Snape In Love

Chapter 54

Come Love Me Again

I woke early on the morning of our wedding and, opening my eyes, found that Severus must have woken earlier still, for he was staring at my face. Lines on the outer corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled softly, and he leaned over to kiss me tenderly.

"I'm glad you came to get me last night!" he murmured, nuzzling my nose with his.

"Well, I couldn't sleep without you. And I don't believe in stupid superstition anyway."

"Mmm, I'm pleased to hear you talking sense again! Oh, and look outside, the storm's passed. Your screams last night must have chased it away!"

"It's you, it wouldn't dare rain on Severus Snape's wedding day!" I smiled, stretching against him happily and savouring the warmth of his body as it pressed into mine. "But I must insist you go back to my old rooms before Hermione gets here. We need to get ready alone, and besides, Remus has all your clothes, doesn't he?"

"Yes, and we wouldn't want to disappoint everybody by telling them we'd broken with tradition, would we?" he replied dryly.

"Why on earth did you let me agree to our spending last night apart?"

"Hah! Because you seemed - caught up in all the excitement! Hermione's enthusiasm was rather cloyingly infectious last night, I noticed. And anyway, I knew you'd never last the night without me!" he finished smugly, shifting his position slightly in order to capture my right nipple in his mouth and remind me of just how thoroughly he had proved his point to me mere hours earlier.

*************************************************************

The night before had been most enjoyable, I remembered. A morning audience with the Headmaster had informed us of the transfer of the Malfoys and Rita Skeeter to Azkaban prison, where they would await trial, although there had still been no sightings of Cornelius Fudge, or the errant carpet bag. While concerned that Fudge was still at large, and probably accompanying his master, I was heartened that my erstwhile abductors were no longer a threat, although Severus and I were somewhat concerned for Draco's welfare. Antrobus Firkin, who was to officiate at our wedding, had arrived after lunch and Severus had informed me that we were expected to attend dinner that evening so that he could make our acquaintance and discuss the ceremony with us.

Doctor Firkin was taller than Severus, more imposing even than Dumbledore, but his manner was kindly and his laughter sincere and frequent, so I was put immediately at my ease. He was seated directly opposite Severus, who answered his questions readily and with better grace than I had ever witnessed before. Remus, sitting to my left, muttered to me at one point,

"I've never seen Severus quite so amenable! Getting married must agree with him!"

I grinned back at him,

"Make the most of it, he'll only be doing it once!"

" - Ella, what do you think? You agree with me, don't you?"

Severus' insistent tone jolted me back to the conversation he had been having with Doctor Firkin.

"What?"

"The vows, Ella!" he frowned, irritated. "Do pay attention, this is important!"

"I'm sorry, love, I was talking to Remus. He was remarking on your good humour!"

"Hmm, was he, indeed?"

"So, what about the vows?"

"I was asking Severus whether or not you would be making your own, personal vows to one another publicly or privately, Miss Redemte?" asked Doctor Firkin, smiling amusedly.

"And I was saying we would prefer to keep them private, wouldn't we?" Severus emphasised meaningfully.

"Oh, right. Private meaning..?"

"Meaning private, obviously!" Severus snapped, "As in, for your ears only!"

"On the other hand," I began, "A marriage celebration is meant to be a public declaration of our love, and our intentions..."

Severus gave me the sort of look that any other bride would no doubt be most perturbed to receive on the eve of her wedding. However, I was not any bride, I was Severus' bride, so was not in the least disconcerted. Instead, trying to hide an indulgent smile, I squeezed his thigh under the table and continued soothingly,

"...But I agree, that particular part of the proceedings should be for the two of us alone to share and remember. We still make other vows during the ceremony, after all."

Mollified, Severus put his hand over mine and turned back to Firkin.

"Then it's settled."

"Very well," smiled the old wizard, and he began to explain to us the exact form the service would take, first forewarning us that the magic in the air on our wedding day would be a palpable, physical entity all its own, and would react to us and interact with us both, since it would be born from the chemistry that existed between us and the ancient mystical significance of the occasion. Severus and I exchanged knowing glances and I wondered whether anyone present, ourselves included, would truly be prepared for the pyrotechnic display I was sure our love would conjure.

We all retired to the staff room after dinner, sitting around a blazing fire with goblets of a particularly fine claret from Hogwarts' cellar. Conversation was informal and relaxed, all reference to Voldemort and his cohorts off-limits by tacit agreement, and I was glad of it. Severus spoke to Caius when required to do so but was cool and wary, and I held out only a slim hope that their differences could be resolved. Caius' attempts at humour were half-hearted, and by the end of the evening he had a dejected mien that made me want to drag both him and my fiancé to an empty classroom and lock them both in until they made their peace.

Through it all, Persephone slept on, and only when she began to stir did we decide it was time to retire.

"You aren't both going back to the dungeons, are you?" asked Hermione, her eyes wide with surprise.

"And where else would you suggest we go, Hermione?" asked Severus pointedly. "Do tell us. The library, perhaps?"

"You can't stay together, not tonight!"

Severus' arm slipped around my shoulders possessively as he asked,

"Why ever not?"

"It's bad luck to see the bride on her wedding morning, that's why!"

"Pah! A stupid Muggle superstition, I might have known you'd come up with something like this!"

"No, Severus, it's actually traditional," I said. "My mum and dad didn't see each other until the church. Well, actually, that's the way it was anyway back then, Muggles rarely used to cohabit before marriage... but even so, it'd be nice to at least pay lip service to tradition..."

He looked down at me, exasperated, and said,

"You do know this is the wine talking, don't you? I can't believe you're suggesting we spend a night apart!"

"Our last one ever!" I replied, smiling up into his eyes so that our lips were just inches apart. His frown softened and I could see a calculating half smile begin to play on his lips as he decided to humour me.

"Alright then. I'll sleep in your old rooms tonight. But I'll walk you home first."

"No! You might cheat!" chipped in Hermione, earning a raised eyebrow for her comment. I think several house points would have been removed had she still been a student. "Remus and I will see Ella and Persephone back to the dungeons. Sirius can escort you to Ella's old rooms."

"Oh, goody, my very own guard dog!" drawled Severus sourly. "Anyone would think you didn't trust me!"

We got up and pushed Persephone into the corridor outside the staff room. Severus closed the door behind us so that we could say our goodnights in private.

"This is a ridiculous idea!" Severus muttered as he pushed me against the wall and bent to kiss my neck. "I'll miss you!" he added, nuzzling my ear with his nose while one hand cupped my breast and the other ran down my spine and then pressed my abdomen hard against his.

"Severus!" I gasped, "What are you doing?"

"Making you realise the enormity of the mistake you made in there," he growled between kisses, pushing one leg between mine so that I could feel said enormity growing against my hip. His lips travelled along my jaw until they were covering mine hungrily. He kissed me long and hard, until they felt swollen and bruised, and my desire for him was a sharp, insistent ache at the juncture of my thighs. When at last Sirius opened the staff room door he released me with a suggestively whispered,

"I'll be dreaming of you all night!" and a wolfish smile, then he bent into the pushchair to give his daughter a gentle kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ella! Don't keep me waiting too long!" he ordered before turning on his heel and striding off down the corridor, calling over his shoulder with an impatient flourish of his hand,

"Come on, Black! Heel!" as the shadows swallowed him up, leaving me standing holding on to the handle of the pushchair, my legs wobbling.

"Are you okay, Ella?" asked Hermione curiously as she and Remus followed Sirius out of the staff room.

"Oh, yes!" I smiled breathlessly as I stared down the corridor along which he had disappeared.

After seeing us safely to our door, Hermione and Remus bade us goodnight and Hermione confirmed that she would come the following morning with our dresses and accessories. Remus established with me that all Severus' things had been moved out of our rooms already, since he had agreed to let Remus help him prepare for the ceremony. I was saddened, although not altogether surprised, that Severus had chosen Remus to fulfil that role over his brother, but I still held on to the hope that one day, when Caius' latest supposed misdemeanour was a distant memory, they might be reconciled.

Locking and warding the door after they had gone, I went to pick Persephone up and set about feeding her and readying her for bed. An hour later I was finally able to crawl into bed myself, but sleep eluded me. I had come to hate sleeping alone, as it only served as a reminder of less happy times. The slightly fuzzy, merry effect of several goblets of fine wine had been nullified the instant Severus had pinned me to the wall and bade me a provocative goodnight, and now I tossed and turned, reaching out to his pillow and pulling it to me restlessly.

"Severus was right, this is ridiculous!" I thought to myself, taking the emerald in my hand and muttering "Mirror Mirabilis!" impatiently.

Severus was lying in my old bed, his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. From my vantage point it appeared he was looking directly at me and I felt a familiar tingle in the small of my back as I looked into his eyes, the perspective making me wish I could dive into the emerald and plunge into those enticing black depths. Both of his hands were behind his head, and his chest was bare. The room was dark, so I saw him in monochrome, the greenish cast caused by the stone accentuating the pallor of his skin and the darkness of his eyes and hair. And the mouth-watering thatch under each arm, where I longed to rest my head, and his body hair, beginning with a light smattering of black across his chest, and then forming a thin black path leading down below the sheet. I devoured the sight of him, remembering our kiss outside the staff room and wishing I could run my hands across his chest, pull down that sheet...as I gazed on, he began to smile faintly and he kicked the sheet from his body.

"I hope you're thinking of me!" I thought as my eyes followed his hand as it travelled down that familiar black pathway. "Oh...oh, Severus!...Oh, damn it, I've had enough of this!"

I jumped from the bed and pulled on my robe, opening Severus' wardrobe and grabbing his teaching robes, the first garment that came to hand, before pacing to the nursery. Peering into her crib I satisfied myself that Persephone was soundly asleep, and muttered a quick charm that would alert me to her cries were she to wake. Then, hurrying to the fireplace in the living room, I flung a handful of Floo powder into the fire and gave my destination -

"My old rooms, basement, Hospital Wing!"

He was waiting for me as I stumbled out of the grate, catching me and pressing me to his naked body.

"You took your time!" he said dryly.

"Oh, how did you know?" I gasped feverishly, running my hands all over him and planting kisses across his chest.

"I told you not to keep me waiting too long! What happened?"

"I was trying to resist you!"

"Silly girl!"

"Mmm.... Come on, get dressed, put this on! I had to leave Persephone - hurry up!"

"Hurry up for what?" he teased.

"You're coming back with me!"

"Oh, I don't think so...what about your precious Muggle tradition?"

"You can come back here in the morning, no-one will ever know! Now come on!"

Laughing smugly he pulled on his voluminous black robes and gathered them around himself with one hand, while the other held mine as I dragged him towards the fireplace.

When we got back we paused just long enough to check that Persephone was still sleeping soundly, even though my absence could only have lasted two or three minutes. Then we fell on each other, attacking with abandon, continuing the passionate, teasing foreplay begun outside the staff room, knowing that it would end in a heady fulfilment for each of us this time, albeit not full congress.

"What do you think of your precious Muggle tradition now?" he growled, pulling me after him on to the fur rug before the still-glowing fire in our bedroom. Wrapping my arms around his neck I answered him by searching out his full, sensual lips, removing the self-satisfaction from his face by plunging my tongue into the wet, warm cavern of his mouth, turning his chuckle into a groan of pleasure and lust. "Ella..." he whispered against my mouth, long fingers searching out my nipples, brushing, stroking, tugging until I was half mad with want of him. He began to shrug one arm out of his robes, but I ached to be enveloped in him and besides, the soft silky fabric was pouring over my naked flesh enticingly.

"No! Keep it on!" I urged. He stopped his passionate ministrations long enough to draw back and look at me in mild surprise, but then he began to smirk wolfishly once more and bent his head to my neck, sucking on the soft skin below my ear until I squirmed under him, the tingling in my neck sending unbearable sensations to the small of my back. My hands roamed across his back and the fabric of his robe bunched under them. I slid them underneath and stroked, his muscles rippling under my caresses as he shivered with desire. His chest was pressed against mine now, and my nipples rubbed his soft skin. I could feel his turgidity as it brushed my thigh through his robe, and I grasped the folds of fabric, pushing them out of the way so that I could reach down to him and take him in my hand. He groaned as my fingertips brushed his head and as they enclosed it and I stroked the slick tip with my thumb, he threw back his head and hissed,

"Stop, I can't stand it!" With lightning fluidity he took my waist in his hands and lay on the rug, pulling me on to him so that I covered him, from head almost to toe. The dying embers of the fire gave off the softest of golden glows, limning his face in a delicate tracery of orange and red, accentuating the hollows of his cheeks and the line between his brows, darkening his coal-black eyes.

"Really, you ought to be used to this by now!" I mocked, reaching down between his thighs and lightly scratching the underside of him, granite in a velvet sheath.

"Ahh!" he moaned. "No more, it's too - ahh! - too much!"

I sniggered gleefully, and he put his hands around my waist once more.

"Let's see how you like it!" he muttered, flipping us over so that he assumed the dominant position. "I've been without you for too long, Ella, and while I know that it has to be, and that the reason for it is fast asleep in her cot, nevertheless I see no reason why I should let you get away with making it so hard for me!"

"I thought that was the whole point, love?" I said innocently, taking his hand and placing it on my breast. He closed his eyes and his frown line deepened as he tried to control his lust. "Cover me, Severus. Overwhelm me. Envelop me. Enslave me!"

"Oh, love!"

Taking his weight on one bended arm, he pulled his robe over us both and I felt the silky smooth material drape and slide itself across my bare skin as his hand fluttered down over my breast, along my waist and down over my right hip, then further, until the palm of his hand was circling over my thigh and delicately brushing my mound. I lifted my leg and wound it around his waist, trying to pull him closer to me. As I looked up into his face, grimly set in concentration and half in deep shadow, it was cast into sudden sharp relief by a brightly silver flash of lightning that illuminated the whole room. We both started in surprise, and an instant later the rain was pounding against the windowpane so hard that it drowned out the rushing in my ears caused by our shared passion.

Struck by a sudden and strange desire, I said,

"Let's open the window!"

"What?"

"Alohomora!"

"Ella! We'll get wet, the rain's pouring in!"

"I know! Now stand up."

Severus got to his feet uncertainly, and held out his hand to me. I led him over to the window and knelt in front of him, cold raindrops speckling my back and making Severus arch his back as they spattered over his chest and his thighs. His tumescence jutted upwards enticingly and I took his involuntary action as an invitation. He gasped and put his hands on my shoulders, gripping me tightly. I could feel his thighs tremble as I snaked my arms around his waist and under his robes, and I left off just long enough to breathe,

"Envelop me, Severus!" before embracing him fully once more. He took his robes and wrapped them around us both, covering me in a swathe of blackness, musky, manly darkness, sandalwood mixed with the scent of his classroom, cauldrons, sulphur, safety, Severus. He was inside me and all around me, and I adored him and paid him homage, and he sheltered me from the storm. At its height as he reached his own climax, the tempest drowned out his cries and he shuddered and arched against me as the lightning penetrated even the blackness of his robes and I could see the pale flesh of his abdomen with the crop of black hair underneath. When I was certain he was spent, when he bent over to bury his face in my hair, I released him, and he sank to his knees before me, gathering me into his embrace once more. We knelt together, wrapped around one another, and the rain lashed against our hair, covering it in tiny pearled droplets. Once his ragged breathing had calmed, he withdrew the warmth of his robe from me and murmured,

"Accio rug!"

The white fur rug was under the window now, and he lay me down on it gently before swooping down to gather a breast in his hand, laving it with his warm, wet tongue. The rain soaked me quickly, and the contrast between his heat and its cold left me gasping for breath. His wet skin slipped against mine now, more elemental even than the raging storm outside, and I lost myself in him, swam in him, floated out on the tide of his lust. He tormented me with his slowness, his thoroughness, searching every inch of my body with his questing tongue and insistent fingers, until I felt so open to him, so abandoned, that I could scarcely bear the bliss, and I screamed out his name over and over until my orgasm slammed through me. Afterwards he rested his head on my chest and with lazy flicks of his fingers murmured charms that closed the casement and dried both of us and the now bedraggled rug. Wrapped up in the warmth of both his robe and his embrace, I felt utterly safe, satiated, warm and small, and he covered my hair with tiny kisses until the thunder stopped.

An hour later, in bed at last, I was listening to his breathing as it steadied into the regular, deep rhythm of contented sleep, brushing tousled hair from his face, gazing at the way his long black lashes cast shadows on his cheeks. His arm was draped across my belly, bent at the elbow so that his hand could cup my breast, and his long fingers squeezed it reflexively as he slept, making the corners of his mouth curl periodically with satisfaction.

"Mmm," I thought as I drifted into a much-needed slumber with my lover in my arms, where he belonged. "Tomorrow night I am going to make you so glad you're a breast man..."

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And now, it was finally our wedding day. With a tender kiss, Severus murmured to me,

"Time for me to go, then. I'll see you at the lakeside. Don't be late!"

"It's Muggle tradition for the bride to be late!" I teased, kissing him playfully on the nose.

"Tradition be damned! You were keen enough to dispense with it last night! Just be there!"

He pulled on his robes, leaned over to give me one last breathtaking kiss, and then disappeared into the fireplace in a blinding green flash. I stretched and got out of bed, and then, for once, I rejoiced in my solitude, singing in the shower and dancing around the bedroom wrapped in a towel as I dried myself. I insisted Persephone join in with me after a while, and when I heard a businesslike rap on the door we shimmied across the bedroom to answer it.

It was Madam Pomfrey, come to collect Persephone, as she was to care for her for the day. After examining me and pronouncing me fit to resume a full physical relationship with Severus, she left me to put on my robe and feed Persephone while she busied herself in the nursery, gathering together all the equipment she would need for the day. At last, all three of us were ready.

"Are you sure you'll manage?" I asked anxiously, cuddling Persephone close to me, not wanting to relinquish her to someone else's care.

"I'll try my very best!" she said dryly, holding out her arms for her. "And you'll see her in less than two hours!"

"Less than two hours!" I repeated, my mind reeling as I began to smile widely. "Less than two hours, and I'll be marrying him!"

She laughed as I handed our baby to her.

"I never thought I'd see the day!" she marvelled. "Such a wonderful day!"

Restless after Madam Pomfrey had gone, I paced the room waiting for Hermione to come. Eventually I took out the emerald and sat cross legged in one of the window seats to see what Severus was doing, chuckling to myself as I saw that he was in the shower.

"Oh, well done Ella, perfect timing!" I murmured appreciatively as I watched.

Pouring shampoo on to his hair from a small crystal bottle, he raised his both his arms and tipped back his head as he rubbed the soapy liquid into his scalp. Jets of water pulsated against his body and I watched soapy water from his hair run in rivulets between his shoulder blades, down his back and between his taut buttocks. I sighed as he reached for the soap and a sponge, lifting first one arm and then the other, soaping himself thoroughly until the black hairs on his chest and under his arms were plastered to his skin. And I bit my bottom lip gently as I watched him clean his more intimate areas with a thoroughness that made me wonder, and not for the first time, whether he was performing for me, knowing I was there. Watching him dreamily, and deciding that I really should get the pensieve out again, in which I had first watched him shower, I was startled from my reverie by another loud knock at the door, and I shouted,

"Er - come in!"

It was Hermione, and I crossed over to greet her still clutching the pendant in my hand.

"Good morning!" she beamed, hugging me warmly then, nodding at the emerald which I dropped hurriedly to my breast, said accusingly,

"And what have you been doing? You aren't supposed to see him until the ceremony!"

"Oh, the temptation was too strong! And anyway," I smiled slyly, "he was in the shower!"

"Too much information!" she said firmly, holding her hand up as if to stop me speaking, and we burst out laughing.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

"No. No, not in the least!"

"No second thoughts?"

"Not a one!" I sighed happily.

"Good, let's get started then!"

Hermione went first. She looked so beautiful in her red and gold Grecian gown, and by the time I had charmed her unruly curls into a long, glossy ringlet, which started high on her head and coiled down between her bare shoulder blades, my heart swelled with pride and I don't think I could have felt more affection for my friend if she had been my own sister. The glow on her cheeks made any magical enhancement to her complexion unnecessary, and after we had both satisfied ourselves as to her appearance, she turned her attention to me.

My gown was now a perfect fit, and fell in soft iridescent folds across my hips and to the floor, making a shimmering train behind me as I walked. Hermione stared at me as I smoothed out the folds with my hand and said,

"Oh, Ella, it's absolutely unbelievable! And you look amazing! Come on, let's use kohl on your eyes and paint your lips that colour you said he likes..."

Hitherto I had not felt nervous in the least, but suddenly I was nearly ready, and Hermione had been using various charms to give me a head full of glossy corkscrew curls. As she busied herself walking around me while I stood patiently in the middle of the room, dotting jewels and gypsophila flowers in my hair, a vague feeling of apprehensiveness overtook me. It began as a gnawing sensation in my stomach and as she fussed around me I began to feel very sick. My stomach started to do somersaults, and beads of sweat broke out on my brow and shined my chest.

"Ella, are you okay? You've gone deathly pale!"

"I need to sit down. Oh, I feel sick!"

"Here, come on, sit down here. Head between your knees."

"I feel sick!"

"Do it, Ella! Now, deep breaths. That's it. Better?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"I'll get you a glass of water from the bathroom, hold on."

Hermione was soon back with the water and I sipped it gratefully.

"Look what else I found," she smiled, taking her hand from behind her back and producing a small crystal vial sealed with a rubber stopper.

"What's that?"

"I found it on the sink, next to the tooth mug. Look, the label's blank."

"Wait a minute, where's my wand?"

Hermione fetched it for me, and I tapped the label, saying

"Revelato!"

Words appeared, written in a familiar elegant copperplate hand.

"Ella, I prepared this in case you had an attack of nerves. It will simply cure the sickness, nothing more."

"What do you think he means by that?" Hermione puzzled. "He doesn't think you might still worry about him poisoning you, does he?"

"No, of course not!" I laughed. "He's probably trying to be funny. Or maybe he has the pre-wedding jitters, too!"

The writing disappeared, to be replaced by

"And why was Hermione in our bathroom?"

I laughed delightedly as that writing too vanished and was followed by,

"Hurry to me."

A thrill of excitement rushed through me, and I gulped back the contents of the potion joyfully, despite its bitter aftertaste. Soon I felt a warm glow spread outwards from my stomach, soothing my nausea little by little until it had passed completely. Then, I removed my engagement ring and transferred it to my other hand.

"Ready now?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yes!" I nodded. "More than ready!"

Hermione took from her bag a shimmering white satin cloak, hemmed and edged with enchanted gypsophila which sparkled as if they were made of crystal.

"This is to wear until we're on the boat. So that no one still left around the castle sees you until he does. You'll make more of an impact!"

"Oh, Hermione, it's lovely! Thanks!"

I fastened the cloak around my neck and Hermione lifted the hood to cover my hair. I left our rooms without a backward glance, and set off with Hermione along the deserted corridors to embrace my destiny.