To Save A Serpent

A/N: I am sorry that it has taken me so long to update, however, this particular story has been most difficult. I feel much like Jo, because my characters are ruling the occurrences, and I no longer feel as if I have control. It’s emotional for me to go through with this story, the twists and turns it keeps taking even surprising me. I do hope you’ll forgive the terrible time lapses in updates and hope this helps you all find some absolution as it has me.


Her hair was slicked back, held in a ponytail at the base of her neck. Emerald green dress robes fitted over her body and she’d forgone shoes completely. She’d searched the castle for hours, gone to Hogsmeade, London, and anywhere she could think of, even back to the shrieking shack, but she still had not found him. Hermione was almost overwhelmed with sorrow. Surely Remus wouldn’t have sent her on a wild snitch chase, forever searching for her dying lover.

Bare feet scraped over the cold marble and before she realized it, they had carried her up to Gryffindor Tower, and she found herself standing before the Fat Lady’s portrait. With a heavy sigh, and a heart filled with the weight of defeat, she climbed through the portrait hole and slowly made her way up to her room. Pushing the door open, she stepped inside and sighed, her eyes to the back of the door as she pushed it gently closed.

“It did take you long enough.”

Hermione jumped. Turning around, her eyes widened to tears as she saw him leaning against one of the posts of her bed. He was standing full up, though his face was pale, and she could see just beyond him, her pink and white bed sheets. Taking a slow step toward him, she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Is it really you?”

He nodded. “Yes, Hermione. Really me, waiting here for you where it began.” And it suddenly seemed so clear. It had been foolish for her not to have come straight to her bedroom in Gryffindor Tower, the place where the fantasy in his mind had started. His eyes did not leave hears as she threw herself against him, sobbing. “No, Hermione, no tears.”

“I’m going to lose you,” she whispered.

Her was silent for a moment and then placed a gentle kiss to her lips, tilting her chin up and gazing into her eyes. “I’ve not long for this world, Hermione, but you did what you could to give me this chance to do all that needs to be done,” his voice was fading.

She’d managed to stop sobbing, but the tears continued to fall down her cheeks, wetting her cheeks, stinging her eyes. Her hands trembled as he took them in his and he sat back on the bed. “Hermione,” he said softly.

“I know about Lily,” she sniffled.

Again he was silent for a moment, but gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “Hermione,” he started again and placed tiny kisses against her eyelids, his lips hovering over her nose for a moment before he pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’d sealed my heart off, given up on all hopes of ever being happy again, even close to it. My soul purpose in life was to protect Potter, because of his mother…”

She sniffled and leaned against him, still keeping her trembling hands in his.

“But then you tumbled into my mind, quite literally one day, and something happened. I don’t know how you did it, or even if you meant to do it, but you did. You broke me, Hermione Jane Granger, and I felt. My heart was alive again, and the years of sorrow seemed to melt away whenever I was allowed a look in your eyes. It was frightening and I dared to deny it so many more times than I should have, but it was you, you saved me from an empty meaningless last year of my life.

She was practically sobbing again, and his mouth covered hers gently. “Severus, oh, Severus…”

“Shh, Hermione,” he ran a hand over her hair, finding the ponytail holder and pulling it free, his fingers tangling into her curls. “Such a beautiful girl, don’t cry…” His lips were brushing hers once more and she begged into his kiss, both arms thrown suddenly over his shoulders and she fell back on the bed, finding him atop her. “That night…in the woods…”

“I should have told you,” she whispered, running her fingers through his hair.

“I know,” he muttered, and pressed a kiss to her lips. “So I’m telling you now…” Severus lowered his lips to her ear, and closed his eyes. “Hermione, you mean more to me than you could ever imagine, and that night, I longed to tell you how much you’d come to mean to me…I longed to tell you…” his words trailed off and he paused for just a moment. “I love you.”

She trembled beneath him, tears still streaking from her eyes as he kissed them away. “I love you, I do, I love you,” she whimpered, wrapping both arms around his back. “And now I’m going to lose you…”

“But you’ve set me free, Hermione, you’ve allowed me to love again.”

She whimpered, a loud cracking sob escaping her and she closed her eyes, feeling his lips on them once more. “Please,” she whimpered. “I don’t want to lose you, my heart is breaking into a thousand pieces.”

“Shh,” he whispered, “It’s alright. Good girl,” he stroked her hair, and then brought his lips to hers. “I haven’t long, but I love you,” he said, and ran his hand over her cheek, kissing her once more. Her lips pressed up into his, greedy, wanting him, needing him, and she whimpered into the kiss.

Her hands were tugging at the frockcoat as his hands slid down her body, gently stroking her figure, her breath coming in gasps. “No more tears,” he whispered, claiming her lips once more. She pushed her hips up beneath him, and shivered, hands tangling again his hair, memorizing the feel, the knot of dread that had built in her stomach, slowly being replaced by a knot of pulsing need for the man who loved her.

“Please,” she whimpered, and dragged her hands slowly along down his neck, flicking buttons open on his shirt. “Let me see you, let me feel you, one more time…” her voice was a whimper, her eyes half lidded, trying to strain back the tears. He nodded, and let her hands continue down his frock coat, and then his dress shirt until her palms felt skin. “You’re so warm…”

Severus licked at the side of her neck, his hands taking careful measures over the fancy dress robes, pushing the cloth aside to reveal her bare shoulder. His lips suckled and she moaned, as if every touch were lighting her on fire, each touch being the last time she would feel him there.

His frockcoat and shirt made a heavy thump and whoosh of fabric as she guided them over his arms and off his torso. They fell to the floor, joining her discarded dress robes and she was thankful she’d not bothered with shoes. Trembling fingers guided his trousers and boxers down until he was naked over her, all that remained was her knickers. Her breath hitched as his hand curved over her hip, ever so slowly, and although he’d done it a thousand times before, she felt as if it were the very first time he’d ever touched her in that way.

Sliding her knickers off, his lips were on hers once more, and as he pulled back to gaze into her eyes, he stroked a hand down her thighs. A loving, tender gesture, as his fingers danced lightly along over her mound, tickling her folds apart. A tiny whimper escaped her lips as she looked up into his eyes, her own eyes half lidded, long lashes batting as she waited. “Please, let me see you…” she said.

Rising back on his knees, Severus allowed her eyes to trace over his chest, every scar, and every hair, all the way down to his knees where they met the bed. He did not expect her to come shooting up, her lips going to the tiny puncture marks at his neck, her suckling them gently and for a moment, he felt a surge of energy. Hermione’s lips traced every scar, her hands and fingers doing the same, slowly, caressing, tracing, feeling, as if memorizing his body, though she already knew every inch.

He drew in a breath sharply when her lips brushed over the tiny peaks of his nipples and he dipped his head to return the favor, his hands cupping her breasts, feeling her, enjoying her perfection in all its splendor. Wrapped in each other’s arms, they fell slowly backward, Hermione’s back hitting the mattress, pink and white sheets seeming to slither underneath her.

“Make love to me,” she whispered, dragging her hands into his hair, her fingers running over his scalp with her nails.

“I love you,” he whispered, and she could feel his pulsing member between her thighs. He was gentle, almost more so than he’d been on their first night. Slipping in, he filled her, his lips finding hers, his eyes falling closed.

She shuddered, her legs clamping tight around him, as if hoping that connecting them deep within each other would keep him there forever. Her lips pressed against his shoulder, and both arms were wrapped tightly around his back as he pulled out and slid in. The sheets had somehow come atop him and the room darkened, but she smiled against his lips as he kissed her.

Her hips thrust up to meet his, the slow, deep rhythm driving her closer, but she longed for it never to end. His lips were everywhere, and their bodies were warm, rubbing against each other, a sheen of sweat between them. She panted, and he groaned, soft lover’s noises coming from both as he rocked into her, stroking her hair with one hand, seeking her nerve bundle with the other.

Hermione cried out, “Please, please, I love you,” she whimpered, as his thumb rubbed against her clit and she could feel her walls beginning to spasm. Legs clamped tight around him, her body jerking beneath his, and with her climax came his. With a thick, heavy thrust, he pushed into her, panting, and spilled himself.

Both bodies stopped trembling, her arms still tight around him, and his head fell to her shoulder. His heart beat was slowing and she could feel it faintly against her chest. She threaded her fingers into his hair and stroked it back, lovingly laying there just holding him. “I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you to, Hermione,” he whispered. “Sleep now,” he said, and she nodded her head, stroking his hair until her eyes fell closed.