-SEDUCTION BY THE BOOK
CHAPTER 11: Potions and Parties
By: PITON
Weeks had gone by and things were pretty much the same. The teasing from all students hadn't ceased, but it didn't bother Hermione; she had a lot in her mind. The NEWTs were drawing near, and immersed in her studies, she barely had time to pay attention to the world around her.
She missed Severus terribly though. It was too risky to meet him under the constant vigilance of Professor McGonagall, so she had to be content with what little she could get: the occasional glance in class, sometimes even a discreet brush of their fingers while he was inspecting her potion or the lingering eye contact at the end of class, when she had to leave her bottled potion on his desk.
On a Friday night, at the Great Hall, she noticed Severus eyes held a different glint that made her wonder what he was up to.
Her question was answered later that night when she was awakened by someone knocking repeatedly at her door. It took her a while to figure out what was happening and she lazily made her way to open it.
As if appearing out of nowhere, Ginny's head entered the room without being invited. "Get yourself dressed, we have a lot to do." She took down the Invisibility cloak, revealing the rest of her body.
Hermione blinked. "Am I missing something? Do you realize what time it is?"
"There's no time for explanations now, we'll fill you in when we get there," said Ginny looking at Hermione's closet and grabbing a pair of jeans with a white T-shirt. "Here, wear this, it's gonna be a long night and you need to be comfortable."
"What on earth are you talking about, Ginny? Besides, we can't just go out after curfew!"
"Professor Snape needs our help on a little project and we have to get to his office while everyone is asleep. You don't want to be seen, do you?" Ginny asked.
Hermione remembered the revenge plot and it all became clear. Deciding to see what they were up to, she put her clothes on and covering both of them with the cloak, they left her bedroom and went straight to the dungeons.
Ginny knocked at his office's door matter-of-factly, which made Hermione realize how at ease Ginny had become around Severus.
"Enter," his voice yelled.
Both girls entered the room and found Snape sitting behind his desk with an inscrutable expression on his face.
"What's going on, Severus?" Hermione asked.
He lifted one eyebrow and walked up to greet her. He gave Hermione a light kiss that made Ginny shiver and shake her head in disgust.
"I'll explain everything to you in my lab." He waved his hand and both girls followed him to his private lab.
Snape looked at Ginny and asked, "Did you bring what I asked, Miss Weasley?"
Ginny nodded and placed her bag on the table. Hermione's eyes grew wide as she saw Ginny reveal Lavender and Parvati's favorite shampoo concoctions and skin lotion.
"What are you planning to do exactly?" Hermione asked .
"We are going to make a potion and mix inside their shampoo and skin cream," Ginny grinned. "In fact you are, my part is done for now, I stole it, now you work on it."
"Actually Miss Weasley, I have one more thing for you to do," he said placing four empty bottles close to the ones Ginny had stolen, and tapped his wand on each of them. The bottles transfigured into the exact same shape and appearance of the real ones. "Take these back and replace them, they are not supposed to suspect that something is wrong with their beauty products or our plan will fail. When we're done with the potion, all you have to do is exchange them again."
"Yes sir." Ginny nodded and promptly put the bottles inside her bag. With a wave she left Snape and Hermione to work.
Snape waited until he heard the door to his office close behind Ginny and hugged Hermione from behind, startling her out of her own thoughts.
"What's on your mind, Hermione?" he whispered in her ear.
"Are you sure this is not going to make you lose your job, Severus, I don't want you to..." she was interrupted by him turning her around to face him and kissing her lips.
"Did you forget I'm a Slytherin? My plans are well thought of and they always work on my behalf," he said in that soft dangerous voice, that always gave her goose bumps.
She sighed and giving in, she pointed at the ingredients on the table. "Ok then, what are we working on?"
"It's a variation of the Polyjuice Potion, not very known, you won't find it in many books, but it takes a lot longer to wear out. In the last stage of preparation, a transfiguration spell has to be added to it," he said as he set the cauldron in place.
"I always thought you hated potions that use wand magic in it," she said. "And I never heard of this potion before... it must be terribly difficult."
"I still don't care much about using wands in potions but in this case it's necessary. As for it being difficult, I don't think that's a problem for you." He smirked.
They went to work and it took them all night to chop, grind and mix the ingredients. They had to stir three times, counter-clockwise, every half hour. By early morning, the potion looked perfect in color and consistence.
Snape looked pleased at the thick transparent-grey mixture. "Perfect, now all we need is to perform the spell."
He took his wand. "The spell has to be cast by two people, just repeat everything I say."
Both of them cast the spell, waving their wands together. The potion turned completely transparent and Severus turned the flame down so it would simmer for an entire week.
"It will be ready on the evening before your graduation. If everything goes as planned, Miss Weasley will be able to replace the shampoo and cream before Miss Brown and Miss Patil return from dinner," he said moving slowly toward her.
"It's a brilliant plan," she said hugging his waist. "But what exactly is going to happen to them, once they use the shampoo and skin cream?"
He looked at her debating whether to tell her or not. "That part was Miss Weasley's idea, I have to commend to her, she's almost as good as a Slytherin," he said earning a piercing glare from her. "But I won't tell you, I want it to be a surprise, think of it as a graduation present to you."
"You are truly evil," she joked, causing him to laugh in such a relaxing way, that she mused at how she would have to get used to that. Severus Snape laughing... even if it was an evil laugh, it was still unusual.
"I would do something a lot worse, if I wasn't a Professor and didn't have a responsibility with the students. This is harmless humiliation, it will wear off in a week or two," he added.
"What if they refuse to leave their dormitory after they see what happened to them?" she asked.
"I thought of that too, and that's why the potion will only take effect once they enter the Great Hall."
"I'm glad I'm on your side, I know better than to cross you," she said smirking.
"You're a smart girl," he answered before kissing her passionately.
She returned the kiss with similar passion and slid her hands inside his frock coat, pulling his shirt off his pants. Her hands came into contact with the smooth skin of his back, making him groan to her lips. He tried to pull her T-shirt off with one hand and got too impatient to wait any longer. Grabbing his wand, he muttered a divesting spell and both melted into each other, giving into passion.
Later that morning, when the first rays of sunshine touched his enchanted window; they sat there together on the floor of his private lab, quietly enjoying their closeness. He searched her eyes and before he could even realize, he whispered, "I love you."
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After sneaking back to her quarters, Hermione slept all morning, waking up just before lunch. Her mood had improved wonders after her night working with Severus, not only she was able to spend some time with him, but she couldn't wait to see the results of their hard work, wiping off the smiles of Lavender and Parvati's faces.
Hermione entered the Great Hall and sat in her usual place, to be joined soon after by Ginny along with Harry and Ron.
"So.... is everything all right?" Ginny asked her, trying not to disclose too much in front of the boys.
"Just perfect," Hermione said smiling.
Ron and Harry exchanged suspicious looks. "What the hell are you...?" Ron started to say as Lavender cut in.
"Have you got your dates already?" Lavender couldn't hide her satisfaction as she saw their question-mark faces.
"Dates?" Harry asked getting the uneasy flashback of the last time he needed to get a date in their fourth year.
"Oh... so you don't know?" It's outside, near the door, they just put up the announcement for the Graduation party.
"Why Hermione, I thought you knew, being Head Girl and all. The Prefects have known about the party for some months now. It's all my sister talks about," said Parvati whose sister was Ravenclaw's Prefect.
Everyone turned to Hermione expecting an explanation.
With the whole mess of the challenge, NEWTs and Severus, it was enough to make her completely forget about the bloody party.
"They decided to add a party to the Graduation ceremony this year, as a celebration for the downfall of Voldemort." She rolled her eyes. "Oh get over it Ron, he's dead!" she said as he flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name.
"Oh and only now you tell us about this?" Harry asked.
"I had too much on my mind," she replied apologetically.
"We can understand that, it must be really difficult for you, being rejected can do that to a person," Lavender spoke in a sweet tone that reminded Hermione of Umbridge. "Not that I ever had that problem... "
Parvati couldn't hold any longer and burst out laughing, leaving with Lavender to sit with the rest of the Gryffindor girls, who were excitedly talking about the party.
"Hey Granger, have you asked Professor Snape to be your date yet?" yelled Millicent from the Slytherin table.
"If he wants to look at something ugly, he doesn't need to date you, he only needs a mirror!" yelled Padma from the Ravenclaw table, winking at her sister.
The little crowd that was occupying the Great Hall broke out in laughter and Hermione blushed furiously, but not from shame. It was rage.
"If not even Professor Snape wants her, who will?" Hermione heard Lavender saying.
She had her hand over her wand and was glad that some of the professors were arriving for lunch, or she would ruin their plan by hexing Lavender and Parvati so severely that there wouldn't be anything left for them to use the potion on.
Harry and Ron were also ready to hex everyone in sight, but Ginny held them both down. "Don't. We're having the last laugh, trust me."
The boys looked questionably at Hermione, who nodded in agreement. They sat quietly and as all the staff arrived, everyone eventually went back to their own lives.
Hermione suddenly grinned wickedly as a thought hit her.
Ginny frowned. "What is it, Hermione?"
"I just remembered something... It's a tradition at Hogwarts that at the moment all seventh years walk inside the Great Hall for the Graduation ceremony, the doors are magically sealed and only open after it's over," she said.
"So, what's so funny about it?" Harry asked.
"They won't be able to leave!" Ginny realized and both girls fell into a fit of giggles.
Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged and continued to eat his dinner.
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The week passed faster than she could hope for. They had finished the NEWTs on Thursday, and Saturday they would have the Graduation ceremony, followed by the party only for the seventh years and their dates. Ginny and Luna were going as Harry and Ron's dates and Hermione wasn't sure what was more exciting for Ginny, the party or being present to see the results of her mischievous plan.
Hermione had no date, why would she? If she couldn't go with Severus, she would rather face it alone. Besides, after the ceremony, she would officially cease to be a Hogwarts' student, therefore Severus would no longer be her Professor.
At the night before the Graduation, Hermione and Ginny finished their dinner faster than everyone and ran to the Dungeons to meet Severus and mix the potion into the girls' beauty products. After making sure they looked and smelled the same, Ginny quickly left the dungeons to replace them before the girls got back to the dormitory.
Severus asked Hermione to stay behind, for he needed to talk about something. She noticed he looked somewhat nervous but couldn't be sure, she had never seen him like that before. He motioned for her to sit in one of the chairs before the fire and proceeded to sit in front of her.
"Hermione... after the Graduation ceremony tomorrow night, we won't be teacher and student any longer." He paused and she nodded.
He looked paler than usual. "Are you all right, Severus? You look ill..."
"I'm fine woman!" he snapped and seeing her hurt look, he ran his hand through his hair in a gesture of impatience. "I'm sorry... gods I am terrible at this sort of thing!"
"You're starting to scare me, what is it?" Her own insecurities were taking over and she was wondering if he had come to regret their relationship.
"I... that is, you..." he sighed. "Would you like me to be your date for the party?"
There was a pause and then she chuckled. "Is that all? I thought you were going to say something bad!"
"That's not all," he said staring at her, in a deadly serious expression.
She said nothing this time, just looked back at him, feeling a tug in her stomach.
He waved his hand and a small black box flew to him. He carefully opened it to reveal a platinum ring with a ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds. Hermione caught her breath as she realized what was happening.
"Will you marry me, Hermione?"
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A/N: First I want to thank Shauna for beta-ing.The idea of the Great Hall's door sealing shut at the Graduation Ceremony was taken from the wonderful story called "Taking Flight" by Caya.( if you haven't read it, go read now, it's worth it!)
We want to Thank mysticalfairy-05, mysticdarkraven, Natsuyori, Aindel S. Druida, differentsoks2004, charmed piper, fan-rei, Vickie211, Chainmailgrl, sweetytweety013, Madelynn Rae, Grand-Illusion, cdkobasiuk, Willy, sesshyluver03, SmiCharmed, Cassandra, Luna Gypsy and Cumor for reading and reviewing, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and next one, you'll finally find out what's going to happen to Lavender and Parvati! YAY!