A/N: Not sure what to say other than I hope you enjoy….
She held her tongue all the way up until they arrived at his office. If she wasn't so upset she might have expressed how impressive the space looked. He had a huge dark oak desk and a wall of bookshelves in matching wood, filled to the brim with literature. The chairs looked comfortable and the whole place was truly immaculate. But no, as soon as the smug Slytherin closed the door she pounced on him. "Just so you know Snape, I have plenty of other offers so don't think you can force me into submission by dangling this job in my face!" Hermione raged, hands on her hips.
To her amazement he merely smirked and suddenly he was standing much too close for comfort. "Be that as it may, Miss Granger; there has to be some reason why you chose to interview for this position first. I can only deduce that this is the most desirable one," Severus purred. One hand reached up to cup her cheek and it took everything in Hermione not to mewl like a cat as he stroked her soft skin, "and I assure you, I'll have no problems making you submit."
The air grew thicker after he said that, and Hermione was glued to the spot, her honey eyes trained on his dark obsidian ones. His actions were shocking, but he obviously was cognizant of the tension between them. She felt it last night. She could feel it now… Lust pooled in her belly and there was so much that she wanted to say. So much that she wanted to do… but would it be wise to go down that road? "Do you believe I can be conquered so easily?"
Smirking, he pulled away, turning his back as he reached for something on his desk, "I never said it would be easy, Miss Granger. Only that I could do it, eventually. The job is yours, by the way. However, I will give you the allotted amount of time to go over your other job offers." He handed over the packet, the official Ministry seal on the cover.
He seemed surprised when she simply scanned the documents and signed her name on the line. "No additional time is needed. You're right, this is the position I wanted most."
A full smile appeared on his lips just then, enough to make the brave young woman nearly swoon. "Well then, welcome to the team Miss Granger."
The team loved her. And why shouldn't they? Hermione Granger was quite popular after the war, being ⅓ of the Golden Trio and a war hero. But it was more than that. She was kind, brilliant, beautiful and although bossy, never as patronizing as others could be unless truly irritated. Which compared to him, he knew they would be eating out of the palm of her hands. Severus would have resented it had it seemed like Granger was reveling in the treatment, but she insisted that they were all equals, save himself, of course. Such a Gryffindor. He sneered, but it didn't have half of his normal potency.
"Master Snape, shall I show Hermione the projects we're working on?" A young man asked, and Severus recognized the accentuated tones of Jose Martin. Inwardly he frowned at the eagerness he heard in the boy's voice. But why should he be bothered? Until last night he hadn't thought about Miss Granger in years, but somehow seeing her again caused all sorts of emotions and urges to run through his head and his body.
"No need Mr. Martin, I'm perfectly capable of assisting Miss Granger in this. All of you, return to your assignments. We've dallied long enough," the Potions Master decided, nearly reaching out to wrap his arm around Granger, but managing to reign in his possessiveness. "Follow me," he commanded coldly. He needed to get his attraction to the young witch under control; otherwise it could be used against him and he was not about to jeopardize the position he had here. He wasn't kidding about having power here. True, there may be a board of directors, but he was the Head of his department and they mainly deflected to his superior judgment concerning his section. Otherwise he was left alone to do as he pleases and the freedom to experiment was exhilarating. The pay wasn't shabby either.
Jose looked reasonably disappointed but he didn't dare object, Hermione looked surprised, but thankfully didn't question his actions save for a slight eyebrow raise. Silently, they walked back towards his office and away from the lab full of techs. It was then that Severus finally managed to relax a bit. "Everyone seems really nice and quite happy with working here...under you. It seems a lot has changed in four years," he heard Miss Granger's teasing lilt once the door closed.
He fixed her with a glare that was more smoldering than any real hint of animosity. "Not everything. I can still be quite acerbic when the occasion calls for it. But I find working with competent staff is far more preferable than the dunderheads that littered my dungeons before."
At that she smiled and his chest tightened. "We weren't all dunderheads…" the brazen witch countered, slinking up beside him, close enough to touch. In fact, she did, one of her gentle hands rested on his bicep.
His eyes glittered back at hers, feeling the shifting current in the air. "No, not all… I distinctly remember a bossy, bushy haired know-it-all who drove me crazy with her incessant questions." Here she dropped her smile, but he quickly recovered, taking her hand, "You only drove me mad because I was forced to ignore your brilliance. Even punish you for it. I've never said this, but I'm sorry for how I bullied you in the past. War or not, some of it was completely out of line."
That smile renewed and she squeezed his hand briefly before letting go. "T-Thank you, Master Snape. That truly means a lot. And…. I look forward to working with you."
"So do I Miss Granger."