Disclaimer: I do not own HP or U2. At this point the author bursts into tears, muttering incoherently between sobs about 'my beautiful, beautiful Severus…'
Summary: Yet another Hermy/Snape. Yup, just what the world needed.
Rating: The rating for this fanatic fiction is R, people under 18 not admitted unless accompanied by an adult. Eeek, I've seen too many movies.
A/N: I am going to counselling to talk over my obsession with Severus Snape. They would ask me to talk about my Johnny Depp obsession, but they figure it's normal. Most human beings agree Johnny Depp is gorgeous.
'Neon heart dayglo eyesA city lit by fireflies
They're advertising in the skies
For people like us'
Muggleborn Marriage Law PassedYesterday evening Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, announced that the Muggleborn Marriage Law had been passed and would come into action immediately. Full story page 3.
"That slimy little git!" fumed Hermione as she read the front-page article the next morning at breakfast.
She looked up and saw that most of the school was having the same reaction to the Daily Prophet headline as she was.
Everywhere small arguments were breaking out, people were standing up and yelling at each other; a few girls had even started crying.
Several of the students looked up at her when she yelled out that insult, and many widened their eyes; they obviously hadn't realised she would be paired of as well.
She left the Great Hall through the staff door on the side, slamming it behind her.
"Bullocks!" she shouted, pacing just outside the door. "Bullocks, bullocks, buggering bullocks!"
"Miss Granger!" Hermione looked up and saw Mischa Jones and Juliet Thomas (of no relation to Dean Thomas) running towards her.
"Hi girls…" sighed Hermione.
"Miss Granger, I don't want to get married! Please, can't we do something?" asked Mischa tearfully.
Hermione shook her head. "I'm afraid not. But remember, only some witches will get chosen. With any luck, you won't be chosen, and then you can marry who ever you like." She smiled sadly.
Juliet nodded. "Is there anyone you'd want to marry?" she asked, smiling a little.
"Well, not marry. Not yet, anyway. But there is someone." She blushed a little.
"Oh, who?" squealed Mischa.
"Just someone." Hermione answered mysteriously.
"Oh, go on Miss, tell us!" begged Juliet.
"Yes, do tell us." A cold voice came from behind her. She turned around and there was Snape, walking towards them and smirking.
Mischa and Juliet stared at him, before turning expectantly to Hermione.
"That is for me to know and you to find out." She said, turning to head to her next class.
She caught a glimpse of Severus before she left, his eyebrow cocked and a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
----- 'Oh you look so beautiful tonight' -----
Severus Snape was striding purposefully down the hall towards his dungeons where his class was waiting when a hand shot out from the side and grabbed his arm. He was tugged into a large, dark broom cupboard when he felt a mouth press against his own. He relaxed. Hermione.
He kissed her for a minute before stopping. "Hermione, we have to get to our classes…" he said regretfully.
She sighed. "I know. I just wanted to see you again." She smiled.
He kissed her again before being pushed back out of the cupboard. He dusted himself off and continued his path down to the dungeons.
----- 'In the city of blinding lights' -----
The next morning there was even more uproar in the Great Hall than there had been the previous morning. The first list of names of the witches to be married off had been posted.
Three girls from Hogwarts were in the list, and all their friends were crowding around them. One of them was Juliet, one of the girls that had talked with Hermione yesterday.
The girls had two weeks to view and accept any offers of marriage. If they hadn't received any offers or had turned them all down, the Ministry would select a husband for them.
Severus was paler than usual- two of the women in the list were around his age, and if they didn't accept any offers of marriage, the Ministry was almost certain to choose him.
"Cheer up," whispered Hermione from the corner of her mouth. "I doubt they'll choose you. You're too much of a bastard." She grinned and squeezed his hand under the table.
He cast her an appreciative glance and continued to push his food around his plate.
She turned fully to him to talk to him. "We have a free period next. We should- finally- get to work on that potion." She smirked slightly.
He nodded and they left the Hall via the side door, Hermione picking up a piece of buttered toast on the way.
They made it all the way to the lab before jumping each other, barely shutting the door behind them.
As they kissed he picked her up against his hips, pushing her against the wall while she ran her hands through his hair.
"Severus, we need to work on that potion…" she interrupted regretfully after a moment.
He nodded slowly and let her down, and they set to work on the potion.
"Okay, so we have everything we need?" she asked as they prepared the ingredients.
"Yes, Dumbledore ordered those that we needed in from Hogsmeade." He answered.
"Okay. I'll go get my blood then." She smiled, heading out the door to her rooms.
Once there, she quickly headed into the kitchen where her vial of blood was still sitting on the sink. She was heading out the door when she looked back at the bathroom.
'What the hell,' she thought. 'Not like one more is going to hurt.' And she went and picked her razor out of her shaver like she had just a few days ago. She was quick this time; a small cut near the underside of her elbow after removing the glamour and only a few seconds to revel in the bliss that consumed her. She quickly recast the glamour and rolled down her sleeve, rinsing the blade and putting it back in the shaver before heading out the door, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
She opened the door to the lab and was met by a sight that she had seen so many times but managed to mesmerise her.
Severus fished the soaked dragon's claw out of a cauldron filled with water, bringing it down to the small wooden chopping board in front of him. He started to slice it finely, frowning in concentration. He had removed his cloak and had rolled his shirtsleeves up to just above his elbows, showing lean and slightly muscled arms from years of stirring cauldrons. His hair hung down around him like a glossy black curtain.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat. How many times had she seen him like this and not noticed how… sexy (that was the only word she could think of to describe it) he was?
She closed the door quietly behind her and walked over to him, placing the vial of blood on the table.
He threw a quick glance up, then resumed his work. She smiled; nobody ever came between Severus Snape and his work. Not even his… girlfriend? Was that the right word? It seemed okay for her, but that would make him her boyfriend, and she couldn't ever imagine Severus Snape ever being a 'boyfriend' kind of guy. She giggled at the thought, but he didn't look up. So, what were they? Partners? That seemed a little too… concrete. They'd only just 'gotten together' a few days ago. Lovers? Well, it seemed to fit, but she didn't really like the sound of it. She always associated 'lover' with being the woman on the side, the quick shag.
She stopped. She wasn't that, was she? She didn't think so; as much as he could be cold and callous sometimes, she just didn't think he was that type of guy. At least, she hoped not.
So what were they? Each others' better halves? She shook her head. The only thing she could come up with was… the 'significant other'. It summed them up fairly well, in her opinion.
So, he was her 'significant other', hey? She looked back at him as he worked. She could get used to that.
She was interrupted from her musing by a question.
"Could you measure out exactly five milligrams of that?" he held out the vial of blood.
"Sure." She took it over to the sink and measured it out. "Where do you want it?" she asked, bringing it back over to the bench.
"Once I've added the belladonna, we wait until it turns dark red, then we can add it." He added the chopped up belladonna root in and the cauldron bubbled before returning to its previous state. "It should take about half an hour before it turns red, and then once you've added the blood it takes three days to ferment so that we can add the dragon's claw." He finished. "So, what was it you were laughing about earlier?" he asked.
"The fact that you could technically be called my boyfriend." She smirked.
His face turned from a small smile to a glare. "If you ever, ever, call me that again…" he growled.
"You'll what? Stop kissing me?" she said smugly.
"If you're not careful." He warned.
"Oh, I'm so afraid." She mocked. "My boyfriend won't kiss me."
"Fine." He said, and turned to walk out the door to his rooms. She followed, smirking a little when he picked up a book and sat down in a chair by the fire once they had entered his rooms. This was going to be fun.
She left the room and headed off for her own, retrieving a book from her shelves and going back down to his rooms.
When she entered he didn't look up, and she moved over to the second chair and sat in it, one leg over the other so that her skirt rode up her thighs a little. She then opened the book- The Karma Sutra- and began to read.
After a few minutes Severus looked up, saw what she was reading and coughed, quickly turning back to his own book. She smirked as she continued reading. It was very… educational. 'Once he's given in maybe… Ah, mustn't get a head of myself.' She thought. 'I've got to get him to give in first.'
She shifted slightly and let the book fall to the ground, leaning down to pick it up and giving him a nice view of her cleavage at the same time. She sat back up, hitching her skirt up further. She looked up to see if he was looking but he was still studying the texts in his hand. She frowned. Okay, she was going to have to be a bit more obvious.
She shifted a little and moaned just the tiniest bit, rubbing her forefinger along her thigh. She sighed seductively as she turned the page, but he still didn't look up.
She got out of her chair and left the room, heading to her own. There she got changed into one of her dance costumes- she decided she really needed his approval on this one. It took a few minutes to get on, and she magiced her hair into shape and added the fabric before throwing a black jacket on over it and heading back to his rooms.
"Severus?" she asked once she was inside. "Since we weren't doing anything else, I decided it would be a good time to show you my costume for dance. I wanted you to know what I'm wearing in advance. To save the trip to St Mungo's." she smirked.
He finally looked up.
She turned her back to him and slowly pulled off the jacket and she heard him drop his book.
She was wearing the undergarments of a Can-Can dancer; That was, after all, what she was meant to be in the dance academy performance. She had a white corset and ruffle drawers on, with black fishnets and black stilettos.
Her hair was in thick waves, white scraps of fabric tied in to look as if she was curling it. It looked a little odd now, but this was the second part of her outfit- for the first part she wore a Can-can dancers dress with the many skirts underneath.
He sat, mouth agape and staring.
"Like it?" she asked happily.
He nodded dumbly. This wasn't right- he was meant to be jumping up and kissing her, not staring at her dumbstruck.
"I wear a proper Can-can outfit for the first dance. But then I strip off." She said, moving over to stand directly in front of him. "Like it?" she whispered in his ear.
He nodded.
"Want to-" she was interrupted by a loud bell going off somewhere above them signalling the next class.
"Ah, bullocks!"
----- 'Don't look before you laugh, look ugly in a photograph' -----
Hermione wasn't in a good mood that night at dinner. Because she had had to get changed back into her clothes, she was ten minutes late to her next class. Then students had been dogging her about who her 'someone' was- apparently Mischa and Juliet had told someone, then that someone had told someone else and that someone else had told the whole school.
There were some scary rumours going on about that. Apparently it was Harry, then it was Seamus, then Remus Lupin, and in one particularly disturbing story, Hagrid. She didn't think about that one too much.
So, once she had gotten through the barrage of questions that was her class, there was lunch. And the accompanying stares and whispers. Then more classes, much the same as the morning, and now finally dinner. Where the professors were harassing her about it as well.
"So, Hermione, I hear you're thinking of tying the knot!" exclaimed Flitwick as she sat down and started to eat her vegetable casserole.
Snape choked on a piece of his steak, but Flitwick didn't seem to notice.
"No, professor, I'm not, actually. The students imaginations seem to have run away with them." She replied through gritted teeth.
"Oh, come now Hermione, there must be someone!" laughed Minerva.
"Yes there is, but that is none of your business. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some marking to do." She said icily, getting up and leaving through the side door from the hall.
"Must be the kidney beans. Always said they were bad for her." Sighed Flitwick.
----- 'Flash bulbs purple irises the camera can't see' -----
"Hard day?" Snape struggled to keep the amused smirk off his face as he entered her rooms.
"All your bloody fault." Glowered Hermione, reading some papers and eating an apple.
"Don't blame me, you practically threw yourself at me the other night." He defended, sitting down opposite her.
"Threw myself at you?" she scoffed. "I seem to remember you played a rather large part in the affairs." She looked at him and took a large bite out of the green apple in her left hand.
He raised an eyebrow. "I think we were both equal participants in that particular process."
She just glared at him and turned back to her papers.
"What are you reading?" he asked.
"A manuscript someone sent to me." She answered.
"Who?" he asked.
"She wants to be known as anonymous, so I can't give that information." Hermione said, straightening the pile of papers and slipping them into a file.
"What type of book?" he asked.
"A diary, of sorts. Based loosely on her life. I can't tell you anymore." Hermione answered, pushing the file into her book bag.
"Ah, the ever present book bag." He said, looking at the worn bag.
She just glared at him.
"Did you have enough for dinner? Or should I get one of the house elves to bring you up something from the kitchens?" he asked after a moment.
"I'm fine." She said, pushing the bag under her chair.
He nodded.
"Well, this is a great conversation." She smiled after a minute or two of silence.
"It seems that there's only one thing we're good at, other than annoying each other." He smirked.
"Not tonight. Dancing." She said. She was still working on trying to get him to kiss her, but had decided for a bit more subtleness, even if her patience was wearing thin.
"Aha. What type is it tonight? The tango? Ballroom dancing? Hip hop?" he asked.
"Mock me if you will, but I will be fit when you're sitting on a couch unable to move for the fat on you." She chided.
"I beg to differ. You will be fit, but so will I. Stalking around the corridors assigning detentions to misbehaving students is an excellent form of exercise, I have found." He said.
"I see." She said, eyebrows raised. "I have a rehearsal tonight, for next weeks performance. I believe I showed you one of the costumes already?" she smirked.
He nodded. "It was… interesting."
She laughed. "If that's the word you wish to use." She said. "It's the tango, the can-can and modern. My hip hop's a different class." She explained.
"I see. Any more costumes you wish to display?" he asked, smirking.
"I think you say the most interesting one." She smiled. "Will you be coming next week? To the performance?" she asked.
"Do you wish me to?" he asked.
"Only if you want to." She said quickly.
"I will go. But I will not sit next to Potter, since I assume he is attending." He declared.
"No, I'll put you next to Ginny, instead." She smirked, getting up to throw her apple core in the bin.
Had he been someone who rolled their eyes, he would have, repeatedly. But he wasn't, so he settled for looking appropriately disdainful as he asked his next question.
"Is there a… theme for the performance?"
"Yes." He raised his eyebrows in question. "You remember that movie Albus showed you… Moulin Rouge?"
"Oh good lord…" he sighed.
"Oh, cheer up. It's three songs, not the whole movie." She said, shaking her head. "The can-can, Le Tango De Roxanne and Diamond Dogs. I'm going to get changed."
She went into her bedroom but didn't close the door.
She slipped out of her work clothes and pulled on her under corset, doing it up by magic. She loved the way she looked and felt in a corset, but the numb nerves and bruises she got from dancing in one weren't so lovely. She pulled on the tights and garters, the ruffle underwear and then the dress with the dozens of layers of skirt underneath.
She was 'Travesty', one of the Moulin Rouge can-can dancer characters, so it was a grey and white tight fitting suit on top, and a grey skirt with bright purple undersides and lower skirts. She did her hair (a tight bun) and carried her other costume, bag, hat and shoes into the lounge where Severus was still sitting.
She sat on one of the couches and started to fasten her high heeled boots, placing a charm to stabilise them and comfort her feet while she wore them.
She threw her other costume into her black dance bag, moving into the bathroom to fix the hat on her head, a small grey top hat perched on an angle.
She finished and did her make up, dark eyes and mouth, before going into the lounge again.
"Do I look like a prostitute?" she asked hopefully.
"You know, I never thought I'd here someone ask me that positively." He mused. "But yes, you look like a very, very, very sexy prostitute. I really shouldn't let you go out like that." He crossed the room and put his hands on her hips.
"And I never thought I'd here professor Snape say I look like a sexy prostitute." She smiled.
"I meant what I said about not letting you go out…" he growled softly, moving in to kiss her. He stopped a split second before their mouths touched. "Oh, I forgot. You didn't want me to kiss you, did you?" he teased, mouth inches from hers.
She smiled, and headed to the door. "I'll cast a glamour over myself. I can only be seen if someone's looking for me, then. Happy?" she asked, opening the door.
He nodded, and she left the room, closing the door behind her.
She cast the spell over herself like she said she would, and headed off to the Entrance Hall.
As she passed the Great Hall she realised she was rather hungry, she'd only had that apple and a tiny bit of dinner. And she'd need her energy for dancing, it was a full rehearsal. And… She had a glamour over her; no one would be searching for her at this time of night, so they wouldn't see her.
She headed into the Great Hall where most of the students were still eating and chatting with their friends about their day. She moved along the wall quickly and quietly to make sure no one spotted her.
She reached the teachers table and Dumbledore's eyes rested on her.
"Ah! Miss Granger! Off to dancing I see? Smashing costume!" he chuckled.
She sighed, as the students turned to look at her, now easily seen because they were searching for her.
There she was in a can-can dancer outfit, hand half reached out to grab a pastry and most of the student body was staring at her.
Great.
"Yes, well, I'd best be off." She said quickly, grabbing the pastry and clacking down out of the hall, heels clanging on the stone floor underneath the skirts that swished annoyingly as the students watched her go.
She made it out of the hall and out the castle, walking to the perimeter of the grounds before apparating to her dance school.
Once there she headed to the receptionist.
"Hi Julie. What room am I in for can-can?" she asked the receptionist.
"Room 34. And the tango is 23, modern 67." Smiled Julie.
"Thanks." She replied, heading to room 34, heels clicking on the marble floor of the hall.
She reached room 34 easily, having visited it many times before. She was also, amazingly, not late. 'Well, I guess I didn't have anything to hold me up…' she grumbled silently as she thought of her no-kissing rule.
"Hermione!" she heard Jude call from the front. Jude was a handsome man, chiselled cheek bones and piercing blue eyes.
"Hi Ju." She said, setting her bag on the benches that lined one side of the dance hall, the only wall not completely covered by mirrors. She slicked across the wooden floorboards to some of the other girls in the dance, talking animatedly with them until Jude called the class to order.
"Okay, girls, guys, we need to get this going. The performance is on next week! We've got it all down pat, we just need to polish it, especially the high kicks. It's looking really messy with kicks all different heights, please, I want it half way between hip height and head height! Keep in line with everyone else and you'll keep it straight." He signalled for them to get in position. "And I want some attitude, girls! You are diamond dogs! You rule the Moulin Rouge!" he walked over to turn on the music and it blared, and they started racing around with their dance.
By the end of the dance most of them were too puffed out to even move from their final position, and she herself stayed in the splits she had finished with. She was trying to catch her breath when she saw something that made it catch in her throat; someone was staring in from the window right at her. She did a double take and they were gone, so she put it down to exhaustion, but she couldn't shake the niggly feeling there was someone there.
They went over the dance a few more times, and at the end of the lesson she was glad she'd charmed her shoes. Some of the girls who hadn't took off their boots to reveal red blisters and green bruises around the ankle.
She started to get changed from her can-can outfit to the underwear, ready for her next class in room 23- the tango.
This was her favourite dance, it was so… passionate. She like being able to lose herself in the story. But it was also hard- she played the part of Nini (legs in the air) for this song, which meant she had the lead female part.
She hurried back along the corridor to room 23 and was the last person to arrive, as she the most complex costume.
"Sorry, silly costumes…" she smiled, and they laughed at the movie quote as she moved into position.
The music started, and she was on the other side of the hall to her partner, Michael, and the rest of the dancers were sitting around the stage, though a large area near the front was clear to give her room to dance.
"We have a dance… In the brothels of Buenos Airies… that tells the story…" her partner began to speak in a low and gravely voice. "Of a prostitute," a spotlight fell on her and she moved closer till she was about ten feet away from him. "And a man who falls in love with her…" the tango's strong beat filled the air as they circled each other, coming in close as he continued. "First- there is desire! Then… there is passion!" His hand grazed from her shoulder down to her left thigh. "The- suspicion!" she looked over at one of the men who had come closer, and Michael caught her arm harshly, yelling the next words. "Jealousy! Anger! Betrayal! When love is for the highest bidder, there can be no trust! Without trust, there is no love! Jealousy… Yes, jealousy will drive you… mad!" his last word echoed around the room, and suddenly he pushed her back into one of the men, the one she had been looking at before. He danced with her, fondling and grabbing at her before throwing her onto the next man. She carried on around the circle, dancing the story of a prostitute. A handsome young boy came up to the front of the stage on the left, dressed in a tatty shirt, pants and long black jacket.
"His eyes upon your face, his hand upon your hand, his lips caress your skin… It's more than I can stand…" he looked at her sadl grabbing at her before throwing her onto the next man. She carried on around the circle, dancing the story of a prostitute.
"Roxanne… you don't have to put on that red light… walk the streets for money, you don't care if it's wrong or if it is right," Michael sang. "Roxanne… You don't have to wear that dress tonight… Roxanne… You don't have to sell your body to the night…"
A handsome young boy came up to the front of the stage on the left, dressed in a tatty shirt, pants and long black jacket.
"His eyes upon your face, his hand upon your hand, his lips caress your skin… It's more than I can stand…" he looked at her sadly, watching her as she moved away from the men and back to Michael, touching his cheek softly and then snatching it back as Michael growled at her.
As Sean, the young man singing, began his part, the other dances started to dance in couples, doing simular moves as Hermione had with Michael, though now there were thirty pairs.
"Why does my heart cry? Feelings I can't fight… You're free to leave me but- just don't deceive me and please, believe me when I say… I love you."
The dance continued until the last thirty second or so, where by then music had sped up and every one was singing over the top of each other, creating a chaotic noise.
The men had thrown their female partners to the ground and had created a semi-circle around Hermione, throwing her from on to the other as she was passed around the circle, viciously handling her. When she came to Michael in the circle he took out a knife from his pocket and mimed the cutting of her throat, Hermione falling to the ground in the middle of the floor in front of them all.
The music stopped as she hit the ground and she lay there panting for a minute, while the other dances all grinned and applauded each other.
"Hermione, so happy with that!" Miss Emile, their instructor, said having been watching from the front of the room.
Half an hour later she was changing into her next costume, a simpler and smaller version of her can-can out fit, with short shorts and a singlet underneath for her Modern class.
"What have you got now?" asked Michael as he undid his shoes.
"Modern." She said, shimmying out of her corset and pulling on the shorts.
"But- You just came from a class!" he exclaimed, staring at her.
"So?" she asked, pulling the singlet on over her head. It was quite usual to get changed in public in the dance academy, as everyone was either too tired or in too much of a hurry to care about covering up.
"So?" he asked incredulously. "I know you're good, Hermione, really good. But just don't wear yourself out, okay?"
She nodded. "I can handle it. It's rather convenient having them all on the same night, anyway." She pulled the rest of her costume on, including her can-can shoes again.
"Okay. You just be careful, okay? I wouldn't want you in hospital for our performance. Miss Emily could stand in, but… there's only one Hermione." He smiled, grabbing his bag, now changed back into his normal wear of loose fitting jeans and a Hilfiger jumper.
She nodded and pecked him on the cheek before rushing off to room 67.
---- 'Blessings are not just for the ones kneel… luckily' -----
Hermione was exhausted as she came out of room 67 with a painful stitch in her side. She headed outside to apparate, all memories of the figure watching her from outside earlier vanished.
She walked to the gate and focused, so exhausted she was worried she might splinch herself. But finally she felt ready and concentrated and with a 'Crack!' she was outside the Hogwarts grounds. She staggered a little, suddenly now barely able to move; her feet hurt, the spell having worn out sometime during the tango, her legs were numb from pinched nerves because of dancing in the corset, her arms ached and to top it all off she had a splitting head ache.
Suddenly the snowy ground rushed up at her, and then it all went black.
'I've seen you walk unafraidI've seen you in the clothes you made
Can you see the beauty inside of me?
What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?'
Buenos Aries; I KNOW that isn't the right phrase, but I can't for the life of me remember what he says. Sorry folks, but it'll have to do.
WOO! Longest chapping yet.
Was this one better?
I probably got a bit carried away in the dancing, but it's just SO COOL. is obsessed with Moulin Rouge/Ewan McGregor's and Nicole Kidman's voices
Sigh.
Come What May indeed.
Now, Who will find Hermione? Will it be Severus? Or Dumbledore? Or maybe… just maybe someone evil.
Meh, I haven't decided.
Anyway, cheerio.
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