Chapter Twenty-Three

The castle was very quiet. It had been a week since first the disappearance and then the sudden death and return of the Giant Squid. In class, the Professor's had been instructed to inform the students that the squid had simply fallen ill, and had passed due to natural causes. Meanwhile, Hermione had been frantically researching and doing tests on samples from the squid to determine the cause of death. So far, all she had come up with was a list of the contents of the squids' stomach. During this time too, she had to cope with all of her homework and study, as well as the resumed duties as Head Girl.

She only ever saw Severus at night, and then too, they had not had time to be intimate as by the end of the day they were both too exhausted to do anything but bathe and fall into his bed to curl around each other and sleep. Hermione had to say that she missed being intimate with the love of her life. It was her Birthday In just three days, and she couldn't wait! She would finally be 19 – not that it really mattered as she was already over the age of consent by both Wizarding and Muggle standards.

Severus had already told her to prepare herself for an outing that day. In fact, It was a Saturday, and she was excited to be going away for the weekend with Severus somewhere that he would no disclose to her. Of course this made it impossible to concentrate in class, as she now had to think about the weekend, the Giant Squid and her infernal Potions project. It was actually getting all a bit much, and to add to it, she had never been so tense or sexually frustrated in her life.

At Lunch time in the Hall that day, she had been forced to sit at the Gryffindor table and cast glances at her love as he scowled out over the student populace. All she wanted to do was run up to him, push him down on the Head Table and shag him right then and there for all to see. She smirked, thinking of everyone's horrified faces if she were to do such a thing. They would likely be horrified even if she were to touch the untouchable Potions Master.

'Hermione, I was wondering if you could help me with some Potions homework tonight,' Neville asked from beside her.

'Oh I might be able to help you for an hour or so straight after dinner, but then I have to go down to the Dungeons to work on my Project,' Hermione replied, looking back down at her sandwich.

'Thanks Hermione – Harry wanted to ask for help to, but he and Luna decided to go for a walk at lunch instead,' the boy said by way of explanation.

Hermione waved it off casually and smiled at poor Neville. 'It's alright, Nev. I will help the both of you tonight, but I want you to write something up during your free period after lunch, both of you. Then tonight I will look through them and make suggestions where needed,' she said simply.

'Thanks Hermione, you're really the greatest,' Neville said with a shy smile.

Hermione nodded and decided to leave her sandwich and head up to the Restricted Section to find something for her Potions Project. She remembered something from the night before when she was reading in her room, and wanted to look up on it. Patting Neville on the shoulder, she left the table with her bag slung over her shoulder, and left the Great Hall. She arrived at the Library and nodded at Madam Pince and gestured to the back of the Library. The Librarian nodded back and smiled at the Head Girl, who immediately retreated.

She quoted the password softly and entered, closing the entrance behind her before heading into the book stacks. It was eerily quiet there as usual because not many students had permission to go into the Restricted Section, and none of the students had another means of gaining access. She perused the bookshelves and traced her finger along the spine of a book. Suddenly, there was a presence behind her, and she felt warm lips touch the back of her neck where it was exposed due to the braid her hair was plaited into that day.

'Severus,' she breathed, as arms wrapped around her.

She reached her arms up and looped them around his neck as he pressed against her back, his arousal evident against her bum. His lips fell to her throat and her kissed and suckled until there was guaranteed to be a love bite there. She moaned and arched back into him, urging him to touch her all over.

'Please… Sev…' she said breathlessly.

'Patience, my love,' he murmured low, his hand cupping her small breast through her school robes.

'Gods Severus – I need you!' she moaned, grabbing his other hand, and placing it on her thigh beneath her robes and urging him to hike up her skirt and pleasure her – make love to her.

'Saucy minx, propositioning your Professor amongst the bookshelves in the Library,' he growled, spinning her around and capturing her lips in a scorching kiss.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, fisting a hand in his hair and tangling her tongue with his. She was like a starving woman, desperate for the sustenance that only he could give her. They kissed and he lifted her up, pressing her against the bookshelf as she wrapped her legs around his hips. His hand worked its way into her robes and under her skirt, shifting aside her knickers so that he could stroke her damp lower lips with deft fingers. She moaned into his mouth, and he had the presence of mind to cast a temporary silencing charm and ward on the entrance to the section.

'Severus…' she gasped. 'Please, come into me!'

He chucked and quickly freed himself from his trousers and sliding his long, throbbing organ into her core. He stifled his own groan against her neck, and sucked on her flawless skin hard to stop him from growling any louder as he began to thrust into her. She was so damn tight and wet. Hermione knew that there was no way that she was going to last very long this time – it had been so long, and this was just too erotic.

Severus, too, knew that he was not going to last long this time, and placed his thumb on her clit to rub at it and speed up her climax so that he could release. She came trembling and panting around him, causing him to let go and spill into her perfect little body. Spent, he slumped against her and the bookshelves while he recovered. When he was breathing a little more regularly, he looked up at her beloved face and saw her flushed cheeks, and red lips from his attentions. Smiling at her, he leaned in and kissed his love tenderly, reminding her that he loved her.

When they broke the kiss, Hermione realized that his softened shaft was still lodged within her, and she loosened her legs around him and they parted; Hermione pulling her knickers back into place and readjusting her robes, and Severus tucking himself back into place and buttoning up. They both cast charms to remove the evidence of their coupling, and when they were done, they both looked almost the same as they had when they had entered the Library.

'I love you,' Hermione whispered to him as they embraced and kissed again.

He smiled and kissed her forehead. 'I love you too, sweet,' he replied, hugging her as tightly as he could without crushing her.

'I will see you later tonight, although I have to tutor Harry and Neville for a bit after dinner before I come down,' she said kissing his lips one last time.

'I will look forward to it,' he replied as she left the Restricted Section with the book she had come for originally, heading to her next class.

Hermione found herself in Transfiguration with Harry next, and on entering the classroom, he seemed to be smirking at her. She sat beside him and looked at him curiously, wondering what could be so amusing to him. He tapped her neck with his wand, casting a couple of concealment charms on the love bites that were scattered over her neck. Luckily, they had been the first to arrive, otherwise who knew what everyone else would say about it.

'Oh bugger – thanks for that Harry,' Hermione said with a blush as she rubbed her neck where the love-bites had been.

'It's alright, 'Mione. We all forget things sometimes,' he replied with a small glint in his eyes. 'How was your lunch time?'

'Fabulous,' she said breathlessly with a faraway look.

'Glad to here it,' Harry said, pinching the end of her nose as the rest of the class stumbled in, followed by McGonagall shortly after.

The rest of the day seemed to pass in a daze for her, with her thoughts lingering on being with Severus that night. She was going to make love to him until they were both exhausted that night if she had any day in it. Honestly, her Potion could wait – she was a desperate woman, and their tryst in the Library had only been a tease. Harry had noticed that she did not seem totally with it, but decided to leave her alone. He knew that by the next day she would be back to normal. But it did make him curious as to how Snape managed to do it.

That night at Dinner, Hermione ate hungrily, and returned to help Harry and Neville with their assignments which they had gotten started in the afternoon while Hermione had gone to Arithmancy. They all got together in the Gryffindor Common room instead of Hermione's chambers and sat around the fireplace in comfy chairs.

'Alright, let's see how you've done, Neville,' she announced, picking up his 3 feet of essay for her own dear Potions Master.

After reading through it, she made a few corrections on the side in note form and inserted a few extra things into it, but otherwise it was not too bad for Neville – of course it was an essay on the properties and uses of Mandrakes in Potions, and Neville had always been good at things that involved Herbology. She went on to read Harry's, which was actually a little worse off than Neville's, but by the time she had gone through it and adjusted and suggested things, everything on there was good enough for Harry to pass with at least a good.

'Hermione, you really are a gem,' Harry said, planting a brotherly kiss on her cheek as he hugged the breath out of her.

'Yeah, thanks 'Mione,' Neville added.

They all packed up everything, and Neville went up to his room after giving Hermione a short hug. Harry stayed back so that he could have a word with her. He really thought that she should mention that she was seeing someone to Neville so that he could move on and find someone else to love. Neville was just caught up because Hermione was really the only girl her talked to.

'Mione, I really think you should say something to let Neville know that you're seeing someone, I mean, you don't need to tell him that you're with Severus, but say something in front of him about another guy,' Harry whispered.

'I wanted to, but I thought I would talk to Severus first and ask him if I can tell Neville about us,' she replied seriously.

'That sounds like a good idea.' Harry said with a smile. 'So are you going to go down there tonight?'

Hermione nodded and smiled back at him dreamily. 'Oh I think so. We have been really busy lately and I just want to catch up him a little,' she answered and hugged Harry again. 'I will see you and Neville in the morning I suppose – so you'd better finish your essay because it's due first lesson tomorrow.'

With that, they parted and Hermione returned to her rooms and took a shower before dressing in a cotton nightie and slippers with a bathrobe wrapped around her, knowing full well that by the end of the night all of these items would not be on her person. Smiling, she went to the fireplace and Flooed to Severus' chambers. As soon as she stepped out, he was on her with hot kisses all over her face, neck and finally her mouth, his tongue branding hers. They made it to the couch where she made him sit, and then carefully placed herself sideways on his lap.

'Sev – we need to have a talk, and I can't concentrate if we're doing anything,' she said breathlessly, stroking his cheek.

He smiled at her, pulling her closer and snuggling his face into her shoulder and kissing it gently before nodding against her. 'Go on love,' he said softly, hugging her tightly, but before she could begin he pressed his fingers to her lips to halt her. 'By the way, I am sorry about the Library at lunch. I just got carried away – I have missed you quite a bit my pet.'

Hermione grinned at the memory. 'I rather enjoyed that actually, so if anyone is a nymphomaniac, then it's me,' she replied with a small giggle as he grinned himself and kissed a ticklish path down to the valley between her breasts through her nightie. 'Come now, Severus – I still need to talk to you.'

He placed one last lingering kiss there and looked her in the face and nodded. 'Go on, love. If you can withstand me thus far then it must be important,' he said in a dark, teasing tone.

'Well, Harry and I were talking today, and I think I might need to tell Neville that I am – involved with someone…' she said, her voice trailing off as she looked at him imploringly. 'I really don't want to have to lie to Neville, because he is a good friend, but I don't want to lead him along. Sev – I want to…'

'You want to tell him about us?' Severus asked slowly.

'Yes, I do. He deserves to know the truth, and he is trustworthy enough not to tell anyone about it – no matter how hurt he might be by the news,' Hermione said, cupping his face in her graceful hands. 'I promise that I will be careful and that Neville won't say a thing. Please Severus…'

'Of course you can tell him love. I can't say that I know the boy all that well, but his parents were very good people who were trustworthy and kind,' Severus answered seriously with a gentle kiss.

Hermione smiled beautifully at him and hugged him so tight he didn't think he would be able to breathe. She kissed him hard and straddled him then, stripping off her bathrobe as she did this. Now Severus knew that he had her full attention and wrapped his arms around her and stood with her in his arms so that he could carry her to his bedroom that he hoped would be theirs one day. They made love twice before falling asleep sated and spent, the silky sheets and blankets covering their bodies.

Hermione fell asleep straight afterwards, but Severus wasn't quite ready to sleep. He stared at her and stroked her hair lovingly. She was perfect to him, and he was going to prove it to her one day soon. With that final thought, he fell asleep curled around the woman he loved.

A/N – Oh my goodness it has been so long since I have updated and I am so ashamed of myself for neglecting. As I have mentioned before I was preoccupied, but now everything is as it should be. I hope to update again soon, although this story is not finished just yet. Check out my blog which is under my homepage for updates on these stories and how everything is coming along! Until next time, please read and review! Brandy