Chapter 9

Author's notes: Once again, my thanks go out to my beta, Scabbyfish. And this time, my apologies go out to my readers who have been waiting for an update. Real life caught up with me for a bit. I am doing everything I can to get the next (and final) chapter out faster!

Severus followed Hermione upstairs and into his bedroom. She had already lit the lamp and was removing her clothing by the time he got there just a few seconds after her. He dropped the 'evidence' on the edge of the bed and reached for her before she stripped her undergarments. She stood before him, open and inviting, perfectly relaxed in her near-nakedness, unlike other women he'd been with. They had preferred the dark. Severus pushed the thought of anyone else out of his mind and focused strictly on the here and now. Hermione was his, and he intended to enjoy her for as long as he could. Forever, if he had any say in the matter.

But that was for later. For now, he reached a hand out and dipped into one of the cups of her bra, running the tip of his finger over her nipple. It immediately hardened, and he continued to twirl it around for a moment before pushing Hermione back on the bed and leaning over to lave it with his tongue through the flimsy material. Her responsive moan shot straight to his groin, and his semi-erect penis was suddenly painfully tight inside his trousers.

Severus shifted his mouth to her other breast as he snatched the bag of Can-Touch Talc from beside them. He fumbled with the closure due to his split attention and pulled back with a grunt to work out the knot. Hermione's eyes were closed and her hands had drifted into his hair. Perfect, he thought, if she'll just keep them closed for a few seconds longer.

He scooped a bit of powder out of the bag with one hand and pulled her bra cups down over her breasts with the other. A quick dab on each nipple followed again by his tongue swirling and his mouth suckling ensured that both of them would particularly enjoy this. He could feel his mouth tingling with the increased sensation as the powder was absorbed by both their bodies. Hermione's hands tightened in his hair and held him so close he had to tilt his head so that he could breathe, and her moans were exponentially increasing in volume.

Severus shifted back and forth between her breasts with his mouth while his fingers continued to work whichever was unattended by his lips. He kept all contact strictly above the waist, yet Hermione's hips were beginning to writhe and seek contact with his. Determined to take his time, he shifted his hips further to the side to avoid the temptation of grinding into her. Moments later, Hermione cried out and convulsed in orgasm.

"Oh heavens, oh Severus, oh oh oh!" she cried. Severus gently lapped at her breasts as she calmed down. Flushed, she opened her eyes. "I've never come like that before."

Severus knew his smile was predatory, but he quite simply didn't care. In fact, he was rather pleased about it. "Mine," he said, snaking his hands underneath her back to release the clasp on her bra before tossing it aside. "Mine," he continued, slipping his hands down to her knickers and sliding them down her legs before sending them the same way as her bra.

He kept his eyes on hers as he took another scoop of the Can-Touch Talc and spread her legs, only breaking her gaze when he looked down to dribble it on her clitoris and into her now-wet folds. His fingers followed to massage it around and into all the crevices and up into her passage, aiming for her g-spot.

"Oh, oh . . . mmmmm," she half-whispered, half-whined as she thrust her hips up at him, seeking contact.

"Mine," Severus said one more time before situating his shoulders between her thighs. He blew gently on her engorged clitoris and her knees came up to squeeze his ears. He pushed them back down onto the bed and held them in place with his elbows as he leaned forward to swipe his tongue through her wetness.

She lasted even less time than she had with the nipple stimulation. In just four strokes of his tongue she shattered and screamed his name. He quickly stripped off his own clothes and slid up to kiss her with her own taste still on his mouth. Just as he moved to thrust home, she shifted around until she was upside-down underneath him. Severus braced himself on his elbows and glanced down between their bodies.

Hermione grabbed the bag of Can-Touch Talc and scooped some out. Her mouth unerringly hit the tip of his cock and she sucked it in as far as she could. Her tongue swirled even farther towards the base before she removed it. He groaned and pushed forward again, desperately on tenterhooks as he waited for what he assumed would come next.

He wasn't to be disappointed. Hermione rubbed the powder all over his penis and then delved back onto it, sucking and nibbling, running her tongue around the edges of its mushroom-shaped head. She found the particularly sensitive spot right at the underside of the tip and teased him again and again.

Severus' head fell forward, only to have his nose connect with her soaking-wet folds. He backed up just enough to greedily slurp up the juices that were before him, running his nose over her clit as he did so. She hummed and moaned in her throat as she continued her own oral ministrations, and the vibrations were nearly enough to send him over.

He let his cheek rest against her thigh as he moaned. "Hermione, oh, Merlin, please, Hermione..." He reached down and tugged at her arm. She obligingly turned and scooted back into proper alignment with his body.

Without entering her, Severus ground their hips together for another spot of excessively sensitive stimulation thanks to the cantharis. They both groaned before indulging in a feverishly sloppy kiss. He moved his lips along her cheek and nipped at her ear as she reached down and held his bum tightly, keeping them so close to that – oh, my, there it was. His cock slid smoothly inside her and oh, the heightened feelings were spectacular.

Hermione agreed rather vociferously. "Severus – oh my, Severus, feels so amazing – harder, faster..."

Severus was happy to oblige. He pounded into her, grinding his pubic bone against her clitoris on every down stroke. He could feel his balls slapping against her arse, which was damp with the juices that had seeped out of her.

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck as he continued thrusting, desperately trying to hold himself back until she came again. As her moans increased in length and volume, he shifted his thrusts to give more of a circular motion until finally she came apart in his arms. The convulsions irrevocably triggered his own climax as he thrust hard a last few times and then held himself deep inside her.

Glancing down, he realised she had actually passed out from the intensity of their shared pleasure. "Mine," he whispered as he slipped off her, gathered her close and held her tightly. And promptly fell asleep.

Hermione slowly drifted back to consciousness to the tune of Severus' soft snores beside her. Keeping her eyes closed, she smiled and twisted her face more securely into his side. His arms tightened around her, and she peeked out from under her eyelashes to see if he was awake. No, just an instinctive reaction, which made her smile even more broadly.

She muddled around inside her imagination while dozing on and off, still tingling from the afterglow – and the Can-Touch Talc, given that it would last several more hours. Her fuzzy mind moaned at that, and she squirmed against Severus' side as the wetness seeping out of her teased her still-sensitive clit and g-spot.

After a few unsatisfying minutes she shifted her leg over him and started grinding against his thigh in earnest. The direct pressure wakened him, and his eyes opened just before he sealed his lips to hers and plundered her mouth with his tongue. His hands came around to clasp her bum as he slid his leg up to better give direct pressure on her clit, and in short order she was once again spasming with pleasure.

He broke away from her mouth and pulled her flush against his body so that his straining erection was pressed against her belly. "The only problem with the cantharis, love," he said, "is that it lasts for hours. At the risk of sounding crude, we're going to fuck ourselves raw."

Hermione didn't see the problem with that scenario. Not that she'd want to do this on a daily basis, or even a weekly basis, but once in a while, for a treat? Certainly. "Then we'll just have to kiss each other better, won't we?"

Severus agreed, and they did. Several times over.

A few days later, Hermione woke to hear someone yelling from her living room. The fireplace . . . someone must be calling via Floo powder, she thought sleepily. She wriggled out from underneath a sprawled Severus, donned a robe, and stumbled through the doorway, thankful that the fireplace did not provide a view through to her bedroom. The sunlight indicated that they had both slept in far longer than usual. She didn't think she was late to work yet, however.

Ron's head was sitting in the flames. "Hermione," he stuttered. "I was about to give up and assume you had already left." He looked her up and down, his eyes narrowing. "It's nearly time for you to be at the Ministry, but you're not dressed? You're always dressed and whatever right away in the morning. But you look like you've been shagging–"

"Stop it right there, Ronald Weasley," she interrupted, all traces of sleepiness vanishing. "You have no business judging my life, especially in that tone of voice."

He flushed as red as his hair, but continued digging a hole for himself. "You didn't want to shag me, but you went and found someone else? Wasn't I good enough?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten before exhaling. "Ron, you're talking utter nonsense. I broke up with you for reasons completely unrelated to sex, and you know it. Furthermore, haven't you been seeing Susan? Aren't you being a bit hypocritical? And what are you here for, anyway?" she huffed, folding her arms across her chest to better keep her robe tightly shut.

"Susan knows I'm talking to you," he said defensively. "She wanted me to invite you over to dinner, actually."

"If you're that involved with Susan, what are you doing asking me about my sex life, which is clearly none of your business?" she ended on a bit of a shriek.

Ron's head bobbed in the fireplace looking slightly confused and thoroughly annoyed. "But . . . you weren't with anyone . . . who . . . when did you meet up with someone?" he spluttered.

Just as Hermione was about to respond, Ron's head disappeared from the fire and was quickly replaced with Susan's. "Don't mind my idiot," she said cheerfully. "You do look quite – ah – satisfied, Hermione, but he'll learn to keep his stupidity to himself, I promise. Lesson number one will be not hanging about in the fireplace like that; we're all adults now and quite entitled to each other's respect. Shut up, Ron." The last bit was clearly aimed back to her side of the connection.

"I'm sure it will only take clubbing him over the head several hundred times to get the point across, Susan, but thank you." Hermione's smile was genuine; she did hope that Susan and Ron would work out. "And if the invitation is still there, I would love to come to dinner, but–"

"–it might be awkward because of me," said a sleep-heavy voice from behind her.

Hermione deliberately didn't turn back to look at him but just extended her hand instead. He touched her hand, but returned it to her side. Still, she could feel his presence at her back. If she had turned, she would have missed Susan's eyes going as wide as saucers as Severus stepped up behind her. She also would have missed Susan gaping like a fish, which provided a twisted sense of satisfaction. Hermione felt guilty until she reassured herself that she wasn't with Severus to astonish or annoy her friends, but there was no reason she couldn't grab a little perverse pleasure out of it nonetheless.

"Ah, um, yes, I can see that might be awkward. Terribly impolite to exclude, but it would be . . . hmm." Susan's face had turned as red as Ron's had, and Hermione glanced back to check that Severus was at least reasonably dressed and not discomforting her friend in that way. His shirt wasn't buttoned all the way up, and wasn't tucked neatly into his trousers, but he was certainly decent – though probably not dressed in a way Susan had ever envisioned – let alone seen – him.

"No, Ron, don't," Susan said impatiently, grimacing. Apparently her previous comment had made it clear to Ron that the cause of Hermione's disarray had arrived.

She disappeared from the flames and Hermione held her breath waiting to see what would happen. Severus gave her a brief hug, and she leaned up for a quick kiss, morning breath and all, as an apology for the scene that was undoubtedly about to unfold.

Sure enough, Ron's head popped back into view. "No way, Hermione." Apparently Susan had told him who was with her before he stuck his head through again. Ron looked straight at Severus before continuing. "At the restaurant you said it wasn't anything like this, Snape!"

Hermione felt Severus shrug. "It wasn't, then," he said. "It is now."

"You bastard! Hermione, he's using you!"

"For what?" Hermione chuckled.

"For sex, of course! You're young and sort of pretty and you have this stupid habit of being drawn to brains, of all things. Perfect for him, since no one else can see past his looks," Ron sneered. "Why wouldn't he take advantage of that?"

Severus stiffened. "Perhaps because I prefer to not insult and demean the woman I'm seeing? At least I don't go flaunting my ex-lovers in Hermione's face."

"Hermione's not just an ex-lover, she's still one of my best friends! What do you expect me to do?" Ron shouted.

"Treat her like one, rather than developing a Madonna/whore complex about her," Severus replied.

Ron screwed up his face in confusion. "A whatsit-who complex?"

"Never mind, Ron," said Hermione. "Truce, both of you. Ron, I'm sorry I didn't manage to break this news to you more gently. Severus, I'm sorry for the scene. Ron, let me tell you this: I'm happy. He treats me well, I promise. Isn't that what matters?" She stood firmly, jaw clenched, waiting.

"But he's Snape!" Ron cried before being yanked back out of the fireplace – again.

Once more Susan's head returned. "Hermione, I'm sorry, but obviously this is a shock for him. I don't know how long it will take him to come around, but I'll make him . . . ah, does Harry know? Because if he doesn't, he will in five minutes."

"Yes, Harry knows. Ginny's been rather accepting of it and I think she's helping him work through it. Will you . . . ah, are you and Ron serious enough that you can help him with this one?" Hermione was certain her nerves were about to explode.

"I'll knock some sense – er, we'll talk it through." She paused. "I don't pretend to understand, Hermione, but he makes you happy, I take it?"

Hermione smiled for the first time since the conversation started. "Yes, he does."

"Then we'll work it out somehow," the other witch said as she disappeared.

Hermione slumped back against the man behind her and tipped her head back onto his shoulder. "Hold me," she murmured.

He didn't reply, but his arms slid around her waist.

His presence and patience soothed her, and she calmed down in a matter of minutes. She could very much become accustomed to this. Preferably every day. In fact, perhaps it was time to test the waters....

"You do realise that since you're this good at calming me down, I'm going to have to marry you just to avoid committing homicide. Figurative fratricide, I suppose, since I think of them as brothers."

She was encouraged by the fact that he didn't seem to panic at this comment, but rather ran a hand down her cheek and said, "Hmm. I think I'd prefer to be married for other reasons, thank you, though I certainly can empathise with that one."

"Ah." Hermione was traditional enough to want to be the recipient of an actual formal proposal, so she opted to let the topic drop for the time being. If he were truly interested, he'd ask when he was ready. And now she had dropped the clue that she was ready whenever he was. In the meantime, she extricated herself from his arms and headed into the bedroom to complete her morning routine before leaving for work. Severus' footsteps were close behind her.

The following weekend they were seated, enjoying breakfast – of sorts, given that it was once again past lunchtime. No Can-Touch Talc to blame for this one – they had just enjoyed a comfortable evening listening to music, playing some good old-fashioned Muggle card games, and talking. Today they planned to do a little reconnoitring to investigate the results of their work the previous Friday. They also planned to visit the Muggle joke shop again. The details on the day's plans were a little fuzzy, but for once, Hermione was content to just let things unfold as they would. Harry and Ron seemed to have calmed down and more or less worked past the worst of their anger over the course of the week; certainly something this simple would readily unfold on its own.

Now they were enjoying a comfortable silence, something Hermione rarely practiced but nevertheless occasionally enjoyed. Severus looked pensive, even a bit withdrawn, but not so much so that she was worried. He had the same look on his face that she saw in the mirror when she was mulling things over. She suspected he was wondering if she was worth dealing with all the absurdity that her friends could, and would, dish out at him. She was wondering if he was willing to put up with it. Of course, she was also wondering if the worst was truly over.

Ron and Harry had taken turns ranting at her over the course of the week, but by the end, they were calming down. She hoped. It seemed like it would work out eventually, at least.

Roused from her musings when Severus stood and walked around the table towards her, she pushed her own chair back from the table with the intention of standing up. Before she could, however, he placed a hand on her shoulder with a gentle but firm push that indicated that she should remain seated. She looked up at him quizzically, but he put a finger to her mouth before she could ask any questions.

His serious demeanour concerned her, but he didn't appear to be upset, or angry. Just – serious. Severus slowly sank down to one knee in front of her, and her eyes popped wide, her jaw dropping.

"Stop gaping at me, Hermione," he groused, "or I'll never get through this."

She shut her mouth and forced her eyes to gaze at him normally. That comment had sounded more like Severus, and suddenly everything looked bright and cheerful.

He slowly inhaled and exhaled, then took both her hands from her lap and held them in his own, fiddling with her fingers.

Finally... "I love you, Hermione. I truly thought I would always be alone except for fleeting companionship, but you make me want more. I want to wake up with you every day, and be with you every night when we go to sleep. I want us to have our home, not your flat and my house. I've never wanted to be a hero, yet I find myself wanting to be able to take care of you and save you from pain. I can live without you, but I don't want to. Will you marry me?"

By the time Severus finished, Hermione could feel the tears running down her cheeks even as they ached with the width of her smile. This man, this proud, private, testy, and yes, difficult man had delved deep into the recesses of himself that he rarely showed even to her, just to make this moment meaningful and special and memorable.

She wanted to keep this memory in a well-guarded, private Pensieve so that she could revisit it as often as she liked. They were both stubborn, and were bound to fight, but this memory, if she could relive it, would go far to ease any future difficulties, she was certain.

She pulled her hands out of his and eased them up to slide them through the hair at his temples, around his ears, and down to his cheeks. "Oh, Severus, I love you, too. And of course I'll marry you. Hermione Snape. I do like the sound of that."

Severus blinked. "You'll take my name? Are you positive you want to do that? Quite aside from the difficulties it will give you in public, what about your professional career?"

"I don't want anyone to think I'm not proud to be your wife, Severus. My career is just getting started; it can handle a name change without a problem. And while it may be old-fashioned, I think it's important that children and both parents share the same family name." She stopped abruptly, concerned. "If you want a child, that is? Not now, but eventually?"

"My Hermione," he replied, scooping her up into his arms and settling her on his lap as he took her spot in the chair. "I didn't think you wanted children, and that was fine, because I never wanted them before now, either, but now–"

"I don't want a Quidditch team," Hermione interrupted. "One child would be nice. After I'm a little more established professionally, that is. I might be open to a second, but I would prefer to wait and see what I think about having the first before deciding anything further."

Severus kissed her hard and fast. "I'm not certain I want more than one, either. When you're ready for the first, we'll worry about it." He shifted until he could reach a hand to his pocket. He took her left hand and carefully slid a beautiful diamond solitaire onto her fourth finger, where it sat loosely. Pulling his wand out as well, he murmured a spell and tapped the ring several times until it fit perfectly.

"It's gorgeous, Severus. Exactly what I would have chosen. Thank you."

"Thank you, Hermione, for being with me and loving me and agreeing to marry me."

Their plans for the day were pushed aside in favour of celebrating.