Chapter 24: Shadows Of Relevance

{A/N: Here's another update...as I stated before I don't much care for the previous chapter and it might be rewritten I had been called in for a shift today and didn't know the exact timing so the chapter was a bit rushed following the call, baring that in mind here's the next one...}

My Thanks To My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

The Sitting Room, The Snape Residence, Spinner's End, Cokeworth England, Muggle World...

Swirling golden brown liquid seemed the ideal choice for a drink right along with the fiery kick once it had all gone down. Snape's obsidian eyes continued to flicker as he noted the contents of his glass before drinking it down and awaiting the after-burn. It was a bottle of Ogren's Finest indeed as he poured himself another round. It wouldn't be long before he would be summoned and he figured he owed it to himself to celebrate another job well done. Try as he might to keep his involvement with Hermione Granger as clinical as possible in him mind, he couldn't help but recall their act with fascination.

His new found libido stirred and he once more felt himself growing erect within the confines of his dark trousers. Taking a sip from his newly filled glass, he willed himself to steer clear of indulging for the sake of doing so. The wizard smirked when he recalled how she gasped when he spread her slender legs and showed her the side of oral pleasure beyond her wildest imaginings.

For once the insufferable know it all could say nothing, as she knew nothing and from her apparent reaction to his efforts being that she was reduced to flopping about on the mattress in the manner of a boneless fish, she was out of her element entirely.

It amused the Potions Professor to no end given all her cheek and refusal to allow anyone else a moment to showcase their intellect in any class she was finally put in her place for however long that had been.

Still, she had been a decent lay if he were to admit it even for one so inexperienced as she had been. She seemed utterly willing to allow him to take the lead and trusted him to do what needed to be done despite their previous clashing. Much better than he had anticipated when he was forced to take her under such strenuous circumstances.

He finished off his drink barely setting the glass back onto the make-shift bar when he felt it, the onset of a vast burning sensation that radiated from his left forearm and seemed to reach every part of him. His knees threatened to buckle then as he gripped the bar and attempted to get his footing.

The burning intensified and the dark mark glowed red symbolizing the fury of this serpentine master once the news of his marriage ans subsequent coupling with Hermione Granger reached his ear.

Unbeknownst to the wizard, his better and decidedly younger half had gotten out of bed none too fond of the ache nor the mess he had left between her thighs wrapped in his bed sheet and fearful of what was to become of him.

"Professor?" she said in confusion forgetting about their act in the wake of her respectful concern for the man whom had done so much for her.

"He's summoned me." replied Snape attempting to stand.

Hermione rushed over toward him attempting to help him steady himself. She had no idea that this was only the beginning of her husband having to endure the despot's unseemly wrath.

"Hogwarts..." said Snape struggling with the pain "Get yourself back to Hogwarts..."

"What about you?" asked Hermione in confusion.

"DO AS I SAY!" shouted Snape in apparent desperation as she had never heard the man raise his voice in all the years she'd known him. "You can apparate...as my wife you can use my means of returning to the school despite your registered age."

"But..." began Hermione with tears streaming down her cheeks.

She had not known what to say about the wizard whom had both made her feel lower than soil in the wake of his verbal jabs and immensely satisfied following their recent entanglement beneath the sheets of his childhood bed.

Snape smirked as he looked upon her, his first and only wife despite his being of age to marry long before she reached the halls of Hogwarts.

"I never noticed before...just how beautiful you've become." he said as if it had been more to himself, but she had heard him none the less.

He touched her face with his rough calloused hand right hand and leaned in almost as if he were attempting to kiss her once more before pulling away from her all together and heading out the front door to answer the summons that could very well mean the end of his life in the wake of a cruel tyrant's wrath.

Hermione had not known what to think much less what to feel about the wizard in that moment. He had gone out of his way to secure her from the clutches of his fellow death eaters and all too soon the despot was of the mind to exact punishment. She reached for him unsure of herself even as her hands moved to grip his arm just as he slipped past her and out into the rancid afternoon air. It was evident that she was in the middle of a onset of emotional upheaval and there was little she could do to put a stop to it.

All of her intellect had no answer for this feeling without a name that seemed to over take her and but she recognized it's aspect in the wake of the feeling of sadness that overtook her the moment he had been gone.

The momentarily stunned witch was caught off guard by the fact that her Potions Professor had called her beautiful, in his brief moment of weakness and if that had not been enough to cause her to take leave of her senses he had or at least she figured that he was going to kiss her on his own accord but he pulled away at the last second and rushed to meet his fate.

His final words being that of an order forced her to move from the spot he had left her in, standing in the center of his family sitting room and stark naked beneath the sheet she took from the bed where he spent most of his youth and the earlier part of his adulthood.

It had occurred to the young amber eyed witch that she truly knew nothing of him at all despite now carrying his name having shared his bed. He wasn't just a mystery to her he was a mystery to anyone whom claimed to know him. The aspect of his rather closed off nature had never been an issue before, but with him possibly headed out to his death, there would be no one whom could ever truly say they knew him not even his own wife.