A Delicate Obsession

A Delicate Balance – Epilogue

It all belongs to Rowling, except what you don’t recognize.

Sixteen years after we last saw our happy couple…

Severus Snape sat on the beach watching Hermione frolic in the waves. Personally, as much as he enjoyed a swim in the Caribbean, swimming in the North Sea always seemed to him an open invitation for chilblains. However, Hermione was, as he knew too well, made of sterner stuff. He admired her still lovely figure and was grateful that there was no sign left of the injuries that she’d sustained all those years ago. He lay back on his arms and sighed. He was as randy as hell and if she didn’t come out soon he’d go into the ocean and, freezing water or not, ravish. T. The thought of the cold water did make his erection go down a little.

Damn, he never seemed to get enough of her. Severus thought back to their early days together; all those Saturday afternoons now seemed so blissfully peace It It was easy to forget the kind of man he’d been then. Petty, vengeful, self-hating and destructive, it was no wonder that it had taken six years to get Hermione to agree to marry him: he should never have laughed at Potter. He had to propose many more times than the Boy-who-lived ever did. She’d been honest when she told him that she believed the ex-Death Eater was merely good for being her lover. After awhile, he dragged out of her that she thought he would never be a good husband or a fit father. Sadly, it corresponded to the way he already felt about himself-- that he didn’t deserve her. That hurt, because he knew if he didn’t marry her, some man, someone younger, better looking and worthier, would come along and then he’d lose her forever. And at one point, he almost did.

Fortunately, with the disappearance of the dark mark, he had a second chance at life. Though he still had much to atone for from his Death Eater days, and the deaths of Tara and Black continued to haunt him for many years, by restoring his memories from the pensieve and accepting responsibility for their deaths, Severus started on the road to finding himself and slowly winning Hermione’s trust in him.

He’d gotten drunk the night he told her about Tara. It would have been too painful otherwise, and he would never have found the courage. Slurring his words and crying, he confessed to her about his first love. He worried how Hermione would react; after all, she was only eighteen at the time. And indeed, it hadn’t gone well. Mistaking his guilt for unresolved love, she became jealous of a memory. That had taken some time to untangle. But eventually even that was sorted out.

And there was his step-mother, Yasmine. When he had seen Hermione lying in the rain, with her life washing away, he had for a moment mistaken her for Yasmine and realized how much she had been a real mother to him. Although he had rejected her for most of his life, she had never become distant or bitter. She simply was there for him. And without her support, he probably would have never succeeded in winning Hermione. Yasmine was a wise woman in many ways-- at the same time being an interfering busybody. Thank the Gods for that female Albus Dumbledore!


Hermione came up onto the beach, shivering in spite of the warmth of the sun. She settled next to her love on the blanket and she thought how little he’d changed over the years. He still tended to be a sarcastic bastard, but he’d also mellowed. She liked the combination. Snape handed her a flute of cold champagne. She sipped it and the bubbles tickled her nose.

“Severus, what’s the occasion?” She asked innocently.

He glared at her. “Does there need to be an occasion?”

“You mean like our tenth anniversary?” She leaned over and kissed him on the lips. Smiling, she pulled back from him, “Got you worried?”

He shook his head. “Come here, I have something to show you.” He brought out a large green crystal jar.

“What is it?”

“Edible sunscreen. Want to try it out?” She nodded her head. He performed a quick, dry off and desalination spell on her. He had tried to think of every contingency when he had planned this seduction.

“Edible?” she grinned.

“Yes, for occasions like this.” He reached around her back and untied her swimsuit top. Taking a handful of the cream he spread it over her breasts. She gasped from the warm, sensual feel of his hands caressing and stroking her. She lay on her back and closed her eyes, giving into the ecstasy of his suckling on her tits.

She felt herself start to grow m bet between her legs. “Mmmm. What flavor is it?”

Snape gave a sly smile. “Well, to save time and money, I used a spell that would make it be whatever flavor the person would most like. Right now, it tastes of you and brandy. Quite an stimulating combination.” He continued to lick and kiss her breasts as they both became more aroused.

Finally, Hermione wanted her turn. Without a word, she got up and removed the white, embroidered caftan that Snape was wearing. She smiled at his naked hardness and took some of the cream into her hands. Starting at his shoulders, she made circular motions with her hands over his torso. Deftly by-passing the area that he wanted attention to, she then applied cream to his long, muscular legs.

She added an extra dollop to her hands and took his penis between them. She pumped him gently, pleased at how much harder he became. She watched as his eyes half-closed and his breathing became erratic. She wet hips ips and licked at his hardness. She then took him deeply into her throat, listening to his whimpers. She then added some cream to his sac and massaged it while nibbling on his cock. With a mischievous gleam in her eyes, she sucked one and then the other ball into her mouth.

“Hmmm, how tropical! Banana and coconuts!” she teased.

Snape opened his eyes, “I can’t believe you said that.” And then he pulled down her bottoms. Taking the jar of cream from her, he finished covering her arms, legs and stomach. He lay on top of her, his hardness resting on her stomach, and moved back and forth. Then with a quick movement he slipped inside of her. He looked into her eyes, drinking in their beauty and thrilling in the passion he saw there. He pulled himself out almost all the way and sank himself all the way in. He loved how she moaned out his name.

Hermione felt herself spiraling out of control. After all these years, he knew her body as well as he knew her own and he timed and placed his thrusts with an easy expertise. She reached up and grabbed his hair, bringing his lips down to hers. He kissed her deeply and then gave a special movement of his hips, which sent her over the edge. She cried out his name over and over, totally giving herself to the raw feelings of her climax.

He smiled, even after all these years he still was able to give her so much pleasure. After a little rest, he renewed his lovemaking. With quick sharp thrusts, he brought himself to climax. He groaned and spilled himself deep inside of her.

They lay in each other’s arms, relaxed in the afterglow of their lovemaking. He kissed her lightly, no more than brushing his lips against her brow, nose and mouth.

Hermione opened her eyes to see her husband watching her. In a voice filled with love she asked, “Do you think we should check up on how things are going at home?”

Snape sighed. “No, but if you want we’ll go the cottage and use the floo. But I really think my mother will be just fine.”

&&&

“Albus? Albus, are you there?” Yasmine Snape was bending over, peering into the fireplace.

Albus Dumbledore’s head suddenly appeared. “Yasmine, what a lovely surprise.”

“I’m not calling at a bad time, am I?”

“Well, no I was just finishing up with the Minister of Magic.”

“Oh, well, then, say hello to Arthur for me. I just called to invite you to come over for tea today.”

“Hmm. Tea? Sounds lovely. By the way, is that an orange Shetland Pony in your living room?”

“Ah, you noticed. I think it’s really Crookshanks, the family familiar. Mattius swears that he didn’t do it though, and the boy doesn’t usually fib. Tobius is way too young, and the twins, well, do you think five years old is too early to do wandless transfiguration? Anyway, they’ve all been taking turns at pony rides and having a lovely time, but it keeps wandering back into the house.”

Albus wondered if it was too late to get out of having tea with the delightful Snape children. “Hmm. Yasmine, should I invite Poppy and Minerva as well?”

“What a wonderful idea, the more the merrier,” laughed Yasmine nervously.

Or misery loves company, thought Dumbledore. At eight years of age, Mattius was the oldest and looked exactly like his father, right down to the hooked nose. However his personality was sheer Hermione. The twins, Gwendolen and Cecily, with their black curly hair and bright blue eyes, were already heartbreakingly beautiful, but spent all their time fighting with Mattius and each other. To, th, the youngest, was a dreamy child with straight brown hair and grey eyes. He preferred to sit and silently watch his older siblings. Of all the children, he seemed the most sensitive and most like his father in personality.

Yasmine hantednted grandchildren, and had been provided with quite a handful. “So how soon can you be here, Albus?” She smiled, attempting not to notice the sudden explosion behind her and multi-colored feathers, which began to drift down through the air around her.

“Can you hold out another half-hour? And when are they coming back?” Albus was concerned for the poor lady’s sanity.

“They left this morning. They said it was only for the weekend, but I told them to take a week! It’s their second honeymoon, not that they ever had a first one.”

“Hmm.” Albus popped a lemon drop into his mouth, disappeared and reappeared a moment later. “Very good. Arthur says he’ll send Molly along. She’s had loads of experience.”

“Oh, that is good, Albus. Oh, dear. Toby what have you got on your head? I’ll be seeing you soon, then.” Yasmine left the fireplace and stared in amazement at her youngest grandchild. “Tobius, I told you not to get in the way of your brother and sisters when they throw hexes. Oh, dear, well, you do look sweet with them bunny ears and tail. Do you want Granny to remove them?” Tobius shook his head “no” and bunny hopped out the room.

“Only a half hour to go.” She murmured to herself as she tried to shoo the orange pony out of the living room.

Finished.

A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone again, especially my reviewers Saphiria, Crissy, Halo, Katharina, TeaRoses, Potionsgurl, Pauline, Ezmerelda, Lady Aidil, Kronae, Yanna, Otherside, Caitin, MoD, Jen and Kitty D. and all the others.

It took me a couple of days to think up this epilogue because I didn’t have it plotted on my origintorytory outline. I hope that you liked it!

BTW, DH got tickets for The Magic Flute by the New York City Opera Company. I’m really looking forward to it! They are having a wonderful season: we also have tickets for Madame Butterfly, The Mikado, Of Mice and Men, Sweeney Todd, and Mourning Becomes Electra. We are in the nosebleed seats, but it will be well worth it!

Bye everyone! I look forward to taking a break, rereading OOTP and catching up on everyone’s fanfics.