Trouble Brewing

Severus awoke to find himself at the brink of orgasm. Hermione was half atop him, her mouth devouring his neck, her hand stroking his already dripping cock. With a husky groan he reached down to stop her enthusiastic stroking. Lifting her head, Hermione was momentarily worried that she had gone too far by pouncing on the oft touchy man while he slept. Severus' slow smile and the wicked light in his eyes both calmed and excited her.

"I wasn't finished," she said, mock-pouting at him.

"And I, my impatient love," he purred, "have not yet started."

Then he was reaching for her, enveloping her, deep...so deep inside her and there were no more words, only throaty growls and sweet, crooning bliss.

The second time Severus awoke, it was to find a depressingly already dressed Hermione straddling his hips as she rather ineffectually shook him.

"Wake up, Severus!" she demanded.

"Don't you have something more important to do than pester a man while he's trying to sleep? Why aren't you in class, Miss Granger? More importantly, why do you have all those blasted clothes on?" He raked his gaze over her, scowling at her attire.

"No class," she said smirking, "it's Saturday. As for why I am dressed," Hermione paused to give his bare chest a hungry perusal while voicing a regretful sigh, "I fetched you a present." Holding up a familiar phial, she continued, "Your three drops of virgin blood, Professor."

"Clever girl," Severus murmured as he reached up to tug her down against him. Kissing her hungrily for a moment, Severus eventually released her, raising an eyebrow and growling, "Well? Get off me woman, we have work to do."

Their brewing was very different now. Though they worked in companionable silence, the work was peppered with warm looks and swiftly stolen caresses. Severus had worried he would find Hermione far too distracting and might have to request she leave. Instead he found her a very pleasant distraction, one which made the work all the more precious to him, rather than interfering with it. Indeed, the two brewers worked well together now they weren't fighting. Severus did the actual brewing, while Hermione prepared ingredients as she hummed happily to herself. They made a good team and the brewing went smoothly.

When it came time to test the new potion, Hermione was in a mischievous mood. They had been working steadily all that morning and she was impatient to feel Severus' arms around her once more. That was why she projected desire at him instead of the humor she normally used. The new potion was a partial success; Severus was able to withstand her projection for many minutes before he at last gave in and dragged her into his arms to kiss her soundly.

"Vixen," he murmured into her hair after she had stopped projecting, "that was not your usual projection."

"No it wasn't," she agreed. "Are you complaining?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed not," Severus said as his mouth descended again to hers. After kissing her breathless, he reluctantly released her. Striding to his potions cabinet, he removed several more of the phials charmed to collect virgin's blood. "We are obviously on the right track but we need to strengthen the potion in order to get it to last longer. Can you collect more virgin's blood while I determine how best to adapt the potion?"

"Of course." As she collected the phials from him, Hermione leaned up to brush his lips with her own. "I'll return soon," she promised.

"Good," he said shortly, with another one of his slow smiles.

It took Hermione a good hour to track down enough Gryffindor fourth years to collect the blood they needed. Returning to Severus' rooms, Hermione found him at the desk in his study, buried in books and scribbling like mad on a parchment. Hermione didn't want to disturb him, but it was clear he hadn't taken the time to eat anything and it was long past the lunch hour. Severus was still so thin; he'd never gained back the weight he had lost in Azkaban. Well, if he wouldn't take care of himself then she would, Hermione determined with a nod. Flooing the kitchens for some sandwiches, Hermione set a plate at his elbow along with a mug of tea. Giving the top of his head a quick peck, Hermione then whispered in his ear, "Eat."

"Busy," he muttered.

"Eat, or I'll take your toys away from you until you do!" she demanded.

Severus threw his most nasty glare at the young witch. When it did nothing more than make her cross her arms over her chest and tap her foot at him, Severus rolled his eyes at her and picked up a sandwich before returning to his reading. Pleased with herself, Hermione settled down with her own lunch.

All that afternoon they worked, side by side, as Severus tested the first of his ideas on how best to strengthen the blocking potion. By the time they finished the third disappointing test, Severus realized the lateness of the hour by his assistant's drooping eyelids.

"That's enough for tonight, vixen," he said, walking up to the sleepy witch and enfolding her in a tight hug. Sighing as he felt her arms locking tightly around his waist, Severus was content to hold her and be held in return. The work had left him too tired to ravish her as he wished, yet the thought of simply curling around her warm form and drifting off to sleep seemed a precious pleasure in itself. But was it prudent? "Hermione, I should like nothing better than to share my bed with you, but what of your dorm mates? What will they say of your absence? It must not be discovered that I am at Hogwarts..."

"Severus, don't fret," Hermione interrupted, chuckling softly. "I'm afraid I'm about to forever ruin your belief in the inherent innocence of female seventh years." When this comment earned her an impatient glare, Hermione chuckled again and continued. "Both my dorm mates have boyfriends, Severus. At the start of term they made a strict don't ask, don't tell rule about our whereabouts at night. The thought is that if any of us were discovered missing, the others couldn't tell what they didn't know."

"And have you made use of this rule before, Miss Granger?" Severus demanded with a possessive growl.

"My dear Professor, the only time I made use of it was while you were missing. It broke my heart when they mistakenly congratulated me on my conquest." Here she paused to give him a slow grin. "Now when they behave that way I shall be quite smug, indeed. If they press me for a name, I shall tell them it is a great secret because the 'boy' I adore is a Slytherin."

"I had thought, vixen, that I had proved to you that I am no boy."

"So it seemed at the time," Hermione said lightly, "but that was so long ago I'm afraid the memory fades. I fear your only recourse is to prove it to me again."

Feeling his weariness fade away in the face of his sudden, throbbing arousal, Severus swept Hermione up into his arms. Staring deeply into her eyes he purred, "It will be my pleasure."

Lost in his eyes, Hermione later remembered nothing of the journey from potions lab to bedroom. It seemed to her one moment she was in the lab, and the next, he was laying her upon the bed and whispering charms to dissolve their clothes. Then it seemed his mouth was everywhere; his hands were everywhere. Her world dissolved into a realm of hot, sliding flesh and breathless cries of delight.

They fell asleep with their arms still latched tight around each other. Even sleep did not chase away their pleasantly exhausted smiles.

Brewing the next day was as frustrating as the day before. Yes, they were making progress, but it was slow indeed. Both professor and student felt the need to hurry and both were frustrated by their lack of results. Despite Severus' best efforts to strengthen the potion, he could not get it to block Hermione's protection for more than fifteen minutes. That might do well for a quick skirmish; it was not long enough to make Hermione's gift useful for the final battle. Mid afternoon found Severus sitting at his desk with, head propped in his hands, while Hermione paced restlessly before the fire.

Pausing, Hermione stared at the frustrated older wizard thoughtfully. She'd had an odd thought, and--while it may not amount to anything--at this point having any direction in which to turn their research would be a good thing. "Severus," she began, "I had a thought..."

"Oh really," he snapped sarcastically, "the great Gryffindor brain had a thought...how very unexpected."

Sighing in exasperation, Hermione paused to count to ten. Then she did it again...in Goblin. She did indeed love the great whopping git, but she was well aware of his horrid temper. Taking a bracing breath, she reminded herself that a row was not going to accomplish anything and kept her voice low and reasonable as she spoke. "Muggle chemists..." she began, only to be interrupted again.

"Miss Granger, I hardly think there is anything a Muggle chemist can do that could possibly have the least bearing on a wizard's potion dilemma," he hissed with the utmost contempt. "Perhaps we would make faster progress if you could at least attempt to control these childish flights of fancy..." Here Severus was interrupted by the slamming of the lav door as Hermione barricaded herself inside. How dare she! How dare she waltz out of the room when he wasn't through speaking to her! Furious, he strode to the door of the lav and assaulted it with his wand until he could rip the door open.

His rage abruptly fled as he stood in the doorway, mouth open, blushing in embarrassment as he saw that Hermione was sitting on the toilet relieving herself. Crossing her arms over her chest, Hermione simply glared at him as if daring him to say one word. Finding himself incapable of rising to the challenge, Severus only managed a strangled, "Er..." before he fled the lav and headed straight to where he kept the Firewhisky. Gulping directly from the bottle, Severus wasn't certain which had bothered him more; the utter mortification of barging in on Hermione while she was taking a piss or the inexplicable fact that his prick had twitched hard with arousal when he had realized that was indeed what she was doing.

Groaning to himself, Severus thumped his head against the bookcase and muttered, "I am a ridiculous old letch."

An amused voice spoke from behind him. "You won't find me arguing with that." As Severus spun to face her, Hermione could not help but see the tented state of his trousers. "Since you are my ridiculous letch," she continued, as Severus rolled his eyes at her obvious omission, "you won't find me complaining about it either."

That was all it took. Long arms reached out to sweep her into a tight embrace. One of Severus hands took a firm hold on her arse as he pressed his arousal tightly against her. "Hermione..." he murmured, almost pleading.

"Hush love," she said against his neck. "I think we are both in dire need of a break." Lifting her head to look him in the eye, she said, "Take me to bed, Severus."

"Yes..." he hissed, sweeping her up into his arms.

Impatient with need, Severus fairly threw Hermione onto the bed. Pausing only long enough to voice the charms that left them both nude, he then threw himself atop her. His mouth descended onto Hermione's hungrily as he slipped a hand down her body and between the soft folds of her sex. Growling with growing abandon as he found her already dripping with desire, Severus lifted his lips from Hermione's long enough to murmur, "Vixen...I need you...now...now..."

"Yes," she moaned against his lips. "Now."

Wriggling beneath him, Hermione pulled at his hips until he found himself seated firmly between her own, his throbbing cock poised at her entrance. Biting her bottom lip, Severus thrust in to the hilt, groaning in pleasure as her tight heat enveloped him. Within moments he was pounding into her, fast and hard and deep. Hermione was equally frantic beneath him, raising her hips to meet his every powerful thrust, her breath exploding out in little pants with each impact.

"More," Severus muttered breathlessly. "More." Pulling out suddenly, Severus drew Hermione's legs up and put her ankles over his shoulders. Bending her almost double as he leaned back over her, he pounded into her again. "Yes," he ground out between clenched teeth, "so deep...so good...so...tight."

Having never tried this position before, Hermione at first found it difficult to catch her already panting breath. When Severus resumed pounding into her, she found that every thrust hit a deliciously sensitive spot deep within her. When she then realized she could feel his balls smacking hard against her arse with every sharp thrust, she decided breathing was overrated. Within moments she was crooning in abandon as her orgasm swept through her.

The feeling of her walls clenching around him sent Severus quickly towards his own release. His strokes became short and erratic as he approached it. At the end, he could only twitch his hips and howl as he pumped his seed deep within her. Barely coherent, Severus managed to lower Hermione's legs before collapsing atop her.

Coming slowly to his senses, Severus found himself still lying over Hermione. His head was pillowed between her breasts; her hands were running softly through his hair as she murmured endearments. Sweet Merlin! Who would have ever thought any woman would find enjoyment in stroking the lank travesty he called hair? What had he ever done to deserve such unmitigated joy? What kind of fool was he to risk what little time they had together by behaving like such a git? While he couldn't imagine that Muggle chemists would have any insight on their current potions dilemma, would it hurt him to simply listen to the girl--no matter how far-fetched the idea? Hermione had already given him more joy than he deserved. He owed it to her to at least make an attempt to be more patient. While he had no desire to try to change who he was--he was a difficult man and Hermione didn't seem concerned about it--Severus realized he needed to at least make an effort to be less volatile if he wanted to keep Hermione close to him.

"Hermione," he murmured into her breasts, "tell me about your idea."

"Later," she replied in soft tones. "It isn't important."

Raising his head enough to look into her eyes, he continued. "Tell me, vixen. Please."

With a reluctant sigh, Hermione gave in. "There are muggle medicines and supplements, like iron, which work more effectively if they are not absorbed all at once. So Muggle chemists have worked them into pills which break down slowly; they call it 'time release.'

Eyes widening in surprise, Severus considered what Hermione had said for a moment before raising up to crush her lips enthusiastically beneath his own. "You, my vixen, are brilliant," he said. Withdrawing from her, he fairly jumped out of the bed and began to throw on his clothes.

"You have an idea!" Hermione fairly shouted as she rose to dress beside him.

"I do," he admitted. "You are right...I've been working on the potion's strength when I should be working on its breadth. There are several substances I can try binding it with to increase the breadth."

Smiling happily as she finished buttoning her shirt, Hermione said, "Let's get busy then!"

Hand in hand they rushed back to the potions lab.