Worth the Wait

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Rowling owns them all. I merely play with her characters.

She woke up when she felt the bed shift and heard his bare footsteps on the floor. It felt cold without his warm body pressed against hers so she opened her eyes and glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even dawn yet! Why was he awake so early? Hermione yawned and snuggled under the warm covers as she waited for him to get back into bed. He probably just had to go to the loo, she decided sleepily.

After a short time passed, she had still failed to hear the flush of the toilet so Hermione sat up and ran a hand over her face. “Viktor?” she called out softly. It had been quite awhile since he’d had the nightmares that had made sleep elusive in the years following the end of the war, but she knew they occasionally came back just as hers did. If he was really stressed, they were more likely to occur. Considering the past few months, it was very likely he’d had a bad dream.

When her query produced no response, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and slid them into her warm slippers. She stretched as she stood up and then picked up Viktor’s discarded shirt from where he’d tossed it the night before. She put his shirt on and felt around in the dark until she found her robe lying on the back of the chair. Her hair was a mess but she tried to get it somewhat presentable as she walked to the loo. A quick look inside confirmed that it was empty.

“Lumos,” she said softly, finding a candle and lighting it before she ended the charm. She took the candle and made her way downstairs to find her husband. The house was quiet and far too cold to be up wandering around. If he’d had nightmare, she thought he might have gone to the kitchen to get some warm milk or he’d gone to the library to get something strong, depending on how bad the nightmare happened to be.

The kitchen was closer so she headed that way first. There was a light on but the kitchen was empty. A pan was out and a quick glance inside told her he’d made cocoa. It hadn’t been a nightmare, then, because chocolate didn’t usually calm him. That was good, at least, though she was curious what would cause him to get up in the middle of the night to make cocoa. If he wanted to think, he usually just did that in bed or he sat in the chair by the window in their bedroom.

She’d known Viktor since she was fifteen, eighteen years now that they‘d been friends, eight of which had also been spent as lovers then spouses, and she still couldn’t always figure him out. While it sometimes frustrated her, she also loved that he could still surprise her and do things she didn’t anticipate. He was moody, stubborn, sometimes infuriating, and she loved him more than she’d ever thought possible.

A flickering of light from the sitting room caught her attention. Hermione crossed the hall and went into the room. He’d built a fire, the room warmer than the rest of the house, and she noticed pillows on the floor beside a tray with two mugs of cocoa. A small dish of marshmallows was beside the mugs and each one had a candy cane resting against the rim. Her gaze moved from the seductive scene set up by the fire to find Viktor kneeling by the decorated tree in the corner.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she stepped into the room.

“I vas vaiting for you,” he said as he looked up at her and smiled. “Took you long enuff time.”

“Well, if you’d told me I was supposed to follow you, you’d not have had to wait so long.”

“Vat is fun of telling? You haff more fun not being told, Her-my-nee.”

“You’re annoying sometimes.”

“So are you.”

“I don’t get up in the middle of the night, hours before dawn, and sneak around like some sort of sneaky thing.”

“Sneaky thing?”

“Stop laughing at me. It’s far too early and I’m far too sleepy to be witty. Why are you messing with the presents, Viktor? Are you trying to figure out what you got?”

“I vas no messing vit presents,” he denied as he stood up. He was just wearing the bottom of his pajamas and they were low on his hips in a way that distracted her slightly.

“Then what were you doing?” she asked curiously as she started to walk closer to see what he was doing. She noticed three new packages that hadn’t been there when she’d gone to bed. She looked from them with their pretty wrapping and velvet ribbons to her husband who looked decidedly sneaky. It was a look she had, unfortunately, not seen in awhile.

Before she could ask anything else, he crossed the room and kissed her. “Ve sit now,” he suggested when he released her mouth, doing his best to distract her from the newly added gifts. “I haff cocoa for us share by fire. I even haff peppermint as you like, Her-my-nee.”

“A raging fire, comfy pillows, cocoa, peppermint…I daresay you may be trying to seduce me, Mister Krum,” she told him as she walked to the fire and sat down on the pile of blankets and pillows.

“Vat if I am?” he asked as he joined her on the floor. He looked slightly nervous, as if he expected her to tell him to stop. “Vould it be vorking?”

“We’ll see,” she told him as she looked at the flames and allowed herself to relax. She smiled slightly as she pushed away all other thoughts except for those of her husband and what was happening right now. She took her mug of cocoa from him but refused any marshmallows. Instead, she used the candy cane to stir the hot chocolate and then took a sip. “This is very good.”

“I vill try it then,” he decided as he brushed his fingers along the curve of her cheek and kissed her gently. “Yes, is very good. Ve vatch fire and snuggle now?”

“If I watch the fire, I may fall asleep,” she warned him before she leaned up and kissed him. “There can’t be any seducing if I’m snoring.”

“Good point,” he whispered as he took her mug from her. He removed the candy cane and held it against her lips. “I vant muchly seduce you, Her-my-nee. I thought it be nice velcome Christmas vit us making luff on blankets by fire.”

“That would be nice,” she agreed softly before she licked the candy cane, letting him know she wanted this, too.

“I vake vit idea,” he confessed huskily as he dragged the candy along her lips. “I know you vake and follow so I make cocoa and vait.”

“Sneaky,” she accused affectionately. She met his gaze and smiled before she sucked the end of the candy cane. He groaned as she licked the candy and moved her head in such a way that she knew would arouse him. She was more awake now and his efforts at seduction, so romantic and so Viktor when he wanted to surprise her and make her feel entirely too girly in a way she’d grown to love over the years, were proving quite successful.

“You do vicked tings vit candy.” His voice was hoarse as he pulled the candy from her mouth and trailed it down her throat. “My turn.”

“Oh,” she gasped as he lowered his head and licked the sticky trail left from the candy. He unfastened her robe and pushed it from her shoulders while he kissed the sensitive spot near the back of her neck that always made her moan.

“You vear my shirt,” he growled softly as he raised his head and looked down at her. “You know vat that do vit me, Her-my-nee. So sexy.”

“Mmm,” she moaned as she helped him pull the shirt over her head, leaving her nude by the firelight. “The same thing you wearing your Quidditch uniform does to me, I suppose.”

“You haff vicked fantasies,” he told her with a mischievous smile as he trailed the candy cane along the underside of her breast and then encircled her nipple. He licked the cane, sucking it steadily until it was wet again, and then repeated the action with her other breast.

“I’m not the only one,” she reminded him as she laid back on the pillows and felt the flames of the fire warm her bare skin. He licked her breast and sucked her nipple as the candy cane was dragged down her chest, past her belly, and then moved along the wet lips of her cunt. She gripped his hair as she felt the candy against her so intimately. “Viktor!”

“You no like?” he asked as he looked up and met her gaze.

He ran his tongue over her nipple and flicked it steadily before he nipped at the skin. He rolled onto his side and raised the candy cane to his mouth. She watched him suck it, knowing it had just been pressed against her, and moved her hand between her legs as she watched him. “It’s not what I prefer to touch me here,” she told him as she lazily stroked herself. He knew she wasn’t very fond of using food while having sex, although she made an exception for chocolate sauce and the things he could do with strawberries and whipped cream definitely had her eager to play with food.

“Vat you prefer there?” He dropped the candy cane and moved his hand between her legs. “You vant my fingers?” Viktor moved between her legs, spread them wide to accommodate him, and grinned. “Or you vant my tongue?”

“Stop teasing,” she muttered as watched him lower his head. He licked her slowly, from arse to clit, and she pressed against him so he’d know she wanted more now.

“Maybe you vant both?” he asked as he brushed his fingers over her cunt and sucked her clit. He slid two inside her and went back to licking and sucking, driving her wild with the steady stroke of his tongue and firm thrust of his fingers.

The fire crackled beside them and she was aware of every sensation on her bare skin as he nuzzled her cunt. “I want you, Viktor,” she told him as she pulled on his hair and urged him up. “All of you.”

Viktor raised up and pushed his pajamas down as he settled over her. He kissed her as he pressed his cock against her and she could taste herself mixed with peppermint on his tongue. Hermione shifted and used her heel to push his bottoms further down as he slowly began to enter her. “You haff me, Her-my-nee,” he murmured against her ear as he moved in and out until he was completely inside her. “I haff been yours since first ve meet.”

Hermione held on to him as they moved together. His back was slick with sweat and she dug her fingernails into his bare skin as they made love by the fire. His breath was a warm pant against her neck and ear as he pulled out and pushed in, moaning softly when she tightened around him. It wasn’t long before she felt the familiar tightening in her tummy and urged him to move faster and deeper.

He knew what she needed and reached between them, rubbing her clit with his thumb as he thrust into her. She rocked against him as the tension began to build. She came first, a soft cry muffled by his shoulder, and he followed her not long after. He grunted as he came and nuzzled her neck as they kept moving together until he was completely spent. She kissed his neck as he finally stopped moving.

“I love you,” she whispered as she held him tight.

“I loff you,” he replied before he kissed her. He pulled out of her and rolled over to lie beside her. His hand rested on her belly and he sighed. “I haff missed this; making loff vitout schedules and charts. I vish for this for Christmas, to haff you by fire and just to loff you.”

“I’m sorry,” she said softly as she looked at the fire. “I’ve been horrible, haven’t I?”

“No,” he said firmly. “Ve vant baby for years, Her-my-nee. Ve doing vat book says ve should do. It just---I miss being vit you venever ve vant without checking schedule.”

She turned to look at him and he wiped his thumb over her cheek to remove her tears. “Maybe---maybe we should stop trying,” she suggested quietly. “If it’s meant to happen, it will. I’m so tired of charts, schedules, disappointments, and I feel like it’s driving us apart, Viktor.”

“I haff belief ve vill be parents ven time is right. If ve no have baby, it no mean ve no be parents. It just mean ve adopt and still haff family and much loff for baby,” he said softly. He kissed her tenderly and then kissed her cheek. “Ve vill keep vit charts if you vant, Her-my-nee. I no mind if it vat you vant us do.”

“No,” she told him. “No more charts or schedules. I‘m finished with all that. Like you said, if we don‘t have a baby, it doesn‘t mean we can‘t eventually have a family of our own. Right now, though, I say we just wait and see what happens.”

“I haff good feeling,” he confided softly. He reached down and pulled a blanket over them before he pulled her against him. “Ve must haff faith.”

“I’m not very good at that,” she admitted as she snuggled him at and ran her fingers over his strong jaw and crooked nose.

“I know, but ve vill try. I haff faith many year ago that you and I one day be like this and here ve are,” he confessed as he placed a kiss against her palm. He held her close as a new day dawned, kissing her again before he whispered against her lips, “The best tings, Her-my-nee, are alvays vorth the vait.”

The End