Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Madrigal	By : Rotisserie_Cassowary Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 7982 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Within a week I was confident enough in Miss Granger’s abilities to stop hovering over her like a vulture. We would concurrently brew two batches of a potion, effectively doubling my output for the Order. More often that not, by the time they were flasked and sealed, I couldn’t even tell the difference between her batch and mine. For the first time since taking the damn job, I didn’t feel like I was drowning under a sea of responsibilities.
She’d occasionally even manage both batches so I could catch up on my professorial responsibilities. I had the ability to leave for an hour to patrol the castle or break up a fight in the Slytherin common room. Before I had Miss Granger, these kinds of situations could spell certain death for a brew that I’d labored over for hours and hours. Every time this happened was heartbreaking to me, I’m not ashamed to say. I put a lot of my pride in my work, and let’s just say that I do not handle failure well.
The four nights a week that she wasn’t in my laboratory began to feel quiet and bereft. I brought in my record player from my quarters in order to fill the silence. I had suddenly found myself craving the emotional release of music, and I was relating more to certain songs and artists. There’s this simple little love song that I’d always just disregarded because it was on a truly epic album about felling tyrannical governments. But now, after hearing it for twenty years, it suddenly spoke to me. The man sings of facing battle with no fear in his heart because of the one he loves. Honor and truth were naught but useless constructs until she made him believe. And now he was armored in her love, and was more powerful for it. This quiet song had always seemed so out of place to me, and now it nearly brought tears to my eyes. I studiously avoided pondering this occurrence.
It was a Tuesday evening in early December when everything finally went to shit. Miss Granger was running seven minutes late, so I was already a bit concerned. She was flushed and wide-eyed as she stumbled into the lab. “I think s-something is wrong,” she stuttered. “What the hell happened?” I demanded. She choked back a sob, “Draco Malfoy. He saw me coming down the dungeon stairs a couple times, I guess, and got suspicious! He followed me tonight and saw me reaching for your painting. He jumped out and grabbed me and started yelling at me about why I’m meeting with you!! Gods, I didn’t know what to say, so I just told him I was getting special tutoring from you because I’m struggling in potions! But he’s never gonna believe that! I mean, it’s ME for Merlin’s sake! Oh gods…” and with that she finally broke down in tears.
I had no time for her hysterics and was rather brusque as I shook her and demanded, “What did you do then? Did he do anything to you? Where did he go?! Speak girl!” She coughed and looked up at me, red-eyed and miserable. “I got my hand on my wand and got him in the ribs with a stinging jinx. He took off upstairs- not back to the dorm. He’s probably going to the owlery! Damn it to hell! Should we go after him?!”
I shook my head, “No, no it’s far too risky. I can’t risk being seen chasing and attacking a student. You know the portraits are always watching. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! The Dark Lord is going to have my hide for this. There is no reasonable excuse for repeatedly being alone with you, the Chosen One’s best goddamn friend! There’s no way out of this. Dumbledore’s done it. He’s finally succeeded in killing me…”
I abruptly realized that my hands were still gripping Miss Granger’s upper arms from when I’d shaken her minutes before. I noticed, as if in a trance, how close we were standing. I could see every individual freckle on her delicately sloped nose. Her chestnut eyes had flecks of green and gold that glimmered in the warm firelight.
She tearfully exclaimed, “I won’t let anything happen to you, Professor Snape! I’ll tell Draco something, anything! I don’t care! You can’t be killed for just doing your JOB for Merlin’s sake! Maybe I had detention? I smarted off in class so you’ve had me disemboweling animals for a month?!”
I sighed and responded with my usual resigned air, “There’s no way out. You don’t have to cry for me. Every time I go before him, I feel in my heart that it’s my last night on earth. I had accepted my demise long before you even knew such a thing as death existed, Miss Granger.”
She fixed me with a steely gaze and placed her tiny hands on my forearms, which were still holding her like a lifeline. “I know what you can say. You’re not going to like it. You’d probably rather die. But I know it would work.”
“Go on, girl.”
“Tell You-Know-Who that you’re trying to, uhh, you know, seduce me,” she stammered out, blushing fiercely. “Say you’re trying to get close to me to lower my defenses. You think it would be a great way to gather information about Harry. What better source is there? Plus, you know, I’m a teenage girl, and you’re a…” She trailed off, leaving the uncomfortable truth of Death Eater proclivities blessedly unspoken.
I pondered her idea for what felt like an excessively long time. For some reason, I couldn’t let go of her, and she did likewise. Her slim arms felt like the wings of a bird beneath my calloused hands. She looked into my eyes silently and confidently, and her jaw was set.
“It might work at first,” I finally admitted. “But when he Legilimizes me… I’m not good enough to manufacture such complex images out of thin air. No Occlumens can do such a thing. We can only alter what we’ve already experienced,” I shook my head resignedly.
Out of nowhere, the girl flung her arms around my chest and buried her face in my waistcoat. “Oh Professor, thank you so much for talking to me about this stuff. It’s so hard being around two stupid boys all the time. They don’t understand me at all. They’re so immature!” she huffed angrily. My arms seemed to move independently of any rational thought as they encircled her shoulders and pulled her closer to me. She felt so miniscule and vulnerable against me that some sort of feral, ancient animal protectiveness bloomed in my chest.
She looked up at me, eyes shining, and whispered moonily, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Sir.” In some sort of trance, I reached for a curl that had fallen into her face. I carefully tucked it behind her bright pink ear. Then I traced my finger ever-so-lightly down the line of her jaw. Her breath hitched and I could see her lips were slightly open and moist and pink and so plump and... Oh god what is happening to me?? I screamed inside my head. I had an enormous, raging erection. She was so incredibly close as she embraced me that I was sure she could feel it. But she never broke eye contact with me for even a second.
“Professor?” she asked uncertainly. I was dimly aware that her hands had moved from the hug she’d been giving me before. She was now gripping the lapels of my waistcoat. As I watched in stunned silence, her hands flattened and then oh gods no she was touching my chest. I knew she could feel my heart pounding erratically against her palm. She continued to look resolutely and bravely into my eyes. And then I couldn’t help myself. Even though it breaks about a dozen Hogwarts rules, as well as my own personal code of ethics, I looked into those rich chestnut depths and dove…
I dove into her mind quite shallowly, not wanting to cause any more trauma than I had to. Hermione’s being unfolded around me like an elegant, boundlessly complex tapestry. Most adult wizards with decades more of experience had far simpler minds than hers. Fighting the urge to dig, I held back and simply observed the “color” of her current state of being. To my surprise, she gave an overwhelmingly scarlet impression. Black is the color of deception, and I expected her soul to be dark with regret and guilt. But she was a glorious swirl of vibrant reds, energetic yellows, and a few distinct aubergine tones. This can’t be right, I thought to myself, She’s putting on this act for the Dark Lord. She should be full of lies and disgust. But she’s feeling a great deal of excitement. Something that scares her in a good way?
I backed out of her mind, no more than 30 seconds after jumping in, but she was already fuming. “How could you do that?! What do you think I’m hiding from you that you’d just legilimize me like that?!” I stepped back from her and looked away shamefully.
“I’d have let you look if you wanted to, you know,” she told me after a while.
I looked up at her, startled out of my self-flagellation.
“I trust you, Professor.”
“No one’s ever said such a stupidly naive thing to me before,” I told her gruffly, hiding the true impact of her words.
“Well you need good stuff to show You-Know-Who, right? So here it is: You are so brave and so powerful, Master Snape. I admire you so. You have NO idea what you mean to me.” She shook her head dreamily. “And just being with you makes me feel like I’m smarter and braver and more powerful too.” She was so close again. I could see her chest rising and falling with each ragged breath she drew. “Every night that I’m not here feels empty and lonely.” A feeling somewhere between nausea and joy leapt to life in my gut.
She finally seemed to come to her senses, and noticed that she was a hair’s breadth away from pressing bodily against me. I was transfixed by the way the front of her school robe brushed gently against my own clothing. After too many seconds of tense silence, I snapped at her, “That’s enough for tonight, Miss Granger. You are dismissed.” She somehow blushed even redder and left the laboratory in a fretful flurry of robes. I glanced at the clock and was stunned to see that somehow an entire hour had passed.
How long did I just fucking STARE at that poor girl?? She must be so terrified of me!! What the hell is wrong with me?! What is it about this brat that inspired such a strong reaction? Why am I more concerned about her being repulsed by me than I am scared of the Dark Lord? She was just trying to give me good material for Him to find in my mind. She was playing her role perfectly, and I screwed it up by getting all confused! She’s a fucking child, Severus. This is just the normal protectiveness you feel for all of your students. It’s just stronger because she’s your apprentice and you’ve come to depend on her so much. You just don’t want this good thing you’ve got going to be ruined. Perfectly reasonable. Nothing untoward at all. Just get through your meeting with the Dark Lord. You have more than enough to convince him and save your ass. For now at least...
And I’m ashamed to say that a none-too-quiet voice in the back of my mind whispered, He’ll probably need more eventually. Progress reports, if you will. Prove you’re getting somewhere with her. Some dark, demonic presence in my chest roared its whole-hearted approval.
- 5
- 6
- 7
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