"Let's see if the Head Girl can't earn 100 points."
Hermione almost choked on her own spit at his words and fought to keep her expression from changing as she gathered her wits about her. That had not been what she had been expecting so soon after their little game of questions and answers. Not breaking eye contact, she stood up, leaned over the desk and kissed him… tentatively at first but soon long and deep. His eyes were still closed when she broke away from him. "Five points, Miss Granger." he whispered, breathless from her touch.
She felt a thrill rush through her and, for the first time in a long time, it was one of anticipation rather than fear. By letting her call the shots, he had freed her from the pain she experienced whenever she was fighting the Imperius. And where had he come up with this scenario? She wasn't sure she wanted to get close to that answer but it would be an experience to hear him award more points to her in a night than he'd awarded to all of Gryffindor during her school years.
Hermione stepped around the desk, reaching up to loosen her tie as she moved to stand before him. When she got there she was surprised to discover the tip of her nose was level with his diaphragm. He seemed a lot taller tonight than a week ago, but then again, she'd been wearing 5 inch high stiletto heels on Saturday and tonight she was wearing a pair of sensible oxfords that added only 1 inch to her 5' 4" frame. It was absurd, but the change of outfit and the loss of 4 inches made her feel a little timid. She knew it was ridiculous as they both were fully aware of what she was, but she couldn't help feeling funny. There were far too many familiar and beloved elements mixed together here in this room tonight for her to be comfortable. Even as she went over her doubts in her head, she could feel the Imperius impose itself and override her feelings. Auto-pilot engaged. Well, if that didn't solve her moral dilemma, nothing would.
Using her hands, she steered him backwards towards the chair behind the desk at the head of the room. When he finally stumbled against it, she pushed him into the seat. He said nothing but a half-smile curled along one side of his mouth at her actions--taunting her--daring her to surprise him. Alright then. She dropped to her knees between his legs and smiled wickedly at him as she ran her hands up his thighs and started unbuttoning his trousers. "I'll show you just why I'm Head Girl, Professor."
***
"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Lucius, will you turn that thing off!" Narcissa Malfoy was not amused by her husband's voyeurism. "Watching Severus Snape getting his jollies is the last thing I need to see, thank you very much."
"As you wish, dear." Lucius replied, a little disappointed because things were finally starting to get interesting. Only Snape would consider an Advanced Potions lesson to be foreplay, he thought to himself as he pointed his wand at the mirror on the wall. Oh well, whatever turns you on. "Finite Incantatem." The scene unfolding in the tranfigured Grey Room faded to be replaced by his reflection and that of the sitting room behind him.
"Why are you showing so much interest in this? I know it's a momentous occasion when Severus the Monk has sex, but what's it to you?" she asked him, setting down her embroidery and studying him through narrowed eyes as he came over to sit on the edge of the chair across from her. "Are you up to something?"
"Aren't I always, my dear?" he replied, reaching out and lifting one of her hands to his lips so he could plant a kiss in her palm.
"Well, are you going to elaborate or not?"
"I've found that addicts have an easily exploitable weakness." Narcissa immediately understood what he was doing--after all they'd been together for twenty-five years now, it would be strange if she couldn't read him. Now she knew why her son had been sulking and skulking around the manor for the past few days, speaking only in monosyllables. That Mudblood girl who was entertaining Snape happened to be his favourite plaything.
"Why Lucius, that's positively rotten and inspiringly twisted." she half reprimanded, a smile on her face.
"I know," he told her, lifting his hand to rest on his chest. "You know it's not easy being me, Narcissa." he intoned seriously, but his eyes were dancing. He was rewarded with hearing her tinkling laughter as she swatted at him playfully.
***
Harry, Ron and Fred made up the third team of flyers scouting the coastline and they were exhausted. They'd started in the Shetland Islands 2 days ago, moved to the Orkneys yesterday and were currently flying over the Irish Sea on their way to the Isle of Man from the Hebrides. They hadn't found anything resembling the place Snape had said was the location of the brothel so far. He hoped Remus and Sirius and their teams were having better luck than they were. He felt a little stretched. They'd been using potions and charms to keep themselves awake, and while they were working, it didn't stop the fatigue from seeping into their bones and settling there like an arthritic ache.
After another hour of flying, the Isle of Man loomed out of the sea. Harry signaled Ron and Fred and they followed him down to land in a field on the northernmost shore of the island. Ron slid off his broom thankfully, stretched and sank into the cold, dewy grass. "Gods, that feels great. My bloody arse is sore and I could do with a nap."
"Well, I can't promise you a nap, but we can rest here for a while. I want to study the coastline first." Harry patted down his robes, looking for the pocket where he had secreted the enchanted scroll of linen. After a minute or so of searching, his fingers closed around the map and he pulled it out. He sat down lotus-style in the grass and spread the blank cloth out on his lap. Fred came up and knelt beside him, looking over his shoulder as Harry touched the tip of his wand to the map and spoke, "Ambitus Mannanan's Isle." At his words an image began to form in the centre of the square, and after a few minutes a perfect representation of the island's outline seemed to float on the surface of the cloth. A crimson dot close to the northernmost tip of the island, identified now as the Point of Ayre, indicated their current position. Harry and Fred sat crouched over the enchanted map committing the coastline and its approximate length to memory, while Ron lay on his back staring at the clear night sky and humming tunelessly as he chewed on the end of a quite juicy stalk of grass.
After a time, Harry looked up at Fred. "Good enough then, mate?" he asked. Fred nodded and Harry touched his wand to the map and ended the spell. As Harry began to fold the now blank map up and put it away, Fred stood up and stretched as hard as he could before stepping over to give his brother a kick in the backside.
"Come on you git, move your arse!"
"Ow!" Ron spat out the grass and rubbed the back of his leg. "You're the bloody git, Fred!" He huffed as he got to his feet.
"Now, now, don't you two think that's enough brotherly love for one night?" Harry tutted at them as he sat astride his broom and waited for them. "There's miles to go before we sleep."
"Oh, bloody hell… he's waxing poetic again, Ron. Let's mount up quick!"
"Right you are, Fred." Ron said, flashing a grin to match the one on his brothers face as he straddled his broom and kicked off into the air.
***
Hermione was up to 75 points and wracking her brain to come up with the next way she could earn points. She'd gone through just about every trick in the book. Snape had not handed out any more than 20 points at a time, the bastard, and even that was only once. He'd awarded the points in a daze. It had been when she had straightened up and looked into his eyes after fellating him. Even she had to admit that it had been the best effort she'd ever given to the act. No wonder he'd been a little dazed--she prided herself on her professionalism, however twisted that was deep down. She leaned in and kissed him thoroughly, buying herself a little more time to find the trump card, something worthy of 20 or 25 points. After a moment, Snape broke away from her.
"Why, Miss Granger, if I didn't know better I'd think you were stalling for time." He was rewarded by the sight of her chewing nervously on her bottom lip. "I tell you what, why don't you lean back on that desk there and rest a moment?" Hermione frowned, trying to decode what he was telling her but failing, and leaned back.
Severus turned and rifled through the pile on the floor that was his clothes, seeking out the linen shirt he wore under his heavy velvet jacket. After a few moments of fumbling, he had worked the shrunken vial from its nest and clasped it tight in his hand. Here goes nothing, he said to himself as he restored the vial to its original size with a handy bit of wandless magic. "I hope to hell you paid attention to tonight's lesson." he muttered as he straightened up and turned back to face her.
"Is anything the matter, Professor?" she asked, noticing he'd tensed up.
"Anything and everything." he replied a little shortly as he leaned in to kiss her neck "Pay attention!" Hermione was suddenly alert as she heard the sound of a wax seal being broken and concentrated on what he was doing. She shivered as she felt a cool, viscous liquid run slowly between her breasts and gasped as he moved his hands to massage the liquid into her skin and push her back to lie on the desktop. Her skin began to tingle pleasantly as he continued pouring the liquid and rubbing it into her entire body. She let herself get swept away by the feeling of his hands on her.
"What is that?" she whispered, surprised at how every single inch of her felt like it was on fire as the sensation of tingling grew under his touch.
"Kenyan Caralluma, Cypripedium Blephariglottis, Phoenix Tears, Curcuma Pierreana and Lignum Vitae in an almond oil base." He smiled as her eyes widened. Good girl! He could tell that she'd identified the substance and was a little puzzled.
"But isn't that…" He raised a hand to place a silencing finger to her lips and she could taste the strangely bittersweet concoction on his hands. The ingredient list he'd given her belonged to the one potion he hadn't questioned her about tonight--the Vestigium Teneo potion. Had that been deliberate? Suddenly he moved to run his lips along her stomach and she gasped as his hair lightly brushed her skin, causing a ripple of pleasure to spike down to between her legs with its touch.
"Conservo Hermione," he whispered and she shuddered to her core as the potion activated. He raised his head to find her propped on her elbows and watching him with wonder from beneath eyes heavy-lidded with arousal .
"Wow… 20 points to Slytherin, Professor." There was an undercurrent of humour in her voice as she spoke. "Who'd ever have thought?" She left the rest of her comment unsaid, knowing somehow that he didn't want her to talk about what he'd just done.
"Speaking of points, Miss Granger, there's still this matter of the 25 you have yet to earn."
"Yes, sir!" she answered his widening smile with one of her own.
***
The trio zipped along the northwestern shore of the island, keeping their eyes open as they scouted the coastline below them. So far, it had been uneventful, mostly gently sloping beaches dotted with the odd building, but nothing matching what they were looking for. After another five minutes, the coastline started to change, beaches giving way to low cliffs and soon the lights of the town of Peel could be seen in the distance.
After casting concealment charms to keep themselves from being seen by any muggles in the town, they flew over the quaint port with St. Patrick's Isle in its bay and Ron sheared off from them to scout the place out while Harry and Fred carried on down the coastline. After a few minutes Ron caught up to them and he was looking quite pleased with himself.
"I think I might have found what we're looking for. Come and see." Harry and Fred did not need to be asked twice and followed Ron as he flew to the side of the small isle that faced out into the Irish Sea.
There, obscured from Muggle sight amidst the ruins of Peel Castle, stood a large red sandstone manor house. They could feel the edges of a number of different wards around it from where they hovered, close enough to check the place out, but not close enough to activate any spells the place might have.
"I think you're right Ron." Harry spoke, sounding relieved and a bit afraid all at once.
***
A/N - For anyone who's interested, here's the link to a pic I drew called 100 Points to Gryffindor. It kind of fits with this chapter (it was drawn before I did this story) and consider yourselves warned as it contains some nudity.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/denofdivinity/files/Misc%20%22R%22%20pics/100%20Points%20to%20Gryffindor.jpg
Also, my friend Silene, a great HP artist has drawn a scene from this chapter. Follow the link to take a look.
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/denofdivinity/vwp?.dir=/Art+from+A+Night+To+Remember&.src=gr&.dnm=ANTR+Ch+6+scene+-+by+Silene.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/denofdivinity/lst%3f%26.dir=/Art%2bfrom%2bA%2bNight%2bTo%2bRemember%26.src=gr%26.view=t