-SEDUCTION BY THE BOOK

CHAPTER 10: Plotting

By: Perselus

When 7 O'Clock rolled around, Ginny Weasley was standing in front of Snape's office door, not yet knocking. To say she was beyond livid was an understatement. Ron and Harry didn't help matters by getting angry at her for losing forty points.

What was up with Snape? If getting laid makes him this unbearable, they need to make sure this doesn't happen again!

She knocked on the door.

"Enter," came the voice from the other side of the door.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she opened the door to his office. She looked around the room and noticed that Snape wasn't sitting at his desk grading papers. He was instead, sitting in a comfortable chair before a pleasant fire.

The thing that almost made her faint was the look he had on his face. He wasn't smiling but he wasn't smirking or sneering, he looked calm and... well, almost approachable.

"Ah Miss Weasley, on time I see," he said as he put down the book he was reading.

"Uh, y-yes sir, you said 7 O'Clock." Ginny couldn't keep the small stutter out of her voice. There just was something not quite right going on.

"Have a seat, Miss Weasley." He pointed at another chair by the fire. "We have some business to discuss."

Ginny sat down gingerly on the chair, ready to bolt just in case something went wrong. She didn't know what to think; Snape was looking at her as if sizing her up; she had been under his scrutiny before but never like this. There was something there, just underneath the surface, and quite frankly it was scaring her. Then the thought hit her, could he really care for Hermione?

"If you say so sir," she replied.

"I am aware that you have the full information of the events of last evening. I am also aware for quite sometime that you have been helping Miss Granger with this little challenge." His deep dark eyes locked with her bright brown ones.

Her eyes didn't hold the intensity and hunger for knowledge that Hermione's did, but they didn't hold the vacant look that most Weasley's possess. There was hope for the Weasley's bloodline after all, but of course, he would never tell her that.

"Um... yes sir." She braced herself. Ok this was it, she was going to get ripped apart verbally by the greasy git.

"And what is this about a plot for revenge?"

"Well sir," she swallowed hard not sure what to say.

His eyes demanded the truth, so that was what she decided to give him. Lifting her head, she looked at him straight in the eye; her voice void of shame. "I want them to pay for what they have been doing to Hermione all these years. They're bitter, jealous old betties."

"Indeed," he said with an evil smirk.

Ok, now Ginny was getting a bit frightened.

"And what were you planning on doing to them, to get said revenge?" he asked.

"Well sir, I was going to petrify them, then transfigure their clothes into slinky satin lingerie. Then I would levitate them to the boys' shower room, making sure Colin was there with his camera to document the incident accordingly." She gave him a wry smile. "They already have, shall we say... questionable reputations. I'm just planning on making it unquestionable."

"Well Miss Weasley, now I know why you were NOT put into Slytherin house," he said the same snide comment he usually makes. "That would not be the revenge I would have chosen."

"Really sir?" She swallowed again and decided to take a chance. "And what would You have chosen to do, if the revenge was up to you, sir?"

Ginny almost fell out of her seat when he smiled... yes, smiled at her! Not a full blown charming smile but a small, almost evil smile, one that actually did reach his eyes for once.

"I will tell you what, Miss Weasley, I will not only share my ideas of revenge but I will help you and Miss Granger carry them out."

"What do we have to do?" she asked almost afraid to believe what she was hearing.

"Tell me, what do they hold most highly than anything else?"

"Hmm," Ginny thought about the two Gryffindor girls. "Their wardrobe is one, having to have boyfriends is another. They're pretty vain and petty"

"Exactly, Miss Weasley and what we will do is get them where it hurts..." he said pausing a moment before saying in a dangerous voice, "Their egos."

There was a wicked gleam in his eyes and Ginny knew she had just an evil tint of her own.

Ginny stayed for just over an hour. She and the dreaded Potions Master, planning controlled mayhem. Surprisingly enough, her respect for the complex and calculating mind of the professor, rose by leaps and bounds. He could teach the twins a few things about being devious!

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Professor McGonagall was just finishing up teaching her seventh years, why NOT to transfigure Muggle electronics. Since electronics can not work within the confines of Hogwarts, she had to make due with explanations.

"We do not know every side affect that they can cause. Technology is complex and for the few unlucky ones who have tried it, recreated it instantly. One case in particular, was a wizard that was visiting a Squib friend in the Muggle world and saw what was called a microwave. For those of you who do not know what that is, it's a machine that cooks meals in minutes, by thermal waves. These thermal waves can be deadly if not contained by the machine, and left to go unchecked."

Hanna, a Hufflepuff raised her hand. "Why do Muggle's have such devices if they're so dangerous?" she asked when McGonagall nodded for her to speak.

"That I can not answer, for some Muggle things are still a mystery to me, but I can tell you that the Ministry had a hard time controlling the highly unchecked thermal creature the wizard created."

"What and why did he transfigure it?" asked Markus, another Hufflepuff.

"Well, he didn't know what it was. All he knew was that some creature was eating his friend's supper. This wizard wasn't the brightest star in the heavens but this misunderstanding was quickly rectified and both the wizard and the squib were put into St. Mungo's, until all the thermal contamination was gone. Well, that's it for today, class dismissed."

She looked over at the young witch she so desperately wanted to talk to. All this talk about this challenge has gotten the staff into an uproar. She wanted to talk to the girl before making any dissensions herself.

"Miss Granger, can I have a word please," she said before the girl could leave her classroom.

"Yes ma'm." She exchanged looks with Harry, they both knew what she wanted to talk about. Harry indicated that he would wait for her outside so they could go to lunch together. He knew she was having a rough time dealing with all the whispers.

Professor McGonagall walked up to the girl, who was staring at her feet. "Forgive me for prying, but I must know what all these rumors are about... is there any truth to them?" Hermione looked up at her teacher and mentor, and looking at her in the eye, she lied to her for the first time in seven years.

"Yes and no Professor, Lavender and Parvati conned me into this challenge. When I took it up, they didn't say who I had to seduce, so yes the challenge was true. In defense to Professor Snape, he took nothing of it and I had little courage to even try!

"It was stupid and should have never gotten even past conversation." She sighed heavily. "But my pride got in the way. I couldn't back down. Not with them harassing me for so long. Then I stopped and realized what it looked like, that he could lose his job over this. So I put a stop to it, I would rather be humiliated than to have that happen. So to answer your questions, yes there WAS a challenge that is no longer there and NO nothing happened between us... As if Professor Snape would ever let that happen!"

McGonagall looked at the girl. Yes that did make sense and it spoke a lot for her courage to stop such a thing, once realizing the consequences. But there seemed to be more there, something the girl wasn't saying. She decided to push just a bit more.

"Miss Granger, Hermione..." she said softly. "There seemed to be something in your voice that I can't quite place. It would be anger, or shame, or something else... tell me, why did you even try?"

Hermione was shocked. She looked up into her teacher's eyes and saw what she was thinking, it was a perfect excuse, and it would not be quite lying.

"As crazy as it sounds," Hermione whispered just in case someone else was listening. "I respected him for years and I guess... I-I like him." Hermione had the grace to blush.

"Oh!" was all she could verbally say for the moment, though her mind was spinning a mile a minute. 'Perhaps Albus was right, perhaps they did belong together... just not during her time at school'.

"Very well Miss Granger, you are dismissed for lunch." She watched the girl walk out into the hall and heard the soft murmuring of Mr. Potter, who had waited for her. She quickly scribbled out a note and headed to lunch herself.

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A/N: From the website 'How things work, Microwaves...'

"Microwaves effectively heat food or tissue

So when I have McGonagall say that they use thermal waves, sounded better than having to explain microwaves to young wizards who were not Muggle born.

Thanks to: fan-rei, charmed piper, Aindel S. Druida, mysticdarkraven, Porthos, magicwand, Chainmailgirl, Dark-M-Fairy, momsangel, mysticalfairy-05 and sinj for the great reviews!