SEDUCTION BY THE BOOK

CHAPTER 4: Snape's Spy

By: Perselus

Snape sat in his chair watching the fire as it crackled cascading dark shadows throughout the room. "What the hell is wrong with that girl?" he said out loud to no one. "I haven't been so angry in all my life!" He was tempted to throw his glass of firewhiskey into the fire but drank more of it instead. No use in wasting good firewhiskey on a foolish little imp like that.

"By Merlin's robes, she tried to kiss me!" He was so mad that he threw himself off the chair and started pacing. Little did he realize that these actions were not going unnoticed. A pair of very big watery eyes followed his every move. The little creature didn't know how to approach the tall dark Professor.

Snape finally finished his drink and threw the glass into the fireplace smirking satisfactorily at the shattering sound of the glass. He didn't know why but the sound brought pleasure to him in this destructive mood.

He felt the presence before he turned around to see a small house-elf cleaning the glass shards from the fireplace. He didn't say anything. He knew that a good house-elf never showed themselves, so he knew that it was odd that she would show herself like that. At least he thought it was a she. Her simple coverings had small strawberry prints all over it, which gave the small house-elf a more feminine appearance.

When the house-elf was done and snapped away the remainder of the shards. She turned to the dark wizard. "Is there anything else Twanny can do for Mr. Potions Master sir?

Snape looked down at the small creature. Unlike some of the other Professors, he never took advantage of them. But he decided now would be a good time to do so.

"Twanny, do you have cause to go into the Gryffindor common room?"

"Ohhh yes Professor Sir! Twanny cleans the girl's dormitories. Mr. Headmaster sir thinks it's best to have a female clean for them, sir."

"Are you there when the girls themselves are there talking?"

"Oh yes, they talk a lot... but most humans of that age do."

Snape looked sharply at Twanny, as that last statement sounded far too melancholic and mature for a house-elf. Snape turned and sat again in his chair and gave the house-elf his full attention.

"Now Twanny, do you know of a girl by the name of Hermione Granger? She is a seventh year Gryffindor student."

Twanny tilted her head to the right then to the left. "Twanny not sure what does Miss Hermione Granger look like?"

"She has very frizzy hair and a lot of it," Snape replied sarcasticly.

"Ohhh, Miss Fizzy! She is Harry Potter's friend... oh yes Dobby told Twanny to look after her. Since she is Harry Potter's friend."

Snape flinched every time Twanny said Harry Potter, as if it was the name of a relic. But he overlooked it, since she had already been watching Miss Fizzy... Snape really tried not to smile on the nickname the house-elf had given her.

As a given the house-elves don't try to learn the names of the students since they will only be there for seven years, and a house-elf life span is far greater then that. They are loyal to the teachers but mostly to the Headmaster.

"Now I want you to tell me what you can about Miss Fizzy, has she been acting differently lately?"

Again Twanny tilted her head from side to side giving the matter much thought. "No sir, it has not changed at all. Miss Painted face and Miss Twin still harass her something farce. Just last week they were claiming she wasn't female enough! They really are cruel to her. Sometimes when they get really bad Twanny doesn't do that good a job on their laundry and other things." Twanny started to bash her head against a small table. Snape knew this routine but hated her doing it nonetheless. So he figured that Miss Painted face could only be Miss Lavender Brown and Miss Twin was none other then Miss Parvati Patil.

Then another thought hit him... not female enough? So could it be that they harassed her into doing this... knowing a Gryffindor, their pride was their downfall.

"Twanny, was there any mention of a bet... or a challenge between the three?"

Twanny stopped pounding her head and thought about it for a moment. "Well Miss Red did mention something to Miss Fizzy about getting revenge on Miss Painted face and Miss Twin. And they did mention something about winning something but Twanny didn't pay much attention to it. Twanny know they play wizard chess a lot and they all seem to bet on a lot of things there. Sorry Twanny is not much help there Mr. Potion Master Sir."

"Can you pay closer attention to what goes on there for me Twanny?"

"Yes, if Mr. Potion Master wishes it, but why does Mr. Potion Master wish to know what silly girls talk about?"

"Normaly I wouldn't, and yes I agree with you they are all silly little girls but I have a strong feeling that they have me in the middle of something here."

"So you wish for Twanny to listen especially if your name is mentioned?"

"Definitely if my name is mentioned!"

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Hermione was pacing her room trying not to pull her hair out. Ginny Weasley was lying on her stomach on Hermione's bed, looking up at her best friend with sympathy. Neither saw a faded outline of a house-elf in a dark corner of the room listening patiently.

"It was soooo embarrassing!" she yelled.

"I can bet!" said Ginny. They had already talked about the main part of the evening. It didn't take Ginny long for Hermione to come clean about what happened. Now they were trying to figure out what to do from there.

"I will not let those two dress up dolls get the better of me!" said Hermione frustrated. Ginny had never seen her best friend like this before. There was something just underneath the surface of her anger that didn't feel the same. She knew Hermione's anger, and this was a bit different.

"There is something else bothering you Hermione. I can feel it. What is really wrong?" asked Ginny softly.

Hermione hugged herself closely, walked to the window and looked out over the grounds. There was something more. Something she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about to herself, let alone to Ginny. As much as she loved the younger girl she was a bit of a gossiper.

"Come on, I know something is bothering you. You can tell me, I will not say a word. You know I can keep a secret if I have too. Remember the time we borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak last fall?" Hermione looked at her.

Yes. Ginny did keep that little adventure a secret but only if she took her along for it. That night they were feeling a bit adventuresome and they had been talking about the boys practicing Quidditch and they wondered what they looked like in the shower rooms. So since Harry wasn't there, Ginny made an excuse that she needed to get a pair of gloves for her brother to take to him at practice. Neville who was just leaving the room told her to go ahead. There was no one else in there, so she looked into Harry's chest to find the cloak.

That night was one neither girl would forget... they didn't have the guts to go into the Gryffindor locker room, so they decided to go to Ravenclaw's instead. They didn't stay long for the information they had gotten was a bit more then they were bargaining for. For once they knew that Lavender lied about bedding Daniel Switch, because if she did she would have gone on and on about that boy's ummm physical endowments. But what really unnerved both Ginny and Hermione was that some of the better looking guys seemed more interested in each other. This was quite a blow to them. They weren't very happy to find out that their secret crushes were beyond reach now.

Hermione and Ginny exchanged looks and busted up laughing, both thinking of the same thing.

Hermione's laughter died as she thought about her dilemma again. Ginny waited patiently for her to say what the younger girl knew she wanted to speak about.

"It's just as unnerving as that night Ginny."

"HOW! There is nothing more unnerving than THAT night!" Ginny laughed.

"Well it's just, I always thought of him as a greasy git. But he's not, you know."

"He's not? What do you mean?"

"His hair isn't greasy, its soft and baby fine, he smelled nice too and..." Hermione trailed off.

"What are you saying Hermione???" she asked wide-eyed.

"I don't know what I'm saying! All I know is he wasn't what I expected." She put her arms around herself as if she was warding off the cold. "I really don't want to go through with this... it's not fair to him."

"Not fair... what does that man know about fair! He knocks points from Gryffindor for no damn reason! You know as much as I do that he doesn't give a rat's arse! We need to get you to win this challenge! Now the problem is how to get Snape to kiss you in public?"

Hermione felt a deep cold pit in her stomach. Not from the thought of kissing him but the thought of using him. "His wrath would be unlike anything we have ever seen if he ever found out!"

"Well it's something we'll deal with later," Ginny said getting up. Now I'm off to bed we'll talk about it more tomorrow since is Saturday.

"Easy for you to say..." Hermione said softly at the now closed door. "Anyway, Professor Snape's emotions are not something I feel comfortable playing with, and I don't think I can ever get the idea of how concerned he was when I fell out of my head."

With a deep sigh she got ready for bed not realizing that the little spy had just slipped away unnoticed.

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Down in the dungeon Snape waited for his spy. It was starting to get late and he thought that perhaps nothing was said this evening. Though he thought that was an impossibility since it just happened earlier this evening.

He felt her before he saw her. "Did you learn anything Twanny?"

"Ohh yes! Mr. Potion Master Sir! Miss fizzy and Miss Red were discussing everything in Miss Fizzy's room, talking about you. Miss Fizzy spoke of how you were not what she expected. You were concerned when she fell and that your hair was soft and baby fine, that you smelled nice too. Miss Red was quite taken back, if not a bit angry with this. Twanny doesn't know why Miss Red would have a problem with you. But Miss Fizzy is not sure she can win against Miss Painted Face and Miss Twin. Miss Fizzy thinks your wrath would be too great if you found out and she holds you in great respect and doesn't feel it's worth it. But Miss Red is determined to help Miss Fizzy win."

"And what is she to win?"

"Twanny is not sure, but she does know that to win she must get you to kiss her in public."

Snape sat rock still... Kiss that little imp in public? What the hell! This had gone too far. But being the Slytherin that he was, he just couldn't let this kind of opportunity slip by. Snape snarl became a sneer. He motioned closer to the house-elf.

"Now listen carefully Twanny this is what we're going to do... "

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A/N: We'd like to thank fan-rei (thanks for the suggestion, we do have something almost like that planned for Minerva in later chaps ), SperryDee, Willy, Melissa, Melodious, Miranda2, angelusdream, angelicat221, Em(thanx we try, glad you think that!), Snuffles 55, charmed piper and Chainmailgrl for the wonderful reviews ;-)