Chapter 39

Severus was pulled from his formulas when the door opened a tiny bit and a black-laced arm slipped in.

He turned as she held her hand out; only her fingertips were bare. He stood, slipped his hand into his pocket, pulled the Conceive Now Potion out, and went to her. He took her hand, bent and kissed her bare fingertips, and then placed the vial into her hand. The hand was withdrawn. He stood back and waited. A minute later the black-laced hand reappeared. This time, one finger curled, beckoning him to come, and then it was gone.

He used his wand to send a cleansing spell over himself for good measure. Tasting the minty-fresh breath he now had, he smiled, anxious to see what his wife had cooked up for him tonight. He opened the door and stepped into another world.

The entire cabin had been magically changed. He now stood in an old, western saloon. There was a bar and a player piano. Hermione stood with one foot on the foot rail in front of the bar. She was stunning. She had her hair up and wore an ornate headdress of red and black feathers. Obsidian chandelier earrings hung from her ears. Her body was encased in a scanty black- and red-lace bustier with a matching bottom that met at her waist. She wore black lace stockings and six-inch heels. Her eyes went wide when she saw him, but she stayed in character. As she held her arms out...palms toward him...and shook them, swishing her body to the music, he saw a plumed tail of feathers fanned out behind her. How had she gotten all the details so exact? he wondered. This was the scene from the movie he'd seen with his dad as a teen. Hermione had become the dance hall girl of his boyhood dreams.

As she sashayed up next to him, he felt a change in his outfit. He looked down to find himself now wearing a black leather vest over his bare chest and boots on his feet. The next moment, he felt a cowboy hat settle on his head. He stepped forward as she beckoned him to the bar and heard the spurs on his boots clink. She slid her finger seductively over his chest and said, "Mister, would you like to buy me a drink?"

He grinned and took a deep breath; role-playing was not something he'd ever done for fun.

"Why of course, pretty lady. Why don't you join me at the bar for a drink."

Her feathered tail swooshed as they walked the few steps to the bar. She stepped behind the bar and poured two drinks. She set the bottle down close by while he took in the details. The wall behind the bar was mirrored, and he tried not to laugh at his reflection. The cowboy hat was black leather and had one black feather in it. He thought he looked silly. The shelves before the mirror held bottles of all sorts of liquor, and glasses were stacked here and there.

She plunked a drink down, and it splashed a bit on the bar. She then added one for herself. She returned to his side and picked up his drink and handed it to him. She slipped one finger into it and then slowly licked the fluid from her finger. With her eyes never leaving his face, she picked up her drink and said, "To dreams coming true tonight, mister."

Severus leaned over and kissed her and then threw his head back and downed the drink in one gulp. "To dreams." He plunked his glass down. "Another drink, woman," he said. "You sure are a beautiful, little thing."

"Why thank you, mister," Hermione said as she sipped her drink and then reached out to pour him another from the bottle. "I could show you a real good time tonight."

"I just bet you could," he said. "I think that's an excellent idea."

She ran her fingers over his chin; he now had a healthy growth of beard thanks to the potion he'd taken earlier. A soft beard was better for lovemaking than stubble.

"I love a man with a beard. This feels wonderful. Come sit here and let me entertain you."

She motioned him to a chair by a round, wooden table. She set the whiskey bottle on the table, and he took the seat. She went to stand by the piano; she touched it, and it began to play a new song. Severus was dumbfounded when she began to sing the old, western song. She danced as she sang. Her body swayed to the music, her fingers and arms slid seductively over her bustier and breasts, and she curled her fingers and hands toward him. She eventually stepped forward and placed one high-heeled foot on his knee, and he slid his hands over her black-laced leg. She wagged a finger at him and moved away. Hopping up onto the bar, she strutted back and forth with the music. Sitting on the end of the bar as the music finished, she crossed her legs. With her eyes looking directly into his, she beckoned him and said, "I'm a bit lonely over here, mister."

Severus stood up uncomfortably; he was well past being turned on. He stepped up to her. She laughed and grabbed the rim of his hat, lifted the hat off, and swung it away, and it flew. Severus did not see where it landed. He reached out and took her by the waist and pulled her closer.

She uncrossed her lags and parted them to let him step between them, and then she clamped them around him. "Now that's better, isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said, trying to put a bit of a Texan accent on his words. He saw the amusement flash in her eyes. Her fingers strayed to his beard again. She stroked his face and then leaned in to rub her cheek against it.

"Hummm," she cooed. "You smell wonderful, mister."

He leaned in to draw a breath by her neck. "So do you, my dear. As we seem to be alone here, does that mean I can have you anywhere I wish?"

"Anywhere," she said, leaning in to nibble on his ear.

He brought his hands up, and one hand palmed her breast gently, feeling the nipple harden under the thin lace.

"May I release your hair?" he asked, sliding a hand up between her breast and around her neck.

"You may do anything you like, mister. I just want to show you a good time," she said, leaning in to give him a deep kiss. His hand worked at the fastenings holding her hair, and he finally detached the feather headdress. With a pull of an old-fashioned hairpin, her hair tumbled about her shoulders. He buried his face in her long, thick tresses and breathed in her scent. Pressing a kiss to her neck, his hands returned to her breasts. Her fingers had slipped the vest off his shoulders, and he let her draw it off his arms. He pressed her back. His hand slipped up her thighs, and he pushed her back down the bar and then placed her heeled shoes at the end of the bar. To his delight, the crotch of her outfit was open. He slipped his fingers in to caress her. Then he bent to kiss a path down one of her laced thighs and slipped his tongue into her. She moaned with pleasure and arched up, begging him to go deeper. She tasted of honey, and he took hold of her hips and held them as he pleasured her. She was gasping with her climax in no time. He pulled her into a sitting position and kissed her, letting her taste herself on his tongue and lips.

"Where to next?" he asked, breathing deeply. His voice was deep, sexy, and filled with need.

She reached up one hand and produced her wand. The saloon vanished with a wave, and a cozy room with the rustic look of a wooden cabin appeared. There was a fireplace with a roaring fire and a thick bearskin rug before it.

He picked her up and carried her to the rug and let her down onto her feet. With a bit of difficulty and some giggling on Hermione's part, he removed the feather tail. He went to his knees on the rug and sucked first one and then the other nipple as his hand roamed over her body. She finally stood back a bit and placed one foot on the top of the bear's head. Severus undid her garters and slowly ran his hands over her leg and kissed a path from her ankle to her knee. Then he began to roll the stocking down, kissing her leg as he did so. Once that leg was bare, she changed feet, and he repeated the process. He finally pulled her down to join him on the rug and, with a quick flick of his fingers, vanished the rest of their clothing and hovered over her body.

Hermione whispered, "Let's make a baby, Severus. I love you so much, and I want to have your baby."

He smiled at his beautiful wife and said, "And I love you, Hermione. I want you to have my baby."

He let himself down into her arms and felt the pleasure of their naked bodies pressed together. "Fantasies are fun, but the reality of my wife in my arms is all I really need. Thank you for tonight." He kissed her and moved over her. She opened herself for him and then took his hard shaft in her hand, caressing it for a moment before helping to guide him in.

Severus thrust himself into her and held her eyes as he began to move. He could feel her feet on the backs of his legs. Her hands had slipped under his arms and down his back to grip his buttocks, and she pulled as he thrust. "Deeper, Severus. We want to plant the seeds deep." He pressed further into her. Their bodies created a rhythm that became faster and faster; their breathing became more rapid, and their climax was deep and earth shattering. Their cries of pleasure rang out as they climaxed and fell over the edge. Images of their lovemaking filled their minds and clouded their vision...a result of the potion working.

Severus collapsed on Hermione. As he started to move away, she held him tightly. "Stay for a minute; you're not heavy. I love the feel of our bodies together."

Severus used one hand to hold himself up a bit and took the opportunity to kiss Hermione over and over. Finally, he slipped off to her side. He used wandless magic to clean them. Hermione summoned a fur cover, and they snuggled in and watched the fire dance.

Severus reached out and grabbed his discarded pajama bottoms and fished the velvet box out of the pocket.

Hermione asked, "Is that for me?" She snuggled closer to his chest.

"Yes, my wanton wife, it is. I hope you do not mind that it was my mother's. She gave it to me to pass on, though I could see in her eyes she never thought I'd find someone to love ..."

"... after Lily married," she finished for him.

"Yes," he said.

Hermione reached for the little box with trembling fingers. "I don't mind. It makes it all the more special."

Tension and uncertainly drained out of him.

She used one hand to hold it and lifted the top with the other. A beautiful diamond pendant was inside. The diamond was resting in the bottom curve of a yellow gold S. The gold was filigreed in delicate lace pattern. She touched it with trembling fingers. She sat before him and asked him to fasten it around her neck. When Severus finished working the clasp, she lay back down and drew him down to kiss him with soft gentle kisses. "It's beautiful. Thank you. It's very special, Severus."

"It's one of the few things my father gave her when they were first married and in love. There are happy memories attached to it," he explained.

Hermione stroked his hair as he placed small kisses on her face; then he sighed and pressed his forehead to hers, chuckling a bit. "I would love to make love to you again but you have darn well worn me out, Hermione."

Hermione giggled. "It was fun wasn't it?"

"Extremely. Who knew Little-Miss-Know-It-All had all this inside of her back then. I'm glad I did not know you had such a sexy side. It might have made me crazy to have you in my classes." He settled down next to her, his arms wrapped around her, their legs entwined. Hermione rested her head against the cleft of his arm and shoulder.

Hermione stroked the side of his neck, "I was seriously enamored with you. You really never noticed?"

"As a teacher, I was trained not to notice. There were a number of Slytherin girls over the years who wanted more than a teacher/student relationship. Did I ever even consider anything with them? Absolutely not. I did have some barriers I would not cross. I caught you watching a few times, my minx. After I had one dream of you..." He broke off uncomfortably.

"You had a dream? Severus, you never mentioned it." Her eyes were alight with curiosity.

"It's funny, I haven't thought of it in several years ... well, I guess many years." His forehead creased. "You know, I think that thought was behind a memory lock. I can't tell you about it because I removed it, and it's in a memory vial in a secret place in my lab. I only know it's there. I don't even know what it is myself."

She grinned. "Wow, it must have been a doozy. We'll have to watch it together."

He paled. "Hermione, you were a child. If I had inappropriate thoughts of you before you were of age, it's probably best left unseen."

"Severus, you show me yours, and I'll show you mine. I had a number of favorite fantasies of you when I was around 16."

"That's a child, nonetheless." He found himself curious but also afraid of what his thoughts may have been back then. He'd had so much darkness in himself then and so much need and desire. If he had withdrawn the memory, he must have had a reason. Why remember it now? What sort of memory blocks had he put on himself back then? It felt so odd to have just accessed knowledge of himself he hadn't had before.

"But we are no longer children. We are married, and it's okay, since we both had thoughts of each other back then. It makes me pleased that my thoughts weren't one-sided." She felt him tremble a bit. "Severus?"

"I was not a nice man back then," he said in a near whisper.

"If you had been vile like the other Death Eaters, you would not have hesitated to take those Slytherin girls to your bed. You had morals, Severus Snape, or you would not have been the spy you were. I would bet your thoughts of me are special and beautiful and you could not stand the idea of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named seeing them in your mind and thinking to use me as a weapon against you."

"You really think so?" he asked, daring to hope she was right.

"Yes, my husband. Now sleep. Let's dwell on that baby we conceived tonight." She let her hand roam over her stomach and then snuggled down under the warm cover.

Severus settled down and let his body relax.

It was only moments before Hermione fell asleep, and he lay for a while trying to think hard on the memory, wishing to recall at least a feeling or a stray picture in his head. But there was nothing but the knowledge that there had been a memory and where it was now. He finally let himself slip into a restless sleep.

When Severus woke the next morning, he found himself alone on the floor in the thick, fur rug bed Hermione had made the night before. The rest of the cabin's decorations had been returned to normal. He heard the soft sound of the toilet flushing, and he relaxed back into the fur.

Hermione padded out of the bedroom door and headed for him. She smiled when she saw he was awake.

He reached out for her, and she crawled back under the fur cover and snuggled up to him.

He bent over to kiss her and said, "Good morning, wife."

Hermione reached up to caress the beard on his face and said, "It really is becoming. Maybe you should keep it for awhile."

He rubbed at it. "It itches, but I guess I could get used to it. You didn't find it annoying or irritating last night?"

"No." She smiled. "It's very soft. Severus," she asked in a whisper, "do you think I'm really pregnant?"

"It's very unusual for that potion to not work," he told her as he placed a hand, his face alight with wonder, on her stomach.

"How fresh was the potion?"

He turned to her and grinned. "I brewed it just before we discovered Molly and Arthur were sick," he admitted.

"You DID? Why?" she asked curiously.

"It occurred to me that neither one of us was getting any younger. Now is a perfect time. We are married," he explained.

She caressed his cheek and urged him to kiss her again. "How come you didn't mention it?"

He blushed. "Cold feet, sorry. You hadn't mentioned it, and I thought maybe you'd changed your mind about babies, my babies."

Tears burned her eyes. For all their closeness and the things they shared, he still had been uncertain that she might not love him enough to want to bear him a child.

She pulled him down into a fierce embrace. "Severus, I love you so much. Having your babies means more to me than I can tell you. I do not want, nor will I ever want, another man's children."

Severus pulled back. "Hermione," he said lovingly, "no one is guaranteed the next day or hour of their life. I plan to be around for a very long time; but should something happen, I do not want you to be alone."

She opened her mouth to protest, and he placed his fingers against her lips to silence her.

"You have such an ability to love. You've spent enough of your life alone. I do not want you to be alone for the rest of your life if I am not by your side."

She said, "I was alone because you were not among the living at the time. I'm a one-man woman. I always have been. I tried to give other teenage relationships a chance because I thought you were unattainable. When I got out of school, I realized I no longer had people around me who cared whether I was alone. It was a relief to just love your memory and not try to fill that place in my heart."

"It might have been Dumbledore's spell that did that to you," he said with a deep bitterness in his voice. "Damn meddling old man."

Hermione said, "I love him for what he did. He obviously knew I loved you. He allowed me the time I needed to build my career, which also meant a great deal to me. I never wanted to just be a man's wife. I wanted to be a Potion mistress and your wife. Well lookie now," she said, trying to lighten the mood, "I have both and," pressing her hand to her stomach, "possibly the icing on the cake...your baby."

Severus grinned at her and covered her hand with his. "One day when I was furious with Dumbledore, Poppy asked me if I would change any of the time I slept in that bubble if it meant not having you in my life."

"What did you say," she asked.

"I told her I wouldn't change a moment of it. We are right for each other."

Hermione suddenly had a thought. "Severus, do you think he knew about the lost memory, the one that's hidden at Hogwarts. What if you told him? What if he's the one who helped you place the memory charm on your mind? It's a difficult spell and hard for one person to do. You must have had help."

Severus snuggled next to her and drew her close. "Now that's a thought," he said.

Lisa, thank you for your beta work.