The Wolf and the Witch

If the next morning was awkward, neither one spoke of it. Both Saima and Remus acted as if nothing had happened and had breakfast with desperate cheerfulness. She was mortified that he caught her almost naked and moaning his name after knowing him for only a few days. He was embarrassed too for bursting into her room, but very flattered and aroused from the extremely intimate scene.

As the first week passed, they fell into a comfortable routine. They would eat together in the morning, then read quietly or perhaps go outside for some sun. There was a small garden in the back of the house that Saima loved to dirty her hands in. After laughing at her un-witch like eagerness for digging in the dirt, he rolled up his sleeves and joined her. She found a fat toad lurking under a large leaf and immediately christened it Tuttava, a Finnish word for friend.

Lunch was usually simple and light, with maybe a small nap after for both of them or some music. They enjoyed listening to the Muggle record player that had belonged to Sirius. He had a large collection of music for it, even though the record player itself cursed loudly if it didn\'t like the album that was being played.

Dinner was always a quiet affair. They would conjure a bottle of wine first and then talk quietly throughout their food. After they ate, they would either curl up before the fire and continue their conversation or retire to their rooms upstairs.

They were both getting strength back after individually neglecting themselves before, but they still wore out easily. Bouts of depression would fall on them with Saima often thinking of her mother, and Remus about his lost friends, Sirius in particular. He seemed to know when he could try to cheer her up or when to leave her alone. She felt guilty about staying to herself at those difficult times, when he was always so open to her, no matter what thoughts were on his mind.

Another week passed and Remus and Saima were learning more about each other every day. They had conversations about every subject under the sun and found that they enjoyed debating against each other. Saima tended to play the devil\'s advocate in most situations and they came to enjoy the verbal sparring. Remus found out that she had a quick, sharp wit and could fire off a dry retort in a heartbeat. She in turn came to respect and admire his expansive knowledge of various beasts and spells. He was like talking to a walking encyclopedia.

To her surprise, she found that he had a rather large mischievous streak hiding in him. Remus would wait behind a door to throw mild hexes like Twitchy Ears at her to \"test her reflexes\". He would cause her toad to appear in the bedroom with her at odd moments. She in turn would place the well-traveled toad in his lap when he was reading or cause his beverage to change colour and flavour.

Remus also enjoyed sneaking up on her and attacking her ticklish ribs, gently until he realized that she didn\'t mind him touching her, then ferociously. Saima gave as good as she got, although they quickly extricated themselves from the situation when it seemed as if it might turn too intimate.

They tentatively discovered that they were now able to talk about the events of the past month with each other. Remus and Saima benefited from each other\'s company greatly, each of them going through the healing process of dealing with the traumatic loss of someone close. The sadness was still present around them, but it was lessening slowly. Saima was able to release some of the bitterness and guilt that she held inside her and felt improved for it.

Somewhat to her frustration though, her dreams of him had been increasing in frequency, intensity, and length, even though she tried to push such thoughts from her head during the day. In her dreams, he was an exquisitely tender and skilled lover. Often she would wake up moaning his name and a breath away from flinging herself out of bed and running to him. After each dream, she found herself soaked with arousal and came to orgasm as soon as she touched herself. She had to do that or go insane from need.

The Friday of the third week dawned hot and humid. After bathing, Saima found a thin short sleeve cotton tunic to wear over an equally thin mid length skirt. It was just too hot to wear anything heavy or binding. When she made her way downstairs, she found Remus sitting at the table in his light robe. His hair was damp from his bath and his face was freshly shaved. Saima could smell the faint scent of lemons from his aftershave as she entered the kitchen.

\"I have fruit for breakfast,\" he said in greeting.

\"That\'s perfect,\" she replied drowsily. \"It\'s too hot for anything heavy.\"

Remus looked up at her and smiled slowly. His eyes flicked to her shoulder and he slowly reached out towards her. \"You have a bit of string, here,\" he told her and plucked it off her tunic. It seemed to her that he was finding more excuses to touch her. Saima didn\'t mind at all, and despite mentally scolding herself for acting like a silly girl with a crush, found herself doing the same to him.

The day kept slowly marching on, the heavy heat settling in the house like a weight. All the windows throughout the place were open, but no breeze blew through them. Remus and Saima wandered into the living room after lunch and sat side by side on the sofa. She had uninterestedly picked up a book and dozed off while reading. Remus watched the book slip from her fingers, and when she started to slide towards him, he hesitantly brought her head down to rest on his thighs. He cautiously put his arm around her and stroked her hair back from her face with his other hand. He didn\'t wish to wake her when he could just watch her like this.

He never meant to doze off and when he did, he awoke to find her blue eyes staring up at him. They were soft and sleepy and altogether too sexy for him to stop himself. Remus slowly leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. When he sat back up, she had closed her eyes and two bright spots of colour rode high on her cheeks.

Saima\'s mind was racing in tight circles. Here was something she had been dreaming about for weeks. Granted, it wasn\'t quite the same kind of kiss as in her dreams, but it was a start. As she opened her eyes to look at him, she saw a solemn expression on his face, but one corner of his mouth was turned up. Saima gradually pushed herself up from his lap and turned so she was facing him. She slowly leaned forward towards him and realized he was doing the same thing. Her hand raised itself and wound around the back of his neck, her fingers sinking into his cool hair as his own hand curled around the left side of her neck. His thumb found where her pulse beat and he felt it double in speed. Their lips met and parted gently. The tip of his tongue rubbed slowly around her lips as if asking for permission to enter.

Saima opened her mouth and invited him in. Their first kiss was everything she had been dreaming about for the last three weeks, and for her whole life before that, it seemed. His tongue was hot and wet and he stroked it against hers slowly and softly at first, then faster and deeper. She felt herself instantly aroused as he kept devouring her mouth; just his touch was enough to make her lose her mind. She moaned deep in her throat and he abruptly broke off the kiss. She could hear his heart thudding through his chest and a very obvious arousal strained the front of his pants.

Remus thought the way she was looking at him was enough to drive him over the edge. Hot, naked desire showed in her eyes and her swollen lips were still parted and moist. Her nipples had peaked through the thin fabric of her shirt and he had to dig his fingernails into his palms to stop himself from tracing their outlines. Her skirt had ridden up her thighs and he was dangerously close to losing control.

\"I... Please, don\'t look at me that way,\" he begged hoarsely. \"I don\'t want to take advantage of you, but you\'re making it damned hard to stop.\"

Saima pushed herself up from the couch and unsteadily stood. She had lost her ability for speech, so she just stumbled across the room to the doorway. She looked back over her shoulder at him with such an expression of longing on her face that he was struck speechless as well. She broke eye contact with him and tipped her head back, a shudder going down her spine as she remembered the feeling of his skilled lips and tongue on hers. Saima turned and moved down the hallway, climbing the steps slowly. Remus heard a door shut softly above and heard the bath start filling in the next moment.

He shut his eyes and leaned against the back of the sofa. The sound of her moaning his name from the night he had burst in her room had imprinted itself on his memory. Remus fell asleep each night straining to hear her again, and had to stop himself many times from banishing the Imperturbable charm he could sense her casting before she went to sleep each night. Most nights he fell asleep uncomfortable, unable to lay on his stomach because he couldn\'t stop thinking about her.

Right now, he was going to have to do something so he could think again normally. With a grimace and a whispered word, he was a lot colder in certain places, but had a somewhat clearer head. Another mild freezing charm followed when he thought of her naked in the bath right above him.

They avoided each other until dinner, not out of embarrassment, but from the fact that they would not be able to stop with just a kiss next time. Remus had never had to use so many freezing charms, even when practicing that particular spell at Hogwarts, those many years ago. He was even happy to have Snape arrive via the Floo Network with his first Wolfsbane potion of the current lunar cycle.

When Saima finally reappeared downstairs again, it was nearly dark. The heat was still oppressive, but a light breeze was kicking up. Thunder rumbled far off in the distance and an occasional flash would light the sky. Remus had dinner on the table already; he had conjured up a casserole and salad. A bottle of wine was corked on the counter and breathing with two long stemmed goblets beside it.

They managed to make it through the meal with many heated glances, but no loss of self-control from either of them. Saima was noticeably clumsy and kept dropping her fork and Remus kept tugging on the loose collar of his shirt, his eyes curiously golden-tinged. If they both had a couple of glasses of wine too many, they ignored the fact. They bid each other a rather strained good night and went to bed separately.

Her dream began with her already naked in bed. He brushed his fingers down her arched neck, then around first one nipple and slowly around the other. Everywhere his fingers brushed his lips and tongue followed. He slowly worked them down her sensitive sides to her taut stomach. The tip of his tongue swirled around her navel and traced a path gently down into the soft skin in the crease of her inner thigh. As she helplessly clutched at his shoulders, he gently spread her legs, and then suddenly he was there. Oh, Merlin... With just one slow, strong stroke of his tongue, she was moaning and pushing her hips against his mouth. He brought her right to the edge and then backed off. To please himself, he placed small nibbles from her knee back up to the junction of her thighs. After a few moments, he returned his tongue to her. He sucked lightly on her flesh and heard her let out a soft sob. He suddenly needed to hear and fell and smell her orgasm, so he held her hips firmly so she couldn\'t move them. He rubbed and stroked his tongue on her and just as she was starting to come apart, he slipped a finger in her passage and felt her muscles start to clench. As he rose up between her legs and rubbed his erection at her entrance, she frantically reached for his head and brought it roughly down to her mouth. She needed him to kiss her and never stop. He slid into her and seated himself fully and she screamed into his mouth at the sensation. A few long thrusts later he threw his head back, his belly tensing as she started pulsing and contracting around him.

Saima awoke sobbing his name. When she heard him move in the next room, she bit her lip and shut her eyes. As she frantically tested the area around her bed, she realized that she had forgotten to cast the silencing charm. The wine, how else could she have forgotten? He could hear everything... She held her breath for a few tense moments but didn\'t hear any other sound through the wall. She prayed that she hadn\'t awoken him, that he had just been turning in his sleep.

She desperately needed something to drink to ease her parched throat. Saima threw on the same tunic and skirt she had been wearing earlier that day, then grabbed her wand and eased into the hallway. For a long minute she paused in front of Remus’ door, wanting so badly to go in and act out the dream she had. It took every ounce of willpower she possessed to just quietly creep past his door to the staircase and down the hall to the kitchen.

Lightning was flickering and thunder rumbled closely as she made her way through the dim kitchen. The candles that were on the table during dinner were still there, so she lit one with her wand. She just stood there for a moment, drinking in the slightly cooler air and trying to shake the images from the dream out of her head. If she could only go into his bedroom, just to look, not touch… A small mental snort met this thought. If she went to look, she would have to touch.

A muttered curse left her mouth and she turned to the cabinet for a glass. Saima flicked her wand and whispered a word and a pitcher of water appeared on the counter. She grabbed her glass and filled it from the pitcher. As she drank thirstily, the cool water flowed down her throat and eased at least one of her needs. She refilled her glass and walked over to the window to watch the coming storm. Thunder had been rumbling ominously all evening and night, and now it sounded as if it was finally going to let loose. Sheets of lightning lit the sky like a strobe but it still had not started raining.

As she let herself become absorbed into watching the coming thunderstorm, she started to relax. Her body had cooled off, and while her need for Remus was still urgent, it wasn’t as all consuming as when she first woke from the dream. She was starting to really enjoy the feeling of anticipation before the storm when she heard a creak in the hallway outside the kitchen.

She froze for a moment with her heart pounding in her throat and slowly turned to the doorway. Remus was standing in the entrance watching her, wearing only a low-slung pair of pajama pants.