All He Ever Wanted

Thanks go to Madbrilliant, beta extraordinaire

................................................

Chapter 17 – All He Ever Wanted

The halls were filled with the sounds of students yelling and cheering. It was the afternoon of the last day of exams and, by the sound of things, the students had all finally been dismissed from their classrooms. Hermione had been observing a class of her sixth year Arithmancy students that afternoon and had been relieved also when it was finally over. It was getting to a stage in her pregnancy when she would have to limit the amount of things she did to sitting and sleeping. It was just lucky that the school year finished before her confinement.

She left the classroom after warding it and then slowly made her way down to the Dungeons in order to take a bath and a nap before dinner. When she arrived, Severus had yet to return to their rooms, so she simply turned the faucets for the bath and watched as it filled up, adding some bubble formula to it. She undressed and looked down at her belly, swollen and round with their child, and smiled in a very maternal way. Sliding into the bath, she let out a sigh of pleasure at the warmth and closed her eyes, lying back and relaxing.

When Severus entered his and Hermione's chambers, he was feeling quite weary as he hung his robes up on the hooks near the doorway. He made his way through to the bedroom, unbuttoning parts of his clothing as he did, and paused at the bathroom door, instantly knowing that his wife was already in there. With a smile, he nudged the door open and began to fully undress.

"Hello, love," he said, letting her know he was there.

She opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder to where he stood on the other side of the bathroom, hastily stripping out of his clothes. "Hello, yourself," she said with a wicked smile. "Going to join me, are you?"

"I thought I might," he replied, kicking his clothes out of the way and moving over to her.

She slid forward in the large tub, leaving room for him; he stepped in and sat down behind her, wrapping his arms around her once he had submerged himself. He rubbed his hands over her rounded stomach, nuzzling the back of her neck gently. Pregnancy had only made her more luxurious to him, even though he had no complaints about her whatsoever when she had not been pregnant. But for some reason, the idea of making love to his pregnant wife was very arousing.

"You are the loveliest woman I have ever met," he murmured into her throat as he kissed it and continued to stroke her stomach. "And you are my lovely woman."

Hermione laughed softly, covering his hands with her own and moving her hands with his as he rubbed and stroked. "You are the loveliest man I have ever met," she replied. "And you're handsome as sin too."

He let out a laugh at that. "Someone is delusional," he said, smiling into her neck.

"Not at all, love," she said softly, arching into his hands as they cupped her breasts, swollen with milk. "A wife is allowed to think whatever she likes about her husband. It's my prerogative."

Two hours later, the two were lying in bed, both warm from sleep, and rousing slowly in order to get up for dinner. Hermione sat up first and looked down at her husband, smiling at how he looked, squinting up at her with barely-opened eyes. She leaned down and gave him a kiss before slipping out of bed and going to the drawers. Pulling on some knickers and a bra, she then summoned a dress from the closet and donned that also.

Severus sat up slowly as she did this, and he noticed that she only had a little trouble pulling on her knickers while still standing, which was surprising at that stage of pregnancy. He was so proud of his little trooper, and he joined her out of the bed and began the process of dressing himself. Once he was fully dressed in his trousers and was doing the final buttons of his frock coat, he went out into the sitting room and found Hermione pulling on her navy teaching robes.

"Don't you ever get tired of doing that every day?" he asked, accepting his robes from her as she held them out for him.

"Get tired of what, love?" she asked him.

"Of getting up and trying to dress yourself while you're standing," he answered. "Do you ever get tired of being pregnant with our child?"

Hermione smiled at him, knowing that he would be asking these questions at some point. If she were honest, she had sort of expected it earlier. Sighing, she walked over to him and put her arms around his shoulders in a warm embrace.

"Severus, it is a blessing to carry our child," she replied honestly. "As much as my back hurts sometimes, and even when my ankles get swollen and I feel like a whale, I still love growing this child within me. It makes me feel like I am useful."

"Darling – you are useful whether pregnant or not," he insisted, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight.

"I think I said that wrong," she said with a laugh. "What I meant is that I feel like I am complete – like I have a purpose other than to teach."

"Ah, I understand now," he said with a nod.

"Now, husband of mine," she began, gaining a chuckle from him, "would you care to escort your planet-like wife to dinner?"

Severus laughed softly at that and offered her his arm. "I would love to escort my beautiful, wonderful, pregnant wife to dinner," he replied, and they left their chambers together.

When they arrived at the Great Hall, many of the students were already there, as well as the staff. It seemed that everyone was equally excited about the summer vacation approaching. Stephen and Julia were seated at the far end of the table, gazing at each other lovingly as they rightly should do. It had only been a couple of weeks since their impromptu wedding, and the pair were obviously getting excited about their honeymoon that was delayed due to Julia wanting to finish out teaching the year.

Severus took his seat on Albus' left side after seating Hermione right beside him. "Good evening, Albus," he greeted the headmaster politely.

"Ah, Severus, my boy," Albus said with a lot more enthusiasm. "I have never seen everyone looking forward to the summer like they have been this year."

"Perhaps, Albus, it is because the Quidditch World Cup finals will be held outside of London once again," Severus said dryly.

Albus chuckled and let his twinkling blue eyes rest on the younger man once more. "And do you and Hermione plan to spend her confinement at Suffolk Manor? Or will you simply return to Spinner's End?" he asked with interest.

"We decided that it would be best to stay at Spinner's End," Hermione answered as dinner appeared on the tables. "It is in London and its closer to St. Mungo's."

"Ah, yes, that is a good idea," Albus agreed.

Dinner progressed along at a leisurely pace, until Albus stood shortly after finishing his dessert and cleared his throat to speak to the students. "The end of the year is fast approaching, and soon you will all be back on the Hogwarts Express, heading home for a break, before some of you will return, while others of you who have completed your education here will not," he began warmly. "Now, I know the temptation to cause mischief in the last few days here is very great, however, I implore you not to, as there will still be Professors on duty in the halls and house points can still be lost.'

"Damn straight," Severus muttered under his breath so that only Hermione could hear.

"Now, with that being said, I wish you all a goodnight," Albus concluded before sitting again.

The students all began chatting as they exited the hall, and Severus stood, holding a hand out to help Hermione from her seat. She smiled and left the hall with him, allowing him to spoil her and be tender with her in front of the students. As soon as she had their baby, she was sure that he would go back to being formal in front of the students. Once they were in the privacy of their chambers, Hermione sat down on the lounge while Severus went to make some tea in their little kitchen.

"Albus does like to drag on his speeches," he muttered as he returned.

Hermione smiled. "He always did like that," she agreed, taking the cup that he handed her and taking a sip before returning it to the saucer.

"I think I am going to enjoy this summer," Severus said out of nowhere, sitting beside her.

"I think I am going to enjoy it too," Hermione admitted. "I think I'm going to like being a mother."

"Do you think I am going to be a good father?" he asked, looking at her with a slightly worried expression.

Hermione took another sip from her tea and put the cup and saucer back on the coffee table in front of the lounge. She put a hand on the side of his face and leaned in and kissed him tenderly on the lips. "You will be a wonderful father, Severus," she whispered against his lips before kissing him a little more firmly.

When they broke apart he smiled at her lovingly. "You know, this – you are all that I have ever wanted," he admitted quietly.