Lendoren

The characters belong to Jo Rowling, the story to kelokelo, the translation to septentrion, and the betaing to Tanit

Any remaining mistake is mine, in spite of my best efforts to write proper English.


Chapter 23. To Prepare Christmas

When Hermione heard that McGonagall wanted to know what she would do for the Christmas holiday, she asked Severus to join her in her rooms at noon. Severus had an inkling of what she wanted to speak about; he had already discussed it with Arlin and a decision had been made. Hermione would probably yell at him for making a decision without consulting her first, when this decision was of direct concern to her, but Voldemort’s wrongdoings were insistent. They couldn’t use their magic together as they needed in Hogwarts without being discovered, they would have to go to the centre of the community for that.

When they were together, Hermione stopped Severus’ movements with a gesture of her hand. She’d recognised the glint in his eyes, if he laid so much as a finger on her she knew she would be unable to prevent him from making love to her. But they needed to talk, then if they still had time before going back to class…

“First, we speak about the Christmas holiday,” she said to him in order to cool him.

“Just a kiss, my dear,” he told with a cunning smile.

“No, no, no,” Hermione replied. “You’re not going to be restraint, so we talk about the holidays first, and then you may have a kiss.”

She was teasing him, but he knew her enough now to know he wouldn’t escape the discussion. He sighed and just said:

“We need to go to the Centre of the Community, Hermione. That was the bad news, for Arlin and I had already made the decision. The good news for you, bad news for me, is that we’ll go with Potter and the two Weasleys.”

“Why?”

“Arlin is adamant that they know the Lendoren better, and Harry must know what happened the night his parents died. And no, I won’t tell you beforehand, Harry must be the first to know.”

Severus began to relax, Hermione has still to shout at him.

“What’s the Centre of the Community?”

“The place where the majority of the Lendoren meet for Christmas. We’ll be able to experiment with our mutual magic there, which we can’t do here lest Voldemort finds out.”

“And… when did you decide this? When did you intend to tell me about it?”

Hermione’s voice had begun to rise, exactly what Severus feared, with good reason it seemed. A draught had risen as well, which always got on his nerves. When would she learn to control herself?

“Hermione, enough. My dear, we’re going to spend two weeks together, and we won’t need to hide ourselves. Besides, your friends will be with you. I begin to feel fed up with your song ‘you’ve decided for me’. And before we can make any decision, you need to learn how to control your nerves instead of sending everyone to the Hospital Wing because of your draughts!”

Hermione had angry sparks in her eyes, she said through gritted teeth, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that you cannot continue to produce chilly draughts in Hogwarts all the time. You need to accept that I do not always have time to come and speak to you before a decision must be made. Now the story is closed!”

“And when did you decide this with Professor Gryffin?”

“This morning,” Severus said coolly. “We took into account some mails that we received.»

Hermione shot him a furious look, but she pondered the pros and cons. She understood she couldn’t know everything as things went along because she was a student. Severus gave her news in the evening when they saw each other. So, if they’ve only made the decision this morning, she couldn’t hold it against him that he was only telling her now. Anyway, how else could they spend two weeks without hiding themselves, and being in the company of Harry, Ginny and Ron?

«Right, then you’re going to learn to call them Harry, Ron and Ginny. There’s no use in protesting. I understand that you call Professor Gryffin by his first name, I’ve got the intuition it’s one of the rules of the Community, isn’t it?”

Severus shook his head. How had he come to find himself with a such clever companion?

“All right,” he conceded. “Now that’s settled, you owe me a kiss, my dear.”

He was already coming close to her, smiling. But Hermione wasn’t finished. She walked around the table and asked, “What do you mean by ‘mutual magic’?”

“Oh no, my dear. We spoke about the holidays, now you owe me a kiss!” he protested.

Hermione kept on frowning, she wanted more explanations but Severus was already near her and took her in his arms. Drat, she wouldn’t get more explanations before he got his kiss … more than a kiss judging by his expression.

Merlin, she was beautiful when angry! Fists on her hips, lightning in the eyes, a draught lifting her untameable hair. He already knew how he would spend the extra hour afforded by the Time-Turner. If his colleague Minerva heard of it, he would have to go through a thorough telling-off.

Their lips locked slowly and she huddled against him. His hands were roaming her back. He intended to bring to reality an idea of his that he never had the occasion to do more than think about; the moment was ideal.

A glance at the clock showed him it was time to use the Time-Turner. He tore himself from their kiss and put the Time-Turner chain around Hermione’s neck. He didn’t give her time to protest, he set it for one spin and things moved very quickly around them. Once the move ceased, he put a finger on Hermione’s mouth and softly said:

“Let’s go to the bathroom, we need no to meet ourselves…”

Hermione blushed when she let him steer her there. She couldn’t help it, every time he clearly stated his intention to make love to her while they were still clothed, she became as red as a tomato. That always made Severus smile mockingly at her. They had an hour for them, and she knew he wouldn’t renounce to his plans whatever she might say. Yet, when he turned the tap and water began to flow, she said, falsely irritated, “Are you implying that I smell of dragon dung?”

But Severus refused to play her game, only one idea was in his mind: to take advantage of this soft body, so attuned to his own, under the shower’s water. Right, they’d made love less than one day ago, but what? He surprised her by undressing himself casually, as if he were alone in the room. He just glanced at her from time to time to see if she appreciated the show. Her light smile, reddish cheekbones, half-open mouth and faster breathing gave him a very satisfying answer. When she tried to take off her own clothes, he grabbed her hand and told her, “I’ll take care of them myself, Hermione.”

His nudity revealed his desire for her. He took his time to take her clothes off of her, one by one; he paid a tribute with his hands and mouth to every inch of her body. Hermione’s legs gave way under her, she had to cling to him not to drop down. She moaned when he slid a finger inside of her, out of both pleasure and frustration. She wanted more, so much more.

At least he led them under the jet of water, set just like she liked. The water running on their body increased the thirst they had for each other. Their kisses got more ferocious, their caresses more insistent. It was as if the water had washed Hermione’s inhibitions; for the first time, she did what she hadn’t dared to do until now. She kneeled in front of Severus and shyly took him into her mouth. A long wail of pleasure emanated from her lover’s throat; she shivered.

Severus had been waiting for this intimate caress since he’d become her lover, but he didn’t want to embarrass her, or even ask her for that caress. He wanted her to do it from her own free will, he wanted it to be her own decision. When he least expected her to perform it, Hermione offered him that gift. He was soon rendered unable to think clearly. He watched her through half-hooded eyes while he softly held her hair. He held her mouth when she was on the verge of sending him to his peak. He couldn’t help it, he wanted her to have as much pleasure as him during there stolen time.

He made her turn around so that he was behind her and embraced her. As soon as he entered her, Hermione couldn’t prevent herself to move back instinctively to feel him entirely in her heat. Severus tried to stop her to make the pleasure last longer, but she wouldn’t hear any of it. She made him submit to the rhythm she’d chosen, like a delicious torture she put him through each time. She wasn’t accustomed to this position, it was a bit hard for her to find a suitable rhythm, but she let her sensations and Severus’ louder and louder moans guide her. He let her do the work; he just sustained her so she didn’t have to take care of her balance. However, at the last moment, he couldn’t help but send them both to the ultimate pleasure thanks to a few well chosen moves of his pelvis.


Answer to reviews

Citten: life is nice to me, thanks for reviewing.


Bella Snape: next chapter is here. Thanks for reviewing.


lisa: arguing is part of their relationship indeed. Thanks for reviewing.


firewall: Severus needs to learn when he must chose his duty and when he must chose his love. A fine line indeed. Thank you for reviewing.


skye: I'm glad that you like it. Thank you.


Toranoko: thank you for your kind words. I update every week-end so far, so check the site on Sundays.


Morticia Heartless: thank you for bringing my attention to the problem of those who are sight impaired, but alas, I don't know how to increase the print's size. Besides, not all html tags work well on this site, and I don't want to take the risk.
About grammar, I really do my best, and I deeply regret any remaining mistake. However, I've improved much since I've begun this translation, and I hope to write perfect English by the end of the story. Don't fear to point me the most obvious mistakes, I'm eager to learn.
I don't know any legend that would be the basis for this story. I think it rather comes from the original author's imagination, and from her readings.
Thank you for your constructive review.