Project and Passion

Thanks go to Southern_Witch_69 for her fabulous beta-ing!

Project and Passion

Saturday arrived, and Hermione was on time, just as she'd promised to be. She knocked on the door of Severus' lab just before seven. He opened it promptly and retreated back to the potion he was working on without a word, signaling Hermione should follow. She closed the door to the lab and moved to where he was standing. She peered down into the cauldron, genuinely curious but not wanting to appear too keen.

She watched as Severus added one more ingredient, then put a stasis spell on the project and turned to her.

"Miss Granger, I'm working on a variation of the Babbling Beverage."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise, obviously wondering why he would be spending time playing around with such a trivial potion and wondering what he would possibly need her help for. Before she could ask either question, Severus raised a finger to silence her.

"It sounds trifling, but what I'm actually doing is trying to turn it into a translation potion. It's more of a reversal than a variation, really. Before you tell me that there is no need for such a potion, as a Translation Spell is simple enough to perform, I should tell you that I realize this and that I am of the belief that the more options one has available to solve a problem, the better off one will be."

"That's actually very clever, Professor, and I wasn't going to say anything of the sort. In fact, I agree with you. There are many unknowns when working with spells – plus, one might not even have a wand available for casting. A potion could be carried as an alternative – say... for someone going on a trip to a foreign country. There are many reasons such a person could use an alternative."

Severus nodded, impressed that she agreed with his logic. He had actually spent the better part of the last six days trying to think of a legitimate project that her opinion could actually help with. He'd gone through his copy of Glossarium Medicamentum, starting with A and moving forward, looking for something that he could change or expound upon. He only got as far as B before he came across the Babbling Beverage, and the idea struck him to think about a translation potion. After that, it wasn't long before he became genuinely interested in the project. He'd found himself glad of the extra time before this evening, as it had given him more room to work. By that morning, he was actually looking forward to Hermione's visit – and not entirely for the reason he'd originally planned for (trying to figure out her game). He truly wanted to share the progress he'd made with someone, with Hermione.

"May I ask," she said, "whether this is intended to be consumed by the person who wants to understand or the person who needs to be understood?" She didn't wait for an answer. "It seems like it would be more complicated to make it for the use of the person who wants to understand, but it would be more useful – that way, that person could understand more than one person who needed translating, instead of having to give the potion to each person whose language was unrecognized. Though, as I said, I would think it would be more complicated that way. Would you have to design the potion to include specific languages?"

Severus waited for her to stop speaking before answering her, and then they were off.

Hermione had intended to maintain her act, but she was truly interested. She couldn't help it. Once they'd started working, bouncing ideas off one another, Hermione had forgotten to act standoffish, and Severus had forgotten to try to provoke her. By the time they were through and had completed the project successfully together, both were far more interested in naming the potion in question. They'd debated between Converting Concoction and Deciphering Draught – Hermione had insisted on using alliteration. Severus had bitten his lip to keep from smiling at that.

"Well, Miss Granger––"

"Professor Granger," she said quickly, "or Hermione."

"What?"

"I'm a teacher at this school. I'd really prefer it if you stopped referring to me as Miss Granger. I'm not your student anymore." Her tone wasn't angry, just firm.

Severus debated internally for a moment. Finally, he decided that he'd call her whatever she wanted if it would help defrost her icy attitude. "Professor then," he said with a nod.

She nodded back and gave a small smile, and then she remembered her plan. It wouldn't do to stay around chatting. She glanced at the clock and said, "Well, I must say I enjoyed working with you. Thank you for asking me. It's getting late, though. I should be going. Thank you again, Professor. I hope you found my assistance useful."

And she was gone. Severus sat down on a stool and stared ahead, deep in thought. He had found her company not only useful, but also enjoyable – so much so that he had forgotten to keep up his plan to pick her apart. He hadn't needed to.

He admitted to himself that he wouldn't be averse to spending more time in her company. He thought it might be worth it and not just to trick her into going back to the way she'd been, though that would be nice. He appreciated that she was holding her own against him – it proved she had strength – but he didn't appreciate how distant she was with him. Couldn't there be a middle ground? Couldn't she be the warm, friendly constant he hadn't realized she'd been before that morning in the staff room and still keep her newfound strength?

Somewhere in the course of the evening, he had gone from wanting to prove that he could crack her to genuinely wanting to get to know her. He also realized that if he wanted to get to know her, he would have to rethink his attitude as well. It wasn't in his nature to be a friendly person, but he knew that if he was honest with himself, he couldn't expect her to show him warmth and interest if he showed her none.

An idea came to him.

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The following morning, Hermione opened a note that had been slid under her door.

Professor Granger,

Potions master

Hermione's jaw dropped. She read the letter again just to make sure she hadn't imagined the whole thing. Did he really want to market the potion? And give her credit? That would be amazing in and of itself, aside from how pleasant the note had been. It seemed that her plan was working. She decided that dinner with Snape would fit into her tactics quite nicely. If she wanted him to get to know her as a woman, she would have to give him the opportunity. She would just have to be careful not to give away too much.

Professor Snape,

Hermione Granger

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Severus read her response and smirked. Not so strapped for time now, are we, Miss Granger? No matter. This worked out for the better anyway, and it meant she was through treating him like a disease she didn't want to catch... he hoped.

He wrote back, telling her that he would make reservations for Tuesday evening, telling her the sooner they worked out the details of their potion, the better, and that she should be ready to leave the castle and dressed semi-formally by a quarter to seven.

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Hermione succeeded in keeping a safe but reasonable distance from Severus until Tuesday evening. He knocked on her door promptly at a quarter 'til, and she opened it without delay, suppressing a gasp. She hadn't seen him dressed in anything but plain, black, formal teaching robes for a long time. Even had she not already held certain romantic feelings for him, she would have had to admit that he looked quite dashing in his dress robes. Still black, and still fairly traditional, but the cut left less room for billowing, and the white fabric visible around the neck and the velvet black of the vest suited him, made him look elegant. His hair was clean and was pulled back loosely. Hermione thought that look suited him, too.

In her intense study of him, she had missed the same look of awe momentarily reflected in his own eyes. She finally smiled at him and broke the silence. "Hello, Professor. You look very nice."

"As do you, Miss Granger. Shall we?"

He offered her his arm, and with the distracting flutter in her stomach that accompanied the action, she forgot to correct him for calling her Miss Granger.

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Severus was glad, as they arrived at Carmichael's in Diagon Alley, that they were early. The wait line, for those who hadn't made reservations, was surprisingly long for a weeknight, and he didn't want to risk having their table given away.

"Oh, I've never been here before," Hermione said, still resting her hand lightly in the crook of his arm.

"It hasn't been here long, only a year or so. It's family owned. The food is quite good and the atmosphere pleasant. I thought it would be an acceptable place to discuss our project," Severus said as he led her to the hostess.

"Did you have a reservation for this evening, sir?" she asked politely, hunched in a slightly unprofessional way over her reservation book.

Hermione smiled. It was obvious the woman was feeling flustered, probably not used to this kind of crowd on a night like this.

"Yes," replied Severus, "for two, under the name of Snape."

"Uh-huh..." the hostess muttered, dragging her finger down the page. "Right. Here you are. Please follow John, and he'll show you to your table."

They followed the bellboy to a table in the back of the restaurant, and Severus held out a chair for Hermione before settling into the other.

The bellboy, John, handed them each a menu and told them their waitress would be with them shortly to take their order.

Hermione thanked him and turned a light smile to Severus. "This is a lovely place. I'm glad you chose it." She began to peruse the menu in front of her, and Severus took that opportunity to peruse her.

He held up the laminated list and tilted his head down, watching her with his eyes, the rest of his face concealed. When she'd opened her door earlier, he'd only allowed himself a moment to appreciate how lovely she looked, not wanting to be caught gaping at her like a fish. Now, he was free to gape all he wanted since she couldn't see his mouth hidden safely behind his menu.

He'd never seen Hermione Granger look so... adult, so sophisticated. There was nothing particularly fancy about her dress robes – they were blue and understatedly cut. The neckline dropped low enough to show the delicate outline of collarbone and a hint of the swell of her breasts, but not low enough to be considered daring or tasteless. As he looked at her, he couldn't put his finger on what it was that made her look so stunning. Yes, she looked lovely with her hair flowing around her in wild curls, and her eyes stood out beautifully when she looked directly at him, but it was something else that was causing him to neglect his hunger. It was that he was seeing her as a woman for the first time.

She always wore traditional, shapeless teaching robes around the castle with her hair pulled back from her face. Her robes were certainly not shapeless now, and wearing her hair down made her look softer, more feminine. Severus had to admit that he liked what he saw.

He turned his attention to the menu, knowing that he'd have to be ready to order soon.

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Hermione bit her lip as she deliberated between the salmon and the chicken parmesan. She hadn't been out to eat in quite a while, and she wanted to choose something she would enjoy. She decided on the salmon just before their waitress, a pleasant looking young woman named Allison, arrived and asked them if they were ready to order.

Hermione nodded and told her the choice she'd made, and Severus quietly and in as few words as possible ordered a steak, medium rare. He also asked for a bottle of red wine.

Allison nodded and walked away swiftly, leaving Hermione and Severus with no menu to peruse, and therefore, no excuse to be silent. Hermione figured it was Severus' turn to break the ice. He was the one who had requested this meeting in the first place, though she realized this definitely had more of a 'date' feel than a meeting should. That idea didn't bother her in the least.

After a few moments of what could have been awkward silence if Hermione had chosen to take it that way, Severus spoke.

"I want to thank you again for your assistance. It was appreciated. I enjoyed having someone to discuss my ideas with. I... rarely share my work with anyone."

"I noticed," she said with a friendly smile.

"Yes, well, I am rarely in the company of anyone I consider capable enough to give a valid opinion on my work."

"Then I'm flattered you consider me to be such, Professor," she said.

For some reason, his title sounded odd to Severus in this setting, and he was trying to get her to be friendlier with him after all.

"Severus," he said, making a decision. "I think it would be appropriate for you call me by my given name under the circumstances, as we are about to become business partners.

"Severus it is then," she said. "I suppose I can't have you calling me Professor Granger while we're dressed like this, can I?"

Severus smiled wryly, and Hermione thought it changed his features in a most pleasant way. "You should smile more often," she commented, then immediately regretted it when the smile disappeared.

"Well, Hermione," he stressed her name a bit, giving her a pointed look, "as I'm sure you can imagine, I don't often have cause to smile."

"Perhaps there is something we can do about that," she said simply.

He gave her a measuring look, wondering what she meant by that. Was she saying she would be the one to make him smile? That was an interesting thought and not as ridiculous as it once might have been.

"Perhaps," he said, inclining his head.

The wine arrived, and Severus offered some to Hermione. She held out her glass, and he filled it before filling his own.

"So," she said, "were you serious about marketing the Deciphering Draught?"

"Of course I was serious," he said a little sharply, frowning. "I wouldn't have suggested it to you if I didn't intend on doing it."

Hermione nodded. "And how would we go about making it available to the public? Have you ever sold any of your previous work?"

"Yes," he replied, "several times. It's simple enough to accomplish. Once it's ready for the public, I'll contact a solicitor, have it patented in our names, and he'll take care of the rest. There's a bit more to it than that, but those are the basics."

"When will it be ready for the public?" she asked. "Wait," she said, looking at him suspiciously. "Isn't patenting a product rather expensive? Where are we going to get the money for the patent?"

"It will be ready for the public once it's been successfully tested on humans, and we will not be getting the money from anywhere. It was my original idea, and as you said in your response to my dinner invitation, I did most of the work, so I will be paying for the patent."

"Severus," she said, frowning, "if you intend on including me in this and giving me a portion of the profit, I must insist on paying for some the patent, at least proportionate to how much I'm going to get of the residuals. Otherwise, I'm getting something for nothing. That wouldn't be fair to you."

He glared at her. "Miss Granger, let me explain this to you. You are quite right in thinking that the patent is expensive, and on the salary I know you earn, there is no way you could pay for half of the patent."

"Half?" she said, startled. "What do you mean 'half'?"

"You said you'd insist on paying proportionate to your share of the profit. That would be half. Am I missing something here?"

She gasped. "You can't give me half! I didn't do half of the work!"

"That doesn't matter," he said firmly. "You did enough that it wouldn't have been finished without you, and you named it. That makes half of it yours." He wasn't about to tell her that he wouldn't even have thought of the project in the first place if he hadn't needed a legitimate excuse to invite her over.

Hermione pursed her lips. "And I suppose you have enough that paying for my half of the patent and giving me more than my share won't put a dent in your finances?"

Severus arched an eyebrow. "As I said before, this is not the first of my work that I've sold."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest again, but Severus held up his hand to silence her. "Look at it this way. I know how much you earn in a year, as it's what I earned when I began teaching; therefore, I can tell you that you wouldn't be able to comfortably pay for even a smaller portion of the patent."

"How do you know I don't have an inheritance stashed away somewhere?"

Severus arched an eyebrow again, smirking this time. "Last I knew, both your parents were still alive, Hermione."

They stared at each other, Hermione with her arms folded stubbornly and Severus with a smug smirk still playing around his mouth, until Hermione finally conceded, sighing.

"Fine," she said, "but I insist on paying you back for my half once I have the means to do so."

"Agreed," he said, thinking if it got her to stop protesting, he'd allow her to think he'd let her reimburse him. "Then it's settled. The next thing we need to do is set up a test. It should be simple enough. We'll just find someone who speaks a foreign language and pay them for their time."

She nodded, and their dinner arrived.

The business part of their dinner taken care of, they soon found other things to discuss, and Severus' feeling that Hermione was good company was reaffirmed. She conversed with ease, but was not the type to speak only to hear the sound of her own voice.

Hermione, for her part, was surprised at how pleasant Severus was being. She'd never before heard him talk about anything other than potions or battle tactics for longer than a few minutes, really, and she was pleased to find that she felt comfortable with him.

Everything went smoothly until the meal was over and they were both pleasantly full. The wine had been working on Hermione, or she probably wouldn't have dared ask. But she was feeling good, and they'd been having a nice time, so when the band started playing a slow, jazzy little number, she glanced at the Potions master and decided to go for it.

With a smile and a tilt of her head toward the source of the music, she said, "Would you like to dance, Severus?"

He froze. He glanced at the dance floor, which was slowly filling up with tightly embracing couples, and said, "Ah, no. I think not."

"Oh," she said, stung, immediately regretting asking. Everything had been going so well. Why wouldn't he want to dance with her? Had she done something wrong, or had she simply tilted her hand too early and given herself away? That had to be it. She berated herself for forgetting her plan. Of course he wouldn't want to dance with her. This was supposed to be a business meeting, and just because she'd had some wine, she'd forgotten that he didn't see her that way, as someone he could dance with. She wanted him to, but she realized that by making the first move, she'd messed things up.

She felt foolish, embarrassed, and more than a little hurt, but she knew it was her own fault. That was what she got for putting her own feelings on the line like that for someone who didn't return them. She felt her throat tighten, a warning to something more embarrassing. Maybe this whole thing had been a bad idea. She'd wanted Severus to notice that she was ignoring him; he had. She'd wanted him to make the first move in getting to know her; he had. But she'd been foolish to think her feelings for him would ever have a chance at being returned. He would never see her as anything more than a colleague, and even that was more than she should have expected. Maybe it was time to give this whole thing up.

She cleared her throat, looking anywhere but Severus. She had to get out of here... before she did something even more foolish or, worse, cried in front of him. Quickly, but as smoothly as she could, she pushed her chair away from the table and stood. Still not looking at him, she said, "Well, it is getting late, and we both have classes to teach in the morning. I think it's time for me to go."

"Hermione," Severus said as he got to his feet. He had watched the emotions play out on her face, and while he was confused at her reaction, he knew enough to realize he'd hurt her by his refusal to dance.

She ignored him, continuing on in a rushed way instead. "Thank you for dinner. I had a nice time. Uh, le-let me know what you decide about testing."

"Hermione––"

I'll see you... around." She turned to leave, but Severus caught her arm.

She looked at him, surprised, but quickly looked away, wanting nothing more than to put some distance between them and not understanding why he wasn't letting her.

He held on to her wrist tightly, though not enough to hurt her, and tried to fix the situation. "I... I haven't danced since I was forced to learn for the Yule Ball when I was fourteen. I'd rather you didn't leave thinking I turned you down because I didn't want to dance with you." She looked at him again, surprised, and he gave another wry smile, the second of the evening. "I'm afraid I simply don't know how."

"You – you haven't danced in all this time?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Never at a party... or on a date?"

"Ah, no." He decided not to mention that he would have had to go on a date to dance on one.

"Oh," Hermione said, feeling her urge to cry disappear. Maybe she had been little hasty in assuming her plan was destined for failure. She blamed it on the wine. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, then decided to try again. She gave him a hesitant, sideways sort of look and pushed her luck. "Would you... like to give it a try?"

Severus looked at her big, brown eyes, sparkling so unsurely and thought, not for the first time that evening, that she looked enchanting. He decided he would like to give it a try. It would be nice to see what she felt like pressed up against him, and how bad a dancer could he be? He looked at the other couples on the floor; there didn't seem to be much to it – just a lot of swaying and turning. He could handle that. He nodded at Hermione, and she let out a quiet breath, smiling at him warmly. He moved to join her and slipped his hand down her wrist so that her hand was in his.

They walked to the dance floor, Hermione feeling almost lightheaded at the way his fingers wove through hers, Severus feeling a bit nervous.

They found a place and turned to each other. "How... where?" he began, not sure of what to do from here.

"Just keep holding my hand like you are, and put your other around my waist."

"Like this?" he asked, sliding his arm around her.

"Yes." She put her free hand on his shoulder and moved in a little closer.

Another song started, and Severus instinctively began to lead her in a small, slow circle, turning them in place.

"That's all there is to it," she said, smiling up at him.

Severus looked back at her, enjoying her closeness, just as he'd thought he would. It wasn't nearly as awkward as he'd feared, and he decided there was something to this dancing thing. After a few minutes, he relaxed completely, feeling like he had the hang of it. He looked around and saw that most other couples were holding each other more closely. It looked like it would be nice. He gently pulled her closer until her body was flush against him, and her face settled against his neck. He felt her sigh as she molded her body to his, and a thrill rushed through him.

He was suddenly very aware of every part of his body. His skin tingled, and his breathing became a little shaky. He nestled his face lightly into her hair and inhaled the herbal, flowery scent of her shampoo. He closed his eyes, thinking he'd never felt anything like this. Even the sex he'd experienced hadn't been as intimate or as thrilling as this. He wanted to be even closer to her, wanted to explore this new world of contact.

All too soon, the music stopped, but Severus didn't want to let go of Hermione. She didn't seem to be making a move to untangle herself from him either. She shifted her head and looked up at him, communicating in a single glance that she didn't want to let go any more than he did.

What he did next, he'd never be able to explain where he got the courage to do. He dipped his head slowly, giving her time to move away. But she didn't move away. Her eyes fluttered closed just as his lips reached hers, and his eyes closed too, leaving all his nerves, his whole body, to focus on the feeling of Hermione's soft lips against his.

He tightened his fingers around her hand and pulled her even closer. He felt her bury her hand in his hair and moved his lips against hers. He brushed his bottom lip back and forth lightly across hers, then gently sucked it into his mouth and ran the tip of his tongue over it, tasting it. She opened her mouth, and he felt her sigh again, exhaling into his mouth. Her tongue slid past his teeth, and he felt another thrill run through his entire body. He relaxed even more into the kiss and was soon sucking gently on the tip of her tongue. She moaned and he sucked harder.

After a moment, she wrapped her tongue around his and pulled it into her mouth, entreating him to follow. He was happy to do so and was soon exploring her mouth thoroughly, glorying in her soft moans and wondering why in hell he hadn't done this months ago. This incredible, intoxicating feeling... She tasted so good to him, and it felt like she'd been made for him to kiss. He wasn't exactly sure what had brought him to this point, but at the moment, he couldn't have cared less.

All that mattered was that she was kissing him as hungrily as he was kissing her, holding him as tightly. It was overwhelming, and soon he was out of breath. He didn't want to stop, but passing out from lack of oxygen would be worse. Panting slightly, he broke away from her mouth and rested his forehead against hers. Where had that come from? Had this feeling been waiting for him for all this time, and he'd just been too blind to notice?

"Severus," Hermione almost moaned, and his eyes snapped open to find her looking at him in awe, reflecting the hunger he felt.

He looked at her lips again, then back into her eyes. She pressed another kiss to his lips, and before he could demand more, she pulled away and untangled herself from him. He felt the loss of contact sharply, and his intoxicated brain wondered why its drug of choice had suddenly been ripped away.

She pulled him off the dance floor and back to their table, and he followed her, feeling bowled over. By the time they reached the table, he at least had enough of his brain function back to help Hermione into her cloak and to pay the check.

He grabbed her hand again and led her out of the restaurant, just this side of running. The moment they were in the clear, he pulled her against him and Disapparated, reappearing moments later in front of the gates to Hogwarts. He wasted no time in devouring her mouth again, this time burying one hand in her hair and flattening the other against the small of her back.

It was quite cold, but he didn't feel it. All he could think of was continuing to kiss Hermione – to never stop kissing Hermione. Gods, why had he never kissed Hermione before? He was like a kid who had just discovered candy for the first time after being restricted to a lifelong diet of cardboard and cooked spinach. He couldn't get enough.

Hermione was in heaven. Gods, could this man kiss. This was more than anything she'd ever imagined, even with him. She felt like her nerves were on fire, her heart was pounding in her chest, and Severus was swallowing her whole. Who knew this man had so much passion? He was devouring her like a starving man, and she could only hold on for dear life and hope she came out of this in one piece.

An unmeasured amount of time later, they came up for air, both gasping, looking at each other in a mixture of wonder and desire.

"Oh, my God..." she said, trying to catch her breath.

Severus quite agreed.

"That was..."

Severus nodded, swallowing thickly. "Yes, it was."

"We should––"

"Yes, we should," he said, capturing her mouth again.

"Mmph. We should..." she murmured between kisses, "get inside."

"Uh-huh," he muttered, making no move to do so.

"Cold," she went on.

"Uh-huh..."

"And late."

"Yes," he said, but only went on kissing her.

"Severus," she said. "Mmph, Severus."

"What?"

"I think we should call it a night."

Severus brain wasn't quite up to its usually processing power. "What?"

"We should get some sleep."

Sleep. Bed. Good idea.

He opened the gates and pulled her through them, practically dragging her towards the castle. She giggled, and when they reached the doors, he pulled her inside and went for her mouth again. She just kept giggling, glad it was way past student curfew since Severus was clearly unconcerned with being caught.

They made their way slowly toward Hermione's quarters, and when they finally arrived, Hermione was pushed unceremoniously against her door and attacked with renewed fervor. Great Merlin, the man was insatiable...

Hermione knew she was going to have to put a stop to this, make a decision for both of them since Severus' reasoning abilities were currently on holiday. She pulled away, panting and smiling, and Severus tried to follow her lips. She tilted her head away from him, but he was undeterred and went for her neck instead.

Merlin, that felt good... Right. Focus, Hermione.

"Good night, Severus."

Severus, who was doing a damn good job of giving Hermione a respectable hickey, heard her bid him good night, but didn't really register it until she had opened her door and pulled away from him completely, leaving his mouth with nothing to suck on and his brain to attempt to function without the blood it needed, which was currently occupying his raging cock.

Oh, God...

He stared at her, unable to form words, trying to think clearly but unable to get past how deliciously disheveled she looked and how much he wanted to devour her again.

"I think we both need to get to bed..."

He couldn't have agreed more. He made a move towards her again, but she shook her head, grinning amusedly.

"Separately, Severus. We both have early classes tomorrow."

Right. That.

His rational brain, what was left of it anyway, knew she was right, but his cock had other ideas. "Hermione," he managed. "I'll be honest. I doubt I'm going to get much sleep like this." He glanced down at his tented robes pointedly, then back at her.

Hermione smothered a laugh, biting her lip to keep for chuckling. "That does look... er, uncomfortable."

"You have no idea."

"Yes, well, I'm going to get some sleep and, er, leave you to it." She glanced at his erection as she said this, and he groaned. She thought about giving him a final kiss, but decided it would be a bit cruel, considering she had no intention of seeing it through to its logical conclusion... tonight. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Severus." With that, she closed the door softly, and he was left to grit his teeth.

Merlin, what did she mean by it? He couldn't remember ever being this hard. He was going to be lucky to make it back to his quarters in this condition, let alone get any sleep. He pulled his robes around him and almost limped all the way back to the dungeons, cursing every time a step he took made his cock throb harder.

He made it back only by thinking of Hermione's soft body against his, her sweet little mouth sucking on his tongue. He imagined what it would feel like on his cock and how much he wanted to strip her down and fuck her until they both saw stars. By the time he made it to his rooms and closed the door behind him, he was nearly insensate.

He pulled his robes off as quickly as he could and freed his aching penis from his shorts, wasting no time with light caresses. He slumped into his plush, leather sofa and began working his cock firmly. He massaged the head with the palm of one hand and worked the shaft with the other, imagining it was Hermione touching him.

He pictured her kneeling before him, kissing and sucking his penis, making those little moaning noises around his cock that had driven him wild. He groaned hard as his hands sped up, completely beyond reason now. McGonagall herself could have burst through the door, and he would have gone on stroking. He was in male mode, a creature completely taken over by lust.

He was muttering now, his eyes shut tightly, picturing the beautiful body she had to have hidden under her robes to push himself further. Gods in heaven, he'd never felt anything this good... Every image, every remembered taste and sound, every imagined part of her body sent him higher, fed his pleasure and built him up like a bonfire until he was ready to explode. He pictured her lying naked on his floor, splayed out in all her glory. In his mind he caught a glimpse of her wet, pink center as she spread her legs, and it was all over for him.

He let out a roar as he erupted with the force of a geyser, shouting, "Good fucking God! Hermione!" And still he came, moaning in time with the pulses of his cock until it was empty and he was left shaking.

Completely drained, he was asleep before he could even think to clean himself up and get to his bed.

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As Severus was making his way back to the dungeons, Hermione was leaning against her door, grinning like a goon. She began to laugh, happier than she could have imagined. It turned out there was a chance he could return her feelings after all. And gods, being held by him, being kissed by him... she'd never felt anything more overwhelmingly wonderful.

She flung herself back onto her bed, still in her robes, giggling as she remembered the pained look on his face when he'd not so subtly pointed out his arousal, as if she could have missed it pressed against her stomach...

The fact that she'd been in a situation with Severus Snape where she could think about his arousal was simply amazing.

She was just glad that she'd asked him to dance a second time.

SB's Notes: That was some snog, eh? I had a lot of fun writing that whole chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Heh. If that's even possible. :-D

Glossarium Medicamentum -- Potions Glossary

While inventing that potion, I did what Severus said he did. I went over to the Lexicon and started alphabetically until I came to the B's and found that.