reminder that he had lost her to Sirius Black.

Florence walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom, wiping her tears; she wanted to say 'Yes', she wanted to marry him, but she knew it was an impossible dream. If she accepted it, she'd be signing Severus' death sentence.

"I'll take care of you and your babies," she heard him whisper, looking briefly at the crib, as he walked out of the bathroom with a pair of sweatpants on.

"Are you insane?!" Florence breathed furiously, trying not to scream at him, "What about the Dark Lord? Will you just say 'thanks, it was good while it lasted' and then leave the Death Eaters?" she glanced at his Dark Mark.

"No. I don't plan on leaving..."

"Exactly. You're enjoying what you're doing," she said accusingly, wiping away some more tears, "Forget about me, Severus. Just forget about us, please. Go back to your fiancée..."

"How do you...?" He frowned.

"Cassiopeia sent me a letter," Florence smiled sadly. "She keeps me well-informed of everything you two do. Don't worry. I won't tell her what happened here today," she looked at him for a while before continuing: "Just leave. I don't need you or the money I know you now have in spades."

"So you're saying you'd rather have me when I was poor? When you were paying for everything?" he asked, keeping his voice low because of the sleeping babies.

"Yes! And you already know that! I fell in love with you, not your power or money. I just wanted you."

"You still want me," he walked towards her, trying to pull her to him once more.

"But you're not the same," she took a step away from him, "You're no longer the Severus I met and fell in love with. I'm not the same anymore either," she looked at the blue crib that was a few feet from them, "I have my sons to think of now. I can't marry you. Please. Just forget about me," she closed her eyes, letting some tears fall as she forced herself to say the next words: "Marry Cassiopeia and... forget me."

Severus tried to hold her in his arms again.

"Don't." she said, her hands glowing against his chest, "You know I can perform wandless magic, I don't want to hurt you, Severus. Just leave."

He turned around furiously and walked back to the bathroom where he quickly got dressed, before leaving the bedroom without another word.

Florence heard him walking downstairs and the front door opening and closing.

She checked on her sons once more, before lying down on the bed and crying herself to sleep.