Of Days and Ends

A/N: I would like to thank Juno Magic, Catysmom (currently in first, quick on the draw too! lol), and sslover, Sampdoria, and Sureves Epans (still tied for second). I love that you all review and I am very serious when I say that the little voice in my head loves it very much. In fact, we have a surprise for you! Relax, read, and review…

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Chapter 10—Snape’s Decision



The party was a delight and just as much a celebration of Hermione’s wellness, Ron’s little moustache growing in, and Fleur’s sister’s birthday as it was about Bill’s birthday. The cake Fleur cooked had fallen in the oven, but Mrs. Weasley calmed her and showed her how to hide it showing, admitting that when she first started with Mr. Weasley, the fallen cakes were among her biggest frustrations. Mr. Weasley came in soon after lunch, kissed his wife, and slid Bill’s gift onto the table, causing everyone else to go running to place their gifts on the table. Being as most of the Order was there; the table was weighed down by the many curiously wrapped bundles and creaked under the weight.



Bill was a real sport as he opened the gifts, getting everyone involved in guessing and taunting the gift giver. Towards the end, Fred and George’s gift was unwrapped and everyone stared at it in silence. “Thanks…” Bill said, “a quill.” And then with more excitement, he held it up to the light, “Okay, so Hermione hasn’t given a gift, my wife hasn’t given a gift, and Fred and George haven’t given me a gift. He looked at each of them carefully, “Okay, boys, when’s it going to blind me?”



“Oi Bill!” Fred said.



“Yeah, we’re offended.” George answered.



“Not all about pranks are we.” Fred.



“Naw, not always. No, this is a quill to sign with.” George seemed disappointed to see that no one was interacting. Fred offered one parchment and George passed it to Bill. “Here you go, Billy! Sign that, would you.”



Bill picked up the parchment and read over it. Everyone was interested now, and leaned in. Bill laughed and put the parchment back down, “This contract is laced with double-sided phrases and loopholes.”



“Exactly!” Fred shouted.



“Now poise the quill.”



Bill did as he was told and all of the problems with the contract were illuminated in red. Picking up the parchment and looking it over, he began to congratulate Fred and George when they slid that paper out and placed another down. “Now that one, Billy.”



Bill did as he was told again and this time the quill drew a line. He began to reach for the quill when Fred’s hand on his stopped him. “Your wand, Billy.” Bill drew his wand and at Fred and George’s air gestures began to sign his name in the air, watching with fascination as the quill began to scratch his name onto the parchment. He picked it up and read the parchment in silence before handing it to his wife with a slight smile on his face.



Fleur furrowed her eyebrows at the parchment before smiling, laughing, and crying. When her tears began to fall, Bill looked up in surprise and Mrs. Weasley smiled as she looked over Fleur’s shoulder. “That’s beautiful boys.”



“What is it?” Ron asked for everyone else.



“Oh, we just made him sign that he would take care of his wife and any resulting children with all of his heart and the post script read that he would love George and I forever.”



Everyone got a good laugh about that until Moody’s gruff voice broke over all of the assembly. “That’s a brilliant invention and I’m sure that as a banker it will come in handy sooner than you think.”



“Yes, thank you.” Bill added before turning to the last gift on the table, “Now, there’s only Hermione and my wife left, so this comes from… Oh now this is a hard one. It’s too small to be a book, but the wrapping isn’t festive enough to come from Fleur.” He picked up the package and pressed his ear to it. Hearing nothing he looked up at the two women as he began to open it. Inside was a jewellery box and he furrowed his eyebrows at them as he opened it. Everyone leaned forward and Fleur leaned into Hermione.



Inside a white stick with a blue cap on one end and two holes on the other end sat and Mr. Weasley was the only one to look at it and shout. Immediately, he clapped his hand over his mouth and his eyes glimmered with tears. Bill looked at his father and back at the two women with something akin to fear on his scarred face. “If dad knows what it is, and nobody else, it must be muggle. Hermione?” He deduced.



“Not entirely.”



“Both of you?” he was surprised. That coalition was not what he expected. “What is it?”



“Read ze directions.” Fleur whispered.



Bill pulled out the paper they had cut out and read it. First he grimaced, then he raised an eyebrow and checked the stick, then his eyes widened and he looked at his wife. “You’re…?” He couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.



“Pregnant, yes.” Hermione finished.



Mrs. Weasley would have hit the floor were it not for Mr. Weasley being prepared behind her, and Fred and George scrambled across the tabletop and tackled their brother. Bill seemed too stunned to move and the party roared to life again.



After dinner, everyone left and Ron, Harry, Tonks, Lupin, and Hermione apparated back to Grimmauld Place. The boys went straight up to bed and Tonks and Lupin went to their room. Finding herself alone, Hermione apparated to Snape’s library. The fire died in the grate and she was immediately surrounded by darkness. Without lighting her wand, she removed her boots by the grate and moved though the library confidently until Severus’s deep voice hissed, “Show yourself!”



She reached for her wand, and in that split second, the red beam of a stunning spell was shot at her and dissipated in front of her. She lit her wand and prepared to fire off a hex when the light illuminated Severus, preparing to attempt hexing her again. “Severus!” She shouted.



He stopped and lit his wand, squinting against the harsh light. They stepped towards each other until they were each standing in the combined lights. “You weren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow.” He wasn’t smiling, “I could have killed you.”



Hermione knew that he wanted her to argue. He seemed to be in that sort of mood, but instead she admitted her wrong, “I should have sent a patronus ahead and asked first, but—”



“This house is yours now, Miss Granger. I actually can’t keep you from it.”



“Excuse me?”



“This house, these walls, my bed are all yours now as well.”



“But we haven’t—”



“That doesn’t matter in modern ordinance. We still can’t reach the book, because of medieval law only.”



“Are you sure?”



“I checked the registry on this house and your—our name is on there.” He pulled a deed from his pocket and held it out for her. When her hand touched it, it sprang open and at the very bottom of a ten generational list was the couple Mr. and Mrs. Severus and Hermione Snape.



“Oh my goodness…” she whispered.



He folded up the paper and walked to the shelf, his wand light following him away from where she stood, “So you will understand now why I need you to be my Dumbledore. Can you handle that?” She nodded so he continued, “As you’ve seen, we are in very dire straits here.”



Hermione furrowed her brow in thought and Snape was reminded of the look she had when concentrating on her homework in the Hogwarts library. She was making him miss the place. “Well I suppose I could keep an ear out for any plans the Order has to check the housing records or anything else that I think might have our com—”



“What the hell are you talking about?” With the wand light directly beneath his chin and his arms crossed in his robes, he looked sinister, but she found herself oddly unaffected by his usual intimidating stance.



“The Order finding out about us.”



“Why the hell do I have to worry about the Order?”



“Well you are Voldemort’s right hand. It’ll only be a matter of time before they realize that they can look for your properties in the housing records, they will come across my—our name in the process.”



Realizing that she was entirely correct, he nodded, “And what of Voldemort?”



“Do you ever get the feeling that you are fighting both sides?”



“That’s my purpose.” He said darkly.



“It just seems so exhausting, demoralizing, and hopeless.” She moved toward where she knew his desk to be, sitting on it when she reached it. “How do you stand it?”



Snape shrugged, approaching her, “I’ve abandoned hope a long time ago. Trust me. It all seems better when you focus on the duty.”



“That’s dour.” He was standing very near to her, so she reached out and drew him near by his robes. He leaned down and kissed her as she tilted her chin up. It was short and gentle, but she felt satisfied enough to continue their conversation. “Why would Voldemort want to look at housing records?”



“Not housing records, but there are bound to be other documents that have our combined names on it. I just can’t think of any.”



“The only other things I can think of are inheritance papers.”



At this, Snape seemed to strike on an idea, “Have you received your inheritance from Dumbledore yet?”



“No, but I’m sure that he won’t leave me anything. I’m not his family, after all.”



“But he did leave you something. I was in his office when he was trying to decide how to divide his assets. Eventually, he had his entire book collection divided between you and myself. I won’t get mine because of my status as his murderer and a death eater, but you should have received yours by now.” He watched her as she absently toyed with the top button of his black shirt, surprised out of her reverie when his hands reached up and began unbuttoning his top. “I thought about our predicament,” He paused to think of a proper way to frame the rest of the sentence, “I think you are right. Besides, I went to the Dark Lord today and he’s sending me on a mission for our next revel tomorrow morning and I don’t know how long it will take.” She looked up at him then with concern lacing her creased brow. “Don’t worry, I should be back within the week, but these missions have been known to take a couple weeks. It all just depends on the idiots he sends me with.”



Hermione nodded and pushed his shirt from his shoulders as he finished unbuttoning it. Forcing herself to act much bolder that she felt, she ran her small hands across his chest. She smiled at the tightness of every muscle, and ran her nails along his abdomen, commenting that there were many men who would be jealous of how well he’d kept himself up. She didn’t even realize how much her words stroked his ego, and continued her admiration of his form.



When he didn’t answer her, she looked up just in time to see his hands come down to her face and stroke her jaw line as he placed a deep kiss on her lips. When they embraced to deepen the kiss he got to work on her clothing and he succeeded in keeping her so distracted with the kiss that it wasn’t until he popped the bra open with one hand that she noticed she was shirtless. Immediately, her nerve left her and she pulled away.



He was smiling down at her, not a smirk or a scowl, but an actual amused smile. Something about that smile seemed to make her made her want to smile as well, but her nervousness held it at bay. He purred, “You do realize I saw these and felt these just this morning.”



“It wasn’t intentional or expected, and I’m… uh… afraid now.”



He backed away from her suddenly, maintaining his touch only on her left hand. She opened her mouth to say something to apologize, but he stopped her by whirling her gracefully around. Now her back was pushed into his stomach and he clutched her to him with one hand’s fingers interlaced with her own against her belly. Her bra had slipped from her left shoulder and one pert areola was exposed to the cold air. “Trust me, Miss Granger.”



His incessant use of her formal name would have made her retort if his tongue hadn’t begun to create patterns on her neck. Beginning at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, his tongue traced a delicate path up to her jugular where he nipped lightly before continuing upwards to her lips. While her head was lolled to the side, he slid the other strap down, growling in warning when it appeared she would struggle.



He didn’t touch her immediately and she reached her hands back to rest on the waistband of his trousers, effectively thrusting her chest out more. She didn’t notice this with her eyes closed, and her abdomen tightened when his warm fingers grazed just below her navel, flicking open her button with ease. “Don’t open your eyes.” He ordered as he stepped around her, pushed off her jeans, and lifted her in his arms, carrying her to the couch. She sat primly against the corner and felt it change as Snape transfigured it into a large bed covered with thick, soft, plump covers.



“Severus,” she whispered, “can I open my eyes?”



He hesitated a moment and she could see the flickering light from the fireplace through her eyelids and hear the shift in clothing before he answered, “Open.”



Her obedience was twofold, opening her eyes to the sight of Snape’s lips descending on her own, and opening her legs for him to kneel between. This put him at a distinct advantage as he leaned passionately into the kiss and she relaxed until she was flat on her back. The only barrier between them was her knickers and she could vividly feel his erection first against her mound and then her stomach.



Instinctively she knew to reach down and grasp his hard member in her small hand and gasped with pleasure as he pressed it hard onto her clit. He took that opportunity to latch onto her neck and reach between them to stroke her through her panties.



“Oh… oh…” Her voice came out in breathy little moans and she tightened her grip on his cock. She began to exude a heat and she broke out in a sweat beneath him, and he kneeled upright between her legs to watch her more wholly. Snape watched as her body transformed from shy and cold to a writhing mass of pure woman.



He could tell when her impulses took a firm hold on her when her strokes corkscrewed down around his penis to grasp the base and fondle his balls. He let loose a grunt of surprise and dragged her knickers down her legs. She raised her legs around his hips and her eyes to stare fiercely into his own as he lowered his body down to her own. “Do you want this?” He had managed to remember to make sure she was ready.



She smiled and reached between them to line his penis up with her slick opening. “I need this!” She whispered, pulling him in until he touched her barrier. She froze, and the fear in her seemed to wake up. He lowered his lips to hers for a brief kiss, and when he pulled away, he latched onto her neck. Now was the time, and he thrust into her without further warning, holding completely still as Hermione sucked her breath in with surprise.



A few seconds went by and Snape raised his head to look at her face. The only sign that it hurt her was her furrowed eyebrows and tightly closed eyes. He nuzzled her nose and softly whispered, “Breathe, Hermione.” The use of her given name shocked her into action and her eyes flew open. He began to move minutely and she adjusted herself beneath him before thrusting her hips forward to match him.



As they began to rock with more fervour, she gripped his hips with her fingertips until he raised one of her legs onto his shoulder for better leverage. That position placed him in direct contact with her clit with each stroke and she shrieked in pleasant surprise, arching her back and shivering from the sensations. Watching these reactions he began to quicken his pace.



She couldn’t imagine a better feeling as he moved in and out with long deep strokes and the soft sounds that escaped him were hypnotizing. She opened her eyes to watch him enter her and shrieked at the view of him coated in her juices sliding powerfully back and forth. “Uhn… Severus!” She curled up and felt him tap gently at her cervix and shrieked in surprise. This, she thought, is the full feeling she never knew she needed. He pressed his hand into her lower stomach in the cradle of her pelvis just enough to feel his strokes with his hand. He let her leg down and changed his angle to bump his penis more shallowly in her, pressing in on a small bundle of nerves that made her cry out in pleasure.



Her eyes focused on his as her peak began to draw near, and he reached out to her face to touch her cheek. When her lips caught his pinkie finger and sucked, they were both undone he emptied his seed into her with her name on his lips while her muscles clamped down upon him with incredible strength and she hissed, “Severusssss…” He swooned over her as he sated, and surprise caught them both as they could feel themselves losing consciousness.



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A/N: I can’t wait to hear from you all!