It's taken some time to sort out this chapter – still grappling with the plot – and I have A Levels to study for. Enjoy
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Hermione broke the silence first; in her opinion; the hush had gone on long enough. She twisted in his arms to stare up into his face, supporting herself by resting back against one knee.
"Right, so we're stuck – now what?"
Snape glanced down at her in confusion. Didn't the girl understand? 'Stuck Indefinitely' pretty much said it all.
Hermione continued, ignoring his expression, "I mean, what have we got to deal with here? Have we got any food? Water? Bathroom? Beds?" She made sure to make the last word plural – she didn't want him to get the wrong impression. Not just yet, anyway she thought.
The professor looked at her quizzically for a moment, before he did a most unexpected thing, and snorted with laughter. Hermione was thoroughly confused and taken aback.
"May I ask what you find so amusing, Sir?" When he continued to chuckle, she began to feel a little annoyed. "Look, this isn't funny! We are stuck in a small, badly-lit room with little or no chance of getting out in the foreseeable future – now just what is it that is entertaining you so much?"
Snape managed to stifle a "You!" before he subsided once again into sniggering chortles.
Now quite enraged, Hermione glared up at the helpless Potions master. He caught the fiery look she was aiming at him and allowed his mirth to peter out; that girl, he decided, could burn holes in him with eyes like those. As his laughter subsided into the occasional chuckle, he at last managed to answer Hermione's accusing gaze.
"It's you," he repeated his earlier exclamation. Noting Hermione's expression, he carried on, "We're stuck in this tiny room and all you can worry about is the fact that it's 'badly-lit'. And you immediately try to figure out your assets – food, bathroom etc. I mean – it's just so you!"
"Go on," she muttered.
"I mean – anyone else would be banging their head against the wall," he demonstrated in comic fashion, "or bursting into hysterics because they are forced to spend time in the same room as the greasy, dungeon bat!" He glanced at Hermione for confirmation.
"Yes, I suppose you're right. But – I'm not just 'anyone else'-"
"Precisely – which is why it's so funny. You're just so... Hermione Granger."
She looked at him oddly, "I'll take that as a compliment."
He leant back against the wall, relaxing slightly. "In answer to your earlier questions, I believe we'll be alright. I can't think that someone would lock us in a room deliberately and leave us to starve."
Hermione frowned, "Someone locked us in? Did this deliberately? But why?"
He shrugged, "I've no idea. But doors don't just lock themselves. Someone of significant magical power must have sealed this door; they would have to first overrule my own personal wards on the gateway. And I would guess that they've also placed us under some kind of time-freeze, so that time stands still outside; otherwise our combined absences wouldn't go unnoticed for very long." He sat for a while deep in thought.
She had to admit, she was impressed. Snape had obviously worked all this out by himself – she supposed it made a lot of sense. Except the reason she thought, why would someone want to lock us in? Vengeance? No – not even Malfoy is that powerful
"Anyway," Snape interrupted her thoughts, "Back to the present situation. First thing's first: bathroom is over there – this cupboard connects straight through to my own personal bathroom." She looked up at him with raised eyebrow, "In case of emergencies?" He offered, before moving on. "Anyway, second important asset: food." He shoved his hands into his voluminous pockets and dug around in them, finally extracting an apple core and a few bread crumbs. "These will do," he muttered.
"Sorry, Sir," Hermione was confused, "But what are you doing?"
He looked up at her with a smirk on his features, "Oh don't tell me the great Granger hasn't thought of this." She looked blankly at him. "Ok – it's a simple transfiguration spell. You take a small piece of the original food, and from a single crumb, you can recreate that item. This process can go on for as long as you like, so long as there's always part of the item to transfigure." He gave Hermione the smallest of winks. "So, what have you got in your pockets?"
Embarrassed at not having spotted the solution earlier, Hermione fished around in her own pockets. "Right... I've got... one square of chocolate... some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans... and... a rather squashed grape." She tipped her small pile of booty onto her cloak.
"Right, that's good. I think we'll leave the beans for now though," he grimaced a little at the memory of an earwax-flavoured sweet, "But the rest should be fine." Drawing out his wand, he muttered the spell under his breath and gave the baton an elaborate whirl. Suddenly Hermione found her cloak weighed down with several bunches of grapes, a dozen apples, four rolls and a large unwrapped bar of Honeyduke's finest chocolate.
Grinning at this turn of events, Hermione thanked him. "Brilliant, Professor! But what about drink – you don't happen to have a flask of pumpkin juice on your person, do you?
Snape shook his head, "No, but I do have a charm that might fix that." Drawing out his wand again, he uttered a single word: "Aguamenti".
The next instant, Hermione found herself soaked to the skin. Snape cursed to himself; he must have given the spell a little too much force, as the gush of water that was expelled from the wand-tip had practically knocked the unsuspecting girl over. However, he couldn't stop the smirk from spreading across his features, "Next time, you might want to open your mouth a bit."
Hermione was not impressed with the witty remark. Soaking wet and in shock, she had only one suitable reaction in mind. She sprung up from her prone position, and launched herself at the amused Potions Master.
Snape was not feeling quite so amused when the next moment found him flattened against the floor on his back, the breath knocked out of him by the small witch straddling him. However, when she tried to knock some sense into him, his mirth returned full-throttle. Her flailing fists lacked direction and power, and it didn't take much effort on his part to stop her assault on his chest. Grabbing Hermione's wrists, Snape chuckled lightly:
"All right, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you all wet! Think I put a bit too much effort into that charm – that's all. Please," he had to restrain her fists again, "stop trying to hit me."
Breathing hard with dissipating anger, Hermione abandoned her attempts at physical harm, and settled for just getting her breath back. She was also acutely aware of the awkward situation she now found herself in; she obviously had learned nothing from the night before. Here she was, straddling Snape, her hands still in his grasp, and her damp wet robes were not helping.
Snape too was thinking along a similar vein. The confusion had left him breathless, though now he wasn't sure that he could blame his heart-rate entirely on shock. After their escapades last night, he thought he had learnt his lesson – why was it that she this power over him? Never before had he seen anything quite so sexy; she was wet, dishevelled and flushed, resting comfortably on his hips, with those damp robes doing nothing to hide her figure or tiny bumps of her nipples.
The urge to kiss her was almost irresistible, and Snape wasn't too sure how long he could restrain himself. Hermione found a warm need rising in her stomach, as she gazed down into his obsidian eyes. Unconsciously she leant forwards, so that her face hovered a foot above his. She didn't notice the drip of water run down her nose, until it fell with a soft 'plop' onto his cheek. She somehow found herself bending down to his face, and lightly licking the droplet off his skin, tasting the saltiness of his sweat mixed in with the water.
At this action, Snape stopped breathing; never had he found something so simple, so erotic. It had been a long time since any woman had willingly touched his face, let alone lick it. Not wanting to move, lest he disturb this wonderful girl, he closed his eyes and concentrated on controlling his breathing.
Hermione's movement caused two more drops to adorn his features, and she sought them out with no hesitation. First she leant down to a droplet on the tip of his aquiline nose, sealing he lips around it and gently sucking the moisture up. The second water-drop had landed on Snape's upper lip, and Hermione stopped for the first time to consider her position. While one side of her mind argued that this was a huge mistake, and very wrong, the other louder voices encouraged her. Well she thought, in for a knut in for a galleon, I guess. Anyway, for the past couple of months, I've dreamt of doing much worse things than this. She grinned to herself as she slowly lowered her lips to his, I'll admit that I like him and I want him, so here goes nothing...
Snape's eyes shot open as her lips touched his. It was like an electric shock passing through him at their point of contact. He felt as though he was in heaven, or at least some alternate reality; pretty girls did not suddenly fall for ugly potions masters, neither was this girl under the influence of alcohol or the Imperio curse. Relaxing into her simple touch, Snape at last closed his eyes and decided to go with the flow.
The only thing that concerned him was how far he would let her go before his barely restrained passion was unleashed. He didn't want to rush anything, but when he felt her tongue sweep against his lower lip, begging entrance, something inside of him snapped. He opened his mouth wide against hers, feeling her lips mirroring his as they slid against each other.
As the last of his restraint vanished, Snape pulled down hard on her wrists, forcing her damp body to lie flush with his, at the same time plunging his tongue into her mouth. He felt her hands entangle themselves in his shoulder-length black hair, as their tongues danced together, as though engaged in some furious battle. He released one of her wrists, and used his spare hand to explore her back, running it down from the nape of her neck, along her spine, and eventually coming to rest on the rounded cheek of her bum.
Hermione shivered and moaned softly, as the sensations she felt expressed themselves verbally. Snape felt the vibrations through his tongue, and they released some primal instinct inside of him. No longer content to feel her lying placidly on top of him, he rolled them both over in one motion, resting his weight on her. From this new angle, he could express his passion more thoroughly; he ravaged her mouth, exploring every corner, hungry for her taste. His hands slid down her side as he sought out every new curve and dip in her figure.
Wriggling under him, Hermione kissed him back with a fierce passion, moving her hands to his shoulders, pulling him even closer to her. When his hand slipped between their bodies, he found the curved hillock of her breast, and ran an exploratory thumb over her nipple, Hermione groaned into his mouth. Encouraged, Snape concentrated on the raised bump, feeling it easily thought the damp robes. Dazed by passion, it crossed Hermione's mind that she was actually being groped by her Potions Professor; but somewhere along the line, she had come to the decision that this was in fact, a welcome action. If she was felt easy or promiscuous, she didn't care, all she cared about was here and now, and this man lying on top of her.
So she wriggled her hips a little more, and allowed him to further his explorations. Wanting to take her all in, in case he never got another chance, Snape tried his luck, venturing his hand a bit further south. When Hermione felt his palm brush against her nether regions, she squeaked, and quickly slid out from under him. That was unexpected she thought wildly, I'm not sure if I want to go there quite yet.
Not knowing what to say to the stunned Snape, Hermione did the only thing that made sense. "Bathroom," she burst out, before turning tail and running to the door he had indicated earlier.
To her relief, the door opened smoothly, and Hermione fell into the biggest bathroom she had ever seen. She spent only a moment taking in the Olympic-sized bath, shining black tiles, and huge ornate mirror, before dashing over to the sink. Running the cold tap, she splashed copious amounts of cold water in her face, trying to force some rational thought into her head. She looked up into the mirror, and saw her bedraggled and flushed appearance staring back,
"Bad day, dear?"
Hermione had not bargained on the mirror being able to speak, and she stepped back hastily. She didn't notice the small puddle on the shiny black tiles.
The next thing Severus Snape heard was a shriek and a muffled THUMP.
Jumping up, he flew to the bathroom; entering the room, he looked down and saw Hermione.
She lay on the floor, pale and soaked through.
He saw the rapidly spreading puddle next to her head.
It was crimson.
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Oh I'm evil – I love cliffhangers. You'll have to wait in suspense for next chapter. Will try and update soon.
R & R...
