Girl With The Broken Smile

* * * *



It was the music that woke him up, that, and the worrisome sensation of warm, damp softness dragging over his bare chest.



He opened his eyes and the memories flooded in, much as they hadn't been doing the last few weeks. It made him wince in anticipation of a headache, but there was none.



The music remained, however, and he soon realized the neighbours had their wireless on again, this time it was playing a very old song indeed, a romantic tune from his mother's era.



The other thing that remained was the warm damp sensation that was now nuzzling his nipple and making him gasp.



"Hermione."



"Mm. You taste good."



"Hermione!" He grasped at the bedcovers with his good hand; feeling his morning erection pressing against his boxers and throbbing with each cautious lick she was giving his chest.



"Good morning," she murmured dreamily, continuing to lick across to the other nipple.



"Oh! Yes. Good morning, indeed."



"My, I see someone else is up today," she said brightly, before taking him firmly in hand.



Severus groaned. She was naked, he noted, before groaning again.



"He really is quite the morning fellow, as I've learned. Quite an impressive chap, too."



"Hermione, please."



"A request! What would you like, Mr. Snape? Coffee? Tea? A roaring good shag?"



He gasped as she stroked him through his boxers.



"I'm wet as a faucet, Severus. Do you know what I want?"



He could only stare as she stroked and then gasp as she dragged her other hand down between her own legs and touched herself. Then she waved that hand under his nose, letting him smell her sweet, fragrant musk and his head swam. He hoped that wasn't the concussion.



"Well, at least one part of you is sensible enough to know what it wants," she murmured.



He grabbed her then with his one good hand and brought her to him, kissing her hard.



It was awkward when he couldn't use one arm, but he finally managed to get them both positioned. Unfortunately, this meant he was holding himself up with his one good hand and his cock was trapped in his boxers.



"Allow me." She reached down and pushed his waistband down, releasing his rampant erection. She stroked him gently and he clenched his teeth, then winced; his jaw was still not fully healed, either.



"Hermione. Please."



She reached one hand up to stroke his face and then manoeuvred beneath him to place him at her entrance.



"Ready when you are, love."



He nodded, starting to sweat and gently pushed forward.



"Oh, God."



He could feel her wet heat gently encase the head of his prick. The sensation nearly made him hyperventilate.



"It's all right, love. You won't hurt me."



He thrust then and felt himself slide deep into her depths. It was snug and as wet as she claimed and really quite heavenly.



"God, you feel good!" she exclaimed, throwing her head back. "I love your prick, Severus. I knew it would feel... wonderful."



He groaned and began to thrust in earnest, wishing he had two free hands so at least one could touch those beautiful breasts. He angled himself a little so he could take one in his mouth.



The soft pink nipple hardened under his ministrations and he felt her arms slip around him, nails urging him on. He sucked on it, and then turned his attention to the other one. Merlin, but she was beautiful.



"Severus! Oh, fuck, Severus! Fuck!"



The sound of her losing control made him stiffen. He felt her spasm, tighten around him, then shudder and he felt his scrotum tighten almost painfully. Soon he was shooting convulsively within her, fighting to keep enough sense to fall to the side and keep his weight off of her.



He just managed to do that.



Unfortunately, he misjudged the bed and landed on the floor.







"Just hold still."



"That hurts."



"It's going to hurt more."



"Then what is the incentive to hold still?"



"Do you want to retain full use of that arm?"



He scowled and then screamed as she slipped his other shoulder back into place. Fortunately, Hermione had considered this possibility and put silencing charms up first.



She eyed the pain-filled eyes of her newfound lover and sighed. She idly cast the pain mitigation charm on his shoulder and murmured, "I'd best read the book to figure out how to fix the other one. It's been healing naturally and I don't dare try that manoeuvre on it, as well."



"Thank heavens you're a mediwitch." He muttered, earning himself one of those quirky smiles. "Otherwise, our sex life could kill me."



She pursed her lips and mock-smacked at his head as she bent over the bed, still naked, to rummage for the book. She idly waved her wand toward the walls, taking the silencing charms down. Then she began to peruse the healer's manual.



As punishments went, Severus thought, staring up at her bent over naked from his position on the floor, this wasn't bad. The sight of her glistening pudenda was incredibly arousing.



"This is really quite fascinating," she muttered.



"I'd say it was glorious."



"Hm?"



"Go on."



"Well, I'll have to practice a bit, but... we have time."



"We do, indeed," he agreed, still sitting on the floor and gazing at her nether lips.



She glanced back then to notice his expression, frowned and turned around, only to see his huge erection.



"You have that despite a recently dislocated shoulder and the pain of resetting it?"



"I had help," he managed to say with a sheepish expression.



"Severus Snape, so help me if I didn't love you so much, I might well strangle you."



"Good thing I'm so lovable." He smirked up at her. "Ow!"




* * * *




"You're not a bad cook yourself, you know."



"This isn't cooking. It's bachelor's hash."



"You had to make rice, you had to open the tins, and you had to chop the herbs and onions and all."



"I was just grateful to have full use of both my arms again. If I were at work, I'd have brewed some potion. Since I'm here, I cooked." He lifted his wineglass to her. "You're going to be a wonderful mediwitch, Hermione. Mainly because you already are."



"Thank you. And I still think this is quite special. It may be from cans, but you knew how to throw it all together so it would be not just edible, but tasty. It's near enough to cooking as makes no difference."



"It's not like your cooking. You know how to cook a damn chicken. I'd burn the bloody thing trying to figure out how."



"Well, I still love it."



"You wouldn't if that's all you ate for days on end."



"Seriously?"



"Well, in between bowls of porridge, toast, boiled eggs, bangers, chips, and veritable gallons of coffee and tea."



"Sounds marvelous."



"You are really a very strange and wondrous girl, Hermione."



"Thank you, Severus. You are really a wonder yourself, you know."



"No. I don't."



"Well, you will."







"Oh, fuck!"



"God, yes!"



"Hermione!"



"Severus!"



"Oh, fuck me!"



"Yes!"



"Fuck me!"



"YES!"



"FUCK ME!"



"SEVERUS!"



"FUCK ME! FUCK ME! FUCK ME!"



BANG! BANG! BANG!



"FOR FUCK'S SAKE, WOULD YE FUCK THE SODDING BASTARD, GIRL, SO THE REST OF US CAN GET SOME BLOODY SLEEP?!! SOME OF US HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW, YE KNOW!!!








"Well, that was humiliating."



"If you say so."



"You don't?"



He rolled his eyes. "If it pleases you -- welcome to the Humiliation club. The queue starts to the left."



"What's that supposed to mean? You didn't find that embarrassing?"



"Well, frankly, my dear, having the neighbours learn that I'm a normal, healthy man with a sexual appetite and a willing partner is hardly humiliating to me."



"So what is?"



He turned to look at her archly.



"Having you hold my prick whilst I moved my bowels springs to mind."



"Oh."



"Followed by having you wipe my arse," he murmured, flushing.



Hermione nodded, then shrugged. "Really, though, that's just part of nursing a patient. At least, Muggle style. If I'd my wand I could have levitated you to the toilet."



"Yes, where you'd have to levitate my naked arse onto the bowl and then levitate me back up when I was done and then scourgify my arse and bits. No, not humiliating at all!"



"Well, what do you expect?" She sneered back, annoyed. "Should I do it without looking? If I did it blindly I'd probably hang you upside down instead and then scourgify your mouth out instead of your arse! Maybe you'd prefer that?!"



He turned stark white, glared furiously at her, and then stalked out of the room.




* * * *




When he didn't come down for breakfast, she didn't worry. Let him fume, she thought, and ate her oatmeal and drank her tea and read her book in peace.







When he didn't come down for dinner, she sighed. Well, he was a grown man, and he was no longer invalid. If he wanted dinner, he could bloody well come down or else fix his own dinner later.







When he didn't come down for tea, she marched up the stairs and began pounding on the door.



"Severus Snape, you answer me right now!"



To her astonishment, the door scraped open after a moment and he loomed over her, nearly empty brandy bottle in hand, looking, for all intents and purposes, piss drunk.



"Yes, Miss H-Hermione? What c-can I do for you? Sex, p'haps? Or wou' you like me to f-fall on my arse a-and break somethin'? You cou' fix it. Maybe I can piss on myself and you can wash me agin? Like that, would'n you?" He swayed, then leered. "Come t'think on it... mebbe I'd l-like that, too. You can wash m'big prick."



Hermione drew in a breath, pulled out her wand, waving it at him in a circular motion, and intoned, "Clarus Madidus!"



Snape shuddered as the sobering spell took full effect.



"Bloody--" he lurched to the toilet and she could hear him being sick. She waited.



The toilet flushed and the taps opened, and then shut off a few minutes later. Soon he appeared in the door, eyes red-rimmed and a little fearful.



"Hermione."



"If you're quite through feeling sorry for yourself, I put some ruddy tea out." She burst into tears and rushed to her room, slamming the door.



"...shit."







He didn't bother knocking. He couldn't bear to hear the sounds of her weeping. He felt like a part of him was dying as he heard her cry.



"Hermione."



"Just go away!"



"Hermione? Please let me apologize."



"For what? Getting drunk? You're a grown man; you can get drunk if you want. For feeling sorry for yourself? Well, that is asinine, but who am I to tell you what to do? No one, apparently." She sobbed the last bit out and buried her face in her hands again.



He swallowed, and then went to her, sat by her, pulled her into him. It made the part of him dying inside feel immeasurably better.



"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.



She sniffed.



"You aren't no one. You've become the most important person in my life, Hermione. You saved me, helped me, healed me. I'm an idiot -- raking over old coals, trying to find a spark to start a blaze and I don't even know why. There should be nothing there to light anymore."



She issued a shuddery sigh, then pulled back from him.



"Tell me, then. Tell me what I said or did. Yell at me if you must, but don't just walk away from me and drink yourself insensible. What good does that do?"



He sighed, too.



"I think ... maybe ... that I was trying to forget."



"Go on."



He gave her a thin smile. "Stupid concussion. I know I've forgotten all sorts of things, but why didn't I forget the bad ones?"



She eyed him evenly. "Maybe it's a defense mechanism. The brain holds onto the unpleasant associations, because those are the ones that hurt us, and it's more important to remember what hurt us so it won't hurt us again."



He considered this, and then drew her to him again, holding her tightly. "Oh, Hermione. You really are a miracle."



"Honestly, Severus." But she smiled into his shoulder before pulling back to study him. She stroked his beloved face. "What is it, love? What is it that hurt you?"



"Where should I start?" he asked her earnestly. "With childhood and work my way forward? Or my miserable recovery of late and work my way back?"



"Why not start with whatever it was I said or did that made you close yourself up in your room and start trying to pickle yourself?"



He eyed her with a touch of suspicion, she noted, wondering why.



"Potter never told you, then?"



"Told me what?"



He coloured slightly. "A-about the, um, Pensieve incident?"



She frowned. "Harry did tell me you'd caught him looking at your Pensieve. He said it was why you stopped teaching him Occlumency. I told him that was a terrible breach of privacy, but he never told me what he saw, no."



"Oh."



He stood then, and went to the window, facing away from her.



"Then even more fool I. I... I thought you were referring to the Pensieve memory earlier. It... It stung a bit."



Hermione thought privately that it must have stung a hell of a lot, but only said, "I think you'd better tell me."



He nodded. "It's quite stupid really. I was 15. It was the afternoon after we'd taken our OWLs."



"Go on."



"I should have walked some other way. I knew the Gryffindors liked to lie in wait for Slytherins, especially me, but I wanted to sit by the lake. I wanted to relax. I'd just taken my OWLs and my brain felt... frazzled. I needed a change of scenery.



"So I went outside and James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew all cornered me. Lupin was there, but per usual, he did nothing. He was a prefect, but he let them harass me. They took my wand, knocked me off my feet, filled my mouth with soap. He did nothing."



Hermione sighed, shaking her head.



"Potter had been showing off to impress some girls. They were there, Lily among them. When he started to harass me, a crowd began to gather. Lily told him to stop. While she talked, they forgot me and I was able to get my wand. I should have gone away, but I was angry. I tried to hex Potter, but my hex only glanced him and he was able to fire back. He hung me upside down." He paused, voice growing tighter still. "As you can see by this house, I wasn't exactly a wealthy student. I wore my father's hand-me-downs, including his underwear. The others all laughed. They thought it was funny, me hanging there with my robes in my face, my tatty underwear displayed for all to gawk at."



"Oh, Severus..."



"She told them to put me down, and Potter would do anything so long as she asked, so he did. I might have gone, but he had to say I was lucky, that I should be grateful she had interfered. Instead, I cursed at her. I called her a Mudblood. All I could think was how bloody humiliated I felt."



"That's understandable," she said quietly.



"There was quite a crowd gathered by that time. Potter tried to get me to apologize, but he'd cast Petrificus Totalus on me. I couldn't exactly talk. She didn't want an apology, though, and she left me to their 'merciful' attentions."



He clutched at the dresser so hard the wood creaked.



"They soon had me hanging upside down again, mouth full of soap, unable to move. This time ... he cast my pants into the lake."



"Severus!"



"Then he cast me in there, too."



She waited and hanging his head, he finally sighed out, "Of course, he didn't do that right away. He made sure to turn me about in the air so that everyone there had a good look at me."



Hermione shut her eyes, feeling tears sliding down her face.



"He even levitated me closer to all the girls so they could get a better view. A live biology lesson, he called it. I was 15, Hermione. Do you know how that felt?"



She cried quietly now, and he finally turned to look at her.



"Hermione?"



She sniffed. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Severus! Here I was asking if you'd like it if I hung you upside down naked and scourgifyed your mouth..."



He managed a bitter smile. "Been there. Done that."



She went up to him and held him tightly.



"It's over now, love. It's over."



"I know it is. Then I run into one of those same classmates again. It's the first thing they think when they see me, I know it is."



"Oh, Severus!"



"I had to teach some of them, you know. I had to come back to the school just a few years later. Try and get someone to listen to you, much less respect you when you've been hanging in front of them with your bits in their face. Just try it."



"Severus..."



"Bloody hell!" He clutched at her and released a deep shuddering sigh.



Hermione said nothing. She knew, somewhere, this was an issue that would never die. Harry had his own similar issues and it saddened her that these two men she loved so strongly, if in different ways, had these grievous inner wounds that wouldn't, couldn't heal. It offended the healer in her.



She just held him and let him hold her. She hoped it would be enough.




* * * *




Minerva McGonagall came again three days later, this time before breakfast and accompanied by a tired, but pleased-looking Harry Potter.



They were startled when Snape opened the door to greet them, and a bit more surprised when Hermione came over from the couch and hugged them both. Of course, if Severus had been wearing more than his pyjama bottoms and Hermione had been wearing more than his pyjama top, they might not have been so astonished.



Hermione did not seem fazed, merely suggested they wait in the kitchen whilst they changed and then, a few minutes later, dressed in jeans and tee-shirt, she astonished them again by suggesting that "Severus dear," who was equally casually dressed, if in a button-down shirt, fix their guests "some of those lovely bangers."



Harry looked the same way he'd looked his first year when he'd swallowed the snitch, and Minerva was nonplused as Hermione made them tea and asked after everyone, but managed to answer.



Once the niceties were concluded, they relayed their information that Fenrir Greyback had been, ironically enough, mistaken for a bear by a Muggle hunting enthusiast and shot. The bullet had not been silver, but then the weapon had not been a simple gun. The werewolf had been torn in half and lycanthrope or not, very few creatures survived such an injury. The rest of his band of werewolves had surrendered, rather grudgingly, to the Ministry.



Harry was smiling by the time he was done, and Hermione was glad. She had not seen him smile in far too long and she told him so.



"Well, with all this over... Ginny and I... we can get married now."



Hermione beamed. "I'm so glad."



"Congratulations, Potter."



"Thank you."



"I'll have to write Ginny."



"She'd like that. Um... I hope it's not... I..."



"Just say it, Harry."



"Well, she'd love to have you as bridesmaid, but with everything that's gone on... I've asked Remus to be my best man, so she asked Tonks. We hope that's--"



"Don't worry, Harry. It doesn't upset me. I'm glad for both of you."



He nodded, looked at Snape, swallowed, and then asked, "So... what's the news with the two of you?"



Minerva paused in the midst of her breakfast to arch a brow of her own. "Indeed. I don't believe I've seen Severus so... relaxed in the last thirty-odd years."



"I only started teaching in '81, Minerva."



"I'm including your student years, Severus."



Hermione choked a little into her tea and Harry hid a smirk behind a slight cough.



"I'm not ashamed to state that I am quite content, even happy, Headmistress," he admitted solemnly.



McGonagall smiled. "I'm so pleased, Severus. I never thought to hear those words from your mouth."



"I never knew what they meant... until now," he murmured, looking only at Hermione who swallowed, then managed a small, shy smile despite suddenly damp eyes.



Harry cleared his throat. "Hermione?"



"Yes, Harry. I'm very happy," she responded to his unanswered question.



He smiled then, a genuine smile, and reached across the table to squeeze her hand. "In that case, I'm happy for you."



He looked up to the man who had helped him so much, and tormented him so much, and added resolutely, "I'm happy for you both."



Snape's expression softened. "Thank you, Potter."



The silence in the kitchen might have lingered, but the sound of Minerva happily blowing her nose made them all jump, then settle back into their prior activities.




* * * *




"Oh, God, Severus!"



"Patience, my dear. It makes the reward that much sweeter."



He was stroking his hands down her sides and then back up over her torso, drifting his fingers gently over her already hard nipples, over and over.



She was quite wet already, a slight damp spot on the bed below her pert cheeks, he noted.



She was propped on some pillows, her arms straining and tied to the bedposts. He had said something about a little payback being his due, and she'd readily agreed. Now she arched her hips at him.



"Oh, fuck! Oh, Severus!" She squirmed and moaned and begged him, unworried about the neighbours thanks to an earlier silencing charm.



"Oh, I intend to fuck you, Hermione. Believe me. I don't plan to stop until I am thoroughly tired of you. Might take ... years." He arched an eyebrow at her and she whimpered.



"Severus, please."



He sat back on his haunches between her spread legs. "Anything, Hermione. What would you like?"



"Touch me. Please. Touch my breasts. Touch my clit. Oh, God, Severus! Please!"



"As the lady wishes," he murmured, doing precisely as she asked, one hand on one breast, his mouth on the other, and rubbing the head of his rearing erection against her engorged clit until they both were gasping.



"Severus, fuck me! Please! I'm so wet for you!"



Without preamble, he slid down slightly and thrust right into her with one swift stroke. Hermione screamed and he found a good rhythm, hips working as his hands and mouth did, too, worshipping this woman, this beautiful, glorious woman he'd found.



Or perhaps, he thought briefly, she'd found him. It didn't bother him; he simply couldn't remember that entire time between curse and coming to and he couldn't be arsed enough to care. Voldemort was dust, and this, their love-making, was what mattered.



"Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck!" Her legs wrapped around his waist and held him tightly.



He said nothing, finding her words an almost unbearable aphrodisiac. Never in his wildest dreams would he have believed that little Miss Prefect, the bossy little bookworm, would have such a penchant for dirty talk. Oddly enough, he found it aroused him greatly.



"Is this good?" He murmured, gently nibbling her nipple.



"GOD! YES! YES! FUCK ME! SEVERUS! GOD!"



He moved one hand down to start stroking her clit and she screamed at high volume and a flood of wetness made her channel incredibly slippery even as she tightened around him, milking out his own orgasm.



He grunted and gasped out his climax and then sighed, letting himself rest, head on her breastbone, knees supporting his lower body.



He groaned.



"Oh, Severus..." she murmured dreamily.



He looked up and smiled at her expression, before reaching for his new wand, received that afternoon courtesy of the Headmistress, and loosening her bonds. "Hermione?"



"That was quite an aphrodisiac," she admitted, slipping her arms around him and leaning them both back against the mound of pillows.



"Having your hands restrained?"



"No, what you said."



He frowned. "What was that?"



"Years." She reminded him with an arched brow and smile.



He thought back. "Ah. Well, I honestly don't see how I could ever tire of you, love."



Hermione blushed now. "That's the first time I've heard you use that word."



"It won't be the last, I assure you."



He took her face in his hands and kissed her brow, each of her cheeks, then gazed at her so intensely she swallowed hard.



"I plan on using it and demonstrating it, as long as you'll let me," he told her.



Happy tears filled her eyes as she smiled back at him. It was, he noted, not the broken smile he'd gotten used to seeing from her. He decided that he liked it.

"I guess I'll never stop hearing it then," she whispered.



To her touched surprise, tears filled his own eyes, but the smile he gave her back was resplendent. Then he leaned in to claim her lips and seal the promise he'd just made.



###
END
###
Completed 26 January 2006.