Inspired by "Roxanne" by The Police . . . which I was inspired to re-listen to following an interesting incident at work. Enjoy!

I don't own Harry Potter. Anything that you recognize belongs to JK Rowling.

Red Light

Severus Snape strode down the sidewalk with his head held high. He was in a rather seedy part of London, but he felt responsible for making sure Lucius got home safely from his drunken, extramarital escapades at the end of the night. The man's blond hair was visible a fair bit ahead; long, silky hair swayed to either side as he kept his head on a swivel for a woman – no, a girl, really – that caught his fancy.

Severus sighed as he watched Lucius approach a girl that looked barely legal. Lucius reached into his pocket, and the Potions Master knew that the man was jingling the galleons in his pocket to let her know that he could pay.

Mere moments later, the girl was leading Lucius down a narrow alley toward the motel that he knew was just a few minutes away. Severus had spent many a night lurking in the shadows, waiting for whichever girl Lucius had chosen that night to slip out the door so that he could deliver a drunken Lucius Malfoy to Malfoy Manor.

Severus followed them down the alley and to the motel, lurking in the shadows as the girl pulled Lucius into a room and slammed the door shut. As he stood against the wall of the dimly lit motel, another door flew open so quickly that it bounced off the wall; a young girl rushed off into the night, bushy hair flying behind her.

oOoOo

A few nights later, Severus found himself following Lucius down the same London street. Severus was barely paying attention to Lucius as he chose his girl for the night; his mind was much more focused on the issue that he had encountered with his most recent potions experiment.

But as he kept an eye on Lucius, a young girl stepped into his path. Her dress was low-cut and skin-tight, a long slit up the side exposing the creamy skin of her thigh.

"Looking for someone?" she murmured sultrily as her eyes raked up the front of his robes, lingering on his belt and the long line of buttons on his frock coat. Her eyes met his and she looked utterly taken aback for one short moment before she recovered and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Don't tell me you didn't fantasize about a few naughty detentions, Professor." She winked.

Severus jerked his head back as if he had been hit. "Granger."

Hermione Granger batted her eyes at him. "Don't act like you don't want this, Professor." She paused. "Did you want this even when I was still your student?"

Severus turned his lips down in disgust and glanced up the street to where Lucius was winking salaciously at one of the young girls. "I must go," Severus said as the girl began to drag Lucius away. He followed, and only when he had reached the alley that led to the motel did he look back.

Granger was making her move on another young man, whose greasy hair and pockmarked skin made Severus' skin crawl. He reminded him of one too many young men who had joined the ranks of the Dark Lord, barely at the age of majority. He looked all too eager and sleazy.

As Severus watched his former student pull the boy toward the motel as he made his way there himself, he couldn't help but wish that he had paid for Granger for the night to save her from men like that, to protect her – if only momentarily – from the streets.

oOoOo

The next night, Severus Snape was on a mission. Lucius was somewhere in Malfoy Manor, either lying in bed nursing his hangover or drinking his way to his next one. While Severus felt slightly nervous about leaving the man alone, it gave him the opportunity to do what he really wanted to – find Hermione Granger.

She wasn't difficult to find. Severus had barely made it a third of the way down the street before she stepped into his path.

"Changed your mind, Professor?"

Severus dug into his pockets and pulled out two fistfuls of galleons for her to see. Her eyes widened slightly before she smiled coyly and looked up through her eyelashes at him. Without another word, one small hand found his and tugged him toward the motel.

As they neared the small, rundown building, Hermione found the nearest unoccupied room and entered it. She locked it behind them, and Severus added some minor wards for good measure.

Severus tucked his wand back into his sleeve and began to take stock of his surroundings. While he had followed Lucius here many times, he had never entered one of the rooms. The bed looked absolutely filthy, which wasn't surprising seeing as the motel didn't even seem to be in operation anymore. In all likelihood, it had gone out of business long ago and had been taken over by prostitutes and squatters who were looking for an easy place to rest their head.

Making sure the curtains were pulled tightly shut, he flipped the lights on. Hermione was halfway through the process of getting her dress off, a dress that was barely there to begin with.

"Granger!" he snapped, and she stopped removing her dress immediately.

She sauntered across the dingy room toward him, her stiletto heels clicking on the rotting hardwood and her lacy crimson bra exposed to the air. When she reached him, she leaned in and captured his earlobe gently between her teeth. "Sorry, did you want to do that yourself?" she murmured.

Severus stepped back to create some distance between them, but she followed. Their makeshift dance continued until the Potions Master was backed against the door; she was dangerously close, her fingers playing lazily with the buttons on the vest he was wearing tonight.

"What did you have in mind for tonight, Severus?"

He brought his hand to her shoulder and pushed her away from him slightly before unsheathing his wand again. He paused before leveling it at her. "Do you trust me?"

Her eyes flickered between the tip of his wand and his face, but she smiled easily. "Not a whit."

"Good."

With a flick of his wand, he restored her dress to the way it was meant to be worn. With Hermione's breasts covered and the zip done up, Severus felt like he could finally breathe easy again. He flicked his wand towards her a few more times, and the hem lengthened, the slit disappeared, and the neckline rose to a much more modest depth.

Hermione gave him a confused look. "What was that for?"

Severus pulled his handful of galleons from his pocket again and deposited it on the table that had probably once held a television. He took a seat on a hard chair near the door.

"How long have you been doing this, Granger?"

Hermione's empty eyes grew cold and sharp. "Is that what this is about, Professor?" she spat. "You think you can rescue me from this? That I can be your charity case now that you don't have anyone to save?"

As she stormed angrily toward the door, Severus held up a hand to stop her. "I believe I paid for the night."

"Take your money back, then!" She threw the gold coins across the room; one struck Severus just above the eyebrow. Hermione flinched as it bounced harmlessly to the floor with the others. "Can you change my dress back? Please," she added when he merely stared at her.

"Where is your wand?" he asked, both out of curiosity and concern, as he drew his own wand.

"I serve muggle . . . customers, as well." She gestured unhelpfully toward her body. "But regardless, I gave up magic months ago."

Severus had to keep himself from gaping at her. "You gave up magic? Why?"

"I hardly feel the need to explain myself to you," Hermione bit out, her voice taking on a hard edge. "About anything." She tried the doorknob, but finding it locked, she pressed her back against the door and sunk down to the floor.

Severus pulled a shrunken book from his pocket, returned it to its original size, and began reading. He was acutely aware of the way that Hermione was watching him through her fingers, her hands covering her face.

"I won't talk to you," she reaffirmed from her place by the door.

"I understand," he replied, and went on with his reading.

oOoOo

Severus returned the next night, sans Lucius once again. Although he knew that Granger wouldn't step forward and offer herself to him this time, he was determined to find her. He was worried about her, about the light that had gone out of her eyes, about her decision to give up magic, about the smile that seemed more of a mechanical tugging on the corners of her lips than a reflection of happiness.

He found her lurking at the entrance to one of the alleyways. "Granger."

She crossed her arms, over breasts that were once against exposed to the cool air by a tightly laced corset. "No."

"I'll pay double. Triple, even," Severus returned, and he saw her considering the offer.

"Triple," she affirmed, and made her way toward the motel like the night before. When the door was locked and warded, she threw herself on the bed. "If you're going to alter my clothes, just make sure you change them back."

Severus smirked and raised the neckline of her outfit before returning to the book that he had been reading the night before.

"I brought you one." A muggle novel floated across the room to where she was lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

oOoOo

It took nearly a month for Hermione to finally speak to him again. She would lead him to the motel silently, take his proffered book without a word, and leave quietly in the morning after collecting her money.

Severus was waiting for her to speak. She had lowered her book with a sigh and was staring off into space unnervingly.

"What do you want to know?" The words finally came.

"Where do you sleep?" he asked, pausing his reading. He continued staring at the page, trying his best not to discourage her from speaking.

"Anywhere that's relatively quiet and safe. Sometimes I don't." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"How long have you been living like this?"

"Six months. But my life was falling apart long before that."

He hesitated. "Why did you decide to give up magic?"

She hesitated as well. "It wasn't so much of a choice as it was a necessity. When I lost – when Ron – after everything happened, the feeling of magic in my veins and even the very thought of magic made me want to claw at my own skin. I could think of nothing but the fact that he was one of the first to introduce me to magic, and I hardly felt like a witch without him. I – I don't know how to talk about this." Hermione took a deep breath. "I can still feel my magic, deep inside. When I don't use it, it feels like it builds up; it torments me. I'll do anything to make it stop."

Severus finally looked up from his book. She was huddled on the bed, book forgotten on the ragged blanket, arms wrapped around her knees. He couldn't help but cross the room and sit beside her.

"What happened with Weasley? I remember the article in the Daily Prophet, but – you don't have to speak of it if you don't feel that you can."

A sad smile crossed her face, a mere ghost of the schoolgirl girl that used to appear so easily when she was younger. "Ron. Ron was the very best and the very worst, all wrapped up in one human being. He was both perfect for me and completely wrong. . . . We would fight like nothing else, but we would make up beautifully the next day. He hated that I was smarter than him, but he loved my ability to be smarter than anyone else. He loved my dedication to my work, but he hated that I wouldn't be the perfect mother to his children as a result.

"You know most of the story," she acknowledged. "We married and moved to a little house in the suburbs. It was our first anniversary and we were fighting – like always. I sent him off to get a bottle of champagne so that we could both take a little time to cool off . . . and while he was out, he was ambushed by a group of dark sympathizers." Hermione looked at her hands. "I can never forgive myself for the terms on which we last parted."

Severus took one of her hands in his, for she needed comfort and he had no words of consolation to offer her. She rested her head on his shoulder after a moment.

"Sleep, Granger. The door is locked and warded. You are safe."

And she did.

oOoOo

"How do you do it?"

Hermione looked at him. "It's not so hard sometimes, really. The men all have their own stories and problems, and sometimes all they really want is someone to talk to. You would be surprised at how much time I spend listening to their worries compared to how much time I actually spend . . . fulfilling my job description."

"Surely not," Severus scoffed.

"Not always," Hermione agreed. "And don't get me wrong, they pay for a shag and they get one. But they talk sometimes too. Sometimes I wonder where you would fall."

Severus chose to ignore her comment. "Well, that puts a whole new spin on the term 'sex therapist.'"

oOoOo

"You don't have to do this, you know." Severus' voice was soft, a tone that he had managed to master with Hermione. There had never been anyone who he had cared enough to speak softly to in the past, and he had had to learn quickly for her. The two months that he had spent "paying" for Granger had led him to truly care for her. When he fixed her skimpy outfits, it was as much to keep his head in the right place as it was to cover her modesty. He wanted to convince her that there was a better life beyond this, that there was still good in the wizarding world despite the loss of Weasley. He just wanted her to be happy and cared for and healthy; he kept telling himself that it was a natural level of concern for a former student that he had watched grow into unhealthy habits, but who did he think he was fooling? He cared for Hermione Granger, maybe even loved her if he was drunk enough to be completely honest with himself.

"You taking care of me," she began hesitantly, "it's a phase. In another few weeks, you'll be tired of this and you'll move on. You'll go back to following Lucius Malfoy down the street to make sure he gets home safely, and I'll go back to my life."

"You don't have to go back to this life. You had the world at your fingertips after the war, Hermione. You still could, if you tried. Go get a job. Go back to school. Become an apprentice." Severus sighed, running a hand over his tired face. "When you were in school, it may have seemed – the way that I taught – " He growled in frustration at his inability to articulate his thoughts. "It may have seemed at times that I wanted you to fail, and perhaps at times it truly would have given me some form of vindictive pleasure to see you fall short. But this – Hermione – I cannot stand idly by and watch you throw your life away by selling your body to sleazy men in the alleys of London."

"They're not as bad as you seem to think," Hermione interjected. "All they need – "

"All they need is someone to make them feel something!" Severus snapped, then looked taken aback at his own outburst. "They are disgusting, broken men, all either too ugly or too disloyal or too drunk or too sad or too fill-in-the-blank to be anywhere but here. Do you think I haven't been there? That I haven't been one of them?"

"Severus…" Hermione breathed, moving toward him.

"Do you know how Lucius Malfoy knew to come to this street, these alleys? I used to come here too. When I lost Lily . . . this was my escape. And just like your men, I fucked pretty young girls in motel rooms and when they left with their pay, I cried into filthy motel pillows because I wished it was Lily every time. They aren't worth your pity, Hermione. They're disgusting."

Hermione's hand met his shoulder so lightly that he thought that he had imagined it for a moment. "Do you think that you're disgusting?"

"Don't you?"

Hermione gave him an odd look. "Why would you return? Why would you face the memories?"

Severus threw his head back and looked toward the ceiling in exasperation. "Because in case you hadn't noticed, I care for you!"

oOoOo

When Severus found Hermione the next day, she was asleep. A few of the other girls from the street were in the vicinity, although Severus wasn't sure if they were protecting her or simply ignoring her. Unwilling to let the girl sleep exposed to the cool night air, with only an old sweater to keep her head from resting on the dirty pavement, Severus moved toward her. One hand strayed to brush a curl from her brow.

Though a couple of the girls gave him a wary look, many of them recognized him from the many nights he had spent with Hermione. They merely drew back as he slipped one arm beneath her knees and one arm across her back; he lifted her from the pavement and gently began carrying his girl – his girl? – down the alley and to the motel. He laid her gently on the bed, trying not to wake her, but she stirred regardless.

Hermione sat up frantically, trying to assess her surroundings. When her eyes met Severus', she relaxed slightly. "Merlin, Severus."

"Sorry," he replied mildly. "I wanted to move you to somewhere more comfortable than the sidewalk."

Hermione flopped back down, still looking half asleep, and patted the other side of the dirty bed. When Severus didn't move, she opened one eye and peeked at him. "Come on, you look exhausted. What did the first years do today?"

Severus sighed and gave in, moving toward the bed. "No first years. Just dunderheaded apprentices who I swear couldn't tell me the difference between a cauldron and a common saucepan." He crawled into bed without removing his shoes, and froze when Hermione snuggled up to him, making a pillow out of the crook of his arm.

Hermione's voice was sleepy when she next spoke. "Why did you pay for the first night?"

Severus looked down at her, at the once-neat bun that the rain had made a frizzy travesty of. Her eyes were closed. "I couldn't bear the thought of leaving you unprotected from the men that roam these streets."

"And why did you stay?"

Severus hesitated, but he figured that Hermione was close enough to sleep that she wouldn't even remember this conversation in the morning. He lowered his voice until it was barely audible. "Because you needed someone to take care of you."

oOoOo

"When are you leaving?" Hermione asked a few days later, early into the night.

Severus looked at her over his book, his face suddenly tense. "I apologize. Have I overstayed my welcome?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and fixed him with a hard gaze. "Don't be daft. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Severus waited, merely raising an eyebrow as if to say, Do I?

Hermione sighed. "When are you leaving? When are you going to realize that this is just a phase? How soon do I have to prepare for you to walk out of my life and leave me alone to this miserable existence once again?"

Without pausing to mark his page, he closed the book and set it on the table. "At what point of this . . . arrangement did I ever imply that I was leaving?"

Hermione stood, tossing her own book on the bed. "Well, aren't you? All you ever do is talk about me getting out of this situation. As soon as you realize that I can't, why wouldn't you leave the lost cause?"

"You're not a lost cause, Hermione. You may be dedicated, infuriating, and maybe even lost, but you are not hopeless. You would see that if you would only try to turn your life around again."

She ran thin fingers through carefully tamed hair. Her ruffling dislodged frizzy curls but she made no move to pin them back into place. "I'll make it easier for you." And though her eyes were sad and her voice was shrill, she moved to the door and opened it. "Go."

Severus crossed his arms and stood as well, giving Hermione a look that would send even the bravest of first years scurrying back to their common rooms with tears in their eyes. Hermione, on the other hand, looked unfazed. "No."

Hermione slammed the door shut in frustration and stomped toward him. "Why do you care?"

Severus held his arms out in a gesture of openness. "I haven't the faintest idea." He took a step toward her. "But I do."

Hermione's head dropped. "I'm not worth that. Look at me, Severus. I'm a prostitute. I can tell you story after story about how there's something special about the way the men talk to me after I sell myself to them, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm pathetic and impure and – and used."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Severus swore softly. He walked up to Hermione, gently tilted her chin up to look at him, and pressed his lips against hers.

oOoOo

It hadn't been nearly as hard for Hermione Granger to get her life together as she had thought. She was diligent and motivated, and her NEWT scores were second to none. While Severus had offered to loan her a small sum to help her get back on her feet, she had accepted an offer to complete an apprenticeship under him and get her Potions Mastery instead.

And thus, Miss Granger, who had become prostitute Granger, became Apprentice Granger. Apprentice Granger became Mistress Granger. And Mistress Granger . . . well, Mistress Granger became Madam Snape.

A bit of an odd fic. Let me know what you thought!