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The Reluctant Highlander	By : Tigerrr Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 15152 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
**********DISCLAIMER************* JKR and KMM can split
everyone up amongst themselves while they are busy not suing me.

A/N:� Well, we�ll see
what that little scuzz, Draco, has been up to�

*****************************************************************

Severus tossed and turned restlessly, plagued by dreams in
which there was an overpowering sense of foreboding.� He finally decided to remain awake after his
periodic fits of wakefulness left him checking to make sure that Hermione still
slumbered beside him, and then falling back into the uneasiness of his dreams.
Rolling onto his side and feeling the soft blanket shift around his bare skin,
he could barely make out his witch�s outline in the pre-dawn light and watched
until the sun rose, touching her creamy skin with tints of soft rose and
turning her hair into a glowing golden-brown halo around her beautiful
face.� Her chocolate-colored eyes opened
and blinked sleepily at him, yawning even as she smiled and reached out for
him, saying his name.

�Severus,� she purred.�
Her eyes widened from their sleepy/sexy slits as she took in his
appearance.� �What�s wrong, love? You
look awful � have you slept at all?�

Severus sighed and moved over to pull her into his arms,
inhaling the scent of her hair.�� You smell
nice�no, I couldn�t sleep much.� Even awake, the feeling of wrongness was still
there; he had the nasty feeling that something was about to go very, very
wrong.� He was grateful for the
distraction of her kisses and let himself be sidetracked when she pressed
kisses and licked her way down his chest � when her lips finally wrapped around
his shaft, he could barely remember his own name, lost in the pleasure she
offered him.� By the time she had crawled
up to straddle his hips, the dreams as well as the accompanying sense of dread
had left his mind completely.� After they
had made love twice, for he had discovered that having him underneath her could
make his witch irritatingly smug, they went down to eat with the other two
couples.�

*************************

Hermione let herself be drawn away from her lover�s side by
Gwen and Chloe while the Druids asked Severus� opinion on a few spells they
were working on.� �So, tell us � has
he�you know�.?� Chloe asked excitedly.

She blushed.� �Well,
obviously several times, but-�

�Oh, not that!�
I mean, has be proposed to
you?�

Hermione snorted.�
�Hardly.� He can�t even say the
word �marriage� out loud.�

�But�don�t you want
him to ask?� Gwen interrupted, her eyes wide.�
Hermione flushed again and stole a glance over to the tall, dark-haired
wizard who had stolen her heart with his Slytherin charms.� He was deeply in conversation with Drustan
and Dageus, gesturing to make his point, and she gave a quick nod.� �At least, I think so.� I mean, I love him�very much, and I know he
loves me.�� As these words left her
mouth, Severus sensed her gaze on him and turned to fix his black gaze on her,
a corner of his mouth twisting upwards in the mocking half-smile she so loved.�

Gwen slipped her arm around the younger woman�s
shoulders.� �Oh, he�s got a serious torch
burning for you, hon.� I don�t think
you�ll have to wait long for him to ask,� she confided.� �If you really want to be with him, you could
even ask him to marry you.�� She laughed at the surprised expression on
the witch�s face.� �Well, you
could!�� Changing the subject quickly,
she proposed that they all go out for a walk in the fresh air while the men did
whatever they were doing � she and Chloe had been awhile without another woman
to talk to; the maids had insisted on putting them on pedestals right beside
their husbands and it was refreshing to talk to another female friend.�

As Severus was currently writing down something for the
twins and not paying any attention, Hermione agreed with a smile and linked her
arms with the two women as they left the hall.�
They were waylaid almost immediately by none other than Sir Gilderoy,
dressed in scarlet and lime green clothes which were still a far cry from being
Scottish.� �My dear Ladies!� Would you like my gentlemanly escort?� he
offered gallantly, striking a ludicrous pose with a flourish of his cloak.� �I daresay you�ve left behind Sir Sour-puss
today?� Horrid fellow; why, I have more manners
in my little finger than he has in
his � wait for me!�� Rolling their eyes,
the women had just gone around him.�

Gilderoy flounced up to the castle to find Adam � he
couldn�t believe the sheer disrespect aimed his way these days; it was
unconscionable!� He seriously considered
flinging himself down onto the ground to purge his bad mood by indulging in an
old fashioned temper tantrum; something about flailing his arms and drumming
his heels against a hard surface had always been a wonderful stress reliever
for him.� A glint caught his forget-me-not-blue
eye and he veered off towards it in hopes it was a reflective surface so he
could look at himself for a bit.� �I say!
Hello there,� he greeted the three Scotsmen cheerfully, all traces of his bad
mood expunged by the opportunity to impress someone with his award-winning
smile.� �Headed towards the castle?� Stay away from that Raven chap � manners of a
mongoose, and a temper to match-� his eyes rolled up in his head as one of them
struck him with the flat of his sword, leaving him facedown in a pile of horse
manure.

**********************************

A maid scurried into the room, interrupting the three men�s
conversation.� �Pardon, m�Lairds, but
there be another Laird here from last eve�s procession and he do be wantin� to
speak with ye,� she curtsied.� The twins
exchanged glances, and then instructed her to let the man in.� Severus instinctively glanced over to
Hermione and found her place at the table vacant�she was probably up in their
room, he thought to himself.� A strange
feeling pricked the back of his neck and he rubbed it absently as a tall
Highlander came in the room to talk with the MacKeltars about some provisioning
for part of the army.� He stopped paying
attention and walked to the window to look out.�
Perhaps Hermione went out to look at which horse she�d try to make him
ride�she had resumed her courses so it was a relief to them both that she
wasn�t pregnant, and she had laughed in his face when he suggested that he had
most likely been rendered sterile from all the bouncing around on horseback.

He automatically accepted the goblet handed to him and drank
down the strangely spiced contents, not noticing that the three had stopped
talking.� The pricking bloomed into a
full-blown burning as he abruptly realized that the drink had not been spiced,
it had been poisoned with Aphrimoria,
a plant which, once ground into powder and dissolved in liquid, would suppress
the victim�s ability to use magic � if concentrated enough, it would basically
sever the imbiber�s link to magic itself, leaving the victim a Squib for life. �This recognition flashed through his mind in a
tenth of a second but even as he began to turn, a sword-hilt crashed into his
temple.� Pain lanced through his head as
it connected, almost but not quite enough to drop him into a heap in the
floor.� He reached a spell and found his
way obstructed by the Aphrimoria
barrier, and he lashed out at the man who had poisoned him, his senses sluggish
with the drug � he slammed the highlander�s head against the window casing so
hard that he head a sickening crack, and the man slid down to the floor
senselessly.

Hermione � he had to get to Hermione, he told himself.� Each step hurt his aching head, but he
managed a run; he leaped over the prone bodies of the Keltar Druids and tan out
into the hall, demanding to know which way his witch had gone when a maid came around
a corner suddenly.� She stammered out
that she had seen all three Ladies wandering down to the loch, and she stared
after him as he lurched out the door.�
Severus wasn�t sure how much Aphrimoria
he had been given� he only hoped it wasn�t enough to turn him into a
Squib.� The drug was spreading through
his system at an accelerated rate, due to his current exertion and state of
distress � he expected that once the adrenaline rush ended, he�d be comatose
for quite some time.

*************************************

Hermione laughed at a particularly witty joke of Gwen�s as
the women shared anecdotes about their men.�
Both women had been literally doubled over laughing when she told them
of her third year at Hogwarts with �Laird Boggart.�� They had made her describe the vulture-topped
witch�s hat at least three times and had dissolved into gales of laughter when
she told them what had popped out of his Christmas cracker.� She wondered idly what had happened to Adam
Black � he was supposed to be her guide, but she hadn�t seen hide nor
hair of the man for a few days now�though to be fair, she had been spending
much of her time with Severus and hadn�t really wanted any interruptions.� She realized that Chloe was finishing her
story and would expect some sort of response from her so she listened
dutifully.� ��and then, at the top of the
stairs, he dropped his towel!�

The witch assumed an appropriately shocked look.� �Unbelievable, but that�s men for you, right?
Severus was always lifting his kilt so I�d get an eyeful�shouldn�t we be
heading back?� she couldn�t help it that it came out like she was raring to
have another go at her professor because, well, she was.� The other women teased her good naturedly and
acceded to her almost-but-not-quite demand.�

�How can you walk normally after all that?� Gwen joked.

They all heard the faint sound of hoof beats, growing
steadily louder and coming closer and Chloe winked at the other two.� �Don�t look back � I bet it�s the boys,
coming to spirit us away back to bed.�
And I know they�d want us to turn around and get all flustered,� She
said knowingly.� �Dageus does it all the
time.�� So it was that, by not turning to
identify their pursuers, they were completely unprepared when two bearded
Scotsmen thundered past them, sweeping Hermione up into one of their saddles.
She cried out in surprise, and her captor quickly pressed a rag soaked in the
foul-smelling liquid to her mouth and nose � her eyes rolled back in her head
and she slumped back against her captor, unconscious.

***********************************************************************

A/N:� I�m not sure if
chloroform was around back then, but let�s just say that since Draco wrote it
in, it existed just this once.
- 12
- 13
- 14
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The Reluctant Highlander