Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Confinement	By : Lucreace Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 14059 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I dont make money from this.

Chapter List
- 8
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- 10
Hermione waited at the door. The seconds dragging out until each one felt as long as a lifetime. Her breath caught in her chest and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Wiping her hands on her thighs, she thought she heard a noise coming from behind the door. Presently, it was opened and she was met by the scowl of Severus Snape. She swallowed. “I’m sorry to bother you,” she started. His eyes narrowed a fraction and she folded her arms over her chest.
He regarded her with a light in his eye she’d not seen often, was it amusement? Did he find her nervousness amusing? She threw her head back and thrust her chin forward, how dare he make fun of her nervousness. “Harry and Ron are here, they wanted to know if they can stay for a while before heading back to the fight.”
At that information, all trace of mirth fled his eyes, his harsh mask back in place. Hermione wondered why she had been so quick to chase it from him. Brushing the thought aside she waited for his answer, “Come in,” he stepped to the side and waved her into the rooms he had kept for himself. His tone was curt but not angry. She nodded and stepped passed him, doing her best to not touch him as she moved.
The rooms which he had kept for himself were similar to the others and yet, seemed so different somehow. Everything was in order. All the books on the shelves were upright, there wasn’t a cup out of place or a quill left out. It was immaculate, scarily so. Hermione had seen his desk at Hogwarts and although it had been orderly, it had never been perfect. She blinked at the haunting neatness before clasping her hands behind her back.
Her thoughts were dragged back to him when he crossed the room and sat on one of the wingchairs. He gestured for her to do the same, a deep scowl on his face. Following his request, she sat on the edge of the chair opposite him, not wanting to disturb the perfect cushions by sitting back. She swallowed under the gaze of his intense black eyes, not sure whether she should say anything or not. As she opened her mouth to speak, he raised his hand “What do they want?”
                “Just to freshen up,” she said, using the exact same words that Ron had. She kept her eyes on his face, trying to gauge his reaction.
                “What makes you think I want those two idiots here?”
                She frowned at the insult but refused to be baited by it. The fact that there was no real love between Snape and Harry, or Ron for that matter, was no secret. Their frequent clashes while at school were legendary and a bridge had never been built to repair the damage. Maybe it was time for something to happen about that. She bit back the first thought that came into her mind and thought about her reply for a change.
                “You don’t exactly want us, me, here either but we’re here none the less. It would be for a couple of hours at the most and you wouldn’t even have to see them,” she said. “Besides… I’m going to ask them about what happened the other night, they may have a few ideas and we should talk to them about it…” her words trailed off when his back eyes narrowed at her.
                “Are you done?” he clipped. She shut her mouth and folded her arms over her chest. “They’re to stay in your section of the house; I want them gone by sundown. Speak to them if you wish.” His demeanour was one that brokered no argument and she knew he wouldn’t be joining them for the talk but it was a small step in the right direction surely? She nodded and remained seated. He looked as though he was going to say something else and she didn’t want to run away.
                “Was there something else?” she asked, tilting her head to the side a little curiously. He opened his mouth, a small trace of uncertainty on his grave features. Did he want to ask her something?
                “Would you bring some tea?” he said after a long moment. She smiled and swallowed the first thought that came to her mind.
                “Of course.”
                Rising from the couch when he looked away, she let herself out of his rooms and headed back to the kitchen, where the two boys were waiting. Ron brushed dirty red hair back from his face and Harry visibly brightened. “Well?” he asked.
                “You have to be out of here by sunset but you can stay for a while.” Hermione said as she crossed the room and began making more tea. Both boys relaxed visibly. “I’ll show you where the showers are.” Leaving the tea to brew, she led her two best friends to the bathroom that had been reserved for the use of her and the children. “The boys use this one here and there are towels and such on the side. When you’re done, come into the study and we’ll talk a little more, I want to ask you some things.” Before they could answer, she returned to the kitchen and poured the tea. As she was carrying it back to Snape’s rooms, she could not keep the smile from her face. Maybe he had changed his mind about a house keeper after all.
                A quick knock on the door had it answered by him and he took the tea with the barest glimmer of a smile. She turned to leave, not wanting to outstay her welcome in this part of the house when he spoke, “Thank you.”
                Looking over her shoulder she beamed, revealing her teeth with the wideness of her smile, “You’re welcome Severus.” With that, she fled. A warm sensation spread over her cheeks as she settled herself in the study. It was stupid, a simple act that she would have done for any one of her friends. Were they friends now? Certainly, it wasn’t anything to lose her head over and there was no way she should read into it as much as she was doing. The feeling grew despite her mind insisting that it was different.
                She was jerked out of her reverie when Harry and Ron reappeared, looking and smelling, and awful lot better than they had twenty minutes ago. They flopped down on the sofa opposite her, “I can’t believe how much better that is,” Harry said, rubbing water from his glasses.
                “I need to ask you both something,” Hermione said. The smile dropped from Ron’s face and Harry turned around at her serious tone.
                “What is it?” Ron asked, “We’ll do anything to protect you.”
                “I think we’re being watched.” Hermione said slowly, “I know it sounds paranoid but, well, we’ve been attacked a couple of times while we’ve been here. The last time, Severus was injured but I’ve never seen anything that could have done it, and neither has he,” she explained. She didn’t miss the quick exchange of glances when she used his given name but she didn’t care, this was more important, keeping the children safe was more important.
                “Tell us exactly what happened,” Harry said. His face had lost the smile and he leaned forward, eager to hear every detail. Hermione obliged and told him everything. She’d just come to the end of it when they were joined by their host. All three of them turned to the darkly dressed figure in the doorway, the boys stammered a greeting as he swept into the room. Settling next to Hermione, he rested an ankle on his knee and began explaining his side of the tale.
                His knee brushed her thigh where it rested, the area seemed hyper sensitive, she fancied she could feel his pulse where their bodies grazed together. Her heart beat slightly faster but she shook her head, now wasn’t the time to think about… “What do you think Hermione?” Ron asked.
                “Sorry… What we’re you saying?”
                “Do you think it could be the work of Death Eaters?” Harry said. She took a deep breath, refocused her thoughts and shook her head.
                “No,” she said slowly, “They’ve got plenty of reasons to attack this place,” she shot a glance at Severus, “But I think they’re focused on Hogwarts and what’s there. They’ll take revenge after their main objective is complete.” She ran a hand through her hair, pushing frizzy waves from her face. The man next to her shifted slightly, withdrawing their minute contact. The patch on her thigh seemed all the colder for it.
                “I’m inclined to agree with Miss Granger, although I have some ideas what it could be, I can’t say for sure as yet,” Severus spoke seriously and the two boys nodded. She was about to say something further when the face of Sasha appeared at the door.
                “Uh… Miss Granger?”
                “Yes Sasha?” The girl flushed and gestured for her to come over. Hermione realised that all of them were staring at the young witch and that she must feel awkward under the scrutiny of everyone in the room.   Slowly, she rose from the couch and shrugged, “I shall be back in a moment,” she said before leaving the room and following her young charge back to her room. Voices sounded from the place she’d just left, it was a good sign.
                When she got to the girl’s room, what she saw made her want to curse them all. The once ornate and pristine room was now plastered with that looked like a disgusting black goop. It had splattered nearly everything and the smell was… well it was a combination of troll mucus and swamp water. “What on earth happened in here?” Her eyes widened as the extent of the explosion was discovered. Even the ceiling had splatters on it.
                “We were trying to brew Pepper up,” Lara said. She was wringing her hands behind her back and looked down at the floor.
                “When Clarice added the feverfew and…”
                “I didn’t.”
                “Yeah you did!” Sasha retorted. Hermione straightened and folded her arms over her chest. “Anyway. When it was added, it blew up the cauldron and well… this happened.”
                “Well, you know what you need to do don’t you.” Hermione said. Her tone was stern and she knew it. It was annoying, the meeting they’d been having was important to the safety of these children and all they could do was prat about and make a mess of the place. She took in a soothing breath and exhaled slowly.
                “No miss.”
                “Clean it up! There are wash buckets in the kitchen. Do what you can and if I think it’s a good enough job, I will finish it up with a spell.” Her reply was terse and she didn’t wait until the girls had responded, she turned on her heels and returned to the meeting. The irritation must have shown on her face as she re-entered the room. Ron and Harry exchanged worried glances, Severus merely smirked… at least, that’s what she thought it was. She made a note to ask him for tips on dealing with children later on but for the moment, she flopped down next to him with a sigh. “Kids,” she said by way of explanation. “What have we learned?” she asked, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.
                “Not a great deal,” Ron said.
                “We’re going to look into it for you but for the moment, keep doing what you’re doing.” Harry said.
                “We’ll take your advice into consideration,” Severus said. Hermione raised a brow, knowing that he wouldn’t have been able to resist the comment if he tried. With that, Harry and Ron stood up.
                “Look, we’re grateful for the use of your shower,” Harry said turning to Severus, “And we’ll let you know if anything comes up.”
                “Uh, yeah, cheers mate.” Severus made a dismissive gesture with a hand before standing and stalking from the room. Ron let out a breath and exchanged a look with Hermione. “I don’t know how you do it.” Hermione shrugged.
                “It’s good to see you both.”
                “Yeah, you too,” Harry gave a sort of half smile before turning to Ron. They said their goodbyes before the left. Hermione paused in the doorway long after they’d apparated away back to Hogwarts. Sighing, she turned back into Prince house, determined to see how good a job the girls had done of cleaning up their room.
- 8
- 9
- 10
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Confinement