Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter NOR any of his friends NEITHER any of his enemies. It's hard to admit, but when I'm done with them all, I have to return them to Joanne K. Rowling in an original wrapping and unharmed.
I make no money, I mean no harm.

Checkmate
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The second time Rebecca woke up that morning, she found Severus sitting at his desk. He looked over his shoulder when she sat up, murmured a word that might have been "morning", and hastily finished whatever he had been doing.

Rebecca slid off of the bed and headed for the bathroom. She caressed Severus' back while passing him, and even fleetingly kissed his hair. It was greasy, but before brushing her teeth, Rebecca didn't mind that much.

Before Rebecca returned, Severus had turned the desk into a table and set it for breakfast. Rebecca leaned forward to kiss him and Severus grabbed her wrists this time, forcing her to sit down facing him.

"Miss Garthy," he began in a stern voice. Rebecca, she thought equally sternly. "Miss Garthy, this is a very... unusual situation. For you. You are in the middle of the Dark Lord's headquarters, muted and wandless. I want you to understand the gravity of the situation."

I want you to hold me like you held me last night. I want you to kiss me again. I want you to touch every inch of my skin and I want to touch every single inch of yours.

"Are you even listening to me?" Severus asked angrily. Rebecca contemplated yelling at him, but decided it would only seem she had lost her mind completely. So she only put a finger on his mouth, shook her head and looked him in the eye.

For an eternity, they were sitting like that - a girl in a scandalous set of robes leaning to a man in black, without a word, without a movement. Rebecca opened her mind, but Severus didn't seem to be interested in it, and Rebecca lost any interest, too, as she was searching the depths of his eyes.

His lips were warm and dry.

Eventually, Severus pulled her hand down from his mouth. He stood up and took a letter from a drawer.

"Have breakfast. There are a few books in that closet. I have... work to be done." And then, a miracle happened - he bent down and kissed her, matter-of-factly. Rebecca prolonged the kiss as long as possible.

"I have work to be done," Severus repeated in a hoarse whisper and quickly left the room. Rebecca smiled.

She spent the day exploring Severus' little library. Most of the books concerned Dark Arts, and Rebecca didn't understand a single line of them, but some described potions, and Rebecca chose one of those - A Potions Brewer's Guide - to kill the boredom.

The book was written very dryly and most of the Hogwarts students would find it boring, but once Rebecca got through the first three chapters, the analysis grew more fascinating, the theory less exhausting and in the end, when she was putting the book back in its place, she wanted a copy, too.

She realised she was hungry. Hours must have passed - was there a clock anywhere? She looked behind curtains covering the walls and discovered a window. It was dark outside, and the moon was already high in the sky, and it was nearing the full moon. It must have been at least half past ten, maybe past eleven, even, Rebecca decided. She let the curtain fall.

Then it hit her - in three days, it would be the full moon. Tomorrow, in two days at most, her time of the month would come. And she was locked in a bachelor's room without any mean of communication.

What in Merlin's name would she do?

A sharp knock at the door woke her up from her reverie. Although it was quite late, it couldn't be Severus coming back - he wouldn't knock at his own door, would he? Not even if he knew there was a girl inside. But should she answer? Who could it be, anyway? She couldn't even call out and ask for the guest's name. She decided to try the door - there was still a good chance Severus had locked it.

It turned out he hadn't. The tall figure of Lord Voldemort swept in and Rebecca closed the door.

What if there was a spell preventing anybody coming in without an invitation? What if Severus hid something important in this room? No - he would be more careful than that, making sure no-one save him could disable whatever protection of whatever secret there was.

"How are things going? I noticed Severus seemed to be more content today." Rebecca closed her mind the best she could before facing him. She lifted one eyebrow in an ironic way then. One wave of Voldemort's wand later, she was free to answer.

"He was surprised. I like to think I didn't disappoint him." Rebecca chose her words carefully, only hinting and never lying outright. That should make Voldemort happy, for he would conclude she was saying what he wanted to hear, and leave it at it.

"Why should you disappoint him?" Voldemort asked.

"Lack of experience," Rebecca uttered.

"Such a pretty girl like you..." The look he gave her then made her shiver - not in a good way - and Rebecca realised he was a man, too - or something very similar to a man - and she was completely at his mercy. But Voldemort turned to the door.

"Since everything is going smoothly, I will leave you to your... preparations. Oh, and Severus will be coming home late tonight, and he will be quite exhausted, so take good care of him."

"There's something I need," Rebecca piped before he could Silence her again. Vodlemort paused, his wand mid-air.

"Oh. What is it?" Rebecca felt heat rising to her cheeks. But she had to ask for it - it might have been her only chance.

"Erm - I... the thing is. I need..." It was very hard to ask the Dark Lord to get her feminine products, and she wasn't sure she'd get the message accross before her period actually started. "I... well, I'm going to need feminine, you know, products before the end of the week," she managed to mumble in the end.

Voldemort seemed to be still waiting for her explanation.

"I'm about to have my period," she blurted out, all red. Voldemort's expression remained the same - a clueless man or being or whatever he was. Completely clueless.

"You know, cramps," she tried in vain. "My time of the month."

"Are you a werewolf?"

"What- No! Just a... a woman." The look of innocent ignorance would be priceless if Rebecca wasn't in danger of spending next week in the tube. A simple spell cast regularly would take care of everything - the discomfort, hygiene, pain in her back - but she couldn't cast a spell and to top that, she couldn't even go and buy sanitary towels as she had used to do before she had mastered the spell. But there must have been a way, and she asked, "Is there a woman among your... people... I could talk to?"

"What about?" Great - now it shows he's also dumb!

"My problem. My feminine problem. She would understand me." And get her some accessories.

"Oh. I shall send one of my women, then. Anything else before I go?"

"Well, I haven't eaten since morning."

"That's a shame. You should eat to keep your strength." He cast a spell non-verbally. "I've modified the spell so you could talk to women." Rebecca actually wanted to thank him - but discovered she couldn't.

Does this prove he is a man?

Most of that ugly business with Dolores Umbridge went pass Rebecca. She had nearly failed her Defense O.W.L.s, and even if she hadn't, she wouldn't take it anyway. She had passed Transfiguration well enough to take the N.E.W.T. course, and besides, there were these Occlumency lessons with Professor Dumbledore.

He had told her it would be necessary for her to learn to close her mind, since she had known so much. He had also told her that Professor Snape had been one of the greatest Occlumenses of his generation. Rebecca had loved the old man dearly for the comment. Most people wouldn't say a good thing about Snape to save themselves lifetimes at Azkaban.

During their lessons, Dumbledore once commented that she, too, had an exceptional talent for Occlumency.

Dumbledore's disappearing made her angry. Little was known about the reasons, a lot was being told and most of it concerned that Harry Potter boy in one way or another.

At first sight, Potter looked like an ordinary boy his age: all ruffled, emotional, very angry for no reason Rebecca could track. But there was something odd about him, and Rebecca didn't believe all what the Slytherins said; this was a fifteen-year-old boy, a student. Rebecca contemplated he had witnessed Lord Voldemort's return the year before that, the boy had fought with him and then with the Ministry - well, the Slytherins were just being stupid.

With that, Rebecca closed the topic, and for the purposes of exercise, her mind.

A/N: Since I believe Tom Riddle never had the opportunity to experience living with a woman, and since he was born before the advertisement BOOM in TV could affect him, I claim he simply doesn't have a clue! (a bit stretched, but hey - he could, couldn't he? ;))
I often notice how little these things get in way in films and books. The women in stories somehow evade their cycles - or at least the disadvantages.