The Marriage Adjusts

Disclaimer: Except for OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

Severus got up the next morning from his own bed and performed his ordinary morning ablutions. Keeping to his routine, he got dressed. Then he happened to see the picture he always looked at every morning and night. He had been too tired the night before to give Lily proper attention, and there was a pang of guilt this morning. Yet he wasn't sure what to think as he gazed at her. Did he imagine the twinkle in her eye? It was almost as if she was glad about what he had done the night before. How could that be?

He opened his bedroom door and stopped dead at the sight of his wife. She was dressed in what he somehow knew was servant attire. It was very similar to what Zurie wore. Instead of the sly smile she usually wore, her eyes were downcast. A tray was in her hands, covered with a breakfast that he suspected was similar to the meal she had sent him the night before their wedding.

"I thought you might like your breakfast in your rooms this morning."

"How did you get in here?" He didn't want to admit that he had locked the door against her, but she must know by now.

"Zurie helped me." She shifted her weight. "Please sit down, husband."

He sat at the table where he graded papers and occasionally ate meals, and she placed the tray before him. After pouring his coffee and seeing that his plate was placed just right before him, she knelt at his feet. He was torn between the smell of the best coffee he'd ever had and the sight of her. He lifted the cup to his lips but realized it would taste horrible with her behaving this way.

"Kalinda, don't do that. Sit near me, please. Aren't you eating?"

"Oh, no, husband, I couldn't eat your meal. I broke fast earlier."

"At least sit near me." He conjured a chair for her and indicated that he wished her to take it. When she finally sat down, he asked, "What is the matter? Can you tell me your story, yet?"

"Oh, husband, I feel the story within me, but I cannot speak quite yet."

"Why did you kneel at my feet? I'm no one that you should treat me that way."

She looked up at him with liquid eyes. He had to adjust his gaze away from them. "My husband, did I please you last night?"

"Is that what worries you?"

"You left me, and I worried that you left in anger or disappointment."

Something bubbled up within him. It wasn't often that he came upon a person who was more wretched than he was, and he didn't know what to call this feeling. It made him uncomfortable, which was one of the reasons he tended to avoid situations where he might find a person in such straits. In this case, he knew he was responsible for soothing the girl's...his wife's, that is...distress.

"Of course I was pleased. Did you not hear me say how lovely and wonderful you were?"

"But you left me!"

"You had gone to sleep, and I didn't wish to trouble you in your rest."

"It would have been no trouble, my husband."

He sighed. The simple reason was that he couldn't stand the intimacy of actually sleeping with her. He would have been vulnerable in his sleep, and he couldn't stand the thought of it. He turned his head and mumbled, "I just couldn't stay. Do not ask me to."

His coffee cup was empty and she stood to refill it for him. "Will you come back for the evening, then?"

He should refuse. After all he had tried it, and it had not worked. He remembered the night before, however, and somehow could only say, "Of course. I found the evening quite pleasurable. Did you?"

"I..."

He looked from his yoghurt in surprise to see that he had made her blush. "Kalinda?" Now there were actual tears in her eyes. He started to panic. "Foolish woman! What have I done to make you cry?"

"I did not expect a husband so considerate of me," she whispered. Clearing her throat, she continued. "I was swept away by your touches, husband, and your gentle tenderness as you made me your own. I had been taught to expect pain from that moment, yet you gave me only joy. I know you do not love me, yet your treatment of me has been most kind, and you showed me great pleasure."

"Then you would like to continue?"

"Oh, yes!" Her eyes were shining. They were the same as he had always known, yet he wondered if it would be possible to conjure a Patronus with such eyes in the future. The doe's eyes had never had quite that glow.

"I'll come to your rooms at dinner time tonight, then?"

"I'll be waiting for you, husband."

He finished his coffee and the last of his fruit. Then he picked up his teaching robe from where he had left it and caressed her cheek. "I shall look forward to it."

He didn't really expect to think about her, but as he took an inventory of the stock room, he opened a bottle to check how much was left and a spicy scent wafted out. The second time he had made love to her the night before, he had unfastened her hair and found himself surrounded by a similar fragrance. She had tossed her head and her black hair went everywhere. Then she had leaned over him, and he couldn't keep from pulling her close.

He found himself looking forward to dinner. That night they established a pattern that would take them to the end of the school year. She still entertained him with tales that were mostly from her homeland. Now as they finished eating, he would draw her toward the bed where they would spend several enjoyable hours before he went back to his own room. The picture of Lily continued to twinkle up at him as though congratulating an old chum, and he found that life had new interests.

His meetings with Dumbledore had continued infrequently. As they contemplated a bottle of cognac, Dumbledore asked if Snape had learned anything new about Kalinda. He thought for a moment. He had learned that she was ticklish behind her knees, he had learned that sliding his hand up the bare skin of her abdomen ignited her desire, and he had learned that her head fell back just as she lost control during passion. None of these things would help Dumbledore, however.

He was starting to enjoy their moments together. He couldn't quantify his feelings, but he knew he was happier with her than at any other time. There was something about the words she whispered during their moments of pleasure that he found endearing. He had no idea what she was saying, but the way she looked at him and touched him as she said the words gave him clues. He found himself thinking of Lily even less than before. He placed her picture in a drawer and spent even less time looking at it.

There were two occasions when their evenings were different. Twice Nature exacted the price of womanhood upon Kalinda during that spring. Severus found that he had urges to provide comfort for his wife if at all possible. On one evening she seemed particularly wretched with aches and he sought the advice of the school's Matron. He found ways to warm and soothe her, and then he attempted to distract her with stories of his own. She smiled wanly, as though to reward him for his effort. Within a day or two she was much better and he didn't think of it.

The end of the term loomed, and Snape considered how to move back to his home. It was not as luxurious as what they had known at Hogwarts. Yet she had managed to turn the cold stones of the school into a warm and welcoming haven; perhaps she could do the same for his house.

There was another consideration. There was really just the one bedroom at Spinner's end. The other room was hardly bigger than a closet and he couldn't ask her to take it. He would have to let her have his room; could he stand to take the smaller room?

The other option was to share the one room. The part of him that still gazed at Lily's picture for an hour at a time shrank from that idea. The rest of him quietly warmed to the idea. There had been one night, when she had her monthly pain, when he had held her in his arms. He had stayed for nearly the entire night. Nothing terrible had happened, and he decided that he actually liked sleeping while so close to another person.

They spent hours packing for the summer. Over the last week, she became quieter and less controlling, and he started to miss her personality as he had come to know it. He wondered whether she could be ill, but shrank away from asking. On the last night before they would leave, she was dressed in a thin shift that was entirely sheer. They sat on the cushions as ever, and Zurie was attending them.

He leaned over to touch her, but she stayed him with a gentle touch on his hand. "Wait, Severus. There is a story I must tell you, first. A choice must be made between us, and then we may lie together."

"I know that I will love any story you tell me, Kalinda. You tell good stories and your voice is most pleasurable to the ear."

She smiled and began.

A/N: This chapter ends up being pretty short, but the final one will post in a day or two. Thank you very much for your kind attention to my story. Thank you especially to Trickie Woo for beta reading.