The weekend was both delicious and agonising for Hermione. The long letter she wrote to him in the morning was replied to almost immediately. She had written to him about a new research project she was thinking about, in which she was planning on applying more complex arithmancy theorems to the field of potion making. His reply was encouraging and his suggestions inspiring. They did not write of their feelings and recent revelations - what had passed between them felt too complex and too new to put into words.
They saw each other at meal times, and once passing each other in the corridor. Each time they made eye contact, Hermione's gut clenched in sudden and acute desire, her appetite disappearing and her knees weakening. It became a game to see how long they could take before looking at each other across the dining hall. The greater the anticipation, the more devastating the physical reaction.
When Hermione strolled into dinner on Sunday evening, her body was already thrumming with the knowledge that she would see Severus again. But she carefully avoided looking up at the high table, a small smile playing around her lips. As she sat down next to Harry, she stretched her neck, first to one side, then to the other, exposing her neck and letting her hair tumble down her back. She stretched her arms up, pushing her chest out, and rolled her head around her shoulders, looking to all the world as though she was simply trying to recover from a long day in the library. Immediately she felt his gaze upon her, the sensation as physical as a touch. She blushed as her nipples tightened. Still, she did not look at him.
She ate the meal slowly and methodically, concentrating on keeping her gaze on the Gryffindor table. She smirked to herself, knowing he would see it. She knew she must be driving him mad. But if she was not allowed to touch him, to be with him alone, she would just have to get her thrills elsewhere.
When she saw what was for dessert, Hermione could not stop herself from grinning. Fruit. Perfect. She picked up a peach and seemed to consider it, before lifting it to her mouth slowly and biting into the soft flesh. The juice seemed to erupt in her mouth and she almost moaned aloud at the feeling and taste of it in her mouth. With a sense of self-irony, she realised that she was turning herself on just by teasing him. She bit into the fruit again and some of the juice trickled down her chin. She wiped it away with her finger before licking it slowly.
Soon, the peach was almost gone. She took the last piece between thumb and forefinger and finally turned towards the head table. Severus was sitting rock-still, staring at her with his mouth slightly open, his eyes dark and his gaze heavy upon her. Hermione lightly puckered her lips, lifted the fruit to her mouth and sucked it in. Severus visibly shuddered and Hermione felt her own juices flooding into her centre in response. She swallowed the fruit, her chest tight, her breathing unsteady and her core throbbing. Her gaze was connected to his the entire time and she felt like she was drowning in his dark depths once more, a reminder of their first true connection a week ago.
Suddenly someone stood up next to Hermione and their connection was gone. She felt as though it had been violently torn from her. She felt completely bereft. When her view was clear again, Severus was gone.
Eventually, Hermione stumbled into her private room. She was relieved to have escaped her friends. She felt tired, confused and aroused. How was it possible that she felt so strongly already, after only a week, one real conversation and a handful of letters? She was attracted to him, yes, but the intensity of her attraction would be impossible without the intensity of her feelings for him. The thought of keeping away from Severus for almost an entire year felt like a blow to the stomach.
After her display in the great hall, Hermione was too wound-up physically to fall asleep easily. She thought about relieving the tension herself, but knew she would only feel empty and alone afterwards. Eventually, she fell into a fitful sleep, her dreams full of dark eyes, a deep voice, and soft caresses.
Deep in the dungeons, Severus Snape was not faring much better. He was torn between annoyance at her teasing and admiration for her skill and cheek. But mostly he was trying not to think about his throbbing erection which was probably the longest he had ever sustained in his life.
...
Potions the next morning was an agonising affair. To be in the same room yet to be unable to acknowledge the other was painful. Added to that, the unsatisfied sexual tension from dinner the night before made the two hours pure torture for Hermione and Severus. Their initial eye-contact when Hermione first entered the classroom left both feeling like they had been branded with a hot iron. Within seconds, Hermione was bright red and Severus' eyes had visibly dilated.
He did not look at her once while giving his lecture preceding the brewing.
But it was once the students had started preparing their potions and brewing that the situation became truly unbearable. Severus could not focus on his marking and his eyes kept drifting to Hermione leaning over her cauldron. Hermione could not even begin to concentrate while feeling his scorching gaze upon her. Her fingers trembled as she cut her ingredients, almost slipping dangerously several times. When she began brewing, she kept losing count of the number of turns she made in her cauldron. Soon, her potion was a congealed mess.
After a while, Severus reluctantly arose to make his usual round of the classroom. He passed each student making suggestions for improvements, his comments unusually tame due to his distraction. When he finally made it to Hermione, her ruined potion barely registered with him. Instead he was overwhelmed by her smell - almonds and vanilla. He felt himself hardening in response immediately.
Hermione was so aware of Severus' presence behind her that she succeeded in dropping her ladle into the cauldron. She froze, half expecting to be reprimanded, holding her breath.
Severus stepped closer to her, his front almost touching her back but not quite. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and missing the shudder of desire that passed through Hermione's body. When he opened his eyes, Severus visibly steeled himself, clenched his fist, and took a step back. Ten seconds later, he was back behind his desk, determinedly staring at his students' essays. Hermione collapsed onto her stool as her knees finally gave out, her heart hammering wildly.
At the end of two of the least productive hours of both Hermione and Severus' lives, four students filed out of the classroom, oblivious to the tension in the room behind them.
As soon as the door closed, Severus was upon her, pushing Hermione up against her desk, his hands gripping her curls and his mouth almost aggressively attacking her own. Hermione responded with equal fervour, groaning deeply into his mouth as her tongue tangled with his. Her hands held the sides of his face, before moving over his shoulders and down his chest, ultimately moving to grip his arse to pull him into her. Severus growled in response, moving his hands from her hair, one to grip her thigh and pull it up around his waist, the other to palm desperately at her uniform covered breast. Hermione clamped her other thigh around him too as he helped lift her onto the desk. When his erection made contact with her hot core, Severus tore his mouth from hers and buried his face in her neck, gasping with desire and instinctively rocking forwards.
Hermione mewled as his erection ground into her and pressed into him in return, the pressure on her clit causing an explosion of desire to erupt within her, taking her higher and higher. "Oh God oh God" she gasped, before pulling Severus back to her mouth. Their lips were pressed together, but they were gasping more than kissing now as they ground harder and harder into each other. Severus was moaning continuously now, his hands delving under her shirt to caress the incredibly soft skin beneath, then moving up to pinch her nipples through her bra.
Hermione wailed, as the combined pressure on her nipples and clit pushed her over the edge. She stiffened as pleasure burned through her, spreading from her core to her very toes, her hands clutching at Severus' clothed back and her legs clenching convulsively around him. Severus continued thrusting against her as she came, harder and faster, until her heat and her cries and her clenching became too much to withstand and he shuddered his release as he groaned into her mouth and collapsed against her.
They lay there, half draped over the table, panting heavily and clutching each other in a tight embrace.
Eventually, Severus lifted his hand and aimed a belated, wandless locking spell at the door.