A/N: More thanks for my wonderful beta, anogete, for all of her hard work on this story. Thanks also to all of my readers and reviewers for sharing your thoughts with me; I hope that this chapter serves as a good reward for your patience!
Obligatory: None of these things belong to me; they all belong to JKR. I just like to have a bit of fun with them, and no profit is desired.
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Hermione had never moved so quickly in her life. As soon as Severus had Disapparated, she carefully packed all the ingredients they had amassed in the trunk along with the cauldrons and as many of the important Potions books as would fit. It wasn't as hard as it looked at first, since the trunk seemed to be charmed to hold more than it looked like it would.
The task took longer than it would have had she been able to use magic, but Severus had been explicit. Still, when she was done, she had ten minutes to think about what was going to happen next. She sat on the trunk as he had instructed her, and she faced the door with her hands raised, ready to perform a defensive hex should someone storm in.
It was really her first time alone since she had been in the manor. She was used to being either in the presence of Severus or in The Cell with Draco and the others. Her thoughts strayed briefly to Draco and her hope that he would be able to escape before any more harm came to him. No matter what she had thought in the past, he didn't deserve any more torture at the hands of his father and his minions.
What would happen when she left to join Severus, wherever he was? Would they brew the Animus Redimio? Would he kill her? Would she finally find out what was going on inside that head of his?
She felt the dull pain in her stomach again, and she rubbed at it absentmindedly with her hand. It was the first time she had ever felt it in his room. In the past, she had always associated it with The Cell, so now she thought it must simply be fear. So much had been going on lately that she hardly had time to be afraid of her situation, but now she was very much afraid. Spending so much time with Severus alone had given her a strange comfort that had allowed her to forget all that was going on around them, and all that still needed to be done.
If Harry was to be saved, she would need to brew the Animus Redimio potion and get it to him before he faced Voldemort. With any luck, her theory that it would keep Harry's soul bound to his body while Voldemort's inevitable Killing Curse destroyed the Horcrux was accurate, and the Dark Lord could be killed.
With any luck. Luck had not been on anyone's side lately.
With that thought in mind, her musings turned to Severus. He was the only one who knew how to brew the potion, and to get it to the highest potency they needed virgin blood. They needed the blood of a virgin spilled during her first time making love with a man.
She was going to have to talk Severus into bed. Strangely, she found that she was more afraid of that conversation than the act itself. After all, he was a virgin too.
What was it about Severus that had her so mystified? Why did she find herself so drawn to him? He had hardly been better than tolerable towards her in her time at the manor, yet when they were working together on potions, she felt an almost magnetic pull to him. His voice thrilled her, the sight of him carefully preparing ingredients hypnotized her, and feeling the struggle inside him made her yearn for him, made her want to show him that he had a choice.
And that was what she intended to do. She had learned a lot about him over the last months, and she was going to put it to use. She was going to get Severus to help her save Harry and defeat Voldemort, and she was going to help him in the process. She didn't know what the potential was for their association past this, but for whatever reason, she felt a pull towards him, and she knew somehow that without him, she would never feel complete. If he refused to help her and insisted on brewing the Animus Discindium again, she knew that she would help him. She would follow him wherever he went and in whatever decision he made.
'Merlin help me. I think I've fallen in love with him.' She sighed and ticked down the last few seconds before she would see him again.
--
When she and the trunk Apparated into a dingy sitting room, she found herself looking at Severus holding two wands. One, his, he held by the butt and pointed it at her. The other, hers, he held by the point with the butt facing her, slightly lower than his own.
"I have not yet decided which of these wands is more appropriate for you, Miss Granger," he muttered, inching closer to her.
"I know, sir." She sat calmly on the trunk and never dropped her gaze from his.
He faltered slightly but didn't back away. "What do you mean, you know?"
"May I stand, sir?" At his slight nod, she stood. His eyes were alight with fury, confusion, and a dozen other emotions she couldn't begin to process. "Let's sit down on the sofa, sir, and you can keep your wand on me." He hesitated. "Please."
"Very well. I warn you, however, not to overestimate your abilities with magic. I can still outsmart you." His gaze was dark and forbidding, but there was hesitation behind it.
"Sir, please, listen to me. I know how many people have sat before you and offered you what they called a choice, but it never was a choice, was it?" She sat down next to him on the sofa and pressed her chest against the point of his wand.
"And yet you already know which choice you would prefer that I make, making this little discussion more about you convincing me that you're right than simply allowing me to choose the other." He glowered at her, yet didn't increase the pressure on the wand on which she was nearly impaling herself.
"You've not yet even heard what I am going to say," she chided.
"No, but I assume you are going to beg me to help Potter." His lips curled into a sneer at the name.
"That isn't what I am going to do at all. What I want to say is that there are a number of things to be done now. For starters, you could kill me. I don't deny that it might make your life easier, but then you wouldn't have anyone around to help you."
"I do not need your help." At this, he pushed his wand forward, jabbing her breastbone.
"If you were to go with one of the other options, you would." Her posture didn't change, and no fear showed in her eyes at his threatening move.
"And what precisely would they be?"
She took a relieved sigh. "For one, you could brew the Animus Discindium potion and deliver it to the Dark Lord. We've already made it once, and we know that it needs two people to make it, and we would brew it again together. Once we return to him, he will undoubtedly kill us both. Me he would kill because I am a Mudblood, and you because, as we already know, he questions your loyalties."
Severus chuckled. "He is wise. I question them myself."
"Indeed. Well, another option would be that we would brew the Animus Redimio potion, for which you definitely need me as a source for virgin blood. We would brew it together and deliver it to Harry to keep him alive and destroy the Horcrux when the two face off again. You would have a devil of a time, of course, as no one would believe you to be honest or innocent, and you would likely be sent to Azkaban for the rest of your life." She stopped and looked at him, trying to gauge his response.
His face didn't change at all. "Or I could simply do nothing."
"Or you could do nothing, which would likely leave you with the consequences of the latter options, and you would probably still have to kill me." She allowed herself to relax, pulling back from his wand.
Abruptly, he lowered it and slumped back into the cushions. "I am not going to kill you, Miss Granger. But I wonder, what would you do if you were in my position?"
She thought for a moment. "I am in your position anyway."
He regarded her with bewilderment. "How is that, exactly?"
"I am going to do whatever you do, so the choice weighs just as heavily on me." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest.
Severus chuckled darkly. "And just whose side are you on, Miss Granger?"
"Yours." She stared into his eyes to convey the message that she was most serious, inviting him to read her thoughts if he wanted to see the truth behind her words.
"Then you are most definitely on the losing side." With that, he chucked her wand towards her.
"You have already made up your mind, sir. Why don't we just stop playing these games, and you can tell me what you have decided?" Her tone was even and without hesitation at her own boldness.
"Indulge me, first. Let us pretend for the moment that you were not offering me the choice between the Death Eaters and the Order. Let us pretend that you were really going to try to persuade me to help Potter. What would you say?"
Allowing herself just the slightest glimmer of hope, Hermione dropped her gaze into her lap and bit her lip nervously. "I suppose I would tell you that, since I am on your side, I would do everything in my power, which is a considerable amount as I am Harry's friend, to see that you were not taken to Azkaban if you decided to help the Order. I would say that, if the Dark Lord is defeated, there would be no more spying for you to do, no more reason for you to hide in the dungeons of Hogwarts teaching the dunderheads you hate for a man to whom you owe your freedom. You really could be free this time. If the Horcruxes are destroyed, he can't come back, and all the fighting and all the scheming and playing both sides would be over. You would never fear for your life, or wonder what the future holds. You could be free to do what you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want without looking over your shoulder. You could just be Severus Snape, whoever he is, and make your own choices, do research, market potions, publish books. You could consider all of your sins atoned for and just be. Wouldn't it be a relief, sir, to just let go of all the anger and mistrust? Wouldn't it be an amazing world if you could wake up and think of nothing and no one but yourself and not have to serve anyone? And you would know that you had at least one person out there on your side." She raised her eyes to his again.
"I suppose, if you were really trying to persuade me to help Potter, that would be a very appealing argument." He smirked at her before getting up and moving to a small table from which he took a bottle and poured himself a glass of firewhisky.
In a flash, Hermione strode towards him and moved to look back into his eyes. "But I meant what I said. I will do whatever you do. I could make the counterargument just as convincingly, if that's what you want to hear."
Severus took a long sip of the drink. "No, I do not think that I need to hear it. After all, I have been trying to persuade myself of it these many months, and, as you see, I have not experienced resounding success."
"I must tell you that I know a lot about you. Draco and I had a lot of time to talk together in The Cell, and I trust him, so you must know that I trust you as well. I trust you with my life. Whatever decision you make, it will be the right one." She knew that at this point things could go either way, so there was nothing to be lost by putting all of her cards on the table.
"I see, so you heard all about poor Severus and his awful childhood and teenaged lovesickness? I do not need your pity!" He turned away from her and threw his glass into the fire.
"Oh, I don't pity you, sir. You don't deserve to be pitied. Lately, you have got the short end of the wand, but it hasn't always been that way. You had a choice once, and, like it or not, that's what got you into this position, in debt to two unforgiving masters."
Spinning on his heel, he moved towards her and grabbed her hard by the wrist. "And why do you think that now I will make what you think is the right choice?"
Hermione trembled under Severus' touch. "Dumbledore told me."
"And I thought I was mad," he whispered inches from her face. "Dumbledore is dead."
She faltered as she looked up into the dark eyes that were boring holes into her own. "I know it sounds ridiculous, sir, but starting at the beginning of the school term, I began having dreams about the night he died…." Hermione trailed off as she saw the same look in Severus' eyes that she saw in her dreams. "He would tell me things. He told me that you didn't know what you were doing, that the Death Eaters suspected you, and that the final Horcrux was Harry's scar. Well, I mean, he didn't come out and say these things; I had to kind of work it out on my own."
"You mean to tell me that you have based this entire tale about the Horcrux in Potter's head on hallucinations about a dead man?" Severus grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard. "What in Merlin's name were you thinking?"
"Wait, sir, there's more. I didn't know what to think of the dreams, but it wasn't only Dumbledore who spoke to me in them. You did. You told me to look at a page in this Potions book I had bought, one I couldn't have known what was in the pages because I hadn't looked at it yet. You told me to look at a page, and on that page I read about the Animus Redimio potion." Hermione's whole body thrilled at Severus' unrelenting grasp.
"It must be a coincidence," Severus muttered, but Hermione thought she could hear indecision in his voice.
"There is something I fear more than Harry dying, though. Professor McGonagall gave me a Pensieve memory from Aberforth, and in it he and Dumbledore were talking about someone sort of giving into the darkness in them, and how Dumbledore didn't think he could save him this time. I thought he was talking about you at first, but, after spending some more time with Harry and talking to Aberforth, I realized that it wasn't you at all. It was Harry. The Horcrux is making Harry evil, and every day he becomes more and more one with the Dark Lord. If we can't destroy the Horcrux, he could become just as bad as, if not worse than, the Dark Lord. If that happens, none of us will be safe, least of all you. He'll come after you." Hermione's voice had become more and more pleading.
"He will come after me anyway," Severus replied as he dropped his hold on Hermione abruptly and turned away from her.
"I won't let that happen. Will you help me, Severus, please?" She tested the use of his given name for a reaction, but none came. "We haven't got a lot of time."
After several intolerably long moments, Severus pointed his wand to the trunk and levitated it towards a door across the room. "Come," was the only explanation he offered.
With another several flicks of his wand, the door opened, and Hermione found herself in an impressively large potions lab.
He smirked at her surprise. "I make it a point to have a decent place to work wherever I am. The room is charmed to be larger than it appears, and its wards will only accept me unless I instruct them otherwise. They will now permit you. However, I warn you to be careful in here. There are some rather unsavory ingredients in these cabinets."
"Luckily I brought both pairs of dragon hide gloves, then," Hermione quipped with a mischievous grin.
"Indeed. Now, as you astutely pointed out, we have not got much time, so I suggest we get started. Bring me the valerian root and pomegranate juice, as well as the copper cauldron." Severus began gathering some other ingredients while Hermione clicked the trunk open and retrieved the requested items.
She took a deep breath before asking her next question. "What sort of blood will we be using, sir?"
"Give me your hand and I will show you," he snapped as he held out a small blade.
Hermione's feelings were now mixed. She was delighted on the one hand that he was going to be making the base for the Animus Redimio, but with only a drop of blood from her hand, she wasn't sure if it would be strong enough for their purposes. How was she going to suggest that they jump in bed to get some more potent blood? "We're going to make the Redimio, then?"
"Very good, Miss Granger." He sighed ever so slightly as she held out her hand with a disconcerted look on her face. "Were you hoping we would make the Discindium? Did you want to watch me spill my blood again?"
"No," she gasped, as the tip of the blade pierced her skin and sent a drop of blood into the cauldron. She watched, mesmerized, as he added the juice and chopped up the valerian root into impossibly small, precise pieces and put them into the rest of the base to simmer with a few other magical ingredients from his stores in the lab.
"And that should be that for the moment," he stated, shooing her out of the lab and resetting the wards to the room. "What is it?" He gave her an inscrutable look as she sat on the sofa, and he took the armchair across from her.
"I'm… I'm just afraid that it won't be enough, that's all." Hermione fidgeted with the hem of her jumper.
"There's something more that you would like me to do to help Potter besides make the potion?" He cocked his eyebrow and glared at her.
"No, sir, I mean I don't know if the potion will be strong enough with my blood." She bit her lip and avoided his gaze.
"You are a virgin, are you not?" He looked somewhat amused at her discomfort and settled back into the armchair.
"That's sort of the point, isn't it? I may not know how to make the potion, but I know something about how to improve its strength. I'm afraid that just taking a drop from my finger won't be enough to protect Harry from the Killing Curse." She chewed on her lip, her hands trembling in her lap.
Severus jumped forward in his seat and glared at Hermione. "And just what would you suggest, Miss Granger? We need the blood of a female virgin, and you have supplied it."
"After the incident earlier, I am sure that you've realized that I know that the strongest blood to use for the potion's base is the blood of a virgin spilt willingly with, that is to say, blood from the first time…" Hermione hesitated before Severus' inspection.
"I know what blood is the strongest for the potion, Miss Granger. I am, after all, one of the only Potions masters alive who knows how to make it. However, since we do not have such blood, we will have to use what we do have." He continued to study her, and Hermione could not tell what exactly he was hoping to find.
"But we have got it, haven't we?" She looked up at him before averting her eyes again.
"Tell me exactly what you are trying to say. I am losing my patience." He relaxed back into his seat.
"I can provide the strongest blood that we would need. We both know what I am trying to say." Hermione willed herself to regain her courage. What kind of Gryffindor was she if she faltered now?
"It is not as if you can just stick your fingers between your legs and tear at your innocence, Miss Granger. You would have to surrender it willingly to a man." Severus tapped his fingers together and regarded her with seriousness. "So, as we are short a Potter and a Weasley, there is no one here to assist us in getting your virgin blood."
Hermione took a deep breath and boldly looked into his eyes. "You are here, sir."
"No."
Hermione couldn't keep herself from scoffing. "No? It's our only option, and you're saying no?"
"I have not squandered myself on a woman yet, and I will not do it now to save a boy I despise. Surely you don't think you are the only one with something to lose here? I have got to think on my dignity." Severus ran his fingers through his hair and looked into the cold fireplace.
"I told you before. This isn't just about helping Harry. It's about helping us to move on past this war, to get our lives back. I don't know about you, but my virginity is a small price to pay for that." She crossed her arms over her chest in a silent challenge.
"Do you realize what you are suggesting, Miss Granger? You would be giving me something that you can never have back."
"I wouldn't want it back. It would be worth it. There is something between us, Severus, and certainly you have felt it. Would it be so bad?" She reached out to touch Severus' hand. "I know I am not the only one with innocence to lose."
He abruptly pulled his hand away. "It does not mean all that to me."
Hermione's eyes beamed at him with subtle affection. "And yet you have kept it all this time, haven't you?"
"I never had an occasion to give it away. The other Death Eaters may find raping Muggles and keeping mistresses appealing, but I do not." He rubbed his eyes, and then slid his fingers down to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Is it because you found it merely inconvenient, or because you didn't want to waste it?" Her tone was gentle, yet challenging.
"I do not know if that is any of your business," he snapped.
"Please, Severus, look at me." She waited for him to lift his gaze back to her slowly. "I am not asking you for any kind of promise. I am simply asking you to do this with me for all of us, and if you will not think of us, think of what it could do for you and your life." She reached for his hand, and he didn't pull away.
"I may not think much about my sexual innocence, for Merlin knows I am not generally innocent, but you should think on yours. What will it do for you to look back and remember that you sacrificed your most precious gift in the bed of a murderer?" Severus' whole demeanor changed, and a more honest man broke through his harsh façade.
"You aren't a murderer!" Hermione choked through her imminent tears.
"I am a murderer. I have murdered, cheated, and lied. I have not been man enough to make a decision and stand by it. I have cowered before the powerful, groveled before the mighty, and spewed hatred and anger at everyone I have ever met. Is this the man to whom you would give your virginity?" He flipped his hand over to grab hers. "I will not do it. I will not taint you."
A lone tear trailed down Hermione's cheek. "You may think that's the man you are, but I know it's a lie. I know who you are."
"This is who I am, Miss Granger." His strong hands reached up and grabbed her face, refusing to loosen their hold, and, before she could react, he was in her mind, showing her visions from his own.
Hermione gasped as her thoughts were full of his memories, of all he had done and seen. She saw him taking his Dark Mark, thrilling in the violence of raids on Muggle towns, killing Dumbledore, and bowing before Voldemort.
When he was through, his hands dropped to her sides, and his breathing was labored, as he had experienced the same thoughts she had seen. "Is this the man you want to bed you?"
"This is who you are, Severus." With the same gesture he had used, she grasped his face and stared into his eyes, filling his thoughts with images of himself teaching, brewing potions, worrying for Draco's safety, and the look of horror on his face when he realized that his drink had been laced with Amortentia. "This is the man that I see. The other is there, I know, but he will not win your soul. The man I see will."
"Then you are as much a fool as Dumbledore was. He too thought he could convince me that my nature was an illusion." He shook free of her grasp and settled into his chair.
"Oh, I know it isn't an illusion. You've just been made to believe that there isn't anything else to you. Even Dumbledore's done it by condoning your actions with the Death Eaters in the name of spying, and by forcing you to kill him. You may be a grown man, Severus, but that doesn't mean that you've got it all figured out, or that you're immune to manipulation!"
"You think that you know me, Miss Granger, but you do not. No one knows me." He glared at her.
"That's because you're afraid to let anyone close enough to even get the chance. That's why you've never been with a woman, because if you gave yourself to anyone, she might know you, and that terrifies you!" Hermione threw herself on the floor in front of Severus. "Please help me. Make love to me."
Severus leaned closer to her and searched her eyes, expecting to be blocked from her mind, but finding her thoughts wide open. She was telling the truth. "It… the blood… it has to be given willingly." He stumbled over his words.
"I am willing." She allowed him to see her feelings of comfort and safety when he was near.
He thought for a moment. "I cannot just tear it and be done with it. We would have to complete the act. Do you understand how the magic of the virgin blood works?"
Hermione smiled at him. "I have been thinking about this for months. I know what will happen, and I am ready for it. I want you. But I will not ask you to do it if you don't want me."
Rather than give her any sort of definitive answer to her veiled query, he stood and pulled her to her feet by her elbows. "If you are sure, we do not have the luxury of courting before I take you to my bed, Miss Granger."
"Can't you call me Hermione?" she asked while putting a hand on his arm to still his progress away from her.
"I suppose I can try it… Hermione," he whispered, as though testing the sound. "You are just a child. I should not do this."
"I am a woman, Severus, and you know it as well as I do. I am intelligent enough to know the consequences of my actions." She stood on tiptoe and planted a chaste kiss on his lips.
"You will have to do better than that if we are to be lovers," he murmured, before leaning back towards her and capturing her lips in his with a passionate kiss. "This is your last chance," he gasped as he pulled away to study her expression. "After this, you cannot take it back."
"I have no intention of stopping," she breathed, placing a reassuring hand on his chest. "Now, get a vial and meet me in the bedroom, which is…?"
"Through that door." Severus motioned to another door on the wall opposite the lab, and then moved towards the lab door to retrieve the vial.
Hermione pulled down the green comforter on the large bed and found that pristine, crisp white sheets lay beneath it. She kicked off her shoes and stood at the foot of the bed as Severus walked in and moved towards the nightstand to place the vial and his wand on it. Without daring to look at her, he slowly began unbuttoning his frock coat.
She strode the few steps between them and reached out for the next button. "Please, let me do it, Severus." Her voice was low and raspy.
He watched her with hooded eyes as she worked her way slowly down his coat. Once she had opened all the buttons, he raised his arms slightly to allow her to push it aside. His face twisted into a bemused expression as her trembling fingers began disengaging the buttons of his shirt. "You are nervous," he observed.
"Of course I am nervous," Hermione quipped. 'I don't even know what I am doing!' she thought to herself.
"I am sure that, between the two of us, we can figure it out," Severus whispered, placing comforting hands on her arms after she removed his shirt to reveal his naked torso.
"Figure what out?" Hermione regarded him with confusion.
"You said that you don't even know what you're doing, but I am sure that we will work it out."
Hermione became even more bewildered. "But I didn't say that out loud."
Severus looked as though he was cursing himself inwardly as he reached out to pull off her jumper. "Silent Speech, perhaps? I have gathered that you know it through your interactions with Draco."
The surface of her skin was alive with goosebumps as he unhooked her bra. "Perhaps."
Before she could say anything more, his mouth was on hers again, and this time she parted her lips to invite his tongue in. He responded by pulling her closer to him by her hips and releasing a small, muffled moan. Hermione reached out to unbutton his trousers and left them pooled at his feet. With one swift movement, he swept her into his arms and stepped out of the garment before placing her in the center of the bed.
Hermione was all nerves as Severus knelt on the bed to divest her of her skirt and tights. He found her skin soft beneath her clothes, and her body radiated warmth as she blushed in embarrassment from head to toe. "Will it hurt?" she asked as he lay next to her, his long fingers exploring the contours of her form.
"I believe it may be momentarily unpleasant, but not unbearable. You will just have to relax." As he spoke, his hand moved between her legs and stroked her opening to test how wet it was. It was nearly dripping with moisture, and, with a smirk, he amended, "I believe your body is responding adequately."
"You needn't make this quite so much like a potions experiment, Severus. You could at least pretend that you are enjoying yourself," Hermione chided, reaching across her body to caress his cheek.
"I have a beautiful, brilliant young witch in my bed. What isn't there to enjoy?" He placed a lingering kiss on her neck and moved his body closer to hers so that she could feel the strength of his erection on her leg.
"I am not beautiful," she gasped as he licked the sensitive spot below her ear.
"I cannot hope to convince you that you are beautiful, and you cannot hope to convince me that I am not hideous, so we will have to agree to disagree." He shuddered as her hand found its way to the curve on his side.
"You are not hideous, Severus. I think that you are quite handsome." She rolled onto her side to face him, and they wrapped their arms around one another to kiss with unrestrained abandon. It was as though both thought they were in a dream, and were determined to make the most of the experience before they woke up and found themselves back at the manor.
"As I said," he panted through labored breaths as he pulled back to nearly an inch from her face, "we will have to agree to disagree." Before she could argue the point any further, he rolled her onto her back and moved on top of her, positioning his body between her opened thighs. "Are you absolutely sure about this, Hermione?"
"Yes, but say my name again so that I know for certain." She smiled at him adoringly, and he was visibly uncomfortable under her gaze.
"You are a remarkable witch, Hermione. I do not deserve this from you." He broke away from her gaze and looked down at her waiting body with shame.
"No, you deserve much more. Kiss me, Severus. Make love to me." He leaned down to kiss her lips softly, and shifted his hips so that his hard length was pressing at her entrance.
"You can still tell me to stop." His eyes were impossibly dark as they looked into her glistening brown depths.
"I have had every opportunity, and yet I have not. Be inside of me, Severus. I would not give this to anyone else but you."
A growl emitted from his throat as he kissed her again, his tongue darting into her mouth to lick hers. "I must be a bit forceful to ensure that the hymen will tear enough to produce blood. Please, forgive me."
Sensing his hesitation and unable to bear the wait any longer, Hermione lifted her hips up hard and felt the tissue tear, causing a slight twinge of pain. After a moment, the pain subsided, and they both moved together, trying to find a rhythm in this new and unfamiliar act.
Severus' eyes closed in concentration, and he kissed her again, freely. Reading about and watching sex was one thing, but actually to be engaged in it was entirely another. Reserve slipped away, and soon he was pounding into her, caressing her breast with one hand and steadying himself on the mattress with the other. Both of her palms were pressing into his hips, urging him to keep his body as close to her as possible. Sometimes their movements were jerky and awkward as they tried to time their thrusts, and occasionally he would nearly slip out of her if one lost the other's imprecise rhythm.
As he felt himself ready to lose his control and climax, he pulled his face back from hers and looked into her eyes. He expected to find fear and uncertainty in them, but was amazed when he saw pleasure and affection gazing up at him, several tears dripping down her flushed cheeks as she ground her hips against him insistently.
"Come with me, Hermione," he whispered as an electric energy surrounded them so powerful he was sure he was imagining it. 'Shit,' he thought to himself. 'The Animus Redimio magic is getting what it wants. How could I forget?'
"Severus," she hissed through her clenched teeth as the energy between them built until both of their bodies were thrilling with unknown magic.
For several blinding and unexpected moments, both of their bodies tensed, her walls clamping down around him hard and pulling out his ejaculation. They nearly screamed together at the sensations and could hardly breathe at the feel of their shared orgasm.
Immediately after spilling into her, with his last remaining strength Severus reached out his hand, and his wand and the vial flew into it. Trembling, he pulled out of her and used his wand to coax as much of her blood as possible from the bed and their bodies into the vial like a Pensieve memory. Hermione looked on with wonder as the small vial filled with her blood, and when he had replaced the stopper, he collapsed on his back and held the vial up to the soft candlelight.
The magic they had experienced had disappeared as if it had never happened, and Hermione looked at the vial with awe.
"It's strange that a drop of something so seemingly insignificant can mean the difference between life and death," she whispered, on the verge of falling asleep, placing her hand on the patch of hair on Severus' chest.
"That, my dear, is the impressive subtlety of potion making."
"Thank you for this, Severus. No matter what happens, I will never regret it." She insinuated her body next to his and snuggled against him.
"Would that I could believe it," he muttered, just barely audibly.
"What did you forget about the magic of the Animus Redimio?" Her voice was sleepy and her eyes were closed, and her whole body relaxed next to his.