A Looping of the Scales ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 61 ~ Clandestine Thoughts and Acts

”No, Harry.”

”Oh, come on, Ginny.”

”No! Hermione said she didn’t want anyone there, Harry. You should respect her wishes,” Ginny told him, her arms folded as she scowled at him. They were sitting on a bench in a corridor on the first floor. Harry was trying to convince Ginny to come with him to watch the duel.

”But Ginny, aren’t you the least bit curious to see who wins?” Harry asked her.

”Of course I am, but they’ll tell us afterwards, Harry. You really shouldn’t spy.”

”It’s in my nature to spy, Ginny. You know that.”

”Well, I’ll have nothing to do with it, Harry. And if Hermione turns you into something small and wriggly, it’ll serve you right,” Ginny said.

”They won’t even know I’m there. The room will hide me,” Harry said confidently.

”If you can even find the room.”

”I’ll find it, or, as badly as I want to see that duel, it will find me. I’m sure of it,” the boy who lived declared. Ginny sighed.

”You still don’t listen to people, Harry,” she said, shaking her head.

Harry, who had been imagining the sparks flying between Snape and Hermione blinked at Ginny and said, “What?”

”I rest my case,” Ginny hissed, standing up and walking away from him angrily.

”What?” Harry called after her, rising himself and following.

”What did I do?”

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Hermione spent the first half of her day putting together her written Muggle Studies presentation for her NEWTs. Since she was Muggle-born and understood nuances that witches and wizards raised in the wizarding world didn’t grasp, her success would be a no-brainer. Weighing in at two hundred and twenty-five pages of research, she was absolutely sure she’d get an Outstanding, especially combined with the written test.

When she was satisfied with the finished product for Muggle Studies, Hermione took out her sketches of Severus and did a bit of inking on the best ones, cleaning them up. Her sketch work wasn’t perfect but it was definitely passable. Hagrid had been a very patient instructor. She planned to use the gryffin sketches for both NEWTs. She had checked carefully and there was no rule against submitting similar presentations although the focus would be slightly different. Snape’s form was so rare in the magical world as a real animal, that an Animagus form would do nicely.

She studied a drawing of Snape as a wizard pre-transformation. She stared at his eyes, looking straight back at her. Even in the sketch, they made her feel as if they could see inside of her. She carefully inked the sketch, focusing so she didn’t make any mistakes. She set it down to dry, cocking her head at it.

She never imagined that she would be in this position with the former Potions master. How could she have ever imagined it? But here she was, sleeping with him—and liking it. She didn’t dare think she loved it, because that would be too close to admitting she loved him. Love was a word she didn’t have time for, not in that sense.

Her nostrils flared a bit as she thought about Snape asking her if she would be jealous if another witch wanted to shag him. Well, how would he expect her to feel? Having sex was a very intimate act after all and a person should only have one partner at a time, even if they weren’t “technically” together. Each should still respect the other’s feelings, right? It had nothing to do with being jealous really. No, not at all.

It was just—just good Quidditch to keep the partners down to one. Besides, there were all kinds of STDs out there, and one never knew what they were getting into when they started sleeping around. No, she wouldn’t be jealous. She would just expect him to give any witch who wanted to play mattress-tag, a resounding NO. For both of their protection.

Having satisfactorily rationalized away her still obvious feelings of jealousy and possessiveness for Severus Snape, Hermione next set about plotting for the duel. The rules would have to be laid out plainly and she thought it would be best if the spells could only be used once, just like during the review. This way each person’s skill and knowledge would be tested.

Pain would probably be involved. It always was in a good duel. Hermione had no doubt that Severus would cast a painful hex at her in a second, and he could count on her returning the favor sevenfold. Tonight was not the time to go soft. Besides, he was such an arrogant git every time he mentioned the duel.

Hermione growled a little at the thought of his smug, pale face, smirking at her loftily.

Let’s see how smug and arrogant he’d be with the seat of his trousers on fire. She knew a pretty good spell that replicated a person being kicked in the arse. That would come in handy, too. Not every spell had to be crippling. Humiliating could work, too.

Hermione was very excited, but she knew she had to watch for Harry. He’d taken her “no” too easily. He’d definitely be lurking around. She’d keep an eye out for knee-high shimmers. Harry’s cloak didn’t cover him fully and even though Disillusionment wasn’t allowed inside Hogwarts, that would make no difference to Harry. Not when he wanted something.

Hermione didn’t worry the least bit about Ron, he was so smarmy over Susan. She would see them in the halls between classes, Ron with his arm around her waist, escorting her everywhere, being fed tidbits from her fingertips and trying to steal kisses all the time.

It was rather nauseating, and she’d zip by them quickly every time they popped into view.

And it had NOTHING to do with jealousy. She did feel a bit out of sorts when Ron declared his affection for Susan publicly, but that was just a bit of residual feeling for what they were trying to have, not what they actually had.

If this constant adulation and attention was the kind of relationship Ron really wanted with a witch, he was welcome to it. Hermione could never have dealt with a Ron so head over heels in love or lust. She was just glad their relationship hadn’t been that way, or it couldn’t have lasted as long as it did. It was like he was a male version of Lavender with Susan.

Brrrr.
Hermione shuddered a little, then found even ground by thinking about Severus. She couldn’t ever see him acting as goofy as Ron. He was solicitous, sneaky and seductive with his affections. Hermione imagined he wouldn’t show the world his hand, just the object of his desire.

Which, incidentally, was her. Hermione felt a bit of warmth flow over her again, and once again it wasn’t a sexual pulse, but something from the heart, just as intense and thrilling. Something she was fighting hard not to recognize. Not now. Now wasn’t the time for it.

She didn’t know if there would ever be a time for it.

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

Snape spent much of his day reading spell books. Not that he was learning new spells. He was good, but not that good. It required time to learn how to cast an unfamiliar spell, more than a few hours at any rate.

But he was reading the books because completely different spells might be utilized in an unexpected manner, so he was comparing and considering the possibilities. As much as he teased Hermione, he knew she could be dangerous and might actually manage to get the best of him if he wasn’t on point. He seemed dismissive of her, but that was a ploy to keep her angry and wanting to prove herself.

In other words, he was keeping her emotions high and her logic low. Anger could make anyone misstep. Cool heads prevailed when dueling, although Snape could hardly claim to be a cool-headed duelist. Most of the time he was raging when he battled the Marauders and his ferocity actually helped him much of the time. They rarely ever faced him one on one, and when they did, either he got the best of his opponent, or it was a draw of sorts with no clear winner.

Snape slowly closed the book he was reading as he thought about James and his friends. Cowards. The whole lot of them. Like a pack of—of jackals, running up when they smelled blood and helplessness.

Rarely did Snape lose in a fair duel—but that didn’t matter. What mattered was he was being constantly attacked in the first place.

The wizard’s brow furrowed as his old hatred flared up again. They were all dead, but still he despised them deeply.

”I won’t think of them,” he muttered, turning his thoughts back to Hermione carnally. That always served to take his mind off of unpleasant things. He smirked a bit at how he backed her into a corner with his question about her being jealous.

He already knew the answer to that. If she were that covetous about his books, how much more covetous would she be about him when they did what they did together? As goal-oriented as she was, Hermione was a very passionate witch about everything she involved herself in, and she considered everything she involved herself in a part of her personal little kingdom, whether she recognized that fact or not.

And Snape was the Queen’s consort.

Snape smiled as he imagined Hermione imperiously ordering Lisa’s head chopped off for her audacity in approaching him. If Snape had been any other wizard, he might have considered pretending to be interested in another witch in order to get a rise out of Hermione or possibly force her to admit she wanted a closer relationship.

But Snape was not the kind of wizard to play with another’s emotions that way. He knew what it was like to be led on, and he would never lead anyone on, unless it was of clear benefit. So many things could go wrong with such a scenario that it wasn’t worth taking the chance. His best chance to get Hermione to recognize there was more than just casual sex going on between would be to actually address it while they were intimately involved, or during sex. Possibly pound it out of her.

That was a delicious thought, although Hermione had no problem telling him to ease off if he became too passionate. Usually she loved it, but there had been one or two times she pushed him off of her and took over herself so she could “moderate” the “activity.”

Snape shook his head. She’d actually said that while climbing on top of him and sliding over his cock. Hermione was not only sexy and passionate, but funny as hell. Funnier still because she didn’t know it.

Snape smiled and looked up at the time. It was going on five o’clock.

Only two more hours before Hermione would arrive. Then they could go to the place he had picked out.

If he won, he planned to claim his prize right then and there. How was that for spontaneous, Miss Granger?

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“Where’s Harry?” Ron asked Ginny as he shoveled food into his mouth. He tried not to pay any attention at all to Susan, who was eating her meal slowly. Soon, they’d be in private together.

Ginny shrugged, frowning a little.

”He said he had something to do,” Ginny said, her voice irritated. She couldn’t believe Harry was going to disregard Hermione wishes. But, then again, she really could believe it.

This was Harry, and Harry pretty much did what Harry wanted to do despite anyone’s wishes, which was why he was also known as “the boy who almost died a few hundred times” between Ginny and Ron. It was an exaggeration, but not by much.

Now he was at it again. Ginny almost hoped a ricocheting spell would get him. It would serve him right for being so nosy.

”What are your plans for tonight, Ron?” his sister asked him.

Ron pressed his hand to his head.

”Susan told me I felt warm and probably have a bit of a fever. I’m going to go lie down and rest. Call it an early evening. Susan has some house stuff she needs to do, so she’s going to be busy. I might as well get a little extra rest.”

”Sounds good,” Ginny replied as Susan got up and left the Great Hall. Ron remained seated as if he hadn’t noticed. He played it off quite well, waiting for some other students to leave before rising and exiting the hall as well.

The deception appeared to have worked.

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”All right, here’s what I need,” Harry said to the empty Room of Requirement. He had learned from Neville that the room had the ability to produce what you asked for if you did it clearly. So, he was taking no chances on missing a thing.

”When they enter, I need to be hidden but in a place where I can see and hear all the action and not be discovered. I want to be able to hear them, but I don’t want them to hear me if I get too excited and yell something. I want to be completely undetectable and want to leave after they finish. Is that clear?”

Of course, there was no answer from the Room. Harry blinked around at it.

”I hope so. Hermione will be furious if she finds me here,” Harry said. Suddenly, Harry found himself encased inside a wardrobe as a setting fuzzed in. He could see clearly out of the front of it as if there were no front. A king-sized bed appeared. It was covered in rose petals. This was followed by the winking in of floating candles which gave the room a warm romantic glow. Soft, sexy music started to play from nowhere.

”What? What is this?” Harry hissed.

Suddenly the wall opened and in walked Susan, who looked around the room with a pleased smile.

”Shit!” Harry hissed as Susan seemed to look right at him, but her brown eyes shifted away as she checked the firmness of the mattress. She didn’t see him.

”Oh, bloody hell, I’ve got to get out of here. I can explain to Susan that I thought Hermione and Snape would be in here.”

He tried to walk out of the wardrobe but found he couldn’t.

”Hey! Let me out!” he cried to the room.

Susan didn’t hear a peep.

”ROR. I command you to release me!” Harry yelled, not caring whether or not Susan heard him.

A sentence appeared in front of him, glowing slightly as it floated in mid-air.

”I want to be completely undetectable and want to leave after they leave.”

”I meant Snape and Hermione, not Ron and Susan,” Harry yelled desperately, but the words just faded and he was stuck in place.

”Oh no,” he groaned as Ron entered the room, looked at Susan standing by the bed and practically tackled her, taking her down to the mattress. She giggled as he tore at her robes, pulling them open and staring down at her large blouse-encased breasts.

”Oh, I can’t wait to put my head between those and just--just drown in titties, Susan. Your body is—is awesome, he breathed, falling forward and kissing her hungrily.

”Oh no . . . no,” Harry groaned, covering his eyes, but he could still hear them. Ron commenting on Susan’s fat juicy arse and thick, yummy thighs as they stripped quickly, ready for action.

There were some kissing noises, then silence for a moment. Harry peeked between his fingers long enough to see Susan on her knees in the bed, arse up and Ron on his knees behind her. They were both naked, and Ron plunged his face between her arse cheeks with a growl.

”Oooh, Ron!” Susan moaned, “Eat it, Ron—ooh. Yes! Eat it!”

”Oh—oh gods. Stun me! Obliviate me! Something!” Harry pleaded with the room, completely squicked at the moaning, sucking and licking going on out there. And then, then the scent hit him.

The smell of arousal is wonderful if you’re the one aroused, but if you aren’t—it’s not a very nice scent coming off of someone else. It smelled musky—animal musky. Like sweat, pussy and male leakage. Again, that’s only nice when its, well, you and your partner are the ones giving off the scent.

Harry turned a little green as slurping noises filled the room, very wet slurping noises and Ron’s groans of pleasure, followed by some choking, gagging noises

Well, one thing was certainly clear during the couple’s frenzied foreplay, and that was whatever caution Ron had with Hermione, he’d thrown completely out the window with Susan. And Harry was there to witness the depths of his best mate’s lust and adventurousness.

”Why oh why didn’t I listen to Ginny?” he moaned sliding down to a sitting position, his face in his hand as Ron exclaimed enthusiastically, “Come on, Susan. Sit on my face!”

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A/N: lol. Ok, I couldn’t go on, I can hardly see as it is, my eyes are so full of tears. I have to say this is no where near artfully written, but I’m just glad I was able to get it out at all! I think that’s enough trauma for Harry for now.

A/N/N: I’d like to let readers know that I am releasing chapters of my original novel, “At Shimmer’s End” on my website at:

http://www.heburningpen.com/shimmer

You can read the first five chapters for free, and if you’d like to continue reading you can make a donation of choice to receive the link and password to the rest of the chapters. It is still in progress but I have over 86,000 words completed and in chapter form. Ten chapters are up now, and I have 17 more ready to post. Once all the chapters are up I will start updating it and readers can follow. I’m trying to raise funds to help pay my daughter’s car note before it's repossessed. With four children and job hunting she needs it, and I don’t own a car myself and use hers to do my small personal errands. So if you like the story, please consider continuing to read it. Thanks and thanks for reading.