Chapter 16 – Like A Moth To A Flame

Chapter 16 – Like A Moth To A Flame

Ginny stumbled as her feet finally touched solid ground, disorientated and shocked after her accidental Apparition. She took a few moments to steady her breathing before shakily checking that her arms and legs were fully attached to her body; there was every chance she could have been Splinched! She even ran her hands over her face to see if her eyebrows and nose were in place. Satisfied she was still in one piece and was not bleeding, she glanced briefly around the neat yet shabby living room she found herself in.

The first thing she noticed were the many leather-bound books lining every available shelf. It felt enclosed and private, which was enhanced by the soft candlelight that illuminated the room. She also noted that there were very few trinkets adorning the place. A threadbare armchair stood almost regally next to the quietly-crackling hearth, the side-table next to it laden with papers and a quill and ink. It certainly felt warm and scholarly in here, and once more Ginny considered how Alfric's appearance seemed at odds with his apparently academic existence.

She turned to him, smiling but slightly breathless.

'That was close!' she remarked with relief.

Snape, however, was less than impressed.

'You should not be here,' he said coldly, blue eyes steely and impenetrable. Ginny had breached his personal space, and he was not comfortable with it at all. He folded his arms across his chest sternly in a manner which seemed oddly familiar to Ginny.

Ginny's face fell, and she was taken aback by his sharp manner. 'I didn't come here on purpose. I was trying to stop you leaving. I needed to know whether I'd see you again.'

Now it was Snape's turn to be shocked. Ginny wanted to see him again? Was she mad? 'In case it has escaped your notice, you are married!' he snapped. 'What happened at the game was a mistake.'

Ginny shook her head regretfully. 'My marriage is over. It had been in decline for a long time, and once Albus became ill... Well, let's just say I am married in name only. I don't love Harry anymore,' she finished quietly.

Snape raised an eyebrow. That was news, indeed. He couldn't help the petty, sadistic side of him feeling triumphant. He'd told Potter many years ago that life wasn't fair; it seemed now that his charmed life was starting to wear off after all, and he was beginning to learn that bitter lesson for himself. About time, too. Potter had been strutting around with impunity his whole life. But Ginny, although reflective about her broken marriage, certainly seemed to have moved on.

'Please,' Ginny continued, taking Alfric's silence and cocked eyebrow to be disbelief, 'I'm not lying. We're staying under the same roof because of the kids. But we don't even share a bed.'

She stepped towards Alfric, her eyes shining with emotion. He watched her carefully, his eyes on hers but his face still impassive.

'The feeling I had when I kissed you is like nothing I've ever experienced before. Don't tell me you didn't feel it too.'

Snape breathed heavily though his nose. Yes, he'd never before felt the passion and intensity which Ginny's kiss had stirred in him. But as far as he was concerned, Ginny was attracted to a lie: she was experiencing feelings for a rugged blond fisherman, a mere falsehood he'd created with Polyjuice potion. If she knew whom she had really been kissing, she'd more than likely vomit, if not jinx him with the mother of all Bat-Bogey Hexes.

'You should not be here,' Snape repeated, softer this time. 'You should go.'

'Tell me you don't want me,' she said in a low voice, 'and I'll leave right now.'

She was standing so close to him that her delicious perfume intoxicated his senses, just like it had back at the stadium. Snape did not need to use Legilimency to see the need and desire in her eyes, and he was again thrown into conflict. He should shout at her, he should push her away. This whole scenario was wrong! But when she slowly raised her hand and placed the most gentle of caresses on his cheek, he involuntarily leaned into her touch. He couldn't deny it; he desired her, too.

'Do you want me, Alfric?' she murmured, her eyes searching his for answers.

Snape's heart thudded in his chest. He didn't trust himself to speak. Instead, he wrapped one arm around her, pulling her close to him, the other tilting her face up towards his own. As their faces moved closer, he relished the heady fusion of their combined breath. It was almost dizzying.

'Kiss me,' she whispered.

In a heartbeat, Snape claimed Ginny's mouth and the thrill of need set him aflame. Ginny moaned as he sought out her throat, covering her neck in hot kisses and triggering her own shivers of pleasure. She felt weak in his arms as he held her close, one hand buried in her thick red hair as he continued to draw delicate sighs and groans from her with his passion.

Ginny could feel the evidence of his arousal pushing urgently against her as they kissed, and this stirred her own ardour even more. Frantically, she tugged at his cloak, releasing the clasp and letting it fall to the floor, before plucking at his jumper.

Confident of the fisherman's toned, muscular body, Snape pulled his sweater over his head and discarded it carelessly on the floor, seeing Ginny's eyes shine with lust in the candlelight as she drunk in his form. She traced the contours of his biceps, and his pectoral and abdominal muscles, her hands moving over him as if she were sculpting him out of clay. He watched her, fascinated, as she began placing little kisses all over his chest before reaching up to seek out his mouth again.

She clung to his shoulders as their lips met in a symphony of nerve endings, and now it was Snape's turn to caress Ginny's body as they embraced. His rough hands savoured how the soft fabric of her robes hugged her curves, and he wondered idly if her skin was just as silky. Boldly, he began teasing the zip of her robes down to find out the answer to that question. But to his surprise, Ginny flinched.

'What is it?' he asked, voice thick with lust. 'Don't you want to?' He tried hard to keep the tone of annoyance from his voice, but in all honesty he was confused. Surely, she wasn't getting cold feet now? She was the one that initiated this in the first place!

Ginny blushed and looked down. She'd only ever slept with Harry; as eager as she felt, she was also a little nervous about having sex with another man. Plus, since having children, Ginny felt her figure was not what it once was. She had the tell-tale silvery threads of stretch marks across her hips and stomach. She worried he would be repulsed by her body.

He eyed her carefully as she bit her lip. She was clearly in turmoil about something. His erection was becoming uncomfortable in his already tight trousers, and his pulse was still racing, but he managed to pull himself together enough to reply.

'You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Ginny,' he whispered hoarsely as if reading her mind, surprised at how sweet her name felt on his tongue. He cupped her chin with one hand and made her look up at him. 'But you don't have to be shy with me. You're so beautiful.'

Ginny gazed into his eyes and felt the peculiar feeling of vertigo. It was bizarre, and she couldn't explain it in words, but in that very moment, she knew that she implicitly trusted Alfric and she would give herself to him totally. With shaking fingers, she unzipped her robe, shrugging it from her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor in a pool at her feet, leaving her naked apart from a pair of lacy knickers and her kitten-heeled shoes.

Snape inhaled sharply. The candlelight gave her milky skin a wonderful glow. Her breasts were small yet nicely rounded, and her flaming hair hung around her shoulders in contrast to her pale complexion.

'Beautiful,' he repeated softly, reaching out his hand for her to take. She took it willingly, stepping out of the tangle of her robes towards him. Snape pulled her close, wrapping a protective arm around her, and it was not long before their kisses had reached fever pitch for a second time.

The feeling of Ginny's bare chest against his own took Snape to new levels of excitement. Soon, they were a mass of hands and lips, the softness of her skin mesmerising him as he stroked and teased her flesh with his rough, work-shod fingers. And he wouldn't be able to recall with any clarity just when Ginny's small hands released him from the confines of his trousers and started to caress the evidence of his arousal, making him growl with pleasure. Neither would he be able to pin point just exactly when he Vanished their remaining clothes with a non-verbal spell, manoeuvred them to his armchair and lifted Ginny on to his lap. But the moment he entered Ginny would be emblazoned in his mind forever.

The heat of her body, the pungent tang of her sex and her urgent moans made fervour swell in him like a tide. He could almost smell the magic on her skin, feel it radiating off her in waves. And as they found a pounding rhythm for their lust, him thrusting upwards as she ground down upon him, he could not stop the feral groans of his own as they drove each other onwards to their peak.

Ginny's intense and noisy climax caused his own mere moments later, her sex gripping him and pulsating around him as, with a roar, he spilled his seed inside her. And when she wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him in their post-coital glow, he could not help but stroke her hair whilst he muttered contraceptive and cleansing incantations. What he'd just experienced was way beyond anything he'd ever felt before. Curiously, the shame and guilt that usually gnawed at him after his few illicit encounters was surprisingly absent now. Instead, he felt calm and at peace. It was a peculiar sensation, but quite wonderful.

He did not have time to ruminate on this further, however, as Ginny reluctantly pulled herself from his arms and stood, fishing her discarded robe from the floor.

'I'm sorry, I have to go,' she said sadly, unable to look him in the eye whilst zipping up her robes and stepping into her shoes. 'My report has to be in before midnight and I have to pick Lily up from my mum's place.'

Snape didn't know what to say in response, but he sorely missed the feel of her body against him. He wished she would stay a little longer. He watched her getting dressed, and she seemed so fragile, so delicate all of a sudden.

'Do you regret this, Ginny?' he asked after a moment, wondering if she was feeling guilty.

'No,' she answered quietly. 'But I'll regret it if I can never see you again.'

'Who said anything about not seeing you again?' Snape asked impulsively, realising by saying this he was getting in way over his head. Ginny was beginning to feel like a drug to him, and already he was getting withdrawal symptoms.

Ginny's head whipped up, her eyes meeting his.

'You mean it?'

Snape nodded slowly, and the smile of relief that spread across her face made his heart ache.

'I'll send you an owl,' she said, suddenly feeling shy. And after one last longing glance, she turned on her heel and Disapparated.