Chapter Thirty-Five: Heat

Books, quills, parchment, completed assignments: check, check, check and check. Her bag was stuffed with the necessities of the day and she was ready to head out into the rest of the castle. Turning out the gas lamp on her desk, Hermione slung her pack over her shoulder and left the room along with Ginny.

As soon as the girls came down the stairs into the Common Room, Harry looked up from his place on the couch. Ron saw that something had caught his friend's attention and followed his gaze, immediately standing when he saw who it was.

"Hermione!" he blurted as Harry sat up straighter, not daring to say a word.

The witch stopped, and so did Ginny, who gave her brother a slight glower. Hermione blinked, confused by his outburst, but responded politely. "Yes, Ron?" she said, a little unsure of his behavior.

The redhead seemed to flounder for words for a moment, his mouth opening and closing several times as his ears grew pinker by the second. Finally, he worked up the nerve to actually speak.

"I…I'm really sorry, Hermione. I've been a jerk-not that that's new or anything…It just…shocked me, and…it made me angry because…I do…still love you. But I understand that you…don't…feel the same about me anymore. I don't know why you like him, but I s'pose I'll just have to get used to it…Anyway, I'm sorry, Mi. I know I probably don't deserve your forgiveness right now, but-"

Ron's ramblings were cut short when Hermione ran up to him and threw her arms around his waist, burying her face in his shirt. A few tears of happiness fell from the corners of her eyes. Ron was stunned, and he merely stared down at the top of her head in confusion for a moment until he realized what was happening. Then, he slowly wrapped his arms around her as well, hugging her tightly. Apparently she could forgive him that easily.

Harry and Ginny smiled.

X-X-X

"So, everything's back to normal now?" Ron asked over breakfast a little while later.

"Hey, you were the one making it not normal," Ginny chided from across the table.

"I said I was sorry!" he insisted.

"It's ok, Ginny," Hermione smiled from beside her. "Yes, Ron, everything's back to normal again."

"Or, as normal as it can be," Harry chipped in with a slight grin. "Which isn't really all that normal, even for the wizarding world."

"Too true, mate," said Ron.

A moment later, Hermione's head shot up and swiveled to the entrance of the Great Hall after catching the scent she'd grown to know by heart. That and she felt a distinct pull from her collar. Sure enough, there he was, striding through the doors, his usual scowl firmly in place. But as he took a few more steps into the room, he paused mid-stride, his eyes and face darkening noticeably. One by one, all the students stopped talking and turned their heads to stare at him.

He drew his foot back and placed it next to the other, his black irises flickering to Hermione briefly. His nostrils flared, and she swore his lip curled the tiniest bit.

Hermione's stomach did a funny flip, and molten heat slid down to pool in her midsection. She felt a pleading whimper dying to escape her lips, and her muscles ached to rise, run over and jump him right then and there. The urge, the desire was so strong, she had to fight to keep it at bay. She pulled her legs closer together and bit her lip to keep from opening her mouth, her hand clenched tightly around her fork, but she wasn't able to break her focus.

His attention left her after a second or two, his eyes sweeping over the other students, as well as the staff at the High Table, then he turned on his heel and swept from the room as if Voldemort's snake had returned and was right at his ankles.

Hermione felt her heart sink, yet she was grateful at the same time. She let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding and let her hand and legs relax, even if her entire body now felt hot and tense. Dear Merlin, was it going to feel like that all week? She certainly hoped not.

"What was that all about?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, that was weird, even for him," said Ron.

Ginny frowned when Hermione kept staring down at her food. She furrowed her brows, then leaned in to whisper to her. "Did something happen between you two?"

"No," answered Hermione. "We didn't have an argument or anything." Which was true; they hadn't fought. But she couldn't tell her friends that there was something different between them at the moment. That would be simply too much information to disclose, even to her best friends.

"Well something's up," Harry observed. "He looked at you when he started acting funny."

"You know, if something did happen, you can tell us, right?" said Ginny.

Yeah, sure. Because you'd all take it so well if I came out and told you that I was in heat, Hermione thought bitterly, stabbing a sausage a little more forcefully than she'd intended. She winced a bit.

"I know. Nothing happened," she insisted.

"Right, like we're gonna believe that when you're killing your food," pitched Ron. "C'mon, Mi. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Hermione barked, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand up in agitation rather quickly. "I'm fine. Everything is fine. Would you all just eat your breakfast?" At which point, she started to devour her meal as if eating would stifle the other hunger raging in her lower region.

The boys and Ginny gave each other curious, worried glances, but didn't say any more to their curly-haired friend.

Two tables away, Draco Malfoy, too, had witnessed his Godfather's strange behavior. Once again, his eyes had drifted down to the red gem around the other man's neck. Yeah, it was definitely the same stone as Granger's.

Draco frowned further when he noticed Snape's gaze flicker to the Gryffindor table; namely to the head of bushy hair that was staring so intently back at him it was nearly sickening. The man's face had gone as dark as a storm cloud, but his black eyes had glinted in a way that Draco had never seen before. By the time Snape left the room, Malfoy was certain it was because of Potter's new dog.

The only question was, what exactly was going on between them?

X-X-X

Hermione had made it through Arithmancy, Transfigurations and Charms without incident, not that she'd expected any, but she was dreading her next class: Potions. Considering her reaction to Severus a few hours earlier when all he'd done was walk into the room, she was sure spending sixty solid minutes in his presence, even in the classroom, was going to get her nowhere but into trouble.

She couldn't help but feel nervous. What if she couldn't stand the torture of being in the same room with him for that long and made a fool of herself (as well as Snape) in front of the entire class? Now that was sure to get the entire school riled. Prim and proper bookwork, Hermione Granger; so sexually frustrated, she turns to jumping Severus Snape in the middle of a Potions!

Or, what if he ended up paying her more attention than he should? Judging by his actions during breakfast, it was safe to say she wasn't the only one trying to fight off this heightened arousal. He'd obviously felt it, too, or else he wouldn't have turned and run almost immediately after entering the Great Hall.

So what if he made a move on her? Surely that would be even more disastrous:

Bat of the Dungeons molests a willing Hermione Granger. Is he that desperate or just a perverted git with a Gryffindor witch fetish?

Hermione nearly groaned as she, Harry and Ron neared the Potions classroom, and she caught the overwhelming scent of him again. This was just plain ridiculous.

The three friends entered the gloomy, musky room and took their usual seats toward the center, Hermione in the middle, Harry and Ron on either side of her. They dropped their bags and drew out the required material for the period, talking quietly until the teacher graced the room with his dark, brooding presence. When he reached his desk, he turned and growled when not everyone silenced themselves at his entrance.

"One would think that after six years, you'd have mastered the simple task of not…talking…when it's time to begin class…"

The students that had gone on whispering now fell silent, but Snape said nothing more for quite some time, his black, ashen eyes roving over the room slowly, menacingly. When he got to Hermione, his glare deepened again, and he turned away from them all quickly to stride behind his desk.

"Papers, on my desk, now." he ordered.

The seventh years stood abruptly, their stools scraping the stone floor and grating on his nerves even worse as they rushed up to place their review packets and essays in two separate piles on the right of his desk. He marked attendance as they handed in their assignments. He didn't look at any of them until she reached his side. He stopped writing immediately, his eyes darting to hers.

Hermione froze, pupils dilating under his intense stare. The pendants tugged them toward each other, but both were tense and rigid to keep from acting upon their impulses. Hermione's cheeks flushed instantly when she felt the heat crackle between them. She licked her lips when she caught sight of a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead, his eyes holding a raging fire beneath the death glare he was giving her.

It was hard to believe that all that had come to the surface so quickly, but a second after meeting her gaze, he broke it, waving her away impatiently. She obeyed, swallowing as she walked quickly back to her seat and sat down. She ignored the strange looks from her friends.

Draco didn't miss that exchange either. What was that pause about? He wondered. On the surface, it looked as if Snape was especially pissed at Granger that day, but upon a closer inspection, Malfoy saw that flicker of some other emotion within his Godfather's eyes. Curious…

He watched Granger go back to her seat next to Potter and Weasley, keeping her head down the entire time as if not wanting to show whatever emotions he was sure would be swimming within her own eyes. As Snape stood again, Draco took note of Hermione's crossing of her legs, her hands fisted tightly in her lap. Her face was still red, but no one else seemed to pay any attention to her.

"Since I must grade your papers before we can do review work, we will proceed with class as scheduled. From Professor Slughorn's notes, you are due to complete the Memoria Augeret Potion." He drew his wand from his sleeve and flicked it toward the board, the correct steps for brewing writing themselves upon it. Then he flicked his wand at the door to the storeroom. "Get to work."

Again, there was the annoying scraping of stools upon stone, and Snape pinched the bridge of his nose with another growl that was almost inaudible over the raucous. "Quietly!" he barked, effectively making them more aware of their own noise-making. Bristling, he sat back down at his desk and attacked the stack of review sheets that had to be graded if he were to get anywhere with the dunderheads.

Once each student had the appropriate supplies and were seated again, they worked without speaking. They were on hyper-alert since Snape seemed obviously more irritable that day, and no one wanted on his bad side. There was that one person, however, who simply couldn't take a hint if it bit him in the arse.

"Hey Hermione," Ron whispered from her right. "Do you put the Jobberknoll feathers in one at a time or all at once?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and whispered back, "It's on the board, Ronald."

"Yeah, but I can't see the whole thing. Lewis's head's in the way."

She huffed. "One at a time-slowly."

"Ok, thanks."

The entire room was quiet again for a few minutes, but then Ron turned to her again with another question.

"Ron, shh. Figure it out on your own," she muttered, keeping her eyes on her own potion after catching a glimpse of Severus watching them from the corner of her eye. Her skin tingled, and a delightful shiver ran up her spine despite the fact that her whole body felt as if it were on fire under his brief, but effective gaze.

"I tried, and I don't know what to do. I can't just let it sit here or it will explode."

"It's not that hard. Just narrow your options; figure out which ones you know you're not supposed to do."

"That's just more to think about."

"Then you'd better start thinking," she said, starting to get exasperated with his nagging already. It wasn't that difficult, and besides, she wasn't in the mood to deal with his witlessness.

"Ok, I stir in toad's blood right? That's it, right?"

"Ron, SH!" she said more forcefully when Snape's eyes shot up again, returning back to his grading a moment later. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other quite a few times, trying to get rid of the uncomfortable sensation of wetness pooling between her thighs.

"Mione," Ron pled even as Harry shook his head at him from Hermione's other side with a warning look. "C'mon, just tell me what the-"

"Would you be quiet?" Hermione snapped, still in hushed tones. "Honestly Ron, did you only apologize so that I'd help you with your schoolwork again?"

"No-"

"Then do it yourself and stop bugging me."

"But-"

"Mr. Weasley!" Snape barked, effectively making the boy jump out of his skin. "Ten points from Gryffindor! Wherever your brain has run off to, I'm sure Miss Granger does not have it! So stop pestering her and get back to work!"

"Yes, Sir!" Ron said quickly, his ears turning pink as he hastily hurried to add the toad's blood and stirring-mistakenly-clockwise. His potion began to bubble almost instantly, and he panicked, throwing in the dandelion root too soon.

"Ron, stop!" Hermione shouted. Snape stood at her outburst just in time to see her reach for Weasley's potion in an attempt to save it, but to no avail: it exploded, covering her, Weasley, Potter, and a few people in front of them. Everyone was quiet. Everyone was still.

Hermione's face morphed from shocked to irritated to furious within a half a minute. The people around her looked scared. It was all Snape could do not to march over there, grab Weasley by the scruff of his neck and toss him out of the classroom. He forced himself to remain stoic as she growled at the ginger boy before finally letting her anger loose.

"Ron! Are you truly incapable of thinking for yourself? Why is it that I'm always supposed to be responsible for you whenever you can't do anything on your own? I'm not your personal library! And because you couldn't shut up and do your own work, those of us around you have to pay for your idiotic mistakes-which could have been avoided if you would have stopped trying to cheat off of me to begin with!"

Ron was struck dumb, as was Harry, along with the rest of the class. They stared at her, now afraid of earning the wrath not only of the professor, but of the fiery Gryffindor as well. Ron's mouth was hanging open, and his blue eyes were wide with disbelief and hurt. Hermione had never attacked him like that before; at least not over something like that. Whenever she'd yelled at him, it was only if he'd done something really, truly wrong to warrant her anger.

Her chest heaved with heavy breaths, her nostrils flaring now. Her eyes were aflame with fury. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, and her face was nearly as red as Ron's potion which was splattered all over the both of them.

Snape was secretly reveling in her outburst. It was about time she put that imbecile in his place. But he couldn't let his delight show even in the slightest. Instead, he moved to stop the exchange before it got even more out of hand.

"Mr. Weasley, another fifteen points from Gryffindor for your carelessness and waste of perfectly good potions ingredients. Miss Granger, ten points for assuming my job as your own in correcting your fellow idiot," he sneered. "Mr. Weasley, you will accept a zero on this assignment, and I suggest you get rid of the mess your ignorance has created. The rest of you, get back to work."

Hermione turned away from Ron, her angry glare never leaving her face as she vanished the mess from her person and resumed the brewing of her own potion. She was already beginning to feel guilty for blowing up at Ron. True, she always got frustrated when he kept asking for her help during assignments, but was that any reason to react the way she had? She'd just humiliated her friend in front of the potions class; not that he probably hadn't deserved it. But still…She had been pretty harsh on him…

Harry shot her another worried look, and she frowned, lowering her head. She continued to stir the contents of her potion until its completion, then bottled it promptly afterward. By the time Snape dismissed them, she was ready to bolt from the room and out of sight of her classmates.

"Miss Granger, stay," he growled.

Harry glanced at her sympathetically, but he followed Ron out the door when she gave him a silent cue to go on ahead to lunch, leaving her alone with the professor. He flicked his wand toward the door and it closed when the other students had all filed out.

When Hermione turned round to face him she saw his scowl change from menacing to a mixture of irritation and confusion as he scrutinized her, arms crossed firmly over his chest. She shifted beneath his intense focus, unsure of what to say for fear of making the situation worse. Again, she had to fight to remain where she stood, or else she'd lose complete control of her human mind. She could hear the frustrated growls of her own wolf not so deep inside her head.

Snape, too, struggled for words. He could both smell and taste the scent of blood and heat radiating from her, and it was making his mind spin. It should have turned his stomach, and it would have if it weren't for his animal half, which found the scents, not only pleasing, but intoxicating. His scowl deepened. Why had he kept her after class?

Hermione noted the further darkening of his eyes, and she almost whimpered, knowing what it meant.

"This is quite distracting," Snape said at last.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, it is."

He began to pace, his arms still folded. "I can't deal with this-with you in my classroom while you're…" He didn't dare finish that sentence. "I fear what will happen when my resolve cracks, and I can guarantee you it will. I have much experience with holding back my emotions, my urges, but this…this is much different. There's a perfectly good reason I'm not gamekeeper; I can't tame wild animals, much less ones within me."

Hermione leaned back onto a desk and crossed her legs tightly as she watched him with a frown. "What do you suppose we do, then? I can't just stop coming to class, and you can't just stop teaching while this is going on."

He stopped and snapped his head up to look at her with an annoyed glare, but she could tell it wasn't really directed at her. He ran his hand through his hair and growled. "There must be a way to fix this…"

"I'm not sure it can be…fixed…Severus. It's part of being…a female…" The last part of that was murmured quietly, her eyes dropping to the floor. "I'm sorry…"

"For what?" he nearly snapped.

"For making this harder on you." She winced. "It's my fault you're a werewolf in the first place-"

He snorted. "Stop it. You know it doesn't matter now. We are what we are, and though I still have some personal issues with lycanthropy, I can't say I hate it as much as I once did." He paused, watching her as she continued to stare at the cobblestone floor. "I have you to thank for that," he finished quietly. Hermione looked up at him then.

His eyes were still dark, but his expression had lightened enough for her to see the gentleness underneath; the compassion. Slowly, he unfurled his arms and stepped down to her, the tenderness never leaving his eyes, his lips.

"This isn't your fault. It is simply…natural now. It is something we must learn to deal with, together."

He couldn't resist touching her. His hand lifted to her cheek, his fingers delving lightly into her hair just a fraction.

"But how?" she said, though her voice was nearly inaudible due to the shock of his closeness. It was harder than ever to keep herself still.

"I will find a way."

"And I'll help," she insisted, placing her hand on his upper arm, impulse making her slide it up to his shoulder. She felt something change in her expression and knew that she ought to push him away, but her body now seemed to have a mind of its own as she stood up straight from leaning on the desk and drew her face closer to his.

Severus, too, noticed the difference in her countenance, but it was too late to stop what happened next. Her lips were on his before he could think to prevent the coming disaster. He snatched her up as soon as she threw her arms around his neck and devoured her mouth with a bruising kiss. Growls and groans mingled and echoed through the otherwise empty dungeon as his hands traveled down her back, pressing her as close as physically possible against his hard, aching body.

Her smell-it was just too much. Between that and the pendants, it was impossible to relinquish his hold on her. He ground his covered erection against her core desperately, needing to sate the beast that threatened to overtake him.

Hermione gave a cry of ecstasy, but it was also a cry of panic. He'd lost it, and she was about to do the same. She had to stop this-now.

"Severus, wait!" she cried, tearing her mouth from his. His only reaction was to latch his teeth onto her neck with an impatient snarl, his hips still moving against her. She pushed against his chest as hard as she could, finally getting him to step back enough for her move out of his range.

She backed away, part of her wanting to return to him, to the pleasure, but the sane part of her mind telling her that she needed to leave. Hermione could tell by his coal black eyes that he hadn't yet regained his sense. She backed up further, grabbing her bag and backing slowly towards the door.

"We can't, Severus. You know we can't-for many reasons. I'm sorry…but we'd never forgive ourselves if we gave into this so early in the game. You must snap out of it." Her expression was now pained. "I'm sorry…"

He hadn't moved by the time she reached the door. She made to turn the knob but found that it was locked. He must have wanted to be sure no one would walk in on their conversation. She looked down to pull her wand from her pocket to perform Alohamora, but before she could even utter the incantation, she found her side pressed against the heavy wooden barrier that separated her from sanity.

Hermione squeaked in surprise and pleasure as his canines dug into her neck again, his arms wrapping around her midsection, drawing her closer as he began to hump her left hip with abandon. His growls were fierce and dominative, and it was clear that his human facilities had been lost to primal need.

Luckily for Hermione, she obviously wasn't getting as much pleasure from the encounter as he was since his aim apparently wasn't discriminating. Although the act of him humping her certainly turned her on beyond belief, her womanhood was getting none of the attention, leaving the door to sense still open just a hair.

She fought against him, tried to push him back, but it was no use. She wasn't in the greatest position to ward him off, so she figured she would simply have to try a different approach. Her wand was still in her hand. She knew that was her only chance of stopping this before it got even more out of hand.

Gathering all her focus, she aimed her wand and yelled, "Flipendo!"

Snape grunted as he was flung backward down the aisle, hitting the side of a desk before hitting the floor: hard. Hermione covered her mouth with her hands, but she was afraid to move even to see if he was okay. She didn't know if the spell had shocked some sense back into him or not.

Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, waiting for him to move. At last, his face contorted into a grimace of pain, and he slowly sat up, moving a hand to the back of his now aching head. His eyes fluttered open, but when he looked at her, he wasn't angry. She could see the light of recognition return to his features, and he looked utterly shocked, bewildered, and horrified.

Hermione wanted to help him, really she did, but she knew that if she touched him, or even stepped toward him again, they'd be right back to where they'd started. Her face was still pained as she lowered her hands from her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said again, then cast the Alohamora spell and let herself out.

She bolted up the spiral stairs and didn't stop running until she got to a corridor on the first floor. Winded, legs shaking, she ducked into an alcove and slid to the ground, attempting to regain her composure as well as her breathing. She leaned her head back against the wall and took deep, steadying breaths.

Her body was still on fire in the most delicious, yet frightening way, and Hermione knew she had to cool herself down before she even attempted to face her friends for lunch.

She gasped; Lunch! She was already late-Harry, Ron and Ginny would be worried.

Or…maybe not. They did all know about her relationship with Severus, so…they would probably just assume they were talking, or snogging, or…

Hermione shook her head. Stop it! Stop thinking about it! Are you insane? Do you want to run back to him and let him shag you in this state-and in the middle of the day? I think not!

"Why so hot under the collar, Granger?"

Oh no…

"Did you get a zero on your potions assignment, too?"

Hermione's head swiveled and she shot to her feet. "Shut up, Malfoy!" she growled before she could stop herself.

"What, I'm not allowed to be worried about a fellow Gryffindor?" he teased.

She stepped closer to him, the hair on her neck rising again. She was most certainly not in any mood to deal with this snot-nosed snob. "Get out of here," she warned. "Or I swear you won't like what I do to you."

"God, Granger, you're just as moody as Snape today. Who put your knickers in a twist?"

"I'm about to pull your knickers over your head since you're so full of-"

"Now, now; let's not be hasty here," he said, still trying to rile her into giving him some info.

It didn't work.

Hermione managed to breathe deeply enough to release the tension from her shoulders, her face turning passive. "You know what; I don't have time for you stupid little games." She walked off toward the Great Hall, then, leaving Draco to call after her, affronted.

"Oi, that's just plain rude, Granger! Did you forget your manners when that bloody cur bit you?"

She didn't spare him another glance, or another word.

Well damn, thought Malfoy as he watched her turn a corner and vanish from his sight. That didn't go the way he'd hoped. He had wanted to get a few answers from her: like why Snape had kept her after class, and why she hadn't gotten to lunch before Draco decided he'd had enough of his own house and left to gather his things for his next class.

Or why his Godfather kept giving her those strange looks somewhere between loathing and longing.

As much as Draco wanted to say something about Snape taking points from Weasley for talking in class, but not Granger, he couldn't even ask after that since he'd taken ten from her for assuming she could dish out Weasley's pedigree after his little accident. If there was truly something going on between the two of them, Draco had to admit that they were pretty good actors. If Malfoy hadn't noticed the likeness in the stones they wore, he probably wouldn't have paid any attention either, and he would never have thought anything unprofessional was going on.

But they were wearing the same pendent, they were giving each other strange looks, and they were both about as moody as a Hungarian Horntail. The parallels were striking to say the least, and Draco vowed that he would get to the bottom of this mystery.

X-X-X

By the time Hermione reached the Great Hall, she had schooled her features back into her usual calm, striding through the doors as if she hadn't just been in a rather hot and heavy situation not ten minutes earlier. She sat down at her usual place beside Ginny, the boys across from them.

"What did Snape say?" Ron blurted even before her butt touched the bench. Harry shot him a look that said not to push it, but Ron didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, he just wanted to make sure that I didn't take the point thing seriously," she said, surprising herself with how easily the lie came that time. "And sorry about blowing up on you…"

"S'alright. We all have those days," Ron replied with a shrug.

"Awfully long conversation," Ginny pointed out, fighting a mischievous grin. "You about missed lunch. Are you sure that discussion was all that happened…?"

Ron looked mortified, and he almost choked on his food. Harry's eyes grew wide at Ginny's bluntness.

Hermione just tucked into her food, replying easily. "Even if something did happen, who says it's any business of yours?" She smiled wryly.

"Oh, come off it! You had to have at least snogged him for a good while in order for you to be delayed that long."

"Alright! I'm sorry I asked what happened!" Ron nearly shouted, not wanting to envision his ex and the greasy git snogging, nor performing any other intimate activities in the dungeons of Hogwarts-or at all. "Ginny! No more questions!"

His sister rolled her eyes and flipped her hair. "Well, excuse me for wanting to know where my best friend has been," she huffed. "Believe me; I don't exactly want any details either."

"Good, because you'll never get them," said Hermione with a playful smile.

Harry grimaced. "Ok, so he doesn't want to make it obvious that he now favors you over all of the other students. That's good: it won't draw so much attention to you at least."

"Yeah," said Hermione, already starting to feel guilty about having to lie to her friends twice in one day. "Anyway, Harry, did you finish your Herbology report?"

The messy-haired boy dropped his head to poke at his food. "Not yet…" he admitted. "Ya know, I really miss Neville right about now." He grinned a little, and Ginny giggled and Ron chuckled.

"Hey, don't forget, you told me I could borrow your papers," she reminded him.

"Oh, right. Yeah, I'll give them to you later," he replied, nodding.

Ginny and Ron stared at Hermione. "You mean you're going to cheat off of Harry?" said Ginny in disbelief.

"It's not cheating," she said simply. "It's called being efficient." Harry outright laughed.

"Still, that's going in the record books," said Ron. "Hermione Granger, copying off of someone else's work for once. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Oh shush; you know I'll be double checking Harry's papers. I won't just copy it blindly. That would be stupid."

"Still, going in the record books."

X-X-X

Snape sat in his office, elbows on his desk, hands in his hair as he growled in frustration. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he control himself? Surely a man such as him who had mastered the art of self-control could restrain himself in the face of blatant desire.

But no; he'd practically attacked her, so determined was the beast to sate his sickening needs. Even under pain of the Cruciatus Curse, he had never given in. And now he felt a little more randy than usual, and he was ready to force himself on her like a madman?

He had to get a grip before he did it again.

Severus stood from his desk and turned to grab a bottle of firewiskey and a glass. Pulling the cork from the bottle, he stopped just before he poured it. No; alcohol would definitely not make the situation any better, especially not firewiskey. He set the bottle down again and replaced the cork, slumping back in his chair with a groan. There had to be a way around this…

His eyes widened. Of course! The answer was so obvious! Why hadn't he seen it before? He swore this desire was clouding more than just his judgment.

Snape shot to his feet and strode across the room, throwing open the door that connected his office to his private rooms via a second spiral staircase. When he reached his quarters, he began scanning his personal library, looking for the book he'd had to buy a few years back when Remus Lupin began teaching at Hogwarts. Upon finding the tome he had been searching for, he snatched it from the shelf and returned to his office.

A/N: Don't worry, folks; I'm not a sick person who is going to make them go any further than what just happened while Hermione is on her…yeah. Dogs don't know the difference; all they know is that that's the time when the female is most fertile. That's true of all animals, including humans. Anyway, I had the thought of Snape losing control like that, like a dog would, and just needing to feel something to sate himself. I mean, how many times do dogs just hump things because they need to, even if they miss…where it should go? LOL This feels like an awkward ramble, so I'm just going to stop. I hope you enjoyed the animalistic stuff again. It's always so much fun to write.

Or maybe I'm just a weirdo, I don't know. Oh well, Tell me what you think! 8D