Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes	By : CryingCinderella Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 131968 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 30
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I make any money from writing these stories.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
A/N: Thank you all for the continued support! And for those wondering, we didn’t forget to test whether or not it wore off. Well, I shouldn’t say that, because George did forget, but trust me, Severus did not. (As you may see here.) I do imagine some of you will find what comes next to be— well, I suppose I shall see what you think of it! Fair warning— there are some uncharted topics herein…so if things like lactation and triple penetration aren’t your forte…best to skip through some of the workshop bits. Hope this is long and engaging for you.
                Hermione had put the kettle on and gone to change into more comfortable clothing. She was surprised when she returned to the kitchen that Severus had fixed two cups of tea and retreated to the patchwork sofa. The fire had been relit and was in full blaze. She had donned a pair of pajama pants and a faded Vratsa Vultures t-shirt. It had been a present from Viktor when he’d first returned to Durmstrang and while she didn’t particularly care for the logo of the shirt, the fabric was cozy and felt comforting against her skin. She approached the sofa with caution and slipped over its arm, settling down with her legs tucked up under her.
                Severus turned to face her and handed her a cup of tea. She nodded her thanks and took a sip from the steaming cup. They sat in silence for a while, sipping the tea and listening to the fire without really looking at one another. She spoke first, as she found she often did. “I’ve never told anyone that story before,” she confessed. “They did all ask, about my parents I mean, but I told them I couldn’t find them.” She sighed quietly and then set the cup down on the floor. “I cover up the tattoo because I don’t want to remember that night. That trip. That holiday.”
                “We all hide the things we do not wish to remember, Miss Granger.” He turned his head, taking in her figure. It didn’t make her nervous though it usually did when he stared at her. There was something about their exchange of words that made her feel like his equal. She nodded slowly, eyes meeting his. It was difficult not to be so physically forward. Every impulse in her body urged her to lean forward and embrace him. Hermione restrained herself, difficult as the task was, and focused instead on his eyes. They were dark and mysterious and for a moment she saw them without trying to see what was inside of them. It was a beautiful thing.
                Hermione finished her cup of tea and took a moment to resituate herself on the sofa. She did so with deliberate movements that brought her body next to his. She let her leg rest against his and brought one hand down onto the top of his thigh. Either her touch no longer phased him or he had managed to control his flinching reflex. It was a compromise of body and mind, still physically connecting with him without going wild in the process. She titled her head down until it rested on his shoulder and she smiled to herself when he did not shrug her off. “Are you going to tell me about George?” she whispered.
                The crackle of the fire filled the silence in the room while she waited for her reply. Flames danced along the hearth to an invisible tune that only the fire could hear and her eyes grew mesmerized watching their motion. It was a soothing phenomenon. Little beams of light traipsed across the floor and over the hybrid-shag rug she’d placed over the wooden boards and shadows waltzed their way into the mix as she sat, leaning on him, waiting to see if he would speak. The rise and fall of his chest was steady; had it been any other person she might have assumed him to be asleep. But to doze off with her resting on him would have made him open and vulnerable and although he had made great progress in regards to their exchanges, she knew it was very unlikely that he was that comfortable with her.
                When his voice cut the silence it was smooth, a low velvety rumble that spoke with ease. “It would have been your third year,” he started. “I don’t know if Mr. Weasley was out among his peers then or not…he was just 15.” She listened with rapt attention but did not lift her head to see his eyes. She knew they would captivate her in another sense and send her mind reeling into other thoughts and she longed to hear the story. It was no doubt one that Severus would have his own interpretive spin for and she was more curious about the way he recalled it than what had actually happened to poor George.
                “It was an ordinary night for myself, patrolling the grounds after hours.” She had half-expected him to say that he had been on his way back from or off to a meeting with the Death Eaters or The Order. She had heard rumors of both these things when all of the details of Severus’ involvement in the war had arisen. Hermione tried to think of a time when she remembered Severus Snape being absent from Hogwarts, and realized that she never could. It was unlikely that he ever went anywhere, even for summons at night, as it would have been noticeable by someone and that such stories were simply that.
                “I made the end of my rounds by the Quidditch Pitch, a notorious place for ill-planned rendezvous among eager hormonal students,” his voice sounded pinched.
                “The Quidditch Pitch? At night?” she asked. Hermione was not overly fond of Quidditch, and she had been terrified of flying on a broomstick for as long as she could remember. The night they’d helped Harry escape Privet Drive by broom had been a horrific experience for her before they’d even gotten off the ground. She knew the Quidditch Pitch was not at all lit and she could not imagine attempting to meet someone in the darkness of those stands, wands or not.
                “I never understood the intrigue myself, but I suppose it offered more cover than the astronomy tower, and there was nary a night during warmer weather where students weren’t being foolish within the stands and under the risers.” Severus turned his head, which shifted his body and Hermione was forced to lift her head from off his shoulder. “Never took such a rendezvous?” his lips were tugged back into his familiar smirk and she couldn’t help but flush when she thought about what exactly he was asking.
                “I was never asked,” she admitted.
                Severus held her gaze for a moment, their faces closer together now that he had turned. “Indeed.” He paused, lifted his tea cup to his lips, sipped, and then continued. “I suppose not. Your after-curfew adventures were always escorted by Weasley the younger and Potter.” He did not allow her a moment to defend her friends, but she supposed it was for the best, lest they delve into a deep-seeded dislike of Harry on his end and the remainder of the conversation go horribly astray. “I came across Mr. Weasley in a most unfortunate way.”
                “How so?”
                Severus sighed. “Miss Granger…” he shook his head. “You will learn to stop interrupting or I shall start binding your mouth when we speak.” Hermione flushed again, half embarrassed half flustered. His approach to conversation was not at all to her liking. “He and—” she noted the way he paused and her brows furrowed. “The person he was with is irrelevant. But he and another male student had taken to fooling around. Inexperienced, unpracticed, exploratory. And in an attempt to involve themselves with one another without involving themselves…Mr. Weasley’s broom handle was intimated into the scenario.”
                Hermione listened to his words. He was conscious of his language choices, he was deliberate in selecting his phrases. It almost romanticized the story until she realized that he was just gracefully stating that the other boy had tried to fuck George’s arse with a broomstick. “Oh dear,” she said after a moment’s consideration.
                “And much like most inexperienced youths…lubrication was an afterthought, the rendezvous being somewhat spontaneous, and while saliva may work for many things it does not work for everything.”
                “Oh…dear…” she tried to chase the image from her mind.
                “By the time I caught them, the deed was over, but Mr. Weasley was suffering from splinters…and not just externally,” he added. “The situation was embarrassing enough but I did not spare them the lecture. The other student was sent to Dumbledore, he was better suited for handling those situations, and McGonagall would have died from shock—”
                “The other student was a Gryffindor too then?” Severus narrowed his eyes at Hermione. “Sorry.”
                “Late night matters of romantic entanglement always involved the head of house, the headmaster, myself or Mr. Filch, whomever had the displeasure of catching the little miscreants in the act, and Madam Pomphrey. As you know from the text I gave you, all sorts of things can be transmitted in magical adolescents, not to mention the usual concerns. This case in particular involved potential damage to other things entirely.”
                When Severus stopped speaking and Hermione was certain she wasn’t going to be reprimanded for interrupting, she asked, “If the other boy was sent to Professor Dumbledore…you took George to the hospital wing?”
                He nodded. “I do not believe Mr. Weasley had fully identified himself sexually at that time in his history, and at the time such identifications were not as readily accepted as they are today. It was in his best interest to have the situation remain quiet.” He paused. “I explained the situation to Madam Pomphrey, without incriminating the other student, and then hastened to the Headmaster’s Office to keep things quiet.”
                Hermione was shocked. It seemed unfathomable that Severus Snape would have done such a thing. But the more she thought about it, the more logical his response had been. Sexuality had never been a topic of widespread acceptance at Hogwarts, unless one was of the label that was considered to be normal: heterosexual. She realized that Severus had given George a kindness by keeping his secret. It wasn’t until just after losing Fred that she remembered George coming out of the closet to the family. Molly and Arthur had been wholeheartedly accepting and she had expected nothing less from them. Even Percy in his own fusty way had embraced George’s sexual identity with open arms. She had not thought about what that might have been like had he been outed at school.
                “Did you take house points?”
                Severus snorted. “I was logical, not a bleeding heart, Ms. Granger. Of course I took house points. And he served detention for two months,” he added. “As would any student that had been caught out after hours and outside, regardless of what they had been caught doing. There was simply no need to elaborate on the circumstances.”
                She realized in that moment that he was a compassionate person far more than he had ever been given credit for and it made her heart dizzy to experience such a revelation. She closed her eyes to calm herself and then she shifted her body once more, leaning into his frame. He grunted just slightly when she elbowed him in the side but was pleased that he did not push her off. “Severus, can I ask you something?” she said after finally settling down, leaning on him as much as he would allow.
                He sighed. “I have nothing further to say about Mr. Weasley or that evening. And if you ask me about last night I promise you it shall never happen again.”
                Hermione couldn’t help herself as she giggled. This caused his head to snap around and glare at her. “Oh, please, Severus. You said it yourself that if it was good that it was bound to happen again…and I can’t imagine that it was anything but good for you,” she teased. She sat up, curled her legs underneath her once more, and batted her eyes at him.
                Severus rolled his eyes. “Merlin, you will—”
                “I know, I know, be the death of you,” she said. Hearing George’s story had given her a new round of courage where he was concerned. He was a compassionate man; he was a man that cared about protecting others, and somewhere in the recesses of her mind she realized she’d known that all along. The way he’d doted on her, in his own reserved and clinical fashion, during their work together in the workshop, had proved as much, she just hadn’t realized it fully. With careful movements so as not to startle him, she braced her hands on his shoulders and climbed up into his lap, much the way he had held her before when he was pressing on about her tattoo. Though he looked at her with stern eyes, he did not make to push her back, and when she settled over him, she noted the way that his hands came to rest just against the small of her back, though it happened slowly as if he were trying to hide the gesture.
                “You are too familiar for your own good.” He said.
                “I don’t see you pushing me off you,” she countered.
                There was silence as they stared at one another, the fire’s heat now warming her back. “Ask your question, Miss Granger,” he said.
                She had found the confidence to climb up into his lap but the question she had been ready to pose him seemed to have fled her mind. Not because she didn’t know exactly what she had wanted to bring up, but because she felt suddenly nervous. It was not like her to be so bold, and to be so bold with him was new territory as well. There was an enormous difference between daring to touch his hand or his arm verses climbing up into his lap. She bit her lower lip out of habit and when he chuckled she shivered.
                “Cat have your tongue, Miss Granger?” he asked, his dark eyes swirling as he plucked her lower lip from between her teeth. He pinched the pink petal between his fingers and she winced slightly. “Bad habit or not, it’s not becoming of you.”
                “Why does it bother you so much?”
                “It’s unattractive. It makes you look uneasy and uncertain. And though you may have your doubts, as all people do from time to time, you are neither of those things,” he said.
                This made her flush. Had he just complimented her? It was the closest thing she had ever heard to a compliment from the mouth of Severus Snape. She tried not to let it go to her head. As her heart thumped away with giddy glee in her chest, she shifted her body forward just slightly and let her hands rest easy on his shoulders. “I wanted to ask you about…I guess— well I’m not really sure what you would call it, but that can I saw when we were sorting boxes? Actually before we were sorting boxes just before he found the Funderwear—”
                His finger fell onto her lips and her words died in her mouth. “Organize your thoughts. You’re rambling.”
                She nodded her head. While he was blunt in his execution, she supposed he was right. It did her no good to dither about, she needed to ask what it was she intended to ask. Waiting for him to pull his finger back, Hermione drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I imagine if the product works…and I end up growing a cock, he’ll ask me to test its functionality, which is reasonable.” She paused, trying to keep the heat from rising up in her cheeks as she spoke. “Much like so many things when it comes to sex, I’ve never had any sort of experience with anything like that. I’ve never strapped anything onto anywhere to—”
                “Pegging. It’s called pegging, Miss Granger,” he said. She was relieved when his first words were not to mock her woeful inexperience. She wondered if many women her age had experience with strap-ons and things of the like. “And there was no doubt that you were going to have no experience in that field, given what little you’ve had with conventional sexual practices.” He did not allow her to interrupt or protest. “Few women find themselves in a position to explore such a notion with their partner, even when they find themselves to be of a lesbian or bisexual persuasion. And a great deal of men are not comfortable with their own sexuality, at least not enough to explore it in that regard.”
                Again a burst of relief flooded through her. This was something that was out of her realm of experience but it seemed to be the case for others as well. Hermione leaned back to let the shadows from the fire slide away from his face. Reading his eyes was difficult at the best of times, but she wanted to see his response when she posed her question. “Will you teach me?”
                He rolled his eyes. “Not tonight. My body wouldn’t stand for it even if I meant it to, and I’ve nothing in the house suitable for such an endeavor.”
                Hermione rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean right now.” She paused and quirked her lips thoughtfully. “Surely you could just transfigure something?”
                Severus shook his head. “If you’re going to be taught you’re going to be taught correctly, and I am not currently in possession of a strap-on…as you might surmise I’ve little need for it.”
                “Right…” Hermione frowned but then her eyes lit up. “I could always pinch the can from the workshop—”
                “Absolutely not. Aside from the fact that I will not condone stealing— from anyone’s…stores or supplies…” he glared at her pointedly but she refused to give him the satisfaction he was seeking. It had been over a decade since she’d stolen from his potions stores at Hogwarts and the world had changed radically since then. She was a student trying to solve the world’s problems alongside her two best friends. Now she was a grown woman, shagging a man for work with whom she shared a residence. Things were different to say the least. When she failed to rise to his bait, he continued on. “Merlin only knows what could go wrong with such a product…if it’s going to malfunction, I would prefer it to do so at Mr. Weasley’s workshop.”
                She hung her head. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
                Severus sighed. “Of course you hadn’t.” Hermione was jostled suddenly and all but displaced from his lap. “Get up.” Hermione found herself dumped haphazardly into the cushions of the sofa as he stood and moved toward the door. He took up his long black cloak and turned back to stare at her. “Come along, Miss Granger.”
                Her eyes were wide. “Severus, what on earth— where are you going— at this hour?” It had been after half two when they’d left the shop and although it had only taken a moment to apparate back to Spinner’s End, she knew they’d been sitting and chatting for at least an hour. “And I’m not dressed to—”
                “It doesn’t matter how you’re dressed,” he said pointedly and then wrapped his cloak around his figure. “I said let’s go.”
                There was something about his tone that made her jump up and move quickly over to the door. She didn’t know why his command had made her obey so readily but that was a thought for another mind. She caught the face of the clock as they swept out into Spinner’s End, it was only a few minutes before four in the morning. She couldn’t fathom where he would be taking her at that hour, let alone what sort of place would allow her to arrive in a half-dressed state, but before she could dwell on it further, he’d drawn her close to him, held her tightly and disapparated.
                Landing on the dreary and rain-soaked streets of a particularly seedy looking alley had not been pleasant. Hermione clung to him as he strode with purpose down the cobblestone. The smell of rainwater and garbage assailed her nose and she wished for all the world she’d grabbed proper boots before he’d taken them to wherever it was they were currently headed. Between the darkness and the dank chill, Hermione was frightened, though logically she knew that was irrational. She’d faced down the Dark Lord alongside Harry Potter and there was no reason to be afraid of a cold dark alley at that hour with Severus Snape beside her. He seemed to know the alley well and wound his way down it further still, the towering slopes of the buildings growing closer together as the walkway grew narrower.
                She bumped into his backside when he stopped suddenly. They were near the end of the alleyway and Hermione could see where the cobblestones broke away into proper pavement. To their left was a stone archway that would have been missed entirely if Severus hadn’t stopped in front of it. The derelict sign that hung over the archway read Twizted Knickerz, though it could hardly be seen against the splintered wood. What looked like once illustrious silver and gold paint was now little more than faded flecks of yellow and gray and it took Hermione a full minute before she realized that the archway was no archway but a door that led into some sort of tawdry establishment.
                Clinging closely to Severus, she followed him through the door, a little bell ringing as they stepped inside. The interior of the place was as foul as the alley had been. The smell had changed; sex and cheap perfume mingled with rubber found its way to her nose and she cringed. Her eyes couldn’t take it all in quick enough. They had entered some sort of wayward sexual store. Clothing of naughty varieties hung all over the ceiling and the walls, with pornographic magazines and videos stacked on racks as far back as the narrow little shop went. There were cases closer to the side where she could see a glass counter and a cash register.
                “Sorry! We’re closed up for the evening— you’ll have to come back tomorrow after six when we— oh my word!” The nasally little voice had rang out from somewhere beyond where Hermione could see but as the voice’s owner came into view, catching sight of Severus, the slender man paused, gaping in disbelief. “Are you— what— where have you been?” A slip of a man, only as tall as she was, though half the size around, rushed toward Severus and threw his arms around him. His coiffed blonde hair was stacked firm atop his head and he wore a spangled purple vest with black and green pinstriped pants. “It’s been ages, my dear!” the man kissed Severus on both cheeks and then squarely on the lips.
                Hermione was stricken with shock. Never in her life could she imagine such a person to be so bold as to assault Severus Snape with a hug and several kisses for a greeting. But what flabbergasted her was the fact that Severus Snape appeared not to mind. She watched the hint of a smile draw across his lips as the blonde-haired man stepped back from him. “Always the overzealous one, Nigel,” he said and nodded. “You’ve got time to help me with something before you close up?”
                “For you, sweet Sevvy? I’ve got all the time in the world!” The blonde man was aglow, grinning from ear to ear as if the black-clad wizard that had just walked into the shop was Santa Claus. Hermione drank in every detail of the stranger. His features were soft and feminine, his hair short but thick and styled to perfection atop his head. His eyes were a brilliant shade of green and his teeth were pearly white, not in the least bit crooked. He was young, perhaps not even her own age, but certainly no older. His voice was pitched and there was a flare that radiated around his person that was anything but subtle.
                Severus chuckled. “I haven’t heard that name in ages.”
                “You haven’t been around in ages.” Nigel pouted. “I do miss your visits, Sevvy.”
                Hermione swore she was invisible. Nigel seemed to only have eyes for Severus and was pointedly ignoring her, or else she had turned transparent when she walked through the door. She longed to clear her throat or to step forward and take Severus by the hand, but it was clear there was a history between them and it set her mind at odds. She was so caught up in her mind that all she could do was watch their exchange.
                “Are you going to help me or not, Nigel?” Severus smirked. “Don’t make me punish you for being useless.”
                Nigel squealed and spun around. The blonde bent over and waggled his bum at Severus, earning him a firm slap on his pinstriped backside. Hermione gaped at them, her eyes so wide that they nearly fell out of their sockets. She could not believe what she was witnessing. The familiarity with which Severus attended to Nigel was somewhat disturbing but she couldn’t stop staring.
                “What brings you in tonight? And at this hour?” he asked, his shiny eyes gleaming with merriment as he gazed at Severus. “Nevermind what’s kept you away all this while…what can I—” Nigel stepped closer to Severus and wrapped his arms around his neck, bumping his pelvis forward against him. “Do for you?” the younger man snickered.
                Severus scoffed. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
                “I’m at least a year older,” he teased. “And I’ve gotten this…” he held his tongue out of his mouth, showing off the reflective metallic ball that protruded from it. “I’ve received a great deal of…compliments…on just how effective it is.”
                Severus smirked again. “I’m sure you have.”
                “Care for me to show you?” he asked and leaned up on his tiptoes.
                Again Severus chuckled. He reached forward and ran his fingers through Nigel’s hair, which caused the blonde man to blush and giggle again. “I need a proper strap-on,” he said. “Something firm but malleable, with a gentle but sturdy harness. A beginner’s harness, but a mature phallus.”
                If Nigel were a rocket he would have exploded at Severus’ words. “Sevvy! What on earth do you need that for? Don’t tell me after all your buggering it’s finally fallen off?!”
                “Calm yourself, pet. Everything is still in proper working order,” Severus said as he placed a hand on Nigel’s shoulder. “It’s for a lesson.”
                Hermione could not believe her ears or her eyes. She had fallen asleep at Spinner’s End after laying her head on Severus’ shoulder and would be nudged awake at any moment by a rather annoyed housemate. That was the only rational explanation for her current situation. Her imagination was waging cruel war against her mind in a fantastical and terribly life-like dream. She closed her eyes and closed them hard, silently hoping that when she opened them she’d be staring at the smoldering embers that remained in the hearth. But when she opened her eyes she was still standing just behind Severus in the sex shop with the excitable Nigel doting on him.
                “A lesson? Are you teaching again? Is that why I haven’t seen you round?” Nigel pouted, pushing his lower lip out in an exaggerated fashion. “I was your star pupil once…”
                “Indeed,” said Severus. There was a fondness laced in his voice. With a heavy sigh he shook his head. “Nigel, find me what I’m looking for? It’s been a long day and I don’t feel like sifting or searching.” The blonde was all too eager to please Severus and dashed away to a part of the store currently obscured to Hermione’s vantage point. When he turned his head to look at Hermione she was surprised. “He’s always been energetic,” said Severus.
                Hermione was floored. She had never heard Severus Snape speak any modicum of praise about anyone, much less a rationalization of such behavior. She stood gazing in confusion at him, trying to reconcile what she had just witnessed with how she knew Severus to be in her mind. It broke her brain to try and align the two notions. And he had called the man pet. “You and he are close,” she said. And it astounded her to watch him falter. Never in her existence of knowing Severus, not during her days at Hogwarts and certainly not since then, had she ever witnessed him be anything less than certain of himself. But this sprightly popinjay had completely disarmed him.
                “I think I’ve found the perfect—” Nigel’s words stopped sharply as he returned and took notice of Hermione for the first time since she had entered the shop. “Your student?” he asked, failing to hide his suspicions, which sounded more like disgust to Hermione than anything else.
                “Nigel this is Miss Granger,” he paused. “A co-worker of mine.”
                It tore through her like sharp knives. It shouldn’t have bothered her. She would have been foolish to have expected to be introduced as anything but. After all they were co-workers, and he’d said that while there was a mutual attraction he was uncertain that it was anything beyond physical. Hermione swallowed and held out her hand to greet Nigel. The blonde man politely shook her hand and then sized her up with his eyes. “Pleasure,” he said, though his voice made it sound like anything but.
                Severus sighed and shook his head. “Don’t get a jealous heart,” he said and Hermione wasn’t sure whether the comment was meant to be addressed toward herself or at Nigel. No one spoke as Nigel rang them up at the register, though Hermione noted as she retreated toward the door that Nigel made a big display out of hugging and kissing Severus goodbye. It was difficult to tell whether Severus returned the kiss without staring in a most unbecoming manner. When they were once more standing in the chill of the alleyway, she looked at Severus with questioning eyes and he shook his head. “You are going to wait until we’re home.”
                When he’d told her earlier in the night to put the kettle on because no one would be sleeping, she had had no idea just how serious that statement had been. Standing once more over the kettle in the kitchen, Hermione chewed her bottom lip with her back facing Severus, not wanting to be reprimanded for yet another bad habit. What could she say to him? She imagined he wouldn’t be very forthcoming about whoever Nigel was to him and how exactly the young man fit into his past. Her overactive imagination had cooked up all sorts of scenarios based on the limited interactions she had witnessed. None of them were particularly pleasant or to her liking.
                But what right had she to be jealous? It wasn’t as if they were entangled in an exclusive relationship. She wasn’t even sure that she could call whatever it was they had embarked upon a relationship, mostly because she wasn’t sure they had really embarked on it. There had been one reckless encounter in the shower. And although he’d been more accepting of her forwardness, as he called it, with physical intimacy and touching, there had not been any reason to suspect that anything was different. He’d even justified their actions with reasoning that supported her theory that nothing had changed. Then why did she feel so cross and green-eyed when she witnessed the other man drooling on Severus?
                And to whom was that statement meant to address? Don’t get a jealous heart. His words played over and over in her mind as the kettle began to whistle. She couldn’t stop hearing them, even as she poured the boiling water into the teapot to let the leaves steep. Hermione tried to picture him saying the words while looking at her and then again while looking at Nigel, but she couldn’t recall that he had really looked at either of them when he spoke. Had he meant her? Was he telling her not to be jealous because she had no right to be or because Nigel was nothing to be jealous over? She was vexed. If he had been speaking to Nigel the same two questions applied; was it because Nigel was a flame of the past and no longer had rights to be jealous or because Hermione was of no consequence in his current life and thus nothing for Nigel to worry over?
                Her mind was still churning when she poured two mugs and took the strainer out of the teapot. She placed the mugs and the teapot at the center of the kitchen table and sat down, waiting for him to join her. The first hints dawn were cracking on the horizon and seeping through the window in muted shades of purple. She should have been tired. Though the work in the workshop had hardly been draining on her, the emotional turmoil into which she’d been thrust by the spontaneous visit to Twizted Knickerz was more than enough to make her want to collapse into bed. But when they’d returned he’d nodded for her to put the kettle on, clearly intent on having some sort of conversation.
                When he entered the kitchen she noted that he had changed, though his comfortable clothing bore little difference to his working threads. A black long-sleeved shirt and black trousers of a looser cut, but otherwise it looked the same and kept most of his frame hidden from her view. He sat down at the chair opposite of hers and sipped the tea. She had not yet taken a seat and was hugging her chest to keep from pacing.
                “I know you have questions, Miss Granger, best put them out there before I change my mind and turn in.”
                She didn’t hesitate. “Is he a wizard?” she asked. It surprised her to hear that her mouth had picked a question other than the one her mind had intended. She supposed it didn’t really matter if he was of magical origin or not, but why she had blurted it out even she didn’t understand.
                “Does it matter if he is?” Severus held her gaze with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
                “N-no,” she hung her head. “I suppose not.”
                “You asked because subconsciously you’re weighing yourself against him, stacking him up in comparison. He is younger. He is a male, which you think gives him an advantage somehow, but if he’s only a muggle boy then you at least have him in that respect.” She was appalled at his logic. But as she thought it over her face filled with a red shame; a flush that could not deny that he was right. She had been comparing them in her mind, but to what end? He was not her boyfriend, they weren’t even technically lovers. It frustrated her to realize that she had been quite petty and shallow.
                “How much younger is he?” she asked after a moment’s consideration.
                Severus snorted. “That I’m not so inclined to share with you…he is of legal age, and that’s all that should matter.”
                Hermione blanched. The young blonde surely couldn’t have been just sixteen, but the thought that he might only be a few years older than that made her stomach turn. She frowned. Age was only meant to be a number, why was she so bothered by the sudden introduction of someone younger than her? She sighed. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I…” Hermione looked at him, feeling very vulnerable. “His age shouldn’t be important— he shouldn’t be important— I don’t know why this is quite so upsetting.”
                Her question should have been met with silence. It floored her when he instead countered with a lengthy answer. “Miss Granger…you’re emotionally invested in ways that I cannot explain when it comes to the situation that you have found yourself in here with me. I cannot tell you that you shouldn’t be, for all the world it would do nothing but waste my breath. I can keep you from making a fool out of yourself by expressing such notions but little else. I cannot stop you from feeling such things.” He paused only to take up the teapot and pour himself another cup. “I can caution you against such things for a number of reasons, though again I fear to do so would only waste my breath as you aren’t likely to listen. You find yourself upset because it’s a natural emotional reaction when one person has feelings for another person and they see those feelings being lavished upon that by a different person.”
                “Severus— please—” she sighed in frustration. “If you’re trying to say that you think I’m in love with you and that I shouldn’t be because you don’t believe you deserve it or that you don’t reciprocate it, and that you can try to keep me from saying it aloud because you don’t want me to make an arse of myself, but that I’m feeling this way because of the way that boy was doting on you because I’m jealous— then why don’t you just say that?”
                “That is exactly what I just said.” He paused and let his lips slide into the faintest of smirks. “More or less.”
Hermione glowered at him. She was frustrated. She was wounded. And he was being cheeky. It was more than she could handle. She stalked past the table intent on storming off to her bedroom, slamming the door, and staying looked inside until it was time to leave for the workshop some 12 hours later. But he was on his feet with both hands around her waist before she could exit the kitchen. “What?” she growled.
                Severus searched her eyes, holding her still in front of him. “You are jealous of him.”
                “Yes! Fine! I’m jealous! Whatever! Please let me go to my room!” she shouted.
                “There’s no need to shout.” He said and released his arms from around her waist. He had given her exactly what she’d asked for and yet she stood there.
                They stood facing one another in the kitchen for several long moments. She realized that she could have stood there staring at him all night. Every emotion that was coursing through her was ready to erupt at any moment but she remained quiet, trying to sort her thoughts. It had been childish to lash out as she had done, but on some level it must have impacted him as he had immediately released her and not made a move or word to counter her after. Hermione closed her eyes. “So you are a bisexual then?”
                “Miss Granger, I’ve told you before, it is not as simple as labels,” he said. His voice was not annoyed nor was it taxed, simply tired and she wondered if it was because the hour was beyond reasonable or because he was tired of explaining his sexuality. And perhaps just not to her, but to anyone whom he had encountered in that context throughout his life.
                Again she wrapped her arms around her body, hugging herself to try and pull herself back together. There were a million things she could say but she couldn’t find a single one that seemed to fit. It was no use. She could see now why he had been so careful to keep them from crossing the line that they had crossed. For a moment she almost wished that they hadn’t crossed it. For him it had clearly just been sex, passionate lust-driven incredible sex. But nothing more. Why had she insisted on attaching meaning to it? Why had she bothered? Did she really feel the way she felt about him? Her mind was screaming.
                “You could use rest,” he said after watching her face shift with every fleeting whim of her internal monologue.
                “I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep now if I tried.” She admitted. She had to take her mind off of him. She had to stop thinking about what had happened between them. She lived in his house out of convenience. She worked with him because he had been hired before she had. And they were colleagues that shared a residence. “Are you going to show me how to peg with that thing you purchased?” It was perhaps the most ridiculous thing she’d said since they’d returned to Spinner’s End, but in that moment it was the only rational thing she could think to say. She did not wish to be alone with her thoughts but the two of them could not continue to discuss their current situation. If he was forced to teach and she to learn then her mind would be occupied with something else.
                Severus shook his head. A single step closed the distance between them. “You’re in no state.”
                “Then put me in one.” It was a daring statement. But he’d worked her up before when he’d tried to teach her the finer points of whipping. She felt her body tremble as his arms circled around her and before she could help herself she’d leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes.
                “Not now.”
                “Severus—”
                “Be quiet, Miss Granger,” he said and she obeyed. Her head rested on his chest and she could hear his heart beating, slow and steady. His chest rose and fell with ease and the rhythm was soothing, a hypnotic metronome that seemed to ease her mind even if only for a moment. How long they stood that way she couldn’t fathom, and had he not tilted her chin up and forced her to look up at him, she would have stayed that way for quite some time. His eyes were obsidian whirlpools that paralyzed her.
                “I wanted to take my mind off…I thought if you were teaching me something I’d be forced to focus on it rather than…” she sighed.
                “Indeed.” Two fingers brushed the side of her jaw and she leaned into his touch as if it were the sun warming her face. “Even if it would have…even if you weren’t in a state and I could put you in one…after today’s work I am not sure my body would tolerate it.”
                Hermione’s eyes widened with alarm. “Today’s— you didn’t— did the effects of that last product wear off?” she asked.
                The soft rumbling that she had come to recognize as his laughter met her ears. “You and Mr. Weasley may have forgotten about checking to see if it wore off, but I did not.” Hermione’s dumbfounded expression caused him to roll his eyes. “Everything is in working order, Miss Granger, don’t worry your pretty little head.”
                “Was it true what you said? That a man can achieve an orgasm even if he can’t become erect?” she asked thoughtfully. She wasn’t sure what had prompted this line of questioning but it seemed to dispel the tension between them.
                “It is a laborious task, but yes, it can be achieved.”
                She nodded her head. “Were you close? Was that—” it was his finger that stopped her words.
                “I will give you a bottle of dreamless sleep if you wish, but I cannot take any more of your questions.”
                She made to protest but then thought better of it. After a moment she nodded. “Just one more,” she said and quickly asked it before he could tell her no. “Will you sit with me a while on the sofa? If I’m alone with my thoughts…” she shrugged. “I’d just rather not be alone with them.”
                At first she was certain that he had rejected her offer. He unwrapped his arms from around her and then stepped back from her. But when she watched him draw his wand and blast a roaring flame into the hearth she smiled. He took a seat on the right edge of the sofa, and she was quick to follow him over, sitting just beside him. Their legs brushed and though he stared at her for a moment, he did not make to move her back from him. Hermione eased back into the sofa and waited a moment before she shifted slightly forward and rested her head just against his shoulder. She put her hand on the top of his thigh and bit her tongue to keep from gasping when he let his hand rest atop hers. Gazing into the fire she felt at ease for a moment, even if her mind could not slow down. His body was warm, the flames were warm, and she felt a contentment that had escaped her for days.
                Her eyes grew heavy with the hypnotization of the flames in the hearth, licking over the bricks up away into the floo. She could feel the day’s exhaustion weighing her body further down against him and she nuzzled her head ever so gently trying to find a more comfortable patch of his shoulder. She had no intentions of sleeping on the couch, or even napping there leaned against him, but closing her eyes for just a moment wouldn’t hurt. The heat that radiated from the fireplace mingled with the heat of his body, which she could feel despite his clothes, cocooned her and she felt warm and safe. Closing her eyes she tried not to mull over what exactly he was or was not feeling in regards to her or the Nigel boy from Twizted Knickerz.
                The gentle tugging of her hair was what she noticed first. It was not unpleasant. Fingers were stroking their way idly through her curls, raking back gently over her scalp in a slow and repetitive fashion. When she blinked her eyes she was greeted with an unfamiliar darkness but after a moment tiny dots of orange glowed into her sightline. She realized she was staring at the remains of the fire in the hearth, though its lack of warmth was undetectable. Lifting her head up, the fingers stopped and Hermione realized that she was resting across Severus’ lap.
                “Sorry,” she muttered, easing herself upright. “I didn’t mean to nod off, you should have woken me.”
                “You needed the rest.” Hermione only nodded. It had been strange to wake in his lap, but not unpleasant and certainly not unwanted. He could have easily woken her, even if he thought she needed rest, and sent her along to her bedroom. Or he could have levitated her, and even if he hadn’t been inclined to used magic he could have carried her, or slid out from under her. He had chosen to remain there with her slumbering across his lap. It was a spark inside her mind that ignited a conflagration of possibilities, all of which died away when she heard his next words. “You snore.”
                Hermione looked stricken with embarrassment. “I most certainly do not.”
                Severus rolled his eyes. “You females always have that reaction.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Do you think I’m lying?”
                “I do not snore, Severus.” She said pointedly.
                He scoffed. “I don’t see why you’re getting defensive about it.” As he stretched his arms above his head, he yawned. It was a very human gesture, though Hermione could not ever recall him doing such a thing. “I didn’t say it was obnoxious or irksome,” he said and then yawned once more. “It was actually a rather timid sound, more like a kitten purring when it has its belly rubbed.”
                This was even more perplexing for her. She could not imagine that Severus Snape had ever rubbed a kitten’s belly in his life. In addition to that, she was being complimented or in his own strange fashion, endeared by him over her snoring. She couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but supposed he was right about women on the whole in regards to snoring. She’d never heard a woman respond well to being told that she snored. Harry once slept on the couch for a week when he and Ginny had gotten into a row over her snoring. The whole notion seemed absurd, but then again, nothing about Severus Snape was remotely close to normal.
                When he stood up and nodded at her, she could only nod in return. “It’s easily half nine,” he said. “I expect Mr. Weasley will have us in around half five and if you want practice pegging…” he was halfway down the hall to his bedroom. “I suggest you rest a bit longer, your bed or there on the sofa, I personally don’t care, then have a shower and seek me out no later than half one.” Before she could question, respond, or protest, he’d slipped into his bedroom and closed the door.
                Hermione forced herself to stand from the sofa. The cushions were squishy but they offered no support. The sitting room was chilled; the fire had long since burned out and with Severus now absent she felt cold. Her mind was still chewing over the fact that he had let her fall asleep in his lap. She hadn’t recalled sliding down into his lap, only that she’d laid her head on his shoulder. Feeling a yawn creep through her, she shuffled quickly to her bedroom, pulled the door closed and slipped under the covers. She had napped but her body was still feeling the previous day’s exhaustion and it did not take her long to drift back off to sleep.
                The tapping on her door was what woke her. At first she mistook it for some sort of bird pecking away at a tree outside her window. But when it sounded a second and third time, she realized that someone was knocking on her bedroom door. Rolling over to face the door she glanced at the time piece on her nightstand and cringed. It was a quarter ‘til two in the afternoon. The vague echo of Severus telling her to rest and shower and find him by half one crept into her mind and she pulled the sheets up over her head, silently cursing herself for sleeping so long. Hermione pulled the pillow over her head and shouted down into the mattress. It wasn’t a loud shout, for she knew the door was no sound barrier, but she was frustrated with herself and needed to release those frustrations before she endured his lecture on punctuality and the importance of his time.
                Because she was buried under the covers with her head under the pillow, she did not hear him enter her room, and shrieked when he placed his hand on her shoulder. Even through the many layers of fabric she could feel the warmth of his hand. Hermione spun around in a flourish of sheets and limbs, managing to tangle herself thoroughly in her covers. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to sleep the whole while through, I must have been exhausted.”
                He stood over her bed, staring at her, eyes unblinking. “Indeed.” She couldn’t believe it was the only thing he said. She had expected a snarky comment at the very least. But when she realized he was waiting for her, she struggled her way out of the sheets. Hermione was still wearing the faded Quidditch t-shirt, though she’d kicked out of her joggers in her sleep. When she finally stood up from the bed, he glanced her once over. “Go shower,” he said. “And then come back here.”
                “We’re doing this in here?” she asked, frowning.
                “If you prefer I can take you to my room,” he offered.
                “No, this is fine, I guess. It doesn’t matter.”
                “Your bed is larger, it will give you more space.”
                “Right,” she said. Without another word she gathered up her showering kit and headed for the bathroom. She was quick with washing up. She took a moment to run her hand between her legs, surprised but pleased that her menses had ended rather abruptly as the tome had described it would. Hermione made quick work of washing her hair, making sure to dry it with a charm as best she could before tying it back. She didn’t want to give him any reason to complain. With a thick green towel wrapped around her body, she returned to her room, hung her shower caddy on the back of the door and closed it.
                It made her nervous to see him seated so casually on the edge of the bed. Her nerves were already on edge at the prospect of what she was about to do, but she was discovering that he was a good teacher. This was a fact that she had known all along; though he had often been harsh and a bit nepotistic to his own house, Severus Snape had been an excellent professor of Potions. Hermione hadn’t really paid attention to how he’d looked when he’d entered her room. She’d been too embarrassed and frustrated with herself for oversleeping. He was wearing a dressing robe and presumably nothing beneath it. This made her feel the tiniest bit more confident knowing that she was wearing only a towel.
                “Are you awake?” he asked.
                “Yes.”
                “Good.” Severus stood from the bed. His hands braced on her shoulders and she shivered as he slid his fingers down over her collarbone and undid the towel from around her body. It fluttered to the floor, landing just behind her heels. Her nipples stood stiff in the chill of the room and she gasped as both of his hands cupped her breasts. Severus squeezed her breasts and let his thumbs trace little circles around the taut peaks of her areolas. Hermione was melting under his touch, mewling in the back of her throat as he pinched her nipples.
                She stepped forward and brought her body up against his. Both of his hands slid down her body and encircled her waist, pulling her atop him as he sat down on the bed. She was straddled over his lap, a position she’d become all too familiar with as of late. He gazed up into her eyes. “This is similar to that anal wand from the workshop, only you’re controlling the pressure and push with your body, mostly your hips.” She nodded, carefully drinking in every word. She’d somehow missed that he’d brought the harness and dildo into her room, but when he reached behind him on the bed she knew that he had. “Stand up,” he said.
                Hermione was slow in lifting herself from his lap, her legs trembling as she stood in front of him. “First things first,” he said. “You want to be sure this fits,” he said holding out the harness to her. “You step into it,” as he spoke he rose from the bed, coming to stand at her side. “Just like you would a pair of knickers.” Handing her the leather contraption he watched as she took it and turned it over in her hands. It felt smooth and not unlike the leather she had felt when working with the various whips and crops in the workshop. It did look a bit like a pair of panties; there were two holes for legs and firm straps that gave it the appearance that it was adjustable.
                “It needs to be snug, but not pinch you. You want a firm harness that will hold in place so that you don’t have slippage, but at the same time you don’t want it hurting you or cutting off circulation.”
                “Slippage?” she asked quizzically.
                “I imagine Mr. Weasley’s product will be very different as the label on the canister implies…however with a harness and dildo because it is not attached to your physical being by any means other than the harness, it is impossible to control perfectly.” He explained. “By ensuring that the harness is snug you reduce your chance of the dildo sliding out of place at an inopportune moment.”
                “Oh,” she said, stepping into the harness. “Oh!” The image that drifted into her mind was not a pleasant one. She pushed it away quickly and focused instead on pulling the straps of the harness up until it was situated over her crotch like a pair of leather knickers.
                “This is a decent harness,” he said. “Not my preference, but it will serve its purpose.” She couldn’t imagine that he would have a need for such thing, let alone a preference, but she focused on his words as he continued his explanation. “Does it feel loose?” he asked. “You can tug on these D-rings just here,” he pulled gently on the leather strap that was coming through the side just at the juncture where her thigh met her torso. “Again, tight but not pinching,” he said, guiding her hand to help her adjust it. “Buckles are sturdier but not as flexible,” he said. She nodded her head, trying to absorb and remember every detail as he explained it. She blushed a bit as he reached around and under her legs, checking the way the harness fit her. It was still strange being so intimate with him despite the fact that they’d had a wonderful rousing round of sex that had nothing to do with work.
                “Feel here?” he said to her, taking her hand up and placing it on the front of the harness, just over her mound. Hermione traced her fingers over the sturdy ring. “That’s the O-ring,” he said. “The dildo will sit just in there, against your skin, the ring and the hardness holding it in place.” He frowned after a moment and it made Hermione nervous to see him do so. She felt his hands circle her thighs and then she felt him fiddling with a strap and ring at the back of the harness. “Does this pinch?” he asked, tugging it a bit firmly. The wide leather strap was lined directly over the split in her cheeks and when he tugged it she felt it hug her skin, but it didn’t pinch.
                “No, not pinch, but it’s tight.”
                “Too tight?” he asked, one hand bracing the side of her hip.
                “I’m not sure…it’s not painful, but it’s not exactly comfortable.”
                Severus adjusted the strap a bit, loosening it slightly. He brought his hands back around and began to fiddle with the straps at the side of her thighs, tightening and adjusting them. “How does that feel?”
                “Snug, I think. It’s better than it was a minute ago anyway.”
                “Good.” He said. Severus put his hand against the O-ring. “Do you feel how that sits? Just over your pubic bone? That’s where a harness should always sit, with the O-ring just over your pubic bone.” Her faced must have looked as if she were going to ask the reason because he gave a quick explanation. “Situated too high and penetration becomes tricky and more of an effort in thrusting. Situated too low and you’ll be grinding skin on skin.” Hermione nodded. She felt a bit ridiculous wearing the leather, and was glad that she wasn’t currently facing a mirror.
                The dildo that he’d purchased wasn’t exactly an ordinary cock. Though its shape was similar, it was not detailed to look exactly like a male penis. This confused her, but she said nothing. It was a lovely shade of purple and she was surprised when he placed it into her hand. “This is a pretty standard size,” he said. “It’s important to have a size that is comfortable for both partners,” he explained. “You have never strapped-on before and there’s no sense in causing harm to either of us with something more unwieldy.”
                Hermione’s lips quirked with a question. “When you— have you—” she blushed. She cleared her throat and tried again. “You’ve done this before?” she asked.
                “I have instructed the occasional witch in this arena.”
                This caused her face to flush more fully. That hadn’t been what she’d meant. “I see…but, I think what I was getting at was…erm…do you—”
                “Do I…what, Miss Granger?” he looked at her quizzically.
                “Erm, oh goodness,” she sighed. “Is this the size you’re used to?”
                Severus scoffed. “I would not say that any one wizard ever gets used to any particular size. Generally speaking my experiences with anal sex don’t involve strap-ons…” he gave the side of her thigh a gentle squeeze. “Every wizard is different, as I’m sure you know,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m experienced enough to have picked something larger, if that’s what you’re trying to ask, but like I said, you need something simple to start with.”
                “Right,” she said, still feeling the sting of blush in her cheeks. “Why purple?” she asked, feeling woefully foolish for asking such a question.
                This caused him to chuckle. “Because it pleases me?” he held her gaze for a moment. “Miss Granger, you don’t want something that looks identical to the real thing, I imagine that will be a traumatizing experience all its own when Mr. Weasley impresses that concoction of his upon you. While you’re attempting to simulate the act, it— like all sexual acts— are about comfort. And pleasure. And intimacy.” He took the dildo from her hands. “This particular one has the perfect texture, silken but not too soft, firm and curved with a slightly bulbous head, a thicker base and sturdy shaft. The color is pleasing to the eye,” he said and Hermione all but swooned. He had spoken of the sex toy like he might a painting one would admire in an art gallery.
                Severus took a moment to ease the front placket of the harness back, fiddling with the straps. “You slide it in like this,” he showed her, easing the base of the dildo against her skin before re-fastening the straps of the harness. “Does it feel like it did before?” he asked. “Firm but not pinching? I know that it’s going to feel strange with the toy pressed against you.”
                He was right. It did feel strange. She glanced down her body and it looked as strange as it felt. There was a sleek purple cock held to her mound by rich black leather jutting outward from between her legs. She drew in a steadying breath. “It feels alright,” she said and touched the dildo. It felt no different than it had in her hand. She wasn’t sure why she had thought it might have changed from leaving her hand to being strapped on her body.
                Severus put both hands on her hips, his fingers pressing into her flesh gently. “You’re nervous.”
                “Of course I’m nervous,” she said, and then blushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.”
                “You weren’t shouting,” he said and then started to rub his fingers along the sides of her thighs. “Come here,” he said, pulling her forward. She found it strange to be straddled against his lap with the dildo pressed against her. Hermione trembled when he reached up and cupped her cheeks. “Why are you so nervous, Miss Granger? You were not so jumpy when you needed guidance with other things.”
                Hermione blushed. “Really? I think I was pretty jumpy…” She was certain with all the blushing she had done in the few weeks since she’d started the job in George’s workshop that her body was going to run out of red pigment for her cheeks at any moment. This was a tragedy she was all too ready to accept. She shrugged her shoulders, trying not to sound as worried as she felt. “I don’t know, honestly. I guess I’m afraid I’ll hurt you?” she closed her eyes, not wanting to be reprimanded for being so foolish.
                “You’re more likely to hurt me if you stay this nervous,” he said. “Which will be unpleasant for both of us, and I shan’t have that.” One hand had slid down her cheek, down the side of her neck, and was trailing between their bodies. “You need to relax, open yourself to the experience, and trust yourself. Trust my instruction.” She bit her lower lip when she felt his fingers stroking at her nipple. “Easy…” he whispered, bringing his lips over hers.
                Hermione melted into his kiss. It was slow, a deliberate sweep of his tongue that invaded her mouth. She moaned into the kiss as he rolled her right nipple, pinching it with his thumb and forefinger. Her tongue circled his, velvet stroking velvet and she could feel heat flooding her core. It was still a bit peculiar, having the toy pressed between them, but she tried not to think about it, as he continued to kiss her, all the while toying with her nipples. One hand had escaped their bodies and was threaded up into her hair. She felt Severus tugging at the little elastic she had used to bind back her curls and when they sprung free she moaned. His fingers massaged her scalp as he tugged at her tresses, and his lips never left hers.
                Her cheeks were flushed and her heart was racing when finally he pulled back from the kiss, his eyes searching hers. She could see the lust-driven look that possessed him; she had seen it the night he’d pulled her into the shower. It had not been present when he’d thrust her up onto the kitchen counter, when he’d put her onto her knees to blow him, or even the night she’d laid spooned against him in his bed to have him guide her through her first experience with anal. He was possessed by need. It thrilled her to see the way desire rippled across his features and she felt another burst of heat low in her core.
                Severus leaned back, propping his torso up on his elbows, his chest rising and falling in a quick and heavy rhythm. She took in his figure. While she’d seen him naked and explored his body during their practices in the workshop, it was the one thing their encounter in the shower had not afforded her: a proper look. Hermione licked her lips as she let her eyes roam over his figure. He was splayed out like a meal for the taking and for a moment she forgot herself, wanting nothing more than to straddle his lap, situate herself down on his cock and ride him until he was screaming her name. Her eyes settled on his cock. She drew in a trembling breath, licking her lips. He wasn’t hard, not completely, but the stirrings of his erection were present. There was something truly magnificent about his cock and seeing that it was indeed still in working order was a titular sensation.
                Hermione was still straddled over the tops of his thighs, though she’d slid back just a bit when he’d reclined into the mattress and was now resting over his knees. “Lean up,” he said, nodding at her. His voice was husky and low. It wasn’t straining or cracked the way she often heard him in the workshop. She did as she was told, swinging one leg over to the side of him until she was knelt at his hip. Hermione watched in awe as he positioned himself further up to the center of her bed, his head resting on a pillow, his legs spread wide. It surprised her when he did not immediately turn onto all fours, or at the very least roll to lay on his stomach.
                “Shouldn’t you…” she wanted to roll her hand in a gesture that would indicate him to turn over, but there was something in his eyes that quelled her words. He knew what he was doing, he’d done this before, and she did not. Hermione waited anxiously for him to give her instructions. The basic notion seemed simple enough, but she wanted to be sure.
                “Here,” Severus had plucked up a tube of lubricant. It was the same tube she’d remembered from the night he’d penetrated her anally for the first time. She took the tube and unscrewed the cap, squeezing a liberal amount of the thick smooth gel onto her fingers. “Like in the workshop, double coated and a fair amount,” he said. His voice still held that gravelly note of arousal and this put her mind at ease. He wanted this. It was still a lesson, one she needed to learn, but he was yearning for it, begging for it, practically, from the sound of his voice.
                Hermione rubbed the gel against her fingers. It was very different from the workshop, her memory had not been wrong. First she ran her fingers over the tip of the dildo, mimicking the motion of grabbing and twisting that she had used on his cock before. She noted that he watched her, his eyes following every twist of her wrist until she pulled her hand away from the now shiny purple cock and squeezed a bit more lube onto her finger. She hesitated, but after a moment renewed her courage with a steady breath and began to rub her finger against the taut ring of muscles that guarded his entrance. She wasn’t sure if she were becoming more practiced and thus it was easier, or if Severus was being more receptive because it only took a moment for her to ease her finger inside of his tight heat, sliding it back and forth to ensure he was liberally lubricated.
                When she pulled her hand back, Severus only nodded and then reached for both of her pillows. He lifted his hips and slid them in a stack under the small of his back. This elevated his pelvis somewhat and brought his arse up off the mattress. “Kneel here,” he said, one hand patting the space between his legs. She obeyed, scooting forward until she was knelt between his legs, looking nervous. “It’s just a strap-on, Miss Granger, there is no need to look as if it’s your NEWTS.”
                She flushed and tried to look away but his hand on the top of her knee kept her from turning her head away. “Sorry, I just—”
                “It’s fine,” he said, patting her knee. “Lean up to give yourself leverage, you’re going to end up over my body. If it helps you visualize, think about the way a man leans over your body just before sex.” Hermione closed her eyes for a moment. She didn’t want to picture Ron or Viktor in that moment. She only wanted to see Severus. And although her most intimate and passionate bout of love making had not been in a missionary position, their tests in the workshop had given her that at least once. She visualized the way his body lined over hers, the way he lined his cock exactly at her entrance and the way he slowly pushed himself in, adjusting to her snug walls as he filled her with his throbbing erection.
                “Okay…” she whispered, opening her eyes to gaze down at him. “I don’t think I pictured it like this,” she confessed, shaking slightly as she moved forward to bring the dildo closer to his entrance.
                “Not all anal sex involves a man down on all fours or facing away from his partner.” Severus’ voice was level but she could still hear the arousal in his words. “I wish to keep my eyes on your eyes, you’re expressive and I’ll be able to guide you better from this position.” Hermione nodded her understanding as she braced one hand on his hip. “Not so tight, Miss Granger. There is no need to leave bruises. Your body will provide the leverage you need.” She pulled her hand back and he sighed. “You should touch your partner,” he said and then closed his eyes. For a moment she feared he was growing frustrated. But when his hand curled around her wrist and dragged it forward she inhaled sharply.
                Severus guided her hand until her fingers were curled around the base of his shaft. The velvety firm skin of his cock pulsed in her palm and she moaned softly as he guided her hand up his length, rolling her fingers over the tip of his head. She’d stroked him before, she’d worked her hand over his cock, but this was exquisite. She let her eyes fall unfocused, drifting up his chest to watch his features as his breathing grew heavy and his chest began to rise and fall in a more erratic fashion. “Put your other hand on my hip,” his voice was a growl, though it was not nasty.
                Hermione obeyed and rested her hand on his hip. A few more strokes up and down his cock had him standing hard at full attention, his tip weeping. Severus guided her hand back until she was cupping the base of the dildo. “There,” he said. “Hold it steady as you press forward, make sure you’re lined up.” She glanced down between his legs and shifted forward a bit until the bulbous head of the dildo was pressed against his pucker. “You need to use the motion of your hips, bracing gently against mine to press forward. Go slowly, but just like with the wand, you have to use enough force to push in.”
                His voice was strained, though not the deliberate strain she had so often heard in the workshop. This was a different variety of strain; this was sexual control that he was gripping onto and she wondered if the simple stimulation of his hand guiding hers had been enough to bring him close. It astounded her at how certain things seemed to bring him to the edge straight away. But there would be time to dwell on that later. Hermione gazed into his eyes and drew in a slow, deep breath. She rocked her hips forward, bracing on his hip with one hand, the other still gripped firmly around the base of the dildo. She was met with resistance, but pressed harder forward and he groaned deeply when she’d pushed the head of the dildo inside of him.
                “Very good,” he growled. “Now easy,” he was panting slightly. “No need to keep hold of the dildo now that it’s in, you can brace your weight more evenly.” Hermione was scared to release the dildo, but did as she was told. She knew logically the harness would keep it in place. It was secured snugly around her pelvis and not going anywhere; he had made sure of that. She was timid as she pushed her hips forward, but his groan was a rewarding sound when she finally stilled her motions, the dildo buried inside of him.
                “Does that feel right?” she asked, her face flushed, her heart racing.
                Severus nodded. She wondered if he had spoken his answer how lusty his voice would have sounded. But her curiosity was quenched as he spoke, his voice indeed saturated with need. “Ease your way out, pull your hips back, but not so far as to pull all the way out. I know it is difficult to gauge since you cannot feel the dildo’s length. Watch the way you pull out, if you start to see the head of the toy, stop.”
                The position was a bit of a strain on her knees, especially as she began to pull her hips back. It required more force than it had to push into him, his muscles gripping tightly against the dildo as she rocked back, trying to pull out. Her eyes were trained steadfast on the slick purple dildo, watching to be certain that she didn’t pull all the way out. She paused just as she saw the head starting to breach the ring of muscles it had penetrated. “Stop,” he rasped and her body froze. “Good. Ease your way back in, that’s the basic motion…in and out…”
                Hermione rocked her hips forward once more, a bit faster than before, but it was still a gruelingly slow pace. She heard him groan when she settled the dildo fully inside of him, and was pleased with his slight cry when she pulled back only to push into him once more. “Yes…” he panted. She noted his chest glistened, the heat of arousal causing him to sweat as she hovered over him. “You’ll need to find a rhythm,” he said, one hand coming to brace her hip. “I’ll guide you.” As she pushed forward, she moaned, feeling his fingertips pressing into her flesh. It was difficult balancing up on her knees and her back felt taut, as if someone had run a rod down it, but she tried not to focus on that discomfort. She drew her attention instead to the way his muscles clutched at the dildo, making the withdraw motion more labor intensive.
                Pushing in and out of him she found the rhythm of which he spoke, though she was certain it was guided entirely by his hand on her hip. Hermione grunted a bit as she pushed the dildo harder into him, thrusting a bit more firmly. The harness was tapping his skin when she filled him, and she noted that every time she grew too close to pulling out completely, he squeezed her flesh and drew her back forward. It was laborious; her own chest heaving with the effort of plowing him firmly but smoothly, even with his help. Despite the effort, it was rewarding. She could see his face. She watched the way his features twisted into ecstasy when she pushed a bit harder into him. She loved the way his brow creased when he groaned as she slid almost all the way out of him. Both of his hands were now on her hips, guiding her thrusting and pulling motions into a steadier, faster rhythm.
                “Don’t be afraid,” he panted. “It doesn’t go that deep.” Hermione took this as an invitation to thrust her hips harder and she was immediately rewarded with his groaning. She felt a spasm shoot up her back and whimpered a bit, but if he heard her, it was misconstrued as a cry of her own pleasures. It didn’t deter her from continuing to thrust her hips, though with every forward gyration her back twitched unpleasantly. She noted that his cock was straining and she wondered if he was close to coming from being pegged.
                “Are you…close?” she panted.
                Severus, whose eyes had been closed, opened to gaze at her. They remained half-hooded, smoldering lust-filled black orbs glazed over with ecstasy as she continued to pump into him. “Yes…” he hissed. One hand left her hip and moved to cup his balls, squeezing them. He growled at his own touch and Hermione shivered to hear such a tantalizing sound. Her fingers were trembling but after a moment of determining that she wouldn’t fall over or slip out of him, she reached forward and curled her hand around his shaft. “Merlin,” he cried, his hand moving back to her other hip. Hermione felt him pull her harder and faster toward him and she bucked her hips to keep up with the newer, faster rhythm he was creating.
                She was panting, he was panting, and her hips were pounding against him now, the dildo gliding hard and fast in and out of his arse. Her hand was rolling over his tip, squeezing his head, and her breasts bounced almost painfully against her chest. The tingles of discomfort in her back had intensified but they were almost drowned out by the sensation of feeling his head swell in her palm. Severus cried out as he slammed her hard forward into him, his cock twitching just as hard in her hand before he came. Bursts of hot, sticky seed erupted from his tip and Hermione’s hips were stilled, the dildo resting fully inside of him as his cum coated her hand.
                She longed to collapse, but was held firmly in place by his hand as his body shook beneath her. The pillows had slipped into a lopsided stack beneath only half of his hips, and his chest was covered in a glistening sheen of sweat. When he opened his eyes to gaze up at her, his chest was still heavily rising and falling. “Ease your hips back…” he gasped, words lost in his breath.
                Hermione eased back, feeling the slackness of the muscular ring at his pucker. She pulled her hips a bit harder as the head slipped out of him, and she fell backward onto the mattress, her head hanging off the end of the bed. Her heart was racing, her back throbbing, and her eyes were swimming. She felt a fizzy tingling over her hand and in the distance far away had heard him mutter something. Her body was being eased up and she winced, but curled readily into his arms as he pulled her up onto the bed, resting her flat on her back. Her hand was no longer coated in his essence and she was laying with her head atop the stack of pillows, eyes looking up at him.
                “Are you in pain?” he asked, one hand running down the side of her ribs until his fingers began to unfasten the straps on the left side of the harness. Immediately she felt the dildo flop forward and rest against her bare skin.
                “Yes— well— just my back, I’m not sure. It’s a throbbing,” she said, her own voice sounding quite drained.
                “You’ve thrown out your back, Samantha,” he smirked down at her as he undid the other side of the harness. Severus bent over her, easing the leather and the dildo down her legs until she was freed of it entirely.
                “What?” she asked, wincing as she tried to shift onto her side.
                Severus rolled his eyes. “Nevermind,” he said and put both hands on her side. “Turn over, I know it hurts,” he said and then helped push her onto her side and then onto her stomach. Hermione whimpered when he pressed his palms against the small of her back. “Nothing a quick spell won’t fix,” he muttered and then she felt his fingertips pressing down into the column of her spine. For a moment she felt tears prickling at the back of her eyes, but then there was a chilling tingle and then pain was gone.
                Hermione rolled over and stared at him. “How did you do that?”
                He shook his head. “It does amaze me sometimes that you are a witch.”
                She tried not to blush and held her temper in check. “I mean, how did you know that’s what I’d done? I know you used a medical spell, realignment no doubt, but you knew right away…”
                “Ah,” he said and then graced his fingers against her jaw. “It’s one of the first things people often do wrong. They over exert their back by thrusting too hard or with too much force not distributed evenly.”
                “So I did it wrong then?” she asked, trying to understand where she’d screwed up.
                “You were fine, Miss Granger. Sometimes it happens anyhow. Your back isn’t used to the motion,” he said as he eased her up to sitting. With some shifting, he pulled her body around until her legs dangled off the side of the bed. He sat beside her. “Do you feel as if you have a better understanding now?”
                She nodded her head quietly and then closed her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him as she asked, “Who is Samantha?” There was a pregnant pause and then a deep chuckle that rose up from his chest and filled the room. “I don’t know what you find so funny,” she huffed. “I’m being serious.”
                “Don’t be,” he said and tilted her chin up and to the side until he was looking deep into her eyes. “Samantha is a character from Sex and the City, and on her first ever attempt at strapping on for her lesbian lover Maria, she throws her back out.” Hermione was dumbstruck and her mouth was agape as she stared wide-eyed at him. “Close your mouth, Ms. Granger, you’ll catch flies,” he said and sneered.
                She blushed and then let her head fall forward against his shoulder. There was a surge of hysteria that threatened to sweep through her and send her into a fit of giggling tears, or bleary-eyed chuckles, but she drew in several deep breaths before speaking. “You watch Sex and the City.”
                “Certainly not.” He said. “It went off the air in February.”
                Hermione snorted and found herself giggling despite her best efforts not to. There was no reprimand from him, no scolding, only his arm that rested across the tops of her thighs. When she managed to calm herself enough to lift her head from his shoulders she gazed into his eyes and smiled. “Thank you?” she said and shrugged, another soft giggle leaving her lips. “You probably didn’t need to tell me that…or even do any of that just now,” she nodded her head back to the bed.
                “It was for my benefit as well. I don’t need you falling apart with nerves at work tonight, we’d both end up injured.”
                She did not let his comment wound her. While she was certain he was right that a part of him had been motivated to instruct her for his own safety, she knew that there was more to it. Even if she couldn’t articulate it and even if he denied it. Her gut felt it and her gut had never been wrong. “How do I keep from throwing out my back against tonight?” she asked. She wasn’t entirely certain that George was going to have her test the Dick-in-a-Can product that evening, though he’d been fairly eager upon its discovery.
                “Try not to brace so much,” he said as he stood and slipped back into his robe. She hadn’t even noticed when he’d slipped out of it, but smiled sadly as the fabric vanished his lovely body from view. “You’re tensing your muscles and concentrating too hard. You do need to concentrate, but ease up a bit. Gentle rocking, and I can always adjust your hips,” he said. “That should help.” He moved to the door of her bedroom. “And if it does not, I can always do as I’ve just done, you shall be fine either way, Miss Granger.”
                She nodded her head and sat on the edge of her bed, not covering her body in any fashion. She noted the way his eyes lingered on her breasts before he slipped out of her bedroom. Hermione collapsed back and sighed heavily. That had been a lesson and then some. She wasn’t sure she would be able to do it again in the workshop if George insisted, but after a moment’s internal conversation she rationalized that Severus had helped her with the D2 in the workshop after penetrating her alone in his room, and that this would be no different. She rubbed her hand over her mound, feeling the place where the dildo had sat against her skin.
                It was not sore, nor was it red, but it felt strange to longer have the thing resting there as it had. She closed her eyes for a moment, debating about whether or not she wanted to have another shower. A part of her wondered if Severus was having a shower, not that they needed to shower together, but the idea of him in the steaming hot heat sent her body reeling. She wanted to ask him how he managed such a vigorous stamina. She had noticed the other night in the workshop that he was worn down more so than usual, but she chalked it up to the fact that nearly all of the product testing had been focused on him. She knew tonight that would be different. Her menses was over and the entire assortment of sexual novelties was once more on the agenda.
                She hadn’t realized that she’d nodded off, but when she felt herself being shaken awake she realized she must have. “You’re going to be late,” he said and then stepped back from her bed. She’d fallen asleep naked and was quick to tuck her knees up to her chest and lean forward. It was a foolish reaction considering how much of her he’d seen naked and just how intimate he’d been with her, but she knew it was not something she was likely to dispense with anytime soon.
                Hermione frowned. “I don’t know what came over me,” she confessed. She hadn’t been truly tired since they’d begun working for George Weasley and she was used to keeping strange hours owing to her previous housing situation. But perhaps her overworked emotions had finally taken their toll on her body. With a sigh she waited for him to leave her bedroom and she threw on a jumper and a pair of knickers. She didn’t bother with a bra or pants and simply gathered her traveling cloak about her before moving through the house to meet him out on the street. It was only slightly strange that he was waiting to apparate with her, usually the arrived separately, but she tried to pay it little mind.
                George was ushering the last customer out of his shop when they strode in together. “Good, good, good!” he cheered, locking up the shop for the evening. “Last night was really bloody useful, gave me a more organized approach to going through the ledger and seeing what was what. I think I’ve got quite a few nifty things to work out this evening. Probably another long evening but if we get through what I’ve set aside for the night, I might give you tomorrow evening off.”
                “Really?” she asked.
                George smirked. “Not so much for your benefit as mine, Hermione. Well, all of us really,” he paused for a moment. “I’ve got business to attend to tomorrow night— which if all goes well— oh bollocks, I was going to hold off on telling you— but I can’t!” he grinned from ear to ear. “I’ve been invited to the International Jolly Jokesters convention,” he all but squealed. “They’ve asked me to set up a booth to sell some of the products that are finished— and I’m attending a meeting tomorrow night about having a filling a few guest lecture and demonstration spots!”
                “Demonstration spots?” Severus eyed George with suspicion.
                “Yes. The pay is great, it would be a great advance for the product line, and for you both of course, and it’s only one weekend— about six weeks from now— and it wouldn’t be anything we hadn’t perfected, of course—”
                “George, surely you don’t mean to have us accompany you to this thing?” Hermione sounded shocked.
                “Why the hell not?” he laughed. “You two are my test subjects, you’re the reason that we’re making bank and then some on what little I’ve released in the store. People pay loads to attend these conventions, and lecturers as well as demonstrators are put up in posh suites with their expenses covered,” he added. “Like I said it’s only a weekend. Well— four days sort of. You get there on a Thursday, and there’s a mingling Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday are the main event days and then it’s only a half day on Sunday. I’d mind the stall for products, except for when I’d have to lecture— they’re only hour long panels, and there are only a few of them, you two could take turns minding the stall or mind it together.”
                “What of this demonstration nonsense?” Severus asked.
                “That’s the brilliant part, that’s what the meeting is for tomorrow,” George was speaking so quickly that Hermione could hardly keep up with him. “They’ve got a few leftover demonstration spots they need filled. A chance to show off the merchandise to hundreds of attendees at once. We’re a unique lot because of the nature of our product…and there were several members on the board that thought we might be ideal to fill these slots.”
                “You keep saying “we”, George.” Hermione looked nervous.
                “Well, yes, naturally you two would be demonstrating, just like you do when you test the products here in the workshop, but I won’t have the details of that all sorted until tomorrow night, hence needing to get heaps done tonight so I have more than enough options to present at the meeting tomorrow.” George was still talking but Hermione had tuned out. She could hear his voice and saw his lips moving but what he was saying no longer made its way to her mind. All she could think about was the potential prospect of having to engage in sexual activity with Severus Snape in front of hundreds of people. The thought made her nearly double over.
                Severus’ arm was quick to brace her. “Miss Granger, are you unwell?” he asked, his eyes glancing over hers.
                “I’m— I’m fine, Severus,” she said after a moment and looked at George. “George, do we—”
                “Hermione, I’ll give you all the details after tomorrow’s meeting, I promise. Right now let’s get upstairs and get working, we’ve got a lot to get through!” And without giving her a chance to protest, he took the stairs up to the second story of the shop two at a time and continued up toward the workshop. It was somehow a done deal. They were going to be on display for prying eyes at a convention and that made her swoon once more.
                Severus’ arms held her firm. “What is the matter with you, Miss Granger?” he asked, his tone more concerned than before.
                “He can’t be serious,” she said, looking at Severus with terrified eyes.
                “About what, Miss Granger?”
                “About this— this— this convention thing. Being on display? In front of hundreds of people?”
                “Let us not worry ourselves prematurely,” he said and took her by the shoulders, guiding her toward the stairs. “There will be more information after he’s attended whatever meeting it is he intends to attend. If that is the course of action he wishes to pursue, he will tell us then, and in the meantime, being dizzy over it isn’t going to change it.”
                Hermione nodded numbly and let herself be led up the stairs, his hand at her back guiding her forward. There was always a logical and rational reasoning to Severus’ words, and although the notion still spooked her quite thoroughly, what he had said calmed her somewhat. She tried to put the idea out of her mind lest she find herself unable to perform that evening. When they entered the workshop, she slipped out of her traveling cloak, took off her knickers and t-shirt, and slipped into her working robe. Severus did the same with his clothes and in moments they were standing by the work table, surprised that it had a series of things laid out on its surface in somewhat of an organized fashion.
                “Okay, let’s start with these,” said George, moving beside them and picking up a small pink box. “Charming Cherries.” He handed the box to Severus. “They’re meant to be some sort of insertable product for her.”
                Severus turned the box over in his hand and lifted the lid. Together they peered down into the box. Nestled in the snug confines was a pair of bright red metallic balls. Protruding from each of the balls were slender green stems. She gave a tug on one of the stems, noting that it felt like rubber while the ball itself with a smooth steel-like texture. She couldn’t fathom what they were meant for and if Severus had any clue has face certainly wasn’t showing it.
                George had made his way back over to the ledger, and was thumbing through the pages. “Charming Cherries, a delight for you and your partner when it’s time to pop them in.” He flipped the page back and forth. “Seems you slip them up inside of her, stems pointing down? Out? Stems pointing out so you can tug on them. And tugging is what appears to do the trick,” he said.
                “Trick?” Hermione asked.
                “Trigger. You know, set off whatever enchantment they’re meant to be enchanted with?” George said, taking a seat on his stool.
                “Which is, Mr. Weasley?” Severus asked.
                George shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me. There’s a rather crude illustration with a woman tugging the stems with her teeth from between another woman’s legs,” he said and gestured for Severus to come and look at the drawing. “So put them in, give them a tug and see how they go?” he offered.
                Hermione felt nervous about such things. Though the mishaps had been few in the workshop, most of them had been at her misfortune, and she was not thrilled with the notion of a product that had little else by way of description. She walked over to George and glanced over his shoulder into the ledger. The sketch was as he had described it— crude— though exacting in pornographic detail. She supposed such a thing was intended to be marketed for lesbians as the sketch showed two women, but beyond that couldn’t tell what they were meant to do. The animation of the drawing was limited; the woman lying on her back had her face twisted in what Hermione hoped was ecstasy with the other woman bent between her legs, tugging one of the cherry-shaped balls by the stem with her teeth from out of her core.
                “Hop up on the— er, here,” he said and moved over to clear the remaining products away from the table’s surface. George set them on a shelf that he conjured from thin air. “Hop up there and lay back, Severus, I guess slide them in one at a time, and we’ll see how they go from there.”
                Hermione did not shrug out of her robe as she hopped up onto the table, but let the lapels fall open as she lowered her back onto the cold marble surface. She felt his hands on her outer thighs and moved her body with him as he pulled her hips closer to the edge of the table. Her legs dangled over the edge and she felt his fingers gently stroking the insides of her thighs. It seemed like a kind gesture and she tried to relax. She propped herself up, bracing on her forearms so she could watch Severus with the cherry-toys. George had brought a stool over and he took a seat just between her legs.
                “There is a little packet at the bottom of the box.” He said.
                “Open it,” George waved him on, taking notes in the ledger.
                Hermione glanced at Severus. He’d pulled a tiny foil pouch from underneath the cherries. It was shiny and red and looked like a ketchup packet that you might receive in a fast food chain. “What is that?” she asked as she watched him tear a notch in the corner.
                The immediate scent of overripe cherries filled the air. Little red bubbles foamed at the top of the package where Severus had torn it and Hermione recoiled, a look of disgust crossing her face. Severus touched the little bubbles and gave the bottom of the packet a gentle squeeze. A thick syrupy red liquid oozed out of the package and onto his finger. He drew it carefully under his nose and inhaled. He rubbed his finger against his thumb, his digits sliding smoothly against the red syrup. “I believe this is some sort of cherry-scented…perhaps even flavored…lubricant,” he said after a moment.
                While lubricant that came from a Weasley product was somewhat worrisome, she had to admit she was slightly relieved. Though the cherry-balls did not look overly cumbersome, the idea of him pushing them up into her in her current state had not seemed pleasant. Normally by now the prospect of being naked with him was enough to have warmed her just a bit, but she had felt nothing but fearful and uncertain since George had mentioned the joke convention to her downstairs. “Do you think it’s safe?” she whispered.
                Severus rolled his eyes. “If it’s not, trust that I won’t let it destroy your vagina, Miss Granger,” he said.
                Hermione had never blushed so hard in her life. She squirmed on the edge of the table as she felt his fingers rubbing the red gel-like liquid against her netherlips. “It’s awkwardly warm,” she said and clenched her hands at her side. Severus slipped a finger into her entrance, coating her with the bubbly gel and she clenched her thighs tight. “It tingles!”
                “Painful or just tingly?” George asked.
                Severus looked at her sternly. Hermione closed her eyes. She felt foolish. “It’s just tingly, George,” she reported and then eased her thighs apart. She had to get a handle on her mind. It was too overworked thinking about the convention. She thought to the way Severus had kissed her in her bed before guiding her through the process of penetrating him with the strap-on. She thought about the way she’d woken on the sofa to him stroking her hair. These thoughts seemed to ease her racing mind somewhat, and she felt his finger sliding gently in and out of her core, swirling the gel liberally at her entrance and just inside of her. “I’m alright,” she whispered.
                Whether he’d been moving slower to buy her time to calm herself or he was simply being thorough, Severus nodded to her whisper and continued to ease his finger in and out of her before squeezing the remainder of the small packet onto the cherry-balls. They glistened in the workshop light, now slick with the lubricant. She watched as he held one by the green rubber stem and guided it forward against her center. Hermione had braced herself for the chill of the steel but felt only the slickness of the warmed lubricant as the ball pressed against her entrance. It was larger around than anything she’d ever inserted into her body before and she winced a bit. This caused Severus to stop.
                “Are you pained?”
                Hermione shook her head. “Sorry, go ahead.”
                He gazed at her and when he’d decided she was telling the truth, proceeded to press the steel cherry-ball further into her core until it was drawn completely inside of her. Hermione moaned. There was something brilliantly strange about the way it pressed against her insides, particularly as it rubbed against that sensitive spot that had been all too often neglected in her sexual encounters before Severus Snape. She felt the second cherry-ball being pressed at her entrance, uncertain that her body could take both of them at the same time, but as it slid inside of her she felt her walls contract around it. Her core shuddered and she moaned again.
                “Merlin that’s…oh…” she groaned, feeling the balls pressing against one another inside of her. They were fitted snugly inside of her and rubbed against her walls. She imagined that even without the lubricant they would have felt intense but there was something about the subtle tingling that was magnified now that the balls were touching each other against her walls. She tilted her head back, arching her hips upward. “They feel…oh…mmm…” she grunted, rolling her hips forward.
                “The lubricant is a stimulant,” Severus noted, leaning forward on his stool. Both green rubber stems protruded from between Hermione’s swollen lips and Severus gave them a gentle tug with his fingers. Her sharp intake of breath filled the room. The cherry scent had intensified once he’d covered his fingers and the toys in the lubricant. It was cloyingly sweet and sharp. There was a trickle of red liquid squirting out of Hermione’s sex and Severus drew his finger along the juncture of her thigh, catching it before it slid down between the crack of her cheeks. He brought his finger to his lips and tasted it. “It’s flavoring her like a cherry,” he added.
                Those words sent a shiver down her spine. Hermione could feel the balls inside of her creating an exquisite pressure on her g-spot and she wasn’t even moving. Again she felt his fingers tugging on the rubber stems, shifting the balls inside of her. They clanged together and the reverberations echoed into the walls of her core. A surge of pleasure shot through her and she moaned. She was wet and gushing arousal, her legs trembling as she felt his fine silky hair brush against the inside of her thighs.
                Severus brought his lips against her sex, letting his tongue catch the dribble of gushing cherry juice that leaked from her core. Hermione whimpered, thrusting her hips forward. The heat of his breath coupled with the pressure inside of her was driving her wild. When he bit down on the rubber stems of the cherry-balls, Hermione cried out, arching her hips up from the edge of the table. A jolt of pleasure shot through her as he began to tug on the stems with his teeth, pulling the balls inside of her. “Oh gods…” she cried, feeling them turn over one another. Her core shook with spasms and she could feel herself coming undone. It seemed absurd; how could she be on the brink of an orgasm when all he’d done was slide lubricated steel balls inside of her?
                He let one of the rubber stems slip from his mouth, tugging only one. Hermione quivered and quaked as the ball began to emerge from between her lips, gushes of cherry juice sliding out with it. As Severus tugged the stem more firmly, the cherry steel ball rolled forward, and Hermione gripped the edge of the table hard, feeling the echoes of the balls against her inner walls. They were like magnets, pressing and pulling against her walls to draw close to one another and it was an insanely delightful torture that she could not describe. The weight of the balls pinched against her g-spot, sending echoes of vibrations through her as one was pulled away from the other.
                “There is resistance, as if they refuse to be separated,” said Severus, taking the stem once more in his fingers to tug it.
                “Fuck…” she cried, feeling as if a vibrating metal ball was sending pulses directly against her g-spot. “Don’t stop tugging…” she panted, trying to squeeze her thighs shut to keep the delicious friction of the cherries going inside of her. Her thighs were coated liberally in the cherry juice, as was his hand, his lips still sticky with the taste of it. Hermione held one hand just over her mound, thumb frantically searching for her clit. She ground her thumb against her swollen nub, body shuddering as she found release, too lost in the overwhelming sensations created by the cherries to care how wanton she looked in that moment.
                She was panting and slumped forward. A cry tore from her lips as Severus more forcefully tugged the first and then the second stem from between her legs, a flood of cherry juice squirting from between her legs as he did. She pitched over, but Severus was on his feet before she could fall from the table, hear head falling squarely against his chest. With the cherries in his hand, which was drenched in juice, he looked at George. “I don’t know to what end you’ve intended them, they are entirely too messy, but their physical effect on Ms. Granger seems to be most pleasing.”
                Hermione could hear her name and took several deep breaths trying to return her body to normal. It had been an orgasm, but unlike any orgasm she’d ever experienced. It had felt surreal. It wasn’t the strongest climax she’d ever achieved, and perhaps not the most sensual one either but it was certainly very different. It had felt cerebral somehow, like her mind had gone fuzzy with warmth and ease, all the while her body was tuned to a pitch generated by the cherry balls. When she lifted her head from Severus’ chest, she shook her head. “I could feel myself literally gushing with juice,” she blushed when she spoke the words. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that wet,” she said much more quietly, hoping that only Severus had heard her.
                It took him several moments to clean up. The table was sticky where she had sat on its edge, but a few sprays of the all-purpose solvent they’d been using had things cleared away. Hermione drew her robe around her figure, feeling embarrassed that she’d gotten so carried away in the sensations of the cherry balls. “I’ve never felt anything like that,” she said to George, watching as he scribbled frantically in the ledger. “And I’m sorry I don’t have a better description. The lube was tingly but warm, and then it was like feeling some sort of vibration but in the best way possible. It was a truly marvelous sensation.”
                He paused a moment, dipped his quill in the inkpot, and then grinned up at her. “You seemed like you were enjoying them. I’m not sure I’ll put them on the list for the convention as they are quite messy, but I imagine if that’s foreplay…fucking straight after would be a squeal.”
                Hermione tried only to focus on the latter part of his statement. She turned away from George and looked at the shelf. “What’s next?”
                “Um, I think I’d wanted to try out the Milk Duds,” he said. George plucked up a little yellow pot from the shelf. It was a rounded glass pot with a yellow screw-top lid over it. “Here,” he said.
                She took the pot in her hand and carefully unscrewed the lid. Inside the pot were several little rounded chunks of what looked like chocolate. She drew the pot up under her nose and sniffed. They were odorless. Hermione plucked up a single rounded chunk and scrutinized it. “What exactly am I meant to do with it?” she asked.
                George was once again flipping through pages in his ledger. “Milk Duds…says here…they’re an intimate surprise for unconventional fun…” he frowned, running his finger over the page. “And there’s some sort of formula for what looks like an engorging charm,” he added. “Severus, take a look at this.”
                Severus moved over to George and glanced down into the ledger. “It does appear to be a derivative of an engorgement charm,” he said. “To what purpose?”
                George shrugged. “I don’t know. But they’re here in about four pages of things to do with girls so presumably they’re for Hermione. It does say ingest according to preference.”
                “Wonderful,” Hermione muttered. “Am I meant to swallow it? Chew it?” She prayed that it tasted better than it looked. It felt a bit like a rock in her hand.
                “Well, give it a go then,” George said.
                Hermione cast a wary glance at Severus but he was still reading the notes in the ledger. She sighed and then placed the brown chunk on her tongue. It wasn’t unpleasant, though truth be told she couldn’t taste much of anything. A hint of a sugary taste that was slightly burnt, perhaps a bit like caramel. As she swallowed the thing, it left a lingering taste of something uncertain on her tongue. She waited a moment and then shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing.”
                She had spoken to soon. There was a sudden tightness in her chest. But not in her chest so much as it was on her chest. Hermione felt as if the skin across her breasts had been drawn taut and stretched in a way that felt as if she were going to burst out of her own breasts. “Holy fuck,” she heard George say. Her robe had been drawn around her but she felt the chill of the room and glanced down at her chest. Ingesting the lone caramel-like rock chunk had caused her breasts to nearly double in size.
                Hermione’s eyes were wide in disbelief. Her nipples were stiff, pointing slightly upward and she could not take her eyes off her breasts. Though her breasts had always been average, as she’d never considered them to be overly large or undersized, they had never sat up quite as perky as they were now. She blushed furiously as she found herself cupping them in her hands. They jiggled with a heavy weight that she was not used to. “Oh my goodness,” she said and then blushed again. She felt a bit like a porn star and knew she must have looked ridiculous.
                “Severus, give them a squeeze, and perhaps a once over with your tongue,” said George.
                She felt her stomach tighten into a not. It was almost like the very first night in the workshop with the tinted nipple cream. The casual command of Severus fondling her breasts was not something Hermione wanted to grow used to. He stood in front of her and placed both hands on the lapels of her robe, drawing it back to expose her breasts. She flinched when he cupped them in his palms but kept her eyes focused on his as he gave them a squeeze.
                “Does it feel any different, Hermione?”
                “A little tight but nothing painful,” she said and arched her chest slightly forward. Severus squeezed her breasts again. Hermione could feel the pads of his fingers pressing into her skin. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but rather sensitive. She closed her eyes as she watched him dip his head forward, brushing his lips against the swell of her right breast. Her breasts had never lacked for attention during her time spent with Ron, though seldom had it been all that pleasurable for her. He was an animal, unfortunately it was an over-eager rabbit that tended to slobber and bite in all the wrong places. She pushed the thought from her mind as she felt Severus’ tongue caress her nipple. The pebbled peak had already been stiffened by the enchantment and she gasped as he began to lick a slow circle around it.
                A pleasured whimper was strangled in her throat as she felt his lips close around her nipple. Hermione braced one hand on his shoulder, feeling as though she might sway forward. He growled, pulling his head back abruptly and she cried out. Hermione was panicked suddenly and she couldn’t quite explain why. Her nipple was terribly sensitive and had felt like a tingling tickle for a moment. She could feel a warmth trickling down her breast and looked at her chest. The first thing that she noticed was that her right breast was smaller than her left breast. Though it had not returned to its original size, there was a noticeable difference between the two. The second thing that caught her eye was the caramel colored fluid that appeared to be seeping from the center of her nipple. Her face looked stricken and she felt her heart racing in her chest. “Are you— are you alright, what was that?” she asked Severus, unable to keep her voice from trembling.
                Severus looked less than pleased, but drew in a breath before speaking. His voice was perfectly level as a result. “It was unexpected,” he said and then rounded to face George. “Some novelty,” he spat. “You need warning labels before you simulate something of that nature. Aside from the fact that a sudden rush of unexpected liquid could cause choking, it will certainly not be everyone’s preference.”
                George was scribbling so fast that he flipped his inkpot off the ledger. Hermione had lost count of how many times the inkpot had shattered and spilled to the floor during their sessions. When the redhead looked up at Severus, his face was flecked with droplets of ink. “Did she— did that little pill cause her to—”
                “Swell and lactate, Mr. Weasley? Find your words,” he snapped.
                Hermione felt her face flush. She tenderly prodded a finger at the tip of her still-leaking nipple. It was a runny liquid the exact color of caramel and the slightest hint of a caramel scent met her nose. Disbelieving of her own actions, she shuddered when she brought her fingers to her lips and tasted the liquid. It tasted exactly as it smelled, faintly of caramel, though fair runnier in consistency. She could hear Severus exchanging loaded words with George; the experience had clearly been off-putting for him. Despite her own initial surprise and disgust, she couldn’t help but be curious as it was ingrained in her nature. Both hands gently cupped her right breast and she gave it a firm squeeze. Only like when Severus had squeezed her, nothing happened. She frowned. She pinched the tip of her nipple much to the same effect.
                “Severus,” she called to him. But her voice was not loud enough to break up their bickering. Hermione sighed. “Severus!” she bellowed, this time putting a dead-stop to the squabble that the men were having. “Sorry,” she said when both he and George stared in annoyed surprise in her general direction. “It doesn’t seem to work unless…well unless you’re sucking on my nipple,” she said. George took her words as an opportunity to slip back onto his stool and start taking notes. “I’ve squeezed…” she repeated her gesture on her breast and her nipple, “And nothing.”
                Severus who had been all but fuming at George Weasley, paused and walked over to her. He paused for the briefest of moments, searching her eyes, but then nodded at her “Astute observation,” he muttered. The tables felt turned. He had been the one losing his cool and blasting George out of the water and she had managed to keep hold of her senses. Whatever it was that had perturbed him so about getting a mouthful of caramel flavored liquid from her breast, and she very much doubted it was simply the unsuspecting surprise, had set him off in a way she’d yet to see when it came to their time in the workshop. All in all, she’d noted Severus to be a well-composed man, keeping his calm even under the trickiest of circumstances. But this had sparked something inside of him and she was desperately curious to know why.
                George, who hadn’t noticed that Severus was no longer engaged in their disagreement, was still rambling away trying to make his point. “There’s a massive fetish market out there for this sort of thing! Loads of blokes, and ladies too, I mean— this isn’t half as weird as that one canister of spray-on fantasy panties that literally turned Hermione’s pussy into a pussy.” When he realized that both Hermione and Severus were staring at him, he quietly looked down in his ledger. “I wonder if taking more than one increases the size even more,” he asked aloud, without addressing either of them.
                She could sense the discomfort in Severus’ body. It was different from the restraint he forced upon himself when he refused to give in to the pleasures that certain tests drew forth from him. This was not the frustrated exhaustion of being bound too long and spanked improperly and it wasn’t his resolve shattering after she’d found a way to tease him. This was something else, something that she hadn’t experienced before. Hermione was conflicted. When she had felt ill at ease or uncertain over things he’d reassured her with simple words and gestures. But never in all they’d experienced had she felt anything more than nerves and embarrassment, or a fear of being inadequately prepared. She felt that there was more to his sudden predicament than that.
                “Let us address one issue at a time, Mr. Weasley.” Severus turned back to Hermione and she tried to look comforting. His voice had leveled and she took that to be a good sign. There was a look shared between them that she tried not to analyze too heavily, but she could have sworn that he was pleading with her, even if it had only been for a second.
                “I imagine the other side will be the same,” she said, trying to sound as confident as he often did when talking to her.
                “One would imagine,” he said and then he cupped her breasts. Severus began to squeeze and massage the swollen tissue of her breasts a bit firmer than he had before. She couldn’t deny that it felt pleasant, even if his fingers were digging into her skin. She wondered if he were trying to force her nipples to lactate without him needing to bring her nipples into his mouth. She tried not to think about the practice as a whole. While she knew George was right, if there was a market out there for the bestial fur-spray then certainly there was one for lactating caramels, it didn’t sit well in her mind either. It had been surprising to see her breasts double in size, and a shock to feel liquid squirting from them. She couldn’t imagine what he was feeling.
                Hermione closed her eyes. “Go on, then,” she whispered, silently wishing they would get through the ordeal sooner rather than later. She felt his lips circle her areola once more, his tongue flicking her nipple. But it wasn’t until he closed his mouth around the pebbled flesh and began to suckle her that she felt the strange tingly gushing she had felt before. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, and wasn’t sure that she’d ever be able to look at him again when he kissed her breasts. When he pulled back and gave her breast a gentle squeeze she opened her eyes. Her right breast was once again its original size. This created a sharp contrast between the left one, which was still sitting up high with a nipple stiff enough to cut a diamond.
                “It would appear, Mr. Weasley, that it only takes a moment for the product to release and be finished with,” he said. His voice was flat and he did not turn to face George. Instead he took up her left breast in his hand and quickly swirled his tongue around her nipple before repeating his suckling action. Hermione couldn’t help a sharp gasp of breath that escaped her lips; the sudden gush of tingly warmth had sent a bolt of pleasure to her core. She couldn’t tell if it was a direct effect of the product or simply because her nipples were sensitive and he’d grazed them slightly while sucking on them.
                “And it tastes like caramel?” he asked, taking note of every word that was spoken.
                “Yes,” said Severus. “Not unlike a warm caramel milk.”
                “Hermione, are they normal size?”
                Hermione glanced down at her breasts, bouncing them slightly in her hands. She gave her flesh a squeeze and winced. They felt tender. “Yes, back to normal, though they feel a bit tender.”
                “Painful tender?” George looked up at her with a frown.
                “Not painful, just tender. I’m fine.”
                “Good. I want you to take two of those Milk Duds this time and see what happens.”
                Hermione was hesitant as she glanced at Severus, but he gave no reason for her to wait. Plucking out two of the rock chunks she put them on her tongue and then swallowed. Having two of the things in her mouth at once strengthened the taste of the caramel. Again there was a delay but shortly thereafter she felt her skin tightening as it had the first time. Her breasts swelled up as they had before but they were not any larger than they had been after she’d ingested the rock piece initially. She frowned and gave her breast a squeeze. Less tender than they had been moments ago, Hermione could feel no difference. “I don’t know that taking two of them did anything different,” she commented.
                Severus hands swept up the side of her rib cage until his palms were under her breasts and he cupped them in his hands. Giving them both a firm series of squeezes, he sighed when nothing happened. “It would appear the same enchantment is still applicable,” he muttered and then pressed a soft kiss on the top of her left breast just above her nipple. Hermione pondered this gesture. He knew what was needed of him to return her breasts to normal and yet he’d favored her with a slight show of affection. She tried not to dwell on it as his lips circled around her stiffened nipple and drew it into his mouth.
                Hermione squeaked when she felt a more forceful surge of fluid expel from her nipple. Severus growled as he had before, but continued to suckle at her breast until it had returned to its original size. “The difference therein appears to be in the pressure of the release and the fact that there is more being released,” he said and brought his lips to her right nipple. After a moment of suckling, which had Hermione feeling strangely aroused, he lifted his head and pulled the lapels of her robe shut for her. She tried not to look wounded, though the gesture had seemed a bit much, as if he were disgusted by the sight of her breasts.
                “So do you think a—”
                “I do not think consuming more than three or four at most would be wise, Mr. Weasley. If you wish us to test them up to that point, so be it, but as it stands the ingestion of more than one seems to dramatically increase the pressure with which the fluid expels itself from her nipples and the volume of said expulsion.”
                George was scribbling Severus’ every word into the ledger. “Hermione, does it feel different? With two, I mean?”
                She thought for a moment before speaking. “Yes…I mean it still feels tingly and a bit more forceful I guess…but the second time around it was different.”
                “Different how so?” he asked, waving her on to continue.
                “I’m not sure why but it felt good,” she admitted sheepishly. “Maybe because the squirting made my nipples more sensitive to his tongue, but it was pleasurable. Not necessarily the act of releasing the fluid, but feeling Severus suckling at my nipple the second time around was actually somewhat enjoyable.” Her cheeks were burning as she spoke, but she felt compelled to explain herself. She wasn’t entirely sure she was compelled to do so solely for George Weasley’s sake.
                “Okay, take three this time and if the effect is similar then we don’t have to do more than that.”
                While it wasn’t what she had been expecting, she forced her mind to focus on the fact that they were there to test products and taking three of the strange caramel rock chunks at a time was indeed product testing. The taste of caramel was overwhelmingly strong as she swallowed them back. Fully prepared for her breasts to expand, Hermione pulled her robe open and waited. The stretching of her skin felt taut as it had the first two times but she noticed that her breasts seemed just a bit larger and fuller than before. “Do they look— are they bigger?” she asked.
                “A touch more so than they were the first two times,” said Severus as he carefully cupped his hands beneath them. Her breasts no longer rested comfortably in his palms, but spilled out over the sides. There were not as firm as she had thought them to be when she’d first ingested the caramel rocks. Though they still sat up she noted that the extra weight did not allow for them to look or feel as perky. “They jiggle more as well,” he added, giving them several firm but slow squeezes.
                “Your fingers feel like they’re going to poke through my skin,” she said and bit her lower lip. She hadn’t meant it to be an insult, but her breasts felt strange. It was as if they’d been pumped to their limit and filled with the fluid that she knew he’d soon be sucking out of her. Hermione closed her eyes and waited for his lips to descend upon her nipple. When he finally did she all but groaned. There was a built up pressure that appeared suddenly inside her breast, almost like the sensation that plagued her bladder when she held herself too long. And as he suckled that pressure was released, caramel liquid squirting out of her nipple harder than before. She felt the gush and it tingled. But she also felt a gush of liquid heat between her legs and she was torn trying to determine if it was the actual sensation that caused such a feeling or the pressured release.
                It took longer for him to bring her left breast back to its normal size. This followed logically as her breasts had been engorged to a size that was larger than before. She was forced to grab his shoulder when he began to suck at her right nipple, the overwhelming sensation so intense that she sobbed outright when he released her from his mouth. There was no rush to cover her breasts when he finished, in fact it was quite the opposite. She felt his palms cupping her, her breasts fitting perfectly into them now that her normal size had returned. His thumbs stroked slow circles around her nipples, which were still erect though not as stiff, and she shudder slightly at this strange new touch.
                “Does that feel as it would normally?” he asked, massaging the underside of her breasts with his palm and fingers.
                She shook her head and waited for his motions to stop. “Yes, but I’m afraid everything is a bit tender.”
                “Three alright then?” George asked.
                “It leaves everything a bit tender, almost sore after, George,” she said. “I mean I’m fine, but I think maybe just one or two or three at a time, not necessarily stacked the way I just did.”
                “Oh. Right! Right, well, yes, but now that we know what taking more than one can do…I can label it properly.” He grinned and scribbled in the ledger. “Do you need a break? I know that was a lot on you, we could stop for a few if you want. I need to run up to my flat and grab another notebook, this one’s nearly full.”
                “A break would be fine,” she said and drew her robe around her. She watched George mark the last of his notes inside the ledger and waited for him to disappear up into his flat before she moved over to stand beside Severus. “Are you alright?”
                Severus stared at her. She had thought he might have reprimanded her for being foolish or doting upon him with unnecessary concern. But he said nothing. This unnerved her. Hermione reached her hand forward and brushed his fingers. He flinched at her touch but did not pull away. She sighed. In that moment she felt like she was working backwards with him, but she wasn’t discouraged by it. She let her fingers curl around his hand and she gave his palm a gentle squeeze. “Whatever it is—”
                “Just shut up, Ms. Granger, I don’t need you coddling me,” he said.
                Hermione’s cheeks flared an indignant shade of red. Her tongue was poised to lash out at him but she stopped cold when she felt the tips of his fingers ever so gently press into the top of her hand. She had nearly missed feeling the gesture, but it was there. She tried not to smile as she kept her hand wrapped around his. “Sorry,” she whispered. Even though he’d been in the wrong to fuss at her, and she wasn’t in the least bit sorry for asking after him with concern, she had apologized. They stood in silence, just the hint of their fingers touching, until George returned several minutes later with a fresh ledger for note-taking.
                “Okay…let’s see…Charming Cherries…check…Milk Duds…check…Fundies…okay, Fundies are next,” he said and moved over to the floating shelf. “Here you are,” he handed a large swath of red and black fabric to Hermione. “They’re supposed to be lover’s panties,” he said and moved back to thumb through the ledger containing all of Fred’s notes. “Wear as a pair for ultimate pleasure.”
                “Wear as a pair?” she repeated and then held up the garment for a better examination. Looking like a horrific costume piece that had escaped the sideshow of a circus, Hermione gazed at the garish pair of red and black knickers. They were ordinary knickers except for the fact that they were enormous and contained four leg holes and an extra-large crotch space. “How on earth…” she shook her head. “You can’t possibly mean we’re meant to wear them together at the same time.”

                Severus sneered at the novelty knickers and took them from her hands. “These are dreadful,” he frowned as he spoke, turning them over.
                “I don’t know,” George flipped through his ledger. “Maybe they’re meant for people with intimacy issues?”
                “Intimacy issues my arse,” she heard Severus mutter.
                Hermione was surprised to hear his extraneous commentary but it made her giggle, though she did so quietly. It was fascinating to watch the disgust show on his face and hear it in his voice. Though there was no mistaking when he was displeased with a product, there was something invigorating about the way he was behaving at the moment. It was almost as if he was a normal man with actual emotions that he couldn’t repress and obscure. That made her giddy.
                “How do you think we’re meant to get into them?” she asked. “I suppose one of us ought to put them on first and have the other person climb in?” she offered.
                Severus shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose,” he paused a moment and then held her gaze. “Though seeing as I’m the more balanced of the two, perhaps I should be the one to put them on first.”
                Hermione knew that it was meant to be an insult but his venom and sarcasm just wasn’t in it. She nodded her head and watched as he took his robe off and laid it on the table. She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he held out the double-legged underwear and stepped into two of the leg holes. It was going to be somewhat of a balancing act, but she drew in a deep breath and braced one hand firmly on Severus’ shoulder. He was solid; his body could have easily been made of stone. It made climbing into the absurd pair of knickers much easier than she had anticipated. The fabric was not uncomfortable, though it was nothing to write home about. The four-legged underwear left their bodies pressed snugly together. Moving would be impossible without toppling over.
                “Now what, Mr. Weasley?” Severus asked.
                “Now what?” George asked. He looked at them for a moment. “Oh. Oh! Um— well I don’t know,” he said and then turned back a page in the ledger. “They don’t seem to be enchanted, at least not so far as I can tell…” George scanned his finger over every inch of the page. “Nope. Not enchanted. And…let’s see…are you two having fun?” he asked looking up at them.
                Severus glared at George with eyes that would have withered him to the ground if looks could kill. Hermione’s lips flattened and she too narrowed her eyes. “Loads, George.”
                “Ah.” He said sheepishly. “Well…I don’t know…maybe um— can you have a go in them?”
                “Not at present, Mr. Weasley,” said Severus. His voice was pinched. “Even if I were presently aroused, I don’t know that there is enough give in the fabric to allow me to penetrate her. Not to mention that if we move from standing upright in this exact position Ms. Granger is liable to topple over.”
                Hermione huffed. “We’d both topple over.” She braced both of her hands on Severus’ shoulders once more and stepped back out of the four-legged knickers. “Do you think lying down maybe? Once he’s already hard?” she said to George.
                “Yeah, sure, why not. Let’s see if that works.” He waved them on.
                She looked back at Severus half expecting him to be casting a murderous glare in her direction, but he simply turned and moved to the table. “You really ought to invest in a proper bed, Mr. Weasley,” he said and then spent several moments transfiguring the marble work table into a makeshift mattress. Hermione was grateful that he’d had the foresight to give them a mattress as movement in the ridiculous undergarment had been tricky enough upright. She couldn’t imagine attempting to do anything while lying on the cold and extremely hard stone table. Hermione tried not to frown when she saw him pick up the orange and chocolate Lustipop, sucking on it for a few moments. She knew it wasn’t anything she had done to put him out of the mood, at least she hoped she hadn’t incensed him.
                When he was hard, he slipped into the oversized knickers, which looked much easier as he sat on the edge of the bed. This gave Hermione pause. How was she to slide into them if he were sitting? Would she need to slide immediately onto him? She closed her eyes. “Here we go,” she muttered and moved over to the bed. She wasn’t sure why their work that evening was so taxing. It had been unsettling to encounter Nigel, but she was mostly over that— at least for the moment until she was alone with her thoughts. It had been an impressive encounter, him teaching her to use the strap-on, and things were as normal as they could be in regards to him and her living together. It dawned on her that her patience hadn’t been stretched thin until he’d seemed so disgusted with the Milk Dud product.
                Climbing onto the bed, she knelt beside him and bit her lower lip. He glared at her but did not reach to pluck her lip from her teeth. She realized at once that his glare was in disproval and she blushed, releasing her lip from the bite. “Sorry,” she murmured. “How should I— er…” she sighed. “Maybe if you lie back, and I try to—”
                “I’m going to lean back,” he said and then stretched his legs out so that only the small of his back was leaning against the bed. He braced his arms behind him. “I want you to straddle yourself over my midsection, and one leg at a time slide in.” His instructions were logical, if a bit acrobatic and she nodded her understanding as she came to straddle herself over him as he had said. Hermione tried her best to keep her balance, bracing hard on his shoulder as she lifted her left leg and slipped it through the leg hole. Severus’ hand gripped her hip and guided her as she slid her other leg into the knickers, easing her down until she was nestled snugly inside the novelty panties with him, his cock pressed firmly between them.
                “They feel tighter than before,” she said. His hand shifted and he pushed back on her body a bit, trying to maneuver his cock until he was able to line it against her entrance. He frowned. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
                “You’re hardly prepared for this,” he muttered, his hand now awkwardly lined between them.
                “I— oh,” she blushed. She’d been so preoccupied with how to get into the Fundies, and the previous experience involving the Milk Duds had been a bit too disturbing to arouse her properly, that she hadn’t noticed she was quite dry between her thighs. “Now what?” she asked.
                Severus shook his head and she watched with nervous fascination as he brought to fingers to his lips, sucked them into his mouth, withdrew them and then slipped them down between their bodies. It was a tight fit with the way the Fundies pressed them together, but she felt him stroking at her slit, the moisture from his mouth letting his fingers move a bit more easily against her. “Close your eyes,” he whispered, leaning forward. Her eyes fluttered shut and she felt his lips capture her earlobe, suckling and nipping as his fingers continued to stroke her. His breath was warm, his tongue divine, and within a few moments she could feel herself starting to heat. He continued to stroke his fingers against her slit, probing gently until she was wet. She wasn’t drenched and dripping the way she often was when he penetrated her, but it was not painful as he shifted their bodies and pushed his cock up into her.
                “How’s that?” George asked.
                “It’s difficult to really do much,” Hermione said, noting that she was struggling with the restrictiveness of the fabric as much as Severus was. “I mean maybe smaller people—”
                “Neither of us are by any means disproportionate, Miss Granger.” He said, growling slightly as he tried to ease her hips up. “These knickers are rubbish. They’re a gag at best,” he said and then gripped her hips firmly. “Wiggle your hips,” he said easing her up off of his shaft. She was impressed with the intensity of his strength, holding her up with little to balance on as she climbed her way back out of the Fundies. Severus was quick to dislodge them from his person, flinging them from the makeshift bed, though they did not fly far. Hermione cupped her hand over her mouth in a cough to keep from giggling.
                “Well, you win some, you lose some,” said George. “You’re up…let’s see, what else did I want to do tonight that I can use while you’re up,” he said gesturing at Severus, who was still hard, despite the failed attempt to fuck in the ridiculous underwear built for two. Hermione tried not to look too closely at what was still on the floating shelf. She did notice, however, that the curious purple can for which she had prepared was missing. Hermione wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or relieved. While she was thankful for the lesson, and the experience had been an intriguing one; the process she’d gone through to get said experience had been less than pleasant. It had drawn forth a green-eyed monster in her that she had not known existed.
                Images of the way Nigel doted on Severus flashed behind her eyes. Every fragment of the exchange between the two men was stirring in her mind. He’d called Nigel pet. Nigel had said he’d been Severus’ star pupil. Though Severus had not been particularly affectionate in return, he had done nothing to stop the boy from draping his limbs all over him or lavishing his amorous attentions all over him. Was he simply being tolerant? Hermione tried to reconcile the way he responded to her against what she’d witnessed in the sex shop in the wee hours. He was not so affectionate with her. He hadn’t really been affectionate with Nigel, save for calling him pet, and letting him kiss and fawn on him, but it felt different somehow. She supposed that it wasn’t all that different, especially since they’d shared sex in the shower, he no longer flinched at her touches for the most part, and had even stroked her hair when she’d fallen asleep.
                Hermione’s thoughts flew apart when George waved his hand in front of her eyes. “Hello? Earth to ‘Mione,” he said with a grin. She blushed. It had been a long time since anyone had called her ‘Mione. “Sorry, George,” she said. “Just thinking.”
                “Oh? What about?”
                “A question better left unasked, Mr. Weasley,” Severus said.
                Hermione whipped her head around and glared in shock at Severus. He was smirking, though it quickly faded from his lips as he looked at George. “What are those?” he asked.
                “These little tricks are bloody genius number one, and bloody genius number two,” he said, holding up a tiny tube in each hand. “If they work.”
                Hermione turned back and looked at the products that George was holding. They looked like ordinary tubes of lipstick, but she knew better than to assume that anything from the workshop was ordinary. Praying that they weren’t like the Tingle Stick, which had left her lips glued to Severus’ cock, she took the red tube from his hand. “And they’re…what?” she said, carefully sliding the top from the tube. It looked like flaming red lipstick.
                “Lovers Lips,” he said with a grin that smothered his entire face. He was all too quick to race back to the ledger, tapping his finger hard on the page. “I think there’s meant to be more of them…because this illustration shows five sets of colored lips in all…” he looked up at Hermione. “But either Fred didn’t finish the other three or I haven’t come across them yet.”
                She joined George and looked into the ledger. The entire page was doodled and scribbled, filled with notes and images. Across the top in big bold letters it read LOVERS LIPS and it was underlined several times. Like he had said there were five sets of very plump and full lips lined down the page, and the two nearer to the top were circled together. There were formulas and scribbles and sketches of the lipstick tubes all over the page and Hermione went crossed-eyed trying to read the description beside the set of red lips. “Fire…and ice?” she said after a moment.
                “Yeah, I think you’ve got fire,” he nodded at the tube she held in her hand. “And this one is ice. I think he meant them to be a pair. Not rightly sure about these other three…though there are notes for formulas,” he shrugged. “But one at a time. And if I come across the others later, well, we’ll figure that out then.” He picked up his quill pen and made a small squiggle near the red set of lips. “Apply like you would lipstick, Hermione, and then give Severus a blow.”
                Those words made her blush. She was certain she could spend the rest of her life testing sexual products in George Weasley’s workshops and she would never not blush at the casual command of being told to go blow Severus Snape. Or for him to go and fuck her. When she turned around he was standing just behind her and she gasped, having nearly knocked into him. He handed her a pillow. “For your knees,” he said. She had no idea where it had come from, though it looked suspiciously like his black shirt. Hermione nodded and took it from him, setting it on the floor by the makeshift bed. She twisted the base of the lipstick tube up just enough for the flaming red lipstick to poke out the top. Little flames appeared to be etched into the lipstick and she hoped they weren’t going to burn anything that they touched. She found she was less concerned with her lips and more concerned with his cock.
                Severus moved over to the bed and sat down. He was hard, though not fully and she followed. It took her a moment to calm her nerves, giving head was not something she was practiced at, though she supposed she’d gotten good enough with what little she had done. Hermione applied the lipstick to her lower lip and then her upper, smacking them together a few times to make sure it had spread evenly. She had never bothered with makeup or glamourizing charms, so she wasn’t sure if she had applied enough.
                “Oh wow,” said George. “Your lips look like they’re on fire, how do they feel?”
                Hermione could feel the subtle tingling in her lips like she had mashed a pepper between them. It wasn’t terribly pleasant but it was tolerable. “They tingle,” she said. “Like when you’ve had too many spices.” She tried not to look at Severus when she turned back to him. She wasn’t entirely certain that tingling spices was something anyone wanted near their private bits, but she didn’t hear him questioning the product or protesting. Kneeling down on the black pillow, she settled between his legs and then looked up at him. He was not looking at her, which was strange, but after a moment their eyes met. “Ready?” she asked.
                His only response was a subtle nod that she would have missed entirely if she hadn’t been looking for it. Without thinking, she licked her lips. Her tongue began to heat. “Oh goodness,” she said feeling the jolt of heat shooting through her tongue, over the back of her throat and into her stomach. “That was— oof,” she said and coughed. “It’s almost like liquid fire. “George, are you sure about this?” she turned nervous eyes to George, waiting for him to tell her that perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea.
                “We won’t know until you give it a try,” he said. It was the closest thing she had ever come to hearing George Weasley sounding annoyed. At least annoyed with her, she could remember loads of times where he had been annoyed with Ron, and Percy, as well as a great many authority figures. With a numbed nod, she turned her head back to face Severus and slowly lowered her lips forward. Her hand was nervous as she curled her fingers around his shaft, and she hoped that he hadn’t felt her trembling. It would not do to have him worry that she would injure him. Lips firm pulled back over your teeth, slow and easy, in and out. She repeated this mantra silently in her head.
                The moment her tongue touched the tip of his cock it twitched and rather violently at that. Before she’d drawn his length all the way into her mouth he was raging with stiffness and she felt his hand clamp hard on her shoulder. “Merlin,” he hissed, his body leaning forward.
                “Good?” called George.
                Hermione slid her lips slowly back over his shaft, twisting her head from side to side as she pulled back. Severus groaned; it sounded identical to the groan she’d heard in the shower and this pleased her. It was hard to describe the tingling sensation as it was beginning to numb her lips a little and she could feel her saliva dribbling down her cheek and running onto his thigh as she continued to blow him. With a flicking motion of her tongue, she stroked the underside of his shaft while bobbing him in and out of her mouth. Severus squeezed her shoulder harder and Hermione knew she would wear a bruise there. The tingling had almost disappeared from her lips, but she could no longer feel them. It reminded her of a trip to her parents’ dental office when she was seven. The hygienist had sprayed too much of the numbing gel into her mouth and she hadn’t felt her lips or the insides of her cheeks for the rest of the day.
                His other hand grabbed her shoulder and Hermione tensed. She hadn’t been watching his body as she should have been, and she hadn’t realized how long she’d been bobbing her head over his cock. His balls were taut and his thighs were shuddering. One of his hands grabbed the side of her head and held her still. Severus came, filling her mouth with several spurts of cum. Hermione swallowed without thinking, noting the slightly cinnamon taste accompanied by an unusually intense heat. Her lips still felt numb and when she let him slide from her mouth she was drooling slightly. “Mah wibs a nub,” she said, and blushed at her inability to speak.
                “Here,” George rushed over and handed her a cloth soaked in solvent. She dabbed at her lips both inside and out and a moment later sensation returned. “Is that better?” he asked.
                “Yes, thank you.” Hermione looked at Severus. He looked as if he’d all but died from the intensity of the experience. She’d never seen his face look so flushed; he had never looked so radiant and filled with the color of pleasure. He was still panting, and had leaned forward with his elbows resting on the tops of his thighs, both hands on either side of his neck as if he were trying to calm his pulse. Hermione put a tentative hand on his knee, ducking her head a bit to catch his eye. “Are you alright?” she asked.
                Severus nodded. He didn’t push her hand away or brush her aside. She stayed still, knelt between his legs, feeling protective of him. She wondered if it was how he felt after he’d witnessed so many things happen to her when they tested various products, as he was always rushing to attend to her, even if it was in a much more subtle and reserved fashion. When finally he lifted his head his eyes found hers and she tried to smile. The color had slowly begun to fade from his cheeks and he looked like his pale self after another moment of drawing in heavy, deep breaths.
                “Wowee,” said George. “So that’s a winner then?” he asked.
                Hermione could have sworn that he gave her the slightest of smiles, though it could have been a trick of the light. Severus straightened his back and then stood up. He found his robe and wrapped up in it before moving to talk to George. “The heat intensified with every movement she made. It wasn’t a tingling sensation or burning, just heat. Try imagining sticking your prick into something warm that grows steadily hotter all the while sucking you with a delicious pressure…”
                She didn’t hear the rest of his words because she was too caught up in the secretive praise he’d given her. Whether he’d meant it or not, she was taking it and running with it. Delicious pressure; she was unlikely to ever stop hearing those words in his voice in the back of her mind. Hermione licked her lips. There was no residual heat or tingle from the flaming lipstick. She could only imagine what the blue one had in store, especially if was meant to be the counterpart of the fire and ice duo.
                “I wanted to give the ice one a go…but—”
                “We will, Mr. Weasley, but something in-between or a break,” said Severus. Hermione noticed that he sounded exhausted.
                “Right,” George looked a bit disappointed. Hermione stared at him. He was a man, and a wizard at that. Could he not imagine how continuously going and going was bound to be exhausting for Severus? Even with the Lustipops and his particularly potent stamina, she could sense when he was wearing down, why couldn’t George see it? But she wasn’t going to fuss over it. Doing so was likely to cause commotion. She had no reason to protest for him, he had a voice of his own and she didn’t wish to seem overly doting or affectionate. “Alright, well…” she watched George turn back to his floating shelf. “This one then,” he said as he held up a slender and curved Y-shaped rod.
                Hermione’s brow furrowed. It was a strong shade of magenta and had little knobs up and down its entire length. They were not unlike the knobs that had been on the Thunder Rod once the clouds had burst off of it. She looked at Severus. He too was staring at the toy with a look of suspicion. She approached George first, taking it from him. Turning it over in her hand, she couldn’t make heads or tails of what it was meant to do. She assumed it was for penetration, perhaps even dual penetration for her, but the handle curved back in a strange fashion and was covered in the same knobs as the two branches at the top of the Y-shape. “And this is?” she asked, handing it to Severus.
                “Y- wonder,” said George.
                “Mostly because I’d like to know what it is before I start fiddling with it?” she said.
                George snorted. “No, Hermione, that’s what Fred’s called it. It’s a triple penetration wand…that supposedly also vibrates, but I’ve yet to figure out how to make it do that.”
                “A triple penetration— but— I’m sorry…triple?” Hermione felt her throat closing. She only had two orifices to be penetrated.
                “It’s a partnered toy,” he said, picking up the ledger. “Look here,” George tapped the page. The pencil sketch was not as crude as many of the others had been. Hermione looked it over carefully. “See?”
                “Right,” she said and nodded at Severus. He walked to them and leaned behind her to glance down into the ledger. His body was close, had he always been that close and she was just noticing it now because she’d intimated an unexpected intimacy between them? Or was he leaning close on purpose. She couldn’t be sure but she wasn’t about to question him, it would only earn his rebuke, or at the very least a snarky comment about there being an appropriate time and place for such discussions. She held her breath when he leaned further over her shoulder, the delicate silky touch of his hair brushing against her neck. “So on our sides then?” she asked, turning her head to the side. Her lips were but inches from his and she could feel her heartbeat quicken. The subtlest shift of his head brought his nose against her cheek, and she swore that he nudged her on purpose.
                “It would appear that would work best,” he said. And like so many of the little moments she had come to share with him, it was gone before she could really enjoy it.
                They made their way back to the bed, and she stiffened just slightly when he put his hands on her shoulders to peel back her robe. What was he playing at? She looked back over her shoulder and swore he was smirking, though it was like all his facial expressions, subtle and brief. Her eyes opened with a look of indignant shock. He was toying with her. She parted her lips to protest but found his finger pressed against her mouth before she could utter a sound. “Is there something the matter, Miss Granger?” he asked, raising a thin black eyebrow up on his forehead.
                Hermione’s cheeks filled with red. She didn’t know what had prompted this cheeky teasing fancy of his, and in the workshop right in front of George Weasley to boot. Though for all the world, George was as thick as Hagrid’s treacle fudge, and wouldn’t notice unless one of them invited him to do so. When he pulled his finger back from her lips, she smiled. “No, I’m fine,” she said, waiting just a moment before she muttered. “Professor.”
                The look of shock on his face was well worth the trouble it might start when they returned to Spinner’s End. He hadn’t been expecting her to play his little game with such ardent cheek. But she was ready. If he wanted to play? She would play. She felt as if he’d been playing head games with her since they’d started working together and moving into his home had been like inviting Satan to their barbeque. Hermione climbed onto the bed, making a show out of it. One leg slowly sliding up beneath her body after the other and then she eased over onto her hip before letting her legs fall apart, presenting him with a sprawling view of her womanhood if he chose to look. Severus raked his eyes over her body, lingering between her legs for a moment and Hermione felt shivers. There was something in the way he stared at her that lit her body on fire. Her core was throbbing, yearning to have him inside of her, not the stupid magenta rod they were about to test.
                “I’m not really sure the best way to go about it, maybe Severus if you get your bit in first…then ease Hermione in…” George had walked over to the bed and handed Severus the tube of lubricant. For the first time since they’d started exploring things outside of her sexual experience, Hermione did not feel nervous about the rod being used for her anal stimulation. She was finding that she rather enjoyed having such a feeling of fullness, particularly that time that he’d filled her there and a toy had filled her core. That was a delicious sensation that she wanted to repeat again. And although the Y-Wonder toy looked slender, she hoped that it would replicate such a feeling, even if it was to a lesser degree.
                She watched from her place on the bed, stretched out like a wanton harlot in heat, as he carefully lubricated all three stems of the toy. Hermione was wet between her legs, the hidden flirtations that had been occurring in addition to pleasuring him so fiercely with the flaming lips had her worked up thoroughly. Severus took a moment before removing his robe completely, and when he eased his body up onto the bed, she was surprised at how he moved. The question must have been clear in her eyes for he was quick to explain, in his usual clinical tone. “I think for this to work as Mr. Weasley intends, a scissoring position would do best.”
                “I’ve never—”
                “No doubt,” he said, though there wasn’t that pinched look of annoyance in his eyes as he spoke. “Just stay as you are, on your side and spread your legs. Imagine attempting a split while on your hip.” While the imagery at first was confusing, after a moment, Hermione eased her legs apart and waited. She hadn’t been watching his hand so when he stroked her cheeks apart, his fingers coated in the lubricant, her breath caught in her throat. She gasped softly when he pushed his finger quite firmly up into her and her eyelids fluttered as he worked the lubricant in and out and around her tightly puckered entrance.
                Hermione kept her eyes closed. She heard him grunt; the noise sent waves of pleasure slowly rocking through her. It was impossible to deny how arousing it was to hear him vocally expressing himself, even if the lone grunt had been him getting his end of the toy situated in his own entrance. His hand graced her hip before his legs slid up between her, his body touching her in a great number of places. His skin was warm, and she shifted her hips as he pulled her down gently, adjusting her body so that the strange position gave them a better fit. She peaked through her eyelids watching him adjust the rod, lining the left stem of it against her back entrance. “Lift your leg up over mine,” he instructed, one hand on her thigh, nudging her.
                Severus pressed the rounded head of the Y-Wonder forward and Hermione mewled. She felt the back of his legs turn as he shifted somewhat more fully onto his back. It did not look comfortable for him. Her fingers trembled slightly as she moved them over her leg and then up onto his. “Can I help somehow?” she asked, letting her nails rake ever so gently over the wiry hairs of leg. She gasped as he ground his hips down into the bed, pushing the rod up further into her. “Or not…” she bit her lower lip. It wasn’t filling, though certainly not painful, but awkward. She felt his hand cupping her sex, fingers stroking her lips. “Mm,” she murmured.
                Hermione caught his eyes. He looked to be concentrating as he bent the right stem of the Y-Wonder and pressed its tip against her core. It was far too slender to make Hermione moan, but the little knobby bumps rubbed against her G-spot as he eased it up into her. When his motions stilled, she frowned. “Is this all it does?” she said. She could not fathom how anyone could fuck in such a position, even if Severus were going to manipulate the toy by hand to pull it in and out of their respective orifices, it would be more of a workout in gymnastics than sexual pleasure.
                George was standing at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest. “Damn,” he sighed. “I really wish I knew how to make the thing vibrate. I can’t imagine you two trying to have a go at it in that— is that even a position?” he asked, looking thoroughly curious.
                “I’d say not, Mr. Weasley,” Severus grunted. “And personally the thickness of the toy’s stems are child’s play at best,” he added.
                “Okay, okay. Give me a second, I’ll give the ledger another look. I really do think it’s meant to vibrate, I thought I read that somewhere.”
                Hermione sighed. “Well this is fun,” she tried to smile but the way their bodies were twisted together made it difficult to see his face fully. With a slight shift of her hips she felt the rod slip back and then his hand was on the back of her arse. “Sorry,” she muttered.
                “I don’t want to have to reposition you if Mr. Weasley should divine some insight on how to lengthen this torturous experience,” Severus said. She couldn’t help herself. She snorted at his comment. The sarcastic bites were back and they weren’t exactly aimed at her. Hermione tried to stay perfectly still but already her leg was beginning to cramp from the way she’d lifted it and laid it up over his.
                “Severus, at the joint where the stems come together, there should be one main knob, like where the three sections branch out from? Give that a firm squeeze and it should do the trick.”
                Severus maneuvered his hand, with only slight difficultly, between their bodies and gave a firm squeeze to the center of the toy. Nothing happened. “It would seem, Mr. Weasley, that your product is little more than a workout for a contortionist. Even skilled acrobats would find deriving pleasure from this awkward position difficult, unless they seek their jollies in straining their muscles.”
                “Damn,” George repeated.
                “However,” he paused a moment and Hermione felt him shifting about on the mattress. “If you use the toy solely for a female,” he said and as he did, pulled the base stem from his arse. With a quick cleansing charm he gripped the end firmly and patted Hermione’s hip. “Turn onto your back.” Without thinking she did as she was told and gazed up at him with expectant eyes. “It’s a perfectly suitable toy for solo stimulation of a female, or with her partner,” he said and tugged on the handle. Hermione cried out, startled by the sudden sensation of feeling both stems sliding out of her and then suddenly surging back into her. “As I mentioned, they are not thick enough for any proper pleasure, though Miss Granger may have an opinion on their stimulation factor.”
                As he spoke he continued to guide the toy in and out of her. It was mild at best, and she imagined if the stems had been thicker she would have been moaning and twitching about on the makeshift mattress. He was right, there was slight stimulation as the knobs bumped against her g-spot. Severus continued to manipulate the wand in and out of her, a bit faster than before, and she realized he was waiting for her to speak. “They are too thin,” she said, trying to roll her hips with the motion. “But they do bump a bit— in a good way— just inside of me,” she blushed. She still wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to talk about her g-spot.
                George sighed. “Alright,” he shrugged and moved back to the ledger.
                Severus was gentle as he slowed his motions with the toy and eased it out of her. Hermione sat up quickly, her legs shaking as she pulled them around off the edge of the bed. He was off the bed before she could say a word, but again she was taken by surprise when he handed her his robe. It wasn’t the first time he’d made such a gesture, but it felt different in that moment than it had before. She slipped into it and nodded her thanks. As Severus returned the toy to George, she took a moment to lay back on the bed. It wasn’t in her nature to tire so easily, but her evening and day previous had been fitfully unrestful. She blamed that on Severus and her over active imagination.
                “Think you can give the ice stick a go?” she heard George say. Hermione sat up as Severus walked back to the bed, holding the glowing blue lipstick tube in his hands. “And see if you can hold off, I want to have her try them together to see if the sensations pair well.”
                Hermione hadn’t thought of that. Fiery and icy sensations together might just drive him mad. He’d barely been able to control himself with the flaming lipstick, she wondered if the ice would temper that or make him explode that much sooner. Their fingers brushed when he handed her the tube of lipstick. Unlike its fiery companion, when she took off the top and twisted the lipstick up, it was not a color that indicated its intent. Instead of a bright blue, which she had expected, the stick was clear with tiny flecks of sparkling glitter dotted throughout. With a shrug, Hermione began to apply it to her lips and immediately she felt as if she’d been sucking on ice cubes for far too long. “Oh Merlin this is cold.”
                “Wonderful,” Severus rolled his eyes.
                Hermione looked at him. His face was neutral, but she had heard his tone. Perhaps ice was something that he wasn’t overly fond of, or maybe he didn’t like that she’d had commentary. There was something in his eyes, a look that she couldn’t quite place, as was the way with so many things that she tried to read about him. Bowing her head, she closed her eyes, trying to switch off her mind. Why was she always thinking and over-analyzing everything? Had she been so analytical when came to Ron and had that been the real reason why their relationship had failed? Surely she would not have been able to take such a position working as she was had they not split up. She supposed there were silver linings to every bad situation.
                He moved back to the bed and Hermione followed, her lips shivering from the chill of the lipstick. “D-do my lipsss look b-b-blue?” she asked. He shook his head no as he sat down on the edge of the bed and once again handed her the black pillow. She slipped it under her knees and knelt beside him, saddened that he only opened instead of completely removing it. She realized that she loved looking at his body, every beautiful pale inch from the delicate silky strands of black hair at the top of his head, all the way down to his toes, which as far as toes were concerned, were rather ordinary. Bracing both hands on the insides of his thighs, she pushed his legs apart and brought her quivering lips to his cock.
                He was not hard as he had been when she’d started with the flaming lipstick, but she’d taken him softly in her mouth once before. The moment her lips brushed his tip he hissed, his entire body stiffening. To her surprise, the contact with his flesh left her lips tingling and feeling just the slightest bit less cold. Hermione parted her lips and gently sucked the tip of his cock into her mouth, slowly swirling her tongue under the head where she had been taught that he was sensitive.
                Severus placed both hands on the edge of the makeshift bed, gripping the surface firmly. She heard him growl in his chest as she pulled the head of his cock back, already feeling it beginning to stiffen. Hermione was bold in that moment, noticing that the more she touched her shivering lips to his flesh, the less cold she felt. Sliding her lips down the length of his shaft, she began to kiss his cock, licking him as he hardened against her. She’d heard the girls in Gryffindor dormitory talk about kissing their boyfriend’s brooms as foreplay and figured this wasn’t much different, only that Severus wasn’t her boyfriend.
                But it earned her the sort of response she’d been expecting as Severus groaned, his hips bucking forward. He was rock hard, his cock jutting upward against her lips, twitching as if trying to find the heat of her mouth. He was thick; she’d never spent much time examining his cock as she’d always been quick to test the product they were working with and do so well. Or to have him inside of her and filling her until she crashed onto the sands of orgasmic bliss. Pausing for a moment earned her a growl from him, which triggered a shot of pure pleasure in her core. The sounds he made were enough to have her dripping without ever touching her. He was less restrained, whether because he no longer felt the need to hold himself back or because it was too tiresome to do so she wasn’t sure, but she loved every blissful second of it.
                Dragging her lips around his cock, licking and kissing the velvety rod from the base to the tip and back, she grew bolder still and let her lips slide down over his balls. Severus’ hand grabbed her shoulder, pressing hard against the same place he’d grabbed her before and she tried not to whimper. His grip was tight and she knew that he was caught up in the moment, but it was still intense. Her lips were no longer shivering. Touching his balls had brought her a warm tingling sensation and she dared drawing one into her mouth, sucking him with sweet strokes of her tongue. This brought his other hand to her other shoulder and she was all too quickly reminded of how rapidly he’d come undone a little while ago.
                Hermione was slow and deliberate sucking his ball as she drew her mouth back. “George…” she was just the slightest hint out of breath. “I need the flame stick…if you want me to test them together…” She glanced up at Severus, who was panting and had his eyes closed. She licked her lips, wishing she hadn’t as her tongue took on a cold chill. “And that cleansing cloth,” she added, calling back over her shoulder. George was by her side in a moment with the cleansing cloth and the red lipstick tube. She patted her lips with the cloth and then paused for a moment wondering if she should do her top lip in flames and her bottom lip in ice or vice versa. And then it occurred to her that she should do the left side of her top and bottom lip in flames and the right in ice. But she didn’t waste time thinking it through much longer. Settling for ice on top and fire on the bottom, she smacked her lips together for good measure, earning her a gasp from George. “What?”
                “It’s like your lips turned into amethysts,” he said. “They’re purple and they’re glowing.”
                She wanted a mirror in that moment, but turned her head back to Severus. Leaning down once more she pressed a delicate kiss against his balls. Severus moaned; the sound tore through his chest like it was a missile solely seeking her ear. Hermione laved her tongue over his balls, pumping her hand around the base of his shaft as she sucked his sac into her mouth, widening her lips as she had done when she’d tested the Fluffer Nutter toy. Her mouth was full; the heady and masculine scent and taste that was uniquely him making her head swim with arousal and she wanted to move her other hand down between the folds of her robe and touch herself.
                Moving her lips firmly back she released his balls from her mouth and slid her lips up the underside of his shaft. Severus groaned and his hips rocked against her even before she’d slipped her mouth back over his length. It took only a few pulls of her enchanted lips over his cock before he was holding his hands hard against the side of her face, and spurting his release into her mouth. Hermione swallowed him as she did before, the taste of him exquisite without all the curious flavors of the Jizz Juicers mingled into his seed. She’d barely released his shaft from her mouth when he collapsed back onto the bed. Hermione scrambled to her feet and leaned over him. “Are you alright?” she asked. He was panting hard, eyes closed, chest heaving. “Severus?”
                Severus waved his hand at her, a feeble gesture, but it was enough. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She’d never seen him collapse in that fashion. Perhaps the lipsticks worn together had been a tad too intense, but she wasn’t going to pester him in that moment for details. But George Weasley was. He’d come over to the side of the bed without missing a beat, sat down on the corner, quill in hand and stared at Severus. “So, good then?”
                Hermione contemplated picking up the pillow she’d used for her knees to throttle at George. But instead she eased Severus’ robe over his body, closing his torso and lap from view. She let her hand linger just at the top of his shoulder, the pads of her fingers touching his skin. It was a reassurance more for herself than for him. “Give him a minute, George, you’d be pretty knackered if you felt what he’d just felt.” She couldn’t believe the words that had come out of her mouth. Her eyes flew to Severus’ face, expecting annoyance to dominate his expression given that she’d spoken for him, but his eyes were still closed. It took several moments for his breathing to return to normal, his chest slowing into a steady rhythm before he opened his eyes and sat up. She was cautious, letting her hand trail down his back as he moved. Hermione felt protective of him, as if George were a nosy reporter from The Prophet. She shook that notion from her mind; they were working, George was doing his job just as she and Severus had done theirs.
                “How was the icy one? And what was it like with both of them?” George articulated his questions.
                “Intense,” he started, but then cleared his throat. Hermione had never heard him sound so hoarse. It was strange, knowing that she was partly responsible for the sensations that had all but broken him, and though she wished they had been under slightly different circumstances— mainly at Spinner’s End in the privacy of her bedroom or their bathroom— she found herself feeling just a bit proud that she’d had a hand in the experience. She startled when Severus turned his head to the side and gazed at her. “You were sucking the heat out of my skin and transferring the chill of that ice,” he said.
                Hermione’s face flushed. She had noticed that when her lips had made contact with his cock that they’d felt less cold and stopped shivering, but she hadn’t realized that it had been a thermal transfer. “I’m—”
                He turned his head back to George. “She was sucking my balls so hard, I swear I could see stars giving birth to planets,” he muttered. “Together their combined intensities brought about a climax the likes of which I cannot say I have ever experienced, and while immensely pleasurable, it does a number on ones anatomy and overall physicality. I would market it with extraordinary caution, as lesser prepared wizards may not be able to handle such a thing.”
                George was bouncing up and down on his feet and looked as if he might take off and suddenly rocket skyward. “Well fuck me!” he exclaimed. “That’s bloody brilliant!” He raced back to his little desk, slamming the ledger down in haste, and began scribbling notes like a madman.
                “Are you alright?” she whispered after a moment. “I didn’t mean to—”
                Severus placed his finger upon her lips. “I am fine, Miss Granger,” he said. “Do us both a favor and stop worrying so intently,” he added and then stood from the bed. “Mr. Weasley, might I suggest that when pairing them, you do exactly as Miss Granger has done by placing the icier one on her top lip and the red one on her bottom lip. The effect of heat on the underside of the shaft is exquisite particularly when there is a polar opposite sliding across the top.”
                “Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” he said, scribbling with faster motions. Hermione was certain he was going to catch the ledger on fire. He continued scribbling and Severus continued talking and Hermione tried to listen but her mind was drifting. She replayed his touches, the sounds he made as she’d blown him with the thermal lipsticks, and the way he’d come hot and heavy in her mouth. That was something she could get used to. The taste of him lingering in her mouth and the way he’d collapsed afterward, those notions were something that pleased her greatly. She licked her lips, noting that they still tingled slightly, and she drew up the cleansing cloth. When she moved to stand beside George, he looked up at her. “One for you now, yeah?” he said. “I think Severus has earned another break.”
                She nodded her head. “Alright, what did you have in mind?”
                “I think this was meant to be a part of the Fantasy Panty Spray Line, or maybe it’s the sequel to that line or a series all its own...” George was holding a turquoise colored spray can that appeared to be dotted with stenciled on seashells. “I think it’s meant to give you a mermaid look,” he said with a shrug and then handed the can to Severus.
                Hermione shrugged her shoulders and stood up, easing back out of her robes. She’d been through the worst of it, so she supposed, with the fur-spray that had left her completely covered. And the remedy had been as embarrassing as the incident. She trusted whatever the results of the can were that they would not be nearly as hellacious as a painstaking hour of fur removal at Severus’ hands. Waiting for Severus to spray her, she stood with her legs spread apart, her arms crossed just under her chest.
                Depressing the nozzle, Severus sprayed the can across the front of her lower abdomen after shaking it a few times at George’s suggestion. A thick turquoise cloud swirled out of the can’s tip, almost like the smoke of a genie consuming her body as it unfurled. Hermione coughed a little and closed her eyes, feeling the cloud sweep over her, between her legs, up around her breasts, and over her back. “Goodness!” she cried, coughing a bit more as the cloud of turquoise mist engulfed her completely.
                “Hermione?” George called. “Are you alright?”
                She was coughing and waving her arms trying to push the mist away, but to no avail. The ground felt unsteady beneath her and she pitched backward, crying out as she did. There were no strong arms to grab her. She hit the floor and cried out once more, pain shooting up through her backside from landing so hard on it. “Oh hell,” she fussed and tried to push herself upright. But her legs felt funny. “What in the name of Merlin…” she couldn’t see through the mist, though it was slowly beginning to clear. As it did, she gazed up at Severus, who was frowning down at her, examining the length of her body. Hermione closed her eyes. “I don’t want to know, I don’t want to know, I don’t want to know,” she muttered.
                “Blimey, Hermione,” said George. “You look like…” he was giggling a bit, which did nothing to ease Hermione’s mind. “Well, you look like a mermaid.”
                Opening her eyes the first thing she noticed was that her legs were missing. In their stead was a shimmery turquoise tail, long and elegant, split into slivers of fins at the end. “Oh Merlin,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. The second things she noticed was the way her arms brushed against the rough exterior of shells that were strapped over her breasts, barely hiding them from view. As she gazed down at her chest, her hair fell forward into her face and she noticed beats of seaweed and kelp threaded into her tresses. “Well this is lovely, I’m sure,” she said with a frown. “But what in the world am I meant to do with it?”
                Severus was still gazing over the length of her body. He shook his head. “Purely novel,” he muttered. “I imagine that it would suit anyone who was inclined to such a fantastical creature,” he said gesturing at Hermione. “For the purposes of fulfilling fantasy role playing…” he seemed to be addressing George. “A mermaid to provide unexpected oral pleasure…things of that nature…”
                Hermione wriggled her tail. It flopped on the floor. “And when I wish to be done with being completely useless out of the water?” She had to admit it was a pleasing aesthetic, even if its purposes were limited.
                George looked at Severus. “I guess a simple Finite Incantum?” he suggested.
                “You guess, Mr. Weasley?” Severus narrowed his eyes at him. But he did not continue to scrutinize George. Retrieving his wand, he muttered the spell, and much to everyone’s surprise, the shimmering scales, salted shells, and strands of kelp vanished from sight, leaving Hermione sprawled naked on the floor. George had fled back to his ledger to take notes, turning the can over and over as he did. Severus offered her his hand, which she took, and helped her to her feet.
                “Thank you,” she said with a soft smile.
                “Do your legs feel numb?” he asked.
                Hermione wiggled her toes and shifted her weight on her feet. “No, they feel fine, actually. It wasn’t unpleasant…that— well whatever he’s calling it, just bizarre.”
                “Indeed,” he said. She tried not to smile when he draped her robe over her shoulders. “Will that be all, Mr. Weasley?”
                “Hmm? Oh. Yeah, that’s fine for tonight, we got heaps done. I actually can’t wait to attend the meeting tomorrow,” he beamed. “So enjoy tomorrow off and I’ll send you an owl about a time for Thursday night,” he waved them off and went about tinkering with the nozzle head on the turquoise can. Hermione had forgotten, even if it only had been for a moment, about the Joke Convention and the demonstration spots that George was all too eager to have them fill. But her stomach filled with dread as she dressed in silence beside Severus. When they had collected their satchels of payment and made their way down onto the street, it was well past midnight.
                “I have business to attend to,” he said to her with a curt nod. He’d nearly apparated away but the grip of her hand on his wrist held him in place.
                “Will you be long?” she asked. It wasn’t at all what she longed to ask.
                Severus held her gaze for several long moments, the chill of the late night air slipping around them. “And if I am?”
                Hermione shook her head and sighed. “I was merely curious, Severus, I don’t care how long you’ll be.”
                He rolled his eyes. “That’s bullocks. Curious, yes, but you do care, or you wouldn’t have asked,” he muttered. “Go home, Ms. Granger,” he said and then nodded at her once more. He was gone with a crack before she could protest again.
                Hermione sighed. Disapparating to Spinner’s End alone, she was displeased to discover that it was raining. Even more so that the power in the house had gone out. Though she had her wand, she took a great long while tearing through the kitchen until she discovered candles. Taking a good dozen of them into the bathroom she set the pillars around the ends of the tub and enchanted the longer tapers to hover, not unlike those in the Hogwarts Great Hall. She drew herself a bath, casting a stasis charm over the steaming water just to be on the safe side. As she slipped into the tub, she groaned, the evening’s exhaustion slithering out of her.
                A bath was both the first and last thing she needed. While it provided her with the physical relaxation her body required after such little rest, it left her alone and wide awake with her thoughts, which was most unfortunate. Hermione had convinced herself that Severus had gone back to Twizted Knickerz to entangle himself with Nigel. The thought threatened to bring on tears, so she forced herself to think about George’s Joke Convention. But the thought of having to perform in front of an audience comprised of hundreds of witches and wizards only made her sick to her stomach. She didn’t know which was worse, the agony of jealousy over a man that wasn’t hers, or the anxiety and terror over an event she wasn’t certain she’d have to attend.
                The candles created shadows all across the bathroom. She hadn’t drawn the curtain around the tub, letting her head lull back against the lip of the basin, the tips of her hair floating atop the water’s surface. She hadn’t kept track of the time she’d been in the bath; the stasis charm had kept the water at a searing but soothing heated temperature. Her eyes drifted lazily along the shadows and she jumped when she noticed a dark figure in the corner near the door. Water splashed over the edge of the tub, extinguishing three of her candles and she felt a wave of panic seize through her chest. But when the shadow did not move, and her heartbeat eased back to normal, she squinted into the darkness, just making out his outline.
                With a groaning sigh she allowed herself to sink completely under the water. Surfacing, she exhaled deeply. “How long have you been standing there watching me?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
                “How long have you been sulking over my whereabouts?” he asked.
                Hermione’s cheeks were red, though she knew they wouldn’t’ show in the flickers of candlelight. She narrowed her eyes, though she knew he couldn’t see that either. “Who says I was sulking over anything?” she muttered.
                Severus scoffed. “Miss Granger, even in the darkness I can read your face like a book.”
                “Are you ever going to stop calling me Ms. Granger?” she asked.
                There was silence. For a moment she thought that he’d backed into the hallway and disappeared as his shadowed silhouette seemed to have vanished. But then she saw his shadow moving, a slow and deliberate step toward the tub. One by one he extinguished the candles, his fingers pinching the flames of those that rested on the ground, his lips blowing gently over those that hovered, until a single candle at the head of the tub remained lit. When he knelt beside her, she shivered. “Are you finished sulking?” his voice was a whisper that was dangerously close to her ear.
                “I wasn’t sulking,” she muttered. Hermione trembled, stifling a gasp as two fingers swept over her cheek. It was impossible not to lean into his touch, even if she couldn’t see him. The tiny flicker of the candle was completely obscured by the way he leaned over into the tub. She felt his fingers slide down beneath her jaw and tip her chin upward. The twinkle of his black eyes was all she could make out in the darkness. There was a daring that swept through in that moment. She wanted him, she didn’t care if he’d just come from being with Nigel, she didn’t care where he had been. All she cared about was having him, or being his, and in that moment she felt compelled.
                Hermione leaned up from where she’d been reclining in the tub. She brushed her lips against his, once, and then again more firmly. She kissed him, letting her lips linger there before she prodded to part his lips with her tongue. Their tongues met, his timid as she slid her tongue into his mouth. She moved her lips, feeling him pull back just slightly. A second kiss, then a third, light feathery caresses against his lips, and when she nuzzled her nose against his cheek, he chuckled. It was a dark and heady sound that had her body begging for him. Again his fingers tipped her chin up and she blinked through the darkness to gaze into his eyes.
                There were volumes unspoken between them as she leaned into him, feeling his hands on her arms, easing her up out of the tub. She was guided up over the lip of the tub and expected to wrap her limbs around him, but was instead wrapped in a towel. The lone candle flickered dimly behind her as she stood staring into the darkness, feeling the heat of his body just in front of her, though he was no longer touching her. The sound of the water draining from the tub filled her ears and Hermione felt a twang fill her gut as she held the towel around her dripping body. She took a cautious step forward, and another, and another, but quickly ran into him. Both of his arms wrapped slowly around her and she leaned her head forward, but he held her under her chin, two fingers tipping her head back to gaze down into her eyes.
                “You’re foolish,” he whispered.
                “So what?” she said. Hermione leaned up and pressed her lips against his. He turned his cheek to the side. “Severus—”
                “I’m tired,” he said and then released his arms from around her.
                “Then lie down with me,” she offered, leaning into him once more.
                Severus snorted. “You don’t know how to lie still in peace and quiet.”
                “That’s not fair! I know how to—”
                It wasn’t a finger that silenced her lips, but his own, sweeping over hers, pulling her into a kiss. Hermione melted, returning his kiss, her hands circling around his neck. After a moment he pulled back. “You’ll lie still for a while…but stillness will turn to stroking…and stroking always turns sexual…”
                “But—”
                “Shh…” he whispered, letting his lips hover over hers. “You talk too much.”
                “Severus—”
                Once more his lips were on hers, quieting her for a moment, but he pulled back. “Go to bed, Miss Granger,” he said and stepped back from her.
                She stepped forward, fumbling in the darkness to grab his hands. “Come with me,” she pleaded, and then squeezed his hands. “I can’t make my way in the dark.” She was certain that he was rolling his eyes at her even if she couldn’t see him, but when he took her by the hands and guided her out of the bathroom, across the hallway and into her darkened room, she rethought her assessment. She pushed her bedroom door closed and leaned against it. “Does the power always go out in this house when it storms?”
                “Nearly,” he said. There was light from her window, though just a little, but it was enough to make out his figure standing at the foot of her bed.
                Hermione closed her eyes, mouthed a silent prayer to whatever deity was listening, and then let the towel fall from her figure. “Lie down with me?” she asked, stepping toward him. He did not respond. “Severus…” she said, pressing her hands against his chest as she approached him. “Please?”
                He flinched when she took his hand and resisted her tugging but after a moment, she’d brought him over to the bed. She climbed backward onto it, pulling once more on his hand. Had there been proper light in the room, her grin would have easily been visible as he leaned down over her on the bed. Severus knelt down onto the mattress and slid beside her, laying on his side, head propped up on his hand. “Go to sleep, Miss Granger,” he said, feeling her wriggle her body against him.
                “Severus, I—”
                “Hush, you said you could lie down and be quiet, don’t make a liar out of yourself,” he muttered. Thunder filled the air and she shivered a bit. He sighed. With a great deal of tugging, Severus shifted her duvet, sliding his body and her own beneath it. Hermione eased herself fully onto her back, letting her body press against his, pleased that he had not pulled away.
                “Are you going to rest a while?” she asked after what felt like ages of nothing but the storm.
                “If you stop your prattling,” he said.
                Hermione grinned. “Goodnight, Severus,” she whispered, though she knew sleep would not come to her, not with him lying next to her naked body, her mind whirling. She pressed her lips up and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Goodnight,” she repeated, turning slightly into his body, letting her head rest against him. She’d closed her eyes but had not drifted off, and after just a few moments, she felt his hand arched over her body, idly tangling in her hair.
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