Hard Times for Severus Snape - (Editing)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 24 ~ Decisions, Decisions

Hermione sat in the armchair, staring after the Potions Master. He had laid it all out in the open holding nothing back. She would have preferred him to seduce her. It would have made it so much easier. She could later tell herself that she was a slave to her body's passion. But this way, she had to make a conscious decision to put away her misgivings and become involved with him. He might not want romance or a relationship, but they would be in one anyway, and judging by the way the Potions Master reacted to Eric yesterday, she had a feeling he would be extremely possessive and jealous of her. She had never had anyone in her life that felt that way before. Of course he would feel that way because he would consider her his property, his territory. That kind of rankled her…but she could always set him straight if he acted too controlling. She could lay down some ground rules, some conditions that he'd have to agree to before she surrendered to him. And to herself.

This was a man who had served the wizarding world selflessly. Who asked for and received no reward for his sacrifice. Severus Snape was pushed aside when the medals were handed out. He received no thanks for the tortures he suffered, or the lives he saved. No wonder he kept to himself. The world was so ungrateful. But he had let her in. True, he had his recompense by fucking her, but he could have washed his hands of her afterwards. He made it clear he didn't want to. He also made it clear that he would if she didn't come to him. She had always known him to be a wizard of his word. He was also a wizard who could hold a grudge for a long time, if not forever. He still hated James Potter and Sirius Black, though both were dead. He still held a grudge against Remus, though the werewolf was innocent of any complicity in Black's attempt to kill him. He was only the method that the animagus tried to use. It made no difference to the Potions Master.

Hermione could safely assume that if she rejected him, he would return to the cold, unfeeling wizard she had known throughout her years at Hogwarts. She would never know what it was like to be desired and wanted by him again. Never again experience what it was like to have him abandon discipline and control because of his need for her. She doubted there was anyone else in this world that could cause the dark wizard to let go as she did. If there were, he wouldn't be pursuing her as he was.

Hermione had wanted this. In her seventh year, she wanted the wizard to want her. She fantasized about him fucking her, claiming her, possessing her. Four years later, he did just that, and was better than she had ever dreamed. Better than any other wizard she had ever been intimate with. He was demanding, strong, lusty. He gave her what she wanted, took her beyond what she wanted and showed her she wanted more. He had snaked his way into her psyche. She had to fight not to think of him inside her. He was what she wanted. Why did she fight it at all?

Again, it came back to being frightened. Her continued lust for the Potions Master made her dependent on him, dependent on another human being over whom she had no control. He wasn't the kind of man a woman controlled. He was the kind of man who might make concessions, if it were in his best interest to do so, but that was the most she could hope for.

"Hermione, you're thinking too much," a small voice in her head said. "You're going to think yourself right out of the best lover you've ever had. Don't worry about tomorrow and the what-ifs. It's the 'now' that matters. He wants you now. Allow yourself some pleasure. Loosen up! Your life is all work and study and distant goals. Go fuck him, dammit!"

Hermione's eyebrows rose.

If that small voice was her conscience, it was plainly randy for him too. It was time to make a decision. Denial or acceptance? Honesty or repression? To fuck or not to fuck?

Suddenly the Hermione felt hot and sticky. The witch stood up and walked into her bedroom, then to her wardrobe, where she opened the middle drawer and took out a short, white silk nightie. Hermione draped it over her arm, entered the bathroom and put the nightie on the counter. She turned on the shower, stripped down and stepped in. As the warm water flowed over her body, for the first time in weeks, Hermione allowed herself to remember. Everything.

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Severus lay in his bed, scowling up at the ceiling, uncharacteristically second-guessing himself. He wore only his silk boxers, and his arms were folded behind his head. He wondered if he had done the right thing by giving Hermione an ultimatum. If he had simply seduced the witch, he'd be blissfully burying his cock in her hot little pussy right now.

But that would have been only been a temporary fix. After he was finished with her, she'd leave his bed and he'd have to wait another few weeks before he could have her again, going through the torment of knowing she wanted him, and having to wait until she went into sexual meltdown before he could take her. He really was tired of this. He wanted to have Hermione available to him when he wanted her, not only when she wanted him. The only way to do that was for the witch to accept him willingly as a lover.

He wouldn't be an Eric, however. He'd make it very clear that he was not a 'fuck-buddy'. He was the "Fuck-King." And she was his kingdom. There would be no sharing her with other wizards. If she came to his bed, then for all intents and purposes she was giving herself to him, and only him. Severus would be sure to keep her so satisfied that she wouldn't even think of letting another wizard touch her.

Severus looked at the clock. An hour and a half had passed. He scowled. Maybe those walls she put up around herself were just too high to climb over or break down. Maybe she wasn't coming. He started to roll over when there was a light knock on the door. The Potions Master felt his stomach tighten.

"Come in," he called, lifting himself to his elbows, his black eyes on the closed door.

It slowly opened, and Hermione walked in, dressed in a short white night gown, her chestnut hair falling over her shoulders. Her eyes glowed in the torchlight. She stood near the door, looking at him, not able to speak yet. The witch had stood outside his door for almost fifteen minutes before she knocked, knowing once she entered that room, her life as she knew it…would be irrevocably altered. For how long, she didn't know.

The Professor rolled from the bed and stood up, looking at her. His face was expressionless as his black eyes took her in. Hermione wrapped her arms around herself unconsciously as he looked at her wordlessly. They stood there like that for several minutes. Then Severus raised his hand and whispered a spell, warding the door so the witch couldn't change her mind and leave. She was here now. She had made her choice.

"You've locked me in," she said, looking back at the door for a moment.

"Yes. And into more than this room," he replied with a growl in his voice. He started walking toward Hermione slowly. He had a cat-like grace as he moved, lithe, strong and masculine. He certainly wasn't expressionless now, his jaw tightened with purpose as he approached the witch.

Before he reached her, Hermione held up her hand to stop him.

"Wait, Severus," she said softly.

He stopped, but looked ready to pounce on her.

"I want to set some rules," she said.

He arched an eyebrow.

"Rules?" he repeated.

Trust Hermione to throw cold water on what should have been a very hot moment with rules. Gods she had control issues. He'd fix that soon enough.

"Yes, rules. I want to be sure we understand each other. I want to be sure…you'll treat me right," she said, unwrapping her arms and lifting her chin a little.

She was getting her courage back. The Professor smirked a bit at this. Hermione was basically a brave little thing, and that was part of his attraction to her. The Potions Master crossed his arms and looked down his nose at the witch.

"All right, Hermione. Tell me what rules will apply," he said evenly, "I will correct you if you are mistaken."

"First, you will never hit, strike or curse me," she said.

Severus looked at her as if she were insane.

"What makes you think I would ever treat a woman in such a manner? Particularly one I hope will sleep in my bed and bring me pleasure for a long, long time?" he asked her.

Hermione frowned slightly.

"It's not that I think you would do it, Severus. I just want to make it clear to you that I won't tolerate that kind of treatment," she replied.

Hermione had witnessed her father curse and strike her mother once in a fit of anger. He had lost control during an argument and slapped her so hard, her lip split. Hermione's mother had taken her daughter and moved out for several months. With counseling and time, her parents were able to mend the rift. But it had been horrible.

Severus realized that Hermione had probably witnessed or gone through some type of abuse. Naturally she would be wary. He was a former deatheater after all.

"I will never strike you or curse you in anger, Hermione," he said. Then his lips quirked a bit. "Though in the heat of passion an obscenity may slip out…or a buttock get spanked. Are you including that in your 'rules'?"

Hermione flushed. She liked spankings sometimes. And whispered obscenities, as he well knew.

"No," she said shortly, blushing. Severus liked the fact the witch could still blush.

"I don't want you trying to tell me what to do," she said, "I have my own mind. I am not going to give up my independence."

Severus drew his brows together.

"Hermione, that is unfair. Of course I will make suggestions to you concerning aspects of your life beyond this bedroom. You don't have to follow them, but don't try to curtail me even before you hear what I have to say. I have experience that you do not. You would be wise to draw on that experience from time to time, " he said evenly, "and as far as your 'independence' is concerned, have no fear. I have no desire to bed a witch that has no fire, no self-will. I don't want you to change at all, Hermione. You are acceptable, quite acceptable as you are."

Hermione considered Severus' reply, and found he had a point. He did have more experience than she did, and on more than one occasion when she was a student, he had given her sound, if snarky advice that proved to be good counsel.

"Okay, as long as we understand each other," she conceded. Severus nodded slightly. She was being reasonable. He tilted his head at her slightly

"Now a rule from my side of the table," he said, "No one else fucks you but me. If you have a need I haven't met, you tell me, and I will meet it for you. Particularly any deep, dark, twisted fantasies about your Potions Master. I know I have a few from when you were a student…but I digress," he said silkily, "We must be exclusive, Hermione. Can you handle that?"

Hermione already knew he could satisfy her like no one else she knew. He was dark, strong and intense. Dominating. Delicious. Plus he had an enormous cock he knew how to use. She wouldn't want or need anyone else.

"No one else will touch me but you," she replied, "But I have to tell you, Severus…wizards hit on me all the time. And I can't be rude."

"If they are wise wizards, they will not do it in my presence," he said with a growl, "if they do, I assure you, I will be 'rude' enough for both of us."

His reply thrilled Hermione in a different way, though she was shocked and a bit ashamed of herself at finding it exciting that the wizard implied he would actually fight another wizard over her. Was that some kind of primal response? Some animal reaction?

Hermione imagined an animal skin clad Severus dragging her into a cave by the hair and swinging a club threateningly at other loin-clothed wizards. She fought back a giggle.

Then Hermione realized that Severus intended to make it public knowledge that he was involved with her. Gods, she could imagine the reactions. The gossip. The musings as to how long it had been going on. There were sure to be some whispered rumors that they had been fucking since she was a student at Hogwarts.

Ron Weasley would have pups.

Hermione looked at the Potions Master. He wouldn't care about the whispered implications at all. He had worse things said about him over the years. She could deal with it if he could.

Suddenly she was aware of being pushed back against the door, Severus' body pressed tight against hers, his loins pressed into her belly. She could feel his long organ pulsing beneath the silk of his boxers, hot and hard against her, and he looked down at her with unconcealed hunger.

"I think, Hermione, we can dredge out the rest of the 'rules' later. As you can feel, I am rather impatient to reacquaint my cock with your luscious body," he breathed down at her.

Hermione gasped as heat gushed between her legs, wetting her inner thighs.

Severus smelled her arousal immediately.

"And it seems, Hermione, your body is just as impatient to be reacquainted with my cock," he said silkily.

Hermione's eyes went very hot.

"That's a part of your body I have unfinished business with," she said, licking her lips.

Severus looked at her, his eyes searching her face for a moment.

"You do?" he asked her, not understanding at first. He had been very thorough the last time he fucked her. She had been sated, he was sure of it.

Hermione could tell the Potions Master didn't understand her reference. It would come as a pleasant surprise for him. The idea of it made another surge of heat roll down inside her.

The witch pushed Severus back from her body a little roughly, then placed her forefinger at the base of his throat, slowly drew it down his chest, over his rippled belly and hooked it beneath the waistband of his boxers.

"You see, Severus," she said a bit huskily while tugging gently at his boxers, "I had a rather unfair advantage last time and I'd like to go another round. I think it could stand up for…I mean to me now."

Severus' eyebrows lifted for a moment, then his eyes began to glitter as Hermione pressed her lips to his chest and slowly dropped down, her mouth sliding soft and insistent against his pale skin, over the ridges of his belly and lifting when she reached the elastic waistband, but only for a moment. An eternal moment as he felt her gently pull his boxers down, and both her soft warm hands grip the base of his cock.

Severus hissed, then groaned, his eyes rolling upward to the whites and his jaw dropping as Hermione lowered her mouth to his flesh again…

This time with a purpose.

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A/N: Woo hah! Hermione gets her groove on. Please review