11

Chapter 11- Still November 21, 1998

Brow furrowing in confusion, Snape said, "What happened with the mirror?"

Hermione's words came out in a rush. "It's in here. This book starts back in the late 18th century...and sometimes it's hard deciphering the handwriting...but I got to a part where a witch was worried she'd end up a spinster, so she apparently worked with several people versed in love spells to enchant it..."

Snape felt anxiety prickling his skin as a vague idea started to take shape. "Enchant it to do what?"

Hermione swallowed hard and sucked in another deep breath. "Well, it's supposed to indicate who your mate is. A-and, apparently, the family bloodline enchantments woven into the house over the years were tied into it. That's why we're stuck. The house won't let us out unless we..."

She trailed off, cheeks finally suffused with colour. Snape, however, had gone white as he understood. In an anguished rasp, he said, "Hermione..."

She met his tormented gaze. Her heart pounded as she reached out to lace her fingers with his. Looking back down at the book, she whispered, "According to this, from the way the mirror and the house reacted, we're supposed to be together."

Snape squeezed her hand, shaking his head vehemently as he said, "They'll come for us. We'll just wait. I promise: you won't be held here against your will much longer. Nor should you feel forced into anything just to try to get out sooner."

Hermione lifted her other hand and moulded it to his cheek, offering him a gentle smile. "Severus, who said anything was against my will?"

Snape's eyes flew open wide and his gut trembled with hope and desire and fear. Hermione guided him forward and kissed him, sliding her hand into his hair to hold him in place for a very thorough snog.

When they parted, their foreheads pressed together as they panted, Hermione whispered, "Let's go to the mirror. Maybe it needs to see us again, now."

She pulled him to his feet and led him over to stand in front of the mirror. It glowed again, but nothing else happened. Tugging him closer, she leant back against him and wrapped his arms around her waist, demonstrating their connection for the enchantments. Still, nothing happened, but she did feel the hard heat of his erection pressing into her back.

Snape murmured, "What do you think it needs?"

Hermione shrugged faintly. "Maybe it needs to hear some sort of statement?"

Snape met her gaze in the mirror and held her tighter as he took the plunge. "Hermione, you've been there since the moment I opened my eyes in the wake of my living nightmare. You've helped me rebuild my life, my sanity, my magic. If ever there was an event significant enough to change the joy I draw upon to cast my Patronus, it was literally coming back to life in your grasp. There's no one I would rather be with. I was willing to wait until it naturally came to that point, for fear of driving you away, but... even though these enchantments have forced my hand, they don't change the fact that... I love you."

Hermione's heart raced, like to burst with happiness. Lips spreading in a shaky smile, she said, "I thought as much. I was afraid to rush things, too. But I've loved you for months now, Severus."

The triumph in his eyes made her laugh in relief. She started to turn in his embrace, but paused to peer around at the mirror and the attic, trying to see if there were any discernible changes in their prison. Snape held her close and bent to nuzzle her ear. "It may not have been enough for the enchantments, but that was more than enough to satisfy me."

Twisting to face him, she snaked her arms up around his neck and pulled his head down, her lips ghosting over his as she purred, "I, on the other hand, may need more to be satisfied."

At his incredulous groan, she pounced on him with a fierce kiss, aggressive and demanding and melting his restraint in a wave of heat. Hermione's hands slid down his chest and around his waist. Gripping his arse, she pressed against him, smirking at his sharp gasp. Backing away, she flashed a wicked grin and flicked her wand. "Accio jars." The jars with the bluebell flames floated over and settled in a ring around them. Her grin disappeared when she bit her lower lip and whispered, "Accio cushions."

Snape's hands and jaw clenched as comprehension dawned. Hermione stepped away and let the cushion drop between them. Deftly, she expanded it until it was long enough for Snape's tall frame. Hermione was glad for the warmth of the flames now that they were so much closer to them. She beckoned for Snape to step back into place on the cushion, then pulled him down to kneel with her. Sinking back to sit, Hermione pulled off her winter boots, nodding for Snape to do the same. Snape stared at her, afraid it was all too good to be true, but at her raised eyebrow, he followed suit.

Boots tossed aside, Hermione shoved to her feet again and urged Snape back up. Holding his gaze, she shrugged out of her thick coat, laying it neatly at the end of the cushion. When Snape didn't immediately copy her actions, she smiled and reached up to remove his winter cloak for him. They came together in a feverish kiss, hands roaming. Hermione broke away to pull him down onto their knees, giving her better access to pepper his face and throat with nibbles and licks. Grazing her teeth across his scarred neck, bathing it with hot breath, she slid her hands beneath his shirt, making him moan.

Snape couldn't believe his luck. Their previous passionate snogs and gropes were one thing, but to know that she felt the same as he did... that was the most euphoric part. Hermione's nails trailed along his back, raising goose flesh in their wake. His cock jumped violently, straining against his trousers. Hermione started unbuttoning his shirt, following the path down his chest with her tongue. When it was open, she lunged back up to kiss him, shoving the shirt off his shoulders and pressing her chest to his.

Wrenching free of the shirt, Snape curled forward and gripped Hermione's arse, pulling her up to straddle his lap and bringing her lips up to the same level as his. Hermione voiced her approval in a low purr and started rocking on his lap, grinding against his erection. Snape hissed and his hands spasmed, squeezing her arse as he fought the surge of sensation.

Hermione leant back, yanking her jumper over her head in one swift motion, making her hair tumble down over her face in a riot of dishevelled curls. Snape groaned, drinking in the sight of her straddling his lap, tousled and flushed, clad in her bra and jeans. Shaking her hair out of her face, wiping away the strands that clung to her swollen lips, she beamed at Snape, eyes alight with wonder and lust.

Voice husky, she said, "Severus, touch me."

Snape lifted reverent hands to caress her throat and breasts, curling forward to drop feathery kisses on the flesh above the lacy edge of her bra. Hermione's head lolled back and her hands rose to tangle in his hair. After a long moment, she released him and reached back to unhook her bra, rolling her shoulders to let the straps fall. Snape's hands were cupping her breasts, holding the fabric in place, but when the straps loosened, he backed away to meet her eyes, his apprehension evident in his eyes and in his voice as he queried, "Hermione?"

She smiled fondly and whispered, "Severus, please."

Snape sucked in a shuddery breath and lowered his hands, letting the bra fall away from her peaked nipples. Flinging it to one side, he sat forward, sliding her down his lap to lay her on the cushion, hovering over her. Hermione's eyes closed in bliss as he trailed kisses over her skin, pausing to suckle each nipple before continuing on his quest to leave no bit of flesh untouched by his lips. When his chin bumped against the waist of her jeans, she voiced a quavery moan of encouragement. Dipping the tip of his tongue in to tickle her navel, he tugged at the button and zipper of her jeans, then sat up to help her wriggle out of them.

Hermione felt like every nerve of her body was sensitized, sending jolts of heat through her core in response to his touch. She had never wanted anyone as much as she wanted him at that moment. Snape slid his hands up her legs from ankle to hip, leaning down to nibble at the hipbone jutting up above her knickers. Hermione squealed and bucked, and Snape dipped lower to nuzzle her mound, noting how damp the cloth was and how heady the aroma of her arousal was to his sensitive nose.

Her gasp at the sensation made him grin, and he backed away to hook his fingers under the fabric and peel her knickers down her legs, baring her to his adoring gaze. As soon as Hermione was naked, she sat up and grabbed Snape, spinning and shoving him onto his back. A startled cry was forced from him at the impact, but it quickly changed to a ragged groan when Hermione immediately attacked his trousers, tearing at the button placket in her haste to strip him.

She scrambled backward in her unceremonious attempt to peel his trousers off, smirking at the memory of stripping him via magic in the hospital wing over six months ago. Crawling back between his spread legs, she grinned at the further similarity when she saw that his white boxers were translucent where his precome had soaked the cloth strained over the head of his cock, showing the pink of his flesh through the fabric. Flicking a glance at Snape to confirm that he didn't protest her manhandling, she carefully edged the elastic of the boxers out past his erection, tugging them down to rest just above his bollocks.

Snape was gripping the cushion, his whole body tensed and overwhelmed at the feel of her hands baring him so eagerly. His cock bounced, finally free of its confines, and he bucked when she trailed gentle fingertips along his shaft. Blinking dazedly at her, he was taken aback by the almost predatory gleam in her eyes as she guided his boxers down his legs, leaving him as naked as she was.

Hermione crawled alongside him, pausing to drop light kisses along his chest. Propping herself on one elbow, she reached down to stroke him, smearing his precome over the heated flesh and eliciting a strangled groan. Leaning down to his ear, she breathed, "Do you want me as much as you love me?"

Snape suddenly rolled to the side, pressing her onto her back and descending on her with a consuming kiss. One hand snaked down her body and over the swell of her hip, smoothing down to her slick curls and slipping one finger along her cleft. Hermione's breathless shriek of pleasure was muffled by his lips on hers. Snape's cock bounced again at how wet she was already, and he teased her by barely delving into her before backing away again. After several of these thrusts, Hermione rocked her hips, grinding against his hand and impaling herself on his finger.

"Severus, please... I want you."

In a fervent growl, he said, "You can have me however you want me. I'm yours."

Hermione voiced an approving squeal and pushed at his shoulders, rolling him onto his back again and forcing him to disengage from her depths. "Lie back."

Snape complied, watching Hermione as she crept up and swung a leg over him. He steadied her with his hands on her hips as she shifted to straddle his waist. His cock strained toward her inviting heat as she beamed down at him. She looked to one side and saw their reflection in the mirror, then tilted her head at him to draw his attention to it.

"I think that's the hottest thing I've ever seen." Snape huffed in amusement at her comment, content to look at the goddess above him instead of the reflection of them together.

Hermione inched backward, gasping at the touch of Snape's cock sliding along her curls. Angling her hips, she sank down, exhaling a long note of satisfaction as he slowly filled her. Snape struggled to breathe, trying to contain his ecstasy at joining with Hermione so intimately, just like he had dreamt. When he was fully sheathed within her, she sighed in pleasure and leant down to kiss him, her nipples teasing his chest.

Snape flexed his hips, rocking into her, then gripped her arse and guided her to slide forward, letting him back out before thrusting again. Her gasps and coos sent sizzling tingles racing through him, and he wanted to make her come apart in his hands, shattering in bliss.

After a long while of building sensation, Hermione arched her back and shoved herself up to ride him, her breasts bouncing as she leant backward, her hair streaming behind her as her head lolled back. Snape's hands cupped her hips, guiding her up and down on his cock, marvelling at the erotic beauty of her impaling herself on him with growing force and speed, lost to the pleasure that threatened to consume her.

She bounced on him harder and faster, grinding herself against him on every downstroke, her hands tracing over her nipples and cupping her breasts. When one hand crept over her belly and down to slip her fingertips around her clit, Snape sucked in a sharp breath, feeling his balls tightening. Hermione's fingers danced over her clit, and she fell forward, the hand that had been cupping her breast holding her up as she rode Snape with wild abandon, her hair tumbling about her face and blocking her view of anything but Snape's worshipful expression as they locked eyes.

He knew it was coming. He could see it in her face and feel it in the way she tightened around him. Her gasping, panting breaths faltered in rhythm and she bucked, closing her eyes, shuddering and hissing, "Yes-yes-yes-yes-yessssss..." as she climaxed, moaning when Snape gripped her hips and held her still so he could thrust savagely upward, pounding into her and drawing out her orgasm. As she started to spiral down from her peak, her muscles relaxing from their heartbeats of tension, she opened her eyes to see him grimace in ecstasy, his grunts turning into breathless, inarticulate shouts of release.

She dropped onto him, pinning him with a deep kiss as he came down from his climax, his muscles rippling and shuddering beneath her. His enthusiastic moan was drowned out by the sound of the shutters and doors slamming open again as the mirror flashed a dazzling glow, illuminating the lovers entwined before it.

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