CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"I am proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in…"

-Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Three days later, Severus was practicing climbing the stairs to the basement potions lab when a knock at the door upstairs startled him. Thanks to the newly brewed pain potion, he was not hurting as much as usual, but the numbness had been replaced by a different sort of discomfort - unrelenting pins and needles in his hands and feet - and didn't do enough to ease his aching joints.

The knocking continued. He took the last two steps to the basement lab, grabbed his cane from atop the table, and hurried back to the stairs.

He hoped it would be Hermione, though there was no reason she'd be dropping by on a Saturday. He'd just seen her the afternoon before. They'd worked in the garden, as they usually did on Fridays, and did not speak of their post-movie night encounter except to agree that work time would be for working… a rule they broke at 4:37, after the skies opened up and suddenly showered them with rain, thus forcing them back inside to change out of their wet gardening attire.

Which led to them finding themselves side by side on the couch with nothing to do.

So he took a dose of the new pain potion.

Then they made out like teenagers.

Lips and tongues connected until both were flushed and breathless. Clothes stayed on, though hands (his tingling) wandered both over and under from the waist up. Both mentally ordered themselves not to become 'too aroused,' but they did anyway. When the clock chimed five he was sorer than if he'd climbed the stairs a thousand times, but he was happy. So was she, despite the love bite forming on her neck, which she used a Glamour to conceal before heading home to relieve Eloise.

He spent Friday night and Saturday morning in his lab, more determined than ever to create a better pain potion that would alleviate the muscle aches and skin sensitivity without rendering him numb from the neck down or making his extremities feel as if they'd just awoken from a long sleep. On Friday she had again suggested use of the Dragon's Nightshade from the garden, but as that was an exceptionally dangerous ingredient if used improperly, he remained reluctant to toss it in and swallow it down. Perhaps during her shift on Monday they could go shopping for lab rats.

The impatient pounding at the front door persisted. Severus, finally reaching the top step, tossed the cane aside to avoid appearing weak to his surprise visitor, and, without first checking the peep hole, yanked the door open.

Standing on his front step was none other than Lucius Malfoy, long blond hair shining in the sunlight, a vague smirk on his lips, with the snake's head walking stick in his left hand. He was wearing a floor length black robe that looked to be made of dragon skin leather over a gray silk shirt and black trousers, as fit at 56 as he'd been at 25. He eyeballed Severus, clearly judging what he saw.

"My, my, Professor Snape. Don't you look delightfully Muggle today?"

Severus, as he'd been exercising, was dressed for comfort, not style. He had on soft cotton pajama bottoms, green, with a slightly oversized black cotton tee-shirt that did not hide his faded Dark Mark, and no wizard's robe.

"Something you need, Malfoy?"

"Yes. Aren't you going to invite me in, old friend?" Without awaiting a response, Lucius pushed passed Severus and made his way straight to the liquor by the back wall of the sitting room. "I assume you were about to offer me a drink. Don't exert yourself. I can manage." He selected the best bottle of Ogden's Firewhiskey and poured two tumblers full. He offered one to Severus. "To old times?" Lucius raised his glass and clinked it against Severus'. They each took a sip.

It burned going down, but no worse than the pain potions. It occurred to Severus it had been a long time – years, perhaps – since he'd consumed any liquor aside from the occasional glass of elf made red wine. He briefly wondered whether Ogden's Firewhiskey might help him to control his pain without rendering him unable to feel… it wouldn't be a cure, but if might help him better interact with Ms. Granger. He pushed the thought from his head even though he knew Lucius was no Legilimens and therefore there was no risk of him sensing it.

"How have you been, mate?"

"So we're mates, are we?" Severus cocked an eyebrow. "Last time you visited you made it clear it was the last time you would visit. What brings you here now?"

"Don't you know?" Lucius made his way toward the couch but rather than sit on it he pointed his wand at the rocking chair by the fireplace and uttered an incantation, transfiguring it into the sort of chair he was more used to – hard-backed, leather seat, ornately carved dark wood arms – and settled into it. Severus sat on the couch, a pillow behind his sore back, and waited. When Lucius did not elucidate, Severus said, "Obviously, I do not."

"You employ Miss Granger," began Lucius, swirling his whiskey unnecessarily.

"I do, indeed." Severus confirmed sharply.

"She's… grown up quite a bit, hasn't she? Since she was your student."

"She has."

"Yes… But she was your student. You've known her since she was a little girl, correct?"

"You know I have."

"Therefore I assume, since she is your employee, and since you've known her since childhood, that there is nothing salacious going on between you."

"Salacious?" asked Severus, eyebrow raised, already unhappy about where this seemed to be going. "Why do you ask? Submitting an article to the Daily Prophet's gossip pages?"

"Hardly. I'm simply making the assumption that she is your employee and nothing more, on account of the fact you've known her since childhood. Am I correct?"

"She is my employee," confirmed Severus. "But I don't see what having known her since childhood has to do with anything. What do you want?"

"Always straight to the point with you, Snape. No finesse at all. " Lucius shook his head as if disappointed by this. "Very well, you win. I'll be candid. Despite her unfortunate blood-status, I've always found Miss Granger rather attractive."

"Always?" Severus. "Haven't you also known her since childhood? She tells me she met you shortly before beginning her second year at Hogwarts, which would put her at approximately… twelve… years of age. You found her attractive then, did you? I hardly recall what she looked like sixteen years ago, but then, I wasn't looking as closely as you must have been, as it was not my custom to leer over little girls."

Lucius sneered. "If you're trying to imply I have a sexual interest in children, stop it. I like younger women, but I like them to be women. Not girls."

"I've heard rumors to the contrary. How old was Narcissa when you told her parents you wanted to marry her?"

"She was fourteen, but I was only seventeen, the match was proposed by my parents, and this is beneath you. You know I am no pedophile. And I don't recall making Miss Granger's acquaintance back then. If I did, it was only in passing, and has since slipped my mind."

"But surely you recall making her acquaintance in the Department of Mysteries when she was a fifth year, on your failed mission for the Dark Lord. You found her attractive then?"

"I did, actually. She wasn't a 'little girl' in 1996, Severus. I wouldn't have touched her, though. Not yet."

"At sixteen she was old enough to pant over but not old enough to touch?"

"I had no desire to end up in Azkaban over what could wait a year."

"But you did end up in Azkaban," Severus pointed out simply to aggravate his former friend. "You spent over a year in Azkaban, didn't you? All because Hermione and Potter and their gang of hero-complex children were able to thwart you, Bellatrix, several other Death Eaters, and the Dark Lord himself. The Dark Lord saved only one of you, if I recall correctly. He left the rest of you to rot."

"Perhaps if I'd been pregnant at the time, he'd have saved me too," snapped Lucius. "But as he had little vested interest in any of us save for his whore, he was not so concerned with our outcomes."

Severus sneered. "You seem to like that word, Lucius. 'Whore.' I don't terribly mind it when used to describe Bellatrix, though they say you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but when directed at Ms. Granger…"

"It's fitting, don't you think?" asked Lucius. He sipped the whiskey. "In both cases."

Severus narrowed his eyes and set his own whiskey on the end table.

"Why are you here, Lucius? You said you would get to the point. I'm waiting."

"Here it is: I'll double what you pay her for an hour a week."

"Excuse me?"

"Every two weeks, even. I'm not a greedy man."

"I don't understand."

Lucius laughed. "Don't you? I'm saying I'll pay, Severus. I'll pay handsomely. I'll pay to enjoy her on occasion. I'll double what she makes – hell, I'll throw an equal amount in your direction too, for your trouble – simply to have her once in awhile. Preferably here, or at an inn perhaps, as Narcissa will probably disapprove - not that it's for her to say, but I'd rather not make my home life more difficult than it already is." He cracked his knuckles, his smile faltering just a twinge at the thought of his increasingly combative wife. "Don't worry, though, mate. I'll not ruin Miss Granger. I'll always return her to you in the condition in which she was received."

"If this is a joke, you need a better punchline," said Severus dryly.

"No joke. I no longer engage in affairs - women get attached, Narcissa gets annoyed - but this could be an acceptable alternative. So. How much are you paying? What does she permit you to do? I wouldn't like to adhere to many rules, but I'm not adverse to extra pay for extra work."

"You want to pay both me and Ms. Granger so you can…?"

"So I can fuck her every now and then, yes."

Severus kept a blank face, difficult as it was. "You think that's what I employ her for? Sex?"

"I saw you in the alleyway, Severus." Lucius' lips curled into a devilish smile. "She's not here sweeping your floors and dusting your shelves, is she?"

"Why wouldn't she be?"

"I've never come a sickle's width away…" He held his fingers slightly apart. "From snogging one of my house elves while on a shopping excursion. I caught the way you looked at each other. She's clearly providing you with more than a bit of help around the house."

"She is a legitimate employee," insisted Severus. He grabbed his glass and took a long swig of the whiskey, willing himself to remain in control despite the fury that was boiling up from inside him like lava bubbling just under the surface of a volcano. "She assists me with shopping, cooking, and cleaning, with potions brewing and tending to the garden. That is all."

"I think you're lying."

"Then you have completely misread the relationship she and I have. I resent both your proposal and the insinuation that I would have to pay for sex, not to mention the suggestion that she would offer herself up for galleons, and especially the notion that I would accept money to prostitute her. I am not that sort of man and she is not that sort of woman."

"Isn't she?" Lucius finished his whiskey and sent the tumbler floating back to the liquor cabinet. "Hasn't she told you… about me? About us?"

"She told me you behaved most inappropriately toward her while she worked at the Ministry. It's partly the reason she abruptly departed."

"She didn't tell you about the night she came to me at Malfoy Manor? The night she came for me at Malfoy Manor?"

"I don't believe you," said Severus, but a part of him… a part of him did. He could usually tell when someone was not telling the truth, even without pointing his wand and whispering "Legilimens." Lucius gave off no such dishonest vibe.

"She has a birthmark, right here," said Lucius, touching his index and middle fingers to his right ribs. "It's rose-colored, almost heart-shaped. Then there's a scar from Bella's knife, here…" His fingertips moved to the inner left thigh. "And it's probably gone now, but I left the imprint of my teeth approximately here…" He tapped the spot on his back where his neck met his shoulder. "When I bit her while taking her from behind. I think she liked that." Catching Severus' repulsed expression, Lucius grinned more broadly. "Don't believe me yet, old friend? What more can I say to convince you? Shall I describe in detail her perfectly round little pink nipples? The firm, nicely rounded shape of her arse? Or the sweet, tangy taste of her cunt?"

Severus slashed his wand across the air and shouted, "Silencio!"

Rather than look upset by this curse, Lucius laughed (though no sound came out). He merely tapped his wand to his throat and thought, "Finite Incantatum," cancelling out the silencing spell. He laughed again, out loud this time, as overly cocky as he'd always been. The sound grated on Severus' ears.

"She's not merely your employee, but you haven't fucked her yet either, have you? How... pathetic."

"She is not merely my employee," agreed Severus, aware that his face was turning purple with anger he was increasingly losing the battle to control. "I also consider her a friend – a friend and nothing more – and I'll not have you disrespect my friend in this way. Get out of my home."

"You want to watch, Severus? I assume you are still able to read the minds of others just as you were able to block others from reading yours? Go ahead. Take a gander at my memories. If you're telling the truth, and you're only friends, this may be the sole opportunity for you to see what she's capable of, to know what she looks like naked, on her back, or on her knees, in the submissive position befitting of her blood-status."

"Sounds lovely. Just let me get my Pensieve," suggested Severus, speaking sardonically but clearly fuming. "Then I can watch your memory and, in exchange, you can watch some of mine."

"Some of yours?" Lucius scoffed. "Why would I be interested in some of yours?"

"Why? Oh." Severus laughed scornfully. "Didn't I mention? True, I have never shagged Ms. Granger, but I have, on numerous occasions, fucked your wife."

The smirk melted off Lucius' smug face. "That's a lie."

"Is it?" Now Severus was the one wearing a satisfied smirk. "Go ahead, Lucius. Ask her."

"I will," said Lucius, fixing Severus with an icy stare. "And it had better be a bloody lie… for her sake."

"Get out of my home, Malfoy. You are no longer welcome here. I can't say you ever truly were."

"This isn't over," said Lucius. He rose from the chair and threw his empty whiskey glass into the fireplace, where it shattered. "I want your Mudblood and I always get what I want."

"Go home to Narcissa," said Severus, waving his hand dismissively, sounding bored. "I believe the two of you have an awful lot to talk about."

"Fuck you."

"Get out."

The second Lucius was outside, he apparated.

Severus slammed shut the door, returned to the couch, and plopped down, resting his head in his hands, feeling ashamed for having been goaded into selling out Narcissa, one of his few friends (if they could still be considered friends). He was furious by what Lucius had said about Hermione, not least of all because he suspected it was true, but while the mental image of that vile man biting her shoulder assaulted him in his mind's eye, he also couldn't shake Lucius' words from his head: "I want your Mudblood and I always get what I want..." reverberating around along with the line, "It had better be a lie... for her sake."

Damn it.

He had to talk to Hermione.

He had to warn Narcissa.

He needed another drink.

In that moment, he hated himself for his inability to control his temper. He had lost so much since the war. Back then, he could handle his anger, quell it, push it deep down away from the surface so that the Dark Lord could not access it. Admittedly, he had faltered on occasion. He was still embarrassed by his visceral reaction to finding Potter viewing his worst memory in his Pensieve and wasn't proud of his subsequent refusal to continue teaching the boy Occlumency, but in his defense, that was one significant break in seventeen years. This time, Lucius Malfoy had barely had to push his buttons for him to go off, potentially hurting two of the very few women he had ever cared about.

What had he done?

A/N:

I know I'd said I would update on Fri or Sat, but I'm behind on my edits for my MG novel so I wanted to get this out now in case I don't have time to get online between now and Monday, which is when Chapter 15 will be up. Thanks for reading!

-AL