Hermione woke, happy to be in the arms of her lover, of her husband, and wiggled against him, kissing his chest delicately.
"We should be returning to Hogwarts soon, you will be sharing my chambers now, no one can make you leave." He kissed the top of her head and held her to him tighter, as if he thought she'd float away if he didn't grasp her with everything in him.
She nodded against his chest and lifted her head, tilting it back so her lips could reach the underside of his jaw and neck. He grunted in response and flipped her, burying his face in her neck as his throbbing member found its way exactly where it belonged.
She gasped rocking against him as he mouthed at her neck and inhaled her deeply, thrusting in and out so gently she could feel every ounce of his love for her.
She hooked her fingers into his hair, urging his face up so she could kiss him deeply and sighed in relief at the feeling of his tongue begging entrance to her mouth. He explored her mouth, his hands supporting him as he moved above her. He would slow, and then speed in a way that made her moans become deep, desperate and soon they were finishing, her walls quaking around him and his face buried in her hair again as he simply held her against him.
She brushed the hair back from his face when he rested against her chest, his face turned to the side listening to her heartbeat.
"Do you want me to take a contraceptive?" She hummed the question, she wouldn't, she would start a family with him now if he wanted, they hadn't discussed it. She'd not been taking them but they'd only been active for a week and taking one now would stop any chances of pregnancy.
He raised up on his elbows, his eyes looking into hers in question and she smiled, pecking the tip of his nose.
"Are you ready for that what will come should you not?" He cocked a black eyebrow at her and she smiled, smoothing her fingers across the sharp ridge of his cheekbone.
"I don't think we should wait until you're fifty, if that's what you're asking." She winked and he made a low growling noise.
"Cheeky witch." His lips captured hers, dominating her in the sweetest way before a knock at their door broke them apart and both covered just before the door was flung open.
Harry and Draco stood on the other side, Harry sniggering and Draco flushed.
"You've become lazy, Hermione, it's time to go back to school." Harry crossed his arms across his chest, giving her the opening she needed to launch a pillow at his face. A pillow that smacked him and hit the floor with a dull thump.
It was Draco's turn to snigger.
"Ever heard of privacy, Potter?" She huffed, earning a heartwarming chuckle from her husband and a scowl from her best friend.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just get ready, would you?" He huffed and turned, stalking off with Draco behind him, following a bit like a lost puppy.
SSHG
Their first week back at school moved slowly, the time uneventful as Hermione was not allowed to attend classes and had to wait in their dungeon chambers for Severus to return from teaching. He often studied with her in the evenings, challenging her to the best of his ability.
It was strange, having her husband give her assignments but when he read her papers and gave her those little nods of approval it made her heart soar. She'd always respected his intellect, even before she'd realized there was something more than met the eye to him.
It was exhilarating, living her life alongside the man she loved. Mid-week she received an owl from Molly and Arthur Weasley. Ginny was safe and home, and apparently involved with Lucius Malfoy though Ginny had begged they said no more.
It was two days later that she received a letter from Ginny, detailing everything that had happened and making Hermione's heart jump into her throat on more than one occasion.
"What are you reading, wife?" Severus sat beside her, curious black eyes on the side of her face as she covered her mouth and re-read the line she'd just finished.
"Lucius Malfoy is rescinding his acts against muggleborns because he's with Ginny." She laughed, an almost wild sound. Her disbelief was nearly palpable.
"Apparently Bellatrix Lestrange tortured her with the Cruciatus curse though, and he decided she needed to go home, we knew that much, but apparently they're more involved than we thought." She finished, folding and putting away the letter.
"She will be returning soon then? It will be nice to see my wife cease this incessant moping." He smirked when she stuck her tongue out at him childishly, shifting so that she could lay her head against his shoulder.
He shifted her again, moving her so that his arm circled her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the head.
"Are you ready for the test?" She raised both eyebrows when she looked up at him again and he grunted.
So far he'd been disappointed, she was not pregnant but Poppy had warned him not to feel too let down, even with magic it would take time to have a positive result.
"Perhaps we should skip the test this evening, wife, I find it quite disheartening to be let down repeatedly." His voice was barely audible but she gave a small nod and hooked her fingers through his, her eyes staring up at the underside of his face.
"We'll have you a whole brood of little Snapes soon, love, you just have to be patient." He kissed the side of her head at her words but she could still feel that he was down.
"Patience never was one of my particular virtues." He gave her a sad smile and she pecked his lips, pulling herself up from beneath his arm and brushing her hair back from her face.
"I'm going to have a shower and then, maybe you'll read to me?" She gave him an impish grin. So far she'd talked him into reading for her every night for the past three. She adored the way his voice drifted over her like a blanket of velvet, the deep, rich sound of it reading from her favorite books was one of those things about him she would treasure forever.
"I suppose I could be persuaded." He smirked, cocking an eyebrow and she giggled, hurrying off before he could jump to his feet and catch her, ensnaring her into one of her other favorite nightly activities.
She wiped away the fog that clouded their mirror when she'd finally finished her shower, not nearly as hot as she would normally take but she found the heat made her a bit nauseated and she was uninterested in losing her dinner.
Biting her lip before taking a deep breath she grasped the wand in a shivering hand. She could check, couldn't she? And then if it was negative again Severus would not be disappointed because he would be none the wiser.
It made the most sense to her.
Nodding at the reflection of her eyes in the mirror she muttered the charm under her breath and swiped her wand across her stomach. The tip glowed, a bright, blinding red and she dropped the wand with a gasp. It rolled along the bathroom floor and ticked off of the clawed foot of the tub before she rushed over and grabbed it again.
She narrowly missed knocking her head against the porcelain tub as she lifted the wand and stood again, running it across her body and giving a bright smile to herself in the mirror. Bright red.
Her eyes aglow she screeched at the top of her lungs.
"Severus! Severus come here!" Not thinking about the fact that her excitement may translate to something else to him and he was in the doorway in a heartbeat, the wooden door flung open and his wand at the ready.
She gave him a sheepish smile, a blush tinging her cheeks and turned to face him fully, not yet in her sleeping gown.
"What's happened? Merlin witch I thought you were in danger!" He half growled, half sobbed as he walked over and snatched her up in his arms, holding her to him tightly, uncaring about the water that clung to her skin.
She grinned into his shoulder, her arms hooking around his back for a long moment before she pulled back and scrambled away.
"No, no danger, Severus." She lifted her wand just as he was putting his away again and he tipped his head, a bit of black hair falling into his face as he watched her with scrutinizing eyes.
"Well, out with it then, my mad wife." He grunted, crossed his arms across his chest and she cocked her own eyebrow at him.
He may have been intimidating to others, even dressed down as he was in a pair of trousers, his feet socked and his chest bare, but to her he would never be intimidating.
Which could only be because she knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would never hurt her.
She ran her wand the length of her stomach again at his insistent huff and grinned broadly at the dumbstruck look on his face at the bright red glow.
"Well, daddy, don't you feel silly for making those ugly faces at mummy now." She chided playfully, just before she was swept up into a pair of warm arms and lips were assaulting her face everywhere they could reach. She dropped her wand again, but was unconcerned as it rolled across the floor.