FIC: Smouldering Luck (NC-17)

[iulia_linnea]

Title: Smouldering Luck
Type: Fic
Age-Range Category: Five
Pairing: Severus/Hermione
Author: phoenix_fancies
Beta(s): auntlynnie
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Ten years after the final battle, Severus and Hermione meet at Hogwarts for the Remembrance Day festivities. Ever the savvy potioneer, Severus finds fate turning in his favour.



It was a fine spring day for those gathered on the tenth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. The castle was done up for the occasion, and many a witch's hat was traded in for something of a more creative or celebratory statement.

While robes of every colour made the attending crowd appear as a field of flowers, Severus Snape watched the proceedings from just inside the Forbidden Forest, a shadow of black on black amongst the trees.

He had been invited, and he had even considered attending. However, although time and distance had changed some minds, he didn't feel quite confident enough to attend properly quite yet. Severus, himself, needed a bit of convincing after all that had happened during the first four decades of his life.

As the last of the speakers - someone Severus had always found to be long-winded - took the lectern at the head of the crowd, Severus let his eye wander over the crowd.

It was a large gathering, probably the largest since they had begun doing these five years ago. There were children getting restless whose only notion of all that had happened would be from their history lessons.

While some were taller, seven or eight years old, perhaps, more and more were young. The baby boom was already beginning.

Arthur and Molly Weasley sat a bit back from the front, wrangling some of these children. He could easily pick out Potter's children. They were the only dark-haired ones among the lot.

The audience began to clap a moment, and Severus turned his gaze back to the raised dais. However, the speaker began to circle his point once more, and Severus took a deep breath. Many in the crowd seemed to do the same.

Seated behind the speaker was Harry Potter, the hero of it all. Ronald Weasley sat to his right, a pretty and very pregnant lady on Weasley's right, seeming to bask in the fame by proxy. Ginevra Potter, formerly Weasley, sat on Potter's left side. Hermione Granger was the third of the heralded trio, sat next to Ginevra. Granger appeared to be there without a guest, however. The chair next to her was vacant but for a floating scroll. Severus could see a portrait drawn on it, and although he wasn't close enough to see the detail, he suspected the portrait was of him.

This was optimal for Severus, and his next move.

Hermione Granger had saved his life, for better or for worse. The snake hadn't killed him. Instead, it had paralysed him as snakes sometimes did so they could return at their convenience.

Granger had doubled back for him after it was all over and finding Severus not quite dead, got him to a safe place. After, having worse than no reputation and no idea what he was supposed to do with this new lease on life that he'd never anticipated having, Severus had moved to Wales as soon as he was granted parole from Healers (and the Ministry).

He found a Muggle restaurant that looked like it would employ folks who couldn't really provide a CV. Severus could chop, boil, or stir as well as anyone. He quickly rose from the noble role of dishwasher to second sous chef. While the fare when he had arrived had been more of a glorified chippy with a fancied-up dining area, Severus had told them that a pot of soup was always in order, and it could be made of scraps if need be. Then, as his appetites returned, Severus insinuated more than a few dishes onto the 'specials' board.

After five years, they tried to make him the first sous chef, but Severus refused, even threatening to leave if they pushed the matter. Since he was some kind of 'wizard' in the kitchen, managing to shine up and fix nearly anything he set his sights on, they accepted his conditions.

It had been a cathartic time, building something up with his hands as he put himself back together.

In the beginning, being on his feet for a full shift would knock him on his arse from the time he got home until the time he had to leave for work again. Severus nursed himself back to life as he reimagined the restaurant's menu.

Now, he was considering opening a restaurant in the wizarding world and starting an actual life. It would be a very intricate matter, all things considered. Those who had reviled him were less fervent, now, but he could not put his stake in the ground of 'they don't hate me so much.' He needed a partner, maybe one who would procreate with him. Beyond those who were directly against him, most wizards and witches generally preferred not to think about Severus at all. Very few took a positive interest in him.

Severus hoped the small few who had checked in on him would be the bedrock of the next phase of his life. Granger had been among them. Seeing her attending the ceremony sans partner, Severus was ready to take the next step in his plan: courtship, of a sort.

Severus did not relish the idea of taking up with a witch his own age. There was, invariably, simply too much history there. The thought of dating someone half his age or less made him uneasy or perhaps even nauseous. It also made him annoyed. He did not particularly want to listen to the prattle of a twenty-two-year-old, no matter how big her tits may be.

This left witches who had come through Hogwarts while he had been a professor there. The resulting pool of potential paramours was not the most optimistic.

However, Granger clearly wasn't popping out Weasley babies with Ronald as had seemed the probable outcome. She had saved Severus's life. They were more than a bit cordial - definitely not strictly polite in their doings which included post both magical and Muggle. If Severus knew anything about her, which he thought he did after nearly 20 years of exposure to her, he thought she might be keen to try, at least.

He moved around the edge of the Forbidden Forest toward the spot on the north side of the castle where they had taken to finding each other after these things and waited. Hermione Granger could not get through this thing fast enough. So many of her friends and peers had children and people were starting to notice that Hermione was slow to follow suit.

What else had she been doing, anyway? Saving the wizarding world? Fruitlessly searching for her parents in Australia? Returning home to their house in England to find them there? Reconnecting with them and taking the time to let them fully into what had been happening? That's right; she'd been doing nothing at all whatsoever.

As she and her parents got to know each other again, and she let them take care of her, something that had been a real challenge after she had been taking care of Harry and Ron all this time, Hermione had had a bit of a collapse.

She still put on a strong front for her two best friends and all the wizards and witches she considered as good as family, but Hermione had moved home when she was twenty-one, and had only gotten a job when she was twenty-six, moving into her own place just last year.

Hermione was glad to have taken the time, although the concerned looks regarding her continuing lack of partner and progeny were not being concealed well, if at all anymore. Apparently, contributing her whole adolescence to "the cause" hadn't been enough for them.

Gathering a tray of nibbles as she wended her way through the crowd, she finally was able to get free and find Severus.

She had really thought he would attend properly this year. She had saved the seat next to her for him, in fact. If he wasn't in their meeting spot, she would hex his arse to kingdom come. He was the only person who made these things tolerable anymore.

As she rounded the corner to their spot, Hermione couldn't help but smile at finding him waiting.

She also had to slow her pace. He was different this year. He had cut his hair short, and streaks of grey at his temples gave him the air of a man of mystery. He was dressed full Muggle, nice black trousers and a very well-tailored black button-up shirt.

He was smoking something, which he typically did at this sort of thing. When he noticed her, he exhaled smoke from the side of his smirk. "Granger," he said, peering at the tray of nibbles floating along behind her.

"Severus," Hermione replied, reaching to trade what she had brought him for what he was smoking.

He pulled it away a bit. "It's different this year. Not just relaxing." Severus caught the tray of food with his free hand. It was gliding away from her on its trajectory toward him. He barely broke eye contact with her.

"What's this?" Hermione folded her arms. He was… acting peculiarly.

"Run of the mill inhibition. What do you say?"

Hermione gave him a stern look for a moment, but then she shrugged. She was certain it couldn't make the afternoon any worse. She took what he had brought and pulled a long drag from it before resting it on one of the stones that was jutting out from the castle wall. She held her breath a moment and then exhaled. Finally, she chased it with one of the very fancy chocolate biscuits she had brought over.

Severus tucked in to the food.

She waited him out. Hermione had been looking forward to this bit most of everything today, and now her curiosity was piqued.

When the tray was empty, Severus spelled it to the kitchens. "Now, then." He looked at her, a small grin beginning to spread across his face.

"Do tell. What are we un-inhibiting ourselves for?"

"I'm going to ask you to marry me, but probably not for a few months yet."

"Ha!" Hermione laughed. The suggestion made her heart warm, but she was certain he couldn't be serious. When she opened her eyes, however, he was leering at her tits, smoke slowly pouring from his nostrils. "You can't be serious," she said, stalling this strange twist her day has taken.

Severus licked his lips. "You're not attached. It would be an understatement to say that I am not attached. You are a lauded yet missed part of the wizarding world."

Hermione scoffed, but that didn't stop him.

"I am a lauded but not-at-all missed part of the wizarding world. I want to come back, but I don't think anyone is really ready yet. Your tits look great. Why didn't you wear a fancy hat like everyone else?"

The last two bits of his speech absolutely confused Hermione, and she shook her head as if trying to clear the cobwebs. "How much did you smoke before I got here, Snape?"

He shrugged. "I've been thinking about it for a while. You're not so goodie-two-shoes, you know. Behind the school smoking with an older boy."

Hermione pursed her mouth.

"I have a room at the Hog's Head."

"I did not come to Hogwarts to have a tumble with you in the Hog's Head," Hermione declared.

Severus folded his lips together, eyes shining victoriously.

"What," Hermione demanded. It was not so much a question, but a verbal parry. She knew that he had caught her out. Inhibition was a curious thing. Of course, it had loosened his tongue so Severus could shatter the metaphorical glass wall that had been keeping him and Hermione at a "respectable" distance.

However, Severus now heard himself laughing, dare he say chortling in a way he had not done in quite some time. "You've been having dreams about me."

"How can anyone be in a relationship with a Legilimens? People have dreams about other people all the time!"

"You're terrible at lying. How did you get away with it all while you were in school? Was it because Potter and Weasley were just more noticeably miscreant than you?" Severus watched Hermione cross her arms, inadvertently pressing her tits together.

"Obviously, we 'got away with it' because Dumbledore was so far up his own arse when it came to Tom Riddle that he couldn't guess there was a fucking basilisk in the basement!"

Once the words fell from her lips, Hermione's hands clamped over her mouth. She spun around to where the partygoers were still going, clearly feeling like she was going to get caught and expelled for saying such a thing. When she turned back to him, she was wide-eyed, hands still over her mouth.

"Hermione."

Like a bird, her eye turned toward him.

"I don't need to be a Legilimens to notice how you positively ogled me when you got here."

Her only response was to blink at him one time.

"We don't have to go to the Hog's Head."

Two blinks.

"Do you need to say your good-byes?"

One blink.

"Off you pop. Mine is the room on the third floor."

Severus reached for his joint as he watched Hermione turn on her heel, that glorious chortle returning as she walked away. Hermione was trembling like a leaf. She could not believe what was happening. She could not believe she was meeting Snape in the Hog's Head for a tumble.

She could not believe that she had told the boys she didn't feel well. It only worked to her benefit that she had to cover her hands with her mouth to stop herself from saying something sharp to Ron's wife.

She liked Ron's wife just fine. It wasn't her fault she was an absolute ninny.

Luckily, no one seemed to notice Hermione as she walked through the restaurant that was the first floor of the Hog's Head. She got to the stairs that led up to the rooms and then to the third floor quick as a blink. She raised her hand to knock, but the door unlatched before her knuckles could make contact.

She took a deep breath, trying to dispel any of the countless Snape-based imaginings she had had in her dreams over the last few years. When she got through the door, he was notably not sprawled across the bed, nude but for a well-positioned bedsheet.

He was just sitting in the armchair reading, a wildly wide smile on his face.

Hermione closed the door. "Hi," she croaked. She barely heard it herself.

"You don't need to be nervous." Snape tried to wipe the smile off his face, but it seemed that he couldn't.

Hermione cleared her throat once and then again and then a third time before feeling like she could actually speak. "I know we aren't best friends or anything, but I quite like exchanging owls with you and everything, even if it's not very often. It would be a shame to spoil that because you smoked something and let this mad idea out." Severus put the book on the little table by the chair. Then, he opened his arms in invitation.

Hermione could feel her cheeks blazing hot, even back to her neck and behind her ears. Without fully meaning to, her feet moved forward, and then she found herself in his lap.

"Hermione," Snape said quietly.

"Yes?"

"Am I not a potioneer?"

"Yes?"

"What could I have possibly added to that doobie that could make this go so well?"

"I don't know?" His fingers touched her jaw ever so softly.

"I steeped it in Felix Felicis."

Hermione felt her nervousness fall out, softening her muscles. Her weight settled onto him. "I didn't know you could do that."

Then, his mouth was on hers. His hands slid around to her back, and he pulled her shoulders close. Her hands, trapped in their nervous pose, rested on his chest.

Severus spent a long time kissing her.

As she began to relax, Hermione's hands pressed up from his chest to his shoulders. Then, she had a thought. She pushed away from his body to say, "I had some, too, then."

"Is it your first time?" Severus asked, bending so his mouth hovered by the collar of her dress as his thumbs slid down the sides of her spine. Then, they moved up, turning one of her shoulders away from him. His mouth was on her neck.

"With Felix Felicis, yes. Having a man's nose between my tits, no. I just never thought to use a potion that way. I didn't know it could be done."

"I can do a great many things you probably don't know."

"Don't boast." Hermione pushed her hands into the short crop of his hair, moving his mouth to the other side of her neck.

"Bossy." Severus moved his mouth back to hers, and he started to pull the top of her dress down. Hermione remembered wondering if this was the right thing to wear today. It was a little showier than she usually wore to these things. "There's a zip in the back," she instructed.

Severus's mouth was following the neckline of her dress as it moved lower while he pushed it down. "Don't argue with Felix." Then, his hands moved under her arms, grabbing the sides of her dress as well as the strapless bra she was wearing, shoving them down to expose her chest.

Hermione began panting with exhilaration. Thoughts spun around her head until Severus pressed her back, cradling her in his left arm while his mouth moved from one breast to the other. Then, all she could do was close her eyes and think about what he was doing.

"Bed," Severus said while moving back to the other side. He didn't seem very urgent about it, although his tone was very certain.

"'K." Hermione didn't move from her position at all. His mouth on her breast was stopping all thoughts beyond "more."

However, moving his hands to her hips, Severus pushed her off his thighs. He helped her stand with his mouth on her nipple.

Bracing herself with a hand on either armrest, Hermione let Severus continue to suckle at her.

Soon, his mouth pulled away so he could slither from the chair. When he was kneeling on the floor, he ducked under the skirt of her dress.

Hermione felt her knickers being pulled down her thighs. She tried to remember what she had worn, but it was all lost when his tongue slipped between her folds. He began to suck and lick her, his arms coming around her thighs to hold her in place.

Hermione looked between her legs, but she couldn't see him at all. Her thighs began to twitch as standing up took more of her focus.

"Kneel on the chair." Severus said, breaking contact only long enough for him to sit on the floor, his head resting on the front of the cushion. Then, her knees met the chair cushion, and she was sitting on his mouth, grinding against him as much as he was licking and sucking her.

As she settled into what he was doing, Severus began to slow his pace. "I'm too old to contort like this." Severus took two more long licks from her.

She felt him move from beneath her, loudly catching his breath a moment as he caressed her thigh. Looking behind her, Hermione could see his hair for a second. "You did recommend the bed a moment ago."

She watched him stand, push one hand through his hair, and reach for her skirt.

"That would ruin a positively spontaneous romp, though." He began to lift her skirt, moving it to reveal her legs. "We have plenty of time to fuck in a bed. Felix wants this to be fun, don't you think?"

"Open your shirt," Hermione said, moving to a more stable position kneeling on the chair. She turned to watch him work through the buttons, his eyes roaming all over her body. The little glimpses of his chest and belly spurred her on. His hands moved lower, toward his belt and his obvious arousal.

"Carry on, then," Hermione smirked, turning away from him to get ready for the next bit. She heard the buckle of his belt opening, and fabric hit the floor. Her back was covered by her dress as Severus moved into position behind her.

Then, in one smooth push, he was in her.

"Yes!" Hermione shouted without meaning to. Embarrassment felt hot on her cheeks and behind her ears. Her eyes squeezed shut, waiting for him to move. Her loud affirmation of his spearing her was satisfying for Severus on so many levels.

Her thighs and breasts and skin were all ripe under his mouth. Her wet cunt around him felt astonishingly good. His odd plan coming to fruition felt like the luckiest bit of it all. They hadn't even undressed yet.

Severus, not moving his hips, folded over her back. "Yes?" he asked into her ear.

"God, yes."

His hands moved to her breasts, pressing them against her body. "What will they say, though?"

"I don't care."

"You don't care." Severus pulled his hips back and pushed in again, hearing both of their voices moan as he moved.

"I don't care!"

Severus loosened his grip a moment before gently rolling her nipples just slightly.

Her hips pushing back into his stole his breath.

After a moment, he whispered, "You like this. You want to keep going."

"Yes. More," Hermione pushed her hips back again.

He pulled her nipples a bit, feeling her back arch away from his chest. "I could fuck you like this every day. Look at you." A shiver went down her spine, and Severus let go of her breasts, moving to stand behind her. With his hands on her hips, he started to work a steady rhythm. Sweat began to drip down his back, and he imagined what they might look like, feverishly coupling right in front of the door to the rented room.

Her moans seeped back into his thoughts, and Severus reached for her breasts again. He held her up, supporting her weight.

"Hermione," he said in a quiet voice.

She hummed in response, her focus more on what was happening between her legs.

"You are astonishingly good to fuck." Severus kept his rhythm as best he could.

Hermione's jaw opened as if to reply, but all that came out was a pleased whine.

"If you keep making that noise, I'll finish before…," he said, trailing off as her hands moved to rest over his.

She was still helping him keep rhythm, but it was mostly him now. Severus slowed his pace so he could manage it.

"Do you want me to finish before you?"

"Yeah." Hermione turned her head back a bit. "Finish."

"Does it make you feel sexy, Hermione? Making me finish first?" Severus slowed his pace a little more, but was much more intentional with his thrusts.

"Yeah!" Hermione almost shouted into the room.

"Did you think I wouldn't want to fuck you? Did you think you couldn't seduce me?"

"Yeah!" Hermione whined, and Severus heard her voice break a bit.

Severus moved her hands to the back of the chair, holding them under his. He was bent over her back again, and his mouth beside her ear. "Oh, I want to fuck you. After dinner when you invited me to your flat. I have wanted you for a long time."

"Severus." Hermione turned her head, kissing him and devouring his mouth.

Feeling her tongue against his, Severus lost all control, frantically working until he came hard, buried deep inside her.It was a very warm spring day for the eleventh Remembrance celebration. Hermione, obviously pregnant although not yet into her third trimester, smugly watched the crowd give her side-long looks.

Severus's restaurant was doing well for a new place. There was a ring with a huge rock on her finger.

No one could see her actual wedding band on the chain around her neck under her robes. They had secretly married at Gretna Green with her parents as witnesses.

Hermione had been worried about what her parents would say, but the first time he came to dinner at theirs, she heard her mother whisper to him while they were both doing the dishes. Her mum had said Severus had been one of the few topics that could be counted on to improve Hermione's mood while she had lived with them.

What everyone was murmuring was a whirlwind romance had actually been years in the making.

Severus kept a house in Wales for them to escape to, but he moved into her flat once his restaurant opened. He had found a location near where she was living, and he insinuated himself into her life before anyone could find a good reason to argue against him.

Harry had been very supportive. Ron had been 'distracted' by his own new baby, and used it as an excuse when he wasn't game to be gracious. While not perfect, it was good enough.