Chapter 48 - The Taste of Temptation

A/N: Mānawatia a Matariki ❤️

Just wanted to do a cheeky shout out to @rin.snape on tiktok. I followed them back in 2021 ish and I redownloaded tiktok to check if their account is still up - and it is!! And it still. fucking. slaps.

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"You're late."

His dark, languid voice cut through the air the second Asha closed the door behind her. Severus was leaning against the windowsill at the opposite end of the room, arms crossed.

"Well aware," Asha replied, tossing her bag down beside the wall. "A friend of mine is proving to be a bit of a problem." She began the familiar ritual of shedding her robes, tie and jumper. "But I've got it under control," she added before Severus could say something snide.

Severus gave one of his humming grunts and turned his head, gazing out the window at the grey sky and emerging spring greenery. "Let me guess, is it the blonde one?" he asked in a bored tone.

Asha blinked. How did he know? "Which blonde one?" she quizzed suspiciously.

Severus frowned. "There's another blonde one?"

Asha's narrowed eyes relaxed just shy of an eye roll. "Severus, you've been teaching our class for three and a half years." She strolled to the centre of the cavernous room, noting with satisfaction that Severus had finally taken down the wall mats. Given Asha had yet to hit the man with a single spell, she was forced to appreciate more subtle signs of progress.

"I don't waste my time remembering the superficial details of students," Severus drawled imperiously, straightening up and walking over to join her.

Asha raised her brows. "I'm not the one who brought up blondes."

She was standing with one hip slightly cocked—something Severus had noticed she had a bad habit of doing whenever she wasn't on her guard. He didn't feel particularly inclined to correct the behaviour.

Casting her an unimpressed look, he stopped in front of her. "I am familiar with your blonde one because she is always with you. And, she is the only constituent of your fourth-year Hufflepuff cohort with half a brain. I have her marked down as NEWT potential. Cosgrove, yes?"

Letting the insult to her classmates slide, Asha nodded. "Maive. She actually likes your subject."

Severus noticed Asha was already brushing stray wisps of hair out of her face, which made him want to laugh. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just insult my entire career," he said flatly.

"Oh, no need to pretend," Asha countered with a roguish grin. Behind Severus' sternum, that detestable swooping sensation hit him yet again.

Asha stood only a couple of feet away, gazing unflinchingly up at him. Not the slightest hint of unease adorned those eyes. He still hadn't got used to the way she looked at him.

Even Albus and Minerva had a hint of 'bracing themselves' when they met Severus' eye. As though he were some kind of caged animal. Whereas Asha looked at him like he was... a person. A person with depths she understood rather than abhorred.

The swooping in his chest morphed into that insufferable radiating warmth. A part of Severus snarled and clawed at the inside of his ribs, determined to slice it away.

"Do speak up if Cosgrove becomes a real concern," he said tersely. "Don't stubbornly keep it to yourself, merely on account of that burden complex of yours."

A subtle shift in Asha's otherwise unfazed features made Severus immediately regret his words. She straightened up to her full height. "Noted," she replied coolly.

Severus' lips parted, an unfamiliar impulse to apologise coating his tongue.

Then he ploughed on with the lesson. "Let's start with the same exercise we ended on last week. I want you to summon your wand back if I disarm you—no, don't argue. Alive with your abilities revealed is better than dead, Winters. You can return to practising classical duelling when I say you can."

Asha was unimpressed. She didn't like using her abilities in this room. It felt weak. It felt like cheating.

Nevertheless, three duels later, she was pleased to find that for once, she wasn't terribly out of breath, despite the longer rounds. Not only that, she was getting faster and powerful enough that Severus had been forced to engage in some physical movement. Small wins.

"Wands down," Severus called, after disarming Asha for the fifth time. She summoned her wand back before it could disappear into the clutter at the back of the room.

They regrouped at the water station in the corner, which was now kept refreshed by some of the more tight-lipped house-elves, meaning not Dobby. A light but persistent rain drummed at the windows, turning the outside world into a warped grey blur.

"You now seem adequately familiar with wand recall. Do you agree?" Severus waved his wand, and a jug of ice lemon water decanted into two glasses.

Asha flopped down on the soft grey couch she had lifted from the mishmash pile of furniture a few weeks ago. "Yeah, I—thanks." She took the glass Severus handed her. "I don't want it to become too instinctive."

"Agreed. Let's move on to force manipulation."

Asha blanched but covered it by taking a sip of water. Part of her had been dreading this ever since Severus mentioned it during the second task. She didn't trust herself to use her abilities on people. Not anymore.

"Up," Severus insisted after no time at all.

Forcing herself to rise from the couch, Asha placed her half-empty glass on the small table beside the jug, and rolled her wand agitatedly between her fingers.

"Wand away," Severus instructed. "You're going to refamiliarise yourself with using your abilities to escape physical restraint."

Asha didn't move.

"You may start small. Begin by simply pushing me backwards."

Again, Asha only regarded him, her insides churning. He looked so solid and permanent, standing tall in his immaculate black attire. So unbreakable. Yet Asha recoiled at the idea of touching him with even a tendril of her abilities.

"No," she said curtly.

So unused to this word being used against him, Severus' jaw tightened. He opened his mouth to retaliate, then closed it. 'My abilities kill people.' That's what Asha had said the evening of the second task.

His eyes soften ever so slightly, in a way Asha couldn't decide whether she loved or hated. He approached her, pulling up closer than usual, and gently slid her wand from her fingers. She let him.

Placing her wand on the drinks table beside them, Severus said in a low voice, "You have impeccable control of the force manipulation aspect of your abilities. Additionally, you have used this effect on people before without unexpected consequences. Do not overthink this, Asha."

"I wasn't as strong back then," Asha muttered, looking away and flexing her fingers. "I couldn't do as much damage." And yet I still managed to.

"You also had far less control and finesse than you do now." His calm voice slid over her shoulders and down her back like liquid satin. "The way you described it to me, you have already used a force manipulation effect on Albus when you disarmed him."

"That was tiny compared to what you want me to do," Asha protested in a quiet voice. "Besides, Dumbledore seems to understand more about my abilities than I do. If he wants to risk it, fine."

"And if I want to risk it?" Severus challenged.

Asha's face twitched. She stepped around him and sank back onto the couch, arms and legs folded tightly. "I curse things without meaning to—without knowing I'm doing it. I could injure you permanently."

Severus ran a thoughtful thumb along the line of his mouth. "As far as I know, you haven't performed any Dark magic while using force manipulation alone."

Asha's foreboding resisted his logic. "Look," she snapped, "if life has taught me anything, it's that I get every single person I care about hurt or killed. So I'm sorry I don't feel inclined to use my unstable, unstudied magic on you!"

Her words rang out, ricocheting off the walls and high ceiling. They hit Severus so acutely and from so many different angles that he was forced to raise several mental blockades to remain composed.

Asha bit her lip. She could feel magic prickling in her goddamn fingertips. Her control was an illusion. All control was an illusion.

She glared out the window for a long time, feeling the burn of Severus' scrutiny. She was considering walking out when Severus did something he had never done before. He sat down on the couch.

Asha expected him to be fuming. Instead, he looked pensive and grim. Wandlessly, he summoned his glass of water and took a slow sip.

Then he leaned over and tipped the water into Asha's lap.

"What the fuck?" she yelped, instinctively catching the water before it hit her skirt, levitating it before her.

One corner of Severus' mouth twitched as Asha glared at him incredulously.

"Keep it there," he ordered, and shifted closer. Asha was sorely tempted to send the water straight into his infuriating face, but then he was right beside her, their proximity reminding her of the night his entire leg had been pressed against hers. In broad daylight, that memory felt absurd.

Severus leaned an arm on the back of the couch so he was facing Asha, and raised his other hand, gesturing toward the floating water. Asha hesitated, but slowly, she moved the undulating sphere of water toward him.

She cringed as Severus' fingertips brushed the translucent surface. "How can you be sure I've not cursed it?" she asked. "Or given it some strange, harmful property? You don't know what you're doing!"

"No," he agreed. His long, graceful fingers slipped inside the sphere, moving gently through the liquid. "But you seem to."

And Asha had to admit, despite the pounding in her chest, nothing bad seemed to be happening.

"Do something more interesting," Severus said lightly.

Part of Asha was still screaming danger. Sirens were going off in her head, telling her this could only end badly. But the light, almost affectionate way Severus was smirking at her...

Carefully, she manipulated the liquid, making it swirl around his hand. Severus watched in fascination as the water split into threads, ice-cold and gentle against his skin. They weaved between his fingers, over his knuckles, brushed against his palm. To perform such multi-directional intricacies without a wand was incomprehensible.

He began to move his hand—languidly but with the deftness of a potions master. Asha matched his motions, moving the tendrils of water with him, encircling his fingers and tracing around where his shirt cuff met the very base of his wrist.

"You feel no force?" she asked softly.

"None," Severus said. "Only that of the water itself."

His knee brushed against Asha's, and a tingle ran all the way up her thigh. Her concentration stuttered along with her heartbeat. Fucking hell. The way her body reacted to him was getting inconvenient. Risking a glance, she was startled to find Severus already looking at her.

Abruptly, icy water splashed across their legs. Asha inhaled sharply and jumped up, putting some much-needed space between them. For a moment, even Severus looked a little discomposed before regaining his mask of impassivity.

"Afraid of a little water?" he jeered. With a wave of his wand, the water was gone. "Look at that, you lost concentration but didn't maim me. How encouraging."

Asha pursed her lips.

"Enough of that," Severus announced, standing. "The gloves are off. One small push, Winters. Do it."

He took a step forward. Asha took a step back.

"Don't let fear control you," he insisted.

"It's not fear," Asha snapped. "It's—"

"It is fear and you know it," Severus said severely, taking another step forward. "Do not surrender to it. Face it." He knew how to goad her—bring her bravery into question.

Asha glared at him, fists clenched at her sides, battling with herself.

And then she did it. The tiniest shove. It was such a basic action, she didn't even need to raise her hands.

An uncanny pressure at Severus' sternum forced him to take a step backward. He regarded Asha with something between triumph and pride.

"Good," he said quietly. "Again."

"You're okay?"

"I'm excellent. Again."

So Asha did it again. And again. Pushing Severus bit by bit across the room.

"Harder," he insisted.

"I'll hurt you!"

"Welcome to what I have been dealing with every session, Winters," he growled. "I fight and injure you every week, for you. Now, you do this for me."

This snagged Asha right in the chest. She knew in that moment, there wasn't much she wouldn't do for Severus.

"Fine," she said tersely.

Severus took out his wand and cast a cushioning spell about six feet away. "Throw me a sufficient distance and you'll bestow me a soft landing."

Asha scowled at him, then pushed before she could have second thoughts. Severus hurtled backward until he hit the cushioning charm and landed comfortably on his feet.

His eyes glittered, though he wasn't smiling. "Well done."

"That's enough," Asha snapped. "No more of that today."

She stalked away, rubbing her shoulder, having finally noticed a tenderness she must have acquired in one of the earlier duels.

Sure enough, a shrug was accompanied by a sharp pain. With her back to Severus, she rolled and massaged it, trying to discern the type of injury and therefore the appropriate healing spell. It was for this reason that subtle injuries were often difficult to heal.

The sound of leather soles against stone approached from behind, and Asha went still. Using her abilities on Severus had left her feeling emotionally raw and wrung out. Perhaps that was why, when he pulled up beside her, she dropped her probing hand and allowed him to help.

Resting one hand atop her shoulder, he used his other to guide her arm through various movements. Asha's expression twitched as he drew her elbow forward. "That hurts?" he asked.

Asha nodded. "I can't tell if it's the ligament or tendon."

"Hmm," he pondered. He was close enough that she felt his deep hum resonate in her own chest. Despite everything, she found herself hoping it might take Severus a good while to figure out the nature of her injury. As much as she hated the truth of it, something about being close to him felt so good.

She wanted to lean into him. The thought was accompanied by such an intense pang of longing it was like a physical blow. Until recently, it had been a very long time since Asha had wanted to be touched. To be held. Those were human interactions she usually only tolerated to appear normal.

"Ouch," she muttered as Severus' thumb finally found its mark.

Severus made an unsatisfied noise. "I can understand your uncertainty." He was silent for a moment, perhaps hesitant. "It would be easier to diagnose with a visual."

"Good to know I'm not just being incompetent," Asha said as she undid a couple more buttons and pulled her shirt collar over her shoulder.

It wasn't until Severus' cool fingers were wandering over her bare skin that Asha realised she had made a terrible mistake. Her heart rate kicked up as she fought to control her breathing, knowing how observant Severus was with such subtleties.

His fingertips skimmed the skin at the curve of her neck, brushing away rebellious strands of hair. Asha was terrified he would notice the goosebumps rising on her skin. She stared hard at the stone wall over his shoulder.

"Tell me if this hurts," he said as his hold on her became firm and precise. She had to suppress the impulse to melt into his touch, to press herself against his chest, desperate to have his arms around her.

Fortunately, Severus' thumb pressed into a particular nook that sent a bolt of pain all the way down to her fingertips.

"There," she croaked.

"Ligament," he confirmed. Normally, Asha would've insisted she perform the healing spell, but her mind had gone hot and fuzzy.

As Severus withdrew his hands, his fingers brushed lightly—deliciously—along her collarbone. Asha's already precarious breath caught as her nerves fizzed and sparked. This is fucking ridiculous, she seethed, dread circling her spine. How can he do this to me with only the whisper of a touch?

With a wave of his wand, Severus healed her shoulder. "Done," he stated. Asha vaguely registered that his tone sounded slightly off.

"Can we take five?" she asked, hating the huskiness of her voice. She hardly ever asked for breaks during their sessions, but right now she could not bring herself to face him, let alone look him in the eye.

"Five minutes," he agreed, and his footsteps retreated to the water station.

Rain drummed loudly against the window panes, making the room feel cozy and muted. Something was swirling low in Severus' stomach. He had caught Asha's every movement, every shallow, stuttering breath. The faint flush creeping up her neck. The change in her voice.

Merlin help me.

She wasn't drunk, it wasn't a fluke. He couldn't brush his suspicions off yet again. Every time this happened, every time he picked up on her... responding to him, his temptation grew stronger.

He needed to stop giving her opportunities to react to him. It was bad news for them both. Why had he let his fingers run along her collarbone like that? He'd tried to stop himself. He shuddered to think what would've happened if he hadn't been fighting himself at all.

As images flashed into his mind of what he wanted to do, Severus forced a glass of cold water down his throat and glared out the window until he successfully cleared his head.

He glanced over at Asha, who remained at the other end of the room, re-tying her hair in front of an old mirror affixed to a wardrobe. She was acting unfazed, but Severus knew her too well at this point.

The relaxation in her shoulders was forced, her dismissive lack of eye contact intentional. Then there was the slight fumbling of her usually deft fingers, the faint pink tinge still present in the maddeningly soft skin of her neck.

For Merlin's sake, stop looking!

If he couldn't focus, Asha might actually win a duel for the first time. Unless she also couldn't focus... For fuck's sake. Every second thought heated his blood.

"Time's up," Severus called.

"I'm done with force practice," Asha reminded him bluntly. "Classical duelling or I walk."

Severus sighed. He put his empty glass down, then sent a stinging hex at her legs. Asha jumped it, earning a disapproving look, and returned a few stinging hexes of her own. These childish hexes weren't much use in real-world duelling, but they were good stand-ins for more dangerous curses.

It was a good duel, with both Asha and Severus channelling their unwelcome urges into stubborn concentration and power. It took a full eight minutes for Severus to back Asha into a corner.

With a crooked filing cabinet and bookcase on either side of her, and a wardrobe behind, Asha was quickly running out of space to retreat. She couldn't believe she'd let Severus shepherd her into this trap.

She held him at bay for half a minute, but eventually her shield shattered, and she was blasted backward.

Glass cracked as Asha collided with the mirror hanging on the door of the wardrobe. She made to raise her wand, but just like at the lake, Severus was on her. He pinned her wand hand to the side with an iron grip and shoved her up against the wardrobe door. Wood groaned. Asha gasped as the cold mirror pressed against the thin cotton of her school shirt.

"Severus!" she snarled, knowing exactly what he was trying to get her to do. She kicked at him, but he pinned her legs against the door with his own. "I'm not doing it!"

"Yes, you are," he growled, his face hardly an inch away. "Use your abilities. Now!" He was breathing hard, the current of it tickling Asha's cheek.

"Fuck off," she hissed, heaving against him.

"Just show me you can do it, and we can leave it!" His voice was tight with the exertion of holding her in place.

Asha sucked in a breath, about to attempt the tried and true method of kneeing him in the balls, when the scent if him flooded her nose. A mixture of oak and cinnamon and cauldron smoke.

Suddenly, Asha was aware of just how close Severus was—his arms and legs locking her in place, his torso very nearly pressed against hers. His hips practically between her legs.

Her blood, previously hot with anger and adrenaline, now heated with something else entirely—with the thought of him. Without her permission, her resistance began to slacken.

"Asha," Severus insisted, but his voice lost its bite as her waning struggle drew him closer. Soon, she had stopped fighting him altogether, leaving Severus' forehead very nearly touching hers.

He became hyper-aware of every point where their bodies pressed together. The way the fabric of their clothes snagged against each other. He felt her breath hot on his throat, the Yule Ball all over again. The beast within him stirred, deep and hungry.

Asha met Severus' gaze, and time slowed to a standstill, each heartbeat an eternity. Up this close, she could see the delicate fibres of his irises, radiating lines of different shades of black and flecks of impossibly dark brown.

Butterflies fluttered wildly in her stomach like she had never experienced. It was hard to breathe. Her legs shifted, inviting him closer, her body humming, burning, pulsing.

Severus felt her legs move, warm against his, and desire sparked through his every nerve like lightning. Even as he implored himself not to do it, not to look, his gaze dropped to Asha's lips. At the sight, all rational thought seemed to fall right out of his head.

He looked up at her eyes again, searching for a 'no' in them—the only thing that might save him now. But her gaze was on his mouth with the most intoxicating look of 'yes' Severus had ever witnessed.

As she tilted her face up toward his, their fluttering breaths intermingling, her nose brushed ever so lightly against his. From that moment, there existed no force powerful enough to stop them.

Asha had no idea whether it was Severus or she who closed the final gap, but the instant she felt his parted lips press against hers, everything else disappeared.

Asha's body arched instinctively, pressing as much of herself against him as possible, as she kissed him with every ounce of longing she'd been holding on to for the last couple of months.

Her head swam with the feeling of his mouth moving against hers. At the sensation of him kissing intently at her bottom lip, she liquified on the spot. Before she knew what she was doing, she was running her tongue along his top lip.

Severus recklessly opened his mouth and met Asha's tongue with his own, feeling his body rapidly grow hot and needy at the tiniest flick.

Still, a part of him held back. He kept a firm hold on her wrists, as if keeping their hands out of the equation would make this any less sinful. As if mid duel, he could kiss her behind his own back and get away with it.

Without thinking, Asha tried to bring her hands to his face, to his hair, but was held in place. She was so wrapped up in the overwhelming blur of bliss and want that she hardly noticed. His mouth was warm and soft and relentless. She matched his intensity, kissing him hard and deep, her heart pounding, her head clouded with the taste and texture of him.

As heartbeats passed, Severus grew more urgent and dominating, desperate to explore the landscape of her lips well and true before this moment of insanity came crashing to an inevitable end.

Asha's head was buzzing with the surreality of what Severus was doing. Of what he was letting her do. Of what they were doing.

She wrapped a leg around his, needing him closer. Suddenly, his entire body was pressing her forcefully against the icy wardrobe mirror and melting her from the inside out. The hard buttons of his jacket dug into her skin in the most exquisite way. A high, breathy gasp permeated the air.

Both of them startled at the sound. Severus seized the pinprick of clear-headedness and wrenched himself away.

As Asha stood frozen in shock and disbelief, she realised the noise had come from her own lips.

*

A/N: FINALLY. Death to self-control! Clap if you think she (self-control) should suffer 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

How long can you draw out describing a kiss?Me: Yes.

STORY TIME: After my first kiss, I'm not even exaggerating, I climbed out a window and had a panic attack. Not my most hinged moment. But the guy was very sweet bc I have fantastic real-life taste 😎 my taste in fictional characters... questionable for sure :P (but also totally not questionable bc LOVE THEM)

Also hands up if you've ever jump scared yourself with your own sex noise ahahahhahaa 🙋🏼‍♀️ Teenage me was like okaaaaay not invented by pornstars then lmaooo (at this point why be anonymous if i'm not gonna be tmi?)

Pretty please vote if you enjoyed! 🥰 OH BOY are we just getting started