“What have you done with yourself today?” he asked as he shut the door, rather harder than was necessary, and shrugged off his robes. He glanced curiously over at his wife when she made no response. She was clearly involved in the book that she was reading. And he had to admit that she looked rather adorable the way she was curled up on one end of the couch, her lower lip caught between her teeth as her eyes darted across the page.
His frock coat soon joined his robes hanging over the back of an armchair and he rolled up his shirt sleeves. Morgan had taken to casting warming spells whenever his back was turned and his rooms were now quite warmer than he cared for. And this for a man known to wear three layers of clothing even in the middle of summer.
Morgan didn’t look up, or even seem to notice his presence, even when he seated himself next to her craned his neck, trying to get a glance of what she found so fascinating.
“What are you reading?” Severus leaned over, trying to see what book Morgan was so intent on. He didn’t recognize it as one from his shelves or from the stack of Austen or the other stack of Muggle books that Morgan was always reading.
Morgan gave a small squeak of surprise and then instantly blushed right up to the roots of her mass of brown curls and tried to shove the book out of sight.
This only intrigued Severus more. In one smooth move he plucked the book from her hand and opened it to the page she had marked, even as Morgan scrambled to get the book back from him. He couldn’t help smirking, whatever it was she clearly didn’t want him to see it.
He easily held her back with on arm as he scanned the contents of the page. His eyebrows rose to quite a shocking height. He turned the book over to glance at the cover, quickly took in the picture of the shirtless man and the woman, who looked quite ready to pop out of her bodice, that he was holding. He turned back to the page that Morgan had been on and skimmed a few lines.
“Your taste in literature is impeccable, my dear,” the scathing sarcasm was so thick it could have probably been cut with a knife.
Morgan turned several shades darker.
Severus couldn’t help but smirk, his wife seemed to be constantly blushing when she was in his presence. He found it rather enduring, and found some measure of enjoyment in finding exactly the right thing to say to make her light up. However, his true nature as a miserable bastard couldn’t help but come to light too, “I am rather amazed that after an education such as this,” he tossed the book down on the table at his side, “that all you can manage to do is lie like a board under me… it’s almost enough to drive a man to one of the racier establishments in Hogsmeade.”
Morgan focused her attention firmly on her lap, her face had gone from red to deadly pale.
Excellent job at improving your marital relations, Snape commended himself in his head, she’s never going to speak to you again, once she runs from the room in tears, of course.
“I guess… I guess… I could do better…”
Morgan’s voice was so soft that Severus had barely caught it. And it most certainly wasn’t the response he had been expecting. He had been waiting for that oh so female trait of bursting into tears, or perhaps for her Gryffindor nature to rear its ugly head with a burst of anger. He hadn’t expected what had damn near been an apology after he had so verbally berated her.
And then a thought hit him so hard that it would have knocked him off his feet had it been able. “How old were you when your mother died?”
Morgan looked up at him, her mouth forming an ‘O’ of surprise in what she thought was a change of topic. She quickly recovered herself, “I was nine.”
Severus dreaded asking the next question, because he was fairly certain he knew the answer, “who explained to you the ways between a man in a woman?” He felt a surge of something strongly akin to pity, if he was even capable of that emotion, at Morgan’s confused and nervous look.
“Professor McGonagall, she… she explained the basics to me… and I overheard a lot of talk in the dorms…”
Severus could have groaned, this probably accounted for a lot. “And what, precisely, did you learn from this?”
Morgan looked uncertain as she answered in a quiet voice, “McGonagall actually took me aside once when I…” her eyes flickered up to her husband, and she forced them to remain there. No time for cowardice now, “when I got my courses.” She felt her cheeks turn pink, “and then wanted to know if I had any questions before we got married. The girls in the dorm… I heard them complaining about how sore they were.”
“And I gather you gleaned the rest of your education from material like this…” he gestured towards the book he had tossed aside.
Morgan nodded mutely.
Severus sighed, he hadn’t intended on having to give his wife a lecture on sexual practice, “I am going to assume that you have gleaned from your highly informational choice of literature that you know it can be an enjoyable act.”
Morgan nodded, eyes downcast, face crimson.
Severus silently begged for more patience, for his was wearing thin, “Morgan, you are my wife and our marriage has been consummated, even if you were not an active participant, look at me while we are discussing this.”
Morgan obediently raised her eyes, and Severus almost wished that she hadn’t complied so fast. Was she that scared of him?
He couldn’t help but think that he should do something to try and reassure her. He settled for picking up her hand, gently holding it between his own, “listen to me Morgan, while I was growing up I could hear my father, who is an absolute monster, forcing himself on my mother. I will not do the same thing to you. I know that we married quickly and you are very young and innocent in the ways of the world. I am a miserable bastard and know far too well what the world has to offer. You have a decision to make, I will never force myself on you, but unless you have a valid excuse you will start participating in our unions and I will do my best to show you that it is a pleasurable experience. Or, you may move down the hall to your own bedroom and I shall leave you alone.”
Morgan was both shocked and hurt, and she wasn’t sure why. She wanted her own room. Right? And suddenly she realized it was the last thing she wanted. “Do you want me to move out of your room?”
“No.”
Morgan swallowed hard, “will you be patient with me?”
I have already been patient! “As I said, I will not force you in any way. I have rounds to do, when I come back I will expect you to have made your decision.”
Morgan watched her husband leave and found that she wasn’t sure what to do. She stared blankly at the wall across from her, trying to decide. She was so lost in thought that she nearly screamed at the loud cracking noise as a house elf suddenly appeared at her side.
“Dobby! You startled me.”
“Dobby is very sorry to have scared you. But Professor Snape is asking me to see if you were needing anything.”
Morgan took several steadying breaths as she made up her mind, “no Dobby, I don’t need anything, thank you.”
She jumped again as Dobby disappeared with another *Crack!*. And feeling very determined and very nervous she walked, head held high, into the bedroom. As she changed into the shorts and shirt with a pattern of ducks on them she wondered if perhaps she should transfigure them into something a bit more seductive. But with the state she was in she figured she was more likely to set them on fire.
She sat cross-legged on the bed, fretfully braiding and unbraiding her hair. She froze when she heard Severus re-enter their chambers. She just couldn’t bring herself to go to him. When he finally made his way into their bedroom, robes and frock coat gone, white linen shirt halfway unbuttoned, she could hardly meet his eyes.
“I’m terrified,” she confessed in a small voice as she looked up at him.
Severus very nearly sent his wife from the room. She looked so young sitting there, wearing those ridiculous pajamas, her hair in two braids, Merlin’s balls she was too young… “I take it you made your decision then.”
Morgan nodded, and then realized she had no idea what to do next. She wasn’t sure if she felt rescued or trapped when Severus joined her on the bed, twining his hands in her hair and covering her mouth with his.
~~~~~~~~~
Severus looked down at his wife, he wasn’t sure what to think. Their clothing had been discarded some time ago, and now Morgan, completely exhausted, was lying half sprawled across him, sleeping deeply.
The longer he laid there the more he found himself enjoying the feeling of her slight weight on top of him. Her head pillowed directly over his heart, one arm tossed across his chest and her legs entwined with his.
He ran his fingers through her hair as she stirred in her sleep. He had brought her pleasure for one night, but knew that he was more likely to bring her nothing but pain in the future.