Chapter Fifteen

Lavender Brown's body was found the day before Ron's escape from Azkaban. She'd been savagely beaten, violated, and her eyes and tongue were missing. Ron had been a model prisoner during his captivity, and therefore had earned the respect of both the guards and the other inmates. He was granted certain...unsupervised...privileges, and he wanted to hold on to that. It gave him a chance to get to know people who...in turn, knew other people on the outside. He began his plan a bit earlier than he'd expected to, but Lavender's earlier news, that there had been an infant, had shocked him into action.

'The bitch, the stupid cunt, and the bastard she was fucking, had his baby! My progeny, my son...' the rage flowed through his body like a drug. He'd never felt more alive than when he felt the anger building in his soul. Immediately he contacted his most trusted ally, to find clothing and a place to lay low and make his plans...he was going to make them pay, make both of them pay...with their lives.

Unbeknownst to the happy couple, a vile sickness had entered their paradise. They frolicked in the Caribbean sun and the sea, made sweet love on every surface imaginable; their private pool, on their lanai, on the beach, and while rocking gently in the hammock. They bought several gifts for friends in the markets and spent endless moments with Gracie, watching her grow ever bigger over the six weeks they spent on the island resort. Her hair lightened as she grew, and took on reddish highlights and curls just like her mother. Severus was completely besotted with his wife and daughter, and seeing Hermione relaxed, laughing often and putting back on the weight she had lost, made him the happiest man on earth. Even Harry remarked on the change, declaring Snape to be a bogart, not the pasty-faced mean-spirited Professor who'd been the bane of his school years. This of course led to a comment about whom was the real bane of who's existence, which led to much ribbing and laughter.

The night before the Snape family went home, Hermione was lying, like a decadent blanket, sated and replete, taking a small break before seducing her husband into another go-round, or two. The blanket was pooled around their waists and Severus was pleasantly relaxed, still semi-hard and buried in her softness, and he lightly ran his fingers up and down her slender back. She hummed her pleasure and buried her nose further into his neck, inhaling his unique and spicy scent and giving his shoulder a light nip between her teeth. His gasp filled her with pleasure, but the light smack on her behind caused her to raise her head and glare at him, making him laugh painfully as her sudden movement had an instantaneous effect on a certain part of his anatomy.

She punished him by sitting up, impaling herself completely on him and pushing him near to the brink when she knelt and arched her back and pushed back her long, damp hair back, showing off her pert breasts to perfection. Severus avidly watched as she placed her hands behind her back where they were placed on his muscular thighs, pushing her luscious breasts out further and she rode him as she had ridden the proud, frisky stallion that she had been paired with during their horse-riding tours of the island; deftly, powerfully...and joyously.

Her face had been lifted to the stars as they began the climb to the peak, when he suddenly wrapped a strong arm around her and rolled until she was beneath him. He rose on his knees, pushing hers out, and lifting her hips up slightly to change his penetration.

Linking her hands in his, he swallowed her gasp with a lusty kiss, then raised his head and implored "Hermione, sweet...look at me. No do not close your eyes, luv...look at me, see me." Her eyes opened, and brown looked into black, never ceasing the connection even as passion slammed through them and human instinct demanded the withholding of this intense spiritual communion in the privacy of one's own heart.

The pinnacle raced ever closer and, even as the earth shattered around them, their eyes remained locked in the incredible soul-baring intimacy they'd just shared. Breathing heavily, Severus bent to lay his sweaty brow on his wife's and shakily said "I love you, Hermione mine." Touched by both the recent union and the reverence behind his declaration to her, she whispered her love and devotion to him.

They were up, packed and ready to go early. Hermione was gathering up some of Gracie's things in the bathroom and, coming back into the bedroom, her breath came out in a soft laugh. Severus had been lying on the bed enjoying a 'conversation' with their daughter, and she now found the two of them fast asleep. Gracie had filled out during their stay, she'd gone from the tiny, large-eyed waif, to a chubby-cheeked cherub. For a moment, Hermione grieved, as all mother's do, the quickness of the growth of their infants. It had only been three months and all of the newborn features were gone, and her hair was curling around rosy cheeks, and a plump belly. Loving eyes wandered over, and cataloged the differences.

And so it was that Hermione had the last comforting, pleasant, wonderful memory for a very, very long time.

***Author's Note: Please forgive both the lateness and shortness of this chapter, many unpleasant things have happened to my family in a very short time and I have been rather distracted. Do not fear, I will not leave this story unfinished, indeed I couldn't if I tried. Please, grant me a boon and send your encouragement by way of a review. Thanks for reading!