Calling Dr. Granger

Calling Doctor Granger

Chapter Seven

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


He stared out over the waters to the white-capped mountains beyond. She didn’t recognize him at first. He was wearing Muggle clothing and a glamour disguised his face. However, there was something in his stillness and in his posture that told her it was her old professor.

She shyly walked up to him and stood at the railing, watching the same view.

“Rather spectacular, isn’t it,” said Snape.

“Well, I suppose,” she sighednd hnd how are you doing?”

“Quite well, I think for the first time in my life.” He shot a look at her and then stared into the water. “I’ve never felt guilty about what I’ve done, because I’ve never felt that I had any choice. For the first time in my life, I feel as if I do. As if I might actually be able to have some say in how things go.” He cleared his throat nervously.

“And this place that you found for me, I’m still astounded that such a place exists. I can come and go as I please and yet I am expected to be part of the community, much like Hogwart’s except I’m the student again.”

“And is that all right with you?”

He snorted and then he laughed, sending small tingles down her spine. He was still the old Snape in many ways, yet he seemed so much more relaxed.

“I don’t mind attending the 7:30 AM Yoga Club in the community room because then everyone is blissfully quiet. Except for Parsons, he always wheezes. And it is much preferable to attending the 4:30 Let’s Chat about our Day group. As it is I am forced to attend Group Therapy once a week, yet am finding a bright spot there, as Sally the Pratt keeps insisting that all my probletem tem from being Scorpio on the cusp of Capricorn.” He chuckled. “I’m waiting for just the right time to spring it on her that I am actually a Gemini. Done right, she shall be devastated.” His lips curled back, reminding Hermione of how Snape looked just before his dueled Lockhart.

She tried to suppress a smile. “It does sound like you are adjusting. Why, you are even wearing Muggle clothes.”

“Yes, the Director of our little oasis insists that part of our problemem fem from being different from all those around us. America is a melting pot and so we shall dissolve into the potion. There is a microwave and stove and mini-fridge in my flat along with a cable television boasting over 1,000 stations. Any Muggle coming into our building would not be able to detect a difference between my flat and that of a Muggle. Sometimes I think I’m forgetting I’m a Wizard, and do you know? It makes me happy. Does thake ake sense to you?”

“I suppose. What with the war, it would be a very nice thing to get away and just forget.” A distant look came into Hermione’s eyes, which made Snape think perhaps they were having two very different conversations.

“How did you do this? Find this haven for me to hide in?”

“Molly spoke to Dumbledore. Even while dying, he was able to pull a few strings. He arranged for a trust set up in your name to take care of everything.”

“Ah, yes. That is my one regret, that I missed his funeral.” The silence returned with Snape pointing to a harbor seal sunning itself on the rocks. After a few minutes he asked, “And what are you doing here, Doctor Granger?” He turned to her and she had the uncomfortable feeling that one gets from staring through a glamour. She saw the black eyes beneath the blue and the hooked nose underneath the straight one. Of course, if one weren’t expecting to see Severus Snape, one would never have recognized him. It was, after allveryvery good glamour.

“Be patient with me, and I’ll explain.” She looked around, but still found herself not sure what to say. The truth was, she had no real answer to the question.

Snape stepped into her confused silence. “The whole purpose of my coming here was to cut all ties to my past. And yet here you are.” He gave into a brittle smile that showed for a second and died.

“I’m sorry. I know you are creating a new life, it’s just—“ Hermione turned around. She didn’t want to see mountains or vast seascapes—they made her feel small. She turned in the other direction to stare at Pike’s Place Farmer’s Market, which was part of the waterfront of Seattle. She lost her train of thought, went blank and then felt very foolish.

“Is there something you need to tell me?” pe ppe prompted, none too gently.

“I, can’t… Look this was a bad idea, I’m sorry.” She began to walk away. At first she thought he’d just let her go, but with his old stealth he was suddenly in front of her.

He took her face in his hands, “I knew it!” His eyes lit up with suppressed triumph. “You do miss me.”

“No, I… damn. Ron didn’t tell me for the longest time where you were. But eventually I wore him down, even used a bit of blackmail.”

He gently stroked her face. “It’s all right. Continue.”

“There was a job opening at the local Magical Maladies Centre here. The information just happened to drop into my lap. And I applied on a whim. The interview is in less than an hour. I couldn’t stay at St. Mungo’s. There were too many memories. I found that I couldn’t even stay in Britain anymore. Everything there is just, was just, another reminder of the war, of Hogwarts, my friends. Mum and Dad just don’t understand me at all. I don’t understand me. I feel like I’m becoming unraveled and once done there will be nothing more substantial of me than a ghost.” She shivered a little and Snape wrapped his arms around her. “I kept thinking back to you. I don’t know why you wanted me, but if you still do-- Then you are the only one who does.” A tear escaped her eye and he pulled her close to him. She cried a little and she felt his long, elegant fingers rubbing small circles on her back.

“That’s right, Hermione. We are two ghosts who need to be together, if we are to be real. I want you. Come stay with me. We’ll make a new life for ourselves together.”

She looked up at him and took a deep breath. It felt like if was the first time she’d been able to breath in years. She smiled. “We barely know each other.” She blushed and bit her bottom lip. “But it’s a start, isn’t it?

“I have to head over for the interview now. I’ll meet you afterwards?”

Snape took a pen and small memo book from his jacket pocket. “Here’s the address for my flat. Unless you would like to meet somewhere public again?” His dark eyes searched her face, hoping to see acceptance there. She nodded and took the paper from her. A small laugh escaped his lips. “Well, we don’t want to see you late now do we? Good luck.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.

&&&

There was a sign-in desk and Hermione noticed when she got off the elevator that there, at the end of the hallway, was a councilor’s door and a schedule. It was the only indication that the place was a halfway house for Wizards and Witches rather than just a normal block of flats.

She knocked on his door and he quickly opened it. It was a small bed-sit decorated in neutral ivory and browns with the occasional highlight of turquoise. There were watercolor sketches pinned up on the walls of different mountain views and pebbled shores.

“Come in, Hermione. May I make you a cup of tea?” His voice was low and soft.

“Thank you.” She came in and seated herself on the small couch. There was a coffee table next to it with various British Wizarding publications.

“Ah you noticed,” said Snape from the kitchen alcove. “There’s an excellent Wizarding bookstore not far from here, stocks publications from all over. Rather surprising really, there isn’t that large a Wizarding population here. This place you interviewed at, I supposed people come from all over?”

“Oh, yes, very international.”

He brought over the teapot and two cups on a tray along with sugar and cream. He sat down next to her on the couch. Hermione’s heart began to beat faster. So far everything had seemed normal, but strange. Like having a dream where everything was a little bit out of focus.

“I was hired on the spot.” She poured a cup of tea and added sugar. She waited for Snape to say something, anything.

“Will you take the job?” His face was impassive, yet Hermione saw how his hands were torturing the napkin in his lap.

“Well, that depends,” said Hermione as she first put down her cup of tea and then took Snape’s cup from his hands and placed it on the table.

“On what?” his voice was so soft and low she could barely her him.

“On whether we think this might be a good idea.” She reached behind his head and undid the tie holding his long, black hair back. He had already released the glamour and she was happy to see him as she had known him for long ago. She stroked his hair letting it cascade between her fingers and she pressed her lips against his. He allowed the kiss to happen and then pulled back in shock.

“You, you do want this?” He found himself having difficulty catc his his breath.

“Yes,” and she straddled his legs, pressing her body firmly against his and kissing him deeper than before. She ground her hips into him and he let out a low moan.

“Hermione, this is unexpected.” She nuzzled his neck, sending tiny electric shocks up and down his spine. “Hermione? I haven’t forgotten what Draco did to you.” Snape admitted to himself that for all the time he thought of her, he really did know very little of her and understood her even less.

“I’m all right now. And I want you.” Again, she ground herself against his crotch. She kissed him hard, holding onto the back of his head and forcing her tongue into him.

Snape closed his eyes and allowed himself to succumb to the sensation. His cock was pounding, throbbing for release and he let his hands settle on her bum, pushing up her skirt to make it easier for her to press into him. He felt that things were going too fast, and yet he wasn’t going to be the one to apply the brakes.

He then gently pulled up her shirt and undid her bra. Her full breasts came free and he flicked his tongue over first one and then the other before choosing which to suckle on. She continued to squirm around on him.

“Hermione, I, could we, you know.” He licked his lips hoping not to seem like a complete randy idiot, unfortunately that was the most apt description of himself that came to mind at this point. It was difficult to think, much less talk, with a wild woman writhing on you.

She looked at him under veiled eyes and nodded. She stood up and was surprised to discover that the couch pulled out into a bed. It was neatly made, reminding Hermione of Snape’s perfectionism.

She slipped oer cer clothes and stood there naked before him. He hissed in his breath, wanting to touch her, not sure if he actually wanted to be naked as well. She stepped closer to him and began to help him undress. Soon he was also fully exposed to her gaze.

“Turn around and lay face down on the bed. I want to touch you.” Her voice was raspy and deep with desire.

“As you wish,” he watched her while laying down on the mattress, well aware that this was how it started the last time.

She straddled his back and ran her fingers down, tracing the lacework of scars criss-crossing it. Becoming more daring, she bent down and ran her tongue along the bolder of the raised lines. She shivered in delight and listened as the man below her gave another low groan. She pressed her groin on his backside, knowing that it would press his erection hard down on the sheet below him.

“Oh, Gods, Hermione,” he gasped.

She pressed again and again, almost as if she was the one with the penis, thrusting and pressing her nub on him. She stroked her fingers along her sides reaching her breasts and squeezing her nipples. Only then, as she felt her body ready for him, did she lift herself up onto her knees.

“Please turn over,” she whispered to him.

He rolled onto his back and his eyes widened at the sight of her. Gone was his student and gone was the doctor. Rather there seemed to be a wanton demoness on top of him. She gently pumped his cock between her hands and he moaned loudly this time. She found the pre-cum seeping from him and used her thumb to spread it over the tip of him.

“Please,” he whimpered, not sure is she would actually allow him to enter her, but feeling that he would expire from lust if she didn’t do something to release him soon. She took his cock and laid it inside her folds, not actually in her but so she’d be able to slide herself up and down his length along his stomach and pressing against her clitoris. Slowing after a few strokes, she allowed the head of his penis to come inside her. She backed herself onto him, taking in an inch at a time until she was filled.

Their eyes met and she leaned down over him to kiss him. It was a gentle brushing of lips. She wasn’t ready for more. They stayed like that for a minute, just letting themselves adjust to the new place they were at. Then she started moving again.

Snape suppressed the need to grab her hips and guide her. He’d promised himself that he would let her take the lead. He felt that it was very necessary to do so if she were to want him ever again. He fisted the sheets and even gritted his teeth to stop himself from taking her. He wasn’t sure if she were testing him or not, but if it were a test, he’d be damned if he would fail her.

She impaled herself on him over and over until a tiny feeling began. It was halfway between pain and pleasure and she pursued it as Diana would a s He Her eyes closed to better let her focus on the feeling that was emerging from her vagina and cervix. Again and again she directed herself to find that spot. Suddenly, she felt him go rigid beneath her and she stopped and looked at him, uncertain of his needs.

His eyes opened and he cursed, “By Merlin’s balls, don’t stop for me. Please keep going. Come for me, that’s what I want.”

She swallowed and began to thrust herself onto him again. She found the rhythm that she needed and continued. This time he dared to move his hands, resting them lightly on her thighs. Although he was scared that he might distract her, he was desperate to touch her.

She started to whimper as the pain and pleasure reached its threshold. She thrashed about on him, murmg tog to herself. It went from being there just beyond her and then, in a white explosion of ecstasy, wave after wave hit her trembling body. She moved against him even harder, riding each after shock. Then, slowly, she collapsed over him.

Snape wrapped his arms around her and kissed her gently. Her sobs of release turned into tears and she cried as he softly stroked her and whispered endearments into her ears. As their sweat cooled, Snape got them under the covers. She pressed her nose into the nook at the bottom of his throat and he rubbed his chin at the top of her head. Soon she fell asleep in his arms.

Snape wondered at where he was and how he’d come to have his student, then his doctor and rescuer and now, finally, his lover in his arms. He wanted to tell her that he thought it was because of the magic of the Pallas Blessing. It had saved him from those dark places that he’d been traveling for so long. She had done it, raised him up from the hells he had wandered. And he was so grateful. She was a clever girl. And she would be his clever girl for as long as she wished to be.

After a while she awoke and looked up into his face with a dreamy smile. “That was a first.”

“A first?” He raised his brows inquisitively.

“I’ve had sex before, but I’ve never made love.” Her eyes look sorrowful for a moment.

He crushed her in his arms and sighed in profound contentment. He wanted to say it had been the same for him, but he didn’t wish to trivialize the moment with ordinary words.

“Hmmm,” she purred and ted ted a few strands of his long hair out of his eyes, so she could see his face better. “You know, I think I will accept this job offer.”

“I’m very glad to hear of it.” And he leaned down to kiss her more deeply than he had done before.


A/N: That was the official end of the story. There is an epilogue. Now for those of you who like non-ambiguously happy endings: DO NOT READ THE EPILOGUE! Are we clear on that? Good.

Big, big hugs to those who have stood by me and encouraged me: Andrian and Rilla. And even more hugs to my reviewers: Amsev, Wendynat, LovethePotionBoy, Mary Kay, SwirleyGirl, MoaningMyrtle, Nocturnus, Influenza1918, LoopyLooneyLuna, Booklvr, DeblovesDragon, Bamboo, Idamae, Excessivelyperky and LittleBird.