In an Alternate Universe

Chapter 18 Potions Royalty

Severus spent the rest of the morning in his room, going over the night before in his head and groaning over the huge erection that resulted. He wished he had more control, then he could have shown the Potions mistress all the other positions he knew. Maybe that would have won her over.

Finally, he had to take a cold shower. He didn’t want to wank off. After last night, it would be a poor substitute. Just as he had dried off and exited the shower dressed in his boxers, there was a knock on the door.

”Who is it?” he called.

”Harry and Ron,” Ron called back.

Severus picked up his wand off the nightstand and unwarded his door.

”Come in,” he called.

Ron and Harry entered.

”Hey Sev. Wanted to know if you wanted to do a bit of flying. Toss the quaffle for us so we can practice,” Harry asked him smiling.

”I guess so,” Severus replied, turning his back to the boys as he opened his wardrobe for a fresh robe.

”Oy! What happened to your back? You look like you’ve been clawed by something,” Ron said, looking at the long scratches that ran from Severus’ shoulders, down to his waist and off to the side. There were sixteen long scars down his pale back.

Severus fought for an answer.

”I ran through some brambles in the Forbidden Forest. They snagged me,” he lied, pulling on his robes quickly.

Ron and Harry looked at each other, than back at the wizard who had turned around and was buttoning up his robes.

”Bramble scratches wouldn’t look like that, Severus. They’d go straight across your back, not like that. It looks like someone grabbed you by your shoulders and ran their nails down your back,” Harry said, pressing his friend.

“Come on, Sev. What gives. A witch did that to you!” Ron said eagerly, “You shagged somebody last night didn’t you?”

Severus looked at the both of them and sighed.

”Yeah, I did,” he said shortly.

Ron looked at him hungrily.

”Who? Who’d you stick your wand in? Was it Luna?” he asked the wizard.

”I took an oath not to tell. It was the only way she’d let me do it,” Severus said.

Ron scowled at him.

”You what? Took an oath? Why the hell did you do that when you knew we’d want every detail?” Ron hissed at him before dropping heavily on his bed, holding his forehead in his hand.

Harry stared at his friend.

”Well, was it good at least?” Ron asked Severus.

The wizard paused, his dark eyes going hot.

”Yeah, it was,” he replied, then shook off the feeling of desire welling up in him at the thought of the Potions mistress impaled by him and moaning with pleasure.

“Do we at least know the witch?” Harry asked him.

”Yeah, but that’s all I can say, Harry, so stop asking me about it,” Severus replied, sitting down next to Ron and pulling on his socks.

”Was it Professor Granger?” Harry asked him directly.

Ron stared at Severus wide-eyed. Did he actually shag the snarkiest witch in the Wizarding World?

Severus looked at Harry incredulously.

”Professor Granger?” he repeated, “What the hell do you think? You know how it came out when I told her how I felt. What would have changed?”

Harry studied him as Ron heartily agreed.

”He’s right Harry, besides, he still has his goods. If he had shagged Granger, they would have been bitten off by the roots,” Ron said, shuddering as Severus scowled at him.

“Well, what about the Oath you took?” Harry demanded.

”Impossible oaths wear off,” Severus replied. “I guess that’s what happened. Now are we going to go flying or what?”

Severus grabbed his broom out of the corner, reduced its size, then exited his rooms with his friends, Harry continuing to look at him suspiciously.

Severus said he hadn’t shagged Professor Granger, but Harry wasn’t sure he believed him. The wizard was quite tenacious when he wanted something. For him to just give up was out of character. But then again, he might not have given up . . . he might have simply taken advantage of a situation with another witch and found he could shag her.

Yeah, that made sense.

More sense than Granger giving in.

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Hermione spent both morning and afternoon in her labs, brewing potions for the infirmary and replacing her Dreamless Draught supply. The witch was in a horrible mood, mostly because her night with Severus kept coming back to her in disturbing clarity.

”Gods damn it,” she hissed as the boy’s blazing black eyes appeared before her. “Get out of my head, Severus Snape.”

She stirred a potion viciously.

By late afternoon she realized she was hiding out in the dungeons, avoiding both breakfast and lunch because of the Gryffindor. She had never run from anything. She wasn’t about to start now just because she tangled up the bed sheets with the young wizard. She’d been through worse things.

“I am not about to change my mode of operation because of some randy little wizard,” she told herself, cleaning up her lab with a vengeance. “I am a mature witch. I can face him. I’ve faced worse than him.”

Yes, she had. But what she had faced were horrible situations, painful ones. Situations that require her to be tough, strong and unflappable. That wasn’t the case with Severus.

Their interlude had been pleasant and affecting. Something . . . something good. Something that required her to be giving to some extent. The boy acted out of honest desire for her. He didn’t want to just use her and cast her aside. He didn’t want to cause her pain. And he didn’t want what they started to stop.

But it had to stop. She wasn’t some randy witch on the prowl for young meat. She was Hermione Granger, Potions mistress. A disciplined woman. In control, most of the time. Well, some of the time. She did have the occasional violent outburst, but that was to be expected. She certainly wasn’t led about by her libido.

Hermione entered her bedroom to change her robes, glancing at the rose in the vase on her dresser. The rose Severus had given her. She stared at it.

One thing about living items created by magic, they usually faded within a few hours, the connection with the soul dissipating. But this rose, it was still fresh as if just produced.

”He’s just over-reactive,” she said to herself dismissively, “He was feeling strong emotion when he created it, brought on by lust. It’ll probably be dead when I return from supper.”

Hermione did go to supper and Severus was there. The boy did his best not to look up at the dais, at the woman who gave him his first sexual experience, at the witch who meant more than anyone in the world to him at this time in his life, but had a hard time of it. Yet, every time he did glance at Hermione, she glared at him, warning in her eyes.

”Don’t act like a smitten little fool, you idiot,” her narrowed eyes seemed to say.

”Wow, Granger looks like she wants to hex you, Sev,” Ron observed, looking up at the witch, “That’s what you get for telling her you want to shag her. I don’t think your knobblies are in the clear yet. I’d get a magical cup if I were you. With extra defensive charms.”

”Shut up, Ron,” Severus hissed at him, irritated.

”I’m just trying to keep you in one piece,” Ron replied, biting into a pastie.

Harry had to agree with Ron. The Potions mistress seemed to have a touch of extra malice towards the Gryffindor.

The rest of the weekend went off without a hitch, especially since Severus didn’t patrol on the weekends, so there was no chance of Hermione running into him in the corridors.

The rose still sat on her dresser, in perfect bloom, not a petal out of place.

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Monday afternoon Severus arrived early at Potions class. Hermione was sitting at her desk and looked up as the Gryffindor limped in. He looked terrible. His hair was lank, his pallor pale and he tottered as he walked.

A bit too much.

He plopped into his chair and turned a bleary eye on the Potions mistress.

”Hello Professor,” he said weakly, his soft voice quavering.

Hermione eyed him, pulled out her wand and flicked it at him, removing his glamour.

”What kind of idiot do you think I am, Mr. Snape? Really. Glamouring yourself to try and get my sympathies again. Well, it won’t work,” she snapped at him as more students entered the class.

“Drat,” Severus sighed to himself.

Well, it had been worth a try.

Later, a student added too much Deadly Nightshade to a potion and the classroom had to be hurriedly cleared. When Hermione returned, she noticed Severus had left his Advanced Potions book on his desk. Idly, she picked it up and thumbed through it. Then she blinked.

In all the margins were notes and some of the potions instructions had lines drawn through them and handwritten instructions replaced them.

”What is this?” she said to herself, reading some of the notes.

”What? What does he think he’s doing?” she snarled as she read changes to potions that had been established for years. There were also a number of unfamiliar hexes and jinxes scrawled in the margins as well. In fact, there were so many notations that the margins rivaled the print.

The young wizard was purposely altering potions. Did he actually use these in class? Did he purposely break away from the established methods to use his own wooly instructions? If he did, it was unconscionable. He was putting every student in her class as well as himself in danger, the idiot. Well, this wasn’t going to continue.

She looked at the name on the inside jacket.

”’The Half-Blood Prince?’ Oh good gods,” she snorted.

Apparently, Mr. Snape suffered from narcissism as well as randiness.

Hermione placed the book in her pocket and gathered up her paperwork.

She was going to have a talk with Mr. “Half-blood Prince” ASAP.

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A/N: All right. Another chappie. The saga continues.