Disclaimer: the usual. J.K.R owns it all.

Sorry for the delay....i really suck at updating, but RL is being a pain in the ass right now.

Short but eventful chap. Enjoy! :)

She was late for class, arriving through the door just as Professor Vector was opening her mouth to start the lecture.

She apologized and took a seat, cursing Ron all the while.

She took out her quill and parchment, beginning to take notes as Vector explained their latest assignment.

While scribbling down numbers and words, the letters blurred together as she started to think about the marble statue she found only yesterday.

Her husband.

At least for a month.

Could she fall in true love so quickly?

She found it odd that her feelings for Ron had faded so quick, just moments after her lips met his.

Septimus Serpentia.

The name rolled wonderfully past her lips in a whisper and as she looked down on her notes she saw her parchment covered in his name, hearts and sketches of wedding dresses and cakes.

What was wrong with her?

She had never acted like this with any other boy...well he was a man, but nonetheless this was not Hermione-esque behaviour.

What if you don't really feel anything for him? Doesn't wizarding marriages come with a compulsion charm, to keep you faithful?

The thought came from nowhere and she clamped a hand over her mouth to stop a startled gasp.

She had a faint inkling in her mind about reading of compulsion charms, nothing major, just making sure that the bride always stayed with the one she was promised to.

But she had been promised to Ron.

Hadn't she?

Before "meeting" Septimus, she had been spoken for and in a stupid act of kid's play she had anchored herself to a man whom she knew nothing about, not even sure of his real name!

Panic rolled over her in waves and her face paled at the realization of what she really had done.

She had married a complete stranger.

And had let herself be placated by a few kisses in the moonlight, like that would explain everything!

She decided right there, while ripping her useless parchment to pieces that she was going to have a talk with this Septimus Serpentia.

Even if it meant using hexes to get those sinful lips of his off of her.

"Enter"

Hermione pushed the door open and walked inside, rant ready on her tongue like bullets in a gun when her eyes fixed on his form.

He was standing with his back to her, facing a roaring fire with the rest of his room completely dark, a halo of light surrounding him from the flames.

Her breath left her lungs and she drew in desperate gasps of air. He was just so...majestic, magic, beautiful.

And completely hers.

She shook her head to get rid of the stupid fog blurring her mind with stupid feelings of love and the like.

"Husband" she said, the word dripping with sarcasm and venom.

His shoulders stiffened at her tone and he turned his head a fraction towards her, but still with his back against her.

"Wife..." he said, with that husky voice of his "to what do I owe this...pleasure?"

"Is it not normal for a woman to want to spend time with the man she loves?" Hermione replied, taking a step closer, throwing daggers with her eyes at his turned back.

He nodded, as if contemplating her response before opening his mouth again.

"Yes, I suppose so...but you do not love me, do you?"

He sounded so crestfallen, so broken that her rage about the compulsion charm nearly faded.

"Not yet, no" she said, voice more gentle now.

He nodded once again, staring blankly into the roaring fire.

There was silence, the only thing breaking it being the occasional crackle from the hearth.

"Wizarding marriages...they come with an instant compulsion charm, don't they?" she prodded, deciding to take the leap and just go for it.

Finally, he turned to face her, reaching out to take one of her hands in his.

"Ah... so this is what you came for" he stated solemnly, black eyes boring into her brown ones.

He pulled her closer and she felt her heart skip several beats.

"Yes, there is a compulsion charm..." she took a step back but he pulled her closer still and continued "but they only keep you away from others, any former lovers or possible future ones"

He brushed his lips against her ear and mumbled "Any feelings for me are all your own, my love with no name"

She shivered "Hermione Granger"

"Hermione" he echoed and pressed his lips against hers, tugging her body flush against his, gripping her hips tight in his hands as he ravaged her mouth.

She whimpered and arched her body against his, wanting anything, something, as long as it was more.

Passion burned through her entire body, starting low in her stomach and sizzling through her entire body, fraying nerve endings and erupting into a roaring inferno that covered her skin.

"Your...name..." she stuttered between clattering teeth.

"The real one" she pressed out, lips parting in a grimace as his lips trailed down her neck, the inferno burning her ever hotter.

"Salazar Slytherin" he murmured between nips and licks against her heated skin.

She moaned beneath his touch, brain not fully understanding the meaning of his words until his breath ghosted over her ear "Say my name"

"Salazar" she groaned.

The name uttered from her own lips worked like a bucket of ice cold water upon her body.

Her eyes snapped open and met his curious black orbs.

"Salazar Slytherin" she whispered, her body stiffening in horror and dread as she pushed his body away from hers.

Slytherin, Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin. A voice taunted her in her head, adding a melody to his name.

She shuddered and took panicked steps away from the surprised wizard, her knees were shaking as she pushed herself against the door and shoved her entire body out the opening, praying that her weak legs could carry her as far as she wished.

She heard his voice calling her name, a shocked lilt in his voice.

She ran, ran as far as she could and collapsed in a shivering heap in a corridor she couldn't recall ever seeing before.

The taunt continued in her head.

Slytherin, Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin.

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