Chapter 17 – Playing With Fire

Chapter 17 – Playing With Fire

Ginny felt dazed after she left Alfric’s cottage. Part of her was consumed with guilt for being unfaithful to Harry, but the other part of her was dizzy with excitement. When she’d told Alfric that she was married in name only, she wasn’t lying. In her heart, she knew that her relationship with Harry was irreparable, even more so now she’d experienced vertiginous attraction to another man. But she was not proud of breaking her wedding vows.

She and Harry had been together for a decade, and he’d been the only love of her life. Of course she was sad that the precious bond between them had gone, but if she were honest with herself, that connection had faded a long time ago. It didn’t make her feelings of guilt any easier to bear, however. As much as they quarrelled and sniped at each other these days, Ginny would never want to see him hurt. She knew he would be devastated if he ever found out about her infidelity. Perversely, it was this very fact that made her desire for Alfric doubly exhilarating. She knew it was madness to risk everything – her marriage, her children, her family and friends, even her public reputation – on a sordid rendezvous, but the magnetic pull towards Alfric was just too strong. She considered that maybe part of the attraction was the thrill of escapism from her confines as a mother, or that she was on the rebound from her crumbling ten-year marriage. Either way, any remorse she felt was far outweighed by the duplicitous thrill from her fledgling affair.

Just as Ginny had promised, she sent Alfric an owl the very next day, asking if she could visit him on Monday night the following week, which he agreed to.

And so just a few brief days later, Ginny waited until the dead of night and then, whilst her family were sleeping, she dressed silently before creeping down the stairs and heading to the garden in order to Disapparate. Her heart thudded in her chest when she arrived outside Alfric’s little cottage and breathlessly knocked on the door. As she waited agonisingly for a response, the back of her mind filled with sudden irrational fear that he would not answer. She was tempted to turn back; it all seemed so foolish and risky. But sure enough, after a few moments, the door opened and there Alfric stood, as rugged and as handsome as she remembered.

He moved aside to let her pass, and her eyes never left his as she crossed the threshold. As soon as the door had swung shut behind her, she stepped towards him and kissed him fervently.

Snape was grateful he’d kept the rest of the batch of Polyjuice Potion he’d prepared for the Quidditch match, for it allowed him this stolen moment of passion. Ginny’s lips were full of raw urgency, and his ardour flared just as quickly as the first time they’d kissed. At the same time, he tried to block out the gnawing sense of guilt which threatened to take over his rational brain. Instead, he focused upon the beautiful witch who was desperately plucking at his clothes, eager to feel her body against his as soon as possible.

The feeling of being wanted in such a basic, animal way was not something of which Snape had much experience; his dour personality and unconventional dark looks had combined to make him almost repellent to women his whole life, and what little carnal knowledge he’d gained had been procured at a much younger age, as a rookie Death Eater. In those days, erotic masquerade balls and orgies were a common occurrence which had satiated his primal need for sex. But once Lily had died, he’d locked that side of himself away. He’d convinced himself that pleasures of the flesh would desecrate Lily’s memory and would be a distraction from his true purpose: to avenge her death by looking after her son and bringing down the Dark Lord. And finally, after he’d accomplished his mission and had a narrow escape from death, he’d left the wizarding world behind him and lived as a hermit. He barely interacted with humans, let alone had any form of sexual relationship.

Ginny had therefore awoken something in him that he’d thought would remain dormant for the rest of his life. And despite his misgivings about his actions being morally wrong, the pull of Ginny’s desire was just too strong to ignore now the sexual being in him had been resurrected. He could not turn her down even if he wanted to, so lost was he in his rediscovered lust; reborn like a phoenix, the carnal flames engulfed them both in white-hot kisses which promised explosive sex.

Snape, however, was not going to take Ginny here in the hallway. They had got carried away the first time in his lounge, but this time he wanted to do things properly and take her to his bed.

He led her up the stairs by the hand to his sparse bedroom which was illuminated by candles and furnished with an imposing dark wooden bed that dominated the room.

Mouth found mouth once more, Ginny again tugging impatiently at their clothes and him finally relenting, removing them with a quick non-verbal spell. Snape gently guided Ginny to the bed, soaking up the vision of her draped across his crisp white sheets wearing nothing more than a smile before covering her with his body. He relished how small she felt underneath him and how her hands grabbed at his shoulders and stroked his back as their kisses became more and more heated.

He nibbled Ginny’s neck, making her arch her back and sigh with pleasure, his fingers teasing her breasts and sending fresh shivers of desire through her. Her skin felt succulent on his lips, and he wanted to find out just how sweet she tasted.

With panther-like speed, he positioned himself between her legs, breathing in her heady aroma and admiring the pink, split fig of her sex. Glancing up, he could see Ginny’s chest rise and fall with her shallow breathing, her eyes at once fearful yet full of need. The rosebuds of her nipples stood out proudly from her breasts, emphasising her readiness for him.

Spreading her wide with his fingers, he buried his tongue at her core, flicking and lapping and swirling, causing Ginny’s knuckles to whiten as she gripped on to the sheets in ecstasy. Each moan he took from her made his own ardour swell, but it was only when she cried out with her climax that he finally covered her again and entered her to the hilt.

He moved slowly at first, with long, smooth strokes, as Ginny came down from her peak. He watched her face intently, their eyes locking whilst their bodies joined as one. But then Ginny began to move her hips too, and soon they picked up speed, and it wasn’t long before they lost themselves in sexual abandon, Snape driving her onwards to another shuddering orgasm and reaching a dizzying one of his own.

Afterwards, they lay together in the candlelight; Ginny resting on Alfric’s chest, listening to his heartbeat gradually slowing as he muttered contraceptive and cleansing spells.

‘That was amazing,’ she murmured, and she felt him smile into her hair in response.

‘Same time next week?’ he asked archly, and she could not help but giggle at both the bizarreness and ease of the situation.

‘I believe I now owe you a favour,’ she admitted euphemistically, propping herself up on her elbows with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Snape raised his eyebrow at this. ‘There’s no time like the present.’

Ginny looked at him in disbelief. ‘You think you’ll be able to rise to the occasion so soon?’ she smirked.

‘Try me,’ Snape growled, and that was all the encouragement she needed to wriggle down the bed and repay her debt.

Author's note: Thanks again to my infinitely-patient beta, Agnus Castus, and to all the readers who have also been infinitely patient waiting for this new chapter.