Evangeline received an optimistic report at a midday exam. Poppy confirmed that the paralysis did indeed seem to finally be gone, and that the wound in her back was almost completely healed. The mediwitch still recommended that Evangeline rest but told her she could resume her regular activities, as long as she didn't feel pain or get overly tired.
This made Evangeline very happy, and she hoped it meant that she could help out with the mission tomorrow. Although she didn't look forward to Severus' reaction when he found out that she'd volunteered for it. Oh, well, she didn't plan to bring it up tonight. Instead, she arranged for a nice dinner to be served in his quarters whenever Severus was ready. She contemplated waiting for him wearing her negligee, but decided instead, that he might not have time for more than dinner. Reluctantly she figured that feeding him was more important than anything else…no matter how much she longed to make love to him again. If he was as busy as she expected, he probably hadn't stopped to eat lunch, or possibly breakfast, either. So she put on her leaf green robe, which she'd found tucked into the back of the wardrobe, and waited…quite impatiently.
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Snape put yet another cauldron to simmer on the fire, stepped back, and wiped his brow. Hopefully, that would be enough. By some miracle, he was actually ahead of schedule. He found that he was really looking forward to taking a break and having dinner with Evangeline. Since things were going so well, he decided that now was as good a time as any to take that break, so he gave some last minute instructions to the house elves, turned to leave the classroom, and found Remus Lupin standing in the doorway.
"Good evening, Severus. I was on my way to dinner, and I thought I'd stop by and tell you that I just sent off your little surprise to Lucius Malfoy."
Pleased with this little snippet of news, Snape smiled a cold smile and nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you, Remus. Now, we'll just have to wait and see what happens."
Lupin frowned in concern. "Won't Malfoy find it odd that you're sending him presents?"
Snape chuckled evilly. "Oh, no…that's the best part of all this. I've been sending him little gifts to thank him for his discretion and to curry favor since Christmas. He's been most appreciative. Malfoy's arrogance and extreme narcissism has surprised even me."
A bit apprehensive, Lupin stared at Snape. "You've been planning this for a long time."
Bright anger flared as Snape looked at Lupin. "I love Evangeline! Do you think I would enjoy knowing that another man had abused her so cruelly? Do you think I could just let him get away with that?!"
Lupin flushed red and looked down, a shiver of guilt and fear running through him. As he noticed Lupin's discomfort, Snape took a deep breath and reined in his temper. "I know you're not happy about this, Remus. It must seem unbelievably harsh to you, but let me assure you that Evangeline was not the first woman to be so foully mistreated by Malfoy. This has been a common practice with him for years. His victim's names would stretch from here into the center of Hogsmeade. If any man ever deserved a fate such as this, it's Lucius Malfoy!"
Lupin sighed and forced himself to look up to meet Snape's eyes. "I did send the package, Severus."
Snape nodded stiffly, an expression of cold anger still on his face. "And I thank you for doing it. Now, I'm on my way to dinner with Evangeline, so I'll see you later."
With a flurry of silk, the Potions Master swept out of the room and down the hall. An envious Lupin stared after him, wishing that he had "dinner" with Evangeline to look forward to.
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As Snape entered his quarters, he banished all thoughts of Lucius Malfoy from his mind. He focused instead on Evangeline, whom he found standing in the doorway to his bedroom. She looked very much herself again, and Snape was very relieved to see this.
"Good evening, Severus. How has your day gone?" She smiled warmly at him.
He crossed the room rapidly and took her into his arms. "It just improved immeasurably by seeing you here, looking so much better."
Favoring him with a happy smile, she reported eagerly. "I feel 100% better. Poppy said that the paralysis is gone, and the wound is almost completely healed. She also said that I could resume any of my normal activities that I wish."
A wave of relief washed over him, and he returned her smile willingly. "Good."
Slipping out of his arms and taking him by the hand, she pulled him into the bedroom, where she had the table set up for their meal. "Would you like to have dinner, now? I have a feeling you may have skipped lunch…am I right? Are you hungry?"
Snape met her eyes with an intense look filled with desire. "Dinner can wait a little longer, can't it, Evangeline?" he asked softly.
Drawing her back into his embrace, he lowered his head to kiss her and murmured gently, "There are other things I've skipped for a long time, as well. I find my hunger isn't for food."
A shiver of longing ran through her, and her heart began to race in anxious anticipation. "I was hoping you'd say that," she whispered huskily as she took his face in her hands and kissed him lovingly and deeply.
As her robe did not have many fasteners, and she'd hedged her bets by not wearing any underwear, Snape had her naked and on her back on the bed in moments. The intensity of his need for her was being severely thwarted by his own garments, however. Even with both of them trying to undo all the buttons and hooks as quickly as possible, his level of frustration was mounting along with his desire for her.
"I'm beginning to see your point about my wardrobe!" he ground out between gritted teeth. Finally he gave up with impatience and began rending the garments with his hands. Swaths of fabric went flying, and buttons began to ping around the room with energetic abandon.
Once free of his imprisonment, he tangled his hands deeply in her soft hair and pulled her head back to trail hot passionate kisses across her breasts and up her slender throat to capture her lips with deep need and longing. Desperate to feel him within her once more, she spread her legs wide and pressed up against him, as he entered her deeply with one thrust.
The two lovers moved together up the mountain of their pent up desire for each other to burst triumphantly from the top and settle gently back to earth in each other's arms.
As Evangeline slowly came back to her senses, she realized that she could hear insistent knocking on the chamber door. It had probably been going on for a while without either of them being aware of it.
The look in Snape's eyes was murderous. Whoever was pounding on the door had better have their affairs in order, because their life expectancy was short!
Reluctantly he pulled away from her, and she could see him trying to control his rage as he stormed into the bathroom. In no time, he emerged again wearing his bathrobe. With a furious expression on his face, he stalked out of the bedroom and slammed the door angrily behind him.
Evangeline heard him tear open the door to his quarters and yell loudly, "If the Dark Lord is not currently storming the castle, you have just made the last and greatest mistake of your miserable life!" Evangeline could hear the high-pitched voice of a house elf squealing out something in fear. She couldn't understand the words through the closed bedroom door. The elf's speech was cut off abruptly by Snape's bellow. "What?! That was five hours of work! You incompetent imbecile!"
There was more squealing and groveling, and then she heard Snape once more. "All right! Enough! Cease your inane prattle! I will be there momentarily." This was followed by the sound of the door being firmly slammed shut.
Suddenly the door to the bedroom was flung open so hard it bounced off the wall with a crash. Snape stalked over to the wardrobe and began pulling out more clothes.
"Those incompetent peons that I was given for assistants have managed to overturn two cauldrons full of modified Wolfsbane Potion! All of it! Down the drain! Five hours work!" He began to viciously yank clothes onto his body. As he began to have trouble buttoning his shirt due to his shaking hands, Evangeline gathered up her courage and went to help him.
With a ragged sigh, he tried to calm himself down as she buttoned up his shirt for him. He stared down into her eyes and gradually brought his breathing under control. His color was also slowly beginning to return to normal as well. Slowly he brought a still slightly shaky hand up and caressed her cheek softly.
"I'm sorry, Evangeline. Instead of being an hour ahead of schedule, I now find I'm four hours behind. I must get back to work."
She smiled sympathetically at him. "I understand, Severus. Can you take a moment to eat something before you go?"
Reluctantly he shook his head and frowned ominously. "No. I'll have the house elves bring me something later. That, at least, seems to be within the limited scope of their abilities." He sighed with frustration and bent to kiss her longingly; letting his hands slide slowly down her naked back. "Don't wait up for me. It'll be a long night."
Then before he could lose his resolve and embrace her again, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind him.