~YA, back to the shameless plug of my own story instead of another's. Hope you like this chapter; I think its fairly spiffing! Thanks to all the reviewers including Ariel!!! Yay! Although I fear there will be no "Cute Virgin Sex Scenes" in my story! [Grins evilly, steepling fingers in a decidedly Snape-like fashion]
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of his wonderful little friends. The only thing that is mine is this sad little plot. Anything recognisable belongs to Ms. Rowling who I hope never finds out what we're doing to her innocent little creations (Hehehehe!! ?) (Wow I used the word 'little' in every sentence—creepy)
Chapter 5
Hermione Granger…in The Library…with The Book
As soon as Severus Snape walked into the Hogwarts Library, he knew that locating Miss Granger and making it look like a complete accident at the same time was going to be quite a challenge. It seemed as though the girl, like himself, had acquired a fondness for being alone in her studies.
Madame Pince was to be absolutely no help at all, seeing as though she was never particularly keen on speaking to Snape—at least not since the staff Christmas party three years ago where she had very loudly proclaimed him to be 'quite a dish'. His only other option would be to simply start on one side and work his way across, all the time praying that she had a preference for west end where he would begin.
He searched almost every inch of the library before he finally located her in a far north-east little burrow where he was sure that even Albus wouldn't have known where to find her. She seemed, as he moved in closer to view her, to be resting her head on a tall pile of rather heavy reading. In fact, upon further observation, she appeared to be sound asleep
Unable to contain his relief with finally finding the young girl before him, Severus tumbled, rather haphazardly into the nearest chair—a good place to observe her.
That is if you didn't wake her up you great git!Luckily, she hadn't awoken; she was still snoozing quite peacefully. To be perfectly honest, she looked more at peace now than he had seen her in the last day or so.
The only woman I know who would be more at peace in a library than anywhere else.
And she was a woman, he finally conceded. Definitely not the awkward, gangly student that she had been all those years ago. She wasn't beautiful, at least not in the traditional sense. She had an almost scholarly beauty, if there was such a term. Her skin was pale and smooth from all the time spent in doors, and her hair was still curly, but had settled down into a smooth natural flow of cinnamon brown ringlets that tumbled gracefully down her back—not at all like the haphazard short cuts that seemed to be in fashion among the female inhabitants of Hogwarts. Graceful, that's what she was, graceful.
At that moment the creature in question stirred, gave an arching yawn and, loosing balance, toppled out of her chair, scattering books and papers all over the floor. Snape gave an exasperated sigh.
"Miss Granger, you certainly know how to shatter a misconception," he scolded with more amusement than his usual acid, before kneeling down to gather a few loose sheets of parchment spread about his feet."What are you talking about Professor?" She continued to scurry about the floor in a frantic concern that Severus found almost cute. Cute? What the hell kind of word is that?
"Nothing Miss Granger," he replied curtly, "it is no longer of any importance." Reaching for the last sheet, Snape stood up and thrust the papers into her outstretched hands. "I believe these are yours."
"Thank you," Hermione muttered through gritted teeth. She was obviously trying very hard to keep her temper in check.
Waiting until he caught her eye, Severus dropped all tone of harshness from his voice before answering, "You're welcome."
But he did not break the gaze.
He continued to look into her eyes and she too seemed unable to pull hers from his. Merlin in the First Circle, when did her eyes obtain those flecks of gold?
Finally, a deep blush creeping up her cheeks, Hermione hesitated before dropping her eyes to the floor and moving back into the recently abandoned chair. Waving her hand elegantly before her, she asked him to take a seat.
"Are you sure that I'm aloud Miss Granger?" he teased, all sarcasm long forgotten.
"Well," she began with a fictitious air of genuine thoughtfulness, "I suppose that it will be all right for now." He bowed and then sat down in the chair opposite her own. He was barely able to glimpse her head over all the books.
In full seriousness he spoke. "Before I'm even going to venture a guess at this [pointed gesture to the books sprawled before him] I want to ap…apologize for my behavior yesterday—what I said was completely uncalled for." The poor girl looked like he had just sprouted wings. "Are you all right?"
"No, no, it's just that, I wasn't expecting an apology—you don't seem like the type." It was honest at least.Snape squirmed a bit in his seat, a little annoyed at her reaction—it wasn't like he'd never said he was sorry before, it just didn't happen that often. "Despite what you and your band of merry men may have thought about me at school, Miss Granger, I am willing to admit when I have made a mistake, as is the case here. Don't push you luck with me."
Hermione laughed a bit at that before replying quietly that she would try her best. He could only suppose that she found his tortures amusing."All the same though," she continued softly after a moments pause, "Thank you for the apology—it does mean a great deal more than you know. Besides, I thought we had dispensed with the well-worn formalities?."
Good gods, what was the world coming to? In all her years as a student, Hermione would have never ventured to guess that one day Snape would be sitting before her offering his humblest—at least as humble as was possible for him—apology. Despite her rather calm features, on the inside, Hermione was in a state of shock.
On the other side of the table Severus gave a simple nod to her question about their titles before shifting quite a bit in his seat, as if he couldn't quite see her."Merlin, the books!" she exclaimed aloud before reaching out to lift four rather large volumes from between them. Snape grabbed another pile, following her example and putting them off to the side. "Sorry, Severus, I do have quite a few here don't I?"
He nodded fervently in agreement before picking up one of the larger ones and flipping cursorily through the first few pages. He clicked his teeth and shook his head in a rather disapproving manner before turning back to her.
"Hermione, I really don't think that this is level-appropriate subject material for post-graduate students, let alone those here, still in primary education," he teased amusedly before snapping the book shut loudly. "Why in the world are you pouring over such books?" Merlin, he almost sounded genuinely concerned!
Hermione gave him a wearisome sort of grunt before setting off into what she supposed to be an over zealous explanation to her work in the library.
"I keep looking and looking, but there doesn't seem to be any explanation in any of these books for the type of reactions that are occurring as a result of its use. I've worked with Antiaccio before with some of my tutoring sessions at Oxford, and everything seems perfectly fine as long as the individual is calmly sending an object to someone else. However, the second you incorporate any feelings of malice into the equation, the performer seems to feel and feed off of the harm that they are trying to inflict—it's like a cycle that feeds the rage. I don't know really how to explain it," she finished lamely, slumping her arms onto the table before her and resting her head into them.
It was funny really, Severus almost looked as though he had humored her by actually listening to her ramblings. But that was absurd, why would he give two knuts about her problems with Charm's research?
"Why are you even studying this at all—it has nothing to do with Arithmancy," he questioned pointedly after a few moments deliberation.
"It's a pet project really," she honestly answered. "Besides, Arithmancy is the study of magic and its mathematical relationship to the laws governing the natural world around it. Antiaccio causes strange miscalculations as far as displacement and equilibrium projections go." Severus looked legitimately thoughtful now, as if on the verge of solving an equation.
"Hermione," he began again, startling her a bit into looking up at him. "I think that your problem lies in a lack of…suitable 'materials'." Hermione stared at him, not quite comprehending what it was he was saying. Snape gave a bit of a huff and leaned in closer to the middle of the table. Hermione, catching the hint, and the beseeching look in Snape's eyes, did likewise.
"What I'm talking about Miss Granger are books on the Dark Arts." He spoke in the most hushed of whispers that sent his warm breath spilling across the brief gap between them. He smelt of mint, she thought idly before realizing that he was talking about using Dark books. Her face must have clearly expressed this as Snape got a blatantly amused look on his face while he moved back into a smug lounging position in his chair. "Really, I'm surprised that a smart witch, such as yourself, didn't recognize the more unpleasant implications of such reactions. I would…." He stopped, leaving the last bit to hang in the air, looking at her with hesitation and something else…what was it?
Whatever it was, the emotion was gone from his face once again; as if he were trying to disguise that he ever had an interest in what she was talking about to begin with. Hermione gave an inward sigh of exasperation at his complete penchant towards the continually enigmatic.
Obviously he was going to force coercion into any information.Biting the bait, "You would what, Professor?" Snape seemed moderately unnerved, like he hadn't expected her to actually respond. Well of course I was going to respond! It's not like I find his company so completely repulsive that I wouldn't care for his opinion! In fact she didn't find his company repulsive in the least.
"I would suggest, Hermione, that you come down and take a look through my personal library, there are more than a few books available there on that 'particular' topic." Of bloody course there were, like I was expecting anything else!"I…I would love to—that is, if you wouldn't mind," she replied a little more enthusiastically than intended, though with a nice reserved save at the end. It probably wouldn't do well to seem too excited at the prospect of being alone in Snape's rooms with the man himself. Wait, why was she excited at all?
The books obviously…yes, that's it, the books."Hermione," Snape suddenly growled, leaning closer into her again—the swirling of peppermint and musky soap made her physically dizzy. "I would not have asked you if I minded too much!" And with that he abruptly stood up, allowing for a frigid blast of musty air to replace the space once inhabited by his warm presence. "Eight o'clock" was all he muttered before turning suddenly and sweeping from her presence.
Gods, she felt sick, as a mixture of intense emotions swept through her body, each one as ambiguous as the next. All she knew was that these feelings were like nothing she had experienced before—not with Harry, not with anyone.Shit…Harry.
Suddenly the memory of him didn't seem so terrible. And neither did the realization that she had just made a date with Professor Snape.
~Yay!, Although seriously, who would be that upset about making a date with Snape anyway! [Smile] Certainly not me!!
So there it is, chapter five, hope you liked it...please review!!!
P.S. If any of you were wondering, the idea for the title of this chapter is a throw out to the game Clue (which I don't own !) If any of you have played it—if not then you've led a truly deprived life—you will recognize the old "Miss Scarlett...in the Kitchen...with the Candlestick"!
I thought it was witty, but as I am often told by certain people across the hall from me, I am not funny in the least. :(