In Demand

You know I


YOU KNOW I\'M IN DEMAND


 

Severus ran to thh flh floor corridor and
to his quarters. He was in his office until late grading papers. 
He had glanced at the time and realized he had better hurry.


 


The window of opportunity was very narrow these days. 
He flew through the door and up the stairs. 
Turning right, into the first room he came to he walked over to the crib
sitting against the wall.  He
breathed a sigh of relief and tucked the blanket around their 6-month-old son
just a bit tighter.  He placed a
kiss on his index finger and then transferred it to the baby’s tiny nose.


 


Stealthily, so he didn’t wake the baby, he moved
from the room and continued down the hall. 
His heart sank as he entered their bedroom.  Hermione was tucked in bed, with her eyes closed. 
Too late.


 


He slipped into the bathroom to get ready for bed. 
He wasn’t angry, just frustrated. 
Salazar demanded a lot of her time. 
She managed, somehow, to share the castle’s mediwitch duties with
Poppy.  They had worked out an on-call schedule for the infirmary and
shared the healing arts class load.  The
baby went everywhere with her.  She
even taught her classes with him asleep in a small bassinette in the corner, or
happily wrapped in his mother’s robes suckling.


  She was amazing


 He crawled into bed beside her. 
Even though deeply asleep she still, instinctively sought out the warmth
of his body.  He whispered a charm to quell the need that was stirring
within him and wrapped his arms around her small figure.


 


YOU SEE I\'M IN DEMAND


In the morning, she was gone. 
Severus arose, showered, and dressed quickly.


 


 Salazar
was stirring in his crib.  Severus
floo’d the house elves for a bottle of breast milk and picked the boy up. 
He changed his son first, marveling at the perfection of the small hands
and feet waving in the air.  When he
his son dressed, he sat in the rocker, and fed him. 
Salazar looked so much like his mother, except for the shock of jet black
hair starting to appear on his head.


 


“Time to go find Mummy, Sal.”


 


They found her in the infirmary. 
She was sitting at her desk,  head
down, asleep.  Before Severus could slip from the room, Sal saw his mommy
and gave an excited squeal.  She
raised her head and blinked a few times before her eyes settled on them.


 


Hermione stood up and walked over, taking the baby in
her arms.  She reached up to her
husband and pulled his head down for a kiss. 
“Good Morning, Severus.” 


 


He could only answer with a faint “mmmmmmm” as he
claimed her lips again.  Salazar
began shrieking insistently, upset at being squished between his parents.


 


Hermione pulled away and automatically undid her robe
and settled the baby to her breast.  Severus
smiled at his son “I already fed him.”


 


“He just likes to be near them, I guess.”


 


“Like father, like son.”


 YOU KNOW I\'M IN DEMAND


 

Hermione looked up at him with troubled eyes.  
“Why didn’t you wake me when you came home last night?” 
she asked timidly.


 


Severus could see the dark circles under under her
eyes.  He made a mental note to
start looking for a cottage to rent for the summer. 
Classes were over in a few weeks and they could use some time away from
the castle.


 


He sat down on the nearest bed and pulled her into
his arms.  “You’ve been so
tired, I didn’t have the heart.  I
miss you, I mean, I miss…”


 


“I miss you, too, Severus.  I’m spread so thin right now, I don’t know if I’m
coming or…”  He glared at her. 
“OK, bad choice of words.”


 


He laughed then, “Relax, things will get easier
soon.  By the time classes start
again in the fall, he’ll be weaned, and we’ll hire a nanny for during the
days.  It’ll all work out,
you’ll see.”


 


 YOU KNOW I\'M IN DEMAND


 

“What time did you get up this morning?” Severus
asked, trying to move his thoughts away from the feel of her bottn hin his lap.


 


Hermione yawned and stretched. 
She removed the sleeping baby from her breast and laid him on the bed
before answering.  “Albus called me at 3am. 
Seems a couple of the Hufflepuff 5th years had the bright idea
to go for a midnight ride.  When one
of them fell and broke his leg, they decided to try and fix it themselves
instead of getting in trouble.  To
make a long story short, they pulled a Gilderoy Lockheart on it and I’ve spent
the night trying to regrow the boy’s leg bones.”


 


She settled back against her husband, enjoying the
warmth and comfort of his body.  After
a few minutes Severus realized she was asleep. 
He stood up with his wife in his arms and laid her on a nearby bed. 
He pulled the blanket up and placed a kiss on her forehead.


 


He picked their son up and slipped from the room. 
“Well, Sal, looks like you’re going to Potions class this morning.”


 YOU NEVER HAD OUR LOVE WRITTEN IN YOUR PLANS 

That night, Hermione and Severus rushed through their
evening schedule.  Salazar was
tucked in bed, and they were settled in the master bedroom by 9PM


 


Severus drew his wife to him, kissing her gently. 
It had been a long time, and he was fighting to stay in control. 
Her hands roamed over his body and her breathless cries only served to
fuel his fire.


 


Suddenly, from the fireplace, the voice of the
Slytherin Head Boy called, “Professor Snape, sir, I’m sorry to disturb you. 
Several of the students have been dueling in the dungeons. 
Things are out of hand, sir.  They’re
in the potions lab brawling now and I can’t seem to get things under
control.”


 


It had been a long time since Hermione had seen such
fury etched over her husband’s face.  “I’ll
be right there.”


 


He rose from the bed and began dressing. 
“Is Poppy on call tonight?”


 


Hermione nodded silently.


 


“Good then, I have a feeling there will be some
Slytherin bastards in need of her services. 
You had better get some rest,” he placed a kiss on her head. 
“This will be a long night.”  He
moved to the door.


 


“Severus?”


 


He stopped but did not look back.


 


“I love you.”


 


His shoulders slumped a bit, but he still did not
look back. “I love you, too Hermione.  Try
and sleep.”  And he was gone.


 


YOU KNOW I\'M IN DEMAND 

The next morning, Hermione rose and got herself and
Salazar dressed quickly.  She had
people to see and arrangements to be made.


 


At breakfast in the Great Hall she found out the
potions classroom had been a shambles when Severus arrived. 
He had not returned to their quarters last night, so she imagined he had
spent a good portion of the night re-organizing.


 


She had to speak to Albus immediately following
breakfast.  The Headmaster filled
her in on more details of the night, including the fact that the Slytherins had
lost 250 house points.


 


Hermione knew her husband was really at the end of
his rope.


 


Next stop for Hermione and Sal was the DADA classroom
and a talk with Harry and then on to the infirmary. 
Poppy had her hands full with 5 Slytherins recovering from the noxious
fumes of several knocked over cauldrons.


 


A quick trip in to Hogsmeade and she could be back by
lunchtime!!!


 


Things were going well.


YOU SEE I\'M IN DEMAND 


The first year Ravenclaws filed out of the potions
lab, the last class before lunch.  Severus
put his head down on the desk, planning to try and catch an hour’s sleep
beforeafteafternoon filled with back to back to back Gryffindors. 
“Oh joy”


 


He didn’t realize that his wife had slipped in the
room until he heard the door click shut.  He
lifted hisd ind in time to see her robes drop to the floor as she whispered the
words to ward the room.


 


She walked slowly over and around to his side of the
desk.  She lifted one leg over top
of him, and sat down in his lap, straddling him; pinned between him and the
desk.


 


 YOU NEED ME IN DEMAND


 

“Did you hear that Harry decided to take the
Gryffindor’s on a Friday afternoon field trip to the Dark Forest??” she
asked, nibbling her way across his jaw.


 


“No I hadn’t heard that.”   He closed his eyes and brought his arms around his very
naked wife.


 


“Yes and silly old me.  I was making some pepper-up potion in the healing arts room. 
I wasn’t paying any attention.  I’m
not sure exactly what I did, but I screwedup sup somehow. 
It cooked over.  Albus said
it would take all afternoon to vent the room out. 
He cancelled my classes this afternoon.”


 


Her hands had begun undoing the buttons at his neck
and with each one being opened she licked her way down his chest. 
His tangled his hands in her hair and drug her face up to his.


 


“And Salazar?”


 


“Spending the day, and night, in Hogsmeade with
Uncle Draco and Aunt Ginny.  I sent
plenty of breastmilk.”


 


 YOU WANT ME IN DEMAND

 


He took her mouth then, not letting her utter one
more word.  He pushed his chair back
and rose with her legs wrapped around his waist. 
He exited the classroom, and walked through his office into their old
quarters.


 


She drug her mouth from him and whispered a spell. 
Severus found that he had been dispensed of his clothing.


 


It had been too long for both of them, and neither
wanted to waste any time.  He sat on
the floor and lay back. Hermione lowered herself onto the body of her husband,
enjoying the feel of him inside of her once more.  She gazed down at him through half open eyes. 
“Dance for me, Severus,” she ordered.


 


And they danced.


 


There were knowing looks between the staff that night
when the Snape’s missed dinner.


 


And again the next morning, when they missed
breakfast.