A/N: This story was written for a Song Fic challenge from the "Lovers of the Potions Master" facebook group. Please Google the song and lyrics if you want to hear the whole thing. This is set in the universe of my fanfics "The Serpents' Kiss", "Scoundrel or Saint?", and others. Please enjoy and leave a review! :-)

POISON

"Infernal Auror conference!" Severus growled as he threw clothing items haphazardly into his travel bag with rough abandon. He could have spelled them in there, she knew, but Dinah believed her husband enjoyed the violence of hurling them in with his hands. A rare and infrequent taste for non-magic methods. "I'm not even an Auror!"

Dinah took a breath and formed her next words with the calm she always tried to maintain to balance his volatility. "Yes, my dear, but you know it's important to speak of the practical use of your newly published Defense spells to those who will use them. It's a matter of societal security."

"Societal security!" he spat at his bag, his tone laced with the utmost disdain.

Dinah chuckled, giving up and standing to place a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Yes, I know you hate conferences. But remember, it's only for a few days."

"Daddy!" Their whirlwind of a four-year-old daughter, Maylene, flew into the room and bounced up onto their bed, peering down into her father's bag. "You should fold those nicely."

Severus looked down at her as a low growl emitted from his throat, but he was all bark and no bite. It made Dinah giggle as she leaned down to pick up her daughter. "Now, dear, let's not add to Daddy's troubles today. Where did you leave your brother?"

"With the Muggle dough."

"Oh dear, then he's going to be quite the mess, isn't he?" She left her husband to continue to take out his frustrations on his packing and took Maylene back out to the dining area where she and her two-year-old brother Tommy had the table covered in different hues of Play Dough. The Wizarding versions of the product tended to stain children's fingers and so at this age Dinah preferred to let her children play with the Muggle variety.

Little Thomas currently had his hand smashed into a big blue blob, which he lifted up to show her upon their arrival. "Mummy I made my hand!"

Dinah gasped her excitement for the little boy, while at the same time taking hold of the blob and his arm and lowering it back to the table so it didn't fall to the floor. "You did! Now, let's pull your hand out so we can see it, okay?" After setting his older sister down, she gently and carefully did so, leaving a little imprint of tiny fingers and a thumb in the block of dough. "Well, now, look at that. Your very own hand print."

"Yeah! We can do Dara hands next?" he bounced a little in his seat as he tilted his questioning gaze up at her.

"Maybe when she's a little older," Dinah ruffled her son's unruly brown hair, thinking that trying to press the tiny hands of little Adara Black into Play Dough wasn't worth the risk of injuring her while she was still an infant. "But maybe," she leaned in and pressed a finger to her lips so her children would know to keep quiet and not upset Daddy, "you can press her feet in if you ask your Auntie Lucy nicely." She knew if Severus overheard Lucy's name he'd just go into another rant about how Sirius Black's wife, while formerly an Auror, got out of going to the conference because she had a newborn to take care of at home.

"Okay," Tommy pressed a finger to his own lips and whispered to show he understood, while his sister giggled her own understanding.

A knock on the door from the other end of their dungeon rooms startled and excited Dinah at the same time. Ignoring her husband's growls about 'uninvited guests' from inside the bedroom, she hurried over to the door to see who it was. The students had just arrived at Hogwarts for the new school year this evening, and...

"Mae! Andrew!" Dinah squealed her delight at seeing her two favorite students come for a visit, immediately embracing seventh-year Ravenclaw Mae Yates before moving to the girl's boyfriend, seventh-year Slytherin Andrew Speasy. It wasn't long before the children had also attacked their Auntie Mae-Mae and Uncle Andrew, pulling the two into the living room to sit down and show them their Play Dough artwork.

"Now, now, don't let it drop on the floor," Dinah scolded, keeping a corner eye on the children as they dragged Andrew into some sort of game, while she turned to address Mae. "So, how was your summer? I haven't seen you since we went shopping in July!"

"Good!" she bubbled, with a slight, shy smile in Andrew's direction that made Dinah a bit curious, though she would never ask such a private question of the girl, no matter how much closer they were to best friends than to teacher and student. "I brought all sorts of new music for you to convert for this year."

"Brilliant!" Dinah clapped her hands together in excitement. Ever since the girl's second year they had taken advantage of their common Muggle upbringing to do karaoke together whenever they had the chance, and submit their poor boys to listen to their long singing sessions. Dinah had invented her own spell to create karaoke tracks for any song they wanted, and get it onto her karaoke machine. It seemed there was always something new to try singing, and Mae, being so much younger, always had better access than Dinah to the hippest new releases every summer.

"Mummy, Mummy, can we take Uncle Andrew to my room and show him our new potions?" Maylene jumped up and down to get Dinah's attention.

She nodded. "That's all right. But remember, Tommy is allowed to look, but not touch. Andrew, will you make sure they're safe?"

The sometimes shy boy nodded, covering a small sneeze. His allergies were bad most of the time, but they had all overlooked what some of his peers teased him about, and accepted him for who he was on the inside.

Especially Mae, who smiled as she watched him disappear into Maylene's bedroom with the children. "He really is great with kids."

Dinah smiled and nodded, then stood up from the sofa. "Well, I'll go get the player so we can listen to what you've got!"

When she made it into the bedroom Severus had switched from packing to just standing there and glaring at his closed, bulky bag, as if daring it to make a move at him.

"You did use wizard space, didn't you?" Dinah asked of the bulging bag.

"Of course I did!" her husband snapped.

"Now, now, don't take it out on me. Or the bag. It's the conference you're cross at."

"Don't remind me," he sneered at the CD player she had summoned as it floated past him toward her wand. "Are you and that infernal student about to start singing songs all evening? Remember, the children must be in bed in an hour and I am leaving early tomorrow morning. I would like to get some sleep tonight."

"Oh, stop whining," she chastised, rolling her eyes at him. He could be such a child sometimes. "She's only giving me a sampler of what we have new available this year. And if you've finished packing perhaps you should stop glaring at that bag and move on with your life or your face may freeze that way."

Severus only growled but Dinah didn't wait for any further response as she took the music player out and joined Mae back on the couch, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "So, what's new this year?"

"This," Mae produced a slim single CD with the words 'Poison' on the front. "It's got such a catchy beat. I guess it's the cover of a popular old eighties song, but by the German dance band Groove Coverage, with a girl lead singer. "It's so fun. I think it's my favorite new release this summer."

"I might have heard the original, but I don't quite recall," Dinah admitted. The image on the cover was rather sexual, making her wonder about the lyrics. "Let's listen."

"Got it," Mae opened the pop-up top and slipped the CD into its place, closing the lid and pushing play.

Dinah leaned in and listened with her young friend as a growing volume of background music led quickly into a female singer discussing a relationship. Dinah's ears heard every word sung but the words describing a cruel device, icy blood, a look that could kill... Already her hand was crawling up to cover her slowly opening mouth. It sounded like Severus.

Mae just sat there smiling as she listened to her favorite song, nodding her head to the beats of the chorus as it picked up into a constant rhythm. But the words, vaguely familiar from fifteen or so years ago but fresh and new in this moment, had Dinah spellbound. She drunk them in, those chorus words about a fiery, passionate relationship, with kisses like poison... like venom.

Shivering, she remembered her Severus in the bedroom glaring at his bag. So fiery tonight. With those dark eyes and that deep, velvety voice, and that growl... it had made her laugh and roll her eyes just moments ago but how easily her mood could switch from one of casual domestic amusement to one of deep, furious arousal by her dark Potions Master...

The next verse spoke of heated kisses, caught up in spider webs, wet skin, black lace... sweat...

"What's wrong?" Mae asked as the second version of the chorus made prickling needles crawl down Dinah's arms at the thought of Severus's voice in bed...

"Uh... n-nothing," Dinah managed even as her cheeks flared up and she rubbed her hands along her upper arms, wishing they were Severus's hands...

Making him scream her name...

"Are you sure, because you look a little flush – oh!" Mae gasped and her own cheeks enflamed when Dinah couldn't help making a little, teeny tiny desirous glance in the direction of the bedroom. "I... Merlin, I can't believe I didn't think. This... uh..." her fingers fumbled for the stop button but Dinah reached out to prevent her from turning the music off.

"I want to finish," she mumbled, realizing the girl was terribly embarrassed but unable to stop staring at that door leading to her poisonous spouse...

"That's what worries me..." Mae stared at the floor with a nervous giggle. "We both have Slytherin boys..."

"That we do..." Dinah murmured, closing her eyes as she drunk in the remainder of the lyrics. When it was over she just didn't want it to stop, but restarting it again might be too much for the poor seventh year.

"Well! Umm..." Mae stammered once the room was silent again.

"Yes, well," Dinah let out a nervous giggle of her own, trying to shake off her arousal but not having much success. She lifted a hand to touch her cheek and realized just how hot it was. "Sorry."

"We can't help what we like..." Mae mumbled, still staring at the floor as though the carpet fibers had her transfixed.

It didn't help that Severus chose this moment to emerge from his self-imposed prison, sneering down at Mae and making the poison burning in Dinah's veins rush hotter and faster. "And what are you two doing?"

"Ah-" Mae squeaked, her flushed face causing Severus to raise one of those perfect black eyebrows. But the girl couldn't seem to say anything else.

An idea then popped into Dinah's somewhat-muddled brain, and she could not prevent her mouth from voicing it. "Ah, Mae, would you do me a favor? Thomas would like to make an imprint of baby Adara's footprints... you haven't met baby Adara yet, have you? Professors Blacks' new daughter? She's quite adorable. It's nearly the children's bedtime so perhaps you and Andrew wouldn't mind taking them over to the Blacks' rooms before you head in for curfew... tell Lucy to bring them back for bed in a half hour..."

Mae just stared at her. The Ravenclaw was too smart. She saw Dinah's ulterior motives in an instant.

"Please?" Dinah gave her young friend her best pair of puppy-dog eyes.

"Dinah, what in heaven's name are you talking about? There is only a half hour left before the children's bedtime and if you get them riled-"

"Shut up!" Dinah's interruption shocked her husband into silence, though he continued to stare at her as though she were a madwoman.

"Uhhh, perhaps it would be best to go ahead and do so..." Mae trailed, watching their interaction with still-somewhat-embarrassed interest.

Severus continued to look irritated and baffled as the two Hogwarts students took little Maylene and Tommy with them to the door along with a couple cans of Play Dough for the baby's feet. An awkward good-night between Mae and Dinah and confused good-nights between the remainder of the group, and then they were gone, leaving Dinah alone with Severus, and the CD she had insisted on borrowing, just for tonight...

Dinah tailed her husband back into the living room, where he whirled his full Slytherin fury on her as they reached the velvet green sofa. "What on Earth was that all about, Dinah? You know that..." the rest of his words were lost on her as she watched his cape spin and settle and his lips move, his dark hair hanging messily around his face as it usually did.

"Sit," she ordered when he had stopped talking and all was quiet again.

"Excuse me?" he raised another tantalizing eyebrow at her. How could he not sense how desperately sexy he was right now?

"You are leaving tomorrow," she purred, squaring her hands on his shoulders and pushing him down to the couch with that force she had when she really wanted something. Soon enough she had her stunned husband half lying down across the cushions and settled herself over him, leaning in to press on his shoulders and speak to him, her nose against his long one. "I will have you before you go."

"Dinah!" he snarled. "Can't you clearly see that I am not in the-"

She would not listen. She cut him off with a kiss. Those hot, poisonous, venomous, dark, velvety lips. She ran her tongue along them, tasting him, having him, unbuttoning his frock coat and white shirt with the speed she had developed after having been married to him so long, and running her hands up his hard, solid chest...

"Mmm... mmmmmmmmmmmmm..." that deep, silky growl slipped easily from irritation to arousal as his hands came up to caress her body and his tongue joined hers in its games. "Dinah..."

She leaned back and smiled at him, her most seductive smile. Reaching out her fingers, she pushed play on the CD player.

Severus turned his head to watch her and then looked back at her when she was done and the music had started. "What is this?"

"Listen and find out," she murmured, leaning in to him again so their eyes met, her grey ones to his dark ones. "Take my poison... and I will take yours."