SnapeView
A/N: this is really an epilogue to my story Strange Choices in a Mad Season. But the POV has changed from Viviane's in the aforementioned story to Snape's POV here, so I thought I'd break this out into a separate fic.
All characters are the property of J.K. Rowling except for Viviane, who is mine.
All thanks to my fabulous beta reader, Zsenya, who patiently bore with my apparently incurable habit of not capitalizing spellls and charms.
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Severus Snape awoke slowly, sensing that he was in an unfamiliar bed, one that was far larger and more comfortable than his anchorite cot in the dungeon. As he rolled over, stretching luxuriantly, he suddenly remembered what brought him here. He kept his eyes closed, reliving the night before, from the first wild kiss, to the use, both of them laughing madly, of Floo powder to reach her rooms, to her stumble out of the fireplace and his sweeping her off her feet and onto her bed. He raised himself on one elbow, gazing down at the woman beside him and his lips formed their habitual sneer.
So I've bedded a Devereaux of France. How infuriated Lucius would be if he knew. As he leaned over to kiss her neck, he paused for a moment to contemplate her face. It was difficult to do while she was awake, with those piercing eyes trained on him. He'd watched her surreptitiously during their Potions collaboration, but hadn't learned to read her like he could read so many others. Severus pondered her imperious features that were too strong for beauty, but could be compelling, especially when she let her intensity show through. His gaze wandered down her body, and he breathed, as he had breathed the night before, "Magnificent. You carry yourself well, Mademoiselle Chance."
Snape continued to watch Viviane as she lay stretched out, fast asleep, yet retaining tension even while unconscious. A sleeping dragon – or no, a serpent. He laughed silently at the thought. She's too devious for a dragon, damn her. I wonder what drove her to seduce me? Well, I started it, in a way, going after her into the garden, intrigued by how agitated she was, and wanting to know the reason for it. Then he'd made the mistake of revealing his knowledge of her affair with the oldest Weasley brat, Bill. Not that he was jealous – just irritated that the ungrateful woman had dropped her Potions lessons with him to run around after that insipid bank employee.
"Then you surprised me yet again," he said to himself. "Declaring your…feelings…for me in such a charmingly awkward way for such a worldly woman. I couldn't help kissing you, just to see what you'd do." He twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. "I had no idea what I'd started. How difficult you would be to drive away. How brilliantly you would play on my few weaknesses."
He recalled her angry striptease in his office, presented as a showcase of her scars. She little suspected how that had aroused him – or did she? Then the lightest touch as she'd run her fingers up his arm, over his Dark Mark. Severus shivered as he recalled the gesture, and bent over her, considering how best to wake her while bringing her to the pitch of his own desire.
Keeping himself in check with an effort, he again considered all of the possible reasons why she'd done this. It's no schoolgirl crush, because she's no schoolgirl. She'd surprised him, he admitted to himself. He had expected her to be like the Slytherin girls he'd bedded in his schooldays who had been athletes – ambitious, straightforward and competent. At least, that was how she'd been in his fantasies. Serviceable. Instead, Viviane had shown a most unexpected depth of both eroticism and imagination, from the first scene in his office until they'd fallen apart in the early morning, equally exhausted and sexually spent.
Is she looking for information? Knowing now that I was a Death Eater? That would be like her, to try to pry information out of me for use in wreaking her personal revenge against them. Possible. It's just possible. He smiled wickedly, thinking that if that was her goal, she was wasting her time and opening up some pleasant possibilities for his near future. The prospect of a battle of wills and bodies with Viviane weakened what was left of his control and he straddled her feet, running his hands slowly up her body from her ankles to her wrists, his thumbs tracing the scars left from years of armed conflict.
She awoke with a start and immediately tried to reach for her wand on the nightstand but found her hands pinned by his to the bed. Viviane glared up at him, and her eyes, which were normally rather pale but in the morning light, blazed emerald, and momentarily dazzled him.
"You shouldn't wake me like this – it's dangerous. I could have-"
Severus sneered down at her. "No, you couldn't. Your wand isn't there."
"What have you done with it? You have no right to take my wand-"
"Oh, it's in the drawer. I had no desire to be Blasted this morning, or I should say, afternoon." He lowered his body onto hers and ran his hands back up her arms and down to caress her breasts. She shuddered at his touch and molded her body to his, arching her neck up to meet his lips. "Well, Severus, good morning to you, too. What time is it?"
"Time enough before we have to get ready for the Leaving Feast this evening," he murmured into her shoulder as he trailed his lips along her collarbone. At the mention of the feast Viviane's body tensed and as Severus looked at her in surprise he saw guilt and sorrow pass over her face while she struggled to get free of him. He trapped her before she could succeed and said, "What is it? Viviane? Has something happened that you aren't telling me?"
Viviane laughed sardonically. "If you only knew. You've missed quite a bit while you were away."
What hasn't Dumbledore told me? Severus thought in a panic. He lowered his head towards hers and hissed, "What did I miss? Do tell."
"The short version? Albus asked me to join your association, or whatever it is, against Voldemort."
"The Order? Dumbledore asked you to join?"
"Yes. I'm not looking forward to it. Working with Moody and Sirius may be a problem."
"Sirius Black? You two don't get along? I know he looks worse for wear right now, but he's legendary for his charm and his way with women. Aren't you dying to jump into his bed – oh, I forgot, you've been too busy falling into Bill Weasley's-"
"Shut up, you incorrigible man. And no, I don't like Sirius. I don't trust charming people; they always make me wonder what they're hiding. To continue, Moody announced that I killed his best friend and fellow Auror. And my idiotic father apparently gave me some sort of power that Voldemort wants, but neglected to tell me what it is. Not to mention the death of a student, one that I was pledged to protect, and whom I failed when tested. Ah, Cedric." She closed her eyes and turned her face away.
Severus gave a short laugh. "Oh yes, I've heard about your supposed power, whatever it might be." I'd forgotten about that little detail in the excitement last night. Lucius would be more than infuriated if he knew I allowed her to seduce me, he thought. "So you dropped yourself like a time bomb into Hogwarts. For what? Your own protection? And you're telling me you're feeling guilty over this student Voldemort killed when from your own admission you've helped a number of people out of the world with this elegantly deadly hand?" He lifted it to his lips, kissing slowly down to the wrist while raising his eyebrows at her.
Viviane shot a furious glare at him as she again attempted to get free. Severus laughed, genuinely this time, and a rare hint of amusement showed through his usually unfathomable eyes. "Oh no you don't. You read me the riot act last night, about choices and scars and kisses. It's your turn to live up to what you said. Despite your little outburst of grief, I'm sure you'll behave like the arrogant woman you are at the feast tonight, offering no excuses and no apologies." He bent down and whispered mockingly in her ear, tongue flicking in between the words, "So stop acting like this and kiss me."
By her sharp intake of breath and the way she trailed her hands down his back, Severus knew he'd distracted her from her misguided guilt. A thrill from the power she was ceding surged through him and he crushed his body and his mouth to hers, thinking that it might just be an unusually interesting summer.