Severus
Holly lay sprawled beneath him, gasping for air. Severus caught the witch's lips with his own and ceased thrusting to allow her a moment of rest. But when her fingers flit over his shoulders again, he took it as a sign and pulled out, turning her onto all fours and dragging her hips to his own. Her little whimpers and moans provided him immense pleasure as he struggled to find her hole with his cock guided blindly in one hand. By the level of noise she was making, he gathered she also found satisfaction in his questing. He finally slid inside her warmth and pushed her chest to the mattress so that her moans were lost in the down bedding. She bucked back and wailed muffled encouragements. Her precarious bun had fallen apart at some point and Severus gathered the inky curls into a fist, pulling her back up.
'Hush, Princess, or wake the entire Castle,' he breathed against her ear. For all her begging pleased him, he feared Azkaban more. He made a mental note to cast a precautionary Muffliato before taking her in the future.
'Sorry, Prof— I mean — Sev — Severus.'
Slowly, with a hand at her flank, he guided her back to her knees. He tilted her chin with a single finger, and she grinned bashfully at him. The bright green eyes were lidded, black make-up smudged around them. The dark stains made her seem demented, yet in a delectable way, for her undoing was his doing. Then her jaw slacked and her expression turned to mirrored his own lust again. He growled at her and she answered by clamping her walls around him.
'Harder,' she mouthed.
Severus lost the last sliver of self-control; he had meant to pull out, but the moment proved too great and he exploded deep inside her instead. She jerked at the depth and force of his final stroke but he quickly released her hair and collapsed beside her. He slung an arm over her hips and closed his eyes, surrendering to oblivion.
After a long while, she stirred and tucked some hair behind his ear. He cracked open one eye. She was still on her stomach and close enough for him to count the dark green specks in her irises.
'How was it?' she smiled, chewing on her lip.
'Exquisite,' he returned her smile as best he could. 'How are you?'
'Bit tender. But I can go again,'
Severus laughed out loud at this, pulling her tighter to his side and burying his nose in the slant of her neck.
'I can make you regret that,' he teased, nipping at her clavicle.
She squealed and tried to tickle his ribs in retaliation, resulting in a brief wrestle match in the sheets, which she won by turning their playful scuffle into another heady kiss.
'I need at least five minutes,' he laughed, savouring the way her breasts pressed to his side.
'Then I'll get us a cauldron cake, I'm starving,'
He reluctantly let her go, watching her bottom as she slunk over the cold floor to the sweets.
'Drink the vial on my desk,' he called.
'Birth control?' she asked, collecting the small blue bottle.
'It will be effective for three lunar cycles,' he folded his arms behind his head.
She threw back the potion and returned to bed, sitting by his side him and warming her cold feet under his legs. He made no mention of discomfort. She rummaged around the bright box for a cake, broke it in two and handed him half. Severus took it wordlessly, thinking how strange it was to share Christmas cake with Holly Potter — in his bed. The cake itself tasted pleasantly of ginger and nutmeg, sweetened by marzipan and glazed cherries on top.
'I'm leaking,' Holly announced suddenly, looking at a trail of seed running down her thigh.
Severus reached for his wand, 'Come here.'
She scooted closer, tensing as the wood brushed her thighs and he banished the trail of translucent liquid.
'I prefer you dripping with my come,' he parted her folds with the tip of his wand.
'Eat your cake, Severus,' she giggled, swatting him away.
Although slighted, he vowed sweet revenge and ate the rest of the cake obediently.
A sudden tapping on the window made Holly jump and Severus rise.
It was a raven pecking urgently at the glass.
So the fire has started.
Severus made his way to the window, letting the bird in and untying the scroll from its leg.
'Who's that?' Holly asked from beside him.
'Regal,'
'He's yours?' she asked, feeling the bird cake crumbs out of her open hand.
'Borrowed,' Severus grunted, scanning the message twice. 'Kingsley has agreed to help locate the Horcruxes,' he stated finally.
Holly looked up sharply, 'You told Kingsley?'
'Anonymous tip. We need the Order to find and —Salazar forbid— destroy these… objects,' he stated firmly.
She petted the raven's head, a worried line between her brows.
'Take him to the perch,' Severus said more kindly, pointing at a wrought iron stand nearby the hearth. 'And tell me about the diary you destroyed in the Chamber of Secrets.'
Regal squawked as Holly carried him to the perch, momentarily interrupting her account of how she punctured the diary with a basilisk tooth. His ears piqued as she mentioned the Phoenix and Gryffindor's sword.
'Will you be able to open the Chamber again?'
She righted her glasses, 'Yeah.'
'Get your clothes and cloak,' he commanded, already dressing. 'And take that makeup off, if anyone sees the state of you, they will know exactly what you … perhaps even we . . . have been up to.'
'What if Myrtle's there?' Holly whispered from somewhere beside him as they made their way toward the second-floor girl's lavatory.
'Ghosts wander at night,' he answered matter of factly.
'Are you pureblood?' came the question from his invisible accomplice.
'Halfblood,' Severus answered softly, not wanting portraits or unwelcome ears privy to private information.
'Ron usually teaches Hermoine and I the stuff magical families grow up with,' she said, a hint of wistfulness in her tone.
'I taught your mother when we were children,'
Holly was silent after that and only spoke again when she addressed a snake-engraved tap in parseltongue. He suppressed a shudder at the sound, having only heard the Dark Lord speak to Nagini in the language. Usually during feeding time.
The brass snake twisted and something heavy shifted deep beneath their feet. The sink sank out of sight and left a large pipe exposed.
'Here we go,' she declared, her voice echoed by the hole.
Severus glanced into the void and sighed.
Upon seeing his apprehension, she grinned, 'I'll go first.' And with a whoop, she was gone.
He swore colourfully before following her, thinking how apt this was as a metaphor for their relationship.
Blackness engulfed him and he braced for impact long before his boots made contact with what he regretted to discover, was bones. In the dark, only a faint light ebbing from Holly's wand illuminated a large cavern. Severus soon added his own Lumos to hers. She stood examining a round iron door adorned with more snakes. He stalked to her side, dusting his robes.
She hissed again, the snakes pulled back and the door swung inward.
After what felt like an eternity walking along a rift torn through the mountain on which Hogwarts sat, they came at last to a long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more serpents, rose to a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. Past a flight of stone steps, the entire floor was submerged in shallow water, making their footsteps resound noisily through the chamber.
Salazar's guardians rose from the murky water, rearing and ready to strike. Moss and mould caked their ancient carved stone bodies.
Hogwarts never ceases to surprise.
'Come on!' Holly's voice echoed and Severus realised he had dropped back to stare at the gigantic serpents. The witch already stood in front of the massive bulk of the basilisk at the far end of the chamber. The scales were still mostly intact but the skin sagged over the skeletal frame. Empty eye sockets stared ahead.
Severus caught up quickly, pointedly ignoring his cloak fanning out around him in the shallow water.
They made quick work of pulling the teeth from their sockets and stuffing them into a summoned satchel. Without the double rows of sharp teeth, the beast seemed rather harmless. He noticed Holly stealing away four or five of the teeth, but chose not to ask her reasoning.
Severus vanished the satchel and they stood side by side, looking at the immense skeleton.
'Did you really kill it?' He asked, trying not to sound sceptical.
'Yeah,' she ducked and poked a finger through a hole in the skull, 'I stabbed it through the head. Right here.'
'Perhaps there is hope after all,' he said softly, looping his arm through hers.
'I just got lucky,' she shrugged, but her ears reddened.
He pulled her closer and planted a kiss on the top of her head, 'You are the bravest witch I have ever met,' he murmured against her hair. She looked curiously at him before wrinkling her nose and standing on her toes to kiss him quickly, 'Let's go back, I want to take a bath,'
Severus carefully packaged seven basilisk teeth and sent Regal back to Kingsley with the hefty package and directions of use. In the letter, he explicitly expressed the need for secrecy regarding the matter, which was mainly an attempt at keeping the information from Dumbledore as long as possible.
She was already asleep when he sent the raven away. He slid in next to her as quietly as he could, pulling the blankets higher about her shoulders. As Severus settled against her warmth, he wondered how he had ever managed to warm the bed alone. He pulled her closer and fell asleep grasping one of her breasts.
During the night, he woke her twice for sex. The first was gentle and slow. Waking from light sleep, Severus had been delighted to find her naked form pressed against him in their warm cocoon of softness. He made her come around two fingers before she suggested sucking him off. Naturally, it was an offer he accepted without a second thought.
The second time he woke her only for his selfish desires. He wet her by licking a hand and taking her roughly from the back. Holly only woke up when he started pummeling into her. She held his head and hips behind her, trying to slow him down. But he came quickly after, finally spending himself deep inside her.
On Christmas morning, Severus built a new fire and brewed them a kettle of sweet black tea. They washed down the remaining treats with tea in bed as a foggy drizzle blanketed the Castle. Holly was l boldly betting her broom (which was still in Umbridge's office, if he recalled correctly) on their impending Wizard's Chess match when his Dark Mark started pulsing painfully.
'He summons me,' Severus said softly, fingers twitching.
Her pupils dilated sharply, 'What does he want?'
'I will soon find out,' he said, shrugging into a shirt.
'On Christmas morning?'
'No matter. I should not keep Him waiting,'
She watched him dress in pale silence. 'I'll be here when you get back,' she mumbled as he stooped to kiss her forehead before heading for the door.
It came quickly, tumbling from her lips in desperation: 'I love you.' Panic edged her voice.
He opened the door, grimacing. Saying goodbye was already the hardest part. Now, this. His knuckles turned white on the knob and he could not bring himself to turn to the witch in his bed. 'I know,' he said and slipped out into the cold.