I felt as if I were flying when Hagrid picked me up and carried me back to our bed. Without a broom, I still felt lighter than air like I might soar up to the sky without magical assistance. He was an amazing man and for the first time in my life, I felt lucky, not star crossed or hexed or cursed, just lucky. I'd pinch myself but I didn't want to let go of the gentle man carrying me to bed.

The bed was soft as down and he laid me down as if I were the most fragile thing in the universe. Even though I considered myself tough as old boots, I liked the tenderness. It was so different from anything I'd ever felt before that I literally didn't know what to do. It had been a long time since I was the student but Hagrid didn't seem to mind that I was a novice in these gentler emotions.

He lay down beside me and I turned to him instantly, my body knew what it wanted so I let it have its way. It wanted warmth and caring touches; the tickle of dark curls against my chest; the weight of a gentle hand stroking my hip; the taste of a warm, wet tongue slipped between my lips; the sound of little moans coming from both of us. I was drunk with love and I wanted nothing more than the power of him deep inside of me.

"Oh, Sev," he breathed my name and I felt unbearably smug. His hands were moving over my skin as if I'd break at his touch. "Ya taste better than apple blossom honey."

I chuckled and kissed him again. He was the one who tasted good. "If I could bottle you, I'd make a fortune." I tasted his newly shaved cheek. "A little soap but mostly your natural musk." I nibbled my way down to the spot below his ear that had felt so good to me when he did it. He shivered and I chuckled. "Even better here . . . salty." I sucked on the hollow below his adam's apple and his little moan was music to my ears.

"No fair . . . Sev . . . oh my . . . I want to taste you, too." He said a little breathlessly and I looked down into his dark gaze with satisfaction.

He did want me, really and truly wanted me. "Then show me how, Rubeus. Show me how to make love to you."

He caught his breath. "Ya called me by my first name."

Hadn't I ever done that before, I thought back over the years we'd known each other. It appears he was right. "Rubeus," a tender kiss. "Rubeus," deeper voice while I combed through the curls on his broad chest. "Rubeus," was almost a growl that time.

"Oh Sev, it sounds good when you say it." He was blushing a little, which was really quite charming when I thought about it. "Is it all right if I explore ya now then you can explore me some more later?"

"Yes, please. Show me what feels good." I felt safe here in his arms and eager to learn from my new tutor.

He chuckled and began to slide his hands over my chest. He had the gentlest touch and every place he stroked began to tingle. When he leaned over me and blew on my nipples, I shivered all the way down to my toes. Why were they so sensitive?

"Beautiful, Sev, you're so beautiful." Each puff of air made them a little harder. "Nipples are a real erogenous zone for most mammals, including humans."

"Really?" I would have been upset at the comparison but he was licking them and that felt so good that I just had to move. "Oh, more."

Rubeus kissed his way down my chest and it tickled when his newly shaved chin brushed over my stomach. His tongue teased my navel and I squirmed a bit before beginning to tremble. My shaft was rising with just that bit of teasing and when his warm fingers wrapped around it, I couldn't seem to catch my breath.

"Easy now, Sev. Don't be gettin' too excited." He stroked his hands over my stomach. "I want ya to relax now and let me do the movin'."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I can't help it, Rubeus. It feels so good when you touch me."

"It's supposed to, Sev. If it ever hurts, ya have to tell me." His voice was suddenly serious. "I don't ever want to hurt ya."

He meant it. I looked into those dark eyes and saw only truth there. "You're the first person since my mother who has ever wanted to protect me from pain." I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. "Thank you, Rubeus."

"Oh, Sev," he lay down beside me and pulled me up onto his chest and into his arms so we touched everywhere. "I wish that I could go back and erase every bad memory, every bit of pain that ya ever suffered. I wish that I could have been there for you."

I blinked back tears and clung to him. "You're here now, right here making love to me. Showing me how to return that love. Maybe I had to go through all my past experiences so I could reach this place in your arms."

"Aye, Sev, I know that sometimes I wonder why things happen the way they do." His hands slowly slid up and down my spine until I felt like arching up like a cat into that warm caress. "But sometimes they happen because we're not paying attention to the world around us. Animals don't do that, well, those that survive are paying attention and the ones that don't are somebody else's dinner."

I chuckled a little and licked that small brown nipple over his heart again. "I feel like I've been 'dinner' for some years now. First my father, then Voldemort and now for Dumbledore. I'm tired, Rubeus. So very tired that I want to sleep for a thousand years."

"Nah, Sev, ya'd miss out on all the good stuff it ya did that." His rumbling laughter shook my whole body. "Let me show you some of the good bits."

I was flying again, only this time, it was Hagrid's fingers that were making me soar. For such strong digits, they were amazingly gentle. He stroked me from my feet up to my shoulders. Literally every place he touched became an erogenous zone. My inner thighs trembled, my knees flamed, my stomach rippled and my shaft rose up, demanding more. More of his tender grip, more of those talented fingers that rolled my balls so gently, I just wanted more of everything.

The first touch of his lips to my crown broke my control the way that Voldemort had never been able to. The rough tongue-washing made me shake from head to toe until I exploded into his mouth. I may have passed out, since I have no memory of how I came to be back in his arms while he rocked me slowly, petting my hair like the cat I felt like.

"Rubeus," I managed his name.

"Ya liked that, I think." He pulled far enough away to look me in the eyes. "Yeah, that felt good."

I blushed and admitted the truth. "I loved it. It felt like I was flying."

"Oh, Sev, I do thank ya for letting me touch you." He ever so gently kissed my temple and I felt something melt inside of me. Something that I thought I didn't own any more finally thawed.

My frozen heart began to beat again. "Rubeus, I am the one who's thankful. I . . . I don't think that I'm capable of giving you the gift you've given me so freely. I don't know how and you deserve only the best."

His smile was bright. "Silly Sev, ya never failed at anything ya set your mind and hand to. If'fn ya want to, ya can be absolutely the best lover in the world. I've seen the way that ya concentrate on your potions. Think of me as a new recipe that ya're learning."

I thought about that for a long moment. I could do that. I would do that.

***********
Hagrid
***********

I often lie awake in bed of a morning, just going over what needs to be done by day's end. But this morning was like no other. Severus had given himself to me at the same time that I'd given myself to him. We hadn't done much really, touching and tasting and talking. He was curious about all the different textures that we shared between us. I'd been right about him being able to focus.

I was the only man in the world when he touched me. We were the only two men in the whole Forbidden Forest. It kind of felt like being on the moon or something. I didn't want to waste time thinking about that, not when he was curled up against my side, his hand possessively gripping my cock. He'd had questions about foreskin that was endearing in a man of his age.

His father had had him snipped when he was a baby but giants don't go in for that so he'd investigated it with careful hands. Not for the first time, I wished that I wasn't so big. I couldn't see how I'd fit inside of him at all. I was looking forward to him coming inside of me though. He was going to feel real good. But we were taking it slow so I could be sure that every touch was all right with him.

I'd been pleasured a time or two but he hadn't ever been so everything I was showing him was brand new. He'd come six times before he fell dead asleep on me. I'd gingerly slid out from under him and gotten a damp cloth to clean him up. I wasn't going to waste a spell on something that I enjoyed doing so much. He'd murmured my name and almost made me cry.

But when I slid back into bed, he'd immediately rolled towards me with a murmur that I think was the word 'warm'. I'd been told that before but from Severus, it was a real compliment. The sun was creeping up the west wall from the windows on the east side of the cottage and I could tell that it was going to be a beautiful day. Maybe Sev would like to come outside with me while I tended to my outdoor patients.

His tongue licked my nipple. "Good morning, Rubeus."

"Morning, Sev, you feel all right?" I asked a little anxiously. He was a hard man to read sometimes.

"I feel," he hesitated for a long moment before looking up at me with kind of a bewildered look on his beautiful face. "I feel happy and satisfied and hungry."

I laughed out loud and hugged him to me. "Good, I feel all those things, too. I'm thinking pancakes and honeyed rose syrup with a side of fresh grapes."

He actually licked his lips. "Yes, please. That sounds wonderful. May I help?"

"Sure, Sev, you can sit at the table and wash the grapes before we eat them. I always like to make sure that they're free of any kind of fairy dust or bird dander." I carefully separated us so I could slide out of bed and I immediately missed his touch. My cock did, too and I gave it a stroke to remind him that he'd already come more in a single night than he'd come in the previous six months.

But Sev was sitting up on his own and I could feel his eyes on my back so I squeezed my cheeks together a couple of times and pretended not to hear his little sigh. Gathering up his robe, I helped him on with it then carried him over to the table. "Stay here for a minute while I go out and gather the grapes."

"I wish I could help." He looked so sad that I just had to lean over and give him a kiss. He tasted great and I loved the way he slid his hands around my neck, under my hair. His hands had some strength in them and it felt good to feel them kneading my skin. When I pulled away, he still had his eyes closed and that little pink tongue of his was licking his lips like I tasted real good.

"You're getting better all the time, Sev. One of these days, you'll be out there helping me with the squid." I joked with him a little breathlessly while I thought about that tongue of his.

"I'm not that fond of the water creatures. Now the Nemean lion is another story." He teased me right back. "I must be drawn to hairy creatures."

I laughed out loud. "Maybe I shouldn't have shaved then?"

He looked up at me through those long dark lashes of his, kind of shy like. "As long as you don't shave your magnificent chest, I think it will be all right."

I looked down for a moment and tried to see what he saw. "Magnificent? Hairy, that's for sure but I don't see the magnificent part."

"That's all right, Ru'. I can see it and I believe I've never seen a more muscular one in my entire life." He ran his hands over the wiry curls, flexing his fingers and tickling me. "I think you should dress though before you go outside. I don't want to share you with who ever happens to be passing by."

He'd given me a nickname, I thought with a fond smile. I chuckled and stood up. "Doubt there's much traffic today but if you insist."

He watched me don a pair of shorts and smiled. "You never know, Ru'. Dumbledore has an appalling sense of timing. It would be just our luck to have him come whistling up to the front door at the exact moment I try to fit more of you in my mouth."

Shivering, I remembered the feeling of his hot, wet mouth around me and his tongue rasping over the tender skin. "Yeah, that would be right off-putting, it would indeed."

He chuckled and with a flick of his hand turned on the burner under the tea kettle. "Go and gather our breakfast so we can see what other kind of mischief we can get up to."

Grabbing the colander from the nail by the front door, I opened the door and left it open to let in all the fresh air. There was a sharpness to the wind that spoke of a storm brewing over the lake. Maybe I'd take the time to harvest a few of the apples, too. I could make apple upside-down crumble. Sev would like that, I thought happily while I headed for the grape arbor.

Casting a quick seeking spell, I picked the bunches of red-purple grapes that were completely ripe. The wrens seemed to like them almost fermented so I left a few that would ripen in the next few days. The apple trees were on the edge of my acre of garden and I strode over to them, seeking the brightest reds on their branches. Another kind of seeking spell and I'd gathered three for each pocket and two under my chin.

I looked pretty silly but I was pretty sure that Sev wouldn't mind a bit. Carrying them back, I found the teakettle steaming gently and the ingredients for pancakes neatly lined up on the table. "Sev, did that much magic tire you?"

"A little," he shrugged ruefully and smiled at me. "I stopped when I thought I might drop the teapot. It's coming back but so slowly."

"We've got time to bring ya back at your own pace, Sev." I unloaded my pockets and set the colander down in front of him. "I knew that I wasn't the only one who could do wandless magic. That come in handy when ya're stirring a potion?"

"Yes, indeed it does. I imagine that working with the magic creatures of the Forest gives you a bit of practice?" He accepted the bowl of water that I handed him and sat it on his lap before dumping the grapes in it and swishing them around. "Dumbledore is the only other wizard I know who can use a single gesture to more effect than most wizards can with a wand."

"Did I hear my name mentioned?" The Headmaster's cheery voice startled me so badly that I almost dropped the pancake batter.

Sev raised his eyebrow at me and I thanked Atlas that I'd pulled on a pair of shorts. This was going to be a very interesting breakfast.

********************
The end of part six

Chapter Seven