Note: This chapter gets a little warmer and some heavy language is used, but still NO SMUT is described - but I had to make it very clear that it did happen for it's very important for what happens next in this story.

Severus felt disgusting.

The Dark Lord had discovered that it was his Potion Master's birthday so he'd called for a celebration in Severus' honour.

However, a party, according to death eaters, was not a party without muggles being tortured, raped and murdered.

Severus hadn't taken part in any of those activities, but they were happening nearby as he sipped elven wine and pretended to enjoy the cake.

He couldn't help but feel tainted by the evilness around him, and guilty by knowing those things were happening because of his birthday. He felt like the darkness of those deeds clung to his skin and clothes, leaving a stain in his soul.

It was nearly 4 a.m. when he finally arrived at his mother's house.

Complete blessed silence greeted him as he closed the front door and looked around the living room.

The fire in the fireplace had long been extinguished, the Christmas decorations had already been removed. Just pictures of him growing up, and some of Florence's, were on top of the shelves and on the sideboard.

He looked at a picture of her, her sweet smile making him ache, with both regret and longing.

Florence.

There wasn't a day that he didn't think about her.

He put the frame back in its place and sighed, sadness weighing heavily in his heart, his body achy and feverish despite the snow that melted on his shoulders.

His mother was probably already fast asleep, not even Sam seemed to be still awake. So Severus went to the kitchen to get himself some water.

Maybe, he thought, what I need is just to drink some really cold water before hitting the bed.

After finishing his water, he slowly walked upstairs, thinking of a time, not too long ago, when he walked down those same stairs to go snog his hot girlfriend in the kitchen in the middle of the night.

At the top of the stairs, he turned left to go to his room and stopped, frowning – he could see that his bedroom door was open, but he never left his door open.

Severus walked closer and stopped by the door, peeking inside.

Florence!

She was in there, in his bed!

The sweet vanilla scent of her hair mixing with his own perfume in the bedroom and reminding him of a time when that was a permanent scent in his room: her perfume mixed with his, and sex.

He walked slowly towards the bed, closing the door on his way in.

Florence was wearing one of his long-sleeved shirts, an old white one that he liked to wear to bed for it was very comfortable. It was huge on her smaller, curvier frame though.

He could feel the power of her veela blood reaching out to him strongly, the Enchantment syncing his heartbeat to hers.

No draught tonight, Flor? He thought, standing by the bed, watching her sleep. He wanted to touch her, but he needed to shower first.

Florence woke up to the sound of the shower running.

She blinked and sat on the bed, wondering why would Eileen be taking a shower in Severus' bathroom in the middle of the night.

Then she froze, realising it couldn't be Eileen, it made no sense.

She jumped from the bed, wand in hand, going to the open bathroom door, hearing the water be switched off, and peeking inside.

Her veela woke up inside of her all of a sudden, the heat and desire that took over her body and mind was so strong and it happened so fast that it made her dizzy.

Severus was in the bathroom, fully naked, his long dark hair dripping wet as he was drying off his body with a white towel.

Florence took a few steps away from the door, turning around to leave the room. She had to leave the room – her mind was ordering her to leave. But her body wasn't obeying her, the veela whispering in her mind, reminding her of his touches of how good it was to have him love, kiss and fuck her.

"No," she whispered, hearing him approach the bathroom door and knowing she wouldn't have enough time to leave. So she raised her wand to his face.

Severus walked out of the bathroom, a towel hanging low around his hips, only to find a wand pointed at his face.

"What are you doing here, Severus?" Florence growled, her skin flushed as if she'd been running.

He arched an eyebrow, "What are you doing here, Florence? This is my home, I live here," he replied, an ironic smile on his thin lips for he could clearly see she was aroused.

"This is also my godmother's house and I'm a guest here tonight!" She looked down his naked chest before she could stop herself, "You were not invited to stay. Leave!"

"This is my bedroom, Florence, as you very well know," he spoke slowly and softly, "If anyone had to leave, it would be you, not me," he took a deep breath, feeling her magic calling his, his dick hardening under the towel, "But you are not leaving," he took a step towards her.

She scoffed: "Really? Watch me!" and quickly turned her back to him, running to the door, not caring to stop to pick up her things.

"If you run, I'll only chase you, Flor."

She felt her skin get even hotter, her veela moaning in her mind, and she didn't look at him again, her body betraying her mind.

Then she heard him cast three spells, one after the other: "Expelliarmus. Colloportus. Muffliato."

Florence felt her wand fly from her hand to land on the other side of the room, and she stopped on her way to the door, but didn't turn around.

"I can perform wandless magic, Severus," she said in a low voice, not daring to turn to face him, "I can still open that door."

"Then why aren't you opening it?" he asked in her ear, his half-naked body very close to her back.

She pressed her lips together, in an effort to control the needy sounds her veela wanted her to make.

"I can't resist it either, Flor," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "I just can't let you go."

Florence felt his warm body against her back and she turned around, trying to push him away, but he held her tightly in his arms.

One of his hands going to her neck, his thumb under her chin, pushing it up so that their lips were close. She looked into the dark eyes she loved, trying to control her heartbeat and her desire.

He whispered: "Look at you, your eyes have never been this shade of light-green before, I can feel your body needing mine, I can hear your veela singing in my mind to take you." his tongue caressed her lips before invading her mouth to tangle with hers.

Florence knew right then she had lost that battle, his kiss was like a drug, robbing her of her senses.

And he made her his for the first time that night.

Afterwards, stretching out beside him, resting her head in the crook of his neck, all Florence could think was: Just a little more, I'll stay just a little more.

Severus wrapped his arms around her, feeling her soft breaths against his neck, knowing she had fallen asleep.

He stared at the ceiling in awe at the great turn his birthday had taken for the better.

Seven months he hadn't fucked Florence, and apart from the desperate kisses they shared a few days before Christmas, he hadn't touched her in that long.

In all those months, he had had sex with a few other women, but he never felt with them the all-consuming desire or the intense pleasure he always felt with Florence.

He knew she'd be angry at him in the morning – after all they weren't a couple anymore – but he was not strong enough to just let her leave his room aroused as she was.

He laid a kiss on her forehead and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her body against his, and letting sleep claim him.

In the next morning

Florence woke up feeling very relaxed. She stretched and yawned, enjoying that delicious morning, even though her whole body felt a little too warm.

She could smell Severus's scent on the bed and groaned, desire fogging her brain.

It wasn't a good idea sleeping in his room. She thought, feeling a strange soreness on her breasts and between her legs.

She rolled on the bed, unexpectedly hitting another warm body.

"What the fuck?" she whispered, opening her eyes and having all the memories of the previous night fill her mind.

Severus noticed she'd woken up slowly, enjoying the feelings of relaxation only a good shag could give, but he could tell the moment she realized that night hadn't been a dream.

"Flor?" he whispered, wrapping his arms around her.

"No no no... This cannot be happening! This shouldn't have happened!" She tried to get out of the bed, feeling her body reacting to his – she needed to put distance between them.

But Severus pulled her towards him and she fell on his chest, her hands on his hard pecs, their lips too close, their naked bodies rubbing against one another and she felt desire fogging her senses again.

"I feel that too, Florence. The need to be close to you, to love you," he kissed her, "You spent months taking that damn draught you invented while I felt this need totally one-sided," he took her lips violently, his hands running down her body, gripping her leg and pulling her on top of him, making her straddle his hips and restarting the activities of hours before.

Eileen woke up later than usual, which was expected since she had spent hours past her normal bedtime talking to Florence the night before.

She smiled, albeit a little sadly, whishing things were different and her son hadn't thrown his relationship with Florence out the window.

After getting up and dressed, Eileen went downstairs to ask Sam to prepare breakfast – the elf was still getting used to how she liked her coffee and her overall routine.

But she found Sam in the living room, a dirty black coat in her tiny hands.

"Sam... what's that in your hands?" she asked the elf, fearing she already knew the answer.

"Master Severus' coat." the little elf answered, a bit confused by Eileen's worried expression. "Sam will wash it."

"He's here!" Eileen gasped. "Where did he sleep, Sam?"

"In his room, Mistress."

Oh, dear.

Eileen ran upstairs, knocking on her son's door.

Florence forced herself to get away from Severus, getting out of the bed as quickly as possible, wanting to reach the bathroom to clean up.

But pushed her onto the bed on all fours and pleasured her again.

Severus didn't want to move, he knew she'd leave as soon as he let her go from between his arms.

But she rolled away, and he watched as she got out of the bed and picked up her wand from the floor and a dress in her suitcase, and not even once her emerald eyes looked at him.

"Flor," he called, not wanting her to leave, trying to find a way to make her stay.

"I have to go," she whispered, still panting softly.

He growled low, "I should tie you to my bed and keep you as my prisoner!"

Florence chuckled, although a part of her wanted to cry. She finally looked at him, he was still standing beside the bed, his hair messy, his body covered in sweat.

She loved him so much it hurt; she quickly turned to go to the bathroom to clean up, before she threw herself into his arms again.

"Marry me, Florence," she heard him say as she reached the bathroom door.

And that had her stopping and turning to face him, her heart skipping a beat as anger rose inside of her.

"How the fuck can you say that?" She spoke in a low dangerous voice, "You chose your path, Severus, and I'm not a part of it."

She hastily put on her dress, deciding to clean up at home, "Finite incantatem." She cast, pointing her wand to the door and taking down the silencing and the locking spells.

But Severus wasn't letting her go that easily. He walked to her and took the wand from her hand, recasting: "Muffliato. Colloportus." And wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her to him, "You can't say everything we did last night didn't mean anything to you, that I didn't make you feel something! You can't keep ignoring what we feel to each other!"

"I can and I will!" she pushed him away, "Let me remind you, Severus. This was your choice! You chose them over us. You did this! Not me!" she got her wand back from his hands, pointing it at herself, fixing her hair and cleaning her body with a spell. Then she looked into his eyes and said: "You should know: I'm dating Sirius now."

"What?" Severus shouted, jealousy filling up his whole body, "You're fucking kidding me!"

"I have every right to move on with my life!" she shouted.

And they stared at each other in silence.

Florence felt tears come to her eyes and roll down her face and she wiped them away with her hand.

"You knew my opinion about your life choices, Severus, but you made them anyway. If this situation is not of your liking, it's all your fault."

She flicked her wand towards her suitcase and it closed itself, flying towards her hand afterwards. Then she opened the door and left the room, finding Eileen in the corridor; she looked at her godmother, who took one look at her tear-stained face and the suitcase in her hand and nodded, understanding that Florence was leaving.

Eileen heard Florence leave through the Floo Network and took a deep breath, waiting not a minute longer to get into her son's room.

"You better be dressed because I'm going in!" she said, walking in and looking at him, who had put a pair of sweatpants on but no shirt. "What are you doing here, Severus?"

"I came home to sleep. I still live here, remember?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you let me know you were coming?" asked Eileen, angrily.

"How was I supposed to know that she would be here?"

"If you had told me you were coming home, I wouldn't have allowed her to stay the night here!" Eileen shouted, "Lord knows what you must have done to her," She finished, concerned, the smell of sex in the room making it very clear what exactly he had done with Florence.

Severus frowned, "You say that as if I made her do something she didn't want to! I would never force Florence to do anything, mother. I thought you knew me better."

"I no longer recognize you, son. I don't know you anymore," She had tears in her eyes.

"I didn't force her. She loves me, I love her..."

"If you love her, then why did you choose them instead of her?" Eileen was crying.

"I had nothing to offer her, mum. We are... we were poor. Now I'm on my way to make a fortune. I chose them because of her!"

Eileen slapped him hard across the face.

Severus looked at her, shocked.

"Don't you ever repeat that!" Eileen said, furious, "I don't want to hear you blaming Florence, blaming her love for you... You made your choices! You never asked me what you should do and you certainly didn't even have to ask Florence to know her opinion about them!"

Eileen left his room, slamming the door on her way out and went to her own room, sitting on her bed, letting the tears roll free.

Delacour Manor

Florence walked out of the fireplace and turned around to seal it – just in case Severus tried to follow her.

She walked upstairs, straight to her bedroom and to the bathroom, where she removed her dress – every move making her aware of how deliciously sore her body was, due to all their love-making of the past hours.

Florence walked into the shower stall and let the hot water run down her body; if she closed her eyes, she could still feel Severus's hands on her, his body driving her insane with pleasure. She started to cry, already missing him.

Tiffany peeked into the bathroom, shaking her head. She could imagine what – and exactly who – had happened to make Florence cry like that.

Florence walked out of the shower and put on a comfortable dress, seeing Mel walk into the room with a tray of food floating in front of her.

"Tiff told Mel to bring comfort food to Mistress Florence," she said, putting the tray on the small table by the window.

Florence smiled, "Thank you, Mel," And sat at the table, looking at the food in front of her.

Tiffany had made her grilled cheese, hot chocolate, tea and also bought her favourite sweet pastry from Madam Puddifoot's: the walnuts and white chocolate croissant.

As she was eating, Florence looked outside through the window, her relaxed body contrasting with the turmoil inside her chest. She could feel her veela sighing in pure satisfaction while her feelings nearly suffocated her.

Sudden knocks on her bedroom door brought her back to reality and she frowned. Tiffany never knocked, "Who's there?"

"Florence?" someone asked from the corridor.

"Lily?" she recognized the voice, "Come in," And her redheaded friend walked into her room, "How... what are you doing here?"

"Tiffany picked me up, she said you needed a friend," Lily sat at the other chair by the table, "You look like you've been crying, Flor, and we both know there's only one person that makes you cry."

Florence nodded, tears starting to roll down again, "He was there, Lily. He got there in the middle of the night and..." she couldn't speak any longer.

"I can imagine what happened," Lily said.

"I hate him..." Florence murmured, trying to stop the tears.

"We both know that's a lie," Lily said with a sad smile.

"It would be so much easier if I hated him..." Florence whispered, sipping her hot chocolate, "But I love him so so much. One look at him, Lily, and I was done for. I tried to leave, but he touched me and..." she stopped, the tears clogging her throat.

"Will you tell Sirius about that?" Lily asked, hugging her friend.

"No. It would just hurt him. We haven't... you know. I don't feel attracted to him, no matter how hard I try... No. I won't tell him," She shook her head, "Only you and Eileen know. I don't want to hurt Sirius," She replied, trying to control her tears, "I'm sorry Tiffany made you come here, you're probably very busy taking care of wedding stuff."

"No. Don't worry, Flor. My mother's helping me. Besides I couldn't let my best friend crying alone. What do you say we go for a walk and have some tea at Madam Puddifoot's?"

Florence wiped her face and nodded, "I could definitely have another croissant," she smiled, glad that Tiffany had gone and picked up Lily.

At the end of that day, Florence's mood had improved considerably. She decided to pretend that the previous night had been nothing but a dream. That way she could try and convince herself that she was over Severus – even though, deep down, she knew that was nothing but a lie.