Late One Night

Disclaimer: I only own Maria, but she probably won't crop up too often.

Blonded: Nice to see you reviewing again.

Lupin Wolf: Glad you like it!

Eleonora1: You're right about Lucius. Oh I love your idea about Ron! It would be fun to see what the residents of Knockturn Alley do to him.

Fallen Angel of Hell: Glad you like it!

Piper of Locksley: I'm hurrying! You shouldn't have to wait too much longer!

AffectedMangoO: Far more Sev/Rem in this chapter! Ha ha, I never used to like Hermione as well, but after seeing her punch Draco in the third film I've grown quite fond of her, and I am trying to make her sound more fun.

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I just had to put the violent side of Hermione into this fic, especially after seeing Prisoner of Azkaban and watching her deck Draco.

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Chapter 5: The Dark Lord's Calling

After her violent outburst in the Great Hall and her initial running off, Hermione was tracked down the next day and punished. She had to sit through a supposedly short meeting in Dumbledore's office with the Headmaster, McGonagall as head of Gryffindor House and her parents. The meeting had gone well to start with, Remus kept his mouth closed, Hermione knew when he didn't say anything to do with punishing his children it usually meant he was quite angry.

The meeting had gone smoothly until McGonagall mentioned taking away Hermione's Prefect badge, that had gotten Severus' hackles up, even he didn't believe taking Hermione's authority away was a fair punishment. Until then, he had gone along with the detentions and the near suspension but that was going too far.

Hermione had finally gotten a fortnight's worth of detentions and she was banned from the next two Hogsmeade trips for punching Ron and breaking his nose. But she managed to find out that Ron was being punished for harassing her since school started, which cheered her up a little.

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It was late one night and Severus was sitting up in bed reading a book by candlelight. He felt something on his lap, so he looked down and saw Remus' head was there, quite obviously using his lap as a pillow. "Comfortable?"

"Mmhmm."

Severus turned back to his book, it was a new Potions textbook and it contained a big section on the Wolfsbane Potion, which was mainly why he had bought it. He was still looking to make it taste nicer because Remus never stopped whining about the foul taste.

"Sev?"

"Mm?"

Remus turned onto his back and gazed up at his lover through the dim light, reading in the semi-darkness couldn't be good for Severus' eyesight. "Do you ever want more children?"

Severus glanced down into the curious brown eyes before looking back to his book, "I don't know… Why? Do you?"

Remus shrugged as best he could while he was lying on his back; "Maybe…I haven't really given it that much thought."

"Then why ask?"

Remus closed his eyes and turned back onto his side, his head still resting comfortably on Severus' lap. "I have the sixth years after their Sex Ed class every Wednesday…they learnt about baby development today."

"Ah." Severus nodded slowly. He glanced down at his lover who appeared to be half asleep again, he folded the corner of the page in his book he was on and then closed it and put it down on the bedside table. He let his fingers trail lightly up and down Remus' arm thoughtfully. "…Would you like another one?"

Remus smiled faintly, "Maybe…after the war is over…"

Severus raised his eyebrows slightly; it wasn't like Remus to be so optimistic about the war. Personally, Severus didn't think he would live to see the end of it, especially if Voldemort started to suspect him even more than he already did. As for his family, he really didn't want to think about what could or might happen to them, especially Hermione who was in a pretty vulnerable place by being friends with Harry.

………

It was Thursday evening and Hermione was in detention, once again. This time she was serving it under the watchful eye of Professor Snape, who had her scraping and cleaning down the desks in his classroom, washing out cauldrons, vials and bottles and doing various other potion related things.

Hermione rubbed her eyes tiredly, this sure was tedious work, she was currently scraping the gunk out of a cauldron that had apparently been used by someone who was about as inept at potions as Neville was. "Ugh! This is disgusting…" She heard a quiet snort of amusement from the front of the classroom where her father was busy making the Wolfsbane Potion. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Too much."

Hermione huffed and pushed some loose strands of hair behind her ear, "You've got one messed up sense of humour." She grumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

"Need I remind you, that you are in detention?" Replied Severus, not raising his eyes as he continued mixing the Wolfsbane Potion for his lover for the upcoming full moon.

Hermione shrugged, "Yeah, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that you enjoyed seeing Ron getting his nose broken." She smiled knowingly when she received no answer.

…

Hermione checked her watch, she still had another hour of detention, how was she meant to do her homework if she had four hours of detention a night plus her Prefect duties? But according to McGonagall, she was capable enough of doing all three.

"How can you spend all your time in such close proximity with this disgusting crap?" Questioned Hermione as she poured something rotten down the sink, her eyes squeezed shut so she didn't have to look at it, in case she retched. Again.

Severus glanced up at her in amusement; "I do recall you spending most of your younger years here, with me."

"Oh like I had a choice." Replied Hermione before picking up the next jar with something decidedly worse than the last one rotting away inside it. She opened the jar, looked away and upended it over the sink. "When can I go?"

"Why? Not enjoying your time here?" Replied Severus smirking slightly as he ladled some of the finished Wolfsbane Potion into a goblet.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she blindly picked up another jar full of something she didn't want to think about, "You're such a crack up."

"You know I am." Replied Severus before heading towards his quarters; he looked over his shoulder at Hermione. "When you're done with emptying and cleaning those jars, you can go."

"How magnanimous of you." Muttered Hermione sarcastically.

If anyone had been spectating on this detention, it would have been so obvious as to where Hermione got some of her attitude. She was like Remus in looks and her studious nature, but she had gained a lot of Severus' sarcastic and blunt attitude.

After Severus had left for his quarters to deliver the Wolfsbane Potion, Hermione continued with the revolting task of emptying and cleaning the glass jars. As she did so, she saw her father hurrying out of his office all of a sudden; he ran straight passed her and out of the classroom.

"What the…" Hermione looked back to the office doorway as Remus appeared running a hand tiredly through his hair. "What's wrong?"

Remus bit his bottom lip, "Voldemort's calling." He started making his way through the classroom. "You can go back to the tower now, I need to inform Dumbledore."

"Oh…" Hermione watched as her other father left the classroom as well. She hated knowing when there was a Deatheater meeting, it always worried her. But now she was worried, she didn't particularly want to go back to Gryffindor Tower where she could dwell on it, so she decided to stay in the Potions Classroom and finish what she was supposed to be doing.

……

Remus headed up the spiral staircase to Dumbledore's office, he could hear voices in there when he got to the door so he knocked.

"Come in."

Remus pushed the door open and went in, he apparently looked very worried judging by the looks on Dumbledore and McGonagall's faces.

"Is everything all right Remus?" Questioned Albus curiously.

Remus shook his head, "Voldemort just called, and judging by the owl Severus got from Lucius earlier…he's not very happy at all."

Albus nodded slowly, "All right, when he comes back, could you send him in this direction?"

Remus frowned slightly, "You mean if he comes back."

Minerva glanced at him; "You are such a pessimist."

"I find I am safer being a pessimist." Replied Remus honestly.

………

Hermione was wandering along a corridor after curfew, doing her Prefect duties of rounding up students out of bed. She looked out of one of the corridor windows over looking the school grounds and the entrance gate and through the near full moon light she saw something that made her heart sink.

There, moving across the grounds, were two men, one with long blond hair and the other with dark hair. The dark haired man was being held up by the other one.

…

Lucius Malfoy struggled across the Hogwarts School grounds with the School's Potions Master, Severus was barely conscious as they got to the huge entrance to the castle. "Come on Sev, stay with me."

Once they were inside the castle, Lucius decided to drag the dark haired man down to his dungeon quarters, as he didn't think Severus could make it up the staircase to the Infirmary. He half carried Severus along the dungeon corridor and to the Potions classroom and straight through to the door to the quarters.

…

Remus had been dozing in an armchair when he was woken by a sharp knock on the door. He checked his watch; it was nearly 10pm, who would be knocking at this hour? Unless something had happened to Severus… He quickly got up and rushed to the door, his eyes widened when he saw who was on the other side. "What the hell happened?"

"Help me get him to a bed first, will you?" Replied Lucius tiredly.

Remus nodded worriedly, he wrapped an arm around Severus who now appeared to be completely unconscious and the two of them dragged the man to the bedroom.

Once they had gotten Severus to the bedroom and pushed him down on the bed, Remus turned back to Lucius, his eyebrows raised.

Lucius ran a hand through his usually immaculate hair, now it was very unruly. "Voldemort knows he's double agent."

Remus felt his heart sinking, "How?…Who told him?"

Lucius shook his head, "I don't know who, but Dumbledore has another spy in his midst and whoever it is, tipped the Dark Lord off."

Remus furrowed his eyebrows, "But if this spy tipped him off about Severus…then what about you?"

Lucius, almost out of habit, lowered his voice, "Not many of the Order know I'm spying for Dumbledore."

"Oh…" Remus looked back to Severus who was still out cold. "What happened?"

Lucius folded his arms and leaned back against the chest of drawers, he looked as exhausted as Remus felt. "He was subjected to the Cruciatus Curse a fair few times by Voldemort…along with a few other torture curses newly invented by Voldemort."

"How did you get him out? I thought Voldemort killed traitors." Replied Remus; his worried brown eyes fixed on Severus' unmoving body.

Lucius glanced at his old friend and then back to the brown haired man, "I persuaded Voldemort into letting me have fun with him at the manor. Thankfully, he doesn't think I have deceived him yet."

Remus nodded slowly, and then he turned his gaze back to Lucius, "Thanks for helping him."

"Anytime."

………

It was breakfast the next morning and Hermione couldn't stop yawning, after seeing the two figures on the school grounds last night she had barely slept, she had been tossing and turning all night out of worry for what might have happened.

Seamus frowned at her, "Did you actually sleep last night or was your detention with Snape really that disturbing?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow slightly and yawned again, "It had nothing to do with the detention, I found Snape quite amiable actually."

"Snape." Repeated Dean in disbelief. "You found Snape friendly?"

Hermione shrugged tiredly, "Well, I don't think he's quite as bad as everyone makes out."

Harry who was sitting close smirked slightly, "He insults you nearly every lesson 'Mione."

"He's just misunderstood." Mumbled Hermione staring down at her food.

Seamus snorted with laughter, "And next I s'pose you're going to tell us that Malfoy's father isn't really a supporter of You Know Who?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, Now that you mention it… She smiled, "No, don't worry, I won't be making claims like that in an instant."

………

Third lesson of the day was Potions and Hermione couldn't contain her curiosity, as nobody else had said anything she voiced her questioned to the substitute teacher they had, who incidentally was the Headmaster. "Where's Professor Snape?"

Dumbledore was sitting at the desk up at the front of the classroom as he replied, "Professor Snape has taken ill and unfortunately, he will not be able to teach for the next day or two."

Most of the Gryffindor students gave quiet cheers for joy while the Slytherins looked rather annoyed at this, they knew without Snape around, the Gryffindors wouldn't get nearly as many points taken off them. Hermione frowned slightly, her father was never sick and even if he did come down with something during the year he still taught against Madame Pomfrey's orders.

…

Remus was teaching against his own will today, all he wanted to do was be with Severus and help him recover from his ordeal last night but Madame Pomfrey had him practically carried out of the quarters after breakfast this morning so she could heal Severus' wounds.

Severus had woken up not long after Lucius left, that had been just after midnight. The Potions master had practically begged Remus not to go for Madame Pomfrey straight away, claiming he would be all right by the morning if he just slept it off. By the next morning he could barely move because of all his aches and pains and on top of that he had a migraine as well as a few broken ribs.

………

Classes finally finished for the day and Remus wasted no time in getting back to the dungeons to be with his lover, he entered the quarters quietly and headed straight for the bedroom where he found Severus fast asleep on his stomach, half hugging a pillow.

Remus smiled slightly as he sat down on the bed next to Severus, his raven-haired lover looked more peaceful than he had in a long time. He rested his hand on Severus' bare back and rubbed it gently over a bruise there, bruises were something Madame Pomfrey couldn't get rid of, you just had to wait for time to heal them.

Severus shifted slightly at the feel of the warm hand on his aching back; he had only been dozing. "What time is it?"

Remus leaned down and pressed a kiss to Severus' head, "Classes just finished. Have you been asleep all day?" He had been asleep when Remus checked on him at lunchtime.

"Pretty much…" Severus propped his head up on his hands and rubbed his eyes. "Can you get me a pain relief potion?"

Remus continued rubbing his back gently, "Didn't Poppy give you one?"

"Wasn't strong enough." Mumbled Severus putting his head back down on his arms on the pillow.

"Okay." Remus got up and went to Severus' office and into the storeroom off to the side, he searched the shelves for a moment or two and then he grabbed three small bottles which all had Pain Relief scribbled on them. He went back to the bedroom and sat back down on the bed. "I didn't know which one…"

Severus sat up, with some effort, and took the small blue bottle off Remus; he pulled out the cork and drank down the entire contents of it.

Remus raised an eyebrow, "Is that safe?"

Severus coughed and nodded, "I made it."

"That's what worries me."

Severus put the bottle on the nightstand with other two and then he settled back down on his stomach, as his back was too sore to lie on. "If it was a potion you'd made, I'd understand your concern." He muttered closing his eyes again.

Remus rolled his eyes, his potion ineptitude was quite well known, he stood up and shed his robes and shoes before kneeling back on the bed over Severus. "Want me to help make it better?" Severus just grunted in reply, he looked like he was starting to drift back to sleep.

Remus gently rubbed Severus' pale back for a moment or two longer before pressing a kiss to the dark head and leaving the bedroom. If Severus wanted to sleep some more he didn't want to bother him, that would just make the man even more unbearable than he could be when he was tired.

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A/N: I know, that took a while to get done didn't it? Sorry!! But my internet has been stuffed recently.

Next Chapter: Christmas time. Hermione is at Hogwarts for Christmas along with the Gryffindor 6th year boys (minus Ron). The boys find out her secret, Hermione is injured and Remus' rarely mentioned brother turns up at the school by Dumbledore's request.