Disclaimer:- I neither own nor own anything from this story. My plot is my own but the world of Harry Potter is the intellectual property of JK Rowling and associates.

A/N:- Thank you to everyone who left alerts and reviews on the last chapter, please know that I appreciate every one of them. I am currently posting without a beta because I wanted to strike while I had the opportunity, so any mistakes you may find are all mine. Thank you all for your patience for my extended absence from posting, and for the messages of support I've received over that time.

Chapter Seven – Contemplations and Claiming

Harry walked in the front door of his house as his sons were eating their dinner. He smiled, as they abandoned their meals and ran to hug him.

"Daddy!" James and Albus cried.

Harry watched them running up to him and he grinned, eagerly pulling them into a hug. "'Mione's safely back at Hogwarts," he called, looking up while continuing to snuggle with his boys. His eyes met hers as Ginny came out from the kitchen, while he nodded his understanding to his boys babbling about their day.

"That's wonderful, love," Ginny replied, smiling happily as she walked into the room. "Okay, you've greeted Daddy, now sit back down and finish your dinner, boys," she said kindly, as she went to kiss Harry. "Would you like a cup of tea, a butter beer, a wine, or something stronger?" she asked him, cupping his cheek.

Harry chuckled. "I think I'd like you in bed," he answered quietly while cradling her face in his hands.

"Well, how about we get the boys settled first?" she said, laughing happily at his suggestion and giving him a kiss.

"Okay, then I'll get a butterbeer from the fridge," and he patted her bottom suggestively as he walked past her.

She snickered. "Could you check the veges while you're in there, please?"

"Sure, love," Harry said, heading into the kitchen.

Working together they got their children to bed, and retired to their bathroom with their dinners, levitating their plates above the water while the relaxed and ate.

Harry's plate was almost empty when he suddenly said, "You know how I told you that Snape was due to be released too?"

"Yes," Ginny said, nodding.

"Well, the unspeakable brought them back from Azkaban together, and well… 'Mione was crying, and he was comforting her," Harry reported.

"Snape? Comforting someone?" Ginny almost squealed in disbelief. "Fatigue has got to you, you must have seen wrong," she decided.

"I certainly did not see wrong," Harry stated in return. "Apparently they were opposite one another, and well… something must have happened to bring them closer…" and then he cocked his head to the side obviously thinking.

"And?" Ginny questioned.

Harry's eyebrows rose as he said uncertainly, "Snape's different somehow… You know not all tight tension. It's like he's finally comfortable in his skin," he decided. "You know, a bit like Hermione, but different," and he snorted. "In a lot of ways they'll be good for one another," he added, almost as an after-thought.

"You must be joking," Ginny said, suddenly obviously upset. "You're talking like there's something going on between them. That's just plain sick."

"What do you mean sick?" Harry asked. "A few weeks ago we were both hoping that she would find someone to settle down with, and here's someone who needs—and very much deserves—the same happiness that we want for 'Mione, and you're calling it sick,"

"Well, it is. He's twice her age," Ginny declared, scrunching her nose up.

"And that matters how? Look at Kingsley and Luna, and they're very happy."

"Kingsley's not a Slytherin," Ginny all but screamed.

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "That's not a valid reason."

Inhaling a deep breath, Ginny sounded truly vexed as she whined, "Why can't she find some normal guy and marry him?"

Harry barked a laugh. "You expect Hermione—I have three masteries because I couldn't settle on one—Granger to marry some ordinary bloke? Love, that's just not going to happen. Hermione is an extraordinary witch, and I've always thought that she will have an extraordinary partner. I think Snape is perfect for her," he said getting up, and vanishing their empty dishes to the kitchen. "Now, come to bed. I want your luscious body against mine."

Ginny glared at him but allowed him to help her up out of the bath. "We'll see," she muttered. "Nothing's set in concrete yet."

"True," Harry conceded, even as he was certain that he'd witnessed the start of something truly great between them tonight, and he was sure that Ginny would come around.

xox

Severus was uncertain how long he'd stood at the window closest to the old teaching podium, but he was most certainly lost in his thoughts when there was a knock on the door.

"Come," he called.

The door opened and Minerva walked in. She saw him standing by the window and she smiled. "It is a most beautiful night out there, isn't it?"

"Made more so, by the fact that I can enjoy it," he commented, reluctantly turning away from the window to face her. "What can I do for you, Minerva?"

She held up a small trunk. "I took it upon myself to keep your Hogwarts affairs in order while you were away."

"In prison, Minerva. I was in prison," he told her emphatically.

"Yes, in prison," she repeated reluctantly, and then her lips thinned. "You shouldn't have been there, Severus," she stated fiercely.

"Nevertheless, I was, so let us move on." He took a deep breath, and appeared to pull calm from within himself. "Thank you, I appreciate you maintaining this for me," he said, tapping the box with a long finger.

Minerva seemed to be trying to think of a reason to stay. Even though she had always believed in him, she had wavered towards the end, and that had damaged their friendship. "Did you know that you're the last Prince now?" she said evenly.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It comes with a title and an estate. I should imagine that it's all in your correspondence."

"Then I shall look forward to sneering at it when I read it," he replied, but without any of his usual venom.

Minerva chuckled. "You're different," she declared.

"As opposed to what?" Severus asked, his eyebrow rising in question as his voice ascended to match.

She studied him for some moments, and then smiling, she said, "You've made peace, haven't you?"

"I would have sent myself mad in that place, had I not," he replied, snorting softly.

She nodded. "Yes, understood. Hermione did the right thing saving you," she told him.

"Yes, I understand that now," he replied. "She's a credit to us all, regardless of how we had to treat her," and he seemed to disappear back into his own thoughts.

Minerva watched him for a time, but then said, "Well, I'll leave you to your own devices. See you at breakfast. Good night," and she grasped his arm momentarily before turning away.

"Good night, Minerva," and he watched her walking back towards the door. This witch had supported him through his trials since he'd been fifteen. Of course, nothing had ever been said, but she'd saved him from more than she knew. But of course, Dumbledore had his own plans, and nothing stood in the way of what Albus bloody Dumbledore had wanted, and Severus could not wait to be face-to-face with that portrait, as he had a few choice things to say on the subject of the war.

However, then he caught his train of thought, and he sighed. "I do not need to do this. I am over this," he told himself. I have passed this point. I am a completely free man now, he pondered further, as he opened the trunk and started thumbing through the items contained within.

Then his hand stilled, and he glanced at the wall which adjoined Hermione's bedroom. Could he hope that he'd found what he'd never found before? She hadn't distanced herself when the elf declared that they were bonding. In fact, hadn't she just offered herself to him?

If he was truly honest with himself he longed to care for her to be there for her. Mind, to be perfectly frank, he literally ached to be buried between her thighs, but on this last count, he'd just thought that it was because he'd been forced to abstain for so long. However, the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if the feelings were mutual. Was it possible that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her?

Exhaling a breath, he turned towards Hermione's room once more when he heard a phial rattle within it. He glanced at the time and was surprised to see that it was just on midnight. He'd been wool-gathering for hours, and hearing his witch putting the phial back into the rack he decided that it was time to start his evening's work.

He'd been a little sneaky with Hermione's midnight potion. He'd added just a dash of sleeping draught. He knew that she'd not slept well since she'd arrived at Azkaban, and now she was out the best thing she could have was a good night's sleep. Of course, he'd also done it so that he was guaranteed the amount of time that he needed to remedy his dental problems, and he started setting up for the potion.

The potion for growing new teeth was related to Skelegro, but of course, the latter normally only vastly improved the time it took to create new bone. Teeth were not like that, they were not regenerative, and in order to grow a new tooth you required the dentine from the old tooth, the magic part was that the potion could repair faulty dentine once provided with the matrix. So, cavity-ridden teeth could grow back whole, and in Severus' case, the addition of a straightening spell would make certain that they were not crooked this time.

He prepared everything before he started, and was thankful that he had spent every day of his ten years of incarceration reciting various aspects of what he knew. He'd gone over potion recipes, wand movements—even though he had no wand—and he'd often challenged himself to list things.

Therefore, as he surveyed his work space and saw that he had everything ready, he smiled to himself that it all looked very right, before took himself into his bathroom and set to work removing his faulty teeth.

xox

As Severus started on his journey to new teeth, Ron was laying in his bed at The Burrow thinking. He's been in bed for an hour now, but his mind just would not settle down, it was like a switch had turned on somewhere in his head, and things that he hadn't realised that he'd forgotten were vying for his attention.

Why had he not questioned what had happened with Lucy? Why had she suddenly started taking everything he said that wrong way? It had been like she was deliberately trying to disagree with him. Then he remembered their last night together before she'd gone with the Hollyhead Harpies to Paris that weekend. They'd attended Albus Potter's third birthday in the afternoon, and everyone had been overjoyed when George and Angelina had announced that they were expecting their second child.

That night had been perfect, Lucy had agreed that it was time for them to try for a baby of their own, and they'd spend the next few hours doing exactly that.

Ron scrubbed his hands over his face. "Why did I forget all of that?" he muttered to the empty room, and it was at that moment that a horrible thought niggled and pushed until he listened to it. "No!" he gasped, sitting up. "Lavender might be batty, but I can't believe that she'd…"

He got up off the bed and looked through the dark into the mirror over his dressing table. "No, I couldn't be that stupid," he muttered, looking closely at his reflection like he was searching for a pair of horns to have unexpectedly sprouted from his head.

However, the more he thought about it, the more likely it became, and when he finally managed to lay back down and exhaustion took over, he fell to sleep wondering if he was that stupid.

xox

Back at Hogwarts, Severus had finished the grisly task of extracting his broken and decayed teeth, and he'd brewed the potion to fix the problem and taken it.

He was now reclining in his bed—the first time he'd done so in comfort in ten years—and he was reading, an occupation he had sorely missed. He'd found his reading glasses amongst his possessions, but he was going to have to visit the oculist, as his old prescription seemed to be only partially working for him now.

As he read, he was reapplying numbing charms every half hour or so, so that as his new teeth erupted from his gums he was not bothered by the pain. Then at four-thirty exactly, he was startled awake by Hermione coughing, blinking the sleep from his eyes, he wondered if she would call him. He listened as she got up and took her potion, then he heard the toilet flush, but she seemed to simply go back to bed.

Then as consciousness filtered in more, he realised that he'd been sleeping, his glasses were askew on his nose and his book lay forgotten, and this made him realise that it was much more than half an hour, and he had not needed to renew his numbing charm. Finally, he ran his tongue around his new mouth and smiled at what he felt. He sighed and placed his book and glasses on the bedside table, he then slid down for some more much-needed sleep, knowing that the worst of this particular ordeal was over.

After this, the morning came quickly—far too quickly—as Severus was roused from the fog of sleep by Hermione coughing again. He then heard her lifting her morning potion from the rack, and this time he rolled over onto his back and listened. His hearing was still very acute, and he wondered if that would fade as he became used to normal background noise once more. Mind you, he wouldn't care if it didn't, as listening for Hermione had quickly become an important thing to him.

He sighed happily, knowing that he would not get back to sleep now, and not caring as he laced his hands up behind his head. He ran his tongue around his mouth once more and a true grin stretched over his new teeth. He'd done it. He didn't really care about his nose being too big or crooked, and his hair was easily fixable, but he'd always hated his teeth. Of course, Albus had forbade him to fix them, he'd wanted him to look as uncivilised as possible, because it had suited the character that Albus had wanted him to portray.

He lay there for some time listening to the sounds of the morning, but soon he wanted to go out amongst it all, and he threw his covers back and got up walking over to the window to greet the morning. It looked spectacular, and he hurried to the shower.

The surprising thing was that he heard Hermione turning her shower on as he stepped into his. Of course, thinking of her naked, just feet away did nothing for his self-control, and he glanced down and growled softly as he saw himself rising to attention. Fine time for your control to snap, he thought, and he sighed, but he ignored his member's rather pointed opinion, and he washed himself and quickly got out again.

As soon as he was dry he forced his disobedient manhood into his boxers and trousers, and automatically reached for a black shirt, but then he paused. His wardrobe—which Tippy had organised for him—was a sea of black. Perhaps he might make some small concession to his new freedom, and he picked up his wand and made his black shirt white. He quickly put it on before he could change his mind, and tucking it in, he buckled his belt and reached for his coat.

It was then that his first challenge in his brave new world rose up to meet his nostrils as he opened his dressing case. There tucked into a crevice at the side was half a packet of cigarettes.

Merlin he had missed his fags when he'd first been sent to Azkaban, and from the way he was inhaling now he realised that he still missed them. However, now he had a choice. He had chain-smoked his way through the last few years of the war as stress had gotten the better of him, and he blamed this for his almost fatal bout of pneumonia last year.

Therefore, until he'd brewed and consumed a course of the draught he'd invented in between the two wars that negated the effects of smoking on the body, he would not light up, and he sighed and placed the fags back down, picking up his hairbrush instead.

He groomed his hair and tied it back, another concession to the new, and he was almost dressed when there was a gentle knock on his door.

"Yes?" he asked softly.

Hermione's curly head came around the door. "Good morning, Severus," and she walked through and stopped. Her eyes taking him in from head to toe. "My, you look good," she said, and started confidently towards him. "And look at your teeth, they must be much more comfortable now."

He gave her a half smile. "Good morning to you too, Hermione. Yes, they are," he replied, watching her coming closer.

She smiled, and when she reached him she levered herself up on his arm and kissed his lips. "I was wondering if you would like to go for a walk before breakfast?" she asked, not registering how shocked he was at her actions.

"What did you do that for?" he asked dumbly.

Her smile grew, as she worked out what had caused his question. "I wanted to be the first," she replied easily.

He hooked an arm around her waist, and pulled her to him. "You will be the only one I allow that privilege to, my good witch," he told her, planting another kiss on her lips for good measure. "And yes, I would very much like a walk before breakfast," he added, releasing her from his grip.

"Excellent, I will finish getting ready," she said excitedly, and flitted off out the door again.

xox

It was still very early, and the mist was hugging the ground, and rising in lazy spirals over The Black Lake.

"I love this time of the morning," Hermione gushed as they stood on the path that led to the lake.

"It is the best time for a constitutional," Severus agreed, drawing his wand and drying a large flat boulder beside the path. "And this morning is the best morning in the world," he said suddenly, gesturing for her to sit.

Hermione heard the exuberance behind his words, and she looked up at him and smiled as she sat. "Is it fair to say that you have changed since the war?"

"Oh, very much so," he replied, his half smile almost turning into a full-blown one as he stood there watching her.

She felt emotion welling up inside her at his happiness, and even more so that he was sharing it with her. "Thank you, Severus," she said suddenly, holding out her hand to him.

"What for?" he questioned, taking her hand and allowing her to pull him to a sitting position beside her.

"You did truly save my life this past week. I hope I can repay you one day," she stated earnestly.

He looked at her seriously for a time, but then chuckled, "Can't you see that you already have repaid me twice over?"

"What?"

"You saved my life too once, you know."

"But my act of saving led to you spending ten years in prison, that's hardly fair."

His hands surged up and came to rest gently on her cheeks. "That as it may be, but your act of saving led to my true salvation, Hermione. Whilst I was incarcerated, I fought and vanquished every one of my demons. They are all in the past now, in that respect Azkaban was better than any monastery could have been for me. Your act of saving has allowed me to be ready to embrace life and all it offers."

"Oh, Severus," Hermione whispered. "Really?" and her eyes locked onto his face.

"Yes, really, my dearest witch," and his head started to come towards hers. She suddenly found herself moving towards him to reach him faster, and when their lips met it was like an explosion.

They both had so much want pent-up inside them that allowing it out was like uncaging a wild animal, and it started to consume them. Their kiss was a fierce claiming, and it left them both breathless. Somewhere in amongst the merging of lips and tongues, Hermione had straddled Severus' lap, and was rubbing against him as their kiss broke for want of a full breath of air.

He groaned and immediately started adoring her neck, but he said, "As wonderful as instant gratification on a boulder sounds at this precise moment, I suggest we find somewhere more comfortable, because regardless of our present need I am too old for sexual congress on such an unforgiving surface."

"I'm sure you could manage," Hermione panted, winding herself around him tighter.

"Without doubt, but I have another location in mind," and he chuckled into her ear.

This made her even more desperate for him, and she was almost incoherent with need as he easily lifted her and walked them further up the path.

She was wound around him like an octopus, with her face hidden in the crook of his neck, but she glanced up as they stopped.

To her surprise, he stopped at a huge tree and whispered, "Vipera berus," and a door opened.

She drew back enough to look at him. "You don't keep any vipers in here, do you?"

He cackled. "No," and he commanded the lights to come up.

Hermione unhooked her legs and stood there looking around from within the circle of his arms, her surprise having taken the edge off her need momentarily. "Wow," she gasped. "What is this place?"

"It belonged to Albus, I'm not at all certain what he did here, and I'm surprised it still recognises me." His eyebrow lifted thoughtfully. "But there you are, nothing much has changed."

Hermione smiled at him, but then spied a wide looking day bed, and started backing over towards it. "Now, where were we?" she asked with a suggestive smile.

"Wanton, Madam," he said, as a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Are you certain you're up to this?"

"Your, wanton, Madam," she replied, letting go of him and starting to undress. "And, yes, I can't wait another second."

He stilled her hands, drawing her attention to him. "Hermione, I'm a difficult man… a downright cranky bastard sometimes, but what I said to you out on that rock remains true. I have come to terms with all my demons; I've even finally laid Lily to rest. I'm ready to find my proper place in life, and..." and as he said it his eyes watched her for any doubts, but she confidently held his gaze, so he continued honestly. "I have not felt a connection with anyone like I feel with you, and if we take this final step I'd like it to be with the understanding that we are a couple." Then his eyebrow slid aloft, and he chuckled, "And apparently—according to my backlog of correspondence—I can also offer you a ladyship, a vast estate, and two additional houses."

"Don't forget this tree too," she said, indicating around them. "It doesn't seem like anyone else knows about it," but then she smiled and slid her hand up to his cheek. "And while all of that is impressive, I too have realised that there is no one else I want to be with. In a way, this," and she gestured between them, "was forged in the fiery pit of hell, when we had nothing, and regardless of the speed with which it happened, I can feel that it's very strong. I can feel our magic entwining, writhing between us and it makes me burn for you."

His mouth came down on hers, and she sat on the bed, pulling him down with her.

"Well, put, my witch," he replied, as he gentled their kiss for a moment, stopping to watch as he felt her pushing her jeans off her legs and shaking them off her foot.

He instantly took advantage of her nakedness.

Hermione groaned into their kiss as his fingers slid between her legs. She hadn't felt another's hand there for far too long, and her legs simply opened allowing him everything.

He broke their kiss again and using his other hand, he went for his belt buckle, undoing his trousers to get himself free as well. "I promise that I will adore you always, but I am afraid that this coupling will be perfunctory at best. You are just too lovely," he told her as he glanced down between the thighs to where his fingers were still plying her sodden, petal-soft folds.

"Severus," she moaned in respond. "Just do it, please…" but as she said it, her head rocked back, and her eyes closed as her orgasm hit her. She'd known that she'd been close, but his fingers felt just too delicious.

Without another word, Severus stood and pushed his trousers down far enough, before immediately settling between her thighs, and starting to push himself inside. She felt so wonderful around him, and he had to stop twice before he was seated properly, just so that he wouldn't disgrace himself like a teenager.

He grit his teeth against the delicious urge to give in and come right there and he started moving. He managed to last long enough for her already sensitive internal walls to start fluttering and gripping him, but he couldn't manage any more than that. His mouth formed a silent 'o' as he spilt his seed inside her as she came once more.

Magic rose up around them as they climaxed, and it completed their bonding in a haze of golden light that made them both sigh.

He collapsed beside her and she wrapped him in her arms and legs. They were both aware of what had happened, and it really came as no surprise to either of them.

"Happy?" she murmured, reaching forward to kiss him.

"Very," he replied. "But I'm torn," he told her.

"Why?" she asked, worriedly.

"I'm currently listening to your stomach growling loudly, but I'd like to stay here, wrapped in your arms, and that's not even mentioning the fact that people will be clambering to see you today now they know you're returned to them."

"Sure they will," Hermione scoffed. Then her eyes sparkled. "Perhaps we could dress and go to breakfast, and then go back to our rooms and go to bed?" she suggested.

He thought about that for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is a most acceptable plan."