Chapter Thirty-four: Strawberries, Chocolate, and Promises

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise belongs to JKR.

Chapter Thirty-four: Strawberries, Chocolate, and Promises

Eight resigned tones chimed into the silence of the Room of Requirement. Hermione glanced up at the clock she had asked the Room to provide some two hours earlier and rose from the cushions piled beside the spread awaiting Snape's arrival.

Where the hell is he? I told him six o'clock, dammit! I feel like a right berk sitting around here by myself with no knickers on and all that food staring at me. Serves him right if I eat the best stuff without him. I'm starving!

She reached for her wand to remove the Stasis Charm just as the door opened, admitting a flushed and out of breath Snape.

"Severus! Where have you been?"

"In the bloody library." Snape gaped around him, then stopped and ran his hands over the grass at his feet. "Is that real?"

"Of course it's real. The Room created it." Hermione was still miffed at his late arrival. "Why exactly were you in the library when you were supposed to be here at six?"

"Trying to find out – discreetly – how to find and get into this damned room. It didn't occur to you to provide directions?"

Hermione's irritation fled as she realised her error. "But... you were headmaster. Didn't you..."

"If I remember correctly, the Room was protecting your friends... from me. For some peculiar reason, they never thought to share the secret of its location or access." Sarcasm dripped like acid from his tongue.

"Oh. But after..."

"Never needed to know. Until tonight. Do you know how difficult it is to find information from the library without Irma Pince showing up like the Spanish Inquisition?"

Hermione had to giggle at the scowl on Snape's face. "I think I have a fair idea. Why didn't you just ask Professor McGonagall, or even Neville?"

She was almost tempted to call up a mirror to check for a second head with the way he stared at her.

"Have you any idea of the rumours that gossip-mongering blonde bimbo has been spreading around the castle about us? Asking for the directions to this room would have been tantamount to standing on the staff table announcing to all and sundry I was planning to spend the night rendering their favourite Gryffindor speechless with the wondrous talent of my lips, fingers, and cock – and would someone please show me the way?"

Hermione felt an indecent warmth spread under the flimsy garment she wore beneath her robes. "I think I like the sound of that, Severus. Say it again, please." Her fingers worked at the buttons on her robe as she moved closer.

"Which part? The bit about rendering you speechless or the talented cock?" His face relaxed as the sight of her removing an item of clothing distracted him from his rant.

Hermione dropped her robes and drew his head down for a lingering kiss before answering, "Neither. Both. Never mind. You're here now, and I'm hungry." She gently pushed him towards the cushions. "Sit here, and I'll bring you some food."

Snape tried to make himself comfortable as Hermione turned away to reach for a plate. The unfettered movement of her breasts and glimpses of dusky areolae through the thin white fabric of her dress did nothing to help as he hardened and swelled inside the silk at his groin. The brush of her hand through his robes when she handed him a glass of champagne would have been his undoing if not for the delicious smell assaulting his nostrils.

"It's Mum's special bacon and egg pie. You'll get some soon." Hermione passed him a selection of cheeses, paté, and crackers and smiled. "Hungry?"

"Starving."

And they both knew he wasn't referring to the food.

Eyes fixed on Hermione's every movement, Snape endured the torment of his arousal with every tidbit she offered. His groan as her dress rode up her thighs while reaching across the blanket for more tempting offerings was rewarded with a flip of the skirt to reveal her lack of undergarments and a firm stroke or two from one hand as she fed him with the other.

Once the pie, chocolate cake, and champagne had been consumed, between increasingly lingering kisses and mutual caresses, Hermione set the strawberries aside, Banished the leftover food into the hamper, and Transfigured the blanket onto a thicker, softer version.

"I like the way you think." Snape's lips curled up into a lazy smile as he reclined back onto the cushions and beckoned to his witch.

The wicked gleam in Hermione's eye should have been warning enough. "Not so fast, Professor. I think you're overdressed." With a flick of her wand, Snape's robes disappeared, leaving only a thin layer of slightly damp gold silk ineffectively concealing his need.

"Hermione..."

"Hush. Close your eyes."

Snape laid back and allowed her hands and lips to explore his increasingly sensitised skin. Fingers trailed up his arms, down his flanks, and across his lower abdomen to lift and resume their journey at his thighs. Every inch of his skin was subjected to her attention. Every inch, that is, except the desperately hard inches contained in his pouch.

"Hermione... please..."

"Patience, my love." She stood, and, with a quick tug on the shoulder straps, her dress pooled around her ankles. Lowering herself to her knees, Hermione straddled his lower legs.

"I don't think so." Hermione removed Snape's hand from his groin and pinned both above his head with a spell before he had realised her intention. "Just watch."

At first, she just kneeled there astride him, watching the bulging silk twitch as his cock tried to make contact with skin. After a few minutes her hands lifted to caress her own breasts in gentle circular motions, pulling and tweaking at the nipples every so often with a groan to match that of the man lying beneath her, watching her every move.

"Do you like that, Severus? Seeing me do this?" His incoherent nod encouraged her to draw her hand lower, first over her silken belly, then down further to the dampened curls below. "What shall I do now?"

He swallowed with difficulty, mouth suddenly dry. "T-touch yourself."

"Like this?" She parted her moist flesh and slipped a finger inside.

"Gods, yes." His hips bucked as she then touched her finger to his lips. Licking the dew from her skin, he smiled. "Delicious."

"I thought you'd like that." She rewarded him with a kiss.

Resuming her position, Hermione reached down yet again and, without breaking eye contact, began swirling her fingertips rhythmically around her swollen clitoris, every so often plunging them deep inside as her climax drew closer and closer.

Snape's breathing increased pace with hers as he thrust against the silk barrier in time with her movements.

"I'm so close, Severus." Her fingers quickened. "So close."

She watched his face, flushed with the sheen of sweat as he strained for release. His expression, so often guarded and untrusting, wide open, his passion and vulnerability there for her eyes only.

Dragging her hand away, Hermione leaned over and, with her teeth, untied the gold silk, allowing his erection to spring forth, magnificent in its demand for attention.

In a single movement, she released his hands and took him into her body, unsure of whose cry of ecstasy was loudest as the intimate contact triggered both into powerful waves of release, impossible to stem and seemingly endless.

Ragged breathing and pounding hearts were the orchestra of their recovery as they collapsed onto the blanket, still joined as one.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Severus."

"Holy fuck, Granger. You're going to be the death of me."

"What a way to go though." Hermione sighed as she rolled over onto her back, disengaging from Snape with a moist plop.

"I could die right now a satisfied man."

"I'd smack you for that if I had any energy left, you prat. Don't joke about such things."

"Do I look like I have a sense of humour?" Snape lifted himself up on one elbow and offered the glare usually guaranteed to have first years cowering behind their desks and even fourth-year Hufflepuffs sniffling into their pumpkin juice.

"No, you look like a constipated bat. You really need to work on your repertoire; we've seen it all before."

"Maybe you lot have, but the first years, now, they're a different kettle of fish." Snape's grin really was terrifying.

Hermione giggled and rolled over, scooping up the bowl of strawberries and warming the chocolate dipping sauce she had put aside. "I think it's time for 'afters', don't you?" Coating a fat strawberry with chocolate, she used it to paint a large heart on Snape's bare chest. "See, you do have a heart, after all."

At least he did until she licked it all off, then offered him the strawberry.

"I see the sort of 'afters' you're angling for, miss." Snape found his own strawberry and proceeded to decorate her nipples with artistically drawn flowers.

He studied his handiwork. "Hmm. Not bad, but I'm sure I can do better. Let me just erase this attempt." His tongue, always willing for such a chore, rapidly dispensed with the floral theme to have it replaced with a geometrically precise line of fruit, each berry cemented with chocolate to increasingly squirming skin in a line marching from Hermione's cleavage down to the sensitised bud below... and beyond.

"I like it. You should dress like that more often."

Arousal heightened by the warring sensations of cold fruit and warm chocolate in her most intimate places, as well as her lover's newfound playfulness, Hermione could only beg. "Please, Severus."

His own arousal clearly evident, Snape slowly and deliberately lifted each berry from her skin with his lips, then offered it to her mouth from his. As she chewed, he ensured the chocolate was cleaned off thoroughly before proceeding to the next stop on his leisurely trail down her body.

"I think I've had enough chocolate for now." Snape's eyes glinted with mirth as his fingers ghosted over the skin alongside the two remaining strawberries.

"Stop now and I'll ask Lavender for help with our hand fasting vows." Her growl was breathless as she moved her hips, unsuccessfully attempting to gain firmer contact where she needed it the most.

Snape shuddered. "Of course, one can never have enough of strawberries and chocolate." Leaning over, his tongue flicked out and scooped up the penultimate berry, which he savoured himself before turning his attention to the very last fruit nestled snugly in a swollen, moist embrace. Sucking the strawberry from its resting place, Snape crushed it a little between his teeth, allowing the sweet juice to mingle with the chocolate before lapping up both with long, languorous strokes of his tongue, returning from time to time to tease at the bundle of nerves above.

"Still delicious." He smiled against her skin, then lifted his head. Finding her lips with his, both sticky with strawberry juice and chocolate, he pressed the length of his body against hers until his heat found an answering flame, and speech and thought fled in the wake of their convergence.

Some time later, Snape awoke alone to the scratch of a quill and rustle of parchment coming from nearby. He rolled over to find his witch, still happily nude, concentrating on the pile of notes before her.

"What are you doing?"

She looked up and smiled. "Trying to plan our hand fasting ceremony while you snooze, lazybones."

"I can't help it if you wore me out, woman." Snape grumbled as he rose to his feet. "What is there to plan? Isn't there some sort of standardised rite?"

Passing over one pile of parchment, Hermione sighed. "There is, but it's awfully complicated. Apparently, the formal rite involves the presider drawing a circle of sand and identifying the four cardinal directions. Then four witnesses representing the elements, earth, air, fire, and water, have to stand at each pole and chant invocations to their elements for protection. Then the god and goddess are called upon to bless the match. The whole ceremony is very ritualistic. And long. We have to wear fine white garments with nothing underneath and bare feet, in order to commune with the earth and..."

"Are you serious?" Snape shook his head.

"Look. It's all in the notes. That's the way a wizarding hand fasting is usually done."

"We have to stand there, nearly nude, in front of Minerva and your friends and Merlin knows who else?"

"Well, yes. But..."

"Hermione, what do you think will happen if I'm beside you, naked under a flimsy robe, seeing you, also naked?" He looked down to find his point admirably demonstrated.

She giggled. "So, you get an erection, and everyone can see how lucky I am. I'm sure Ginny will be impressed. She's always asking whether it's true about noses."

"There must be another way."

"Well, there's this one." Hermione managed to keep a completely straight face. "Everyone at the ceremony is completely naked, and the consummation is witnessed by all attending. Apparently, it was quite popular back in the fourteenth century. I'm sure you could perform admirably."

His growl declared otherwise.

"Hmm. Didn't think so. Might have been fun, but the thought of Professors McGonagall and Flitwick baring all is a little disturbing."

"Not to mention Potter and Weasley."

"Oh, they'd be fine. They have pretty good bodies. I doubt anyone would be offended." Hermione smirked.

"That's what concerns me." Snape glanced down at his wilting erection. "Exactly when did you find this out, witch?"

"Camping for months, remember. Not much privacy in a tent." Hermione ran her eyes up and down Snape's bare body. "Besides, I prefer lean and graceful to muscles any day."

Slightly mollified, he reached for the rest of her notes. "Putting tradition aside for a moment, exactly what is required for the hand fasting to be completed?"

"Not a lot, just an exchange of promises. And some ribbons to bind the pledge. All the rest is garnish, really. Like all magic, it's the intent that matters."

Moving to stand before her, Snape let the parchment drop and reached for her hands. "So, all I have to do is say, I, Severus Tobias Snape, pledge to you, Hermione Jane Granger, to love you, protect you from harm, and keep my body unto yours for a period of one year and one day, and the deed is done?"

She nodded. "And I say, I, Hermione Jane Granger, pledge to you, Severus Tobias Snape, to love you, protect you from harm, and keep my body unto yours for a period of one year and one day. And one of those completion phrases."

"Like 'So mote it be'?"

"Yes, so mote it be. That's about it, aside from the ribbons." As she spoke, the room around them began to shimmer. Iridescent spirals of silver and gold and crimson formed out of thin air and swirled around and around their wrists in a figure of eight, the light gradually increasing in intensity until both were blinded by its intensity. Clinging on to one another, Snape and Hermione blinked as the brightness slowly faded into a dull sheen surrounding their hands.

"What the fuck was that?" Snape attempted to release his hands but found them stuck fast.

"No idea. But why can't we let go of each other?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Unless..." He drew her toward him and touched his lips to hers. With a soft hiss, the last of the shimmer seemed to absorb into their skin, leaving their hands freed. Encircling each of their wrists was what appeared to be a tattoo of crimson, gold, and silver intertwined into an elaborate design about an inch wide. Snape lifted his hands, turning them before his eyes to inspect the pattern. "Shite!"

"What?" Hermione reached up and took his hands once again. "What is it?"

Summoning his wand silently, Snape Banished the heaps of parchment scattered across the floor.

"I presume you have a reason for destroying hours of research, Severus?"

"We don't need it anymore." He shrugged. "It appears the job is done."

"What, we did it ourselves?"

"Look around you, love. We are naked, grass beneath our feet. We spoke our promises and used the sealing words. It appears the Room of Requirement has provided the rest."

"So, when you kissed me, it finalised the ritual. But don't we need witnesses?"

"The castle itself is sentient. Perhaps that was sufficient."

Thinking for a moment, Hermione once again studied her wrists. "These bindings. All my sources stated they would not appear until the ritual is complete. They stay visible until the year and a day are over, only disappearing if the pledges are not renewed then."

"Bloody hell. You mean I have to wear Gryffindor colours for the rest of my life for all to see?"

Hermione laughed at his outrage. "The colours represent what we feel towards each other. You, my dear curmudgeon, conjured those colours up yourself."

"Bugger. What do they signify then?"

"I'd be able to tell you if you hadn't destroyed my notes, wouldn't I?"

Snape scowled at his wrists again until a book appeared in his hand. The Room provided all, it seemed. "Red: passion, strength, lust, fertility." He raised his eyebrows at the dominance of red in their designs. "Let's just broadcast it to the world, shall we?'"

Hermione chuckled and peered over his shoulder. "Gold: Energy, wealth, intelligence, longevity. I don't know about the wealth, unless there's something you're not telling me, but the rest applies."

"Wealthy I am not, unfortunately. I suspect it is the intelligence which brought us gold."

"You think I'm intelligent?"

"Stop fishing. What does it say for silver?"

"Treasure, values, creativity, and inspiration."

"You were certainly inspiring and creative not so long ago." Severus pressed closer and tossed the book aside in favour of inspiring more creativity.

"Shouldn't we inform the headmistress?"

"Bugger the headmistress. We have a hand fasting to consummate."

***

A/N: This was written for shalimar1981 for the TPP Every Flavour Auction. Many thanks to karelia for her superb beta skills and LivingTheDream, my sounding box. The hand fasting rituals described were my own compilation of various descriptions I found online, and the colour meanings came from http://www.myspiritualwedding.com/colors-handfasting.