PreFlight

by GD-7

Prequel to Flight of the Thestrals. It's the start of 6th year and Hermione feels it's high time she got a bit more attention from her best friends. Will she get what she wants? Or perhaps find something even better...

37. Gravity

A/N - Warning: some adult content.

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Chapter 37
Gravity

Theo woke with a start as a heavy weight dropped on his chest. He blinked his eyes open, feeling completely disoriented. He found Shandra draped across him, sobbing wretchedly and holding onto him almost too tightly for him to breath properly. He blinked away the sleep from his eyes, looking over and seeing Litty watching, but she looked just as groggy and surprised as he was.

He slipped his arms around Shandra, holding her tight and trying to calm her. "What's the matter? Talk to me." He whispered once her sobbing had eased a bit.

"He's going to take me. He's going to take me and I can't stop him!" She sobbed, her hold on him tightening once more.

"Who's going to take you?"

"That sick old man who tried to get a hold of me before." She said, trying to gather herself enough for her voice to be coherent, "He wants me to be his wife now and father says I have no choice in the matter. He's coming Saturday with the papers to pull me out of school."

"No!" He said with obvious anguish, holding her tighter, "He can't do that!"

"But he can!" She sobbed. "I thought... I hoped Dean had gotten me pregnant... I was supposed to go back to see a couple of days ago in fact, but I... well I stopped using the contraceptive spells and waited a bit in case I wasn't yet... I thought if I got pregnant before father came to collect me that man wouldn't want me... but I'm not..." She said, dissolving back into sobs.

"A baby is no way to get around legal issues, Shandra." He said softly, stroking her hair.

She gave a shuddering sigh. "I know..." She said morosely, "It's just... when it was a possibility I just got so attached to the idea... it seemed... well it just seemed so perfect... I mean that man wouldn't want me... and Dean would. We'd have a baby together and everything..."

"I think Dean wants you even without a baby. I know how much you've always liked him, but that is definitely not the way to keep him! Don't you think it would be much better to let the relationship grow and mature on its own... to make sure it's really right and that this is really the man you want to spend the rest of your life with before you go complicating things with a baby? Don't you think your first child deserves a life with two fully matured parents who are in a secure and loving relationship? I think you and Dean are perfect for each other, really I do... but a baby this soon in the relationship... there aren't many teenaged boys who are really mature enough and ready to be fathers. If it had happened on accident that first night perhaps he would have been willing to step up and take responsibility... but if it happened because you just stopped using contraceptive charms without him even knowing... I mean you have to look at it from his point of view! It would be much more likely to make him feel like he was being trapped and push him away than make him want to stay with you."

"Ya, well what chance have we if I'm married to some old nonce?" She muttered a bit bitterly.

Theo sighed. "Talk to McGonagall and Dumbledore. Try to get out of this in a more mature, rational manner." He held her tight again, "And if that fails... well I hid you away once... I'll do it again."

"But you're practically an adult now, and he has a contract... what if they arrest you for it?" She asked worriedly.

"I don't care." He answered in a soft but serious voice, "The only way he's getting you is over my dead body."

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"Not bad!" Blaise said, bounding from one room to the next like a little kid.

"I'm dead shocked he bothered to clean this place as well." Draco mused, hauling the large basket into the kitchen of the guest house. "I just don't get it. This place is immaculate! It's even aired out. What's that dodgy little elflin up to? Nothing could have gotten him this bored! He has to be buttering Snape up or something."

"Oh come on." Blaise said, bounding back in and starting to go through the cupboards curiously. "No matter what else he is, he's part house elf. That's got to count for something. I mean he was raised a house elf! He's got to have at least some of their compulsions."

"Not that I've ever seen." Draco grumbled darkly. "Well let's get to work on these bloody things before the stunning spells wear off." He said, heaving the basket onto the table, then going over and pulling out a huge chopping board and bringing it over. It covered the table from one side to the other.

"Why do we have to prepare the gross little floppy things?" Blaise asked petulantly, "Granger just has to trim some bloody flowers off with a pair of scissors. How is that fair?"

"Oh if she had any clue she never would have agreed to taking those instead!" Draco said, smirking. "Have you ever smelled those things when they're freshly cut?"

Blaise hunkered down in one of the chairs. "No."

"Suffice it to say they'll be airing out the greenhouse tonight!" Draco said, snickering. "I'd much rather deal with the Tentacular weed. If you spell them to be just shy of frozen they're easy to slice and won't even wriggle."

"Alright then." Blaise said grudgingly, pulling his bag around and removing the dragon hide gloves and pulling them on, then pulling out his wand. They each got out about a dozen of the thick leaves that looked rather like severed octopus tentacles, only green. They were starting to revive a bit, wriggling about weakly.

Draco cast the spell on his and they straightened and stiffened, becoming quite still. He set them on the chopping board, neatly slicing them up into perfectly even bits, one by one. He glanced over at Blaise once he finished with the first bunch. Blaise wasn't quite as fast, but he had to admit he was doing an adequate job. He went over, finding a large silver bowl and bringing it back, carefully scraping the piles of freshly chopped bits into it before they had a chance to thaw.

They continued like that for quite some time. Just sitting there in companionable silence, working their way steadily through the entire basket. Blaise sighed, tossing his gloves aside and slumped back in his seat gratefully as Draco scraped the last batch into the by now quite full bowl. He just watched as Draco pulled out a bottle, carefully depositing drops of some very dark fluid in strategic locations on the bowl's contents. By the time he capped the bottle, crystals were already forming where the first few drops had been deposited. They spread across the chopped weed like frost.

"They should be completely crystalized by morning."

"Brill. What now?"

Draco shrugged. "That's all Snape had here. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to start hunting down the others. We've just got to make sure to stay up until at least nine, otherwise we'll be groggy all bloody week."

Blaise sighed piteously, "But it's only five and I'm about ready to drop! This time zone rubbish sucks!"

"Last time I was here there was a telly in the common room." Draco suggested.

Blaise's eyes lit up and he sprang up, hurrying into the other room. Draco went over and pulled open the cabinet containing the television, but there was a whole lot of equipment associated with it and he found no less than three remote controls. "Well... good new is it looks like the elflin's kept him up to date... looks like he even has a satellite dish... unfortunately I haven't a clue how to work this shite."

"We'll figure it out." Blaise said confidently, locating a couple of manuals. He grabbed them and the remotes up and took them over to the couch.

Draco sat down on the couch. He wasn't tired in the least really, but that wasn't unexpected. He slept less and less these days. The only thing that kept him fidgeting a bit while waiting for Blaise to read the manual was the thought that he didn't have his broom, and even if he'd thought to bring it, he doubted he'd be allowed to fly it here. Besides, without the thestrals, what would be the point?

"So what's the deal with you and Winston?"

Draco looked over in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I know you've been here before, cause you've mentioned it a time or two... but the way you and that elflin squabble is like brothers. Just how much time have you spent here?" Blaise asked, glancing over the top of the manual at him.

Draco shrugged. "Couple of weeks. Not all at once. Most I've been here at one time was a week the first time I came. That was when I was... about eight I think. I accidentally broke something of father's and he flew into a rage. Took after me, and I really thought he was going to finally kill me. I managed to get some distance between us and found a floo link. I'd heard Snape mention this place before. I just grabbed up as much floo powder as I could and made a try for it..."

"You went transcontinental without the proper kind of powder?!?" Blaise asked incredulously, the manual forgotten in his hands.

"Ya, well I learned my lesson! I was sick as a dog when I finally got chucked back out. Wasn't even able to make it more than a block or two under my own power. One of the local Muggles found me. I told her what Snape's house looked like since I'd seen a picture when we visited him at Hogwarts once... said it was my uncle's place. She asked around until someone recognized the description and could give her directions. She took me there and dropped me off. Winston found me curled up on the porch a couple of hours later and took me in and mopped me up. He even hid me and lied straight to my father's face when he came by looking for me. He doesn't have those house elf compunctions against lying whenever he feels like it. He doesn't lie to Snape, but anyone else is fair game." Draco said with a little shrug.

Blaise furrowed his brow. "If he was nice to you and looked after you... I mean why do you act like that towards him?"

Draco snorted, "Never said he was nice to me. He lectures and complains more than any creature has any right to. I'm sure he knows I appreciated what he did for me... but... I mean he's half goblin!"

"So?"

"So goblins seem to thrive on strife in their social interactions. It's just... the way he is! He'd probably be insulted if I didn't take pokes at him! Just like I'd know he was mad at me if he started acting all polite to me. I mean maybe he's nice when he first meets someone until he knows it's safe to be himself, but..." He shrugged, "If you haven't been around goblins that much, I'm not sure I could really explain it to you."

"So... insulting each other is how you show affection?" Blaise asked dubiously.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say affection... but that's the general idea..." Draco conceded.

Blaise suddenly grinned broadly and leaned over, resting his head on Draco's shoulder. "Then you must absolutely adore me! You insult me all the time!"

Draco shoved him away and got up. "Bugger off, Zabini!"

"I love you too!" Blaise called after him.

Draco just slammed his door in response.

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Hermione started awake, then grumbled irritably to herself as she realized where she was. She had taken a long, hot shower after finishing up with those wretched flowers (skunks could take pointers from those bloody things!!!) and she'd sat down on the bed while toweling her hair dry... and that's the last thing she remembered. Her hair was still vaguely damp where she was laying on it, so she at least hadn't been out too terribly long. This staying up until the proper hour was going to be a lot harder than she anticipated. It wasn't like she'd never pulled an all-nighter before (which was what this was starting to feel like!), but she hadn't anything to really capture and hold her attention like she did when studying. She suddenly remembered the incubus journal and smiled. She did have something to study after all!

She finished getting ready for bed, then pulled the journal out and got on her bed, settling down properly under the wonderfully soft blanket. She undid the strap, and it actually fluffed up about an inch more from the trapped papers. She'd like to read it start to finish, but with all of these pages stuck in... she wondered if they were placed where they were intentionally so they would be bound in in that spot in the final version, or if they were just shoved in at random. Only one way to find out. She started leafing through them... but there was far too wide a variety of items there to really determine if their placement within the book was important. Some looked to correspond with what was on the pages beside it... others looked random, but without reading the book first she couldn't be sure of that. There were newspaper clippings, jotted notes, sketches... She looked one over that appeared to be a study of the tail of an incubus. It was as exacting as a technical diagram, with measurements and everything. She turned it over and promptly blushed a brilliant shade of red.

So that was the purpose of their tails...

She quickly moved on to different loose bits. After a few minutes, she came across what appeared to have been a piece of post. She looked it over. It looked to have been something that originated from Sir Delain, but the address of whomever it had been sent to was blotted out very purposely with black ink, and it appeared to have been mailed back. Curious, she carefully opened the envelope and removed the sheets of parchment it contained. They were neatly folded, though yellowed and a bit brittle with age. She carefully opened it and found that it appeared to be some sort of formal letter of discovery.

I have studied the Incubi/Succubi species as I was commission by you to do near on
five years ago. I have observed what I believe to be an as yet undiscovered element in this
sinful, yet intriguing species. When trying to fathom the logic behind their peculiar habits, I
have been allowed, by means of a very complicated and difficult enchantment, to track the
wanderings of several of the creatures that I have come into contact with. These observations
were made over the course of several years. They all acted in the way most often associated
with their species when interacting with their mortal prey. As has been previously confirmed
by the observations of my predecessors, each creature can change appearance, and even gender
apparently to suit the desires of their current prey. The results of this interaction, however,
varies noticeably for the different creatures. Of those observed, only four became pregnant
and produced children from their pursuits, averaging at least one offspring per year with an
incubation period that appears to be of roughly five to six months. None of these particular
creatures managed to impregnate any of the mortal females they had interactions with. I
believe these are the true Succubi.

The other three observed never became pregnant. Two of them, though drawn mostly to males,
seemed to impregnate almost every human woman they had relations with. Despite their sexual
inclinations, these are obviously the true Incubi of the group. Most of those offspring were born after
normal human incubation periods, but with at least one or more obvious demonic traits: wings, tails,
horns, fangs and the like. Though some of the women were able to hide this fact by removing the
abnormalities, most of them didn't bother. The infants were deemed unwanted for obvious reasons,
and the women, their husbands, parents or the local clergy set about disposing of them. The most
common method was to take the infant out into the woods and leave them there to die. All such
infants that I observed were spirited away by demons in short order, though rarely the ones who
fathered them. It appeared to have been a rather random adoption by whichever of the creatures
happened upon them first. Whether they were returned to their rightful demonic father later, I
have no way of knowing.

The seventh and final creature was the one I found most intriguing though. At first I thought it
was an Incubus that merely had some defect that made its attempts to procreate less effective.
This creature became the main focus of my studies after the first of its offspring were born. It
had much fewer, only perhaps one out of five women conceiving, but only one of the resultant infants
had any indication as to its origin, and even that was minor and easily passed off as a fluke. The
others showed no demonic traits of any kind. This was the first evidence I had found that the
possibility of Merlin being half Incubus could have been true. The possibility had been bandied
about quite a bit, but most of my colleagues dismissed it as baseless fancies. Half demon children
always showed their heritage to our knowledge. It was most commonly agreed that the women
who gave birth to normal children after claiming an Incubus impregnated them had most likely
had an indiscretion with some mortal man and were merely trying to cover for it. This is a sentiment
that I, admittedly, concurred with until this creature's first child was born. By taking careful note
of its activities from that point forward, I started to see a pattern emerge. It was only able to
impregnate women if it had had relations with a male, whether human or demonic, within two or
three days prior.

It may be a stretch of my admittedly overactive imagination, but I believe I was observing a third
gender. After realizing this shocking fact, I noticed that its physical appearance deviated from
the norm on occasion as well. Though all of them varied greatly in response to the chosen partner
of the moment, certain aspects remained constant. With the other creatures, they only had tails
when in male form. The tail is used as a secondary phallus, and therefor would be of little use to
the females of the species. Further observation confirmed it. This creature retained its tail no
matter its apparent gender and appeared to work as no more than a vessel or conduit for 'borrowed'
seed from other males. Oddly enough, the offspring often seemed to take after this conduit much more
strongly than the male who's seed actually created it. They picked up physical attributes from
the form the creature most often took when it was not with a partner. It is possible that this is its
true form if they have one. I believe this gender changes the seed while it is within them into
something resembling their own. In a species of creatures that seem to live to procreate, this one
appears to have no procreative abilities of its own. Neither male nor female, there is nothing I can
dub it other than neuter.

Since I have neither read nor even heard of such a thing, I can only deduce that I am the first to
recognize this gender for what it is. It may be a bit presumptuous of me, but I have therefore decided
to name it. Since Succuba comes from the Latin 'succubare' which means 'to lie beneath', and
Incubus comes from 'incubare' which means 'to lie on top', I have dubbed this gender Accuba when
in female form and Accubus when in male form. This derives from the Latin 'accubare', which means
'to lie beside'.

I believe this new gender warrants further observation. It seems every day I learn a bit more
about these fascinating creatures. It is for this reason that I send you word before the official
surcease and official documentation of findings for my commission. In light of these findings, I am
petitioning an extension of my original commission. I will continue my observations as I await your
decision in this matter.

Sir Delain Seroche

There was another sheet of parchment there as well, but this one was not in the same handwriting.

In response to your request, I am hereby sending you notice of a complete, unanimous and
resounding refusal. It was highly questionable for a member of our denomination to have
commissioned one of your kind in the first place. The one responsible has since been cast
from our ranks with disgrace over the matter. Despite your professions of being a God faring
man, you openly admit to the use of enchantments, which have been denounced as Satanic in
nature. Despite this, your finding might have been considered if you had done what was asked
of you. You were to discover a way to rid our followers of the Hell spawn that plague them,
tainting good, God faring men and putting their Hellish offspring in the bellies of our women.
If you have discovered how to eradicate the beasts, or at least ward them off we will eagerly
await your documentation. If all you have is some ridiculous nature study, then we have no
choice but to denounce such subversive and frivolous drivel. Better steps will henceforth be
taken in the disposal of the Hell spawn that are given birth to, but that insight alone hardly
vindicates your commission. Furthermore, if this endeavor was for naught, it is highly advised
that you never again set foot on our soil. If you do, you will be taken into custody and put on
trial for your crimes against God.

For your own sake, I urge you to cast aside these evil and sinful practices. Seek out a church
and beg for forgiveness. A priest strong in the faith might still be able to save you from an
eternity of damnation. May God have mercy on your soul.

Hermione shook her head in disgust. How rude and close minded! She just wanted to find whomever wrote that and give them a good hard punch in the nose.

"Tell me about it!"

Hermione started, her head snapping around. Freya was laying on the bed beside her. "Stop doing that!" She gasped, clutching her chest.

"Sorry." Freya said playfully, flopping around to lay on his back. He was in 'his' neutral form again. He wasn't as covered as he'd been in the bookstore, wearing no more than than a bit of shrouding cloth about his middle, but he was at least relatively decent. She appreciated the gesture. "You're welcome."

She blushed. "Stop doing that too!"

"What?"

"Reading my thoughts."

Freya grinned. "I can't read your thoughts. Not really. Well, unless they are really strong. Mostly I sense your emotions and interpret their meaning. The most solid reads I get are sexual fantasies. Those I get in explicit detail." He said, wriggling his eyebrows (or at least the lines that represented them).

She blushed again and decided to promptly change the subject. "Why did you follow me all the way to America? I mean that's quite a ways to travel just to tease me!"

Freya blinked, "We're in America?"

"Of course we are! How could you not know that?"

Freya shrugged. "England, Scotland, China, Russia, America... it's all same difference to me. I just came to you. I didn't really care where you were located."

Hermione stared at him in shock, trying to tell if he was jesting.

"I don't live on your plane, Hermione. I could try explaining that to you all I want, but I doubt I could phrase it in a way that a human would understand using nothing but a very limited human language. Just suffice it to say your geographical location in your world is of no consequence to me. I could be slipping into Gregory's bed in about ten seconds if I so desired."

"Oh..."

He could see her trying to work that through and decided to change the subject back away from the concept before it boggled her mind too terribly. "Ya, well anyway... some of those clergy types were really uptight prudish arses back then. Well, not that there aren't some of those still around today... but back then my kind were a lot more prevalent in the human world, and the humans were just starting to try to pretend to be all upstanding and virtuous and deny their basic needs and desires. There was an extremely stiff, righteous facade in the beginning. All the clergy were pretending to be perfect bloody saints! The guy that wrote that reply... I heard stories about him. Apparently he was a deeply closeted homosexual who joined the clergy just to hide the fact that he didn't like girls. He was so against our kind because a number of us had visited him... in male form. He was convinced that the pleasure we gave him was just some evil demonic plot to try to subvert him. Man was he in denial!"

Hermione couldn't help but snicker a bit at that. That would certainly explain the stiff, quite anal reply.

"Seroche was a great man." Freya said with wistful smile. "I've heard tales of him all my life. Humans that take such time and have such a true desire to understand us are extremely rare. I wish I was old enough to have known him."

"How long ago was this written?" Hermione asked in surprise. As far as she knew, this demon was nearly two hundred years old!

Freya shrugged. "No idea. Like I told you, we live somewhere different, and time runs a bit differently there. The ones that volunteered for his little study spent a lot more time in the human world than normal. We don't usually come here that often unless we're in a relationship with a human."

"They volunteered?"

Freya smirked and looked over at her. "You really think even a very powerful wizard could track one of us without our consent? We even helped him with the spellwork. Like I said, he was a good man. His heart and intentions were pure. He'd been trying to observe us on his own for most of his life... but with the constraints of having to earn a living and the rarity of chancing upon one of us, he couldn't put nearly as much time or effort into the pursuit as he wanted to. The man who originally commissioned this study was honestly interested in us as well, but he was a Muggle and so completely unable to study us himself. He paid for it from his own resources, but his other clergy pals felt anything done by a man of the cloth was their business. When they found out what he'd done, he tried to play it off as an attempt to find a way to ward us off... well, that kept his head on his shoulders, but they still stripped him of everything and ran him off. Like I said, they were real uptight arses back then. Seroche never submitted any more than this letter. This bit of parchment that you're holding in your hands is what changed everything. The repercussions of this one little letter alone were enough to crush poor Seroche... and altered our entire way of life..."

"Repercussions?" Hermione asked, not sure if she really wanted to know what those might be.

Freya nodded sadly, staring up at the canopy above, "After that, the priests started taking more drastic measures like throwing our babies into fire to burn or into water and letting them drown or murdering them outright, calling it 'cleansing'. Seroche never imagined they would take his work and use it to perpetrate atrocities. We never blamed him, but the knowledge of what they did with this one simple letter tortured his conscious the rest of his days. He loved all of nature's creatures... even us. News spread through our ranks even faster than it did through the mortals. Incubi stopped impregnation women in the 'God faring' world after that, because they couldn't bear the thought of their children being murdered. Even those of my gender were leery of impregnating women. Usually the mortals couldn't tell, so the priests would just assume the woman had made it up to cover an indiscretion. The priests just baptized them and called it good, assuming they were pure humans. Apparently the bastard who got this letter hadn't passed on the part about some not showing demonic traits. Maybe he doubted it was true. Either that or the implications were just too disturbing."

Hermione had her hand clasped tightly over her mouth, staring down at the letter with horror. She had wondered how such demons could really be so active without there being demonic looking children all over the place. It was hard to imagine someone could be so blatantly evil... to kill an infant simply because it was born different. She started a bit as she felt his tail slip around her leg. He was under the covers with her now, though how he'd managed that without so much as jostling the bed... but then she supposed that was a silly notion given how easily he moved about. She felt a flutter of worry, but the tail wasn't doing anything overt, and from Freya's expression, the gesture appeared to simply be a comforting one.

"They were able to save a number of them... and admittedly I believe they did abduct a few of the pregnant women at the time... some before they even knew they were pregnant... returned them afterwards with no memory of what had happened and no one the wiser. They also kept a close eye on the clergy. Had to lure off some of the older offspring in villages with particularly vindictive clergy. Some took even the slightest difference as proof after that. The eyes, for instance. In at least the first generation, they almost always take the eye color of the demonic parent. Well... if there was a neuter involved at least. It's a bit of a toss-up if it was just an incubus. About fifty-fifty chance from what I've seen. As for myself, I don't think I've had a single child who didn't have blue-green eyes..."

Hermione looked at him sharply. "What do you mean 'had a child'?"

"Well I mean fathered a child of course. I can't carry any myself. I don't have too many..." He looked thoughtful for a moment, "Maybe thirty? Thirty five? I'd have to check."

"But... I mean according to this, they aren't really your children... are they?"

Freya looked away and she got the definite feeling her comment had been a bit hurtful. "They're just as much mine as the one who's seed I used to create them!" He said defensively. "I put a lot more of myself into them than any male possibly could!"

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to imply..." Hermione blushed, not sure how to properly apologize, or even exactly what she should be apologizing for.

"It's ok." Freya muttered. "You just... you wouldn't understand."

"I could try." Hermione offered softly.

Freya looked over at her and sighed, "I just... sometimes I just feel a bit left out... so I guess I can be a little defensive about it. I mean I take just as much time tending the children as any other demon... more than most actually... and I see so very much of myself in my children... but sometimes it bothers me knowing that they would never have been alive without some other male. I wish I could make children like a male does. Just me and a female. Or me and a male! I'd give anything to be able to get pregnant. As it is... I just... I always have to share."

"Even if you were a male or female, you'd still have to share with the other parent." Hermione said gently.

Freya sighed. "I know... but that could be someone I love and who loves me, so that would be easier."

"You've never had a child with someone you love?"

Freya snorted. "I've only ever loved two people. Diana and Gregory. Diana... well she was cursed before we ever had any chance of having a child together..." He said, and she could feel his tail tighten around her leg a bit, though he didn't appear to realize he was doing it, "And I haven't had any children with Gregory yet of course. As for other demons... well... despite the differences between our species... when we chose to love one of our own kind, we still tend pair up. We fall in love with one other person and that's until death which could be a very long time between two demons, so most fall into male/female relationships. Obviously it's rather rare for another demon to fall in love with a neuter, so the neuter gender is generally much more emotionally apart from the others... though not really by choice. Still, those couples can't have children of their own without us, now can they? We just step in and help them out every now and then when they want to get pregnant. After that... well we get to see the children of course... but just when they're amongst the many children we're tending to... it's not the same kind of bond... we're just like any other adult demon to them... I don't know if I can explain it any better than that."

Hermione furrowed her brow. "Amongst the many children you're tending to? Do you run some kind of demonic daycare or something?"

Freya actually chuckled at that. "I guess that would be how humans might perceive it. Our children are raised by everyone. By the whole community."

"Don't their parents raise them? I thought your kind loved being parents!"

"Oh, we do. The parents visit them frequently and care for them most of the time, but when they wander the children are cared for by... well whomever is there. The children don't feel this is a lack of love by their parents in any way, because everyone loves them. It would be selfish of the parents to keep them entirely to themselves, and it would be cruel to the children to deny them the love of the others."

"So you just leave your children with anyone around? Aren't you afraid someone will take your child or do something to them?"

Freya looked a bit aghast. "None of my kind would ever do something like that! We don't even molest adults, we fulfil their sexual desires. As much as some humans bemoan our very existence and deem us evil rapists... we just... well we don't have that in us! Most of us can't even really grasp the concept of rape to be honest. There can be no pleasure if it's not mutual. If they feel they've been raped, then they are merely in deep denial. When it happened, they wanted it... and quite badly if the desire was strong enough to attract one of us. We can't keep them from regretting it later or being embarrassed by the realization of desires they had kept carefully buried. Children don't have those desires yet, so none of my kind would ever touch one in that manner. As for stealing them... well we'd never do that either. I mean yes, in some dire circumstances some of my kind may have taken mixed blood children from their mortal parents if it was the only way to save their lives, but we all know how it would feel having our children taken, so we'd never want to cause that kind of pain in another, especially not one of our own kind. Where we live... well it's probably the safest place to grow up imaginable."

"But... I mean those of half blood might have the tendencies of their non-demonic parent... aren't you afraid..."

"Oh don't worry. Bringing them into our plane isn't about to start degrading our morality. Those children are raised by us and we teach our young right from wrong. Besides, they either leave after they reach maturity if they choose to, or become purely demonic if they stay there long enough, so with time the point becomes moot."

She blinked. "How is that possible? How can you change their blood?"

Freya sighed. "Another huge gap in our realities is rearing its head!" He said with a little smile over at her, "Demons don't have genetics. We don't have set corporeal bodies. We're beings of pure magic. It takes at least some demonic heritage to become purely demonic, but other than that... I mean we leave a bit of ourselves behind in our lovers even when no child is conceived. Well, when the demon is in male form at least. Even human males leave a bit of themselves behind every time they finish inside someone... same thing with us, just on a magical level. It takes a century or two, but those of demonic origin who are shagged by other demons can eventually build up enough demonic magic to be indistinguishable from 'pure' demons. Even pure humans who take demonic lovers in male form eventually start to feel the effects. Then again, with witches the power tends to be passed to the offspring... and there aren't a whole lot of wizards out there that will admit they increased their powers by taking it up the arse!"

That thought was a bit disturbing, but Hermione found herself snickering despite herself at the idea. He was probably right... she couldn't see too many wizards admitting that. She looked Freya over. He was laying there, smiling at her warmly. She could feel the spade of his tail stroking the calf of her leg, but it was in a friendly, chaste manner. She knew he could entrance her and probably get into her knickers if he so desired... but he seemed content to simply lay there and talk to her. She couldn't help but wonder why. Finally, she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. "Why do you keep visiting me? I mean it can't be just because I think of you sometimes, because I'm sure Goyle thinks about you pretty much all the time."

Freya smiled warmly at that. "Oh, he does..." he sighed contentedly, snuggling down in the pillow a bit. "But... I mean I love him and love being with him and everything, don't get me wrong... but there's just something about you."

"Like what?" Hermione asked a bit warily.

Freya gave a little shrug. "The way you think. You see creatures like house elves and even demons and you... well you don't see creatures. You see people. Odd looking people perhaps, but still people. From the minute you met me, you thought of me as a person. You have no idea how rare that is. I mean yes, Gregory feels that way as well, but just with me. I mean it's nothing against him or anything, but it took him a bit to completely believe that. He's grown up in a world that thinks of us as tools, threats, or simply vile pests. It's not a mindset that's easily disregarded, even if you don't truly buy it. He has to actually know a 'creature' personally before the association to 'person' is made. You, on the other hand... you grew up in a world where everyone who could talk and reason was a person. They were all human, true, but the mindset is deeply seated in your psyche. You're not afraid of me. You think of me as a person. You do have a hard time grasping certain aspects of who I am, but you try... and you're not automatically disgusted by my very existence. You're also one of the most inquisitive people I've come across in a good long while. Your strongest desire is that for knowledge... and my kind thrive on fulfilling desires... thus I find myself drawn to talking to you... to fulfilling that desire for knowledge."

"So you're not trying to con your way into my knickers, right?" She asked carefully.

Freya snickered. "Not that I wouldn't love that, mind you... but all you desire of me is mental gratification, so that's all I feel the desire to give you at the moment. You do have a rather intense sexual frustration going on right now that is, quite frankly, driving me a bit nutters... but I'm not the subject of those particular desires, now am I?"

Hermione blushed brilliantly.

"Tell me... Why are you in here, reading some ancient journal and chatting with me when the object of your quite intense desire is right down the hall? I'm honestly quite baffled and would really love to know the answer."

"It's not that simple..." Hermione muttered.

"Yes it is." Freya said with obvious amusement. "He's in his little room, reading a book and trying to pretend he isn't wishing desperately that you would walk through his door." He closed his eyes and smiled, "In fact, he's fantasizing about it right at this very moment... hmm... nice..." He said with a little chuckle.

She looked up at him. "He... he wants me to..."

"He just plain wants you!" Freya broke in with obvious amusement, opening his eyes and looking over at her. "You know that as well as I do. The combined sexual tension and frustration you two are generating is almost too intense to endure!"

Hermione stared down at the journal for a long moment. "Do you really think I should?" She asked in a small voice. She knew this was really the wrong person to be asking something like that, but she so very much wanted to go to him... an agreement wouldn't really be justification, but at this point...

"I think that one of two things is going to happen tonight: Either you are get your adorable little arse in there or I'm going to change into you and go nail him myself!"

Hermione's jaw dropped and she reached over, giving Freya an indignant shove. "Go shag your own boy, demon!" She grumbled, closing the journal and getting up.

Freya watched as Hermione pulled on a night robe and walked out. He gave a little snicker. "Knew that would work." He muttered to himself. He grinned at the journal, then rolled over, taking her vacated spot. He gently opened it back up, settling in comfortably.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Hermione looked down at him with a little smile on her lips. He was laying there in his bed, a book on his lap, obviously having just nodded off. There was a towel on the nearby chair, and his hair still looked slightly damp. The blanket was halfway up his bare chest, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he had once again not bothered to put anything on after his shower. She wondered if he always slept like that. She'd half expect someone with as much to fear as him... someone who kept his wand under his pillow, obviously fully expecting that he may very well be attacked in the middle of the night... to sleep fully clothed or something. Not Snape though. She wondered vaguely what that said about him, but the question didn't linger long in her mind.

To her surprise, she saw his wand laying on his bedside table. It was right out there in plain sight. She looked him over more closely. He often looked at least vaguely troubled when she'd seen him asleep before... but at the moment he looked completely at peace. She wondered if it was this house. It wasn't entirely what she had expected, but somehow he seemed to fit in here perfectly. Watching him earlier as he worked in the greenhouse... She took a little breath and sighed it softly out. Any animosity her mind and heart had once held for this man was completely incomprehensible to her now. The desire that filled her at the mere sight of him was stronger than she'd ever imagined herself capable of.

She stepped closer, reaching down and very gingerly picking up his book. She moved the bookmark into place and set it on the bedside table.

-0-0-0-

Snape was roused by soft lips caressing his own. He breathed in and her scent tickled his senses as warm, bare skin pressed up against him. His hand reached up instinctively, his fingers slipping through her hair to gently pull her closer, deepening the kiss. His free hand quested, finding a soft, warm mound of flesh that seemed to fit into it just perfectly.

He came around a bit more as she moaned into the kiss, undulating up against him. He broke the kiss, his eyes fluttering open.

"Don't stop." Hermione muttered, reclaiming his lips.

"Hermione, please." Snape said, breaking the kiss quickly and moving his hands off of her.

Hermione stopped with a little whimper.

"We shouldn't." Snape said, though it took an inordinate amount of willpower to force the words out, especially given that she was completely naked and had somehow slipped under the covers with him, straddling him neatly. How she'd done it without waking him was beyond him. He really must be slipping.

"Why not?" She said a bit plaintively, her body still pressed against his. "We both want it." She said, rubbing against the evidence of his interest that he had no way of hiding from her in this position.

Her body filled him to the core with an aching desire, but he fought it valiantly, "I'm your teacher." he managed.

She shivered. The idea was oddly tantalizing. It stirred memories of that first dream. "Then teach me." She whispered, surprised by her own daring.

The raw desire in her voice made it difficult to come up with a reply. His objections and arguments against this were all there, but they seemed to be stuck inside his head, incapable of finding their way to his tongue. The point became moot a moment later when Hermione chose to take his lack of further objections as acquiescence. She shifted up a bit and he felt himself slide into place, then she pushed down.

He grabbed her hips, all thought fleeing as he thrust up while pulling her hips down. He let out a deep, blissful groan when she cried out, buried completely in her welcoming depths.

She didn't have as much trouble finding an angle this time, and in no time at all she was riding him hard enough to make the bed creak loudly in protest. He just let her take over. He'd never felt such enthusiasm before. He watched her avidly as she moved with complete abandon. She was moving too fervently for him to even thrust back up properly. Her breasts caught his eyes. They weren't overly large, but the way her movements were making them bounce was mesmerizing.

He found himself reaching up, cupping them in his hands. She shuddered and stopped her fervent bouncing, settling down so he was buried in her completely once again and started grinding her hips against him. He groaned, shifting up and managing to get one of her breasts in his mouth. His eyes closed blissfully as she twined her fingers in his hair. He loved it when she did that.

Her undulations against him felt amazing, but they didn't fulfil the urgent need that had built up over these last few days of anticipation. He grabbed a hold of her, flipping her over so he was on top. Her head dangled off the bed a bit, but it just gave him easier access to her neck. He attacked it eagerly as he started thrusting into her.

Hermione had to work her foot out of the blanket before she could wrap her legs around him properly, but the tangle of blankets didn't hinder his movements. She just let her head dangle, her hair falling down to brush the floor as she lost herself in the sensations. She twined her fingers in his hair again, pressing his head closer encouragingly as he nipped and kissed at her neck. There was none of the almost teasing slowness he'd had the first time. This was purely passion driven ardor, even more fervent than when he'd given in to his desires in that shower.

"Yes..." Hermione muttered, barely coherent, "Yes, Professor Snape..."

Hearing her call him that really should have made him come to his senses and stop... but for some reason it did the opposite. Snape groaned, driving into her harder still.

Hermione started feeling a bit dazed, her senses overwhelmed. The world around her seemed to be losing cohesion until there was nothing left but him and the amazing pleasure he was giving her. She didn't even try to stifle the echoingly loud cry that escaped her as she finally plunged over the edge. Another surge of bliss raged through her before the first even had a chance to subside as he tensed and finished as well. His deep, shuddering groan seemed to go straight through her.

When she slowly became aware again, she realized something had changed. Her head was not dangling over the edge of the bed anymore. In fact, she was nestled quite comfortably against a warm body and her hair was being gently stroked. There was a blanket covering them, and she wasn't even breathing hard anymore. She blinked her eyes open.

"You alright?" Snape asked softly.

A blissful smile slipped over her lips and she cuddled closer. "Just brilliant." She sighed contentedly.

"I really shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."

She blinked her eyes back open, looking up at him incredulously, then sighed when she saw he was being serious. "Please don't."

"Don't what?"

"Start this again. Yes, I'm well aware we shouldn't be doing this... and I know I said we could just talk and such... but... I mean we're in a different country! Not to mention that we're practically alone! What logical reason is there to deny ourselves this?"

"Hermione..." He sighed.

"Please? I promise I'll be the model of propriety when anyone else is around, but when we're alone, why shouldn't we be together? I've never had someone I could be with and sleep with and wake up to in the morning... and I desperately want to know what that's like. Let's be honest, I'm not likely to get the chance again any time soon, now am I? Especially not with someone I want so very much to be with! This is a once in a lifetime chance! Just for this trip... one little week. Is that too much to ask for? I know that once we return to the school this relationship will be forbidden again... but..." She broke off as his fingers found her lips, silencing her. She looked at him beseechingly, afraid he might turn her down and send her back to her room.

He looked at those big, pleading brown eyes for a long moment, then sighed. How could he refuse her when he wanted the same thing so desperately? Besides, tonight had already amply demonstrated that he had shockingly little willpower when it came to resisting her. It was like fighting a force of nature! He had no doubt she'd manage to get into his trousers again if she so desired no matter what he said now. He'd much rather she think it was merely because he was allowing it. At length, he tilted his head down, tenderly kissing her lips. "Very well." He whispered once he broke the kiss. "While we're here and alone and there isn't work to be done. Work comes first, and there will be no dawdling to extend our stay here, understand? I cannot deprive my other students of education merely for my own gratification." His finger found her lips to silence her once more as her face lit up. "But you have to promise me that once we leave here this ends. There's much more at stake than merely being reprimanded."

She nodded. "I promise." She said as soon as his fingers left her lips.

A little smile found its way onto his lips as she smiled brilliantly. She all but glowed with pleasure. He glanced over at his clock. "Well, we really need to stay awake for another hour at least. Anything in particular you'd like to do to pass the time?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Draco wandered towards the main house around a quarter to seven the next morning. The morning was still slightly cool and it looked to be a rather gorgeous day dawning. He enjoyed the wind as it whipped around him. He was dressed in some of the clothing he'd purchased the day before... a short sleeved T-shirt and a pair of black swimming trunks that went down to around his knees. He'd seen many people in town wearing far less, but even being this exposed was very unusual for him. Even in the height of summer, his father had always insisted on him remaining completely covered, simply using cooling spells on his clothing to keep from breaking a sweat like a commoner. He always said leaving large amounts of flesh exposed was crass and far beneath their social standing. Draco had therefore always found it strangely liberating to be dressed like this. He grinned to himself as he went up the short flight of steps leading to the side porch. His sandals were nearly silent on the steps. He always hated his normal dress shoes clacking so noisily on any hard surface.

He went in when he reached the door. It was rather early, but he knew they wouldn't be allowed a lie in at any rate. Winston had always stuck to a rigid schedule, which Draco had thought a bit perverse since he really had few (if any) real duties, and no one was going to care when he did those. Still, when Draco had visited before, he'd always been turned out of bed at seven sharp, and he had no intention of letting the same happen this time.

He looked around the kitchen. Nope. No Winston yet. He wondered if he was even up yet. He usually roamed about in his pajamas in the morning, so he doubted he had much he had to do before bugging the guests. Perhaps he wasn't even awake yet. Draco smirked and headed up the stairs, treading very lightly. If he could be the one turning Winston out of bed for a change this was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

He let out a soft sigh of disappointment as he reached the top of the stairs. Winston was there in the hallway. He was just standing there, looking into one of the rooms. Draco's eyes widened. "Shite." He muttered to himself, hurrying up behind the elf. What he saw past him was exactly what he expected to see. Snape was laying at a bit of an angle on his bed, all the pillows and most of the blankets on the floor about the bed... and Hermione draped across him looking undeniably 'cozy', especially since the last remaining sheet wasn't really covering them all that well.

Draco grimaced and looked away, then reached over, putting his hand over Winston's on the knob and pulling the door shut, making the elf start and look over at him. He quickly pressed his back to the door as if to block Draco's entrance. "Um... Master isn't decent at the moment."

Draco snorted. "Tell me about it. Anybody ever told you it's impolite to stare at people while they're laying there naked with an illegal bedmate?"

Winston's eyes were darting from him to the door. It was pretty obvious Draco was completely unsurprised by what he'd just seen. "He's done... that before?" Winston asked sharply, trying to get a grasp on the situation.

Draco shrugged. "Most likely. I never came out and asked, cause quite frankly I didn't really want to know... but I figured it would be pretty inescapable that he'd be shagging her while we were here. Actually, that's why I supported the idea. Kind of hoped he'd work the fixation out of his system. Blaise doesn't know, though, and we really need to keep it that way. Not that he'd tell... but it would probably be a lot easier to pick that information out of his mind." Draco said conversationally, heading back towards the stairs.

Winston hurried after him. "You knew and you didn't stop him?" He asked, obviously stunned.

Draco laughed. "Me? Stop him? Like that could happen! Beside, so long as no one finds out, what's the harm?"

"What's the harm?!? She's a little girl! And his student no less!"

Draco stopped and turned on him. "She's old enough. Hell, she's older than me, and I've been shagging for years! I generally go for the girls around my own age, but I've had an older woman or two as well. One was even quite a bit older than Snape!"

"Your sexual disfunctions are your own problem, Malfoy! This is Severus we're talking about! Do you have any idea what will happen if..."

"I'm well aware of what will happen, and so is he. He's not a little boy anymore. He may value your opinion for some unfathomable reason, but that doesn't mean he can't make decisions on his own!"

Winston huffed, looking back down the hall at the door. "Why that one? Half his age and a Muggleborn... and I mean look at her! She's probably a Ravenclaw!"

"You wish! She's a Gryffindor."

Winston looked at him, aghast. "A Gryffindor?!? Oh, the family name is forever tarnished!" He moaned.

Draco smirked, "You know... I think you should be very happy he appears to be getting out of his 'monk' phase."

"And just why would I be happy about that?" Winston asked warily, eyeing him to see if he was trying to pull something.

Draco leaned closer, whispering in his ear.

Winston's eyes went wide with alarm.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Hermione cracked her eyes open a bit. The room was bright, but not too terribly so. The large bay windows were open a bit, allowing a gentle, wonderfully comfortable breeze to waft in off the ocean. It flowed over them lazily, feeling as if it were caressing her skin. The slightly salty smell of it was one of those smells she just knew she would remember for years to come. She looked up at Snape. He was still fast asleep. A smile slipped over her lips. He looked so at peace. A little lock of hair had slipped down across one eye. She reached up, gently brushing it back.

This was just one of those perfect moments... the ones you want to last forever. She hadn't had many of those in her life, but she certainly hoped this wouldn't be the last. She closed her eyes, cuddling closer once more and trying to commit every detail to memory. Her brow furrowed slightly as the wind shifted. She could smell breakfast. She sighed, knowing she should get up so they could head down. It was just devilishly hard to work up the will to pull herself away from this... away from him.

She procrastinated a bit, starting to look around the room. She hadn't really gotten that good of a look at it last night, and besides, Snape wasn't even awake yet. Might as well give him a few more minutes, right? This room fit in with the décor of the rest of the house... there were even pictures on the walls. Her eyes paused on one. It was a picture of him sitting in his mother's lap. He looked no more than perhaps three. His mother looked a bit thin, but her smile and her eyes were lively as she held him in her lap, snuggling him lovingly. She sighed. As lovely as the picture was, it pained her a bit to know the woman had died perhaps a year later, leaving the precocious looking child to, from what she gathered, had been a rather rough and for the most part uncaring childhood. What would he have been like had she lived? She sighed. No use dwelling on 'what if's.

She pulled her eyes away, moving them on. She blinked and furrowed her brow. She didn't remember having to go around chairs the night before... but there was most definitely the tops of two chairs several feet from the end of the bed. There was also what looked to be a freshly cut flower in a tall silver bud vase as well. She shifted off of Snape and sat up.

The chairs were sitting on either side of a small, round table set with a full spread of fresh food! She snatched up the sheet, pulling it up to cover herself as her eyes darted around the room... but they were alone. She bit her lip.

Snape stirred, obviously awoken by her furtive movements. "What's the matter?" He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

She just pointed at the table.

He sat up, spotting it, then gave a dejected groan, reaching up with one hand and covering his eyes. "I will never hear the end of this." He muttered miserably.

"He won't tell anyone, will he?" She asked worriedly.

Snape snorted, dropping his hand. "Of course not. That would be the whole point of the binding magic that keeps house elves from telling their master's secrets. No, he'll take it to the grave, but that doesn't mean he won't nag and tease me about it for years to come! He may only be half goblin, but he got all of his father's caustic wit!"

"Is he where you got it?" Hermione asked, a little smirk on her lips despite the situation.

He looked over at her and actually let out a little laugh. "Perhaps." He said grudgingly. "Well come along. Might as well eat our breakfast. It's hard enough to even get him to cook... him serving breakfast right in my very own room? I really must check the charts to see if there is some kind of bizarre planetary alignment..."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Are you sure this is a real shirt? An adult sized one that is?" Hermione muttered, tugging the rather short shirt down a bit. A good several inches of her midriff remained stubbornly exposed.

"It's supposed to be the fashion from what they told us at the shop. Don't worry, I made sure that boy didn't pick out inappropriate things." Snape said, pulling on a black T-shirt.

Hermione gave a little snort, reaching into the bag of clothing she'd brought over and pulling out a couple of rather skimpy pairs of knickers made of rather see-through lace.

"He must have slipped those in while I wasn't looking." Snape said, his voice a bit less than perfectly convincing.

"I see." Hermione said, dropping them back in and fishing around for a moment before pulling out a rather seductively cut sheer red negligé. "Just how long weren't you looking?"

He blinked, a little smirk slipping over his lips. "My, he is a quick one, isn't he? Not bad taste either..."

She swatted him with the dainty bit of cloth before stuffing it back in the bag. She pulled on a pair of denim capris, then looked down at them, "Well, at least these are decent." She conceded.

"They're lovely." Snape said sincerely as he looked her over.

She blushed and smiled, then her eyes widened slightly as she noticed his forearm. It was bare and unmarked. "Did you use a glamour on your arm?"

He looked down, examining the unblemished skin, "This? No. No need. I found something a few years back that does the trick well enough. Smudgeproof, waterproof and comes in my skin tone. Quite convenient really." He said, fishing out a small round container and showing it to her. "It's actually rather hard to get off. I usually have to use magic to keep from having to scrub."

Hermione snickered. It was a Muggle women's concealer/foundation, the shade labeled 'porcelain'. "Whatever works I guess."

"My thought exactly. I actually got past a lazy Auror using it once. He just looked, did a standard glamor dispersing spell, and when the mark still didn't show up, he let me pass."

She couldn't help but snicker at that. She could quite easily imagine someone like Cornfoot Sr. overlooking Muggle methods of concealment. She pulled out the brush she'd tossed in the bag when she fetched it. She strolled into his bathroom and stood in front of the large mirror as she brushed her hair out. Once she'd gotten it straightened out, she started trying to braid it. It was going to be sweltering collecting if her hair was down. After a couple of frustrating minutes, she spotted Snape in the mirror. He was leaning against the door frame, smiling softly as he watched her. She let out a little huff. "Don't laugh! It's not as easy as it looks!"

His smile widened a bit and he pushed off from the door frame, coming over and reaching up. She relinquished her hair in surprise as he took over. He undid the rather malformed attempt she'd been making and took up the brush. Her eyes drifted shut as he brushed her hair. When he had it straightened back out properly he set down the brush and she felt him take up bits of it. His swift and agile fingers worked her hair with obviously experienced ease. It was strange... she'd never had a male do up her hair. She found she quite liked it. The way his fingers brushed the nape of her neck as he worked further down sent a little shiver through her. She was almost disappointed when he finally finished, neatly tying the end up with a ribbon.

She smiled as she reached up, feeling it. She knew it wasn't a standard braid, but she couldn't quite figure out what kind of weave he'd used. Whatever it was, it was neat and tight, not a hair escaping it. "For someone who doesn't care for women putting their hair up, you certain have a talent for it." She said playfully.

She could see him smile in the mirror, but it didn't seem to reach his eyes. "I used to do up Kathryn's hair for her." He said softly, "She always loved playing with hair. She thought it looked more elegant when it was up... but she was completely hopeless at doing her own." He gently stroked his fingers down the braid, "When she found I could do a passable job at it, she stopped bothering to attempt it herself. She said she'd always have me around to do it for her, so what was the point frustrating herself needlessly?"

She had no idea how to reply to that. That he would do that for her though it reminded him of his late wife was deeply moving... but the subject was so touchy she was afraid to say anything really. She turned around, looking up at him. He just looked back at her silently. She wished she knew what was going on behind those piercing black eyes. She slipped her arms around him, holding him tight.

He held her to him for a long moment, then let go, shifting away with a little sigh. "We need to get going."

She nodded, almost glad he'd suggested it. She picked up her clothing from the night before and her bag. "Let's go then."

She stowed her bag back where it went in her room, then dropped her laundry on the bed. She truly doubted the elf had managed to miss spotting them laying there on the bed (especially since it had been very obviously a breakfast spread for two), but she hadn't wanted to leave her things in Snape's room in case Draco or Blaise wandered up. Snape was emerging from his room when she stepped back out into the hall. She had to smirk. It was just so odd seeing him like this. The black swimming trunks went down to his knees, and the T-shirt covered his arms down to his elbows, but it was still a whole lot more exposed flesh than she'd ever seen on him outside of the bedroom. She had expected him to look funny in 'summer' clothing... but despite the fact that his skin was all quite pale, he looked oddly at home in those clothes.

She followed him down the stairs, carefully stifling a chuckle as they entered the kitchen. Draco was sitting there reading, and his clothing was nearly a perfect match for Snape's. She also noted that any remaining traces of gel were long gone from his hair. It just fell somewhat untidily wherever it pleased. It made him look worlds more relaxed.

"About time you two wandered down." Draco muttered from behind his book.

"Good morning to you as well." Snape said a bit distractedly, looking over and watching Winston with open puzzlement. He was at the stove, cooking up something that smelled very good. He watched him for a moment as he carefully distributed the contents of the pan into waiting containers. Snape went over, watching him as he placed the filled containers into some waiting boxes that already had a number of containers in them. He then set each in turn on top of a bit of cloth and tied the ends up over it to secure it into a neat little package. "What the devil are you up to?" He asked at last.

Winston looked over at him, grinning broadly as he tied the thin cloth carefully around the last box. "Well good morning, Master." Winston said, his tone almost cheerful. "I was just making up some lunches. I'm told you'll be out collecting all day, and I wouldn't want you to get too famished. Don't worry, all of the containers are spelled to keep the contents fresh and just the right temperature..."

Snape just stared, dumbfounded as Winston handed him one of the lunch boxes, then hopped down off the short stool, carrying another over to Hermione. She accepted it as he held it out to her.

"There you go, Miss Granger. May I call you Hermione?" He asked, politely.

She blinked, glancing over at Snape. "Um... sure."

"Did you sleep well, Hermione?"

Her cheeks went crimson, but he gave no indication of teasing her. "Sure... it's lovely here."

"I've certainly always thought so." He said agreeably, "And was your breakfast to your liking?"

"It was very good. Thank you."

"No need to thank me. It was my pleasure. If there's anything you need, anything at all, just ask. I do hope you like your lunch. It was one of Severus' favorites growing up. Well, I should get to cleaning up."

They watched him as he went back over, pushing the last two boxes across the counter to Draco before moving the dirty pans and such over to the sink.

Draco just grabbed up the two boxes up by their knotted cloths and headed out the door. They followed along after, both still mystified.

"Um... where's Blaise?" Hermione asked as they walked down the corridor.

"Where do you think?" Draco said distractedly, finally closing the book and tucking it under his arm so he could reach out and open the door.

"Undoubtedly down on the beach trolling for loose Muggles." Snape muttered with an edge of amusement.

"Of course. Well, amongst other things. I'll go fetch him once we're ready to head inland. By the way, if you two plan on being so obvious, I would suggest you spell the house to warn you when he enters it. Questions will be asked if he comes back brain damaged from having to be Obliviated repeatedly. He's not the knocking type."

Snape couldn't hold back the little snort of amusement. "Thank you for the reminder. I'll be sure to do that when we return. I should have thought of that..." He paused, his face sobering, "He didn't..."

Draco snorted, leading over towards the greenhouse where they'd stowed the gear. "Na. Didn't even go into the main house. Winston brought his breakfast to the guest house. In fact, he'd only gotten a few bites of that down before Winston mentioned there were a couple of old surfboards in the shed. Probably took him about three minutes to get suited up, grab a board and hit the water. He's always wanted to try surfing. Figured he'd get in as much surf time as he could before we got to collecting for the day."

Snape just nodded. He'd half expected as much. "What did you do to Winston?" Snape asked shrewdly.

Draco snickered. "Nothing."

"Oh come off it, Draco. You and I both know that what just happened in there was anything but normal. He hasn't packed me a lunch since I was a child. You can't expect me to believe this is just a coincidental change of personality for him?"

"Yes... well when I found him this morning he was getting a bit of an eyeful. You really should at least try to lock your door!"

Snape and Hermione both blushed brilliantly.

"At least I remembered the silencing spell." Hermione muttered morosely.

"Well that's something at least. Don't worry. He shouldn't be giving you grief over it. I had a little chat with him." Draco said reassuringly.

"And just what could you possibly have told him that would cause that?" Snape asked, gesturing back towards the house.

"Well... I might have mentioned that he should encourage you to find yourself a woman and settle down, because otherwise I will be the one who gets him when you die..." Draco said with a wicked smirk.

Snape smiled. "Ah. Yes, I imagine that could have done it."

"Yep." Draco said, opening the greenhouse door for them. "Oh, and you might want to trump up a fake will stating as much and leave it around somewhere in case he should think to check."

Snape paused beside him, his smile warming. "Draco..." He sighed, resting his hand on Draco's shoulder, "Winston is the one who takes care of all my financial dealings and real legal documentation. Don't you think an astute elf like that would have checked my will before playing nice?" Draco's eyes went round as Snape patted his shoulder, "I mean let's be honest... who else would take him?"

Draco just watched him in stunned silence as he went on into the greenhouse.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

By early afternoon Hermione had seen all she wanted to of the nearby wooded area. According to Snape, it was an old, rarely used magical reserve which he'd secured permission for them to collect in. Once past the rusted barbed wire fence, it because readily apparent they were no longer in Muggle territory. They had collected a good dozen varieties of plants (only five of which she was familiar with), two very odd kinds of bugs... and some 'mushrooms' that tried to bite if you got too close. Well, they didn't actually pick those... more just poked them with sticks until they shot out a little jet of some brown powdery substance that she supposed might be some kind of spores. It wasn't easy figuring out how to use the little vacuum-like device she'd been given to collect the powder with. She hadn't gotten the funnel part up fast enough the first time and so missed a bit... and the next ten minutes or so until Draco could locate Snape and get the antidote was a decidedly psychedelic one for her. If that was what drugs did to you, then they weren't all that they were cracked up to be. She found the experience more unsettling and unpleasant than anything. Snape had switched partners with Draco and kept an eye on her after that. She wondered what Snape would need such spores for, but decided not to ask.

Well, the day so far had been educational, exhausting and utterly mortifying. They'd barely even paused for lunch... in fact, she didn't recall seeing Draco stop at all. The food was good, but it was obvious they were all eager to be wash of the place. As they trudged their way back out, Hermione was once again very grateful for the magical packs they carried. She didn't even want to know how much all the stuff they'd gathered would weigh without them. Those bugs alone were shockingly heavy.

"We'll be making one more trip here, perhaps two depending on how long it takes to find what we need." Snape said, making the others groan. Snape just smirked. "Might I remind you that you all volunteered for this?"

"We won't have to poke any more of those bloody mushrooms, will we?" Hermione asked with a grimace.

"I don't think so." Snape replied, "Despite you sampling the wares, I believe we gathered more than enough from those."

Hermione just rolled her eyes and let out a little huff as the boys snickered.

"We'll be having more than enough different ingredients to prepare for the moment. Wouldn't want them going bad while waiting for preparation." Snape pried the barbed wire apart and held it for them, then Draco held it for him.

Once they were back in Muggle territory, Hermione felt much more relaxed. She was used to Muggle hazards... having to watch out for the things that dwelled in that place was nerve wracking. Once they got to the road and started along the pavement, Blaise looked down, hearing something odd about her footsteps.

"Where'd the other strap go?"

Hermione blushed brightly as the others all looked at her sandal that was flopping a bit as she walked, the thick leather ankle strap missing. "A daisy ate it. Well, at least that's what it looked like, but it was a funny colored one." She said in a small, acutely embarrassed voice.

Even Snape snickered at that one.

"Watch those pink ones, Granger." Draco snickered.

"It was red actually."

Their eyes widened as they all looked at her foot again, their laughter dying out as they came to a sudden stop. Snape crouched down, examining the little nub of leather that remained.

"With... um... little purple spots on the tips of the petals..." She said, wondering why they all looked so serious all of a sudden.

"Bloody Hell!" Blaise said, looking genuinely aghast.

Snape looked up at Draco, who shrugged helplessly, "I never saw it!" He said defensively.

"It was when he went to get you. It was right next to that mushroom patch. I thought I'd just hallucinated it until I found my gnawed on sandal near it after you gave me that potion. Fished it back with a stick."

Snape sighed, shaking his head, then stood back up and looked at her seriously, "Miss Granger, you're not to wander from my side while in that reserve again, understood?"

"Ok." Hermione said in a rather small voice.

"You two keep a sharp eye out next time as well. Those aren't supposed to be indigenous to this area. I'll be sure to alert the local authorities." He said, starting to lead them off once more, his pace now quite brisk.

They walked on with a much more somber air about them after that. Hermione couldn't understand the reaction. It really chafed that Blaise had obviously recognized whatever that was as well. Ask her about anything that grows in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and any one of at least a dozen other various countries and she'd have no problem... but here she felt oddly lost. She'd rarely encountered this kind of situation before. The feeling of not knowing about her environment was both alien and increasingly frustrating. She could understand them knowing more about this place and even the Muggles that lived here... she'd rarely done much traveling, let alone wandering this far! Whereas they had all obviously traveled extensively. She imagined it was just something she would have to learn to deal with. They were rich and could go anywhere they pleased. Not knowing about something so basic as plant life though? That was unacceptable to her. She was going to have to find some books and get to studying... and she was definitely going to look up those bloody daisies!

As soon as they reached the back gate to Snape's land, Snape handed his pack to Draco. "Go get those things into storage, then come to the house. I have to make that call."

"Sure." Draco said, leading the others towards the greenhouse.

Hermione followed him, looking back at Snape as he hurried towards the house. When she got to the greenhouse, she quickly unpacked what she'd gathered, placing them in the containers he'd set out before they left. She glanced over at the boys as she pulled her emptied pack back on. They were still unpacking. She slipped out, hurrying towards the house. She wanted to talk to Snape before they caught up.

She felt a bit hesitant entering the house without knocking, but made herself go on after no more than a slight hesitation. This was Snape's house after all. He'd told them to come in once they were done. It still felt odd though.

She walked down the hallway. She could hear his voice coming from the kitchen ahead.

"You alright?"

Hermione jumped slightly, spinning around and finding Winston standing behind her. She took a calming breath. "Fine." She replied quickly.

Much to her surprise, he reached down, gently grasping her ankle and lifting. She raised her foot and let him pull off her sandal, then watched as he examined it. He shook his head, "Definitely a big one. Look at those tooth marks!" He muttered to himself.

She let out a little frustrated breath. Everyone seemed to know about this... whatever it bloody well was!

He looked up at her, hearing. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be rude." He said, quickly setting her sandal back down before her.

"It's not that." She muttered a bit irritably, shoving her foot back into the slightly mangled sandal.

"What then? Something wrong? You need something?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do need something. I need a bloody book!" Hermione muttered, unable to hide her frustration.

A little grin crooked the side of his mouth. "I swear you just channeled Severus." He chuckled. "Anything in particular you're interested in?"

She blushed. "It's just... I'm usually the one who knows about everything, but here... I feel like a bloody idiot! I don't know half these plants and animals. In fact, even indicating I know half of them is probably a gross exaggeration!"

"Ah." Winston said, nodding. "I don't imagine they talk much about America over there. Well, not about our plants and animals at least. We may have a number of the strongest resources available, but we're kind of the magical community's equivalent of an ugly stepchild." He said, wandering off down the hall back the way she'd come.

She followed along, feeling a bit daft and rude for having taken her frustration out on this elf. She looked around curiously as he led her into the study she'd seen in passing the day before. He wandered over to one of the bookcases, browsing the spines. It only took him a moment to locate what he'd been looking for.

"Ah. Here we go." He said, pulling out a small, careworn book. "We have a lot of books with that kind of information, but this one is probably the most complete and reliable one we have." he said, handing it to her.

"Oh. Thank you. I'll return it as soon as I can." She said, leafing through it.

"Is there anything else you desire?" He asked helpfully.

She looked up at him, then hugged the book to her uncertainly. "Listen... I really appreciate you not teasing Snape over... um... you know..." She started, her cheeks coloring, "Especially since he was rather afraid you would and I really don't think he would like that... but you don't have to be nice to me."

He furrowed his brow. "You don't like me being nice?" He asked, baffled.

She sighed. "I'm just saying that how you treat me isn't likely to affect how I feel about Snape if that's what you're worried about. Yes, I like how you've been treating me... I mean you're a wonderful cook, and very polite when you try... but what I'd really prefer is for you to go back to acting the way you truly want to. I really don't care for it when house elves bow and stoop and do anything just to please humans. You were the first one I'd ever met who didn't seem to fall victim to that subservient mindset. I'd started losing hope that house elves could ever truly speak their own minds and do as they please like anybody else. Don't pretend to be someone you're not. Especially not on my account. Just... be yourself."

He just eyed her in silence.

Not sure what else to say, she turned and made her way back down the hall and on to the kitchen. She opened the door and walked in, then stopped. Snape was standing there, talking on a phone she hadn't even noticed before. He was just leaning against a counter, the fingers of his free hand absently twisting and untwisting the long cord. The sight was so very... Muggle looking it felt like she'd been slipped momentarily into another dimension.

"Thank you. Could you give me a call back when it's taken care of? I don't want to take my students back in there until I'm sure it's gone. Yes... yes, you can leave a message with my house elf if I'm not here. Thanks again."

He looked over at her as he hung up the phone. He opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly closed it again as she heard Draco and Blaise coming in behind her.

"Got everything packed away." Draco informed him.

Snape nodded. "Good. We'll dedicate most of tomorrow to the preparation of what we have. As for the remainder of today, we will divide into two groups and do some of the underwater gathering. Two will go on my boat out to sea and collect some of the deep ocean ingredients. The other two will stay here and go out and collect on the reef."

"A boat?" Blaise asked excitedly, "I love boats!"

"Very well." Snape said, "We won't be returning until the morning. Most of the items we are after are quite a ways out to sea, and a couple require nocturnal collecting. We could easily cut the travel time in half with magic, but it isn't allowed. All boats are required to remain visible to the Muggle 'radar' and we must therefore keep to the normal speeds Muggle crafts of the same size are capable of."

"Have fun." Draco snorted.

Blaise looked over at him, his smile fading. "You don't want to go?"

"Not bloody likely. For one, Snape's the only one licensed to pilot that bloody tugboat, so it will just be him and one of us. Besides, I don't care for boats, and even if I did, I wouldn't be caught dead on that tatty thing! Looks like it might sink at any moment."

"It's a very seaworthy craft." Snape replied, folding his arms over his chest.

"If you say so, Snape." Draco conceded, "But you still won't catch me so much as setting foot on it. I'd rather play in the surf with the Muggleborn."

Blaise blinked, then a little smile crept over his face as he stared at Draco, obviously imagining him playing in the surf. "Um... come to think of it... I just remembered I get seasick..." He moved over closer to Draco, draping his arm across his shoulders, "Looks like we have the place to ourselves tonight." He said, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"You two try to throw a party and I'll kick your little arses right back to London." Winston growled as he came through the door, heading over to the refrigerator.

"That didn't last long." Draco sighed, shrugging Blaise's arm off.

Snape smiled. "Welcome back, Winston. I was beginning to miss you."

"Don't go all mushy on me." The elf muttered, "By the way, that prat at the bank finally called back. He's drawing up the paperwork for that land you wanted. I offered him a third of what I did last time, and he practically jumped at it. He said everything should be in order by tomorrow morning. Think you'll be back in time to get into town to sign the papers before they close at noon or will you need me to take care of it for you?"

"I believe I should be able to do it myself." Snape said thoughtfully. "We should be back by around nine."

"Great. I'll call him back and tell him to expect you. Think we could put up some fencing after that? Those bloody Muggles have taken a liking to the area. Seems the effects of our cop wards have been noticed by the local teens... not to mention the spells preserving the land have had an interesting effect on the tidal movements. The waves here are the best in a good twenty miles. During the weekends they're always throwing parties and such down there. It's irritating."

Blaise was beaming by this point. "Oh yes, I am definitely staying ashore tonight..."

Snape sighed and rolled his eyes. "Just remember to do your work first."

"Aye aye captain!" Blaise said immediately.

"Winston, could you gather a bit of food to take on the boat?" Snape asked, ignoring Blaise.

"I stocked it when I was getting it ready for launch. The equipment you'll need is already on it as well. It's all ready to go." Winston said before taking a swig from the Muggle beer he'd pulled out of the refrigerator.

Hermione watched him in surprise. "Isn't that a bit strong?" She asked. Winky had been passed out drunk after consuming what would probably be the equivalent of no more than perhaps half a regular beer.

Winston gave a little bark of laughter. "I'm half goblin. This pisswater isn't even going to buzz me. Which reminds me, you little punks keep your fingers off my beer stash. I've got them counted!" He said, glaring at Blaise in particular as he strolled out the door.

"Yes... well why don't you two go sort out the equipment you'll need and we'll walk with you down to the beach on our way out. You'll find submersible magical packs with the other things to store your gatherings in, but be sure not to open them around Muggles."

Draco nodded, then lightly smacked Blaise's shoulder to get his attention and headed out.

"You should get changed into your swimsuit." Snape said, looking over at Hermione.

She nodded and headed up. When he followed a ways behind her, she was a bit hopeful he would follow her in to her room so they could talk, but he turned off into his own room. She sighed, going into her room. They'd have plenty enough time to talk soon. She wasn't so sure she was looking forward to the outing though. She'd never been really big on boating. After finding out she was a witch, she'd supposed perhaps it was a natural aversion. So very many Muggle tales told of witches not liking large bodies of water, so she thought perhaps there was some real basis in fact. Flowing water does mute the effects of magic after all.

She mused on the subject as she stripped and slipped into her swimsuit. It did indeed fit like a glove... but once she had it on she suddenly realized what a very small glove it was! There had been a decent amount of cloth, but once stretched out to fit over her body, the amount of cloth seemed to diminish as if by magic. She blushed brilliantly as she looked herself over in the mirror. Oh, she couldn't possibly go into public like this! She wasn't that comfortable displaying her body in any way, and her suit had a large oval cut out on either side, a plunging back, was cut rather high on her hips and another circle had been cut out to display her navel. It felt like she was merely wearing her underthings!

She dug through the bag for something to put over it, but the shirts either didn't look like they'd cover much more or looked like they'd be too hot. She dumped the bag out onto the bed (which she distractedly noted had been done up immaculately, the journal set carefully on the bedside table). She sifted through the clothing. There was quite a bit more than she'd realized before. There was even a short black dress. She held it up. Much to her surprise, a thin silver chain fell to the bed as it unfolded. From the length she supposed it was supposed to be a belt. She looked the dress over. It had the ovals cut out of the sides as well, replaced by a mesh of thin silver chains. The edges of the ovals were studded with small, domed silver circles that almost looked like the tops of snaps. "Where the bloody Hell would I wear this?" She asked, shaking her head incredulously.

She dropped it, spotting something. She pulled it out. It was a shirt... of sorts. It was mottled blue and green, a bit oversized and made of a kind of mesh.

"About ready?" Snape asked, sticking his head in.

She blushed, spinning around and holding the 'shirt' to her a bit self consciously. She didn't know why she was embarrassed... he'd seen her naked after all. "Um... what kind of shirt is this?" She asked, trying to pretend he hadn't startled her.

Snape smiled, coming in and taking the mesh shirt from her. She couldn't help the little embarrassed grin that slipped over her lips as he carefully pulled it over her head, dressing her like a child. "They're meant to go over swimsuits. Gives the illusion of wearing more clothing and blocks a bit of the sun I suppose." He said as he finished.

"Well I need something else to wear as well. I have knickers that conceal more than this bloody suit does!" She said, tugging the cloth a bit, though it did nothing to help it cover her better.

"Here." Snape said, reaching over and pulling out a rather festively colored length of cloth. She'd spotted it before and wondered at its inclusion.

Hermione snickered, "A shawl? I've already got the top half covered. Well at least some."

"This isn't for your shoulders." He said, folding it diagonally, then shifting around behind her, slipping his arms around her waist. He placed it so it was past her knee on one side, tied at the other hip. She couldn't help but smirk and blush a bit as he carefully knotted it. It felt so strange feeling him pressed up against her, dressing her. Pleasantly so of course.

"There you go. All covered." He said.

She caught his hands as they started to shift away, wrapping his arms around her and leaning back against him. He pulled her close obligingly, leaning his head down and gently kissing the side of her neck. She sighed blissfully. He slipped back around her, finding her lips and kissing her deeply. She certainly wasn't one to object, though the slight tension in his body as he pulled her close made her wonder. When he broke the kiss, he kept holding her, shifting his head to the side and pressing his cheek to hers.

"Please be more careful." He whispered in her ear.

She sighed a bit irritably. "Why is everyone acting like this? What the bloody Hell was that thing?"

He pulled back, then looked around. "Where's that book I saw you with?"

She reached over, shoving aside some of the clothing that had fallen over it. She picked it up and turned to the index. "What is it called?"

"Look under Pergrinthian Lure Devil." Snape said softly.

Hermione's eyes flicked up to him, widening a bit. That certainly didn't sound good! He looked completely serious, so she flipped through the pages, looking it up, then flipped to the proper page. The picture was of some hideous beast with an absurdly dainty looking flower sprouting from its head. The diagram that followed showed it burrowed under the ground, only the flower peeking above the surface in the middle of a small indent in the ground. "Ugh..." She muttered.

"That's the pink variety. Also nicknamed flower pigs. About the size of a Muggle gopher. They eat large insects mostly. Small rodents, lizards and the like if they can get a hold of them. Quite common and not very dangerous. They'll go after toes on occasion, but are easy to fight off. Hell, often you can just give them a good kick and be done with it. What you encountered was its big brother. Next page."

Hermione turned the page, half fearing what she'd see. There was good cause for trepidation. Her jaw dropped as she saw the next depiction It was obviously quite a bit larger and bore only rudimentary similarities to the 'flower pigs'. It looked gnarled and vicious... almost like one of the more frightening depictions of aliens in some Muggle horror movie advertisements she'd seen. They put an adult human outline in the diagram for scale. The hideous creature was easily the size of a Hippogryph, though its body was longer and serpent-like.

"That represents a standard sized adult creature. Their food of choice is children. Magical children to be more specific. They shoot up from below the surface when the flower is grasped by unwary prey. They generally prefer to swallow their prey whole, but as I'm sure you noted, they do in fact have tiny teeth as well. They don't bite unless necessary because they like their meat as fresh as possible, so they keep it alive as long as possible, digesting it very slowly. It often takes days for the prey to die. From the size of the teeth marks on your sandal I'd say yours was quite a bit bigger. I have little doubt it could easily consume a full grown adult. They might not be able to run over land, but in the immediate vicinity of their burrow, there are few creatures fast enough to escape them. They dart out like trap-door spiders. By the time you see them, it's generally too late. The fact that you escaped tells me it had to have eaten recently. They get slow when they are full. Sometimes they can't even fit out of their burrows at all until they are done digesting their meal."

"You mean that thing ate someone already?" She asked in alarm.

"No way to know yet. Occasionally they will stoop to eating magical creatures if humans are not available. The authorities will make sure it doesn't get anyone else."

"They're going to kill it?"

"Most definitely." Snape said without hesitation. "I'm a strong believer in conservation, as I'm sure you know, but extermination is the only recourse for those things. They live only to eat humans, Hermione. They were bred by a dark wizard who was tricked out of his land by some Muggles some three hundred years ago. They took his land and built a town on it. He figured if he killed off all of their children they'd leave... or at the very least, he'd outlive them all and get his land back that way. Not sure if he figured on his creations deciding they preferred magical children. Not sure if he cared. They stuck around long enough for his purposes. He got his land back, and that's all he cared about. Didn't even bother to try to round them back up."

"That's horrible!" Hermione whispered.

"Yes. It is. Unfortunately, it is a sad fact that there are people out there that are completely morally bereft... That's a good thing to keep in mind."

She just nodded a bit, her eyes unfocused with introspection.

"Let's get going."

Hermione nodded again, closing the book and holding it close. She was definitely taking it along!

She blushed a bit as he picked her wand up off the bedside table and tucked it into the side of her suit so it disappeared neatly beneath the shawl. "Let's not forget that, shall we?" He said, giving her one last peck on the lips before heading out.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Snape sighed as they reached the gate to the stairway leading down to the beach. There were indeed over half a dozen Muggle teens there already, a couple riding the surf, the others sitting around watching them and cheering them on. He looked back at the boys. "Be sure to behave yourselves. Use the masks I gave you. They have a modified version of Bubblehead charms spelled into them, but look enough like Muggle technology to pass a cursory examination. If anyone asks, they're experimental. Be sure to put the diving buoy up above where you are. It's required by law. All of your equipment is heavily charmed against theft, but don't take chances. Draco, be sure not to lose those papers I gave you. You'll need them if the magical authorities come along. I hear they've been working the coastlines pretty diligently since the war started up back home. They don't want it spilling into their country."

Draco nodded, patting the pocket in his swimming trunks that he'd magically sealed and waterproofed. "Got 'em."

Snape nodded, eyeing the two boys a bit pensively. "It would add another day to this excursion to take you two along, and that's the only reason I'd even consider leaving you to your own devices. There are still so many things that might hold us up as it is, and we cannot afford to dally. Still, I am more than reluctant to leave you. I know you should be safe here, especially with Winston looking after you... but you must promise me that you two will behave."

They both nodded immediately.

"We'll be good." Draco said seriously, "Now stop worrying and get out there. It would be silly to lose the light before you even got to your first stop."

"Yep. We'll be very very good. Scout's honor!" Blaise said, giving a little salute.

Snape rolled his eyes, but glanced at the sun and nodded. "Very well. Oh, you've got the titanium blades?"

Draco nodded, then pulled out two sheathed blades. "Here's the other two. You better take them. Never know if you'll need them."

Snape nodded, taking them and making them disappear into one of the many pockets that covered his trunks. "Good idea. Silver is generally the metal of choice when preparing magical ingredients, but several plants and creatures in the area contain fluids that could prove caustic to standard silver blades." He said in explanation as Blaise and Hermione looked at them curiously. "They shouldn't be as far out as Miss Granger and myself will be going, but you never know. These are certainly sturdy enough to deal with being used as regular utility blades."

"Definately." Draco said, slipping out his own titanium blade and smirking at it appraisingly. The blade was almost unnaturally thin, looking more like thick tinfoil than a proper knife. "These are really nice..."

"Tell you what, behave and you can keep them." Snape said, opening the gate.

"Alright!" Blaise said happily as Draco smirked and tucked his blade away.

As they started down the stairs, Hermione noticed one of the girls on the beach spotting them. The girl subtly motioned to the others, and by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, the teens were all staring. Even one of the surfers had noticed them. Hermione carefully hid her smirk when he wiped out because he wasn't paying proper attention to what he was doing.

She felt a little self-conscious as they headed across the beach towards the pier. She tried to ignore the stares, looking out at the water. Now that she was paying attention, the tidal movement was rather odd. Directly in front of his land, the waves were nothing too spectacular... but to either side, there were nice curls rolling in. In fact, due to the oddity of the land, the observers were getting to watch the surfers coast right past them. It might not be the best vantage point for watching the surfers all the way in, but the novelty of it was obviously interesting enough to please them. She wasn't an expert on ocean movement, but she doubted this area would be explainable by Muggle science.

"It would probably be easier for you to use the end of the pier as your entry point." Snape said, eyeing the surf, "It will get you past the breakers and save you a bit of swimming at least. Remember my warnings. Winston will be watching you from the house. If you need help, just signal him."

"Stop fretting, Snape. We'll be fine." Draco said reassuringly.

Snape sighed and nodded. "Let's get underway, Miss Granger." He said, setting off resolutely down the decrepit looking pier.

Hermione understood what Draco had meant when she saw the boat. It was rather small looking, and the paint was peeling. It looked sturdy at least. It was a motorboat, no sails to be seen. There was a shaded cockpit and it looked to have a hatch leading below, but overall she was surprised he'd take something like this out to sea. Perhaps they wouldn't be going too far out. She idly wondered if it ran on Muggle fuel.

"Take these."

She looked over in surprise, accepting what he offered. It was a couple of capsules. "What are these?"

"They will prevent seasickness." He said, knocking back a couple of his own and washing them down with a drink from a water bottle. He handed her the bottle, then watched expectantly.

"But... I mean shouldn't we see if I actually get seasick first?"

"If you do, it will be unlikely you will be able to keep them down long enough for them to work. Odds are you will need them. Seasickness is quite common amongst..." he glanced back to make sure they were far enough down the pier for the waves to drown out their voices, "Our kind."

"Oh." She said. Well, she certainly didn't want to embarrass herself by spending the hwole trip bent over the rail worshiping the ocean. She'd really only been to sea once. Well, technically twice... it was the ferry from England to the mainland and then back. It had been a huge boat, so it barely swayed, but she had to admit that her stomach had felt a bit unsettled both trips. That sensation happening twice was probably more than could have been accounted for by something she ate and coincidence alone.

He checked around in the small bag he had brought. It appeared to be full of bottles and vials. He zipped it up (yes, it actually had a zipper!) and slipped the strap over his shoulder. He noted her curious gaze and gave her a grim smile. "Some necessary supplies, and some that I hope we won't need. Better safe than sorry."

She just nodded and let it drop. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what might await them. She still felt a little unsettled about that flower devil thing.

He hopped onto the boat, the deck of which was marginally lower than the pier, then reached up, helping her over. Once she was onboard, he cast off with experienced ease. She just held on to one of the rails running alongside the cockpit and kept out of his way as he fired the boat up and eased it out of port. She looked back, watching the shore quickly fall behind. The boat was surprisingly swift.

"Tell me when we're completely out of sight of land." He called out.

She turned back again, watching until the land disappeared entirely. She stuck her head into the cockpit. "Ok. We're out of sight."

"Any other vessels around?" He asked, peering out his windows intently. She went up to the deck for a better vantage point, looking all around, but the sea was now and endless, unbroken expanse around them. It made her feel very odd inside to see it. It was like the rest of the world had disappeared. She quickly snapped out of it, looking through the weather beaten glass at Snape and shaking her head.

He nodded, then to her surprise, took out his knife. She hurried over, looking through the door at him in shock as he nicked his thumb, then pressed it to the small indent in the center of the steering wheel. As he pulled his hand away, she saw the bloody thumbprint disappear into the aged wood, then a shimmer radiated out from it, flowing over the entire boat for a split second before disappearing. She just watched him, mystified, as he pulled out his wand, mending his thumb, then cleaning it and his knife. He looked up as he tucked the wand and knife back away.

"Magical autopilot." He said by way of explanation. "Can't simply spell to go to my secret gathering locations without risking someone stealing my boat and finding them. This requires my blood to activate, and is led by the knowledge of where we are going in my mind."

She glanced over the side. The boat still appeared to be charging forward, though the engines had gone completely silent.

"Why waste petrol if we don't need to? It will start up again if anyone approaches." He said, brushing past her. "Well, we probably have a couple of hours until we reach the first destination. That should give you ample opportunity to get started on that book." He said, grabbing a folded chair from where it was hooked against the wall. He took it up to the deck and unfolded it, setting it down. It was a short contraption... not much more than something to prop the back up into a reclining position and keep your legs from having to rest directly on the weathered deck really. He settled down in it, then pulled out his wand, flicking it at an awning that folded out from above the cockpit, shading him a bit.

She wandered over, looking down at him. "Um..."

"Just taking a little nap if you don't mind. I didn't get much sleep last night for some reason."

She blushed and smirked, then glanced around.

"There's only one deck chair."

"Oh..." She said, wondering if she should go below or something. The peeling paint certainly didn't look that comfortable to be sitting on.

He sighed, reaching up. She looked at him curiously, but gave him her hand. He slipped his legs off to either side of the chair and carefully steered her down, sitting her between his legs, She put her feet up on it a bit awkwardly, blushing brightly and feeling a bit giddy as he pulled her back, resting her back against his stomach.

"When there is a scarcity of resources, one must learn to compromise." He said with a smile in his voice. "Wake me when we get there."

She couldn't seem to stop smiling as she settled back. The day was beautiful, the wind brushing her pleasant and not too brisk... and the feel of him pressed up against her was just perfect. She took a deep, contented breath, then sighed it out as she opened her book.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N - I don't know where the title of this chapter came from exactly. One of those things that came into my head and refused to be dislodged. Perhaps it was Hermione and Snape gravitating together... the waves brought it to mind as well since it is the gravitational pull of the moon that makes the waves. It just fit somehow in my mind... which, as you all know, is a bit odd.

Now, as to what many of you have been complaining about of late, yes, it has been a while since I last updated. Please don't bitch about it, and don't bitch if future chapters take a while. They completely uprooted me at work and set me doing something entirely foreign that makes me feel completely lost and like a complete idiot (hmm... thinking about it, poor Hermione probably felt the brunt of that frustration in this chapter). I literally get frustrated to the brink of tears on a regular basis at work now. I probably would be in tears if I didn't stop and do deep breathing exercises until it passes... but that just increases my stress since we are being timed on how long it takes us to do stuff. We were also told we had to get through the work quick or they might farm it out and can us all, and I REALLY don't work well with time pressures and stress, not to mention that people threatening to fire me gives me anxiety attacks ever since the last time when it took me over a bloody year to find a decent job, not to mention there would be no severance package and I'm not even sure I would qualify for unemployment since I am technically a 'temp'... I'm almost afraid to ask. I'm not sure I could deal with the stress if I found out for sure that I wouldn't qualify. Oh, and I just found out my continuing sleep apnea is starting to mess up my body... raising my bloody pressure that has always been low before, and even doing something to fuck with my kidneys! What the Hell is that about? Like I didn't have enough to worry about! I can't even afford to get the sleep test to diagnose it and figure out what kind of breathing apparatus I would need to be able to sleep at night, let alone the very expensive machine, and no, my crappy insurance won't pay a bloody thing on them. So, in essence, I'm just slightly tense right now (kindly note the gross understatement). Please take the hint. Despite what you might think, I do not, in fact, enjoy freaking out and ranting at people for being insensitive arses. Not saying I won't, just saying I don't appreciate being pushed to that point. And if anyone tells me to stop my irritating whining I just might bitch slap them! I'm going to go make a vague attempt at sleeping now.