The Mentor

AN: NC-17

Chapter Eight – The Disappearing Act


When Hermione woke several hours later, the fire in the hearth had almost died out, only a small pile of glowing embers remaining. Disoriented, she attempted to sit up, only to feel a soft, warm weight draped across her abdomen. Feeling a twinge where the damp from the floor was starting to seep through the carpet, Hermione realized that she was almost completely naked, wearing only her stockings and shoes.

In a flash, everything came rushing back – begging Severus to take her; and her wild behaviour when he said no. She waited for a moment, to see if he might wake up but the soft breaths teasing the back of her neck stayed slow, deep and even.

Carefully turning so she would not disturb him, Hermione moved so that she could look at the man lying beside her. In repose, his face lost it’s perennially snide expression that seemed such a part of him. Severus actually looked peaceful, with his head propped on his arm, hair spilling on to the carpet. She lifted her hand, rubbing the ends through her fingers, enjoying the fine, silky texture. As she continued to stroke his hair, Hermione’s gaze swept down his face, noting every detail and committing it to memory.

His eyelashes were unbelievably long, almost reaching the top of his cheek bones in a dramatic sweep. How was it that she had never noticed them before? They were striking, inky black and thick.

The nose was as large as ever, but after really looking at his face, Hermione decided that his nose, with it’s patrician lines, suited Severus perfectly.

With a small sigh, his lips opened slightly, immediately drawing Hermione’s attention. They were thin, with a slight plumpness on the bottom. Reaching up, she lightly ran a finger along the curve, feeling the texture, and wondering what he might taste like and what kind of kisser he might be. Noticing that she was starting to disturb his slumber, Hermione pulled her hand away.

She considered her position for a moment. A few hours ago, she had practically thrown herself at the man. When he had refused, claiming that it was for her own good, Hermione had been furious. And in the next moment, was stripping off her clothes, touching her body and bringing herself to an explosive orgasm, all while Severus had watched.

Hermione felt herself grow warm with the blush that covered her body as her embarrassment became acute. What must he think of her? What would he say to her? In her mind, she had thrown herself at the potions master, offering him the gift of her innocence, and he still had not wanted to touch her. In fact, Severus had preferred to touch himself. The snuggling and loving words after the fact had just been a normal male reaction to having an orgasm, nothing more.

There was no way on Merlin’s beard that she was going to be laying there with Severus when he finally woke up. Moving as slowly and carefully as she could manage, Hermione shifted his restraining arm, and slipped out from under the duvet. She shivered as the cool air hit her bare body, and quickly began to collect her discarded clothes. Removing her heels to prevent any noise, she tiptoed to the door, pausing long enough to dress. With one last, longing look at the man lying so serenely on the carpet, and feeling a single tear slide down her cheek, Hermione opened the door wide enough to squeeze through, and took off running for her rooms.


**********


When Severus woke, Hermione had only been gone for a few minutes. Instinctively, he had reached for her, but instead of finding a warm, luscious body there was only a rapidly cooling spot on the carpet. Groaning, he turned on to his back, lifting one arm to cover his eyes. He groaned again at the painful stiffness he was experiencing from sleeping on the stone floor.

What the hell had he done? He knew that she was inexperienced, but he could not stop himself from finding his own release as he had watched her masturbating so wantonly. Just thinking of it caused more twitching in his cock. Frankly, Severus was a little surprised. In less than twenty four hours, he had already experienced two earth shattering orgasms, and his body was still ready for more. But now she was gone, scared away by the intensity of his reaction.

In Severus’ mind, Hermione must have thrown herself at him because she felt sorry for him, indebted to him or because she was lonely. That could be the only possible explanation. Her eagerness to turn to his body, seeking warmth and a cuddle was nothing more than the female reaction to an orgasm.

Normally, when Severus was with a woman, he did not give her the chance for that kind of intimacy, quickly dressing and leaving so that she would not get the wrong idea. But with Hermione, it was very different. He could not recall ever having felt the disappointment that he had experienced when he realized that she was not there, lying beside him.

‘She must think I am a dirty old man, wanting to play out the fantasy of the teacher with the school girl!’

However, the longer Severus was awake, lying in the middle of his living room floor, trousers still at his ankles and trying to find some warmth under the blanket, his recollection of the evening started to clear.

With a nearly photographic memory, Snape ran through every word, every move, and every groan. The more he remembered, the better he started to feel. Severus became more and more certain that she had wanted him, and not out of some misguided sense of obligation, but because she was genuinely attracted.

So why had she snuck away in the middle of the night? He did not know, but sitting up abruptly Severus decided that he could certainly find out. Reaching for his wand, Severus muttered a quick charm and in the blink of an eye was standing, fully dressed.


********


There were two things for which that Hermione would be infinitely. The first was that she had made it back to her chambers, running through the halls of Hogwart’s, without running into another person, staff or student.

The second was that it was very early Saturday morning, and she had the entire weekend to hide out in her quarters. Hermione almost laughed out loud – if she had been worried before about how she could handle being near Severus, now she was almost frantic at the thought. But they had already signed the mentoring contract – there was nothing she could do.

Hermione did not care for the feeling of powerlessness that was starting to consume her. Quietly mumbling the password to the portrait guarding her door, she stumbled in.

Wanting nothing more than to remove her clothes, cuddle in to her most comfortable pyjamas and disappear under the covers of her bed, Hermione almost raced through the sitting room. However, once she saw her bed, and remembered what she had done on it that morning, and what she had done with Severus only hours ago, Hermione knew that she would not be sleeping there any time soon.

Stopping long enough to toss her shoes and clothes on the floor beside her armoire, she continued on to the bathroom. Her plan was simple – a nice, hot bubble bath followed by a long sleep on the bed that she was going to transfigure from the sofa in the sitting room. Walking to the inset tub, Hermione leaned over and started the water running. Deciding that she needed a scent that would help her relax, she chose a combination of lavender and chamomile to add to the frothing water.

Pinning her hair to the top of her head, Hermione settled her body into the steaming water, determined to find some peace of mind. She sank down until the water reached the bottom of her chin, deeply inhaling the comforting aromas wafting up to her.


**********


As Hermione was finally starting to relax in the tub, allowing the warmth to lull her, Severus reached her rooms, and started pacing.

What to do? What to say? He wanted to think this through carefully before he confronted Hermione about her feelings for him. Severus knew that it would not be an easy conversation, in fact, at that moment he was not even sure that she would see him at all. But he was determined – one way or another they were going to have a long overdue talk about what we going on between them.

Walking to her door, he noticed that the portrait was empty. Interesting. Pushingthe frame aside with no resistance, Severus ran his palm over the heavy oak door his palm hovering an inch above the wood. He was feeling for the magical signature that would tell him whether or not wards were in place. Detecting nothing, Severus could not believe his luck. No magic was needed; he simply reached out and opened the door.

Slowly pushing the door open, Severus paused to call her name. There was no reply. Not being someone easily scared away, or overly concerned about the feelings of others, he continued in to her quarters, after pausing to place his own wards and a silencing charm on the room.

He walked through her quarters and entered the bedroom. Almost immediately, his well-trained nose detected the scent of lavender with a hint of chamomile. Walking closer to the door of the bathroom, Severus could detect the change in heat and humidity coming from the other side.

‘So, she is in the tub’, Severus pondered the possibilities to himself. ‘This could be very interesting’.

Torn between barging in or knocking to announce his presence, Snape decided that turn about was fair play. If she could leave his arms without the courtesy of waking him first, then she deserved a little invasion of her privacy. He stopped long enough to remove his outer robes, and to turn his sleeves so that they sat at his elbows, then opened the door.

His breath caught in his throat at the sight of Hermione in the bath. Her eyes were closed, her lips resting open slightly. Hermione had fastened her hair to the top of her head in some way, but as she was soaking, most of it came lose to curl around her face.

Realizing that she must be sleeping, and fighting the protective urge to wake her so that she could not drown, Severus took advantage of the time to really look at her. He kneeled on the soft mat beside the tub and just watched her soak.

Hermione’s skin was flawless; a little red from the heat of the water, but looked so smooth that Severus felt his fingers itch to touch. Her lashes were not especially long but they were full and curled. Her bottom lip was plumper than the top, almost begging him to bend over and caress it with his tongue.

His gaze moving down, Severus noticed that the bubbles covering her chest were starting to drift away, and he could see her full breasts floating in the water. The borderline erection Severus had sported since Hermione’s return to Hogwart’s was now a full blown hard on, and he shifted, trying to find some relief from the pressure against his trousers.

‘It is now or never’, Severus decided. With Hermione still oblivious to his presence, Snape quickly divested himself of all his clothing. His fingers were itching to touch her; his lips were aching to kiss her; his cock was aching to fill her.

Severus gently moved Hermione forward so that he could sit behind her, sighing softly at the stinging heat of the water. He brought Hermione to sit back against his chest, hips cradled by both of his long, lean legs.

Hermione had been drifting off, lulled into a state of utter relaxation by the warm water and soothing scents. The rational part of her brain argued that it was not safe to sleep in the bath. Another part of her argued that this may be the only rest she would have for the remainder of the weekend, so she should take it where she could get it.

Not sure how long she had napped, Hermione was startled awake by the feeling of something against her back. Instead of the smooth, curving back of the bath tub, there was something else.

Hermione jerked forward, trying to move away but strong arms wrapped around her chest, pulling her back.

In his smoothest, deepest voice, Severus announced his presence to Hermione.

“The bath is delightful, my sweet. I only wish that you had invited me instead of sneaking off to soak and leaving me alone on the cold, hard floor”.

She froze at the silky sound of his voice. Hermione could not tell if he was angry with her, or if he had come to tease and torment. She swallowed deeply several times before responding. Hermione had been through some very difficult, and trying times, but preparing to lay her feelings at the feet of the man she wanted to be with more than any other was a new kind of torture.

“I am sorry”, she answered softly, head hanging down, shoulders rolling forward anticipating his rejection. “I just wanted to leave before you woke up, and told me..” Hermione trailed off, not wanting to voice her doubts.

“Before I told you what Hermione? That you are the most beautiful witch I have ever seen? That watching you pleasure yourself for me was a gift? That you are the most passionate woman I have ever met?”

He leaned in closer to whisper in her ear.

“That if I cannot touch and taste you soon, I will explode?”

Severus pulled Hermione back against his pelvis so that she could feel the truth in his words. His cock was rock hard, fuller than it had ever been, and Hermione could feel it poking at the base of her back.

This changed everything. With his words, and with his actions, her doubts started to fade away. Turning in his arms, Hermione turned around so that she was facing him; straddling his thighs, and hooking her arms around his neck.

As she leaned forward to touch her lips to his for the very first time, she paused to whisper.

“Well, I would not want to be responsible for any explosions would I?”

Severus smirked at her audacity, loving every moment. With a growl, and threading his fingers through her curls to grasp the back of her head, he captured her lips in a searing kiss.


A/N – sorry for the soaring, granite-ringed cliff but if I do not stop here I will not have the time to do the next part justice.