Thanks: Dolores Jane Umbridge 2nd, me4draco06, tamorafan, daine, u-know-who formerly known as sak, silentSoul, Mystery reklatS, snapeluver, Olivier-killand-wood.

And again a thank you to mystery reklatS, who was as kind as to correct my mistakes. Thank you so much!

-§-- 3. Caught --§-

Hermione walked down the corridor to the library. It was deserted, which didn't surprise her.

Not too many people came down to the library on a Saturday.

Suddenly, she closed her eyes and saw a black raven in front of her eyes.

She breathed hard and looked all around her. She felt watched.

There was no one.

/Paranoia/

She walked down the last bit to the library quickly, trying to get rid of that uneasy feeling.

Madam Pince wondered why the usually friendly girl didn't greet her, but then, she had stopped doing that some time ago.

Hermione just grabbed some books, which she needed for her homework, and then wanted to leave for her common room. It would be safer there.

Someone walked through the heavy doors of the library, and the moment Hermione saw him, she dropped her books on the floor.

Hurriedly, she gathered her books together and went to Madam Pince to tell her that she would take those with her.

But there was a book missing…

/No/

"Oh, Miss Granger, does that belong to you?" a deep, male voice said behind her, passing her the book she'd lost.

A cold shiver ran through Hermione.

"Yes, thank you very much, Professor Smith." She turned around to face her Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. He came here this school year, Hermione's final one, and to everyones surprise, Dumbledore didn't just give him the DADA position. He was also the new head of Ravenclaw, after Professor Flitwick retired.

The dark-haired man usually wore black clothes, which somehow reminded her of her potions teacher, Snape.

But that was really the only thing he had in common with him. He was a joyful man, always playing with his short hair, always telling stories, always giving their house points as if he didn't understand that he should help Ravenclaw, not Gryffindor, win the House Cup.

Nathaniel Smith was the favourite teacher of Hogwarts. The boys liked him because he never gave them detention, and the girls… Well, it was obvious why he was so beloved under them. He was just 32 years old, an age in which he was definitely one of the youngest teachers in Hogwarts, and he was handsome, with a good figure and a decent face with beautiful teeth and impressive dark eyes.

/Like a raven./

And Professor Smith was smart. Well, maybe it wasn't so stupid of Dumbledore to engage him.

/It was./

Those dark raven eyes looked at her expectantly at the moment.

Hermione said that she would like to take the books up to the common room and Madam Pince gave her an okay.

Then Professor Smith spoke to her again.

"Miss Granger, would you be so kind as to follow me to my office? I have to speak to you."

/No/

Hermione opened her mouth to protest. But was there really any sense in protesting?

She followed her teacher without speaking a word.

As they walked up the corridors to the Ravenclaw tower and to Smith's office, some female students threw jealous glances at her.

They reached the office and Smith stepped in immediately. Hermione stopped at the entrance, hoping someone would stop her from walking into that room.

But his hand grabbed her arm roughly and dragged her into it.

Her DADA teacher was just some inches away when he decided to be friendly.

/Once/

"Please, make yourself comfortable," he said, his voice soft and coaxing, while pointing at a sofa.

Hermione decided that if she stood, she wouldn't feel any better, and her weak legs threatened to break.

"So, Miss Granger, how was your day? Are you learning for school? Yes, you're a clever girl. ... always thinking of exams. That's our Hermione, that we all know and love," Smith said in a sugar-sweet voice, sitting himself close to his student.

"I'm no one's Hermione," she hissed, looking in to those dangerous eyes.

"Now, now, Miss Granger, don't get naughty." He gave her a filthy smile, which left no doubt that it wasn't her who had naughty thoughts at the moment.

Hermione just looked at him disgustedly. "Stop that game. Get over with it," she said, trying to sound at least a little bit like the strong Hermione she once thought herself to be.

Her professor seemed to enjoy that game too much. "I'm the teacher. It's not up to you to say when the lesson is over." He still smirked.

Slowly, he laid his hand on her knee, and his fingers slipped inside the robes. He let his hand run over her thigh, enjoying that Hermione winced and closed her eyes, trying to pretend as if it wasn't her who was being groped by her teacher.

/Stop it. Stop it./

"Stop it!" Hermione whispered weakly.

His hand didn't stop wandering up her thigh and the smirk didn't vanish from his face.

"Beg me."

The door to Professor Smith's office was opened loudly and another teacher stepped into the room.

"Mr. Smith, I have to-" He stopped abruptly as he saw Smith's hand shoot out of Hermione's robes immediately. He lifted one eyebrow.

Hermione didn't know what to think – whether to be thankful that he disturbed Smith, or hate him more than ever, because the potions master knew her darkest secret.

"Ah, Professor Snape, good morning." Smith was back to his joyful face, but for one moment, there was something like sorrow and disgust in his expression. "What can I do for you?"

Smith didn't look as if he was going to explain anything, so Snape just hurried Granger out and decided to tell Smith his reason for that visit. Hermione looked up to her potions professor and shot him an indefinable glance.

Snape could see that the girl was in deep sorrow, and she was ashamed. But that wasn't everything.

/Thank you./

-§-

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