Snape In Love

Chapter 14

It was much later when I awoke. The room was illumined in candlelight, and Severus had evidently magicked us under the crisp white sheets while I slept. He was sleeping soundly, and I watched his chest rise and fall steadily. One arm was flung above his head, the other stretched out towards me. We had drawn apart in our sleep, but I didn´t want to risk waking him up by returning to his embrace. I contented myself with gazing at his sleeping form for a while, his long, lean body outlined by the sheets. The flickering candlelight cast dancing shadows around the room, playing on his face, calm in repose, highlighting his noble features and bringing into relief his high cheekbones, made too sharp by Voldemort´s hand.

I sighed, and slipped silently off the bed, padding into the bathroom and closing the door.

Several minutes later I was relaxing in Severus´ huge claw-footed bath tub, up to my neck in a delicious concoction of bath oil and bubbles which were scented with bergamot and citrus. I stretched languorously and smiled to myself as I looked across at the shower, remembering watching Severus in it, and I imagined reliving that scene for real, as a participant instead of a frustrated observer

I heard the bed in the next room creak, and his voice called

"Ella? Ella!"

Before I could answer, the door to the bathroom was flung open and a naked Severus stood before me, hair askew, panic in his eyes.

"Oh, you´re in here," he said, composing himself. "I thought you´d gone," he complained. "I woke up and you weren´t there."

"You won´t get rid of me that easily. Especially not now!" I smiled as I sat up. "Come on, get in with me."

He sat on the edge of the bath, trailing his hand in the water.

"I don´t usually take baths, and this one´s very...bubbly," he muttered distastefully.

"Yes, you prefer cold showers, don´t you?" I smiled.

He gave me a penetrating look.

"Ah, the Pensieve. Did, er, did you like it?"

"I used it every day while you were away. Now get in before I pull you in."

He raised an eyebrow, and soon he was sitting between my legs, leaning on me, up to his chin in bubbles and resting his head on my chest as I stroked his hair.

"See, it´s nice, isn´t it?" I said softly as he began to relax.

"I suppose so. Since you´re here. Otherwise it´s a spectacular waste of my time," he grumbled.

"You´re incorrigible, d´you know that?" I laughed. "Don´t ever change!"

He twisted his head to look up at me, perplexed.

"But I am changed. You´re changing me. I´m used to solitude, not sharing. This isn´t like me at all, it´s like- oh, I don´t know, waking up!"

"Well, don´t go getting soft on everyone- save it for me!"

Our lovemaking had given us both raging appetites, so we decided to join the rest of the school for dinner that evening. After towelling one another dry with huge green bath sheets, trying hard not to get too sidetracked and end up back in bed, we dressed, and eventually made it to the Great Hall through the secret passage at a run, emerging by the staff table panting and dishevelled. An extra place had been laid between Remus and Sirius, so that Severus and I could sit together. A hush descended on the Great Hall as the students noticed our entrance, and Dumbledore took the opportunity to announce,

"I think we would all like to take the opportunity to welcome our Potions master back to the land of the living!" leading a round of genuine applause form the students and staff.

Severus started to look slightly sick, and reacted to Remus´ hearty slap on the back with a flinch and a rather tight-lipped smile.

"Ella, get me out of here!"

"Not a chance!"

"Why did we come here tonight?"

"We were hungry!"

"Well, I seem to have lost my appetite!" he hissed, as the applause died down.

"That´s funny, Snape, you look to me like you´ve just found your appetite!" winked Sirius, earning a sour look in return.

I reached under the table surreptitiously and stroked his thigh. He leant towards me and whispered,

"Stop it, we´re being watched. Miss Granger."

"Her and the rest of the school, Severus. Face it, everyone knows about us now. Your credibility´s flown out the window" I said happily.

"Hmph," he said, but I saw a faint smile play around his lips.

I looked across to the Gryffindor table to see Hermione, the Head Girl, looking back at us. Except, no, she wasn´t looking at me, or Severus...she looked pensive, a little sad, and I realised she was looking at Remus Lupin! Was he the forbidden fruit she had been referring to a year ago, when she´d found me in the library? I felt for her, and wondered why I´d never recognised it before.

As the hall was emptying after dinner, I turned to Severus and said,

"You look tired. You need to rest. Madam Pomfrey doesn´t look pleased with you at all."

Paler than usual, Severus nodded in agreement.

"Get a good night´s sleep, and I´ll see you in the morning."

"What? Wait a minute, where are you going?" he asked, indignant.

"Well, back to my rooms, of course"

"Of course!" he repeated, outraged.

"Listen to me," he muttered in an undertone, gripping my arm tightly and drawing me towards him, "the only place you´re going is back to my rooms with me. Understand? I don´t intend to spend the night alone, and I´m surprised you find the prospect so appealing!"

"Severus, you´re hurting me," I said calmly, "and you can stop talking to me as if I´m one of your students. Go to bed, I´ll still be here when you wake up tomorrow, Now, goodnight," and I reached up to kiss him briefly before leaving him behind me, speechless with surprise, Remus and Sirius trying not to snigger.

Hermione reached the door just as I did, and as she looked back at the trio she said to me,

"I bet that wasn´t easy!"

I smiled. She was mature beyond her years, and always so knowing.

"No, it wasn´t, but it´s for his own good."

"And not just his physical well-being, either, I´ll bet! You want to assert yourself, don´t you?"

I stared at her, amazed.

"And how did you get to know so much about men?"

She looked back through the doors once more, to where Lupin still sat.

"It´s all theory. I just wish I could put it into practice."

I drew her into an alcove in the entrance hall where there hung a large tapestry with a bench underneath.

"Does Professor Lupin know how you feel?"

She looked at me in surprise.

"No! I mean, yes, I think he does. He arranged it so that I don´t have any classes with him this year. Being Head Girl, I think maybe he doesn´t want me to make a fool of myself, mooning over him in class."

I smiled and said,

"Or maybe it´s the other way round, and he didn´t want a pupil-teacher relationship with you any more, now you´re of age. You are seventeen now, aren´t you?"

She looked up at me, eyes widened, and said,

"So in six months, when I leave Hogwarts, he thinks I might be able to look at him as someone to go out with, rather than my old teacher?"

"Maybe!" I smiled.

Pleased with myself, I went back to my rooms and readied myself for bed. I slipped on the blue satin nightgown into which Madam Pomfrey had changed me in Severus´ chambers, and brushed my hair. I had a feeling I would not be on my own for very long that night, and so I left my door unlocked and got into bed.

Sure enough, after a very short time, the door was opened silently and Severus crept in. Disrobing without a word, for he thought I was asleep, he climbed into bed beside me and held me close, sighing deeply as he buried his face in my hair as it spread out on the pillow at my back. Snuggling into his warm embrace, I covered his hand with mine as it rested on my breast, and I listened to his breathing as it became heavy, and he slept.

I woke early the following morning, and I savoured the sensation of his hot breath on my neck as he slept on. His body, pressed against mine, felt warm and smooth, and his arm was still clasped around me, cupping my breast. I didn´t want to move. However, I wanted to catch Remus at breakfast before his classes started, to sound him out about Hermione and make sure I hadn´t been on completely the wrong track the night before.

Severus stirred as I slid from his embrace, rolling on to his stomach and pressing his face into my pillow.

"However will you breathe?" I thought fondly as I gazed at his unruly black hair, which covered all of his face, apart from his now opened mouth, and his broad back. I knew he was naked underneath the sheets, and I was sorely tempted to climb back into bed and wake him up, but instead I continued to dress, and congratulated myself on my self-control. I scribbled a quick note and left it next to him in the pillow, and slipped out, closing the door silently behind me.