Hermione cursed herself as she nervously tugged at her hair. She was not
going to let him see her this way; it would only make him worse. She
resolutely stuck her nose in the air and hurried on towards the dungeons.
The bastard was probably planning something horrible, like the time he
forced Ron to clean out the dirty bedpans without magic. There was no way
she was going to clean up shit without putting up a fight She was going to
run, not walk, to see Dumbledore if he expected her to do something that
disgusting and damn the consequences.
When she arrived, she bit the inside of her cheek forcefully as she watched her shaking hand reach out to knock on the door. It was partly due to nerves, but it was mostly due to her anger at being given a detention unfairly. I could be studying now.
Snape turned around and snapped, "Enter, Miss Granger," before waving his wand to let down the wards and turning back to the damnable love potion he was putting the finishing touches on. He didn't even look at her as she entered the room.
"Good evening, Professor," she said as she walked towards the opposite end of the table that Snape was brewing two potions on. She put her books down on it and crossed her arms indignantly.
"Your instructions are on the table," he said flatly before turning to look at her with a slight sneer. She picked up a stained piece of parchment and read her instructions twice over. She was actually a bit relieved...and perhaps a bit flattered. It simply stated:
Miss Granger,
You are to grade all of the first years' papers on the many uses of henbane. You are then to grade all of the second years' papers on the pros and cons of the usage of belladonna in sleeping potions. Afterwards, you are to sweep and mop the floor. When you are finished with all three of these tasks, you are free to leave.
She picked up the two folders that had the words 'First Year' and 'Second Year' from the table and went over to sit at his desk. She felt very odd seated in Snape's leather chair, but she quickly banished the thought from her mind. There was a tatty looking black quill sitting in a red inkwell to her right, and she wondered if it was the very same quill that he used to mark all of Ron and Harry's papers. Judging by the state it was in, she guessed that he had been using it for a few years. She pulled her wand from her pocket and laid it on the table before opening the 'First Year' folder. She cleared her throat and pulled out the first piece of parchment.
A small group of house elves were bustling through the Gryffindor common room when they happened upon a large pile of rubbish with a neatly penned note next to it. They thought nothing of it, but simply grabbed the pile of rubbish and went to put it into their bottomless rubbish bag. As soon as they picked it up, however, all three felt a sudden tingle all over their bodies. None of them were sure what to make of it at first, but when one of them looked down at the pile of rubbish they were all holding he realized what had happened. There was a white sock hidden amongst the crumpled papers. He grabbed the sock and gave a high-pitched growl. He looked around at his friends and gritted his teeth. With fury, one of the other elves grabbed the letter and read it aloud.
Dear House Elf,
Please take this rubbish.
Yours,
Hermione Granger, Head Girl
"What it is, Binky?" asked a fat little house elf with terror in his eyes.
"I supposing we all've been presented with clothing," Binky said slowly. The other two elves gasped. "We're all set free now. Hermy-o-nee Granger has...set us free!"
"What we to do?!"
"Why?! We not good enough for Hermy-o-nee Granger? We be bad to her?"
"I guessing so. This not good. Not good at all," Binky said while stroking the sock absentmindedly. "We need call a meeting now. Find all you work with today and tell them we meet outside by humpy witch statue. Now."
Hermione was appalled by some of the students' complete lack of grammar, not to mention the fact that most of them apparently had no idea what henbane or belladonna was! She sighed crossly and sat back in her chair.
"I'm not surprised in the least." Hermione jumped. She had almost forgotten Snape was in the same room as her.
"I'm sorry, professor?"
"I'm not surprised that my students' essays are so abysmal, Miss Granger. They've been that way all year," he said with a look of disgust at the pile of finished papers on the desk. Hermione wasn't sure how to respond. She certainly didn't expect him to talk to her, much less in a halfway personable manner.
"The majority of them aren't so bad, actually," she said in what she hoped was a casual manner, "on the other hand, I've yet to run across a truly stellar one." He snorted and continued with his potion.
Absentmindedly, she studied him for a few seconds. His hair had grown considerably since her fifth year. It was now almost down to his elbows. Although it appeared greasy, she noticed that it wasn't greasy looking at the crown of his head or in the back. It also looked quite fine, not coarse. It must look that way because he hunches over fuming potions all day long, she thought to herself. I wonder if it would kill him to pull it back away from his face? She shook her head as she found herself staring at him. She silently cursed him for having prettier, straighter hair than she did, then tried unsuccessfully to suppress a bout of giggles at the absurdity of being envious of 'The Greasy Git's' hair.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Granger?" Snape turned to face her with his eyebrow raised.
"I'm sorry, Professor. These essays are quite creative." She hoped she wasn't blushing.
"Indeed," he said with disinterest as he walked away to pluck an empty vial from his cabinet. "If you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to. I shall return shortly, and don't think you can shirk your assignments in my absence," he said sternly before grabbing a long, hooded cloak from a hook on the stone wall and exiting the room in a flurry of black fabric.
Hermione rolled her eyes, deposited the black quill in the inkwell and leaned back in her chair. Not mine, Snape's, she reminded herself. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to suppress the migraine that was threatening to blossom across her head. She sat up and grabbed her wand, grumbling under her breath about Johanna McKirkle's butchering of the English language. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a glass of water and two Ibuprofen tablets. Being raised by muggle parents, she still had a few habits that she just couldn't bring herself to abandon. Taking muggle pills for her migraines was one of those habits. She closed her eyes as she swallowed the pills and drank half of her water.
She briefly wondered if she would be able to get away with pulling out her advanced Alchemy book for a quick revision before he returned. That's silly. I'd only have to stay here longer to complete these damnable tasks, she though crossly. The sooner she was done, the sooner she could go back to her chambers and prepare for her tests. With a sigh, she grabbed Snape's quill and began scratching away at another first year's feckless assignment.
"Hermy-o-nee Granger is having detentions with Professor Snape now," whispered a skinny house elf with a large wart growing over his left eye.
"You sure, Craw?" asked Binky in a serious tone.
"I hear Professor McGonagall telling him off for it in the Teacher's Lounge. It not very pretty," Craw said with a shiver.
"Yes, he scary man! I see him with Hagrid this morning. He refuses to make a love potion for him at first, but I hear Hagrid talk about how Headmaster talked Snape into it for him. That what Snape doing tonight. Along with Hermy-o-nee's detention," said the fat little elf in a rushed voice.
"Love potion?" Binky asked with his eyebrow arched in a very unsettling manner.
"Yes, he's brewing love potion now. Hagrid said he needed it tonight."
Binky had an impish glint in his eyes. "You two want revenge? It was a big injustice what Hermy-o-nee did to us. You want to make her pay for it?" The other two nodded their heads briskly.
Hermione was absentmindedly chewing on the end of Snape's quill as she re- read an excellent essay by a second year girl she had previously thought to be a dimwit. She was so engrossed in the essay that she didn't even notice the door open quietly. Fortunately for her, it wasn't Snape. He would have been quite disgusted at the sight of Hermione gnawing on the end of his favorite quill.
"There be two potions on the table! Which one's love potion?" asked Abner, his fat face quivering with anxiety. "Shhhhhh! You'll get her attention!" Binky whispered angrily before motioning his two companions into a huddle. "Love potion smells like Gardenia flowers. Craw, you the skinniest, so you stand on Abner's shoulders and sniff the potion."
"Where's Snape? What if he comes in and catches us?" asked Abner, his piggy little eyes wide with fear.
"That be where Simsy and Pinky come in. Simsy is to distract him and Pinky is to warn us," Binky said with irritation. "Really, Abner! You don't pay attention too good." Abner's cheeks flushed and he stared at the ground. "Now, everyone ready? Go!"
Abner positioned himself under the nearest cauldron and Binky boosted Craw onto the fat elf's shoulders. The skinny elf put his large nose over the rim of the cauldron and took a huge snort.
Hermione started. Her concentration had just been broken by what sounded like a large snort. She looked around the room from her chair, and she appeared to be alone. How odd...she thought to herself. It must have been the chair; she rationalized before turning back to her work.
Binky let out the breath he had been holding and punched craw hard on the shoulder.
"You almost get us discovered! You supposed to sniff the potion, not snort at it like wild boar!" Craw knitted his eyebrows and muttered a half- hearted apology.
"Did it smell like Gardenia Flower?" Abner asked while wringing his hands nervously.
"No. It smelt like an old man's sweaty toupee," Craw said while wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Alright. Love potion is in other cauldron. Craw, you get some out with this," Binky said as he handed the warty elf an eyedropper.
"Where you get this?" Craw asked as he studied the odd instrument.
"I found it in Madame Pomfrey's room when cleaning earlier today. Squeeze rubber head and suck some love potion into it." Binky was peeking around the large table leg and craning his neck to watch Hermione as she graded her papers.
Abner waddled under the other cauldron on the table and Craw awkwardly got onto his shoulders. He grabbed the edge of the table for leverage and stuck the end of the eyedropper into the potion, and followed Binky's directions. He crawled off of Abner's broad shoulders and took the eyedropper over to Binky. The pipette was filled with a very pretty liquid that emitted a soft pink glow. Binky snatched it and smelt it. It smelled wonderfully sweet, yet delicate. He grinned to himself as he watched the unsuspecting human girl sitting at the desk, completely oblivious to his plans.
Binky reached into his uniform and pulled out a small handful of light purple dust. The other two elves look at him curiously.
"Where you got that, Binky?" Abner asked with a slight tremor in his voice. "That's Sandman's Dust! You're not allowed to have that!"
"I wasn't when I was working for Hogwarts. I is free now, so laws don't bind me no more," he said with a sour smile. With that, he crept nearer to Hermione and lifted his upturned palm to his mouth. He licked his lips and blew the shimmering purple dust in her direction. It curled towards her face in an elegant, sparkling cloud. It wasn't enough to knock her out for long, so they had to work fast.
Binky ran towards Hermione, and awkwardly crawled up the cracked leather chair to stand on the right armrest. He jumped up onto the desk, rustling a few papers as he did so, and went over to the half full glass of water. He held the small potion-filled pipette over the rim, and squeezed the contents into it. It fizzed slightly, gave off a bright pink light, and then returned to normal. Binky gave a cruel chuckle before jumping down from the desk with a loud thump and scurrying off towards his companions.
"Run! Hermy-o-nee will wake soon! I hope she drinks her water before Snape returns!" Binky was practically squealing with glee as he ran towards the door, closely followed by Craw with Abner bringing up the rear. They exited the room and closed the door with a bang. Hermione knit her brow and slowly came to at the noise.
What the hell just happened? She looked around groggily and saw that nothing was obviously out of place. She shook her head and looked back down at the paper she had been grading. It had been moved up towards the front of the desk, but Hermione didn't think much of it. She supposed she had accidentally moved it when she had fallen asleep. With a groan, she picked up her half empty glass of water, downed the contents and continued marking the papers.
Hermione blinked her eyes. She suddenly felt very odd. Her toes were tingling and her belly felt as if it were filled with tiny bubbles, almost as if she were filled with champagne. It almost...tickled. She shook her head and grunted before resuming her task.
She was in the middle of marking the very last paper when Snape returned. He entered the room and snapped the door shut with an almost mechanical movement. Hermione's head shot up to look at him.
"I see you are still grading papers. Do keep in mind that you must also clean the floor before you leave. More importantly, I might add, I can not leave until you finish," he said with that familiar subtle sneer. He hung up his cloak with a sharp movement, and then turned to look at Hermione. There was something odd about her.
Hermione was startled at first, but as soon as she made eye contact with Snape, her mind seemed to pop inside of her skull. The only thing that she was aware of at all was the fact that Snape was...the most desirable man she had ever laid eyes on! She wasn't aware of the fact that her jaw had become unhinged in a most unflattering manner, and a small string of drool was threatening to drizzle upon the paper she had been marking.
"Miss Granger...?" This was one of the rare moments when Snape became disconcerted. If she were in her right mind, Hermione might have fallen from her chair in a fit of giggles at the sight of his face. His eyes were growing larger by the second.
Hermione could barely form words. Her heart rate increased, her temperature was rising and perspiration was beading upon her brow. The only word she could croak out was a rather indistinguishable, "Severus..."
"Er...are you quite alright? What—"it was then that he noticed the empty glass sitting on his desk. He curled his lip and darted over to snatch it. He stuck his nose in it and sniffed, not unlike Craw had done earlier to the burn healing paste. The glass smelt faintly of...fucker!
"What the hell have you done, you wretched girl! Do you always go about tasting samples of strange potions you find lying about?!"
Hermione still had an unfamiliar look of mental deficiency about her, and she seemed to be gurgling in the back of her throat. Snape was sputtering obscenities at her, and she still wanted him! It was Snape's fatal mistake of leaning too close to her to say something horribly insulting that sealed his fate. With an animalistic growl, Hermione leapt over the desk and attached herself to his neck. Snape let out a high-pitched yelp before he fell backwards, hitting his shoulder against the edge of the wooden table.
He felt hands roaming all over his body, tugging at his robes and tangling in his hair. It was when he felt a few buttons pop open and a hand slither in to make contact with his bare skin that he was shaken from his shock- induced stupor.
"Stop it! This instant! Don't you dare even attempt to—Waugh! NO!" Snape screamed before jumping to his feet and running to the opposite side of the table. Hermione was staring intently at him through heavy lidded eyes. He was scared shitless, to be blunt. His job was at stake here! He could go tell Dumbledore that one of his students had accidentally ingested some of Hagrid's "special circumstances" love potion...but how likely was it that the headmaster would believe him? Hermione was a very intelligent girl, and this kind of behavior was very uncharacteristic. Of course, he could stay with her until the potion wore off, and nobody would be the wiser. But who knows how much she's taken? It could have been a whole bloody glass full for all I know! If that's the case, I'm, perhaps quite literally, screwed!
Snape was roused from his internal dialogue by a low growl. Hermione had her head lowered, and she appeared to be preparing to pounce on him again. Snape shuddered. She was slowly moving around the corner of the table. Snape knit his brow and gritted his teeth as he began moving in the opposite direction. His fingertips were lightly running over the edge of the table as he slowly slithered away from her, never breaking eye contact with his stalker. He was directly in front of one of the cauldrons when she made her move.
With a snarl, Hermione attempted to launch herself over the table, knocking over the cauldron that was on her side, and managing to splash the contents of the other one in Snape's face. A very unsavory smell assaulted her senses. It smelt like her grandfather. She sat on the table and shook her head, as if trying to clear it before her eyes fell upon her prey once again. She was on her knees atop the potion stained table, which put her in a much better position to pounce upon Snape. Especially since his guard was down.
Snape was almost on the verge of tears! His frustration was immediately doubled as he felt tingling warmth spread over his face and down the front of his robes. He brought shaky hands to his face and wiped at the corners of his eyes. The sickly sweet smell of gardenias filled his nostrils, and his stomach twisted in despair. He had just rubbed the potion into his mucous membranes. He was doomed. Bugger me with a broom! My job, my life—that wretched girl! He glared daggers at the beastly little monster straddling his table, and as their eyes met, all of his rational mental functions ceased.
When she arrived, she bit the inside of her cheek forcefully as she watched her shaking hand reach out to knock on the door. It was partly due to nerves, but it was mostly due to her anger at being given a detention unfairly. I could be studying now.
Snape turned around and snapped, "Enter, Miss Granger," before waving his wand to let down the wards and turning back to the damnable love potion he was putting the finishing touches on. He didn't even look at her as she entered the room.
"Good evening, Professor," she said as she walked towards the opposite end of the table that Snape was brewing two potions on. She put her books down on it and crossed her arms indignantly.
"Your instructions are on the table," he said flatly before turning to look at her with a slight sneer. She picked up a stained piece of parchment and read her instructions twice over. She was actually a bit relieved...and perhaps a bit flattered. It simply stated:
Miss Granger,
You are to grade all of the first years' papers on the many uses of henbane. You are then to grade all of the second years' papers on the pros and cons of the usage of belladonna in sleeping potions. Afterwards, you are to sweep and mop the floor. When you are finished with all three of these tasks, you are free to leave.
She picked up the two folders that had the words 'First Year' and 'Second Year' from the table and went over to sit at his desk. She felt very odd seated in Snape's leather chair, but she quickly banished the thought from her mind. There was a tatty looking black quill sitting in a red inkwell to her right, and she wondered if it was the very same quill that he used to mark all of Ron and Harry's papers. Judging by the state it was in, she guessed that he had been using it for a few years. She pulled her wand from her pocket and laid it on the table before opening the 'First Year' folder. She cleared her throat and pulled out the first piece of parchment.
A small group of house elves were bustling through the Gryffindor common room when they happened upon a large pile of rubbish with a neatly penned note next to it. They thought nothing of it, but simply grabbed the pile of rubbish and went to put it into their bottomless rubbish bag. As soon as they picked it up, however, all three felt a sudden tingle all over their bodies. None of them were sure what to make of it at first, but when one of them looked down at the pile of rubbish they were all holding he realized what had happened. There was a white sock hidden amongst the crumpled papers. He grabbed the sock and gave a high-pitched growl. He looked around at his friends and gritted his teeth. With fury, one of the other elves grabbed the letter and read it aloud.
Dear House Elf,
Please take this rubbish.
Yours,
Hermione Granger, Head Girl
"What it is, Binky?" asked a fat little house elf with terror in his eyes.
"I supposing we all've been presented with clothing," Binky said slowly. The other two elves gasped. "We're all set free now. Hermy-o-nee Granger has...set us free!"
"What we to do?!"
"Why?! We not good enough for Hermy-o-nee Granger? We be bad to her?"
"I guessing so. This not good. Not good at all," Binky said while stroking the sock absentmindedly. "We need call a meeting now. Find all you work with today and tell them we meet outside by humpy witch statue. Now."
Hermione was appalled by some of the students' complete lack of grammar, not to mention the fact that most of them apparently had no idea what henbane or belladonna was! She sighed crossly and sat back in her chair.
"I'm not surprised in the least." Hermione jumped. She had almost forgotten Snape was in the same room as her.
"I'm sorry, professor?"
"I'm not surprised that my students' essays are so abysmal, Miss Granger. They've been that way all year," he said with a look of disgust at the pile of finished papers on the desk. Hermione wasn't sure how to respond. She certainly didn't expect him to talk to her, much less in a halfway personable manner.
"The majority of them aren't so bad, actually," she said in what she hoped was a casual manner, "on the other hand, I've yet to run across a truly stellar one." He snorted and continued with his potion.
Absentmindedly, she studied him for a few seconds. His hair had grown considerably since her fifth year. It was now almost down to his elbows. Although it appeared greasy, she noticed that it wasn't greasy looking at the crown of his head or in the back. It also looked quite fine, not coarse. It must look that way because he hunches over fuming potions all day long, she thought to herself. I wonder if it would kill him to pull it back away from his face? She shook her head as she found herself staring at him. She silently cursed him for having prettier, straighter hair than she did, then tried unsuccessfully to suppress a bout of giggles at the absurdity of being envious of 'The Greasy Git's' hair.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Granger?" Snape turned to face her with his eyebrow raised.
"I'm sorry, Professor. These essays are quite creative." She hoped she wasn't blushing.
"Indeed," he said with disinterest as he walked away to pluck an empty vial from his cabinet. "If you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to. I shall return shortly, and don't think you can shirk your assignments in my absence," he said sternly before grabbing a long, hooded cloak from a hook on the stone wall and exiting the room in a flurry of black fabric.
Hermione rolled her eyes, deposited the black quill in the inkwell and leaned back in her chair. Not mine, Snape's, she reminded herself. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to suppress the migraine that was threatening to blossom across her head. She sat up and grabbed her wand, grumbling under her breath about Johanna McKirkle's butchering of the English language. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a glass of water and two Ibuprofen tablets. Being raised by muggle parents, she still had a few habits that she just couldn't bring herself to abandon. Taking muggle pills for her migraines was one of those habits. She closed her eyes as she swallowed the pills and drank half of her water.
She briefly wondered if she would be able to get away with pulling out her advanced Alchemy book for a quick revision before he returned. That's silly. I'd only have to stay here longer to complete these damnable tasks, she though crossly. The sooner she was done, the sooner she could go back to her chambers and prepare for her tests. With a sigh, she grabbed Snape's quill and began scratching away at another first year's feckless assignment.
"Hermy-o-nee Granger is having detentions with Professor Snape now," whispered a skinny house elf with a large wart growing over his left eye.
"You sure, Craw?" asked Binky in a serious tone.
"I hear Professor McGonagall telling him off for it in the Teacher's Lounge. It not very pretty," Craw said with a shiver.
"Yes, he scary man! I see him with Hagrid this morning. He refuses to make a love potion for him at first, but I hear Hagrid talk about how Headmaster talked Snape into it for him. That what Snape doing tonight. Along with Hermy-o-nee's detention," said the fat little elf in a rushed voice.
"Love potion?" Binky asked with his eyebrow arched in a very unsettling manner.
"Yes, he's brewing love potion now. Hagrid said he needed it tonight."
Binky had an impish glint in his eyes. "You two want revenge? It was a big injustice what Hermy-o-nee did to us. You want to make her pay for it?" The other two nodded their heads briskly.
Hermione was absentmindedly chewing on the end of Snape's quill as she re- read an excellent essay by a second year girl she had previously thought to be a dimwit. She was so engrossed in the essay that she didn't even notice the door open quietly. Fortunately for her, it wasn't Snape. He would have been quite disgusted at the sight of Hermione gnawing on the end of his favorite quill.
"There be two potions on the table! Which one's love potion?" asked Abner, his fat face quivering with anxiety. "Shhhhhh! You'll get her attention!" Binky whispered angrily before motioning his two companions into a huddle. "Love potion smells like Gardenia flowers. Craw, you the skinniest, so you stand on Abner's shoulders and sniff the potion."
"Where's Snape? What if he comes in and catches us?" asked Abner, his piggy little eyes wide with fear.
"That be where Simsy and Pinky come in. Simsy is to distract him and Pinky is to warn us," Binky said with irritation. "Really, Abner! You don't pay attention too good." Abner's cheeks flushed and he stared at the ground. "Now, everyone ready? Go!"
Abner positioned himself under the nearest cauldron and Binky boosted Craw onto the fat elf's shoulders. The skinny elf put his large nose over the rim of the cauldron and took a huge snort.
Hermione started. Her concentration had just been broken by what sounded like a large snort. She looked around the room from her chair, and she appeared to be alone. How odd...she thought to herself. It must have been the chair; she rationalized before turning back to her work.
Binky let out the breath he had been holding and punched craw hard on the shoulder.
"You almost get us discovered! You supposed to sniff the potion, not snort at it like wild boar!" Craw knitted his eyebrows and muttered a half- hearted apology.
"Did it smell like Gardenia Flower?" Abner asked while wringing his hands nervously.
"No. It smelt like an old man's sweaty toupee," Craw said while wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Alright. Love potion is in other cauldron. Craw, you get some out with this," Binky said as he handed the warty elf an eyedropper.
"Where you get this?" Craw asked as he studied the odd instrument.
"I found it in Madame Pomfrey's room when cleaning earlier today. Squeeze rubber head and suck some love potion into it." Binky was peeking around the large table leg and craning his neck to watch Hermione as she graded her papers.
Abner waddled under the other cauldron on the table and Craw awkwardly got onto his shoulders. He grabbed the edge of the table for leverage and stuck the end of the eyedropper into the potion, and followed Binky's directions. He crawled off of Abner's broad shoulders and took the eyedropper over to Binky. The pipette was filled with a very pretty liquid that emitted a soft pink glow. Binky snatched it and smelt it. It smelled wonderfully sweet, yet delicate. He grinned to himself as he watched the unsuspecting human girl sitting at the desk, completely oblivious to his plans.
Binky reached into his uniform and pulled out a small handful of light purple dust. The other two elves look at him curiously.
"Where you got that, Binky?" Abner asked with a slight tremor in his voice. "That's Sandman's Dust! You're not allowed to have that!"
"I wasn't when I was working for Hogwarts. I is free now, so laws don't bind me no more," he said with a sour smile. With that, he crept nearer to Hermione and lifted his upturned palm to his mouth. He licked his lips and blew the shimmering purple dust in her direction. It curled towards her face in an elegant, sparkling cloud. It wasn't enough to knock her out for long, so they had to work fast.
Binky ran towards Hermione, and awkwardly crawled up the cracked leather chair to stand on the right armrest. He jumped up onto the desk, rustling a few papers as he did so, and went over to the half full glass of water. He held the small potion-filled pipette over the rim, and squeezed the contents into it. It fizzed slightly, gave off a bright pink light, and then returned to normal. Binky gave a cruel chuckle before jumping down from the desk with a loud thump and scurrying off towards his companions.
"Run! Hermy-o-nee will wake soon! I hope she drinks her water before Snape returns!" Binky was practically squealing with glee as he ran towards the door, closely followed by Craw with Abner bringing up the rear. They exited the room and closed the door with a bang. Hermione knit her brow and slowly came to at the noise.
What the hell just happened? She looked around groggily and saw that nothing was obviously out of place. She shook her head and looked back down at the paper she had been grading. It had been moved up towards the front of the desk, but Hermione didn't think much of it. She supposed she had accidentally moved it when she had fallen asleep. With a groan, she picked up her half empty glass of water, downed the contents and continued marking the papers.
Hermione blinked her eyes. She suddenly felt very odd. Her toes were tingling and her belly felt as if it were filled with tiny bubbles, almost as if she were filled with champagne. It almost...tickled. She shook her head and grunted before resuming her task.
She was in the middle of marking the very last paper when Snape returned. He entered the room and snapped the door shut with an almost mechanical movement. Hermione's head shot up to look at him.
"I see you are still grading papers. Do keep in mind that you must also clean the floor before you leave. More importantly, I might add, I can not leave until you finish," he said with that familiar subtle sneer. He hung up his cloak with a sharp movement, and then turned to look at Hermione. There was something odd about her.
Hermione was startled at first, but as soon as she made eye contact with Snape, her mind seemed to pop inside of her skull. The only thing that she was aware of at all was the fact that Snape was...the most desirable man she had ever laid eyes on! She wasn't aware of the fact that her jaw had become unhinged in a most unflattering manner, and a small string of drool was threatening to drizzle upon the paper she had been marking.
"Miss Granger...?" This was one of the rare moments when Snape became disconcerted. If she were in her right mind, Hermione might have fallen from her chair in a fit of giggles at the sight of his face. His eyes were growing larger by the second.
Hermione could barely form words. Her heart rate increased, her temperature was rising and perspiration was beading upon her brow. The only word she could croak out was a rather indistinguishable, "Severus..."
"Er...are you quite alright? What—"it was then that he noticed the empty glass sitting on his desk. He curled his lip and darted over to snatch it. He stuck his nose in it and sniffed, not unlike Craw had done earlier to the burn healing paste. The glass smelt faintly of...fucker!
"What the hell have you done, you wretched girl! Do you always go about tasting samples of strange potions you find lying about?!"
Hermione still had an unfamiliar look of mental deficiency about her, and she seemed to be gurgling in the back of her throat. Snape was sputtering obscenities at her, and she still wanted him! It was Snape's fatal mistake of leaning too close to her to say something horribly insulting that sealed his fate. With an animalistic growl, Hermione leapt over the desk and attached herself to his neck. Snape let out a high-pitched yelp before he fell backwards, hitting his shoulder against the edge of the wooden table.
He felt hands roaming all over his body, tugging at his robes and tangling in his hair. It was when he felt a few buttons pop open and a hand slither in to make contact with his bare skin that he was shaken from his shock- induced stupor.
"Stop it! This instant! Don't you dare even attempt to—Waugh! NO!" Snape screamed before jumping to his feet and running to the opposite side of the table. Hermione was staring intently at him through heavy lidded eyes. He was scared shitless, to be blunt. His job was at stake here! He could go tell Dumbledore that one of his students had accidentally ingested some of Hagrid's "special circumstances" love potion...but how likely was it that the headmaster would believe him? Hermione was a very intelligent girl, and this kind of behavior was very uncharacteristic. Of course, he could stay with her until the potion wore off, and nobody would be the wiser. But who knows how much she's taken? It could have been a whole bloody glass full for all I know! If that's the case, I'm, perhaps quite literally, screwed!
Snape was roused from his internal dialogue by a low growl. Hermione had her head lowered, and she appeared to be preparing to pounce on him again. Snape shuddered. She was slowly moving around the corner of the table. Snape knit his brow and gritted his teeth as he began moving in the opposite direction. His fingertips were lightly running over the edge of the table as he slowly slithered away from her, never breaking eye contact with his stalker. He was directly in front of one of the cauldrons when she made her move.
With a snarl, Hermione attempted to launch herself over the table, knocking over the cauldron that was on her side, and managing to splash the contents of the other one in Snape's face. A very unsavory smell assaulted her senses. It smelt like her grandfather. She sat on the table and shook her head, as if trying to clear it before her eyes fell upon her prey once again. She was on her knees atop the potion stained table, which put her in a much better position to pounce upon Snape. Especially since his guard was down.
Snape was almost on the verge of tears! His frustration was immediately doubled as he felt tingling warmth spread over his face and down the front of his robes. He brought shaky hands to his face and wiped at the corners of his eyes. The sickly sweet smell of gardenias filled his nostrils, and his stomach twisted in despair. He had just rubbed the potion into his mucous membranes. He was doomed. Bugger me with a broom! My job, my life—that wretched girl! He glared daggers at the beastly little monster straddling his table, and as their eyes met, all of his rational mental functions ceased.