Honestly, all he has to do is show up in leather and all my resolve melts, Hermione thought to herself. She was following Wolf through a series of corridors. The further they went the dimmer the light became. A chill wind blew across Hermione's skin.
"Are we going to need a torch soon? And a coat?" asked Hermione.
"Just keep a hold of my hand, sweetling," said Wolf. "I shall keep you safe and as warm as you desire."
Sweetling? Why couldn't he be like this all the time? Hermione sighed and said aloud, "Where are we going, Mr. Wolf?"
"Not where but what." Wolf's long strides stopped abruptly.
In a playful mood, Hermione replied, "Somewhere cozy and very comfortable?"
"Only if this Wolf is very, very good," purred Wolf.
He certainly looked good to Hermione. He exuded health and a manly vitality that was calling to her on all channels.
"You're quite good already I don't know how you could improve."
"Gent and Prat don't think highly of me. They probably think we'll do ten percent memory watching and the rest of the time will be energetic shagging," said Wolf. "I wouldn't mind. Pensieve sex is supposed to be unforgettable and enlightening for all parties."
Hermione was gripped, truly gripped, by the urge to attempt to explore this new topic. "Really?! I've never heard of it."
"It's out of fashion because it requires raw magical compatibility not just discipline and technique," said Wolf.
"We're compatible magically?"
"Of course we are. Isn't that obvious?" Wolf realized Hermione's puzzlement was not feigned. "Muggle born, right. Forgot. Sorry. Though even the pure ones believe it outdated."
"Here is a condensed version. I suggest you ask Dumbledore for books on the topic of magical energy nexus. No library at a public university will have anything to do with the subject," said Wolf. "Every individual body creates energy that our bodies use everyday. Magical energy is a separate type of energy. Every magical person's energy differs by quantity, resonance, power and pattern. Doubtless, you have learned much on quantity, resonance and power from your Transfiguration and Arithmancy courses. There would be nothing on patterns."
Hermione nodded.
"In the distant past, when there were fewer of us, magical patterns were used to determine suitability for marriage. Individuals whose patterns matched or were in harmony together were guaranteed to produce magically sound offspring," said Wolf. "Patterns did not guarantee that the individuals could actually stand each other. It did lead to families with extremely strong magic. Where did you think the pureblood families came from?"
"As the magical population has increased, pattern matching went out of favor for obvious reasons. Teaching pattern recognition was outlawed by the Ministry as an easy way to end all previous laws that used pattern compatibility to force the unwilling into unwanted unions," said Wolf. "Occasionally, matching individuals would find themselves drawn to each other illogically, as is the case with you and Severus."
"Illogically?"
"Let me see. Student and teacher. Mature and quite young. Half-blood and muggle born. Severe introvert and mild extrovert. Death Eater and idealistic heroine. Slytherin and Gryffindor. Need I go on?"
"I get the point. In normal circumstance, Severus and I should not have been anywhere near other."
"Exactly. Where personalities change over time through experience and age, magical patterns do not. They are the same when we are born and when we die," said Wolf. "Individuals with complementary patterns experience shared activities with a higher level of intensity and excitement. However, their personalities may clash affecting the success of the experience."
The gears inside Hermione's head began to turn faster and faster. "Like playing a game? Or a relationship?"
"And couplings are more satisfying wouldn't you say?"
"You know they are," said Hermione.
"Having felt the intensity between you, could you imagine being satisfied feeling less with someone else?"
"I could but I wouldn't want to," said Hermione. "Harmonious patterns do not often make for smooth relationships especially when both parties have strong personalities. That's what you're leading up to, isn't it? We're not personally compatible because we are so different."
Wolf nodded. "And love does not conquer all."
"It's not enough, no," said Hermione. "You're right our personalities do get in the way. I'll try to change but it has to be both of us changing. I think Severus is too set in his ways to-"
"Don't be too hasty there," warned Wolf. "Tell me, Hermione, do you know what you mean to Severus? What you are to him?"
"The love of his life?" she answered glibly.
"That's what you and all witches would like and expect to hear. Where we are going will show you the truth." Wolf resumed his steady pace unhurried and unflagging.
Wolf's words set Hermione to thinking. "He's much older than me. I suppose it's naive to think that I'm his first love."
"Yes it is. No, you are not his first love," replied Wolf.
Crestfallen, Hermione could only say, "Oh."
"Gent and Prat will say that I only have one thing on my mind. They would be right most of the time," said Wolf. "But for Severus sex isn't complicated."
"He's very passionate."
"Just like every woman to attach an emotion to a purely physical act of expression," said Wolf. "There are days I curse the inventor of the greeting card. Do women really believe a few flowery words means more than an unexpected pat on the bum, a quick hug or squeeze of a hand?"
"Well, sometimes-"
"Women are planners. Men are not," said Wolf. "A woman wants a gesture to be elaborate and thought out. If a man is happy and wants to let his partner know it, he gives her a wink, a grin, a squeeze. Spontaneous and in the moment. That's it. No extra thinking required."
"Would it kill him to be romantic? Say a few words?"
"Could the female stop expecting romance to be how she wants it to be and nothing else? Let a man be a man I say." Wolf tugged at her hand and they were off once again.
The haze swallowed their forms. Time passed unnoticed. Hermione found herself face to face with a roughhewn wooden door. Tendrils of light escaped from the various cracks crisscrossing the door's uneven surface. If the door was ancient and fragile seeming, then its padlock was sturdy and gleaming with newness.
"Not what you were expecting. You did say that creativity gets extra points," Wolf smirked at her.
Hermione bit her lip eyeing the door nervously. "Which is this - body, mind or soul?"
"A little bit of everything I suppose. I shall leave the psychoanalysis to Gent. Every man has one of these doors. Within are all their secrets." Wolf ran a gentle hand over the door. "Secrets that they admit to only in their dreams, if they ever do."
"I already know about his past and-"
"No, Hermione, these things are not of his past. These are of his present, his future. As quite a bit of what's here is because of you, you have every right to know of it."
Wolf palmed the padlock. The lock creaked open slowly.
"Perhaps, after this, you'll understand him better. After you, my sweet."
Hermione braced herself for something horrific. She was momentarily blinded by light. The light ebbed gradually. Her vision cleared.
Before her was Severus' private work room. Untidy stacks of books lined one side of the long work table. On the far side a cauldron sat unused. In the middle of it all sat Severus. Bits of parchment littered the workspace in front of him. From the side, Hermione could see a vein pulsing on his temple. From her experience that never bode well. Seeing her memory pillow on top of the litter, Hermione stepped closer to look over Severus' shoulder. Needle in hand, he was painstakingly repairing the tear with the smallest stitches he could manage.
"Ow!" Severus dropped the wretched needle to suck on his punctured finger. "Perhaps a smaller needle would have been better."
Hermione observed, "I forgot that pillow couldn't be repaired with magic."
"The dagger was a very good messenger," said Wolf.
Severus stood up and stretched his arms out. He walked over to a cabinet, opened it and began rummaging through its contents. A minute later Severus flung a small box hard against a wall. Its contents spilled out unto the floor. He slammed the cabinet doors shut then leaned against it. His breathing was deep and labored.
"What in all the hells am I doing? This is ridiculous! She won't answer my letters. She won't let me near her. She won't listen to anything I say. How can I apologize if she keeps me at arms' length?"
Severus stalked back to the table and glared at the offending pillow. "Tell me, you, why am I trying so hard to fix something so irretrievably broken?"
He threw the pillow to the floor. With a swift kick, he sent the pillow flying across the room. He slumped down into his chair letting fatigue and frustration claim him. He rested his head on his arms.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Wolf quieted her by saying, "Keep watching."
She watched him unmoving for several minutes. Then he let out a dejected sigh. He stood up and walked over to where the pillow had landed. He looked down on it. "Not the dark lord nor all the dunderheads year in, year out, none of them could break me as you do."
He kneeled, picked it up gently in both hands and stood looking at it. "Weakness, my weakness, thy name is Hermione."
He examined his handiwork. Seeing that none of his new stitching had broken, he put the pillow back on the table.
"How do I make her understand that I can't let her go, not like this."
Absentmindedly, Severus began to straighten the stacks of books and parchments. As he did so, he read off some book titles - "Reading a Woman's Mind in 21 Easy Lessons", "What a Witch Needs Is Not What She Asks For" and "The 1001 Ways of Women."
His hand stopped on a worn copy of Cyrano de Bergerac. "Had I but such an interpreter to speak my soul. How do you woo when the object wants nothing to do with you?"
"The book said that we should court you. Show you how sorry we were, how much we wanted to you back," Wolf answered. "We were frankly desperate."
Severus left Cyrano sitting on the table top. He continued to stack the books but his eyes would dart to Cyrano every now and then. With all the books neatly arranged, he went back to Cyrano. As he thumbed through the pages, an idea began to form in his mind. His lips lost their grim set. He nearly ran to his office. He returned with an ancient tome that he placed on the table.
Curious, Hermione looked on from the side as he leafed hurriedly through the book.
His fingers stopped moving. Hermione gasped as she saw the potion described on the page. "The Bard's Voice potion. That's one of the most horribly complex potions ever made. A hundred things could go wrong."
Hermione's eyes scanned lower on the page. "If the potion isn't aged exactly right, his vocal cords could be damaged permanently. Trevor would sound positively charming next to him. Hold on! Some of these ingredients are illegal in Britain. Tell me he didn't go through with it."
Wolf looked at Severus proudly. "When we put our mind to something, we get it done."
Severus continued to study the text intently while scribbling on a piece of parchment. His long hair hung loose partially obscuring his face. With a savage gesture, Severus pushed his hair back.
"I could listen to him for hours. How could he take such a chance?"
"In my opinion, he thinks with the wrong organ where you're concerned."
"I remember seeing some verses in some of the letters I burned. If I had known, I would never have ..." Her voice faded. Hermione reached out towards Severus. Her hand passed through his cheek.
"That prat, Prat, made him overdose you know."
"What?!"
"Prat didn't think the sonnets were romantic enough so he convinced Severus to take a double dose. It was almost triple if Gent hadn't gagged him."
"He could have ... have-" Hermione spluttered. An image of her strangling Prat came to mind.
"It turned out all right in the end." Wolf informed her. "And I did come up with some clever couplets about shagging. Pity that Severus had no time to use them."
"This is how he came up with Guido," Hermione said matter-of-factly.
"After Severus woke up, Dumbledore forbade the use of the potion. As to using Guido, well, that was Potter's idea. Something about realism being preferable. His agent's fee was almost half a year's pay."
Hermione smiled at that tidbit. It was not a pleasant smile. "Thank you for telling me, Wolf. I think Harry and I are due for another chat."
"Can we be there when you talk to Potter?"
"You'll have a front row seat. Trust me."
Their attention returned to Severus briefly. He was now finishing his shopping list. He donned his traveling cloak and left the room.
As a mist enveloped them, Wolf intoned, "He's off to Knockturn Alley and so are we."
