Was it Boswell who said: "Sherry is for boys, port is for men but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy?" … take that into consideration because it is important for the story.

Now… let's talk business. I must apologize for the delay; I haven't been myself lately. I have lots of things to do as my summer break is only three weeks away and finals are destroying my spirit, to say the least.

I promise I will try to write more… I've written till chapter 22 so far so… stay tune.

Anyhow. Chapter 18 is dedicated to Spaz141, my reviewer 100 at ff.net (of course). To the rest, thanks for your amazing support. I love you!

So…well… here it is… chapter 18… enjoy.

Chapter 18: Brandy with the enemy

Hermione was utterly upset and extremely angry. She was also kind of confused about her husband attitude. Why hadn't he told Lucius to shut up? Why had he treated her in such a cold matter in front of everybody? Why wasn't he talking to her now, explaining, if they were alone?

Severus was not thinking of Hermione, or at least not in the way he had thought of her up to that moment. He knew for a fact that the day would come when his services as a spy would be needed again, but he never thought that day would be that soon. He hadn't even considered yet the fact of him being a married man; Hermione's life was in danger too! What had he done? He shouldn't have confessed his love, now she was in trouble.

Or at least, she was in as much trouble as he was.

"Listen, Miss Granger," he said as cold as he could, trying to avoid the little voice in his head telling him that his was not a good idea at all, "listen, Miss Granger," he once again said, louder this time as he wanted to gain her attention. She looked mad but it was probably for the best as he kept reminding himself, "We need to think a plan fast; we need to make him believe we are either insanely in love or so evilly attracted to the other that the only way Dumbledore allowed our carnal union was through getting married," he explained, rubbing his temples with his index fingers. He had a headache.

She said nothing, though. She remained stiff and still in her armchair, her nose up in the air.

"Miss Granger!," he shouted, "This is not a game! Both our lives are on the line! Many lives are on the line, as a matter of fact, would you mind if we focus for a second?," he shouted even louder.

That, my friends, was the drop that overflowed Hermione's glass. She had had enough.

"How dare you tell me that his is not a game when I know for certain that you have been playing with me since the very first day of our marriage? You may think I am a stupid child, sir, but I am not and I refuse to stay in this room one more second! How could I've been so foolish! You know nothing about love! You are unable to love!," she cried, breaking his heart into little pieces. He had broken hers, so they were now even.

"Fine, Miss Granger," was all he said, trying hard not to break into tears like a little boy. He was a man, now. And men don't cry, "Our plan, however, requires your presence and thus I beg you to stay," he weakly asked.

"Yes, of course," she answered, "the plan you mentioned earlier, the one where we are only physically attracted to the other sounds believable enough as it is close to reality. The only thing we truly shared was sex," she said with hate in her eyes.

"Excellent, Miss Granger," he said while pouring some of his finest brandy into his special Slytherin Glass, "Do you fancy something to drink? Pumpkin juice, perhaps?," he suggested.

"Stop treating me like a child," she firmly said with her arms crossed across her chest.

"Would you like a glass of brandy, then?," he politely asked, hanging the Slytherin glass to her.

"I would rather die than touch that horrible, horrible motto," she exclaimed with a look of disgust in her face. She had touched a nerve. Severus Snape was the Head of Slytherin House and thus he cherished the colours of green and silver quite a lot.

"As you like it," he said, biting his lower lip. He would have liked to say much more, but it wasn't convenient for the clock had just turned midnight and Lucius Malfoy's was soon to arrive.

And sure enough, seconds after his last statement, someone knocked at Severus's door. When Severus opened the door, however, he was surprise to see Draco Malfoy there too, in his Slytherin Pyjama's

"Good evening, again, Severus," Lucius said with his characteristic evil grin, "I do hope you don't mind me bringing Draco along. He couldn't sleep, I'm afraid," he almost whispered, but then again, that was his usual tone of voice.

Severus said nothing; he just handed Lucius the glass of brandy he had poured for himself and walked straight to where he kept the alcohol to pour some more. But even from where he was standing the voice of Lucius Malfoy could be heard.

"Look who is here, Draco. Hermione Granger, or should I say, Hermione Snape?," he cynically asked, waiting for some king of reaction from one of them. But he stood in front of two of the best pretenders the world had ever seen and so they didn't even blink at his statement.

"Certainly," she said, nodding.

"I will leave you two kids to play. Severus and I have business to discuss," he said, taking Hermione's jaw on his left hand, "how a nice girl such as yourself, married Severus?," he asked, but he wasn't looking for an answered from Hermione. He couldn't care less about her opinion. He was seeking answers from Snape, his loyal friend.

"She is neither sweet nor innocent, Lucius," Severus said with a glass of brandy in his hand, "Miss Granger and I have an alliance. How can I say this? How shall I put this?," he said rubbing his chin.

"Let me explain, dear," she interrupted him, walking to where he was and placing a passionate kiss on his lips, "I have been attracted to Severus since my 5th year at Hogwarts. Since then we have been engaged in a physical relationship until the day Cornelius Fudge popped unexpectedly into Severus's chambers where we were making love and thus we were obliged by the Ministry to get married," She explained while removing the brandy from her husband's hand and drinking the contents at once.

"You penetrated this mudblood?," Draco Malfoy asked, almost laughing at Snape who looked like he wanted to kill the child.

"Come on, Draco. Play fair. Miss Granger here is a beautiful young women and Severus has always been attracted to beautiful women," Lucius said, caressing Hermione's chest with only one finger. She wanted to vomit, but she was a pretender and for the sake of the order she was planning on going as far as it took to deceive them.

"You kids should play over there. As I said, Severus and I have business," Lucius said, grabbing Hermione's hand and placing it on his son's. Severus just stared at his wife, unable to say a thing as it would be too risky.

"Very well, Severus, very well. I see that Miss Granger has turned out to be smarter than I thought; she joined the better side. It's a pity the Dark Lord is not here to see how many of Potter's friends betray him," he said pacing through the room. Meanwhile in the other room, the moans of Hermione Granger could be easily distinguished, "I see that Draco is having fun with your wife. I hope you don't mind," Lucius said, trying to obtain some kind of reaction on Severus's behalf.

 "Of course not," was all Severus managed to say. He was at the edge of madness; he wanted to kill both Lucius and Draco for touching his wife, the only thing pure he possessed.

"Perfect, Severus, because I am here for a reason. I had wanted to speak with you for a long time and this little wedding of yours has been the perfect excuse. We need to destroy Dumbledore, Severus, and we need to do it fast if we want to inherit the power of our lord," he explained.

"What do you suggest?," he asked, trying to avoid the shouting next door.

"We need to recluse as many Dark Eaters as we can. We even need the Dementors to join us if we want to take over the world. But first things first… we need as much information as we can get about Dumbledore's blessed Order and you will be the one helping us, as Dumbledore's right hand," he explained, only inches apart from Severus.

"I hardly consider myself Dumbledore's right hand," was all he said, as his brain was too busy trying to listen to Hermione.

"You know as well as I do that the old man trusts you with his life. And that is exactly what we need," Lucius explained. But just then, the moaning and the shouting stopped and minutes later, Draco and Hermione appeared next to the fire, untidily dressed, "I think we should go," Lucius said, "This meeting can arouse several suspicions. We will be in touch soon," Lucius explained, "Good night, love birds," was all he said and with one last glance at Severus he was gone, Draco following his lead.

They were two again, and this time they both had a lot to explain.