Signed and Sealed
xoXOXox
As the light knock sounded on his door, Severus took a deep breath to calm his nerves and bade his visitor to enter. Hermione stepped in looking tired but happy. The beautiful dress from the party was long gone and in its place were her customary form fitting slacks and a delicate blouse of deep forest green. He couldn’t begin to describe or contain the feeling it caused to see her wrapped in any shade of his house colors. He knew it was petty and possessive but he had learned long ago that there were parts of his internal personality that would never be mastered or erased. His need to see those he considered his, wrapped in items and colors that belonged to the house that had become his first ever home, was one of them.
“Good evening, Hermione. Did you enjoy the celebration?”
Her smile as she shuffled her way to taking her usual seat in front of him was soft as cotton. He admitted once more that not only did he love that smile, he was blessed to be someone who had earned her affection enough to receive it.
“I did, Severus. My feet are killing me and I feel like I could sleep for a week straight, but it was amazing. It was nice to be able to just let go and enjoy a night of frivolity without coursework or the war hanging menacingly in the background.”
Her huff of amusement was echoed by him as he nodded his head and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his desk and his chin in his hand.
“Well, you won’t get a whole week but after we finish making your apprenticeship legal tonight, you will have the weekend to relax and enjoy before I become the taskmaster once again. Shall we?”
Her eyes brightened as she leaned forward with more energy than she seemed to have only a moment ago.
“Yes, please. I’ve been waiting all year for this.”
He couldn’t help the melting sensation around his heart at her words nor could he contain his usual sardonic nature.
“We will see if you still feel that way after the first full week as my apprentice.”
Her laugh was bright and made his darkened dungeon office suddenly feel so much more open and filled with light. Salazar, he loved the way she laughed. Standing, he walked around his desk, laying the contract down in front of her, every clause written to their exact specifications. Meeting her eyes, he watched that infernal lip disappear between her lips before she stood and smiled, pressing her wand to the parchment.
“In magic and in oath, I, Hermione Granger, sign this document in good faith and aware conscience, tying myself to Master Severus Snape as his apprentice from now until the time in which he deems me of acceptable training to receive my Mastership status in the subtle art of potions making.”
He couldn’t help the snort as she added her own flare to the binding words, watching as her magical signature flowed across the parchment in her beautiful flowing script. Reaching over her shoulder, his front pressed slightly to her back, Severus turned his head to catch her eyes, never breaking from her gaze as his wand rested just under her own signature.
“In magic and in other, I, Severus Snape, sign this document in good faith and aware conscience, tying myself to Miss Hermione Granger as my apprentice and I her Master from now until the time in which I deem her of acceptable training to receive her Mastership status in the subtle art of potions making.”
The mischief in her eyes pulled amusement into his as his spiky signature burned across the parchment under hers. As soon as he felt the magic settle and their bond form fully as Master and Apprentice, Severus dropped his wand to his desk as he spun her around and pulled her into him. The surprised squeak she released vibrated against his lips as he placed them lightly onto hers. Her breathing caught, a slight inward gasp of surprise, that had him internally tensing even as he waited to see what she would do. It was not customary to finish the seal with a kiss but as he was now not only in charge of her education in the department of potions, but also in regards to her sexual needs, he figured he would start as he intended to go on.
He didn’t have to wait long. With a sign that sounded born of pure elation, she melted completely into him, her body soft and pliant as her lips parted and her breath cascaded over his lips. Taking that for her consent, Severus tilted his head and deepened the kiss, dragging his lips along hers, teasing her with his teeth and tongue until the fiery Gryffindor he knew resided in her broke free and her own tongue pushed forward to tangle with his. Though he looked forward to taking control of her pleasure and at times forcing her to remain compliant under his hands, he loved knowing his witch would give and take as good as she got. He didn’t mind being the dominant one in bed but he also knew himself well enough to know total passivity would have bored him after a while.
Finally pulling back, he brushed her hair away from her eyes, realizing he has mussed it with his hands without meaning to, he took in her plush, reddened lips and glazed eyes with a preening, Slytherin satisfaction he could not have controlled if he tried. Which he in fact, did not. Reaching into his coat pocket, he withdrew the vial burning a hole there and placed it in her hand. He watched her blink, take a moment to right her mind, before what she was holding registered and her cheeks turned that lovely shade of dusty pink.
Tipping her eyes up, she held his gaze as she popped the cork and swallowed the brew in one smooth tip of her head. The very act sent trails of racing fire through his veins. Having promised to be as open and honest as he could with her, Severus let his thoughts spill to his lips sans his usual Slytherin filter.
“One month, Hermione. Thirty very long days and I will enjoy showing you the first of many pleasures your body was made to experience. Until then, any sign of affection or companionship you need or want, you only have to reach for it and I will happily provide it as long as we are away from prying eyes. Decorum and all that archaic rubbish.”
His dry tone at the end had her snorting out a laugh. Caressing her face gently, he took in her pleased smile as he ran his thumb along her bottom lip. Once again unable it seemed to stop his traitorous tongue, words pushed from his lips before he could reign them in.
“Merlin, witch, I have wanted to do that from the moment you said you would be my apprentice. You are like a flame and I, the hapless moth, flying ever closer to be burned. You are either going to be the death of my or my eternal salvation.”
Her look of surprise intermingled with her pleasure at his words. Both moved as one, lips touching down once more into a kiss that drowned the entire world from their minds. Time seemed to pass and yet stand perfectly still as they learned the shape of each other, mouths and tongue, fingertips tracing over clothing, noses brushing and eyes fluttering as they lost themselves to the sensations of another being pressed so tightly to their bodies.
It took more effort than he thought it would to pull away and walk her to her new set of rooms. Making sure she had everything she needed, he reluctantly said his goodnights and gently closed her door as he headed to his own room. He knew even taking himself in hand tonight was not going to be enough to burn away the fire she had sparked inside him with that first sigh uttered against his lips. One month. There was plenty he could show her and teach her between now and then. The wizard that was slowly but surely falling in love with the little witch had all the patience in the word. The darker beast that resided in his soul ripped and clawed to go back to her room and take her now with every fiber of its being. It was going to be a long, torturous month.
xoXOXox
He had feared the month would drag by in his anticipation but it had flown by in the blink of an eye. Between the assignments he set her to, the daily grind of chopping and preparing ingredients and breaking old habits she had from her book instructions and Slughorn’s abysmal year of teaching, their days were filled to the brim.
Their nights were not much different. They had taken to reading while leaning into each other every night, Hermione’s smaller frame curled along his side with her socked feet tucked up under her. Sometimes, they would read their own book. Sometimes, she would sigh against him as he read one out loud or a potions journal that had been printed in some magazine or newspaper.
No matter what they were doing, working or laughing, reading or talking, time continued forward with such ease that Severus started to forget what his life was like before she had waltzed into it with her light and affection. Knowing he couldn’t continue in this fashion without first telling her the few secrets he held, he had sat with trepidation halfway through the month and explained how he came to find out about her interest in potions. With head down and eyes closed, his heart beating a fearful rhythm in his chest, he admitted to overhearing the game that had been played in the library and how it had opened his eyes to a possibility he could never have imagined.
With shaking hands and an equally shaky voice, he had confided in her how it felt to hear he was her choice above all others. How he had never been anyone’s last choice, let alone their first. Tears had gathered in his eyes as the fear threatened to choke him. What if she never forgave him for starting all this with an Ace up his sleeve. Would his sneaky Slytherin nature and darker tendencies lose him yet another witch that held his heart?
With a flash of his anger, he told her about overhearing her argument with the redheaded menace and the subsequent pranks his two Slytherins agreed to pull on his behalf in revenge and the not so harmless move Miss Lovegood decided to employ for her own personal reasons. As he talked, he couldn’t make his eyes raise to meet hers, not wanting to see the affection he had grown used to dying a quick death in her gaze.
As he finished, breath coming in starts and stops, Severus waited for the inevitable fallout from his actions only to still in surprise when she appeared in his line of sight. Gently lowering to her knees, she had looked up at him from under his hair, eyes scanning his, looking for something. After what felt like an eternity, she had slowly pushed herself up until he had no choice but to lean back some and brushed her noses against his.
“Knowing how I felt, was this all just a way to get me under your control so you could exercise the pain others have wrought on you with their cruelty?”
He had jerked in horror, head already shaking in denial even as the words stumbled and fell from his lips. As if that was the reaction she had been waiting for, she leaned in and placed her lips gently to his once, twice, pulling away just a hair to speak.
“Then why do you look so afraid? If you did all of this because you saw a chance to have something you wanted and took it, do you think I would be upset for that? You’re a Slytherin through and through and one I happen to be very nearly in love with already. You have given me everything I could have dreamed of in an apprenticeship and just admitted that I may in fact have a chance to have you, not only as my master, but maybe someday as my wizard. There is nothing for me to be upset about, Severus.”
He had kissed her then with all the relief and pent up fear that rushed through him. She wasn’t mad. She knew who and what he was, and she wasn’t walking away. Damn the consequences and rumors. She was his and before the end of their contract, their entirety of the wizarding world would know it.
xoXOXox