Twenty-Six

Just a little note: in the UK a prep school is a private elementary school.

Thank you all for your lovely comments. I hope you continue to enjoy this tale of emotional and erotic need. Not much longer to go now.

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It was not until relatively late in the evening that they roused themselves from the bed to go out for supper. Fortunately, the night life of Edinburgh provided many opportunities for dining late, and they found a quiet and intimate restaurant which was still serving post-theatre meals.

It was something of a relief to Hermione to find that their time together far from Hogwarts was as relaxed and easy as it had been earlier in the day. Equally, it was further confirmed to her that Severus had banished the insecurities which had beset him. His decision to take her away seemed to have cleared his mind, and she admired him for his strength and resolve. His mindset had switched remarkably quickly, but she knew him to be nothing if not forthright. If he had decided on something, there was no need to harbour lingering doubts. They seemed to have taken a huge stride forward.

As they ate, both chatted freely and easily about all manner of things: the use of magic, how McGonagall was fairing as Headmistress (very well, Hermione was surprised to hear Severus conclude) and how Hermione would settle into life at the Ministry. During a momentary lull, Hermione felt herself speaking more freely.

"What you said earlier ..."

"Yes?"

"About resigning from your position."

Silence as he awaited her resumption.

"You don't have to, you know. There are ways around it. You could perhaps resign as Head of House, then at least you would be released at the evenings and the weekends. That way, you could travel to London every night if you wanted."

He remained silent, head down, his knife slicing through the rare sirloin. At length his words reached her across the table. "You were adamant I should leave before."

"I know. It was foolish of me. I suppose in a way I ... wanted to test you."

His head darted up, a flash of anger in his eyes.

"I don't mean in a teasing way. I just ... needed to know how you felt about things ... about us."

The spark in his eyes softened to a glow and he lowered his gaze again. "You were right, though," he continued. "I have become too settled there. It has helped me forget, ignore things that should be confronted."

"But surely you have confronted all those things?"

"Most. Perhaps not all."

Silence fell between them again.

"And besides," he said at length, "as I have said before, I can only tolerate my job when you are there. I associate the place entirely with you now. I cannot imagine it without you. There shall be no point to me remaining with you gone."

She stopped eating and put her cutlery down. He did not look up, but she could not remove her gaze from him.

"Severus."

Eventually, he raised his head to meet her eyes and she was rewarded with a slight smile before he dropped it again.

It took a while before either spoke, although the silence between them was anything but awkward, simply peaceful.

"Do you live at Hogwarts during the holidays?"

"No."

It did not seem he would be more forthcoming. She pressed him. "So, where do you live?"

"In my childhood home."

Again, he offered no further information.

"Do you not wish to tell me about it?"

Severus paused, sighing deeply. "It is a small, dismal terraced house in a vile industrial town in the north of England. It contains nothing of any merit or value whatsoever."

"Apart from you."

He could only sneer.

"So why do you still live there?"

This time he looked up at her quite suddenly, as if realising something for the first time. "I don't know." Hermione raised her eyebrows in enquiry. "But I know why I used to live there."

"Go on."

"Because that is where she was from. Living there reminded me of her, of some of the happiest times we spent together."

Hermione lowered her head, trying not to let his bluntness affect her. What he said next ensured it did not. "I now realise I can move away quite freely and happily. It no longer has a hold over me."

She could not speak. Her mouth hung slack.

"Because of you, of course. You do realise that, don't you?" He sounded as if he was chiding her for not grasping something obvious in class.

She could only smile, staggered by what seemed to her a sudden shift in allegiance. His own determination fired hers and gave her further confidence in their relationship. She felt completely secure in her emotions for him.

They returned to their food.

"And you, Miss Granger." He smirked as he called her by her title. "You have never told me about your childhood home."

"It's terribly dull and predictable, I'm afraid. I grew up with nice middle-class parents in a nice middle-class Cotswolds town and went to a nice middle-class prep school. All very comfortable and cosy."

"When did you realise you had magical abilities?"

"Well, with little things really. I ignored them at first. I remember struggling to dress my dolls one day when I was very little and then, after I had thrown one on the floor in a temper, they were all suddenly immaculately attired! And one day at school, I had been so frustrated by my teacher's inability to write up what I thought was a simple calculation on the board, I was sitting there glaring at her back, and she turned away, about to admit defeat, and when she looked again, the board was full of the correct solution. I'll never forget her look of astonishment. Of course, I had no idea it was me who had done it."

"Tormenting your teachers even then?"

She smirked. "But of course. Did I ... torment you?"

"Yes."

"Was I that bad?"

He exhaled deeply. "I suppose it was your clear affection for Potter that riled me the most. I resented the fact that the most brilliant and talented witch I had come across for as long as I could remember was so attached to him. It reminded me ..."

His voice trailed off, but she knew he was referring to another Potter's influence: to James' hold on Lily.

"But you took it out on me rather a lot."

"I suppose I did."

"You were very cruel at times."

He did not flinch. "See it as building up your resilience."

She looked at him. It was clear he was not going to apologise for his behaviour towards her over the years. She decided not to push for it.

"I will see it as you trying to come to terms with feeling threatened by my intelligence and talent," she said with a smirk.

She did not see his momentary glare before his expression changed slowly into a slight admiring smile.

"This feels right, doesn't it?"

"Yes," he said clearly after a pause. "That is why I am content with my decision. Our trip this morning confirmed it to me."

"Not initially."

"No. Strangely enough, it was only when we returned to Hogwarts that I realised how clear it was. Despite the reassurance of the surroundings, and the knowledge that you were to arrive for a lesson, I realised that ..."

"Go on."

"It was no longer enough. However confusing, different rather, that our time away from school had been, it felt, as you have just said, right. Although I admit that I ... resisted seeing it at first. You must remember, I did not have a nice middle-class upbringing. I was not taught to tolerate, to adapt and develop. I have had to work all those things out for myself; some I have grasped better than others."

"You are far more self-aware than I admit to giving you credit for previously."

"And you are just as patronising as I always gave you credit for previously." He smirked across at her; she responded with a mock affronted glare.

"I know I can be an annoying pain in the arse. You're probably one of the few people who could tolerate me."

He humphed slightly. "Mr Filmore seems to be more than happy to 'tolerate' you."

"Oh, don't talk about that. But that's a point actually, if it makes you feel any better. A few hours in my company and I'll have probably bored him rigid."

"Hmm ... it's the rigid part I'm worried about."

She giggled at his humour, glad he could joke about something she knew he was deeply troubled by. "Severus, not only do I love sitting here, fully clothed, chatting to you, but that particular aspect of our relationship is remarkable. I never believed I'd find someone to be able to make me feel the way you do. I didn't know such pleasure was possible."

"Neither did I."

"Well, that's a further sign of our compatibility. God, it's almost ..."

"Fate?"

She looked up at him, surprised he was happy to admit it so readily. "Yes."

They stared at each other. Her cheeks had quickly flushed, and the colour had spread to her lips which were full and swollen; he could not take his eyes from them. His chest rose and fell rapidly under the crisp white shirt, contrasting with the deep black of his jacket. "We need to go back to the hotel." He spoke with urgent insistence.

"Yes."

The waiter immediately appeared at their side. Snape had not even looked across at him. "We require the bill, thank you."

The man did not hesitate in returning with the bill immediately. When he thought about it later, he could not explain why he had served the black haired man and the young woman so swiftly.

Severus paid for it all and they were soon walking rapidly back towards the hotel. It was a cold night and Hermione huddled against him to keep warm. His arm came around her and pulled her in tight. She laid her head on his shoulder and smiled into his coat. At one point they could go no further but stopped and drew the other in tightly for a long, deep kiss. It did not seem to bother the Friday night revellers of Edinburgh. When they had reached the steps of the hotel, they paused briefly for another embrace. On breaking away, she looked up into his eyes and said once again, "You really were horrible to me, you know. You reduced me to tears on several occasions."

Again, no apology was forthcoming, and she thought she could detect instead the merest hint of a smirk. For now, she smirked back and pulled him up the steps into the hotel.

Once inside the lift they could barely keep their hands off each other, and if it had not been for another person getting in on the second floor, they may well have ended up naked before they reached their level.

They somehow managed to unlock the door to the room and Hermione moved him back into it. He was tearing at her clothes almost desperately.

But a thought had been forming in Hermione's mind for some time. It would require tremendous willpower on her part, at least initially, but she was determined to see it through. She pushed him back, removing his jacket and undoing the buttons of his shirt in the process, until he came to rest against a pillar of the four-poster bed.

She kissed him hard and he reached up to hold her head, angling it to assault her mouth with increasing desperation. Her hands came up and pulled his down and she slowly lowered herself so that she was kneeling before him. After a slight smirk of anticipation, his head fell back and his eyes closed in expectation. Hermione undid his trousers and let them fall. He kicked off his shoes and socks and stepped out of them swiftly so that he was standing before her in nothing but his shirt tails.

He rose out towards her, needy and rock hard. Her mouth was so close, her tongue flitting out as if to capture that first drop which had already appeared on his swollen tip. But the anticipated touch did not come. Instead she took his hands and pulled them behind him, and then yet further behind the pillar of the bed. Before he had even realised what was happening, Severus Snape found himself immobile, bound by some unknown material to the post.

He struggled as it finally dawned on him what had happened and started to mutter a wandless spell to release himself. But before he could complete it, he felt the tip of her wand under his chin.

"Uh uh uh. I wouldn't recommend that if I were you. Do not underestimate my magic, Professor Snape. You know me too well for that. Besides, this won't be nearly as much fun if you don't cooperate." She smiled languidly up at him, and tapped the tip of her wand reproachfully on his chest before drawing it down the length of his torso. He could not deny that his cock was even more engorged than before and stopped struggling, burning with curiosity to see what she would do next.

She merely stepped back and crossed her arms, watching him with teasing amusement.

"What is this about?" he hissed, frustration coursing through his limbs. How he longed for her touch; his flesh was burning for her.

"Penance." She spoke plainly and clearly.

"What!?" His eyes burned into hers. She looked away.

"I told you; you have been beastly to me over the years. It is time for you to make amends."

The ache in his groin was so intense he feared he would injure himself. "Don't tease me, witch," he groaned through gritted teeth.

"Oh ... that is exactly what I am going to do."

She continued to stand staring at him for some time, watching as his breathing became increasingly ragged. It became harder and harder for him to maintain the silence he normally exhibited at times of arousal, and the occasional tormented moan could not stop itself rising from his throat. Hermione could not deny the effect this had on her. She knew her own knickers were soaking.

Hermione glanced down at his member, more swollen than ever. The head was purple with need and dripped mercilessly onto the floor. She took a step towards him and caught a drop of the clear liquid as it fell. Examining it with a frown, she brought it up for him to see. "Tut tut. What are you always telling me about creating a mess and not letting things go to waste? Seems you are in need of a little reminder of your own rules and regulations ... sir." She smirked, running one finger along the line of his jaw and pushing his head up with it. He returned her stare with a glare but did not speak. His breath came in short deep gasps and he struggled momentarily against his bonds.

"Oh no, you don't." She instantly stepped away from him, denying him the promise of her touch. A deeper groan emerged from him.

Hermione moved further back. His eyes followed her everywhere. She stood before him and slowly started to remove her clothing: first her shirt, each button undone with deliberate indolence. Her breasts were revealed: pale, milky mounds encased in the red silk of her bra. She saw the flash in his eyes but ignored it.

Moving to a chair, she pulled it out to just a few feet in front of him and sat, slowly unzipping each boot in turn and pulling them off. At last she stood and removed her jeans, slipping them down her long legs until she was able to kick them, redundant, away from her. She stood before him in her bra and knickers, hands on hips, appraising him and the situation. There was now a decent sized puddle on the floor beneath the tip of his cock and she smirked on seeing it.

"Do you know how it feels to be humiliated in front of your classmates for no reason other than spite?"

He inhaled sharply through his nose. "You know I do." The words were spoken with anger.

She maintained her calm. "Ah, but you could argue that there is a great difference between adolescent schoolboys stupidly unable to control their emotions, taking it out on someone they did not understand, and a grown man in a supposed position of authority and respect taking it out on innocent hard-working pupils."

"Innocent?!" He spat it towards her.

"Oh yes. For a while at least."

"You lost your innocence a long time ago, Miss Granger."

A wistful mask fell over her face and she stared beyond him momentarily. "Yes. I suppose I did." Then her eyes darted back to his. "But never my work ethic. You cannot deny me that."

"I did not say that I did."

She approached him again and knelt, gazing quizzically at the rigid shaft of flesh before her as if it was a specimen to be studied. He arched his groin towards her open mouth, but again she pulled back, drawing a cry of desperation from him. Slowly she stood, always maintaining a few tantalising inches of distance between them.

"What did it feel like, Professor Snape?" He did not reply but his eyes hardened, burning into hers. "The spite, the malice, the disparagement, the caustic put-downs? When you saw people reduced to tears before you - did you enjoy it?"

He took a long time before replying, but eventually spoke with surprising clarity. "I knew no other way. I had never been treated any better myself."

"That's not entirely true though, is it?" She was referring to Lily. "I ask you again; did you enjoy it?"

He refused to answer for a while, then, turning his head, gave his response, reluctantly but clearly. "It provided me with a sense of justice. And I could not risk any pupil or teacher becoming too attached to me; that would have made it hard to maintain the web of deceit I had to weave in order for me to succeed in my ... work." He was not referring to his teaching.

"Oh, I don't buy that excuse, I'm afraid. What an effort. What a charade. Why not simply use your powers for good from the word go?"

"You know full well it was not as simple as that. Stop this effrontery now!"

Hermione stepped in and brought her mouth tantalisingly close to his ear. She whispered low, "I like to hear what goes on inside your head." With that her tongue flicked out and briefly flitted into his ear, sensual and warm. He almost sobbed.

She stepped back again and reached behind her, undoing the bra clasp before slipping the straps down from her shoulders and letting the garment fall to the floor. A deep breath was drawn into him at the sight. Her nipples quickly rose hard and dark pink as the air hit them, and she brought a hand up to cup a breast lightly, before stroking over the pliant flesh, taking the nipple between thumb and forefinger and squeezing lightly. The throb in his groin was so severe he was sure he would come just from watching her. It was the most agonised torment he could recall with no actual bodily pain being inflicted.

Her eyes closed and her head fell back. She continued to pull at her nipple. Her own lust was so heightened that it did not register as pain at all, merely causing the fire in her belly to flame ever more. Her other hand reached down and quested inside her knickers. She found herself sodden with desire and pushed one finger along, circling her swollen clit as she went. There was a hiss from the man opposite. She touched the lightest of touches on the hard nub of flesh and a jolt of pleasure shot through her. With a gasp, her eyes opened instinctively, meeting his. He looked as if he would burst out of his bonds any moment, but she knew she had him where she wanted, knew she had him where he wanted to be.

She pulled down the knickers and stepped out of them, revealing herself fully naked before him.

"And now, Severus Snape, I stand before you: this body, this woman, whom you derided and tormented all those years." She moved into him. "These lips which uttered so much, only for the words then to be criticised and denigrated." He could feel her sweet breath on his face. Her lips were red and swollen; he thought he would die without their touch. "You want them now, don't you?" He did not reply. He was not sure if he still had the power to form words; his mind was a complete fog of lust. "Say it." It was her turn to hiss.

"I want them. I want you." It was a whispered breath – all he could manage.

She smirked and moved to his ear again. "Not – yet." She emphasised the words with deliberate precision.

Hermione once again stepped away from him. His face crumpled at the deprivation of her body, but he quickly recovered his composure on the surface; beneath he knew he could not last.

She sat in the chair she had placed opposite him, placing one leg over the arm, revealing herself fully and tauntingly to him. Fixing him with her eyes, she let her hand quest once more between her thighs. She could not prevent her own groan rising loudly as she felt her swollen wet flesh once more. He too let the sound of desire escape him. Her other hand again found her nipple and started tugging at it relentlessly, coaxing sensation and pleasure through her body. One finger sought deep inside and drew out her wetness. He caught a glimpse of the glistening moisture and his mouth fell open involuntarily as more pre-cum fell in audible splatters onto the floor.

Hermione drew the finger up and rubbed around her clit, causing her to jerk up to meet it. She knew she could not keep herself waiting much longer. Why should she? Her fingers worked faster now, tantalising her clit then dipping back into her sodden passage, only to draw more liquid out to further coat and stimulate her sex. She rubbed harder over and around the bud of tight flesh at the top. He could see it engorged and red, desperate for its own release. The hand at her nipple was still pinching and tugging, the tight redness of her clit mirrored in it. She had tried to maintain his gaze, but as her insides somersaulted with near completion she could not. Her eyes closed and her head fell back, and with a final hard rub over her engorged flesh she came in vast groaning spasms. Pleasure coursed through her, magnified by the knowledge of his eyes boring into her, soaking up her rapture.

Her limbs twitched for some time afterwards and she kept her eyes shut tight to concentrate on the feelings that continued to billow. Only when she felt every last ounce of pleasure leave her body did she at last open her eyes and look across at him.

Severus's face held the most extraordinary expression: a mixture of desire, wonder, pain and admiration. After her breathing had settled she stood and walked across to him, holding his gaze firmly, her eyes fixed surprisingly cold.

They stayed like that for some time. Then at last she heard it. His mouth opened and he spoke: softly, tenderly and completely honestly.

"For all the pain and humiliation I caused you over the years ... I am sorry."

The expression on her face changed instantly to warm acceptance and forgiveness and she smiled tenderly at him. Then at last, Hermione Granger reached in and kissed him. It was a remarkably chaste kiss, but to him, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever bestowed.

They remained like that for some time, their lips touching, blending, never too hard or insistent, but eventually, she became aware of the constant dripping against her thighs and she pulled back, raising an eyebrow to him.

"You are forgiven," she breathed to him, then immediately knelt.

She only had time to open her mouth and drag her lips once, maybe twice over the purple engorged head of his cock, before he exploded into her, all his need and frustration finally able to be relieved. She captured every burst of his seed in her mouth. Each was accompanied by the most soul-wrenching groan from him, as if all his failings and faults were finally being atoned for.

When she was sure he had given her all he could, she stood and swallowed his seed deep within her, bringing another moan from him.

Then, still looking at him with complete tenderness, she reached behind him and untied the bindings. He exhaled as his arms were finally freed and he felt the blood flowing back into them swiftly. He had not realised the discomfort until now.

Some of his cum had escaped onto her face. He gazed at it in awe; never had he known such an erotically satisfying sight. Bringing his finger up, he captured the stray drops on it. She saw what had happened and eagerly caught his finger in her mouth, sucking off all she could from it.

With that, she removed the shirt he had been wearing the whole time and, taking his hand, led him into the bed.

They lay for a while, simply looking at each other, then he spoke, not angrily, merely inquiring.

"What was all that about?"

"I needed to hear you say it. You needed to say it. You had been reluctant earlier."

"You were very forthright: in your actions and your words."

"Yes. Did it surprise you?"

"What?"

"What I did to you?"

"Initially."

"But you did not mind?"

"It was strange to relinquish control. Unfamiliar."

"I asked if you minded."

He paused momentarily. "I did not."

"And my words?"

"What about them?"

"Did you mind them?"

Another pause. "Do you really think those things?"

"Yes." She waited a little. "Does it matter?"

"No."

"You seemed angry at times."

"Am I not allowed to be?"

"I suppose you are." She thought for a moment. "So I haven't gone down in your estimation?"

"Quite the opposite."

With sheer delight and love, Hermione leaned over to kiss him, more passionately this time. But before she could assume control once again, he had swept her onto her back, and moved over her. She could feel him hard and insistent already between her thighs and quickly parted them. "Please. Please come inside me." He pushed firmly but tenderly into her before her voice had died away.

Severus moved smoothly and powerfully within her, not taking his eyes from hers, and it was not long before they both came again.

It was only then that the events of the day overtook them both, and they fell into a deep sleep, still holding each other tight.

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There might be something else you need to say at some point, Severus.

I still love your reviews. xxx