Epilogue – You Make Me Want To Live… For You

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed. This fic so far broke 100. That was a first for me. I'm so glad my first SS/HG fic has been received so well! Now, on the the wedding night! Lemons ahead!

***

Husband and wife lay down on the bed the Weasleys, had given them for their wedding night. If it had not been for the happiness and planning they all done for her and Severus, she didn’t know if she would have been able to spend her wedding night with Severus under the roof of Ron’s childhood home. But Arthur and Molly, along with all of the Weasleys had been so happy for them and had gone to such lengths to get Professor McGonagall to come and transfigure Charlie’s old bedroom into a beautiful, bridal suite for them to enjoy. Hermione could not begin to express how deeply touched she had felt.

***

It was finally their time. There was nothing now to keep them apart. Severus held his bride in his arms and slowly kissed her. Time ceased to exist. The world slipped away. Hermione ran her hands down his face, memorizing each contour and shape, committing him to memory.

He followed her lead and ran his hands down her breasts, stomach, and legs. It was as if it was all a dream, and soon they both would awaken to the hard life that seemed to have still such a hold on both of them. This was all too wondrous to be true!

“How can it be?” he whispered into her ear.

“How can what?” she whispered.

He ran his hand back up her thigh and pressed onto the mound between her legs.

“Oooh!” she moaned with longing.

Severus was overcome with his emotions and could no longer hold them in. “I never should have been given all this: your love, your acceptance, everyone here who have accepted us. Oh, Hermione, there were days I believed in my heart you made the sun to rise and set. How you can love me, my beautiful Hermione—you are the most grace-filled, forgiving woman I’ve ever known.” He kissed her cleavage and traveled down to kiss her more intimately.

She opened her legs wide for him, and he softly caressed her with his mouth. She moaned and trembled with pleasure as he slowly drew out from her an orgasm that left her weak and sated.

He rose up and kissed her passionately and then whispered into her ear, “Hermione, I wanted to run away from you when I realized how much I was falling for you. But at the same time you would make me feel a need to live—to really live. I swear I will live and die for you.”

He nipped and teased her nipples until she was shifting her hips underneath him. He touched her again at an agonizingly slow pace, and she begged him to make her come. He made her melt into his hand as he stroked his fingers inside her. He captured her cries of release in his mouth. He felt her grinding her hips against his hand and as she climaxed, he entered another finger inside her and broke her barrier. She gasped as she felt a hard pinching inside her, and he smiled against her mouth.

“Was that—?” she asked in a small voice.

“That was it. Now don’t worry, I will be cautious,” he murmured softly as he pressed himself against her opening.

“Just love me, let me feel you—all of you, please!” she begged as she grasped onto him—first his arms and then his back. She nestled her head into his neck. She couldn’t get him close enough to her.

He eased into her as he kissed her lips tenderly. She felt completely enveloped, covered, and filled with his love. Her mind reeled, and all she knew was the fullness of passion her husband lavished on her.

Breath by breath, heartbeat by heartbeat, they became one. As they moved together, Hermione could not help but feel so much gratitude for the wonderful gift of Severus. They held onto each other so close, every moan could have been either one or both. He slid his arm down behind her and lifted her up by the small of her back. She thrust her hips higher, and he began to stroke a place inside her that made her feel as if she was going to shatter into a million pieces. As he neared his completion and she hers, she couldn’t hold it back any more. She arched her back as she felt an orgasm building.

“Severus, I—ahhh—finally!”

Severus was pushed over the edge by her abandon. The beautiful woman writhing beneath him and moaning his name captivated him. The fantasy had become reality. She began to come undone in gasping screams that climbed higher and higher. He cried out a keening passionate release, “Oh—God—Hermione!”

***

Afterwards, they lay intertwined, and Severus drew a lazy circle around Hermione’s left breast. She giggled and whispered, “I think I hurt myself. My voice wanted to scream higher, but I couldn’t!”

He laughed so hard the bed started to shake. His laugh made her start to giggle. He wiped the laughing tears from his eyes as she continued to giggle while stroking the fine black hairs on his chest. Then he fell silent.

“What you said before. ‘Finally.’ What did you mean?” he asked softly.

She sighed and snuggled deeply into his embrace. “So much destruction, lives lost, love lost. I felt so empty, as if nothing could ever grow again. My heart and soul was barren. And the situation we lived in made it worse. But during the worst of it, I discovered this ray of hope, these tiny graces amongst all the little deaths. For example, a part of me died having to cut your hair, but you gave me grace when I cried and held your head high. You gave a measure of your strength with a little of your snark. You gave me what I needed most: a reminder you were still you. I needed that so much!”

Severus laughed softly. “And you yelling at Carson that if I wanted to call you an ‘insufferable-know-it-all,’ I could because that was the man you wanted to talk to. You fought for my dignity; you never wanted me to be anything else than what I was. What I am. All those men now being released from Azkaban have to start over. Some are alone, and I’m sure they are scared and unsure. But, look at me! I’m the most unworthy of all and what have I received? Nothing I deserve or have earned,” he whispered as he held her to him.

More words and acts of love and declarations of faith and hope were passed between the wizard and witch that night, who by through their individual brokenness found a way to heal and come together at last. For each one at various points wanted to run, but they wanted to live more. It was the grace they offered to each other that helped them to stay, and not only for this one night, but for the rest of their lives, always through grace.

Your smiles

“You” – Fisher

A/N: Thank you to all who have enjoyed this story. HUGE thanks to my wonderful, brilliant beta, MadBrilliant. Hugs and chocolate for everyone!

Livvy