Heiresses and Husbandry

A/N: Here is an extra long chapter for you all to enjoy. Hermione will finally find her groove, but of course, I have to turn up the angst factor beforehand. Enjoy! As always, thanks to MadBrilliant.

***

It was around Halloween when Severus and Hermione took a part of their weekend to go sort out the old Order Headquarters. She was not thrilled that the place had become her property upon Harry's death. She would rather deal with the problems going on in her own house, but there were responsibilities to be maintained.

"Honestly, Severus, I think it should just go to Andromeda. After all, it is her family home!" she argued as they walked to the Apparition point.

"Hermione, Andromeda has had enough to worry about, with raising her grandson and dealing with the Malfoy and Lestrange estates," Severus pointed out. "Besides, it became more of a home for the Order than her old family home. She was more than relieved to not have yet another household on her hands."

Hermione was a jumbled bundle of nerves. She didn't know how she felt about returning to Grimmauld Place. The last time she had been there was when she, Harry, and Ron were on the run from the Death Eaters. The very last person she ever thought she'd be returning with was Severus Snape!

She halted her gate and froze in worry. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed.

Severus stopped and frowned. "What is it?"

"You can't get in! Moody...he placed a ward on the door, and there are jinxes on the house against you. If you enter, you will be killed!" she raved.

Severus narrowed his eyes. "Explain exactly what this 'ward' is. Is it a ghost? A poltergeist?" he questioned.

Hermione swallowed and closed her eyes in remembrance. "We walked in and a voice...a disembodied voice called out saying, "Severus Snape?" as in a question. It was Moody's voice. We all were frightened and yelled out that we weren't Severus Snape. We experienced an inability to speak clearly. I believe it was a Tongue-Tying Curse."

Severus grunted in agreement. She continued.

"As we went further, a gray figure was gliding towards us. It was terrible. It was Dumbledore. A Dumbledore who had been dead quite a long time...it was gruesome. Then Harry started yelling, "We didn't kill you!" and the figure burst into dust, but it was going to attack us all! After a while, we got used to it. Each time we had to leave the house, upon returning we had to go through the whole dust bowl attack. However, that was what we had experienced! What will it do to you?" She looked at him with barely disguised fear.

Severus took her hand in his and they walked on. "I want you to stay outside, Hermione, until I fetch you. I will deal with this," he told her calmly.

"You know what it is?"

"I do," he said grudgingly.

"What is it?" she breathed.

"Hermione, Alastor Moody was one of the greatest Aurors the wizarding world had ever known. I respected him greatly. He also, unfortunately, because of his many near-death encounters with dark wizards, became very unstable as he aged. He also was very drawn to the Dark Arts. It was something I know he had to fight against all of his life. I know this because I am the same. He and I were much alike. It was his greatest shame. Yet, he was a fanatic. He was not above using some dark magic to further his means. When Moody wanted to get a wizard, he got him," he said angrily. "Dumbledore knew Moody had it in for me; that was why he argued and fought so tenaciously with Moody about me being in the Order, even being on staff at Hogwarts."

"So, Moody conjured up dark magic as a snare to attack you?" she asked, completely shocked.

He nodded. A vein on his temple twitched and pulsed angrily. "I don't judge the wizard for doing what he felt he needed to do, but this, to use Albus that way, is low. Very low," he growled.

They Apparated to Grimmauld Place and Hermione waited while Severus went inside. He was gone longer than she had anticipated, and she grew nervous waiting, thinking something might have happened to him. When he finally fetched her, Hermione was relieved, but she noticed he was pale and angry as she took his outstretched hand. They walked in and Hermione screamed at the sight.

The house had been virtually gutted. It looked as though a tornado had ripped through the house and all that remained was debris and filth.

"It was as I surmised," Severus mumbled as he slid a comforting arm around his wife's shoulders.

She burst into tears. The furniture, books, valuables, everything of value had been taken away. Even the heads of the dead house-elves had been removed as well as Mrs. Black's portrait.

Dazed, Hermione stumbled into the library and gazed upon the empty bookcases. Oh, the hours upon hours she had stayed here, reading, laughing, and talking with Ron, Ginny, and Harry...even Sirius. She sank to her knees and burst into tears. Severus knelt down on the floor next to her and held her to him. She glanced at a pile of papers across the room. She pushed away from her husband and dashed across the room. She sifted through the papers. They were nothing. All that remained were scraps of paper, torn pages from books...trash!

"That's all that's left! Why, Severus? Who did this?" she fairly screamed at him.

He stood up and drew upon his icy demeanor to deal with what was becoming an uncomfortable confrontation.

"When the Ministry breached the Unplottable houses, I figured Grimmauld Place would be among the first to be searched. There were a great number of dark artifacts kept here. The Dark Lord did not want Potter or any of the Order to have anything that belonged to a pure-blood family. At first, all he wanted were the dark objects, but Bellatrix was incensed that Potter now held the title to the property. He must have allowed her to do whatever she wanted to the property, as long as the important pieces of worth were brought to him.

"I had the odious task of assisting in some of his perusals. I did not know until I came across some figurines I had seen with the Black Family Crest on it that Grimmauld Place had indeed been searched, however I did not know it had been gutted. Hermione, I am truly sorry. There is nothing here of any value. All the papers, letters, correspondences, it has all been destroyed. I'm sorry for deceiving you, Hermione. I didn't know how to tell you I already knew what you were telling me."

Hermione burst again into tears. "Just as soon as I thought that bastard could take nothing else from me...now this!" she sobbed.

She stood up and wandered from room to room, reliving old memories, at times laughing, and then crying. She took with her only her memories when they left.

"What shall we do with the property, Severus?" she asked as they Apparated to Diagon Alley.

"I thought we could hand it over to the Ministry to use as they see fit. Would you want to live there?" he asked.

"Oh, no!" She fairly shuddered at the thought. As much as she loved what the house represented to her, the fact remained that she never really liked the house. It was eerie and ugly. It was as if the pure-blood sentiments of Most Ancient and Noble House of Black permeated the very walls, acting as a repellent to her Muggleborn identity. She felt hated in that house. No, she was more than happy to be rid of number twelve Grimmauld Place. What hurt was there were no books, furniture, nothing of the Weasley's or of theirs that had been left behind to take as a remembrance. It was as if Sirius had been eradicated from the earth or all the work Mrs. Weasley did to make the house into a home was all for naught. There was nothing to show for all the happy meals, late-night talks...nothing.

She wanted nothing more than to snuggle and bury her hand into the crook of her husband's shoulder, to be petted and loved, but they had another stop: Gringotts.

***

Kingsley had been struggling for months with a precarious situation on his hands. There was the matter of the money in Harry's vault, which included the Black fortune, which had been a part of Regulus' inheritance. Hermione's view was that all money belonging to the Black family should be given to Andromeda Tonks. After all, she was a widowed grandmother with a baby to raise and had been a Black before she'd married Ted Tonks.

Wizarding Law, on the other hand, stipulated that since Sirius Black bequeathed all his worldly goods, which included what he inherited from his younger brother, Regulus, to Harry Potter, there was no separating the three inheritances. The transfer of Kreacher made Sirius' will absolute and indivisible. Now, Harry Potter had no will and had no wizarding family. The goblins in Gringotts were in an uproar over Hermione's suggestion of separating the wealth. They were not about to just hand over the key to a vault overflowing with money to a Muggleborn to rifle through who had not even been related to the deceased!

After a full Wizengamot inquiry, which took the better part of a month for testimonies, no one could rightfully ascertain as to which of the fortune was originally Harry Potter's and which had been Sirius Black's fortune. Hermione could not have imagined such a nightmare! She told Kingsley on a number of occasions that she would gladly give back all of the money if only she could have Harry and Ron back!

Now, the decision had been made, and the verdict had carried out in Hermione's favor. She was an extremely wealthy woman. She had acquired the vast fortunes of both the Potters and the Blacks, well at least Sirius and Regulus' branch, which was a great deal of money since Regulus had not been disowned from his family. There were responsibilities that went with acquiring such wealth. There was an obscene amount of paperwork to be signed to begin the transfer of all the money into her own name.

Severus had warned her beforehand that becoming an heiress would now bring in all sorts of riff-raff. There would be wizards and witches alike of dubious character trying to weasel money out of her. She would also be judged as to how she spent her money. To which charities would she donate? Would she be helping the less fortunate? Would she now try to buy her way into the Ministry to have her ideas for a better wizarding society gain a foothold? Severus spoke plainly, and Hermione found herself almost feeling sorry for the Malfoys. There was a lot of criticism it seemed to go around for the wealthy. Well, she would not use any of Harry's money to buy her way into politics! If anything, she would give the money to help the families who had lost so much during the war. First on her list would be those who had been orphaned. Harry would have wanted it that way.

Severus agreed, and they spent the evening of the Wizengamot's verdict discussing how she would go about executing her plan. She would have to hire a reputable accountant, a reliable assistant, who would gather information on who needed money, and then as the requests poured in, the needs would have to be catalogued. "There was more to consider than just going willy-nilly to people and giving them a sack of Galleons and wishing them well!" Severus said sardonically. That was when they had decided to go and see the state of Grimmauld Place for themselves and had received the shock of their lives.

***

They both went to bed mentally and emotionally exhausted that night. After a while, Hermione got up from bed and sat at the window, looking up into the sky. There was a full moon out. Remus will never need to take Wolfsbane again, she thought sadly. She thought about Harry and Ron, all the silly misadventures they had stumbled upon and gone into eyes-wide-open alike. She had yet to open her purse, which had all their shrunken belongings inside it. It was just too painful to consider. All she had was the picture she had nicked from Ginny's footlocker and Luna's butterbeer cap necklace. She didn't have any pictures of Harry and Ron. She knew they were there in that purse. She went and retrieved it from her dresser. It was still bloodstained and worn from the battle. She took her wand and took out all their possessions, one by one, Ron's footlocker, Harry's backpack, and then her own footlocker. She went through Harry's first.

She found his picture album, the one he'd loved so much. It had the pictures Hagrid had given him of his parents. Then were the pictures that Sirius had given him of their school days. Later, she came upon the pictures of the three of them over the six years of school. Their smiles and eyes were so bright. She sat laughing and crying as she stroked the pictures.

It was all she had left of them: just pictures, old clothes, and a broken mirror. She felt there should be more, so much more to show for all the times they had risked their lives and all the fighting to keep their friendship alive. She looked over at her slumbering husband. How odd Harry and Ron would find it all! Their Hermione married to Snape? Impossible! She snorted as she thought of Ron's reaction. He would be mortified! Harry would be more open, if she explained it thoroughly. She wanted so much to have them with her it hurt.

She tried to think of the last time she saw them both. They had arrived for the battle and were still running around silly, trying to destroy Horcruxes. By the time they had reached Nagini's hiding place and killed her, they had spared a moment to look at one another. It was as if they'd known it was the end of the road for them. They had kissed each other and held onto each other before taking their wands firmly in hand and walking out into the blazing night sky. It had been so dark, so dark, they couldn't even see except for the flashes and explosions from the fighting around them. Harry had walked behind them, as they had decided to protect him until he could reach Voldemort. The battle had already begun shifting towards the east. Hermione remembered fighting without thought or reservation. She had just hexed and cursed her way through until she had been faced with the evil Bellatrix. She had seen Ron cut down by Lucius Malfoy, but she had kept going. Then there was Harry, dueling Voldemort like a vicious animal. He had been so brave! The professors had swarmed around him to protect him. She remembered being worn down by the taller witch. Bellatrix had been about to kill her. She had fallen, tripping over a dead body. She had scrambled to regain her footing when the green light erupted, and all she saw was the green halo of fire light up Bellatrix's body from behind as she lay safely in her shadow. Then, the woman had fallen on her as the wind blew like a torrent. There had been an almighty explosion. She had thought it had to be the end of the world. Well, it had been as far as she was concerned.

She had been sitting so immersed in her thoughts that she had not realized her husband was awake and watching her intently from their bed. She looked at him, and they shared the moment together. She whimpered and scrambled onto the bed, diving into her husband's outstretched arms.

"I can't believe all that is left are such insignificant items!" she said angrily. "There should be more! More to show for seven years of fighting, loving, and scraping by to stay alive, year after year!" She cried anew at the loss. Severus could only hold her and give her warmth and comfort.

"Severus, how can we do this? Are we just fooling ourselves that we can actually rebuild this school? I'm barely even able to teach my NEWT classes, the Slytherins despise me; you are killing yourself pulling double duty as Headmaster and Potions master! How can we continue? I am so tired and overwhelmed!" she complained.

Then, she felt ashamed of her outburst. "I'm sorry, I should be stronger," she apologized.

"Hermione," Severus said finally, "a lot has been placed on your young shoulders, and you've done a brilliant job. When you look at it from a distance, as Kingsley does, what can be seen here is, on one side, a seasoned teacher with years of experience behind him to forge ahead. On the other side stands a vibrant, strong, youthful witch who is exceptionally powerful in her magic. You and I are symbiotic, Hermione, like two sides of the same coin. With your energy and my knowledge, together we will make this school what it once was and even better because we will eradicate the old ways of thinking, that blood status means anything. You and I are proof of that. We are among the most powerful witches and wizards in Britain. We are also a half-blood and a Muggleborn. We defy all the old prejudices, and together we will create a new world where Muggleborns and pure-bloods will live side by side with all the rights and respect due to magical people. We will do this. You will hold up from your end and I will from mine. We will push these bastards upright and force them to tow the line like bookends. You have never stepped down from a challenge before, Hermione, and neither have I! Therefore, you need to deal with your mourning and place it away where it can be managed. You will never stop hurting over losing Potter and Weasley. You must accept that. Accept it, mourn it, and move forward. We have work to do!"

"Are you giving me permission to openly mourn Harry and Ron with you?" she asked nervously.

"Hell, yes! I am your husband. You loved them. Too damn much has been lost to hang on to stupid hurts from the past. You can talk to me about them as much or as little as you wish. However, I warn you, wife, don't become stuck in your grief. Grief can have the same affect on a person like the Mirror of Erised. You can lose your mind; go mad, and waste away in it. It does not do well to dwell on dreams of what might have been, Hermione," he warned wisely.

"I love you, husband," she whispered as she snuggled in the crook of his arm.

Husband, he thought. "I love you, wife," he answered. He thought of what Rosie had said to him.

I trust you to know the meaning of that word.

He had some work to do.

***

He went the next day to see Rosie. She was surprised to see him during the day.

"Severus, my dear! What do I owe such a visit? Perhaps you would like something for your bride?" she teased him.

"Perhaps," he said noncommittally. "What I would like is to speak privately with you, if I might?"

"Certainly! Sabine will watch for me. Come into my sitting room and take tea with me."

He allowed himself to be led by the witch into her quarters. After being settled with his favorite tea, Lady Grey, he was ready to talk.

"Have no fear, Severus. I shall never reveal your true weakness for Lady Grey," she teased him again. She loved to banter with the wizard. He had been her pet since the day she had met him. Poor foundling he was, without love or true friendship. He had always been able to come and speak freely to her. Although she was only six years his senior, she loved him as much as she would her own flesh and blood.

"Tell me, Severus, what is so heavy on your heart?" she asked.

"I wanted to ask you about something you mentioned to me about being a 'husband' to my wife; that I needed to be a husband in the truest sense of the word. You assumed I would know, but to be honest, I am out of my league. Hermione is like no woman I have ever known. She is passionate and loving, yet she is logical and highly cerebral. I have no idea how to begin loving and caring for her the way she needs. In addition, to top it off, she has endured loss upon loss. I would love to take her over the Christmas hols to retrieve her parents from Australia, but so much is unresolved between us. Rosie, I am not a man to grovel. However, when it comes to Hermione, I am finding myself not caring about my pride. She is my life. I would die without her love. She has wrapped herself around my heart, and she is more than welcome to stay. What do I do?"

Rosie drew a breath and said, "You ask of mysteries, my boy. How does a man satisfy a woman? It varies. However, I have had the privilege of learning about your Hermione. She is not as complicated as you make her out to be. She is very passionate, but afraid of her passion. Her urges are normal, yet she feels badly about them. She needs to learn that her passions and urges are normal and are wanted." She settled back further into her chair. "The word 'husband' is an ancient word. In Biblical times, a "husbandman" was one who had a responsibility over a vineyard. He cultivated the vines, trimmed them, and helped them to grow into strong fruit that would be ready for consumption. In our country, a husbandman was a man in charge of cultivating land and sustaining animals. It comes down to this: you are responsible for her various needs and to make sure she thrives. That means all areas of her life, not merely the physical.

"You need to 'tend' to your wife. Find out what she needs. Ask her about her desires. Lay yourself at her mercy and let her know you will do anything she asks of you. Once she knows your motives are to tend and cultivate her, she will give herself to you fully and will trust you with all her being. Women are built like that, Severus. It is not difficult for a woman to love. The question is: are you worthy of her love? Will you sacrifice your pride and take the lead to draw her to you so you can tend her? Remember, she is still young. Be patient and cautious, take your time, and draw her out. Explain what needs explaining, for she is still so virginal and is susceptible to feelings of inadequacy. Remember this as well, my dear, men are not the only creatures with egos. You have a school full of nubile witches who have shared their sexual experiences with your wife. They think because she is married she knows all there is to sex. Rubbish! I know; I see the truth. You have yet to touch her most intimate places. It takes time. It will go easier for you and her if you 'husband' her. Think of it this way, you are not a 'husband', a noun. You are to husband, a verb. Think on that."

"Now, I must return before Sabine goes mad with worry." She kissed Severus on the cheek. "Thank you for seeing me, my dear, I do miss seeing your face."

He snorted at that comment.

"Always the charmer, Severus!" Rosie chided sweetly.

The headmaster left her then and went back to Hogwarts. He had some "husbanding" to do.

***

Hermione was fuming in her classroom. Another disastrous class with her N.E.W.T. level class had left her angry and frustrated. She was still stewing when Severus came to see why she had not come to his office so they could go to dinner together.

"Hermione," he called as he walked into her classroom. "What's wrong?"

She turned her red puffy eyes and defiant chin to him and said, "I have had it with your damn Slytherins! They don't respect me. Astoria Greengrass has them all considering mutiny. If I can't get in control of them, I'm lost. I don't know what to do," she said defeated.

Snape grew angry and lashed out to her. "You, Madam Snape, will get control of your classroom. You possess more magical ability in your little finger than Miss Greengrass has in her entire body! If she insists on being the ringleader of this motley crew, then you must break her. Break her and you break the rebellion. Hermione, you are a warrior, and you need to tap into your ability to withstand this type of pressure. I had to do the exact same thing when I first started on here. Teaching students who had been my classmates, it was horrid, yet I persevered! I admit I was a right bastard, and I still am. And yet, it works. There must be order, Hermione! You are the only one who can do it! So, do it! Stop your sniveling this instant!" he snapped.

She hated that he spoke to her as if she was a first-year, but he was right. She had Astoria making her feel like an inept, undeserving usurper who had only gained her post by spreading her legs for Professor Snape. Well, she would put Miss Astoria in her place. She was the brightest witch of her age, and she would prove it by teaching them all just how powerful she was. Then no one would defy her in her class again. She would have to plan.

It was refreshing to watch Hermione that weekend devising her plan of attack. Severus watched his wife study and write furiously, as if nothing in the world mattered. She had a mad gleam of determination in her eye. God, it made him hard watching her exercise her brilliant mind like that.

By Sunday, he had had enough. It had been too long since he had lost himself in her. He needed to feel her straining against him, working to relieve herself. He wanted to taste her again, pleasure her breasts until she cried from frustration. However, he had to wait. He had his own research to do.

He thought long and hard about what Rosie said. He had to learn how to "husband" his wife. He knew that she felt supported with her academic and career pursuits. She knew he wanted her to excel in what interested her. He told her often how much he appreciated her mind.

Perhaps the problem was that he was not encouraging her enough physically. Did she know that he found her more enticing than any woman, regardless of what she did or did not know about sex? He had to find out more.

***

"Severus," she asked as they read in bed.

"Yes," he asked as he continued reading.

"Are you interested in my sexual fantasies?"

That got his full attention. He put down his book. "You have fantasies?" he asked seductively.

"Yes. I just don't want you laughing at me," She said shyly.

"Hermione, I will NOT laugh at you!" he said seriously. In all actuality, he was excited. This could be the opportunity for him to reassure her of his love.

She fiddled with her plait and looked at her lap as she spoke softly. "I always wanted to have you take advantage of me in the potions lab. You always would swoop down and would be so close as you checked my work. During my fifth year, I always felt so aroused. Then when you would rage and yell, I thought how it would be if you took me right there, hard and ferociously, saying dirty things to me and m-making me scream in-in...pleasure." She closed her eyes, waiting for him to snark at her words.

Instead, he smiled and turned her blushing face to his. "I would love to make that fantasy a reality. I've been extremely tender and reserved with you, Hermione, because of your innocence and grief. I could make you scream in pleasure, believe me. I just don't know if you are ready for it."

"Well, can we work on it and build up to it?" she asked hopefully as she scooted closer to her husband, deliberately pressing her left breast against his right arm.

Her effort was not lost on him. He swiftly stripped her naked and took her left breast into his greedy mouth. He is so good at this! she thought as she moaned.

He laid her down and made love to her. She felt the familiar, uncomfortable feeling, and Severus urged her to stay with it as he continued to thrust inside her.

"Hermione," he panted, "don't think, feel your way through it. Let go, and let it happen." He nuzzled her ear and whispered to her, "Do you know how enticing you are? Every day I wait and hope you will let me inside you. Your body is so lovely. I think about it all the time. When I should be concentrating in class, all I can think of are your breasts, how perfectly they fill my mouth. Your whole body is so perfect." He started to shudder and had to control his pace.

She blew out a breath and closed her eyes. His words had calmed her and aroused her. Finally, she felt something else...a deep longing and desire that gnawed at her from the inside. Severus was continuing to pace himself with long, deliberate strokes. She looked up at him and watched his eyes as he raked them over her, drinking in her lips, skin, and breasts. She could see he had been honest. He really did want her! A thrill shot through her, and she moaned. Severus began to move faster and deeper. He gasped in pleasure. She felt delicious! A tingling and rushing sensation spread throughout her body.

"Oh, Severus, that's soooo good," she moaned as she threw her head back and wrapped her legs around his waist.

She looked up at his face as he stared at her. He captured her lips in a searing kiss as he lost all control. She felt the sound of his release on her lips. It was exquisite.

He was panting and breathing hard as he clung to her. She settled into the crook of his arm as he lay on his back.

I'm sorry," he breathed. "I should have waited. I got too excited and forgot myself."

"Don't be sorry. I'm not," she said, half-awake, half-asleep.

He looked down at his wife, curled up content next to him. He toyed with her hair. It was so soft. She was so tough and strong in mind and body, yet she was a fragile soul. It will be okay, he told himself. We just need time to get it right. He eased back more comfortably into his pillow, and the memories rushed back into his mind. He remembered the days back when they had started meeting for the Order at Grimmauld Place. Molly was always begging him to stay for dinner. He wished now he had stayed. He remembered walking in on Hermione as she read in the library there. She was just a bother then, as he had no inkling of what was to come. He never would have dreamt that Hermione Granger would be his wife! But more than a wife, she had become something more precious than a lover. She was his partner, his helper, and he hers. They had done well getting this school put back to rights. She had worked beside him and supported him. What he had said was true. He loved her, so much, for more important reasons than bodies and sex; he loved her because she was a true friend and companion.

He held her closer to him and fell into the waiting arms of Morpheus. He noted how he never slept so well than when she was with him.

***

He woke early the next morning and watched her while she slept. He carefully pulled away the duvet and feasted his eyes on her naked body. He began to caress and tease her tenderly. He took his time to arouse her as much as he could before she woke up. He fastened his mouth on one breast and rolled her nipple around with his tongue. He loved her breasts. They were so perfect. He could easily fit her breast in the palm of his hand, and he could take it entirely in his mouth. He had liked bigger-breasted women, but this was Hermione, and his Hermione was perfection. She started moaning in her sleep. He lightly stroked her thighs, and she slowly opened them more and more. He stroked the insides of her thighs and finally reached between her nest of curls. He gently stroked and rolled her clit between his fingers as he suckled eagerly on her breast, fitting the entire white mound into his mouth. She was stirring and seemed so close to release. He stopped his ministrations and mounted her, eagerly kissing her, delving into her mouth and taking possession of her. She was drowsy and still trying to awaken, but he was making her feel so light-headed, she couldn't think.

She was being filled by him and was carried along on that familiar wave of pleasure. It was so nice being close to him, feeling him inside her. She closed her eyes and was drifting in the feeling of contentment when he suddenly lifted her thighs higher and started to drive into her. She was fully awake now and the easy lovemaking she was used to was over. He was pounding into her furiously, and she was overwhelmed by the primal feelings he was emitting. She could feel his desire to dominate her and possess her fully. He didn't speak, but she could hear panting and growling sounds emanating from deep inside him.

"Open your eyes," he demanded harshly as he continued to pummel into her.

She did and his black eyes bore into hers. He was creating that feeling that made her tense up and want for it all to be over. She started to tell him to stop, but he claimed her mouth again and refused to let her speak. She tried to push him back, it was too much, and she was losing control. He grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head. He continued to pound into her relentlessly as she shook with fear and exhilaration at the same time. He released her mouth and was leering at her jiggling breasts lustfully. Her stomach was fluttering from the look in her husband's eye and the way he held her down. She couldn't hold it back anymore, she couldn't think except that her husband wanted her, desired her, and now possessed her.

He was groaning against her mouth as he crushed her lips with his. She felt a wonderful explosion that made her rip her mouth from his bruising kiss, and she began to wail and scream with abandon. She bucked her hips and ground herself against him. He slammed into her without quarter, and she felt a huge warm gush pour out from her. Severus moaned and speed up his movements erratically. He was grunting and panting in her ear, and she peaked again. She was only aware of the sound of his voice, but couldn't understand what he was saying. He started to growl her name and thrust into her so hard he drove them both into the headboard as he came inside her. He collapsed on her and with a groan, lifted himself up, and slid off her.

Hermione lay there, her legs still spread open, and she was glistening with sweat and their mingled juices creating a puddle down around her arse. She slipped back into sleep and was woken up a couple hours later by her husband. He had pushed her legs together and pulled the duvet over her while she had slept. He was now dressed and sitting beside her on the bed in his usual formidable black robes. He had a very superior, smug look of triumph on his face, and his black eyes were glittering.

Hermione was blushing. "I don't rightly remember all that happened," she confessed to his unanswered question.

"What do you recall?" he asked smugly.

"I remember I was loving what was happening, and I felt something I have never felt before," she admitted shyly.

"Tut, tut. I never knew you were so wanton, Madam Snape," he said in his most intimidating voice.

"Neither did I," she confessed with a grin.