Ch. 11— Wrong Side of the Bed

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Hermione awoke exhausted, feeling strung out and inexplicably angry. In fact, she couldn't ascribe to it a reason or a person, really…. only that she felt very…out of sorts.

Groaning, she stiffly made her way from the bedroom to the bathroom, and then from the bathroom to don her workout clothes. Gods! If she ever needed to work out some frustration in the gym, it was today.

Michael was already there when she joined him. Only pausing to give him the briefest of smiles, she climbed the treadmill and began to run—head on, running for all she was worth. After a few minutes, she began breathing hard, panting. Her cheeks red with exertion and sweat began pouring from her brow.

"Whoa. Easy, there, tiger." A hand reached over and adjusted her settings so that she was running at a slower tempo. Hermione didn't pause to think, just adjusted them back to where they'd been and kept on, pushing her body to extremes.

"Hermione?" Michael questioned.

She didn't answer, just kept running full-tilt.

"Granger, you're going to do yourself injury if you keep pushing yourself like that."

In answer, Hermione increased the speed of the treadmill and ran faster. From the mirror's reflection, she saw him throw up his hands and dismount the machine beside her.

She ran on.

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Merlin! Lucius thought as he watched Hermione torture herself on the muggle device. He had no doubt that this was in response to the dreams. She looked exhausted, bleary-eyed, as if she'd really spent a night crying her heart out instead of the restless night's sleep she'd had.

His heart ached, for it was obvious she was in pain.

He looked over at Severus to see him looking at the girl with such a look of misery on his face, it was more than apparent he was distressed as well.

The gel continued to torture herself as they all looked on, and in impotent frustration, Lucius went over to her and laid a soothing hand on her shoulder. It went right through her, of course; he couldn't touch her. But what happened next was a curious thing for she looked up, and he saw her face clear of some of the nameless emotion that was crowding it. And then she was slowing down to a jog and then to a stop, panting heavily.

Lucius kept his hand hovering near her shoulder, his other near her waist in a pantomime of an embrace, and for just for a moment, she leaned back into his non-existent arms, and then almost collapsed for there was no one there to catch her.

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Severus watched as Lucius's eyes widened when Hermione almost toppled over into him.

"Jesus, Hermione! Get your arse over here now before you fall down!" The muggle bastard ordered of her. Severus watched as the Mic gestured to one of the plastic mats on the floor, and shakily, she all but limped over and dropped heavily to a seated position on the mat. Severus moved closer to her, and squatted down on one side of her with Lucius on the other.

"Come here." The muggle tsk'd, and taking one of her calves into his hands began to work on the tight muscle groupings there. She winced.

"Well, it's what you get," the bastard said to her as he continued to roughly massage. "You should know better!"

She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth. "Oww, I do, Oh! I really do."

"Then what the hell?!" The muggle bastard gave a vicious pull of her leg that sent her toppling onto her back with him leaning over her, her leg fully extended upon his shoulder as he stretched it taut.

She panted, her cheeks red, "I was… I guess… I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," she groaned as the muggle moved up to her thighs, all but pounding the muscles there, and then treating the other leg to the same harsh treatment. He slowed and cupping her thigh in his hands, beginning to rub it down more gently.

The interloping Mic's eyes gleamed with mischief. "Well, that's some excuse for abusing yourself, lady, but I'm here to tell ya, Sweets, there are other ways to vent your frustrations."

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Lucius watched as Severus drew closer to Hermione, his body now hovering over hers proprietarily, and he saw in dawning realization as Hermione physically shifted away from him and toward himself and the muggle, her eyes alit with playful mischief as she bantered back with the boy. "Such as…?"

The muggle looked distracted. "Such as what, Sweets?" He was now doing a very thorough job of massaging her thighs and calves, and Lucius could see the beginnings of arousal set in Hermione's eyes.

Severus only hovered closer to the pair, scowling at the both of them.

"The other ways to vent my frustrations…?" wide-eyed, she led him, inching still closer to Lucius and further into the muggle's massaging hands… and away from Severus.

"Ah," The muggle smirked, "Well I can at least think of one…."

She wrinkled her nose. "Only one?"

He bent over her and whispered, "One's all I need darlin'."

They all watched as Hermione lunged forward and kissed the muggle passionately. Severus, clearly beside himself, made a dive to stop her, grasping at only air, and only causing her to act more aggressively, more wantonly with the muggle.

Severus began shouting and cursing the both of them.

The muggle broke the kiss, breathing heavily and looking down at her. "Your room, my room—hell, the bathroom! We just need to get off the goddamned floor and away from prying eyes."

She nodded and found his mouth once more, kissing him ferociously as the muggle straddled her fully.

"Severus!" Lucius shouted over his vehement cursing. "FOR MERLIN'S SAKE! MOVE TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM; YOU'RE MAKING HER ACT THIS WAY!"

Gods! They were going to do it! If Severus didn't stop inciting Hermione's behavior, the muggle and she were going to have sex right there on the floor! They already were pantomiming the act: their bodies gliding sinuously across each other's clothed forms, hands traveling everywhere, mouths feasting on one another.

In desperation, Lucius made a mad grab for Severus's collar, and catching hold, pulled until he had lifted him up and away from the pair, and viciously shoved him away. Breathing heavily, Lucius pointed to the corner of the room, brooking no refusal from Severus, while the pair of would-be lovers continued in their horizontal dance upon the floor.

Reluctantly, Severus moved across the room, panting heavily, and rubbing the back of his neck, watching in anguish as the two continued in their foreplay.

His emotions churning, Lucius knelt by Hermione's head and touched a curl at her nape, ghosting his fingers across the dewy skin of her collar bone. She immediately pulled back from the muggle's kiss and looked up at the man, blinking confusedly. Lucius increased the contact, putting both hands near her shoulders and resting his bowed head above hers.

He whispered urgently, "Hermione, please, my girl, don't do this; you don't have to do this." And he prayed she would listen, prayed she could feel him urging her to back away.

He saw her visibly tense, and then pale as she looked at the muggle above her, still grinding his clothed hips into her own. "m-Michael. Michael?"

The muggle stopped moving and looked down at her expectantly.

She blushed the color of shame. "I—I don't know what came over me. I—I'm so sorry. I—"

The muggle blinked and turned his face away from her. Lucius and Severus could both see from their respective positions the look of abject hatred and disgust he had on his face—the look of wanting to conquer, to weaken, to claim. It appeared and was gone in an instant, but both of them had seen it.

And Hermione had not.

The muggle turned back to her and smiled understandingly—disarmingly. "That's alright, love. Here, let me help you up." And when he did so, Hermione quickly moved away from him and towards where Lucius stood.

For his part, Lucius stood as close to her as he could, literally cocooning her in his non-corporeal form, and he saw her draw a shaky breath and relax slightly.

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"Time to hit the showers?" Michael said jovially, almost jokingly, as he grabbed a towel and threw it to her.

Hermione's cheeks flamed as she heard his off-hand comment and the double-meaning behind it, and she buried her face in the towel, feeling the need to apologize again. My gods! A cock-tease! She had just been a cock-tease! She had thrown herself at him, and then refused to follow through!

She had just ruined their friendship, and she didn't even know WHY she had done it! Why she had thrown herself at him in such a way?

It was completely unlike her.

What was wrong with her?!

"Hermione… Earth to Hermione, come in Hermione."

She looked up to find Michael standing before her, his usual, jovial grin in place as he looked down on her. She lowered her chin, suddenly feeling the urge to cry. His arms circled around her, and she stiffened. Gods! She didn't want to be held—not by him. She had to physically stop herself from pulling away.

"It's alright, love. We'll get there in time, and I'm a very patient man."

At his words, she shuddered and stepped back from him towards the door. "S-sorry, just cold all of a sudden," she explained as she turned her back on him, and opened the door. She didn't turn back to face him, only standing by the doorframe when she said, "Breakfast in the lounge after we clean up a bit?"

She heard him respond, "I'll meet you there." Giving a curt nod, Hermione left and fled, taking the stairs two at a time to her room.

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Lucius followed her, Severus trailing close behind them. He did not like the look upon her face, and her hands were shaking so much it took three tries and a round of cursing before she was able to get the door to her room to open.

She closed it with a slam and immediately began taking off her sweat-sodden clothes.

Concerned, Lucius followed her into the bathroom as she twisted the tap to its hottest, most punishing setting, and climbed in, sinking down to the floor.

And then, she began to cry.

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Severus watched helplessly as she sank to the floor of the shower, tears mingling with water that was brutal in its heat on her already pinkened flesh.

Gods, but she was punishing herself! She drew her knees up to her chest and balled into her clenched fists. He bent to get closer to her, feeling so gods-damned helpless and guilty for how she felt, and she drew back, screaming and clutching at her head.

"SEVERUS! GET BACK!" Lucius roared at him, and wide-eyed, Severus did so, going into the other room, Hell! The other side of the damned hotel, the other side of the planet if he needed to. He had done this to her. Gods! He had done this to her. It was his fault.

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A/N: For all those readers that do choose to leave a review, please note that I look at and cherish each and every one, and time willing, reply accordingly. Thank you so much for your input and continued interest in my little tale! Your support means so much!

More soon.

xxkattiaxx