Chapter 39: "Is it my imagination, or have I finally found something worth looking for?"

Notes:

AN: Heads up, more sexy times and graphic descriptions of sex. Well... we waited long enough for it. This is my treat to you.

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Circe and Severus had reluctantly drawn apart from one another for the Christmas Eve meal in the Great Hall. The room, in which only a few hours ago Circe and Severus had danced, was almost back to normal. The stage was gone, the dance floor packed away, but a few telltale blue hangings on the wall and the continuing smatter of snow falling from the enchanted roof still hinted at the Yule Ball just gone. There was, as Circe guessed, an unusually high number of students still at Hogwarts for so close to Christmas, but the mood of the room was warm and jovial and wonderful; Conversation was amiable, spirits were happy and ripples of laughter and bright smiles peppered themselves amongst the children from all three magical institutions. As they both sat down at their respective House tables, full of students who had all stayed for the Holidays, Circe and Severus both were finding it rather hard to take their eyes off one another.

Circe beamed, and looked away as a fierce blush bloomed across her face. One of the Beauxbattons girls handed her some leftovers from the Ball yesterday and she tried to distract herself by spooning out a few profiteroles for herself. Severus too smiled wickedly to himself as he took a plate of cheeses and meats from a Durmstrang boy.

If only they knew what their teachers got up to in the dark… Circe thought as she laughed to herself. I know I certainly never thought of my Professors even remotely in that way when I was their age.

She ate a small bite here and there, unable to settle her stomach from wriggling with delight each time a memory of the morning passed through her head. She would almost have been tempted to think that it had been a particularly vivid dream, sat as they both were in their familiar setting, apart from one another, had it not been for the deliciously sore ache between her legs.

Sometime after the meal, a few of the Hogwarts students came back with the MMAP's CD player. After a moment's fiddling with the radio, the whole of the Great Hall was suddenly echoing with the crackly noise from the tiny machine. Simon Mayo's countdown to the revelation of the Christmas Number one blared around the rafters and Lee Jordan managed to tune it just right as Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas is You' began playing. A chorus of voices chimed in with the song, loud and merry, Circe amongst them. Most of the overseas students didn't really understand the words, but they too made a go at forming the sounds and singing along to the melody, arms around their friends and sweethearts, eyes bright and smiles wide. Mariah's running preamble came to an end and the fast-paced, jaunty piano kicked in. A few couples spontaneously rose to their feet and began dancing in the way they had in the Great Hall the night before. Krum lifted Hermione up by the hand and began spinning her around and around. More Durmstrang boys followed with their chosen ladies, and then some of the normally reserved and poised Beauxbattons girls joined the dancing. The staff present at the meal watched as the delighted students continued in their loud and heartfelt singing, dancing together in a throng very much like that day Circe had first played them 'Sweet Caroline'. Circe's eyes wandered back to Severus, and she found he had not taken his eyes from her since the last time she'd dared to steal a look at him. Severus was watching her thick lips move as she mouthed along to the music, utterly transfixed by the movements of her perfect mouth. His chest ached with longing for her. A real, tangible shiver ripped through him as he remembered those lips had touched his earlier that day. He had tasted her sweet, hot breath and it had turned his night to day. His salvation had been found between her legs. His meaning imbued in her lifeblood.

"Oh, I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

Baby, all I want for Christmas…"

The children's voices combined together in a rising cacophony of shouts and hollers. All of them building up to Mariah's triumphant final note.

"... is you!"

They all cawed together like a gang of wolves. Circe laughed at the noise they made, and Severus delighted in the sparkle of her eye as she smiled.

Ron stood up from his table quickly, in some sort of a huff. He tried to storm past the group of dancing teenagers, pulling a particularly sour look as he almost ran headlong into Hermione as Krum sent her into another spin. Circe had noticed the rather tense situation that had sprung up between Hermione and Ron last night. Granger had been left in tears at the end of the Ball and Crice had been the one patting her on the back and handing tissues to her.

"Men don't become decent human beings until they reach about forty, sweetheart." she'd said to the tearful young girl.

That had elicited a small laugh from Hermione and Circe was happy enough that she'd cheered her up a small fraction.

Now, as Circe watched Ron frustratedly try to push himself through the dancing crowd Circe was left tutting aloud to the air.

"Well if you're so bloody jealous, Ron, you should have asked her before Viktor got there." She muttered.

Circe looked back to Severus, rolling her eyes and she saw him titter slightly at Ron's ever increasingly frustrated tantrum. The Weasley boy reached his emotional capacity and with a shout, he shouldered past Harry and Seamus, trying to wrestle him into a headlock, until he went crashing past the CD player. In a flash, it was knocked from its precarious position on a tabletop and clattered to the floor with a harsh crack. Ron carried on with his flight from the Great Hall, his retreating footsteps the only noise in the now silent room. Circe stood up and rushed over to the CD player.

"Oh bollocks…" she uttered.

It was completely smashed to bits. It had only been a cheap little thing, but the hours of happiness it had brought her and Severus, and then later with the MMAP made it priceless. Harry bent down beside it and picked up the now detached lid and a dial, looking up at Circe with a mournful look.

"I think it's broken, Professor."

"Ahh, what a shame." She replied, glancing around at the now still group of students, all of them looking at her.

"I'm sorry, Professor." Harry said apologetically.

"Oh it wasn't your fault, Harry." She said, trying not to sound upset.

"No, it was the red boy." Krum said, sternly pointing after Ron.

"It was an accident, Viktor. I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"I wonder what Christmas number one was." Hermione said wistfully.

"Oh it was probably going to be that god-awful East 17 garbage." She said jovially.

Some of the Hogwarts students tittered and she turned and walked away from the smashed remains of the CD player.

She carried on walking, all the way out of the Great Hall trying very hard not to tear up. Severus was quick to follow her, catching her by the arm when they were both just out of sight and concealed by the huge wooden doors.

"Is it completely ruined?" He asked as his brow furrowed.

She nodded as her bottom lip quivered. "I know it's just a stupid record player but.. God I don't know why I'm so bloody emotional…"

"I understand. It's sentimental." He said gently. "I could give the Weasley boy a detention. Or write home and demand that he replace it."

"No. He didn't mean to. And he was upset because of the Granger girl…"

She smiled weakly at him and blinked away the moisture from her eyes. Severus reached out and caressed her cheek with his thumb. Seeing her upset pulled at his heartstrings. She reached up and took his hand in hers, comforted in the simple gesture of affection between them that had seemed impossible not so long ago.

"Oh bugger!" She exclaimed suddenly. "It's Christmas tomorrow!"

"Well noticed, Professor." He said sarcastically.

"I haven't got a Christmas present for you!" She said, swatting his arm.

Severus looked at Circe, and then back towards the Great Hall, and then again back at her. He got an idea.

"What time is it?" He asked as Circe's face formed into an expression of confusion.

"Uhh, just gone six. Why?"

"I'll be back by tonight." He said as he turned from her, walking down the corridor with purpose. But before he strode too far away, he froze in place and turned back around to face Circe again. "Stay up for me." He added with an agonisingly slow, seductive drawl that sent Circe's stomach a-flutter.

Severus had run so fast down to the perimeter of Hogwarts's grounds, he was still a little breathless by the time his feet touched down in Diagon Alley. He was not so squeamish around apparating as Circe was and he found the dizzying leap from Hogwarts to London felt like almost nothing. His feet carried him on tenaciously through the wizarding shopping street, flinching each time he heard the shutters of the shops closing up for Christmas Day. He prayed that it wasn't too late in the day, and that the object he remembered seeing a rather considerable length of time ago was still there.

He tucked himself into the dark crevices and corners of Knockturn Alley, making a beeline for Borgin and Burkes. Thaddeus Borgin was just drawing the shutters down the windows, already wearing his thick winter coat, ready to head off home for the holiday. Severus approached the stooped, scruffy looking man and called out to him.

"Wait! Borgin…"

The old man turned around with a groan. He scowled as he recognised Severus, turning back around to resume closing up the shop.

"Come back on the twenty-seventh, Severus."

"I wish to purchase something." He replied, trying to catch his breath.

"It's almost seven o clock on Christmas Eve, Snape. Even you must surely have someone else to bother or somewhere else to be at this time."

"I know what I require. Do you still have the Cantuscope?"

"The…. Well, yes. Had it bloody years. But I'm closed, Snape."

"Open up again for five minutes and I will continue to… leave your name out of any questions the Ministry may ask me about whomst you sell to."

"Why you sneaky, two-faced-"

"You'll find that I remember rather vividly exactly how varied your clientele were during the wizarding war."

"Varied? What are you talking about?" he asked, his unkempt brows puzzlingly knitted together in a deep frown.

"Oh yes... Varying different shades of moral greyness, that is."

Thaddeus Borgin scowled and spat into the gutter. He reluctantly pulled up the shutters and waved Severus inside.

The shop floor was dark and in the shadows loomed an unknowable number of hideous and dangerous magical artefacts. The blackness swirled with shrunken and shriveled faces, bones, feathers, harsh edges and oddities galore. It had been a few years since Severus had stepped foot in Borgin and Burkes, but he could not have forgotten, even for a moment, what a veritable Alladdin's cave of the weird and macabre it was. Which is why it marvelled him that Borgin would bother stocking a Cantuscope at all. But he had remembered seeing it shoved into one of the many dismal and dark corners of the shop when he had last come for a peruse, and thus it had stuck in his mind.

"I dunno why you want the bloody thing. The cathexis aerial is on the blink. I've been trying to fix it for years to no avail…"

Borgin disappeared behind the shop counter and off he shuffled into the darkness of his storage room.

"It doesn't matter. Do all the other components work properly?" Severus shouted after him.

"They do."

"Then I'll give you thirteen galleons for it."

Borgin returned, carrying a device that looked almost like a small, squat jukebox. It was almost entirely white, save for a few golden embossed features on its face and Borgin gave it a little brush as a plume of dust shot into the air.

"Fifteen. For forcing me to re-open on Christmas Eve."

Severus grumbled but eventually nodded his acceptance. He delved into his pockets and dropped a number of chunky, round coins into the shopkeeper's outstretched hand.

"Now would you like it gift wrapped, Sir?" Borgin asked derisively.

"Just give it here."

Snape made a grasp for the Cantuscope and heaved it up into his arms. It was rather big, almost two foot tall and heavier than he was expecting. The aerial that poked out of the top of it rattled about precariously and he prayed that it wasn't going to snap off completely on the journey back to Hogwarts.

"You know, Snape…" Borgin sneered, eyeing Severus up with an ominous glare. "All the years I've run this place and all the people I've sold to in it. Out of all the customers I've seen here, I think you're the greyest of them all."

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It was almost eleven o'clock when Circe was startled awake by a small knock on her bedroom door. She'd been snoozing away on her bed, trying desperately to stay awake for Severus's return. She checked the time on her watch, not quite Christmas Day, and she yawned as her jaw stretched open. She blinked away the last of her dream and swung her legs down to the floor as she called out.

"Sev, is that you?"

"Hurry up and open the door, before I drop this bloody thing." his low, silky voice replied.

Circe laughed, and shuffled over to let him in. When she opened the door, seeing his face again after their brief time apart, it was like she was remembering a pleasant dream or gazing at a photograph of a beloved memory. He felt like coming home. He smiled at her, and she at him as both of them instantly felt the pull of desire towards one another once more.

"Miss me?" he asked as he moved inside.

"You were gone for a few hours, Severus…" she chuckled.

But yes.

Severus almost read the silent addition she'd made in her mind and he smiled wickedly at her. He moved over to the bed and placed the Cantuscope down on top of her blankets, sighing heavily as he stretched his aching arms.

"God, it's a heavy bloody thing." he grumbled.

"What is it?" she asked, edging closer to Severus.

It had only been a mere few hours, but she had felt his absence at Hogwarts like a thorn in her side. To have been so wonderfully, sinfully close and then suddenly apart was a tonal shift that had made her again question whether any of it had happened. But as Severus looked at the Cantuscope and then to her at his side, the soft and loving look in his eyes warmed every inch of her, as if his presence was thawing her out from a long cold winter of loneliness.

"It's your Christmas present." he said simply.

"But… But where did you get it from? This late in the day?"

"Oh, I… uhh... popped down to Diagon Alley. I remembered seeing it in-"

"Yo went all the way to London and back?" Circe asked, her voice almost squeaking in disbelief.

Severus nodded.

Circe could only scoff. "Well what is it? It looks like a radio..."

"A Cantuscope. It's a magical device for playing music." he explained, motioning her closer to him so he could demonstrate the machine's capabilities. He first pointed to a small cone sticking out of the left side of the device. "You see this? If you so wished, you could request the Cantuscope play any piece of music you desired by speaking into the voice cone."

"Anything?" she asked, utterly amazed.

"Anything. Even music that was released yesterday. It'll play it. And then there's this…." he touched the aerial at the top. "The cathexis aerial can sense the emotional readout of the room it's in and play music to match the tone. Although Borgin did say it could sometimes be a bit temperamental…"

"And what's this?" Circe asked, bending down to inspect the display on the Cantuscope's front.

It looked like one of those displays on a sweet machine, whereby you turn the dial until you get the picture of the candy you want. However, instead of pictures of food, each time Circe turned the dial, behind the glass display there popped up a series of drawings that reminded Circe of the Rider-Waite tarot deck. They seemed to be labelled such too: Justice, The Hierophant, The Moon etc.

"Ahh, I believe that's for manually selecting the mood of music you want. Let me show you…" Severus touched his fingers to hers, their eyes meeting for an electrifying moment as he delicately turned the display to 'The Fool'. "This one is for a sort of upbeat, adventurous, naive-happiness sort of mood."

The machine clicked and whirred, and Circe almost sprang back with the sudden noise it made. She'd half expected that it needed to be plugged in, or something, but she checked herself, realising no magical item worth its salt would need mains electricity… The Cantuscope thought and buzzed and hummed, a thousand and one cogs clicking away inside it, until it fell completely silent and Circe waited on baited breath. R.E.M's 'Shiny Happy People' started playing, filling the room with music. Circe laughed, turning to Severus as her eyes lit up.

"Oh, Severus this is wonderful! I had no idea these things existed."

"Well they're incredibly difficult to make, so they are in fact quite rare… One last thing."

He touched a deft finger to the bottom of the Cantuscope, where a tiny round button displaying a Greek Apollon symbol was and out popped a small tray.

"And what's that for? Cassettes?" Circe asked sardonically.

Severus laughed. "No, give me your brooch."

Circe did as she was told and unfastened it from her coat quickly. She handed it over to Severus and he placed it in the tray and closed it back up. The Cantuscope buzzed and whirred again and came to a sudden stop with a melodic ping, the tray popping open again. Severus picked up the brooch and handed it back to Circe.

"Now, if you touch that brooch and think of the music you want to play, wherever you are in the world, no matter how far away from the machine, the Cantuscope will play it."

"Fuck off…"

"Such a way with words..." Severus said flatly with a roll of his eyes. "Try it."

Circe cradled the brooch to her chest, closed her eyes and thought.

And then the Cantuscope stopped R.E.M, ticked and hummed, and suddenly changed to playing something much more slow and down tempo.

"Is this what you chose?" Severus asked.

Circe stood staring at the machine with her jaw almost on the floor. Judy Garland's 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' played softly in the air. She turned to Snape with a tear in her eye and she kissed him. Severus was a little shocked by it, but his shoulders relaxed into her and he kissed her back, his heart soaring. Her lips were soft and wonderful. It felt like an age since he had last tasted them.

"Thank you…" she breathed, cupping his face in her hands. "Although you've made me look like a complete knob."

Severus chuckled and frowned at her, lost in the heady scent of her and the warmth of her touch.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She pulled away from him and walked around to the other side of her bed, placing two carrier bags on the duvet.

"I didn't think I could get to anywhere tonight that would still be open. So your "present" is a bit more… locally sourced. I walked down to Hogsmeade with Minerva before she buggered off to Caithness for the holidays and had a bit of a panic-buy in the corner shop."

From out of the bag, Circe pulled out four large bottles of firewhiskey, two packs of twenty cigarettes, many, many bars of chocolate and an immodest tub of Vaseline. She looked back at Severus almost completely covered in a red blush and Snape looked back to her with a wickedly raised brow. The Cantuscope whizzed and clicked as the antenna on its top twitched. After a moment of thinking, the machine stopped the Christmas tune and the display at its front spun around of its own accord until 'The Lovers' was displayed. It started playing something meaty and chugging, a real twelve bar blues rock song that practically stank of sexiness and misbehaviour.

Severus's mouth curled into a knowing, seductive smile.

"Oh I see…" he purred. "A seemingly unlimited supply of booze, cigarettes and sex is your present." He said slowly, walking around the bed with steady footfalls, aching to be closer to Circe once more.

"Yep. Non refundable." she replied bashfully.

He placed a long, deft finger under her chin and forcefully lifted her head upwards until she was staring into his dark, lust-filled eyes.

"Ah. Well it's a good thing I don't plan on letting you out of my sight again until New Year's Day." He whispered, leaning in close to her face.

"Is it my imagination

Or have I finally found something worth living for?"

The song's words were snarled. Feral and elongated until the vowels started to sound like a braying, utterly wild mustang. It was vicious, and it sent the blood in their veins pumping, wanting something frantic and fervent.

"I was looking for some action

But all I found was cigarettes and alcohol."

Circe closed her eyes as her whole body was set on edge. She cried out for him and he was quick to respond to her signals for his affections. He drove his tongue inside her, setting off another shattering moan that was music to his ears. She was his instrument to play, every touch and move creating a glorious sound of pleasure. He ran a hand up her neck and her skin was tingling beneath his fingertips in an instant. She shivered in delight, pulling him closer to her by the lapels of his jacket. She could feel his growing hardness pressed against her and she ran a hand down to his lap, caressing him through the black fabric.

"You could wait for a lifetime

To spend your days in the sunshine

You might as well do the white line

'Cause when it comes on top

You gotta make it happen"

He gathered her hair into his fist and yanked back her head, forcing her to part from him breathless and open-mouthed.

"Get on your knees." he whispered gruffly, an air of dominance about him.

She sank down compliantly, never once taking her eyes from him as she worked away at his trousers. He aided her with shaking hands and soon he sprang forth, his cock rigid and shivering in anticipation. Circe smiled; he was impressively big. It had all happened so quickly or under cover before, she hadn't really had a chance to properly see him. Her lips were around his head, smothering the pink and swollen flesh in an instant. Severus threw back his head and moaned as her tongue traveled the length of his member, feeling himself at the very back of her throat. Circe worked at him with her slick lips, tracing her tongue along his underside and stroking him in long, firm waves. He was moaning with each stroke, each time she withdrew and passed her fingers over his throbbing head, almost sending him over the edge. His legs shook, his breaths were short, stabbing gasps.

"Stop… stop…" he breathed. "I'll not be able to hold back for much longer if you continue like that."

She laughed and stood to face him once more. Severus worked his snaking hands and her clothes were soon a puddle on the floor. She too worked at his clothes until they were both naked and she trembled before him like a virgin. As his fingers encircled her nipples, sending goosebumps rippling all over her skin, he led her to the bed, laying her down on her back. Her legs opened and she lay bare before him like an empty canvas. He crouched before her, tracing the back of his hand along her inner thigh, where her skin was softest. Then the Potion Master's hands lifted her hips and his previously unknowable, venomous, untouchable tongue touched her innermost parts. He drank deeply from her, wanting to make her dance with his mouth. His nose passed over her fleshy nub as he kissed and kissed and kissed her wetness. Her orgasm came in a ripple of soft flames in her belly, turning her loins white-hot and exquisitely quivering.

He did not give her pause to recover. As she lay on the pillows panting, her face a wonderful formation of intense pleasure, Severus lifted her legs over his shoulders and poised himself just before her opening. Waiting in agonised longing, like two dancers paused en-pointe before their pas-de-deux. She nodded, and he entered her in one long, sweeping movement that never seemed to end. He filled her so completely and deliciously that she gripped onto his forearm with a fierceness that made him wonder if he was hurting her. He thrust once, cautiously, and he felt her encircling his entire length with a pulling, tightening sensation as if she were begging him to go deeper. He thrust again, and she cried out an expletive of utter pleasure, and he was lost. Lost completely to that building, riding rhythm as he went again and again. Her walls tightened around him again as she climaxed once more, her back arching as she gave herself fully over to the sensation. He too felt himself pour out inside her as he gripped her legs close to him, his fingers biting into the flesh of her thigh, whimpering with the utter delight of it.

He stayed inside her for a small moment longer, never wishing to be separated from her as their ragged breaths synchronised. But soon, he fell to the pillow beside her and drew her close to him. She lay her head on his chest again, listening to the slowing beat of his heart as he stroked her hair. They lay together in their afterglow, both content in their silence. Severus almost drifted off to sleep when Circe eventually rose up and leant on her arm, gazing into his placid face.

"It's just gone midnight, Sev." she whispered.

"Mmm." he muttered, opening one bleary eye to her. "Merry Christmas, Circe."

"Merry Christmas." she uttered back, leaning over him and laying a kiss on his lips.

Her eyelashes fluttered against his and he reached up into her falling hair. He kissed her again, refusing to let her draw away and she giggled.

"I thought you were going to sleep!" she mumbled, her mouth smothered by his relentless lips.

"A mere momentary recharge, my love." he purred in her ear. "We still have one hundred and sixty eight more hours until New Years."