A Room With a View

Romance and Revelations

Severus took Hermione's outstretched hand and followed her into the bedroom. He saw that while he had been gathering wine and preparing the balcony, she had been equally busy inside. She too had made use of small glowing orbs, which she had charmed amber and levitated around the ancient four-poster to bathe it in their warm light. She led him toward that bed, where both duvet and afghan had been removed and folded on the chest at the foot of the bed and fresh sheets had been turned down. The room was staged for seduction, and his own personal siren was here to drag him under her spell.

She paused before the bed, turning to silently remove his clothing. He watched, fascinated, as she methodically stripped away each item of clothing, button by maddening button, leaving him standing before her in nothing at all as the chilled night breeze blew through the room from the open door. Curls and night dress stirred as she traced warm hands over his shoulders, his arms, his pecs. He caught one of those fluttering strands and the silken tress between his fingers, inhaling the scent that he'd created for her, the scent that communicated her desire to him in turn.

Severus raked his gaze down her body, absorbing every detail. "Sometimes I look at you and you're so lovely it hurts."

Hermione simply smiled and took a step backward to sit on the bed, drawing him with her.

Severus followed her to the bed, but couldn't seem to stop himself from babbling the thoughts that were running through his head. "I don't know what I did to attract you all those years ago. I don't know why you're here with me now, really. But I can't help but think that I should be the most grateful man on earth to be... in your affections." He drank her in, skimming his hands down her arms and leaning toward her to press a kiss to her neck. His lips found the beat of her pulse there, and he suckled at it, licked at her collarbone, dragged his teeth against her skin. He felt himself hardening as he felt her shudder in response.

"I don't want your gratitude, Severus. I want you," she said. "I am with you because I care for you. I am attracted to you because you're brilliant, and sex on a stick, and thoughtful, and more caring than you'll ever let anyone know." She drew a shaky breath as he nipped at the soft juncture between her neck and her shoulder. "For such a brilliant man, you can be rather slow sometimes."

Severus drew back and looked at her with a little smile on his face. "I think slow is exactly how you'll like me tonight, pet."

With that declaration, Severus returned to nuzzling at her neck and brought his hands to her shoulders. Inch by torturous inch, he drew the straps of her dress down until they caught on her elbows. The silken fabric of her dress clung to her breasts for just a moment before catching on the rapidly tightening nipples beneath, then falling to puddle at her waist. "Exquisite," he murmured, moving his mouth toward one pink bud.

Hermione gasped as his lips closed around her nipple, and he moved his hand toward her other breast. Severus found himself desperate to give her as much pleasure as he could tonight, to show her what he was feeling through touch and taste where his words failed. He may have been terrified of this newly rediscovered level of connection to his lover, but it also exhilarated him. With a low growl, he worried her bud between his teeth, drawing a long moan from her throat.

Severus continued to pinch and roll a tight peak in one hand as he suckled at the other, but placed his unoccupied hand at her waist to ease her onto her back on the bed. The new position allowed her hips to rise off the bed, and he was nearly driven spare by her rhythmic undulations as she pressed against his thigh. He broke contact with her nipples, drawing back to admire his handy work. They stood away from her body like proud, red soldiers.

Reminding himself of his own promise to go slow, Severus pressed a kiss to her sternum, bending to draw the black gown down her legs and letting it drop to the ground. She regarded him through hooded eyes as he kissed his way down her torso, dipping his tongue into the hollow of her navel, tracing hot trails down her abdomen and hips and toward her sweet smelling sex.