Who Do You Want?

\"Who Do You Want?\"


Chapter Ten
\"Two Little Words\"


A/N: Before we end this little journey into happy smutville, let me thank all of you for reviewing.


The biggest thanks goes to my fabulous beta, June W. Without her help, this would still be sitting in painful pre-beta form.


Warning: Happy ending ahead - as dictated by the challenge. Wellies recommended as it\'s going to get pretty soppy, sappy and mucky with goodness.


Disclaimer: With this disclaimer, I proclaim that I do not own any of the concepts, ideas or intellectual property related to Harry Potter or anything else created by J.K. Rowling. No money is being made from this endeavor.

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Hermione was a nervous wreck in the morning. Severus offered to cook breakfast so she would have more time to get ready for her interview. She barely nibbled on her toast, and sipped at her tea. He did his best to calm her down, but she seemed to be having none of it.


Fretting over who the other three candidates might be, he considered spiking her tea with a Draught of Peace, but knew better. When he was nervous, he didn’t like people trying to calm him down, so he gave up trying when she snapped at him. She quickly apologized, but he had already forgiven her. He remembered how nervous he was when he interviewed for his Potions apprenticeship.


At nine o\'clock, Hermione Apparated away to Hogwarts, wanting to make sure she got there in plenty of time. Just before she left, he gave her a kiss on the cheek for good luck and set the wards to recognize her.


Once she was gone, Severus noticed how empty the house felt. Finishing his breakfast, he showered before going off to his lab to work until she came back. He hoped she would come back. All her clothes were there at his house, and she had promised she would tell him everything that happened when she returned. Of course she would come back.


After putting on his working robes, he went off to his lab. This was his room where he slipped off to bottle fame and brew glory, but instead of his mind focusing on his latest potion experiments, his thoughts wandered back to Hermione. When would she return? If or when she did return, how much longer would she stay at his house with him? What about when the next school term started? There was only one thing that would settle his mind, and he began to curse his cowardice the night before. In the alley, it had been on the tip of his tongue.


Unable to concentrate on his work, he left his lab and was about to head off to his study when he heard the tapping of an owl at his kitchen window. Heading back to the kitchen, he saw a large eagle owl with an imperious look on its face, if that was even possible for a bird.


\"I wonder what you want, Mr. Malfoy?\" Snape addressed the bird sitting on the window ledge.


Removing the letter tied to the owl\'s leg, he tossed the bird a bit of Hermione\'s untouched sausage. The bird remained on the ledge, evidently ordered to remain until he could formulate a reply.


He sat at his desk in the study, and unrolled the parchment. A low chuckle escaped the back of Severus\' throat.


\"Ah, you do know how to brown-nose, Mr. Malfoy. Your father taught you well.\"


Severus pulled out some parchment and wrote a reply, telling Draco to meet him Friday at Hogwarts to interview for the position of Potions apprentice. Severus made no mention of other candidates, as the only other student he considered with an ounce of talent had already turned down the position.


Once he sent the owl on its way with his response, he headed off to his bedroom to find the box he had pulled down the night he went with Hermione to her parents\' house.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Hermione knew it only took thirty minutes to get from Hogsmeade to the front doors of Hogwarts, but being the prepared and punctual person that she was, she wanted to be doubly sure to be on time.


Instead of walking at a brisk pace, she strolled, hoping the leisurely walk would clear her mind. She was nervous about her interview with Flitwick, but Minerva had hinted in her letter that she was a shoo-in for the apprenticeship. So instead of feeling calmed by her old Head of House\'s assurances, why did she feel as if a hippogriff was trying to tear its way out of her stomach.


It was times like these she missed Crookshanks, and wished her beloved cat did not die the year before. The poor creature gave his life to warn Hermione that Death Eaters had stormed Gryffindor Tower, giving her enough time to escape. It was times like these she would pet the large ginger-furred cat and feel some sense of calm. The only one who made her feel calm now was back in a cottage in the Lakes District, probably puttering away in his laboratory. She was missing him already.


\'You\'ve spent a whole week with him. How can you miss him after being away only fifteen minutes? He\'s probably glad you\'ve left so he can have some peace and quiet,\' she berated herself.


\'You know if he wanted you to go, he would have just asked you. He promised never to beat around the bush, just as you promised him.\'


\'Maybe he just feels the need to be nice,\' she rationalized.


\'Ha! Nice is not a word to describe Severus. Brilliant, sarcastic, passionate, observant, honest, tender, considerate…well, considerate to you during this past week, but never nice. It\'s not in his nature. Loving, but not nice,\' the devil\'s advocate in her mind countered.


\'You really think he wants me to stay much longer? I don’t want to overstay my welcome.\'


\'Well, you\'d better talk to him about it when you get back.\'


\'Yes, I suppose we should talk. Do you think he wants to talk? He has always seemed so reserved. There are things I know he holds back when he talks to me.\'


\'Yes, but where it concerns his feelings for you, does he hold back any more?\'


\'No…\'


\'Talk to him.\'


\'And what about when the school year starts? What then?\' her heart asked.


\'Talk to him,\' her mind repeated.


Hermione suddenly found herself standing in front of the double doors leading to the Entrance Hall. The conversation in her head had absorbed her attention. She knew she had to clear her mind of Severus and have her wits about her if she was to do well on this interview.


Stepping into the Entrance Hall, she inhaled the familiar scent of the school and felt like she had come back to a place in her heart, but it didn’t feel like home. Another place had suddenly taken that place in her heart and mind, a large cottage with lots of books and her lover.


\"Ah, there you are,\" Minerva\'s voice rang through the hall from the top of the stairs. \"You’re early, but that\'s good. Professor Flitwick is ready to see you.\"


~_~_~_~_~_~


The box lay in Severus\' lap. His hands clutched at the lid, his knuckles white and his tendons straining.


\"Open the damn box, you coward,\" he said aloud.


Lifting the lid, he began searching through the contents, looking for a specific object. Under the pendants, earrings, and bracelets he found what he was looking for.


Holding up the ring, he let the light reflect through the stone and marveled at its color.


\'And just what makes you think she\'ll say yes?\'


\'Because she said she loves me.\'


\'Maybe she\'s confusing love with lust. You certainly are.\'


\'I AM NOT! I care for her more than anything in this world, more than my very own life.\'


\'You did not prize your life very much to begin with, so that\'s not much of a comparison,\' the demon in his mind ridiculed him.


\'I value it now. I have something…someone worth living for. It just took her to realize it. She\'s what I\'ve been missing.\'


\'Defining yourself through another, through a woman. You have gone weak,\' the demon chastized.


\'Damn you to hell! She gives me strength. She makes me believe in myself after I had already given up on myself. For the first time I feel whole. I am not weak, I\'m strong enough to tell you I don’t need you in my head anymore, I don’t need your self-doubt strangling me. You have always had a way of killing any joy in my life, and you will not destroy this. LEAVE ME ALONE. I WANT THIS, I WANT TO BE HAPPY. She makes me happy.\'


\'…And what if she says no?\' his cynical self queried.


\'As long as she stays with me, that\'s all what matters.\'


\'But that is not enough for you, is it?\'


\'No. But I\'ll take what I can get. Now, go away.\'


There was no voice to answer him back, and the demon in his head was gone for the time being. He wasn\'t sure if it was permanently gone or had just temporarily hidden itself away again. It was this demon that helped keep him alive for years working as a spy, and now that the war was over, he found it was keeping him from living.


He would do this. Hermione had once said she was willing to risk his scorn to have him, and now he was willing to risk his fragile soul to have her forever.


It was at that moment he wished he asked her last night in the alley, to speak those two words hanging on the tip of his tongue, but a dark alley was no place to propose. It should be done properly with a ring, but if that were the case, he would have dragged her off to the jeweler\'s last night. At least if he asked last night, he would know her answer by now, and this growing pit of fear in his stomach would stop eating him alive from the inside out.


\"Flowers, you idiot. Can\'t propose without flowers.\"


\'Isn\'t that being sentimental?\'


\'I think I can make an exception this time.\'


He looked at the ring in his hand, set it down on the table, and got dressed. If he hurried, he could get some flowers in Diagon Alley and be back in plenty of time before her interview was over.


Once dressed, he placed the ring back into the box. He did not want to risk losing it while he was out, though he knew he wouldn’t.


Steeling himself, he Apparated away.


~_~_~_~_~_~


The interview went very well, and Hermione found herself relaxing as the time passed. She was the last candidate, and by the end of the interview, Professor Flitwick had made his decision.


Offering her the apprenticeship, the tiny professor enthusiastically shook her hand as she thanked him profusely. In honor of the occasion, the Charms professor offered to take Hermione down to the Three Broomsticks for a celebratory lunch, his treat. She accepted.


As they walked down towards Hogsmeade, Professor Flitwick insisted Hermione call him Filius since they would be working closely together for the next three years. As he started going over a rough outline of her course of study, Hermione found it hard to concentrate.


Her mind kept wandering back to Severus; he was the first person she couldn\'t wait to tell about her apprenticeship. Disturbed that Severus had invaded her thoughts so much, she pushed him out of her mind as best she could, so she could concentrate of what Filius was saying, but Severus kept creeping back into her thoughts.


By the time they finished lunch, Hermione had a few scrolls’ worth of notes on books she needed to buy and a course syllabus of her first year of study. Filius bid her farewell and told her she could come to Hogwarts anytime before the start of term to settle in, as early as tomorrow if she liked.


Hermione didn’t know what day she would move back to Hogwarts. That would be something to talk about with Severus. Perhaps this was just the thing she needed to break the ice on the topic of her staying at his house. If he really found that he no longer wanted her to stay there, this would be a convenient excuse for both of them.


Excited to get a jump on her studies, and nervous about returning to Severus\' house, she flooed to the Leaky Cauldron.


When she arrived, the place was busy with the lunch crowd. She was about to head out the back to Diagon Alley when she remembered Severus showing a keen interest in the Muggle Sciences. Figuring she could come back to Diagon Alley tomorrow, she turned and headed out the door to find the nearest bookshop that had a decent selection of science books.


Just as Hermione left through the front door, Ron came in through the Floo Network from Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, looking as agitated as a dragon with a toothache. He saw on the clock in the kitchen at Harry\'s home that he was here, and Ron was determined to find him and kill him.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Severus spent the better part of the morning shopping in Diagon Alley, though he never liked shopping to begin with.


First, he stopped by his tailor for some new clothes, as he didn’t like anything at home for what he wanted to do tonight when Hermione returned. Then he spent the rest of the morning at the florist, debating the symbolism of the flowers he wanted to buy her.


He first thought of roses, but decided they were too pedestrian. Next he thought of orchids, but didn’t think they suited Hermione\'s sensible personality. The spider flowers were perfect, but too strong as they meant \"elope with me.\" He wanted her to marry him, not suddenly run off with him in haste. It was when his eyes lighted on the yellow tulips that symbolized \"Are you my true love?\" that he decided that was a clear enough statement from him.


As he was walking back to his tailor to pick up his new robes, he saw a tall red head making its way up through Diagon Alley towards him.


It was when the crowd parted that Severus saw an enraged Ron storming at him.


Severus had a feeling this anger was gong to be directed at him. He was not disappointed with the youngest Weasley male stood in front of him, puffed like some lanky red dragon, and yelled in Severus\' face, \"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?\"


In some small way, it was amusing. Annoying, but amusing.


\"Could you please clarify who \'her\' is, and I recommend lowering your voice, or I might have to use a silencing charm on you until you can learn to speak at a normal volume,\" Severus coolly sneered at him.


\"You bloody well know who the fuck I\'m talking about, you great greasy bat!\" Ron seethed.


\"Language, Weasley. I can see that Potter could not be trusted to keep his mouth shut.\"


\"Harry knew about this? What the bloody… No, Harry didn’t tell me. It was Malfoy!\" Ron shouted back.


\'Ah, that explains Draco’s letter this morning,\' he surmised. \'Probably saw us at dinner last night. Also, no doubt Draco\'s intention was for Ron to confront Hermione, and not me; otherwise he would have held his tongue until he had secured the apprenticeship. I shall have to make him pay for this. Perhaps I can torture him for three years as my apprentice as part of his payment. He\'ll think I was light on the Gryffindors compared to what I\'ll do to him. He still has so much to learn to be a proper Slytherin.\'


\"And what concern is it of yours who I keep company with, Mr. Weasley?\" The glare on Snape\'s face could have frozen a Basilisk.


\"It concerns me when I think Hermione is doing this against her will! What have you done to her, a potion? The Imperius Curse? They\'ll lock you away for this!\" Weasley ranted with fervor.


Ron was practically jumping up and down as he yelled at Snape, making a huge scene. People moved out of the way to avoid being hit from his flailing arms.


\"I assure you, as Hermione assured Mr. Potter, she was there of her own free,\" Severus spoke in a menacing and even tone, neither clarifying if he meant his house or the restaurant. \"If you are so concerned, I suggest you owl her. Now step aside, I have errands to run; or shall a Tarantallegra Curse be required to remove you from my path?\"


Ron did not move, but his eyes traveled to the large bouquet of yellow tulips in the Potions Master\'s arms.


\"Are those for her?\" Ron asked, his voice shaking in anger.


\"No, they’re for a potion in which I will bewitch her mind and ensnare her senses,\" he said with the same silky voice he used when making his introductory speech to all first years.


As Ron stood there sputtering, Severus made purposeful strides towards the tailor\'s shop to pick up his new robes. Once he had his clothes, he Apparated back home from the interior of the shop.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Hermione swung by a bank and got some more Muggle pounds before heading out to the nearest tube stop. She would go to the South Kensington stop and look for a shop selling textbooks to students attending the Imperial College of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Surely they would have some freshman level books that would give Severus an introduction to Physics, Chemistry, and any other books that she thought might catch his fancy.


A few hours later, she left with three shopping bags full of books that would not only interest Severus, but she found too fascinating to pass up as well.


Ducking into an alleyway, she looked around to make sure no one saw her, and Apparated back to Severus\' home.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Once he was home, he placed the flowers into a vase he transfigured from a plain drinking glass. Pulling out the pork roast, he prepared it and placed it in the oven to cook so it would be ready in time for dinner.


He didn\'t know how much time he had left before Hermione would return, so he showered again, wanting to look and smell fresh for her. After his encounter with the young Mr. Weasley, he found his palms sweating from the adrenaline that coursed through his body. He was furious not only with the petulant redhead, but with young Malfoy, due to his lack of discretion. He would make Draco pay, but he calmed his mind remembering that revenge is a dish best served cold.


Once he was showered and dressed in his new clothes, he grabbed the ring from the box and placed it in a small waist pocket. He then set the house ready for Hermione\'s arrival. He prepared the dining room with his mother\'s finest silver and china.


When he was done, Hermione still had not returned. It was mid-afternoon and he wondered if she was still at Hogwarts in her interview, or if she had thought about their relationship once she got away from him and reconsidered. The demon in his mind began banging on the door, trying to get out and cause a new flood of worries and self-doubt to cloud Severus\' mind.


He was worrying the rug in the parlor with his frantic pacing when he heard a pop behind him.


Hermione was standing there with three bags filled with books and a big grin on her face. His face immediately changed from worry to relief.


\"I\'m sorry I\'m so late,\" she said hiding a smile. \"Filius insisted he take me to lunch to celebrate my new apprenticeship.\"


Before she could continue, Severus swept her up into his arms and spun her about. \"Congratulations,\" he said with a beaming smile and kissed her. He was thrilled for her, but he had never doubted she would get it. His kiss was more out of relief that she returned to him.


There was a loud thump from the textbooks hitting the floor, and she kissed him back. Once she pulled away, she glanced down at the bags of books. \"I also went to a bookstore and did a little shopping.\"


\"A little?\" he said, with one cocked brow.


\"Well, I remember how interested you were in some of the Muggle Sciences, so I picked up some books for you.\"


His heart stopped for a brief second. How could she have known that he wanted to ask her to take him to buy some books like these? She had gone out of her way and bought these for him? No one ever bought him things just for the sake of it. He never received presents other than on his birthday or Christmas, and it was only Albus and the other Heads of Houses who ever bought him anything. And certainly nothing as thoughtful as what Hermione had picked out for him. He never asked her for these, and somehow she had known. Suddenly, he found it very hard to swallow.


He choked out a very emotion-filled, \"Thank you,\" as he watched her sit on the floor and pull the books out of the bags, stacking them on the floor.


She looked up at him, noticing the strangled quality of his voice, and took his hands in hers. \"Anything for you, my love.\"


He wanted to ask her. He was certain that she was the woman for him now, without a doubt. But first there were a few other things he needed to discuss with her; some things he was afraid would come back to haunt them if they weren\'t dealt with.


\"Hermione,\" he said, his voice tight and slightly wavering. He kneeled next to her.


She stopped pulling the books from the bags and sensed something was wrong. Forging ahead, she decided she would bring up what she feared he would say first.


\"Since Filius offered me the position, he said I could move into Hogwarts as soon as tomorrow,\" she mentioned as casually as she could.


\'Oh gods, she wants to run away from me already,\' he thought.


She continued, \"I\'ve had a wonderful time staying here.\" Hermione\'s voice was becoming strained, too. \"I don’t want to overstay my welcome. If you want me to leave soon, I understand. You probably want your privacy. I…I don’t want to be a nuisance.\" She thought she would start to cry.


He was confused. He didn’t know if she wanted to leave, or if she thought that he wanted her to leave. What had he done to cause her to think he wanted her to go?


\"Do you want me to go, Severus? If so, I understand.\" Her eyes were brimming with tears.


He took a steadying breath. \"I thought we agreed that if you wanted to leave, you wouldn’t soften the blow. You would tell me outright and be honest with me. Tell me: do you want to go?\" His voice was firm, ready for her rejection.


The tears started spilling down her face. \"No, Severus. I don’t want to go. Be honest with me now. Do you want me to go?\"


\"No,\" he whispered.


\"I thought...the way you sounded…\" she paused, \"I thought you were going to ask me to leave just now.\" The tears were still streaming down her face.


He reached out his hand and wiped them away. \"No, I wasn\'t going to ask you to go. Why would I ever ask that?\" Hermione\'s breath hitched in her chest. \"There was something I think we should discuss, before we continue.\"


His somber voice raised more fears in Hermione\'s mind.


\"Yes?\"


\"I think there are some things that transpired between us in the past that I want cleared. The one that sticks out in my mind is the time when young Malfoy hit you with that Densaugeo Curse and I said I saw no difference. That was callous of me, and I want to apologize. I did notice.\" His face pleaded for her forgiveness.


Her face softened. \"Is that what you were worried about? That I would still be upset about that years later?\" She looked at his face and saw that he was worried. \"That was years ago. It stung me for a while, but the hurt faded. Since you asked for my forgiveness, I give it to you. As long as you forgive me for setting your robes on fire and stealing that boomslang skin years ago.\"


His face relaxed and he smiled a bit, immensely relieved. \"I forgive you,\" he said, and pulled her into a short but tender kiss. \"Now show me what you picked out for me.\"


They spent the next half-hour pouring over the books she got him, and he browsed the ones she bought for herself. The ones on biological psychology and philosophic logic interested him, and he would have to borrow them once she was done reading them.


As he perused the table of contents for one of the books, he noticed the lump of stone and metal in his waist pocket. It felt like a dagger digging into his side. He longed to pull it out and thrust it onto her finger, but he knew he should wait until the moment was right. If this were going to be the one and only time on his life he would propose, he would do it correctly.


Once the books were placed in his study, he brought Hermione into the dining room.


She saw the flowers and gasped, \"Oh Severus, they\'re beautiful.\" Inspecting them, she noticed the type of flower and their color. \"Oh. Severus. Are these meant to be symbolic?\"


He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss it. Suddenly he found his throat very dry. He wanted a drink, anything to steady his nerves and give him courage. Should he ask now or wait until after dinner? Would he have the courage later? Would there be a better opportunity than now? Doubtful.


With his free hand, he reached into his waist pocket and pulled out the ring he wished he had last night.


\"Are you my true love?\" he asked in a small voice. His heart was hammering against his chest, and he was sure it would break a rib or two before it calmed down.


Her eyes went wide when her eye caught sight of the ring in his hand. \"Severus?\" She was hyperventilating.


\"Marry me.\" There, he said them. The two words.


He was no longer a coward, but now he was flying without a net, and he didn’t know if Hermione would be there to catch him before he fell and hit the ground.


It seemed he would have to catch her first, for her eyes rolled back up into her head and she passed out in his arms.


\"Now you\'ve done it. You\'ve killed her,\" he dryly said to himself. He was thankful he didn\'t buy the spider mums.


He carried her to the couch and laid her down. He quickly fetched a glass of water.


It took a few minutes, but Hermione\'s eyes began to flutter open. The first thing she saw was Severus\' face hovering over hers, with worry etching his forehead.


Once again, the first words out of his mouth were, \"I\'m sorry.\"


Hermione\'s mind tried to comprehend what he was apologizing for. Then her mind latched onto an image of yellow tulips and an obscenely large pink diamond ring in his hand. Of course she hallucinated about the ring, but two words came back into her mind, \"Marry me.\"


\"Severus,\" she croaked out. He brought forth the glass of water and gave her a sip, gently lifting up her head. After she was done, he took a large gulp himself. \"I\'m confused. Did you ask me to marry you, or was I just dreaming?\"


\"If your answer is no, I completely understand. It\'s too much, too soon for you.\" He looked utterly dejected.


\"Wait, I\'m not clear on this. Did you ask me to marry you or not? I\'m not sure if it was a dream or not.\"


Obviously the girl was confused. She was in shock, and it was all his fault.


\"No, it was not a dream. Yes, I did ask you to marry me.\" He looked like his heart would break before her eyes.


\"Ask me again.\"


\"What?\" He couldn’t believe what she was asking. She was still confused.


\"Ask me again, Severus,\" she asked tenderly. \"One more time. You caught me by surprise, that\'s all.\"


He took one long steadying breath before fixing his gaze upon her. \"Marry me. Make me happy forever. Marry me so I know the next time you leave, you\'ll return to my side. Be mine and mine alone. I want to wake up and see your face first thing in the morning. I want to go to sleep and feel you by me, chasing away the nightmares that have left me since you\'ve been in my bed. Be my companion and confidante until the end of our days, where we\'ll grow old together and you\'ll get more beautiful as the years pass us by. Say you\'ll marry me. Be my wife. If you want children or not, it doesn’t matter, as long as I have you. Marry me.\"


The thought of marriage had fleetingly crossed her mind a few times since she had come to stay with him, but she had pushed those ideas out of her mind, convinced Severus would want to court her for a long time to make sure if his decision was the correct one. She did not expect this proposal so quickly, so soon. Yet despite the suddenness of it all, she knew her answer when he first asked her in the dining room.


\"Yes,\" she mouthed, unable to make a sound. His face looked uncertainly at hers, and she said it again, this time whispering. \"Yes, Severus, yes.\"


He leaned forward slowly and kissed her ardently with his whole being. Their souls sung as one at that moment, and the angels in heaven wept from the beauty before them.


Severus thought his heart would burst. It felt full and incapable of holding any more love than what he felt at that moment.


Hermione, overwhelmed with joy, never wanted this moment to end. She never wanted his lips to leave hers.


Their kiss lasted for an eternity, but even eternity came to an end; and he lifted his lips from hers and looked down at his angel, his love, his bride.


He brought the ring to her left hand and slid it onto her ring finger.


The sensation of that ring on her finger tingled like the first time his lips touched hers. It was as if the ring was sending an electrical current straight from her hand to her heart. She looked at the ring and realized it wasn\'t a hallucination. It was real. It was a pink diamond that was probably a good three carats in size.


She was engaged. It was a newly strange enough idea to consider herself involved with someone, and now she was engaged. For a while, she had been convinced that she would never find anyone her equal, that she would be a single working witch the rest of her days. Now, within a week, she had found true love and a husband. Husband. Severus was going to be her husband. Thoughts swam through her brain, like a crowd rushing the gates of a stadium.


\"I\'m going to marry you,\" she muttered with mild astonishment.


\"Are you having second thoughts?\" he asked, a slight panic to his voice.


\"No, I\'m just getting used to the idea. From dateless and lonely for years, and now taking a lover, and now a fiancé in a week. It just takes a little getting used to.\"


Severus nodded. \"I can’t tell you how sudden this is for me either. I had resigned myself to the life of a confirmed bachelor, and here you come into my life like a breath of fresh air. I wanted to ask you last night after dinner, but I didn’t have the courage. When you left this morning, I couldn’t stand the thought that you might not come back to me.\"


\"I\'ll always come back to you.\"


He kissed her hand and then buried his face in her palm, kissing the heel and then rubbing his cheek into her palm once more.


She remained lying on the couch with him kneeling next to her for a while, before he guided her up from the couch and led her to the dining room for dinner. Neither of them had much of an appetite. Instead, they discussed their future.


Hermione would stay at his house…their house…until he needed to return to Hogwarts two weeks before the start of term, where they would return together. She would keep her own set of quarters until they were married.


That evening, they both decided against a long engagement and set the date for December 21st, the day of the winter solstice and a few days after most of the students went home for the Christmas holidays.


They decided the rest of the wedding planning could wait. Severus was impatient to make love to his fiancée, so they left their dinners half-eaten and moved into the bedroom.


His own fingers moved deftly to remove her clothes, and she had gotten the knack of his vestments, though she noted these clothes looked new and a little different. When they both were standing nude, they looked at each other with new eyes, knowing they would see each other like this every night for the rest of their lives. This gave each of them a new level of confidence with their intimacy.


Severus wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her up into a searing kiss that felt like it left scorch marks on her mouth. His hands traveled up and down her back as she rubbed her breasts against his chest, enjoying the feeling of the hairs on his chest rubbing against her nipples. Her hands wrapped around and grabbed his arse, pressing him into her tightly. She did love his arse; it was firm and tight.


Kneeling before her, he began to lovingly kiss her breasts, biting and lolling his tongue over her nipples. Her hands found their way to his hair and started pulling her fingers through it, combing it, alternating with raking her nails over his scalp. Soon he was sitting on his heels lapping at her navel before lowering his head and letting his tongue probe her, licking her clitoris. He wanted to taste her nectar, to lap at it greedily. His hands, which were kneading her arse, moved down to her knees and encouraged her to widen her stance, so his mouth could delve deeper into her.


She was watching him when his mouth met her wetness, and she moaned from the sight of him worshiping her like this. His tongue was like rough velvet on her. As her hands stroked his hair, she caught the diamond ring on her hand, glittering in the firelight. That ring on her hand looked strange, yet perfect.


She was approaching orgasm, and found her legs too weak to continue standing much longer. As she looked down at Severus, she saw his erection standing at attention as he sat on his heels. She wanted him just as he was.


Bending her knees, she sunk down, planting her feet on either side of Severus’ flanks. She squatted, as she straddled his lap and lowered herself onto him. Guiding his cock with her hand, she gasped as he slipped inside of her.


Severus moved his hands to the floor behind him, for support. When Hermione was seated on his cock, he began to thrust up into her, lifting his buttocks off his heels. Hermione had both her arms latched around his shoulders and neck. As his cock sank deeper into her she tilted her pelvis to allow him to sink all the way into her. As she rode him, he thrust up into her, her head fell back, and they both began to moan louder.


\"My husband…my husband...\" she breathed in between her moans.


This spurred him on and he grunted in response, \"My wife…my bride…\"


Having him call her that, along with the position they were in, caused her to climax quickly, and she came crying his name. Her contractions mixed with her hot tightness caused him to come quickly, too.


When their orgasms finished, he moved his legs to sit cross-legged on the floor with her still impaled on him, her arms still clutching about him.


\"I love you,\" she whispered as she kissed his sweat-streaked hair. \"I always will.\"


\"Who is reading whose mind, now?\" he breathed into her shoulder.


FINIS


===================



A/N: Well, since I wrote this over a year ago, I\'ve had the idea of a sequel running around in my mind. After finishing another fic I\'ve been working on (a couple of fics, actually — another HG/SS fic called \"And They Didn\'t Live Happily Ever After\" and a Draco/Ginny sequel, \"Checkmate\" that is 500+ pages and still need another 100-200 pages to finish it before I post), I\'ll write a sequel to this fic. I originally had an epilogue based on 10 years down the road, but have decided to scrap it and use it as a basis for the sequel, which will include Hermione’s apprenticeship. The sequel will feature: Draco suffering for his transgressions against Severus, virgin blood potion (I\'ve got to figure out a plot that will require that), another dinner with the Grangers, Harry and Ron\'s reactions to her engagement, a hen party (sort of) and stag party (sort of), the wedding(s) (Muggle and wizard), and so on. It will, of course, have tons and tons of hot, steamy smut. Hey, when my husband and I were dating, we\'d be three hours late getting out of his apartment on many occasions (I think you can guess as to why). What makes you think these two won’t be any different.


I hope I kept Snape in character enough. My attitude is that lonely, bitter people soften up once given the chance for love. I know, I was there myself during all of high school. Hermione bitching about boys in the study was me from age 15-21…yes, I didn\'t have a REAL boyfriend until I was 21. I\'m convinced I intimidated most of them, as I was not bad looking at all back then. I\'m also convinced that men under the age of 24 don’t know what the hell to do with a woman\'s body (I may not have had a boyfriend, but I did date), which is why Snape could arouse her, but Harry couldn\'t. And I know personally about bitterness and emotional shells coming off once loved in return. I hope you can see Snape they way I did in this fic and don\'t think he went too OOC. There was a lot of myself in some of the Snape and Hermione perspectives, based on finally finding love after one has given up hope to find it.