Severus/Hermione
The first time he carries her to bed, he unceremoniously drops her onto the blankets, words still flying from her mouth in a drunken ramble.
“An’ ‘nother thing, You’renot even…I mean…I’mnot. You.” A hiccup escapes amongst a flurry of giggles as she throws her hands over her mouth.
“Are you quite finished?”
He doesn’t linger, if he looked at her too long, he wouldn’t want to leave. He shuts the door abruptly, retreating to his own quarters just down the hall. The ink was barely dry on the marriage contract before the little witch was gulping at the champagne her friends had sent over to the flat.
He knew what this was, a mutually beneficial arrangement. A way to ensure her acceptance to the Potions Mastery program, and his funding for the growth of his lab, provided he foster upcoming young talent. Their union would ensure both got exactly what they wanted.
When she asks the next day about her abhorrent behavior, he finds he can’t express the words to be cross with her. He simply walks away, igniting a spark of unsaid things.
The time in the lab passes in a way he hasn’t experienced before. The days are fast but there are moments slowed down to the single grain of sand falling through an hourglass. When their hands brush, when he urges to tuck a curl that has escaped her messy chignon, when she asks if he’ll be up for supper. One day she asks him if he’s happy and he nods, but he thinks, it’s enough to be where you are.
The second time he carries her to bed his ears are still ringing from the explosion. An expired tincture of Acromantula venom, unbeknownst to him, proved to be incredibly unstable when mixed with Adder’s fork.
The blast was sudden, wiping out their whole worktable, and abruptly knocking them against the far wall of the lab. She tries to stand, falling into his shoulder and nearly collapsing into his lap. “Don't.” He warns. “Let me see your injuries.”
She nods, acquiescing though he can tell it pains her.
He ignores the ache in his shoulder as he assesses her for bleeding and runs internal diagnostics.
He knows there is no going back. He’s barely spoken to her outside the lab, and he knows nothing of her heart, but he’s willing to take the remainder of his days putting the pieces together to find the answer.
It’s slow, in the way falling asleep is slow. You can call for it forever and it will always allude you. Should you try and fight it, it will creep up your body taking hold bit by bit until you’re asleep. That’s what falling with Hermione Granger is like.
She’s taken hold and he tries his best to ignore the feeling that she’ll find a way to leave him.
She’s different from his past heartbreaks. She stays. Her wide eyes linger over his frame, her hands find reasons to touch his body. When he cages her against their worktable he wants to swallow her gasp and everything that comes after it.
The third time he carries her to bed her arms are wrapped tightly around his neck. When he slides his hands from around her body she snatches his wrist, leaving no doubt, “stay, Severus.”
She allows him to take his time, and he must. It’s what he’s always done with complicated puzzles.
He wants to take his time finding all the things Hermione is made of, and all the ways he can take her apart.
She lifts her nightgown over her head exposing her perfect breasts. Her rosy, pink nipples peaking under his gaze. He hesitates to show himself but she’s rather insistent, pulling his cape off and urging him to divest himself of the remainder of his clothes.
She’s slick with arousal and he could use his fingers or his tongue, but he can’t imagine her coming anywhere but on his cock. She reaches into his garments and pulls him into her hands, working the precum around the tip and aligning it with her cunt.
“I want you,” she whispers. He can barely hear it over their moans.
He pulls back in order to survey her, survey them. He slows his rhythm, pulling all the way out in order to push back in. He swallows her gasps in kisses he lengthens down her neck and breasts.
His thrusts become rough as he imagines getting something he’s longed for with such desperation. His fingers find purchase around her hips, digging into the flesh possessively.
“You…are…mine….” He can barely get the words out. As he pushes her closer to her orgasm and he chases his own. He’s stopped by her small hand on his cheek.
“Yours, Severus.”