Chapter 11: Visiting Hogwarts

After dinner that night, Severus and Hermione went for a walk by the lake. The moon was bright, so they were able to see the path quite well. The August night was reasonably warm.

Hermione hugged his arm as they strolled slowly down the slope toward the lake. "This is wonderful. I'm so glad we came here. Seeing all the teachers again has been nice. I love the idea of coming here to work, Severus. I happy that you will be headmaster. You deserve that position, and you have the power and knowledge to do a wonderful job now that you are free of the past."

"I'm not sure I will ever quite be free. It is my past. But I am very happy with how it is turning out." He stopped her and leaned down to kiss her softly before they continued on their way.

"I am, too. I just want to be done with school. A year, Severus. It seems like forever."

"Kingsley did say that he would connect our Floos if we were married," he said, not looking down at her.

"He did," she whispered.

Severus sighed. "I know you don't want to be living separately when we are married, and I accept that, Hermione. If you find you want to change your mind, then I will be most willing to take that step." They had discussed it several times during the summer: nights. She'd turned from him and went to sleep crying. He didn't understand why she wanted to wait. But it was her choice, and he would not force anything on her. He was sure of her love. He would just have to be patient and wait.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, pressing her cheek to his sleeve.

He stopped walking and turned her toward him, drawing her tightly to his chest. "You must do what feels right to you." His heart hurt though.

"I don't know why it's important to me. I just know it is, Severus. When we are close, I feel such magic between us. I feel that when we bond, there will be such a magical cord tying us together that we will not be able to be apart. Living in two different countries will be physically draining for both of us. I know my studies, while I am at Cambridge, will be consuming, and I don't want to hurt you unnecessarily with my distance. You don't know how I am there when I'm immersed in a project. I barely have time to sleep and bathe. Sometimes I use cleansing spells because I have so much work. I would feel the need to take care of you, and my work would suffer."

Severus was silent.

Hermione cried, "Either way you get hurt. Tell me how to do both, Severus. I could use a time turner, but the last one nearly did me in when I was a student here."

He held her tightly. "I think we both hurt from the separation."

"Yes," she said, clinging to him.

"We already got through one year; we can do one more. Maybe I should relent and get one of those computers with a camera, and we could talk sometimes." He bent to kiss her tear-stained face. "I've been working on spells to make one work here. I hired a company to bring broadband to Hogsmead, and Aberforth is willing to have the signal amplifier on his roof."

Hermione smiled up at him. "That would be wonderful. Provided you can handle missing each other. We will both have demanding schedules, and we must make sure we get enough sleep."

"Agreed," he said, now smiling.

"And you must come whenever you can," she begged him. I loved your surprise visit last year. Even if I have should happen to have plans I can't get out of, we will still be able to sleep together at night." She knew that was loaded with all sorts of problems. What if he came, and she was in the lab all weekend. There were times when that had happened to her.

As if he'd read the frown that creased her forehead, he said, "I can sit on a bench in the lab with you. I'm sure I can get visitor privileges, and kisses can be stolen over a brewing cauldron." He kissed her deeply, and she felt his desire hard against her stomach.

"Thank you, Severus," she said when he pulled back.

"For what, my dearest?" he questioned, sliding his lips across her forehead.

"Thank you for accepting my choices even though you hate it all." She turned away, drawing him further down the path.

"I do hate being away from you. But the last time I looked, I'm the older of us and should see things with more maturity." He let a low, pained laugh out.

Hermione hugged his arm again. "I don't feel very mature when I'm lying in bed, crying and wanting you there beside me...wanting your hands on me, wanting you inside me."

Severus groaned. "Hermione, if you do not desist, I will take you here on the ground."

Hermione smiled up at him. "We could go back to your classroom. I've had quite a fantasy about your desk."

"Really," he said. His voice was deep and seductive, and Hermione shivered with pleasure.

She grabbed his hand, and they literally ran back to the castle and down the stairs to the dungeon. Severus flicked his hand back as they entered his room, and the door was sealed and warded.

Hermione said, "Go sit at your desk, Professor Snape, and grade papers."

He grinned at her, took a deep breath, and put on his professor face. He strode up to the desk and sat, grabbed a pile of exams from the previous year, picked up his quill, and began to scratch on them.

A throat cleared and a small voice said, "Professor Snape, may I speak with you?"

He looked up to see Hermione standing by the desk she had shared with Harry Potter for years. Her robe was open and the garment underneath was low cut and revealing. He gulped and felt his face redden. This was a bit strange here in his classroom. But he'd thought about Hermione on his desk, too, since they had first declared their desire for each other.

"What is it, Miss Granger?" he asked gruffly, looking back down at his papers. He shifted a bit. His pants were getting rather constrictive. He briefly grabbed his wand and soundproofed the room.

She sashayed up, reached out a finger, and ran it over his hand. "Professor Snape, sir," she continued in her ridiculous voice. He had to concentrate to keep from laughing and gathering her to him. He was curious to see how this played out.

"I don't have all day, Miss Granger." He turned a glare on her that would have withered her back when she was a student.

Her eyes glittered with mirth and devilishness.

She placed a hand on his chest and pushed, rolling his chair back away from the desk. Then she slipped up to sit on the desk in front of him. "Professor Snape, you know you're really uptight most of the time. I have a few ideas that would help you relax." She ran a finger down the side of his face and then across his lips. He nipped at her, and she grinned.

She leaned in to kiss him, and he drew back sharply. "Miss Granger, this is highly inappropriate.

"That's the idea, Professor Snape," she whispered, stretching closer. Her lips slid past his, barely touching him. Her fingers started to work on the buttons of his frock coat.

He could no longer keep his hands off her and slid his fingers and palms up her legs.

"Hummm," she sighed, pushing his coat off his shoulders and leaning in to kiss his neck. Her fingers were already working the buttons on his white button down shirt. Soon he was sitting his chair half naked. His hands were still sliding up and down her legs, which were now bare. He pulled her robes away, and then she let him pull her thin, Muggle top off. She wore a sexy, black, lace bra and matching panties. He reached behind her and unclasped the bra, and it fell away, leaving her only in the panties. Her perfect breasts drew him, and he took one into his mouth. He loved the feel of her fingers as they slipped into his hair, urging him closer.

He pulled back briefly to loosen his pants and slip them down, where they pooled around his feet. He could no longer stand the tight restraint.

"You are happy to see me, Professor Snape," Hermione said, admiring the thick, erect shaft that was tight against his stomach.

"Indeed," he said in a voice thick with desire.

His hands cupped her breast, and then he pushed her back gently till she lay across his desk. He pulled the lace panties off and placed her heels on the desk, spreading her before him and staring at her as if she was a meal before a starving man.

Hermione gripped the side of the desk and closed her eyes, begging him with a whimper not to leave her too long without his touch. He pulled his chair closer, and his hands slid over her legs and then down the inside of her thighs. Her thatch of curls was already moist with her need for him. He trailed kisses along her thighs, and they began to tremble. She gasped, crying out with pleasure when he dipped his fingers into her and then replaced them with his tongue. He gripped her hips and pulled her even closer, and he sucked and teased her with his lips and tongue.

Hermione shifted to get into a more comfortable position, throwing her legs over his shoulders. Her fingernails scratched at the worn surface of his desk, leaving light furrows in the wood.

When he nipped at her tight nub, she moaned with pleasure and came, bucking against his face. He took her legs from his shoulders, pushed back in his chair, and pulled her down onto this lap, impaling her on his thick, ridged shaft. "Hermione," he groaned as he filled her. The chair kept sliding here and there, and she had no way to lift herself up and down. They finally tumbled, laughing, to the floor. Hermione rode him till he came, crying out her name, and she came and collapsed onto his chest.

Hermione lay against him and then started to giggle. "That wasn't one of my best ideas...though the first part was highly satisfactory. You do that so well."

He held her tight. "The desk was a wonderful idea. The chair was my idea, and it didn't exactly work." He laughed. "It is highly unlikely I will be able to sit here during class and not think of you ever again."

She whispered into his ear, "That was the whole idea, Professor Snape."

"Shall we retire to my bed? It's a bit hard on my back down here, and my backside is freezing."

Hermione nodded. With his help, she got to her feet and took his hand, pulling him up. They gathered their discarded clothing and headed through the storeroom to the hidden door to Severus' rooms.

After a quick shower, they lay in bed and talked until they fell asleep.

*****

In the morning, they dressed casually and went to breakfast. Minerva, who was at the breakfast table already, said, "Severus, I don't think I've ever seen you without your frock coat on."

Severus smirked. "Well, you have to credit that to Hermione. She insists I'm still on vacation."

"So you are, or should be. Thank you for coming back to help me." She took a plate of eggs and placed two on her plate. She handed the plate off to Hermione and then took up the platter of bacon and sausage. "I have a time table in my office. It will help us cover all the things I need your help on in the next two weeks. I have also worked in some time for you two to both enjoy the castle and its grounds."

Severus nodded, taking the plate of eggs from Hermione. "Thank you, Minerva. I'm sure Hermione and I will be quite grateful for any time you can spare."

Hermione said, "It is difficult to face the coming year with only a few visits planned.

Minerva nodded. "I expect it is. The time flies so quickly these days. Soon it will be over, and you will be back here at Hogwarts with Severus." She took a sip of her coffee and then said, "I am so happy you'll be joining us here. I have no doubt that this school will benefit from Severus' and your leadership in the future."

Hermione blushed. "Thank you, Headmistress. I know Severus will be a brilliant headmaster."

"Yes," Minerva agreed, "I'm sure he will be, again." Her words referred to his past stint as headmaster during the war. "While I keep Severus busy, you will enjoy having the library at your disposal. I have told Madam Pince that you have privileges equal to staff."

Hermione beamed. "Thank you." Her fingers flexed as if she was grabbing a book.

Severus smirked and said, "Thanks, Minerva. I will never see her now."

"I doubt that," she said with an answering smirk of her own.

They talked about the schedule as they ate, and then Hermione walked with Severus and Minerva to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the headmistress' office.

Severus leaned and kissed Hermione briefly. "I will come gather you at the library when I am done this morning. We can have lunch together."

Hermione said, "I look forward to that." She bid them goodbye and headed down the hall toward the stairs that lead to the library, quite prepared to lose herself among the books.

Severus found her four hours later with her nose buried in a thick, dusty volume of potions. She didn't even react to him until he bent and placed a kiss on the back of her neck.

"Severus." She smiled up at him and reached up to caress his cheek. He leaned over her shoulder to see what she was reading. "This book is amazing. It's giving me all sorts of things to think about."

He took the book from her hands, placing her bookmark into the page and closing it. "It is quite interesting, but now it's my hour. I have to go back for a while this afternoon. Come on and walk with me. I've asked Winky, the house-elf, to pack us a picnic lunch. It's warm by the lake, and we can spend some time together."

Hermione looked wistfully at the old book but grabbed his hand and let him pull her from the chair. She told Madam Pince that she would return to continue reading after lunch.

They hurried through the corridors of the castle and burst out the great door into the sunlight. Winky was waiting on the top step with the basket.

Severus took the basket and said, "Thank you, Winky. I appreciate your help."

The little house-elf bobbed her head up and down and stared up at Severus' smiling face with wonder. "It is giving me pleasure to help you sir, madam," she said, nodding at Hermione. She watched, her big eyes growing even bigger, as they clasped hands and ran toward the lake. "They will never believe Winky when I tell them Master Snape is happy," she muttered as she turned to go back into the castle.

*****

Hermione and Severus sat on a blanket by the lake and opened the basket. It was full of fried chicken, biscuits, and baked apples.

They ate until they were stuffed, and then Severus lay on his back and Hermione sat close by his hip and looked down into his face as they talked. She grabbed a blade of grass and trailed it over his face until he grabbed her and rolled her onto her back and snogged her senseless.

They didn't know that Minerva was watching from the window of her office with a satisfied grin. "Albus, I wish you could see them together. It's a wondrous sight to see him happy. I never would have imagined."

"Perhaps you will invite them to tea sometime soon," he said.

She turned to smile up at him and said, "I will do that."

Lisa, thank you so much for taking time to beta this chapter after just getting back from vacation. I appreciate it so much.