Disclaimer: You know the score, JK Rowling - Harry Potter, Moi - Nowt.

A/N: Thanks to SongOfStars, PadfootsLuvr, and Chantal J for reviewing the last one. I have another crappy one to torment you with now. You'll have to forgive me, I'm suffering from writer's block and am grasping at crappy stories to keep me going. This one is a HG/SS one. Read on if you must-).

Revenge Is More Than Sweet

"Argh," a female voice cried out in the darkness.

"Who's that?" a male voice questioned while trying to work out what had just happened.

"Who's that?" she questioned back while rubbing the elbow that had collided with the wall.

"I asked first," he snapped.

"Your point being?" she snapped back. She could feel him dangerously close to her, almost standing on her toes.

"Just answer the question," he growled.

"Only if you take your hand off my bottom," she demanded.

"My hand is not on your bottom," he lifted his hands up and placed them on what he assumed as the female's shoulders. "My hands are now firmly on your shoulders."

"No they're not," a firm male voice answered. "They're on mine, and I do apologise for my hand."

"You've apologised yet it's still there," she told him. She instantly felt the hand leave.

"Where are we?" the first male questioned while trying to fold his arms in the small personal space he had left.

"What happened?" the female asked while leaning back on to the wall behind her.

"You're doing it again," the first male huffed indignantly.

"What!" she cried in annoyance.

"Answering my question with a question. It's becoming irritating," he informed her.

"Don't let me stop you having a lover's tiff." The smile from the second male could be heard quite clearly in his voice.

"I beg your pardon," the first male shouted.

"QUIET!" the female shouted. "Let's start with names. I'm Hermione."

"Just my luck, I'm stuck in a……what are we stuck in?" The first male queried.

"A cupboard, I think," Hermione answered politely.

"In a cupboard with an insufferable know-it-all," the first male finished off.

"And it's nice knowing you too, Professor Snape," Hermione hissed. "And who are you?" She nudged the second male stood next to her.

"Remus Lupin at your service," the second male answered. Hermione thanked her blessings that it was dark so that no one could see her blush.

"I can't believe you had your hand on my bottom," she almost whispered.

"I did apologise for that," he replied. There was a moments silence before anyone spoke.

"I know I arrived here first because I had more room than this to move and I got here with a portkey," Hermione explained to them without prompt.

"Portkey for me as well and I must have been last because I felt you both when I arrived," Remus told them.

"I arrived by portkey too, but it was meant to take me to the Ministry," Severus snapped.

"Me too," Hermione and Remus said in unison.

"Wait a minute, I've just realised something," Hermione growled. "I'll kill them."

"Kill who?" Remus was intrigued by her sudden turn in mood.

"I saw Fred and George lurking round the cupboard we keep the Portkeys in. I thought nothing of it, but they had to have done something to them," she told them.

"This is why I refuse to sleep in the same building as those bloody twins," Severus growled dangerously. Hermione shrieked when she felt Remus roughly swap places with her.

"What did you do that for?" She demanded while rubbing her arms where he had roughly grabbed her.

"He tends to swing out when Fred and George are being spoken about. But if a girl is next to him then he'll keep his fists to himself," Remus whispered to her.

"You'd be surprised how much better your hearing becomes when your sight has been prohibited," Severus icily informed them. Hermione shook her head, they were worse than girls when they argued. She started to feel along the wall in front of her for a door or anything that would get them out.

"You're on my foot, Hermione," Remus informed her. She tried to step forward but she hit her forehead on the wall, putting a stop to her moving at all. Remus held her steady while she waited for the dizziness to pass. "What exactly are you doing?"

"More than you two," she snapped as she edged round Remus and felt her way along the next wall. "I'm looking for a door." The two men followed suit and started to search their surroundings.

"Ouch, that was my back," Hermione wailed.

"That was my elbow," Severus snapped.

"Stop bickering," Remus scolded.

"He started it," She spat.

"You may not be my student but-" he started.

"But nothing, your cutting remarks no longer hurt me," she spoke quietly. She was lying. He still liked to berate her when they convened for Order meetings in the summer, and they still hurt as much as when she was in school. She felt a hand on her shoulder. "What, Remus?"

"I didn't say anything," he replied.

"No, you've got your hand on my shoulder, what do you want?" she sighed. Remus double-checked he hands on the wall in front of him before replying.

"Sorry, I thought you were the wall," he said. He had had this conversation with Severus many nights over the past year. Severus squeezed her shoulder gently before letting go.

"Oh, for crying out loud, why must you two insist on stepping on me or knocking into me? I bruise easily." Hermione's patience was wearing thin at being cooped up.

"Sorry," both men mumbled to her. She sighed in frustration as she gave up and sat down on the floor between them. They both felt her go down and decided to follow her actions.

"For a former spy and a werewolf, you're both incredibly bad at coping without your sight," she growled as a knee from Remus on her right and an elbow from Severus on her left suddenly went into her sides. They mumbled more apologises as they made themselves comfortable. Hermione felt very aware of how close both men were to her but she felt comfortable with it. Remus was like a surrogate father to her anyway and Severus she respected for the danger that he use to put himself through.

"So what do we do now?" Remus asked the question on all of their lips. Hermione sighed as she put her feet up on the wall in front of her and lent back on the wall behind her.

"Plot revenge on the twins," she joked. She wasn't petty enough to do that.

"That's a good idea you have their, Miss Granger," Severus told her politely. Her heart skipped a beat at his remark. Had he just been nice to her? Remus smiled to himself, he knew he could do it if he tried and he was positive she would reciprocate if he tried hard enough.

"I was joking," she told him, flabbergasted that he was willing to pull a prank.

"I wasn't," he spoke with a fierce undertone. "I believe a few hexes may be in order to get them back." Remus could almost hear the cogs working in his brain as he plotted.

"How about the Singing Curse we placed on you in school?" Remus suggested with a chuckle. Severus would sing a song every half an hour and there was nothing he could do about it until it wore off after twenty-four hours.

"That's not enough," Severus growled as the memory came flooding back.

"There's a Dancing one as well," Hermione added, "A bunch of Slytherins thought it would be funny to see me make a fool of myself." She remembered that day clear as daylight. It was the first week back for her seventh year at Hogwarts but the laugh was on them. She didn't have two left feet as they thought she would, she had taken ballet as a little girl and was very aware of her body as a dancer. It was a discipline that had always stayed with her.

"We need more than that," Severus snapped, he wanted a full on war with the twins. It pained him to be so close to Hermione and not be able to hug her or touch her.

"You're a Potions professor, surely you must have some potions you can slip into their drinks," Remus suggested for him. He could feel his frustration building up and wasn't sure if it was a good thing or bad thing. Both men jumped when they heard what sounded like something being slapped.

"Urgh! For the love of all things magic, I can't believe we didn't think of this," Hermione suddenly stood up and with a pop she was gone. Remus laughed at the simplicity of it all while Severus could be heard scowling as he stood up.

They both appeared at Hermione's side in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. All three of them were squinting at the unexpected light.

"I cannot believe how forgetful we all were," Severus snapped as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I have a plan," Hermione smirked as she moved to sit at the kitchen table. The next half an hour the three of them spent huddled over the table, discussing plans. They would strike the next morning, starting with the twins' morning cups of tea.

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Severus smirked to himself as he let two drops of Veritserum fall in to the two cups of tea that Hermione held towards him. The twins came bounding just as he put the vial back into his pocket.

"Here you go," she told them cheerfully as she placed the cups down in front of them.

"Thanks," George replied before taking a sip. Fred looked at Hermione and then Severus.

"Wait a minute; didn't you two use Portkeys to go to the Ministry yesterday?" Fred asked politely before taking a sip of his tea.

"Yep, why do you ask?" Hermione gave them her best innocent face.

"Because we jinxed them and you shouldn't be here," George giggled before his hand shot to his mouth. Fred scowled as he punched George in the arm.

"Petrificus Totalus," Hermione and Severus spoke together with a flick of their wands. Both red heads instantly became stiff as a board with their arms and legs snapped together. They landed on the floor with a resounding thud.

"I see I'm just in time," Remus chuckled as he entered the room and saw Fred and George lay on the floor. "Who's going first?"

Twenty minutes later Fred and George left the house grumbling about how they'd been treated. Hermione did a high five with Remus and jumped on Severus to give him a hug. He felt himself stiffen while he had Hermione hanging from his neck. Remus simply winked at him while Hermione let herself drop to the ground before apologising to him.

"I believe Severus has something he's like to say to you," Remus informed her as he left the kitchen. She looked up at the dark haired man expectantly. He mentally cursed Remus for putting him in this position.

"I just wanted to apologise to you for my cruel comments over the years. I'm cruel to all students who aren't in my house; I had just assumed that they all expected them from me. It's the only way I can push students to do better," he waffled to her. She frowned at him before moving past him to leave the room. "Where are you going?"

"Your apology isn't sincere and you're lying. Remus has put you up to this and I'd rather you were truthful with me and give me cruel remarks about me as a person," she told him sadly as she finally left the room. He had never known anyone to read him so well. He had been lying but not for the reasons she thought.

He found her in the living room sat on a chair facing the window. He heard her sniff before roughly wiping her face; she was crying.

"Why are you so bitter?" she asked him without turning to face him. "Why are you still holding a grudge after all these years?" She's had enough, Harry had had enough, it was about time someone hit a raw nerve with him.

"Because they had in their lives what I've never had. Even now I still don't have it," his voice was icy but he was being honest with her. "I don't know what else to say, this is who I am." She got up and faced him.

"What is it you don't have?" she asked gently, hoping she wasn't crossing a mark.

"That is none of your concern," he hissed.

"Then stop taking your anger out on others. We did nothing to you, especially Harry. You hold such a strong vendetta against him and all he did was be born to your bully. He is not his father," her voice was getting harsher with each word. "It's our concern when you insist on criticizing us because your heart has iced over." He blinked hard at how hard she had hit him with her words. She had tears streaming down her face, years of cruelty from him was bubbling to the surface. She held his gaze firmly and when he said nothing but scowled, she made to storm out.

As she moved past him he grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back into the room.

"You have no idea of the life I've had to lead. You know nothing of the horrors I've seen. You have-"

"You've had a rough life, I understand. Now move on. There are people everywhere leading lives worse than yours, yet they smile and keep going. They fight rather than let it drag them down. I would have expected more from you, I was obviously wrong." She pulled her arm from his grasp while glaring at him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. He was reeling from the shock of what she had just said, but he knew she was right.

"Don't be sorry. Just tell me why you felt the need to be so cruel to me when I was only trying to prove myself to you."

"Because I was jealous of you and at the same time respected you. You are extremely intelligent and I despised that you were accepted by your friends for being a bookworm. You had friendship and love; two qualities I've never experienced. All I can say is that I was a Slytherin and Slytherins are petty and hateful," he explained to her while holding her gaze.

"So it comes back to the grudge. Why won't you let it go?" she asked sadly.

"You remind me of Lily. She was just as intelligent as you but could always be found with Potter," he scowled. "She pitied me and I've seen that same pity in your eyes."

"You avoided my question."

"You all remind me of the torture I went through in school and when you have that as well as an unhappy home life, then you tend to hold grudges," he sighed. He looked down dejectedly. He had never let anyone know this much about him and it was draining him. He jumped a little when she gently took his left hand into both of hers.

"I've never pitied you," she told him truthfully as he looked into her eyes. "It was respect you saw. Respect at protecting Harry when you hated him so much. Respect for putting your life in danger for the great good. I'm not Lily, Harry isn't James, and Remus should have helped you; not that you would have accepted his help. This isn't your childhood anymore; you can lead your life now knowing you're safe and are accepted for who you are." Her heart was pounding as feelings began to stir in her. She felt honoured to have been trusted with his feelings.

Hermione gave his hand a gentle squeeze before letting go of it. They still held each other's gazes for a few moments.

"I was cruel to you for another reason when you graduated," he started. His throat was suddenly dry and his nerves started to take over at what he was about to say. Confusion was written all over Hermione's face. "For the past year I hated being near you. I hated it when I would have to sit next to you at the meetings. But I was also hurting………" He licked his lips to delay what he was trying to tell her. "I also hated it when you went back to you parents house." Her expression stayed blank. His heart skipped a beat in fright. "When you graduated, I realised that I had come to l-love you."

A silence immediately engulfed the living room as Hermione was registering what he was saying. She watched his eyes as a range of emotions swept through them. Her heart was beating quickly. He went to leave the room but she quickly grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Wait, I haven't said anything yet," she started.

"You don't need to, your silence said everything," he spoke quietly without looking at her.

"I care for you very deeply and…." She never finished her sentence as she pulled him down into a kiss. As Severus pulled away he leant his forehead on hers and sighed.

"But you don't love me," he whispered.

"Love comes with time. But what I do know is that when you told me how you felt you made me feel special, warm and safe," she told him. He smiled understandingly. For him it had started out as admiring her, not love. "Can you give me time?" He nodded gently before picking her up and swinging her round.

"When you two have quite finished, I'd like to go and watch our handiwork," Remus grinned at them as they turned to face him.

A crowd was milling outside the twins' shop. Hermione was the first one to make her way through and into the crowded shop. She gasped when she saw a scowling Fred on the counter in a dress with his hair in spikes. He was twirling and bowing while George sat on the side of the counter in smart robes singing.

"Hermione, have you seen? They do everything you ask them to," Harry yelled over the crowd to her as he made his way across. "I think they've been given Veritserum as well 'cause they've been confessing to every prank they've pulled."

Hermione smirked at him as Severus and Remus caught up to her. She turned round and gave Remus another high five and Severus a wink. Harry frowned at them before turning to face the twins. Hermione grinned to herself as felt Severus' hand slip into hers.