Chapter 4. Anything

-S-

He felt as though he'd been swimming in the glimmers of her eyes for hours as they lay on the couch, entwined. Every inch of Hermione's body was hot against his skin but he dared cover them with a blanket in case she was cold. She snuggled in, placing her head under his chin and nuzzling into him. Her knee was awfully close to his throbbing member, as he reeled from the affair. It had been a long while since he'd had the pleasure of a witch's touch and it showed with his body's unfortunate need to finish quickly.

"Severus," Hermione muttered, her breath brushing over his chest. The professor gently placed his hand on the witch's back, close to but not touching her rear, as he hummed encouragingly. Propping herself up on her hand, she looked down at him, her wild curls falling about her face, a smile painted on her lips. Hermione leaned down and kissed him gently, before whispering against his lips, "if you're going to come back to the wizarding world, you must get rid of that moustache."

"My moustache? I quite like it actually, don't you?" The wizard retorted with a chuckle. The witch leaned back on her legs, her breasts fully exposed, quickly ridding him of his humourous mood.

"It makes you look older," she taunted, her hand on one calf, the innermost part of her thigh resting on the other. Any adjustment made would result in her folds being pressed directly against his shin.

"I am older," he choked out before taking a sharp intake of air.

"You know what I mean," her voice nearing a purr as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Also, your hair is far too light."

"You prefer the dark greasy hair, do you?" He began to wonder if the desire for him to look as he would have as her professor came from a lingering fantasy that developed long before he had died.

"I prefer you," she stated, leaning forward and drawing her hips into the air. She kissed him once again and he found his hands trailing down to her hips. In one swift movement, she stood up from the couch and reached for her shirt, pulling it over her head. "However, the world will expect you to look much the same as you did and that starts with your moustache and your hair." With her absence, cold rushed over him so he too grabbed for his pants and trousers.

Fastening the button on his slacks, he walked over the mirror handing above the narrow table by the front door. He looked at his greying moustache and his grey and blonde locks and smirked. "Alright, so I'll fix it," with a flick of his wand, the glamour he had placed on his appearance when he first went into hiding fell away. His long black hair hung about his face as though nothing had changed, though perhaps a bit cleaner as he was no longer hunched over a cauldron all day. His upper lip void of hair, as he liked to keep it, and his nose as prominent as ever. That part of the moustache had been his favourite, as it disguised the size of his snout. It also helped to draw attention away from the wrinkles digging trenches in his face, making him feel even older now than with his greying features.

Hermione's face appeared beside his shoulder, as no level of tiptoes would allow her to rest her chin on his shoulder. The witch snaked her arms around his waist and dipped into the waistband of his pants. He groaned as she gripped his cock, stroking it as much she could. "Now that's the Severus I know," her whisper broke him, and he turned swiftly on his heel. In nothing but a shirt, he spun her around and pressed her against the wall.

His fingers toyed with her dripping warmth before he pushed down his pants and trousers, then positioned himself at her entrance and slammed into her. A gasp escaped her lips as he thrust into her, gripping her thighs and holding them apart, her feet nearly off the ground. No one had ever made him feel so ravenous and primal, her perfume did something to him that was unexplainable. She had never been one to tease to play as he'd known her in adulthood. Hermione was calm and calculated, as if everything had to be perfect. An assessment he'd made of himself as well.

Severus felt Hermione grip his wrist, releasing his hold on her leg and guiding it up to her hair. Obligingly, he seized a fistful of her curls and pulled on them hard, releasing an erotic cry from the witch. He moved his other hand to play with her swollen clit as she pressed her palms against the wall for support. His trusts quickened as her gasps become shallower.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, her weight of her hanging off his shoulders as her legs seemed to give out from under her. He released her hair and leaned against the wall to compensate. "I'm cumming," the younger witch called, her head falling back as her body shook, her warmth throbbing against his fingers. He pleasure sent a jolt down to his own member which was begging for a release he hadn't quite reached. As Severus unsheathed himself from her, she turned around and slid down onto her knees. "It's my turn," Hermione murmured before taking his length in her mouth. Her tongue flicked against the head, sending shivers up his spine as he grabbed onto her hair once more. She seemed to make quick work of him, massaging the length shaft she couldn't fit in her mouth, and sent him spilling into her throat. To his pleasant shock, she swallowed his substance and sucked out every last drop until he was completely clean.

Standing up, she placed her lips gently against his. "Thank you, Professor." This was definitely a fantasy she'd been brewing, he confirmed closing his eyes. He tried to think of her back then, in his classes. Her hand always raised with the right answer on the tip of her tongue. He hadn't thought much of her then. She was a student, and he was her teacher, he had other things to worry about than teenage girls fawning over him. Which was another thing he hadn't thought of much.

-H-

Looking up into his eyes as the taste of her words began to rot in her mouth. "Thank you, Professor"? What am I trying to do? We're both adults and now I've just gone and reminded him I was once his student. Fuck. Her mind began to spiral as the silence dragged on. Hermione didn't know what to do with herself. Do I just keep looking at him? Do I turn away? Look down? Apologize? What is he thinking? What was I thinking? Her mind was silenced when he closed the seemingly growing distance between them and kissed her softly.

"You're welcome, Miss Granger," he purred against her lips. Oh fuck, heat washed over her. Why did this have to be my fantasy?

A laugh bubbled up and out of her mouth, a smile pushing out her lips as she rested her forehead against his collarbone. "Oh, Severus, how you humour me." She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him closely. The wizard took the opportunity to kiss her cheek and hold her close. "Thank you for doing this, for agreeing to come to court and helping me win this." Tears began to scratch her throat and prick her eyes. "I know this can't be easy, coming out of hiding. You're sacrificing so much for me."

"I would sacrifice anything for you." Her heart hurt and he pressed herself just a bit closer to him.

She wanted to pour her heart out to him, share her every thought and feeling. He had been her closest friend through the hell Ronald had put her through. There were doubts, moments where she thought it had been her fault he'd strayed. She hadn't given him the hoards of children he begged for, put her job first, maybe that's why he had to look elsewhere for company and comfort. Severus had assured her that if he had gone to bed with another woman, there was nothing Hermione could have done to stop him. Ronald would have come up with some justification to get what he wanted and that was just the way he was.

The comfort his words brought her allowed her to sleep and eat and get through a workday when she had done nothing but sit and worry before. For once, she wanted to bring him peace, but instead, she pried him from his peace and solitude and demanded he helped her once more. Am I so greedy? She wondered, still buried in his arms. He would sacrifice anything for me, but should he have to?

"Are you crying?" He hummed. Hermione felt his deep voice resonate through her bones and she shivered.

"Hm?" She asked, pulling away and looking up at him, feeling the wet on her cheek. "Oh, I suppose I am." Hermione wiped what was left of the tears from her cheeks and sniffled while Snape's expression morphed into one of concern.

"Would you like to share what is bothering you?" Shaking her head in response, she leaned back into him, into her escape.

"I never thought I would need anyone as I need you," the witch confessed in a shaky breath, tears once against threatening her eyes.

"And I, you, Hermione," he sighed, resting his cheek against her head, pulling her tighter to his chest. "You are everything I didn't know I needed."

-S-

He took Hermione to bed, her exhaustion over the proceedings messing more with her emotions than he had originally assumed, and she passed out nearly immediately. It felt wrong to snuggle up in her bed beside her, having not been invited to stay and how the Weasley boy had very likely slept there recently enough. So Severus sat on the edge, one foot on the ground, and stared out the window at the stars twinkling. It was a clear night and the moon was waning, leaving an eery glow over the houses on her street.

He let his mind wander a bit, getting lost in the moment. Leaning back against the headboard, the ran through scenarios of what might happen when he was presented in court as a witness. Naturally, he jumped to the worst possible case of them immediately throwing out her case entirely, as her only witness to the abuse came from a walking dead man. Banishing that from his thoughts, he attempted to paint a picture where Hermione won her divorce, leaving Weasley with nothing to show of it, except charges of domestic abuse. Will Hermione stay with me? he pondered, trying to picture a world where they walked down to the market, hand-in-hand, as if everything were normal. As if he hadn't risen from the grave.

There would be relentless questions, he determined, regardless of how the trial went. How had he managed to survive? Who did they bury? How did he evade notice for as long as he had? Questions he wasn't prepared to answer. He wanted peace. After years of serving a dark wizard and bowing to the whim of another wizard who had ultimately asked him to kill him. It wasn't as though Severus had managed all his years with Voldemort without killing some innocents. He had been dark once, fully dark, and it had led to many mistakes. But he thought he had redeemed himself, worked hard for the Light in such a way that the Dark never suspected. He had saved the chosen one and his friends on numerous occasions. While he never quite forgave himself for Lily's death, he had managed to form a life that would have pleased his friend.

He had a cat, something Lily would have found immensely amusing, and a flat away from the city. He no longer thought himself above the bullies, but instead learned to forgive, as she had begged him to in their younger years. He'd even helped Harry on his run from the law, albeit anonymously. Although now he couldn't quite picture his childhood love joining him in this life as he had wanted for years. Now anyone other than Hermione just didn't fit, no matter how hard he tried to imagine his future, it was never without the curly-haired know-it-all he had grown to love so immensely. Even his cat had grown fond of her.

Miss Granger, the image of his cat pacing around her food dish made Severus spring from the bed. Hermione tossed a bit at the movement, grumbling something before falling back to sleep. Tip-toeing from the room, the wizard made his way downstairs and to the front door before noticing a figure standing at the window, peeking in. Severus retreated to the shadows, praying he hadn't been seen, as he watched Ronald Weasley squint through the fog she had obviously placed on the glass to avoid this exact incidence.

I could apparate back to the flat, get the cat her dinner then come back, it would avoid the interaction with Mr. Weasley, but it would also draw magical attention to myself. I haven't apparated in years, would I even be able to manage? I can't very well waltz through the front door and take the tube home, could I? That blasted cat...

"Severus?" Hermione's croaky voice made Severus nearly jump from his skin. He placed a finger over his lips and ushered her over to his side. Weasley still had his nose pressed against the pane, his breath fogging it up. "Oh good gods," Hermione grumbled under her breath. "Why can't he just leave me alone?" She wrapped her arms around his waist, as if for protection, and he placed a hand over hers.

Severus paused a moment, not wanting to be insincere to Hermione's plight. He noted though, that he remembered a rather sneaky orange half-Kneazle that followed her around when she was a student and decided she would understand. "I need to get back to my flat, my cat will be pissed if I don't feed her soon," he finally offered under his breath.

"Right," Hermione paused, her gaze still transfixed on the grumbling oaf outside her home. "I have a direct floo to my office at the Ministry in my office upstairs. We can grab a bus from London and get you home within the hour, is that doable?" Severus didn't need much time to debate that particular suggestion.

"I'd rather not take a stroll through the ministry if I can avoid it," he grumbled. The image of night guards recognizing him and forcing his debut far earlier than intended. "I can take the underground from here just fine if he would just leave."

"I'll distract him," Hermione declared.

Severus turned, gripping her shoulders lightly. The determination in her eyes didn't waver as he looked into them. "No, he'll hurt you, I won't let that happen," he asserted.

"Severus, you've already said you'd sacrifice anything for me. I can protect myself against Ronald. Just go around back, I'll handle this." Hermione had always been brave, intelligently figuring her way out of dangerous situations she never should have been in. Severus now blamed Weasley for this, assuming she would have been just fine with just herself and the chosen one. Though frankly, she would have likely beaten Voldemort when she was 15 had it been up to her and her alone.

She continued to stand her ground, never breaking their eye lock. He wanted to say he could wait, that the cat could wait, but she was stubborn much like the witch standing before him, and he couldn't let his only pet suffer.

"I'll come back as soon as I can. I'll bring Miss-" Severus caught himself, clearing his throat before continuing. "I'll bring the cat back with me so that I won't have to leave again." Hermione softened at the sentiment, kissing his cheek. She is so stubborn. Even more so than I.

"Be safe," she whispered, straightening her back and inhaling sharply as she strode towards the door.

"You too, Hermione." Severus winced.

The wizard watched for a bit as she disappeared outside before walking to the back entrance, after grabbing his coat from the hook by the front door. It was crisp outside, the autumn already showing its colours. He crept towards the front, peering around the corner just as Hermione led the ginger inside.

His stomach churned, but he forced himself to leave the front lawn and rush down her street. It was quiet, only one car out on the road, but he quickly put up his hood in case anyone recognized his unglamoured appearance.

It was only a few minutes walk to the underground, which seemed to take far longer than he'd expected. He was desperate to get there faster, still tempted to apparate instead, get Miss Granger and go back to Hermione as fast as possible but it was not yet time to return to the world of magic.

Once boarded, he lost himself in thought, imagining his return, Hermione on his arm. The fear of judgement and hate melted when he imagined her by his side. She was comfort and home and - and I let her go out and face her cunt of an ex all alone. The thought made his rage bubble in his gut, mixing with guilt. He glanced up to see how many stops until he could get off, cursing how far away he lived from the witch.

-H-

"Ronald," Hermione grunted as she pushed the intoxicated ginger from her shoulder. "I want you to leave."

"I should have never have left 'mione," he slurred, pressing his weight against her. "You're the only girl I could ever love." Rolling her eyes, Hermione stepped back and let the ginger stumble. She wished he would have fallen, but he obviously wasn't drunk enough to lose his balance completely.

"Why are you here?" She demanded, her ex looking up at her with the puppy eyes that used to make her knees week. Now she simply stood a bit taller and narrowed her glare.

"I had the chance-" He hiccoughed. "I had the change to- hic- start a family- hic- with Pansy but-" He grunted through a sigh as he stumbled over to a wall to help keep himself upright. "I had the chance to be with Pansy, but I couldn't imagine the rest of my life without you as the mother of my children, 'mione." Hermione swallowed and stepped back a bit further.

"You think that because he picked me over some pug-nosed-" Hermione stopped herself, biting her tongue. "You think because you picked me over Pansy Parkinson, that I would take you back?" Her teeth clenched, she tried to take a calming breath.

"Well, yeah," he shrugged.

"Ronald Weasley, you should have picked me over her in the first place, ALWAYS," she screamed, her nails biting into the flesh of her palm. "I was your wife! Your friend! And you decided that you would rather be with some girl from school that you hadn't spoken to in years. That means something Ronald. That means you never loved me!" Hermione cried. "Well guess what Ronald, I never loved you either. NOW LEAVE!" She finally allowed herself to look at the expression on the ginger's face. He was crushed. Good.

With seemingly nothing more to add, he picked up his jacket from the floor and pulled open the door, slamming it behind him as he left. Quickly, Hermione ran to the door and locked it charming it shut for extra protection before collapsing on the floor in a fit of tears. "I hate him," she whispered, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Oh, gods I hate him!" She cried a bit harder.

Thanks for your patience as I get the muse back for my stories! Let me know your thoughts on where this should go, I need the help!