Title: Gods In Love

Chapter 10: In which Snape gives himself a talking-to, Harry is ahem inspired, and our flame-haired god goes hunting tree-spirits.

Disclaimer: I do not own J.K Rowling's magical world of witches and wizards, or any of the characters in it. If you know the series, you will be able to pick out which characters are mine.

Description: In their seventh year, a wizarding sex shop opens for business in Hogsmeade, causing tension among the students and leading to unusual events and pairings (Ron x Hermione x Draco, Snape x ??).

A/N: Sorry I'm so slow between chapters guys!! I've just got so much on my plate these days :'(

All these new crazy twisty plot turns keep coming to me! Waha! It looks like the end, whenever it arrives, is going to be nutso, and probably not at all what most of you want or expect, lol. XD

Enjoy ;)

O0O0O0O

'God... what the bloody hell am I going to do about this?' Harry thought to himself anxiously. A nasty voice in his head whispered: 'Tell Ron. He should know about his...' but Harry shoved it aside. That would accomplish nothing. Ron would be furious at Hermione and Hermione would be furious at him for having told Ron. That certainly wasn't what he wanted.

The dreadful image of Draco using Hermione that way was stuck fast in his mind's eye; the expression of pleasure on Draco's face etched indelibly on the inside of his eyelids.

"Augh." he muttered to himself, stalking down the hall towards Gryffindor tower looking rather more angsty and troubled than usual.

And what on Earth had that moment between he and Hermione been all about? He flushed.

He supposed he'd had a tiny crush on her once, about the time her front teeth had shrunk and he'd realized she was actually quite pretty... but he'd known all along that Ron had a bigger thing for her (even though Ron didn't know it himself at the time). The crush had waned quickly and only friendship had remained... he thought. He made a face as he walked.

'...bizarre... getting together with Hermione would be like incest or something...'

He desperately needed to talk to someone though. Better someone both he and Hermione trusted; Ginny. Surely she would know what to make of all this. He walked quickly for the common room, the scene he had witnessed replaying itself mercilessly as he went, making him both angrier and more aroused. The feeling drove him insane; but he acknowledged it was really impossible for a healthy teenage boy to witness something so explicit and feel otherwise...

Barking the password at an insulted-looking Fat Lady he entered the room and caught Ginny's eye. She started over to him, but once she saw the expression on his face, she slowed a little. Harry couldn't imagine what he looked like at the moment. There was a mix of intense fury and something else in his eyes. He grabbed Ginny by the wrist and as discretely as possible pulled her out of the portrait hole into the hallway, taking out the Maurauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

His facial expression combined with the words spoken gave Ginny a shiver.

What was going on?

O0O0O0O

Snape hovered indecisively just outside the door to his dungeon apartments. He received another barrage of paper cranes from Deia, begging him to meet. Each had put Snape in a progressively sourer mood, driving him to invent new and elaborate tortures for each of them as they arrived. This one perished by flame, that one by conjured acid, the one following it by being shredded into tiny pieces transfigured into sharp metal to mail he next... and through all of it he realized: 'Maybe I should speak with her...'

He had left his apartments purposefully enough, but his drive had withered a measly metre or so beyond the door. He had been pacing since, collecting the messages from the paper cranes as they'd arrived, trying ot read into any possible deeper significance their messages could hold.

After a quarter hour of this frustration, he turned to enter his apartments again. As he did, a familiar voice spoke up:

"Severus, if I could have a word with you?"

Snape wheeled about, livid.

"I know." he seethed. "I know. And what's more; I know that you know that I know." he began pacing furiously once more. "I should speak to her. Love... your precious love is far more important than my wounded pride."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but Snape rounded on him again, one finger raised.

"You and your damned 'words of wisdom'." he snarled, "You're right! One hundred percent RIGHT! I'll do it, alright? I'll do it!"

Dumbledore watched Snape, who had finally stopped pacing to stand, fists clenched, breathing heavily and glaring through the headmaster with his dark eyes.

"I know not what is troubling you Severus, but I wish you the best of luck with it. I was simply here to inform you that this afternoon's staff meeting has been moved to tomorrow at the same time." Dumbledore gave him a slight nod and a polite smile. "I shall see you then."

With this, Dumbledore turned and walked away.

"Infuriating old man..." Snape muttered to himself, and then headed in the opposite direction, to Deia's apartments.

O0O0O0O

Harry dragged Ginny down the hall.

"Harry..." she began, not knowing exactly what to ask. 'Are you ok? ...um, no. He's not...'

"...what happened?" she finally finished. Harry's frown deepened as his eyes scanned the map, not looking back at Ginny. He stopped abruptly in front of a men's washroom.

"No one inside." he muttered and pulled her in behind him. "Colloportus."

He turned to face her.

"I don't even know where to start!" he said, furious and flustered. "I just can't stop seeing it and it's making me feel-" His features screwed up and he ran a hand through his wiry hair, making it messier than it already was.

Suddenly Ginny found herself being kissed with intensity. She could feel him hard against the inside of her leg.

'Whoa!' her brain cried out, 'Harry is never like this...' His fingers were curled so tightly around her shoulders it hurt. He broke the kiss a moment. Between the crackling rage about him and the strange pleading his eyes Ginny divined what he wanted, and obliged him. Swept away by his aggressiveness she spun them around, shoving him into the door. Falling to her knees, she unzipped his pants and set to work. Harry moaned softly and let his head lean back against the door, taking a handful of Ginny's ginger hair in his hand. He came shortly, his breath in uneven gasps.

"Wow." was all he said, zipping up his pants and sliding down the door to sit. He lowered his head a moment, adjusting his glasses and regaining his composure. Ginny shifted to sit beside him.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

Harry looked up, his expression somewhat sheepish.

"Sorry..." he said.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't apologize, it was fun." She grinned at him, "You know, every now and then."

Harry smiled a little at this. His smile faded almost immediately. His gaze shifted to an unfixed point across the room.

"I went to get Hermione from her detention... I..." his expression looked painful. "I walked in on them engaged in... augh."

Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Harry..." she said hesitantly, putting a hand on his knee, "Hermione's a person too... It's not that hard to imagine her having sex or whatever..."

Anger sparked in his eyes.

"And what about if it was with Draco Malfoy?"

Ginny's mouth fell open. She hadn't thought anything would ever come of it... could ever come of it... The two were so different, although nearly perfectly matched according to the Sexual Match Finder. She sighed. Was this the reason Hermione had broken up with her brother? She hadn't spoken with her much lately, their schedules not matching up well. As for Harry, sitting next to her with a look on his face pleading her to tell him it was all going to be alright... she didn't know what to say. She had to talk to Hermione. A horrible thought occurred to her.

"You didn't tell Ron did you?"

"Of course not." said Harry, "I wasn't in any fit state to speak to him."

"True." said Ginny, with a giggle. She slid into Harry's lap, straddling him and unbuckling his belt.

"Whoa, wait!" he said, "We can't have sex in the bathroom!"

Ginny laughed full out. "I just gave you oral sex in the bathroom... we may as well keep on..."

"Well, when you put it that way..." said Harry, smiling slowly.

O0O0O0O

Not too far away, Ron was sitting alone upstairs in his dorm room on his four-poster bed. He had in his hands his red Sexual Match Finder. At the store he'd just grabbed one at random, but it seemed too appropriate he'd end up with red in the end. His hands were trembling slightly; partially from anxiety and partially from anger.

Sitting alone in his room he'd made a few realizations:

He'd let Hermione go without a fight. He gritted his teeth at the thought. He'd had her. She'd been his and he just let her go without a contrary word. The thought caused something to tighten behind his eyes and something to twist deep in his chest.

Secondly, he'd finally wrapped his head around the reason she had left him; because he wouldn't sleep with her. What on Earth could it mean? Was that really the reason? He'd never pegged Hermione as the type of girl to value physical needs over emotional needs...

'But everyone has their secret sides.' he thought to himself, sighing.

He also had the most terrible sneaking suspicion she'd broken up with him for someone else; someone who could give her what he hadn't been able too. The thought made him blind with fury. Hermione was a smart, practical girl; she wouldn't have left him for nothing... for no one...

The SMF shone clear through his anger-blurred vision.

If Hermione had found someone else, then so would he.

He wondered for a brief moment whether it was a good idea to find a partner for a lasting relationship with a system designed to match people's sexual desires and then turned on the SMF and pulled up the list of highest matches.

Apollo's Top Match is: Dryad

Ron thought to himself a moment, trying to remember where he knew the word 'dryad' from. 'Oh!' he remembered all at once, 'Care of Magical Creatures! Those shy little tree creatures...' He read on:

His/Her statistics are:

- Ability: Fair (Virgin; 2nd base)

- Potential: Excellent

- He/She can improve by: being less tentative, practising

- He/She prefers his/her partners to be: patient, gentle, not too forward

- His/Her tendencies are to be: shy, tentative, submissive, adverse to pressure, romantic

- Specific target at the moment is: none

- Total partners: 1 [Further breakdown provided upon request

- Characteristics of his/her ideal partner would be: dominant, patient, relaxed, willing to guide, romantic

- Current compatibility with Apollo: 78 percent

Ron smiled somewhat bitterly. 'She sounds just like what I want...' he thought to himself, even though the voice at the back of his mind whispered:

'What you want is a replacement for Hermione.'

He frowned, ignoring the thought, and speaking his message into the device:

"Do you want to meet?"

O0O0O0O

Snape stood in front of the door to Deia's apartments. He muttered something to himself and turned to leave when he heard the door open behind him and felt a hand placed hesitantly on his shoulder.

"Please Severus..." said Deia, "Let me explain."

Snape let out a long breath, and faced her.

Beautiful.

Her eyes, lined with dark, full lashes looked pleadingly into his own.

He nodded curtly in assent, and entered.

O0O0O0O

A/N: DRAMATIC MUSIC What's gonna happen?!

Sorry that took so long :S I'm up to my eyebrows in schoolwork.

Corabell, TenchiMoete, clairelovesedward, RdHeadGirl, PinkINK1362,1angelette and oreo07: Thanks a lot for your reviews!

There are 29 people who get an alert regarding the updating of this fic and 16 who've added it to their favourites list :) Wowie! Thanks a lot guys! Just to let you know... I receive an average of 5-6 reviews a chapter... I suck at math but, I'm not hearing from a lot of you folks! Let me know what you think! I CRAVE VALIDATION! lols.

See you next chapter!

Planeswalker

PS To Tenchi: The event you requested is coming at the beginning of next chapter :3