Heat flooded his face and before he could even apologise, she'd tipped his head back with a finger under his chin and raised her eyebrow with a cheeky smirk as she stared at him.

"Don't make promises you don't intend to keep Severus, because I just might take you up on that"

oOo

They didn't speak any more of it. But it wasn't an awkward silence, simply acceptance. Some semblance of peace at least. She knew his deepest and darkest secrets, and he knew hers. They were confidants for each other, and he'd been vulnerable in front of her and for the first time in his life he didn't regret it. He'd laid himself bare and she hadn't mocked him, hadn't twisted it to her advantage. If she'd ask it of him, he would be her willing slave, but that was because deep down he knew she never would ask it of him, and deep down…he wanted to be hers regardless. How pathetic. A lifetime under two masters and when he was finally freed of the yoke he sought nothing more than to hand her the leash to a collar of his own making.

Things were calm and quiet for a few days, the routine they'd established settled under his skin until he couldn't imagine being anywhere but there with her, and Rose and Sacha even, whom he'd grown to care for all of them so fiercely in such a short time that he felt that something fundamental had changed in him, that he was able to love them so dearly, that he'd claim both as his own should the opportunity arise.

It was as though every emotion he'd lacked in the previous years, every feeling and sensation he'd occluded away, was being heaped upon him tenfold, gods but the laughter they'd shared. He was thrilled to realise that not only was she a wonderful person and an excellent host, but she was fun to be around. She was cheeky and forward and had a dry wit that matched his own, the amount of shared jabs they'd had over imbeciles in the papers, he'd chuckle and she'd giggle, until his face hurt from the unpracticed muscles pulling at the grin on his face.

Not only that, but the flirting. He was shocked to discover that she was a massive flirt, It was completely harmless of course, and for the most part platonic but it was…fun. The camaraderie, knowing he could snipe at her and she'd snipe back, instead of becoming upset.

They were, he realised, well matched. In almost everything.

She would even brood with him, when some nights his demons were too loud to ignore, they found solace in wine, good books and a shared solemn silence, nothing needed to be said on those nights, and though at times it was morose and maudlin, there was something cathartic and healing about having someone else to share in the silence, who understood just how there were no words to adequately convey the feeling when the inner demons took hold, be they thoughts or memories, and that sometimes you just had to let them burn through your soul so you could awaken from ash anew.

oOo

He threw her against the wall, biting kisses along her neck and shoulder, sharp nips in contrast to bruising fingers that wrenched her hips into his own, the solid column of his aching length pressed tightly against the soft curve of her arse. Her chin dropped to her chest with a throaty moan as she arched her back, increasing their contact below the waist, but he couldn't have that, not when it blocked access to her delicious throat, so while one hand deftly removed his belt, the other fisted in her riotous mass of curls, pulling her head back tightly and allowing him to once more place bruising kisses into her throat. "Fuck" she groaned out, tears reaching the corners of her eyes at the tight hold of her hair, "Oh I intend to, Witch" he snarled, removing his belt quickly, the leather cut through the air and the buckle jangled as he brought it quickly around her mouth. "Sink your teeth into that witch, we can't have anyone hear you scream"

She did as instructed, the weight of him still pressing her into the wall unforgivingly and the sound of his zipper lowering echoed through the hallway. Not wasting any time with removing any more clothes, he kicked her feet apart, one hand tugging her knickers to the side as the other pulled out his cock and pressed himself against her, the blunt head of his cock butting between her legs for a moment before he thrust in fully.

The moan she let out was closer to a shriek and he chuckled darkly in her ear, "More than you were expecting Ms Granger? That's the difference between the boy you knew and a real man" he nipped her ear and he saw her hands dig into the wall.

She was so tight around him, almost too tight to get a good rhythm going, and the tears that leaked from the corners of her eyes suggested she too felt the burn of his entry, but the hips that pressed back into his own and the moan that escaped her lips told of her willingness to take the pain with her pleasure.

" You've wanted this haven't you ? Wanted me to take you, make you mine?" She nodded frantically and he set a brutal pace, one hand fisted in her hair and holding the belt that looped around her, the other grasping her hip and giving him an anchor for his powerful thrusts as he drove himself into her again and again. She was slick and wet and it eased his entry, letting him set a brutal pace that she was attempting to meet with each thrust.

It was too much, the gorgeous moans and crys she let out , the scent of her sex on the air, the taste of the salt on the skin of her neck, and the molten heat of her as he took her, and he felt himself climbing faster than he thought possible.

"Fuck" he grunted, burying his face into her neck, they were both sweat slicked and he couldn't resist reaching his tongue out to taste her neck, ending in another bite which made her groan even louder. The hand on her hip slipped between her legs, seeking and finding his goal quickly if her hitched breath and gasp were anything to go by. "Don't you dare make me go there alone little witch" he grunted into her neck and she moaned deeply as his fingers made quick work of her clit, his hips never pausing in their rythmn, the air between them was hot and humid and he pressed his face into her neck, tasting and feeling until he was hurtling over the cliff, he moaned his relief into her ear and she shuddered, her whole body stiffening in reaction, age old instinct making him thrust himself as deeply inside her as he could while he came and hold himself there while he spilled his essence within her, and he felt her answering release in his cock when her whole body clamped down on him, almost locking him in place, her own instinct wanting to keep him and he moved his hand from between her legs to her lower belly, imagining and praying and…

He shot awake with a groan and instantly regretted it with the head rush it gave him. Falling back on the pillow he covered his eyes with his arm while he waited for the black spots to clear from his vision. When he felt like he wasn't on the verge of immediately blacking out he tentatively lifted the blanket and groaned at the mess awaiting him, he'd made a mess of himself and all the bedclothes. Falling back on the pillow and covering his face with both hands, sighing deeply he cast a Tergeo on himself, thankful he had the strength to do so and for a horrified moment wondered how he was going to cope with cleaning the sheets,but he needn't have bothered as he saw a slight light shimmer of a rune embroidered in the edge of the bedclothes before both the bed sheet and blankets were clean again. Of course she'd charmed self-cleaning bedclothes, he wondered for a second why she'd done as such, and for a moment a hot streak of jealousy struck through him at the thought of her sweaty in bed under another man, when he suddenly realised that there was a much more likely reason for a woman to have self cleaning bed sheets…at least once a month anyway.

Grateful for her forethought, and face flushing red at the thought of trying to sneak the bedding down to the washing machine like a spotty teen, he fell back into bed and wiped a hand down his sweaty face. Gods he hadn't had come that hard in….ever. A dark voice echoed in his mind, If she knew he'd thought of her like that, imagined her in that scenario she would kick him and Alexander to the kerb so quickly that…No... No she wouldn't. Another voice at the back of his head chimed in, that sounded too much like hers that he shook that thought away. No, she wouldn't terf him and his son out on the streets for having a dream about her, she wouldn't do fact she'd probably tease him good naturedly and pester him for the details all the while laughing and joking with him, yes that was more like his Hermione. She's not your anything, and never will be. That dark voice chimed in once more though before he could brood on that thought the other voice spoke quickly, TThat's just not true, she's your friend. She was his friend, even he couldn't deny that so he told the dark voice to "Fuck Off" and turned back around to try and get more sleep, because there was still a couple of hours before the babies needed to feed.

Then another thought had him shooting awake… today was his and Alex's appointment with the Doctor.