Chapter Twelve
The Good Side of Drinking
(A/N -- Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed, It means a lot to me and I'm glad you liked it! Hopefully this chapter will be one that will clear some things up! Enjoy )
Despite Ginny's constant drabble about how 'when you kiss someone, really kiss them, your mind goes blank and your stomach fills with butterflies and everything is just perfect', Hermione's mind filled with a million thoughts at once. .
Oh Merlin, I'm kissing a teacher. I'm kissing Snape. Again. Who is that at the door I wonder? Oh, his mouth. Definitely tastes like liquor, yes. I should stop. And now his hips are pushing, harder… And her mind finally went blissfully blank as he ground his hips against her and moved his lips' attention to her neck.
'She's far too short,' he thought absentmindedly, pulling his arms from her and placing them underneath her bottom, which had thankfully stopped wiggling, distracting him from his teacherly duties. Which reminded him, the young witch he had in his grasp was indeed his student. He pondered this only briefly before lifting her up by her arse, pressing her harder into the wall behind her, making her cry out and wrap her legs around his waist. Was it abnormally hot in here? How many layers of clothes am I wearing? This robe needs to go.
He ceased his ministrations on her neck temporarily to relieve himself of his robe which was making everything stiflingly hot and was distracting him from… things.
Hermione sighed at the loss of contact, taking a moment to breathe, which she seemed to have forgotten to do for the past five minutes. She looked to her left, seeing the door to her unfinished store closet, that was certainly almost as dirty now as it was when she came in for detention. She looked to her right and was startled to see a flash of bright green come underneath Snape's door that led to his private area.
"Pr-Professor, I think someone just flooed into your room," she sputtered out, suddenly nervous all over again.
"Quiet, girl. That's nonsense. No one in their right mind would floo into my private room without telling me they were to do so first," He said indignantly, finally getting his robe off, throwing it on the floor.
"No really, sir, I really think there is someone in…" she started again.
"Girl, I'm telling you that there is no one there!" he breathed out.
"Severus? Are you here?" a voice came from his private chambers and he started. Damn. He looked at Hermione who was still sandwiched between the wall and himself, long legs still wrapped around his hips, her lips red and swollen.
"Shit," he muttered, quickly untangling himself from her grasp and looking around for his robe. His vision was still very blurry and his head was swimming.
"Severus? Are you there?" called the voice again.
"Yes, Albus, I'm here. I'll be there in just a moment," Severus said, trying to think of all the things that he would get in trouble for as soon as the Headmaster walked into the room.
But he did not have time to put on his robe, get into his store cupboard to get a vial of sobering potion, or even to tell Hermione that she needed to hide before Albus Dumbledore opened the door that separated his private rooms to his classroom, and strode in.
"Severus, I knocked on your door a moment ago but you didn't answer. I thought something might have happened," Dumbledore said, smiling.
"And why would you, er, think that, Albus?" Snape said uneasily, looking around for Hermione, who was nowhere to be found. He put on his robe, finally, and clumsily, trying to focus on the old man that stood before him.
"Well, that is why I came, Severus old boy. There has been a… disturbance, you might say. Are you feeling well? You look a bit off, "He implored, looking closer at Severus Snape through his half-moon spectacles, examining. Snape looked away, because he was already wholly uncomfortable with the man being here under the present circumstances.
"I'm fine, Albus. Can we talk about this later? I am far behind on my grading and --," he began, only to be cut off once again.
"It will only take just a minute. It's about the Malfoy's. I want you to excuse young Draco Malfoy from classes until otherwise specified. He is with his mother in a safe house that I set up, especially for them. It seems that Lucius has gone a bit… funny since Voldemort's death. It's a real wonder how he escaped Azkaban, but I suppose that is not in my jurisdiction now is it?"
Dumbledore rambled on for a few more minutes about the where's and the how's but Severus could hardly pay attention anymore; he was far too drunk. He would be sure to ask Albus later when he was a little bit more sober, but now was not the time for this talk.
Where was Granger, by the way?
"Do you understand, Severus?" What?
"Yes, Headmaster. And if I have any questions about Draco Malfoy or if I see Lucius, I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible," Snape said, trying to sound as vague as possible while also trying to keep his words from slurring together. His tongue kept sticking to the roof of his mouth.
"Okay, I will see you at breakfast tomorrow morning. And, Severus? Get some sleep. Your eyes look a bit bloodshot," Albus said, his knowing eyes twinkling behind his spectacles. He turned around, midnight blue robes sparkling with silver stars and walked to Snape's fireplace and floo'd back to the Headmaster's quarters to get some much needed rest.
Snape let out a huge breath that he did not know he had been holding.
"Granger! Where are you?" He called out, feeling foolish that he had lost the girl not once or twice, but three times now in his own chambers.
He was about to call for her again when he heard shuffling from behind him and saw her coming out of the store cupboard that she was supposed to be cleaning in the first place.
"Professor," she said in a meek voice, nodding her head at him, her lips pressed tightly together. Everything about this whole situation had just gotten a lot more awkward all of the sudden. Everything that had been okay ten minutes ago was just not okay anymore.
Making out with a professor, again, Hermione? Really?
And then he felt the awkwardness creep into him, though it was suppressed by the flow of alcohol in his veins. Something really was wrong with this whole situation, wasn't it?
"I guess it's probably a good idea if I, uh, go," he heard her say, but he was already walking in the direction of his personal chambers, ready to escape this hell of a day through many hours of sleep, dreamless sleep potion, and perhaps only a few weeks of therapy if he was lucky. He heard her say something else but her words fell on deaf ears as he entered his study and closed the door, drowning her out. He signed from behind the door – what the hell had he been thinking?
She tried to ask him if she should still come to detention the following evening, but he just turned around and walked away, completely ignoring her and leaving her to stand in the middle of the classroom, bewildered. She turned to walk out of the room, closing the door lightly and making the long trek back to her head's dorm where she no longer had to worry about running into Malfoy since she knew he was with his mother, wherever that was. She said the password
and climbed the staircase to her room, flopping down on the bed without changing into her nightwear. She opened the drawer to her nightstand and pulled out a bottle of dreamless sleep potion and drank its entire contents. She sighed from on top of her duvet – what the hell had she been thinking?
The next day, Hermione went through her day, meals, and classes trying desperately not to think about what took place the night before, as well as avoiding Ginny's incessant interrogation.
"Hermione, what happened last night?"
"Hermione, why do you look so disheveled?"
"Hermione is that a hickey on your neck?"
"Hermione, did you do the naughty with Snape?"
Even Harry was asking her what was wrong, constantly trying to pry it out of her: he was definitely back to his old self. It was all becoming too much, and she noticed that she had started biting her lips again, successfully bringing about a few scabs by the time she grudgingly made her way towards Snape's dungeon for her second detention. She wasn't even sure if he wanted her there after their… shenanigans. She kept her mind as blank as she could as she knocked on his door. At first she thought he would not answer, but when he did, she wished he had not.
He ripped open the door and looked her straight in the earlobe as he spoke.
"Your detentions are cancelled, Miss Granger, indefinitely. If for some reason you feel as though this is unfair and you would like further punishment, you can take it up with the headmaster. You will not be taking any more advanced potions because I have cancelled the class. If it were entirely up to me, I would have you thrown out of my regular potions class, but unfortunately I cannot do as such. Any questions?" It was a rhetorical question, obviously, since he did not wait for her response, and merely slammed the door in her face, leaving her momentarily stunned.
She felt a strange feeling bubble up from inside her throat that felt suspiciously like sadness, though she would not examine her thoughts further, for it was dangerous grounds. She swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way to the library to catch up on some homework.
Snape had panicked. What else was he to do, besides throw her out of his room and out of his sight? If he hadn't done that, he would have kissed her senseless, this time dragging her into his bedchambers and who knows what would have come of that?
He waited on the other side of the door and listened to her footsteps die away before he went back to his study.
Meanwhile, Ginny was in the Gryffindor dormitory with Harry, having him help her with her Herbology homework.
"I just don't get it. Why would anyone want to crossbreed Fanged Geraniums with Alihotsy? It says right here that Alihotsy causes hysteria," Ginny huffed, scribbling out a section of her parchment and rubbing her temples.
"I really don't know Ginny, I was never really very attentive in Herbology. I'm not even taking it this year, luckily," Harry said, looking legitimately apologetic that he could not help.
Neville Longbottom suddenly appeared out of nowhere, eating a pumpkin pasty that he must have snatched from the kitchens after dinner. "Actually Ginny, it's only the leaves that cause hysteria. It says it almost word for word in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I thought everyone knew that," he said, taking another large bite of his pasty. "Don't feel bad, it's actually the second most commonly made mistake in Herbology; Professor Sprout told me."
"Oh, thanks Neville. What's the most common mistake?" Ginny asked, though she was not truly that interested.
Neville, however, was very interested. "Well, people get really confused between Flitterbloom and Devil's Snare. Of course, I'd much rather come in contact with some Flitterbloom than –"
But Neville was cut off by Lavender and Parvati Patil, who had come over to see Ginny.
"Hey Ginny, could we talk to you for a sec?" Lavender asked sweetly, slightly annoying Ginny. She was a nice girl but she had an oddly high-pitched voice that rubbed Ginny's ears the wrong way.
"Sure, Lavender. Sorry Neville, I'll talk to you more about this later. Harry, I'll probably be back in a bit. Thanks, both of you, for trying to help me with this stupid paper," Ginny said, waving to both of them and walked away towards the girls dormitories with Lavender and Parvati in the lead.
Once they were away from everyone, Parvati spoke up first. "Hey Ginny, we've noticed that Hermione kind of looks down lately. What's up with her?" She asked, looking ditzy but curious.
Ginny considered her question before answering, "No offense guys, but neither of you were ever really that good of friends with her, were you? I don't really know why you guys care all of the sudden. I mean it's nice that you care and all, but…"
"Well, mainly it's her hair that we were concerned with –" Lavender began.
"Lavender! Actually, Ginny, we were just curious because she is a Gryffindor, after all, and we don't want her to be so –" Parvati said.
"Now, Parvati, that's not really true either, now is it? Okay, the truth is there haven't really been any parties lately around here, and some people," she gave Parvati a look, "Don't know how to control themselves around boys."
Parvati looked at her and squinted her eyes, "Oh please, you're the one that –"
"Guys! Hello? Can we just get to the point? I have homework to do, you know?" Ginny said, effectively cutting off their tirade of nonsense.
"Oh, well we were just wondering if, you know –" Lavender said.
"You'd want to like –" Parvati continued.
"Have a girls night. Me, Parvati, you, Hermione, and whoever else you would like, want to invite or whatever," Lavender said, looking back and forth between Ginny and Parvati.
"Yeah, it would be like totally fun. What do you think Ginny? Seriously, don't you think Hermione needs a little fun?" Parvati asked, giving her best puppy-dog look.
"Well, I don't know..." Ginny said, quite skeptical at their motives already.
"Please?" The patil twins begged in unison.
Ginny considered their proposal. Although they were both kind of ditzy, and quite possibly only wanted to give everyone at the party makeovers, the prospect of a party sounded fun and she could sure use one. Hermione could use a party a lot more than she could, and it would help loosen her up.
"Yeah, okay. It sounds like fun. I'll talk to Hermione about it and if she's okay with it, maybe we could have it in the Head's dormitory so there wouldn't be so many people around," Ginny told them. "I have to get back to my homework now, but I'll come get you tomorrow evening and let you know what Hermione says. Tomorrow is Friday night, so we'll be able to stay up all night and not worry about classes the next day too."
"Yes! I told you she'd say 'yes', Parvati. Parrrrrtyyyy! We'll be sure to get some of the party supplies together by tomorrow night!" Lavender squealed, and both of them went off giggling.
'Actually, now that I think about it, maybe she would loosen up enough to tell me about her and Snape's detention session. And I know just the thing that would help with that…' Ginny thought,
leaving the girls dormitory and making her way back to where Harry was still sitting, working on his homework.
She came up by him and sat down, turning to look at him. "Harry, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Yeah, sure, what is it?" Harry asked.
"Could you get me two bottles of Fire Whiskey and some Butterbeer by tomorrow night?"
