A/N Hi everyone! I'm so sorry it's been longer than I thought it would be. The next chapter should be up much sooner, in about a week. I had the idea for it ages ago so I'm excited to post it. Let me know what you think about this chapter in the meantime! Thanks so much for reading.

Chapter 30: Sex and Magic

"Anna, can I ask you something stupid?"

"Always."

The two girls sat cross-legged in an alcove at the far end of the cloister, in a little bubble of warming charms, the world a swirl of white snow around them. Róisín looked up from the transfig equations they were attempting to balance.

"So you know how I'm naive when it comes to wizard customs? Well, there's something about wizarding sex I don't understand."

Anna put down her quill.

"What do you mean wizarding sex? You do realise we do it the same as muggles right? It's not like the wizard uses his wand instead of his-"

"- Yeah I know that!" Róisín slapped Anna's arm lightly, interrupting her giggling. "It's just, well, I've heard the lads here make stupid jokes about not being able to "get it up" etcetera…"

"Yeah?"

"But I don't get why that joke works in the wizarding world. I know there's a charm for that. A Gryffindor almost got expelled for pranking his friend with it last year."

"Yeah but it's not like a wizard can cast that when he actually wants to… you know."

"Why not?"

"Cus it's weird."

Róisín shot her a confused look. "But why? Presumably wizards shouldn't have any, like, sexual problems. Like the wizard can just magic the witch wet or-"

"- that's like, yuck," Anna said with a grimace.

"Why?"

"Because it's sex! You're not supposed to need magic to make it magical. " Her friend wiggled her eyebrows and added, "Why are you suddenly so interested in wizard sex? Is there a pureblood you like?"

Just the Head of Slytherin, who I've slept with twice, you know, our hated potions master?

"No," Róisín replied, "I just-I dunno, I'm curious."

Anna narrowed her eyes like she didn't quite believe her, but continued anyway,

"There was a time when spells involving sex were popular, before the seventeenth century, but it was very… dodgy."

"How come?" Róisín pressed.

"Well, there were a lot of sex spells that were really sinister, using virgin blood and all that dark stuff. I remember reading about a type of sex nymph that was hunted to extinction because wizards feared their power, and my grandmother told me stories about veela's being assaulted for their hair and nails and sometimes worse things, to be used in nasty potions. And now it's basically seen as creepy to do any magic involving sex even if it's innocent stuff. It's taboo."

"But, there's a difference between sex magic, like creepy binding rituals for enslavement etctera, and like, using normal magic during sex, right?"

Anna frowned, considering. Róisín continued,

"Like a wizard levitating a girl to bed instead of carrying her? I'm just confused because wizards use magic for everything but their sex lives seem to be kind of… muggle?"

"It's just seen as weird to use magic for sex," Anna replied. "I suppose witches are raised with the fear that they'll be slipped an arousal potion, cus we've heard so many stories about it and I mean, one of the worst things in the world would be someone corrupting your feelings for their own gratification, so I suppose wizards and witches prefer leaving magic completely out of the equation. On top of that, it's kinda seen as pathetic if you need magic for that kind of stuff."

"How do you feel about it?"

"I dunno, sex is this really basic instinct, right? So I like the idea of it being… raw and natural. Like it'd be a huge turn-off if he had to take out his wand for a certain step-"

"What about wandless magic though?" Róisín asked.

"Well, I suppose if he were a natural at wandless magic it could be a little sexy," Anna said, a touch of colour on her cheeks. "Oh Gods! What am I saying?" she moaned, shaking her head bashfully.

After they stopped giggling, Róisín insisted they test each other for their Transfig quiz.

Today she'd felt increasing anxiety about her slipping grades. Her first class had been Ancient Runes, and her shoulder and back still stung from when she'd stumbled through the hieroglyphs on her clay tablet and conjured angry wasps instead of honey. In charms, she'd been the only Ravenclaw along with a few Gryffindors to sheepishly ask for an extension on her essay on Italian wand crafting. Then later, during Husbandry with Eóghan, he'd asked her how her Creature's NEWTS project was going, and Róisín couldn't ignore his surprised, slightly concerned look when she told him she'd only written the introduction to her treatise, "On the Mating Calls of Aranaccios" after he'd told her he'd already finished his preliminary drawings and main arguments for his project, "On the Origins of Hippogriffs". And finally, in their Defence test, Róisín had barely managed five inches comparing Asian and European duelling techniques.

She shouldn't have interrupted their study session in the first place, but she'd been curious about last night and why Snape had assured her the coconut oil was non-magical. In fact, Róisín had been wondering why he hadn't been using magic at all during their encounters. He was the kind of wizard whose magic flowed from him in a constant, effortless stream, making his steps unnaturally swift and silent, opening doors to allow his passage, stirring cauldrons and, apparently, slipping into people's minds.

However, if Anna were to be believed, using magic during sex was considered taboo. Róisín wondered if Snape had to restrain himself not to. Presumably he knew that she, as a muggleborn, wouldn't know it was taboo, but he still didn't perform magic, even though it would probably make everything easier. Maybe he agreed with the wizarding community that magic made it easy for wizards to manipulate witches. Of course, in theory, witches could do the same to wizards, however as he'd made clear before, he found the idea of her taking advantage of him to be laughable, so that probably wasn't where his misgivings surrounding magic in the bedroom came from.

Róisín and Anna continued testing each other as they headed to the Transfiguration classroom, taking slow steps towards the castle so they could nudge their sphere of warming charms with them until the doors. As they climbed the steps to the second floor, Anna asked her gingerly,

"You seem a bit on-edge recently, is everything ok?"

Róisín swallowed. She didn't want the tongue-tie curse to kick in.

"Yeah, I dunno. I think all this talk of You-Know-Who makes me feel a bit vulnerable. The only other muggle-born I know is Eóghan and we haven't gotten a chance to em… hang out recently. Do you think everyone in Hogwarts these days feels the same way about You-Know-Who?" she asked in a hushed voice, "like, do you think any current Slytherins support him?"

What she really wanted to know was what Anna thought about one particular Slytherin's political persuasions.

"Gods, well, as much as I'd like to believe the new generation of Slytherins would be horrified by the return of him," Anna said and added with a shudder, "especially as someone with two Slytherin second cousins, I wouldn't be surprised if the likes of Montague and Marchand agree with a lot of what He says." She gave Róisín a guilty look, as if the bigotry in pure-blood culture was her fault.

"What about,er… older Slytherins? For example, does your mum and dad talk about the Slytherins they knew at school, and whether they ended up being supporters or not?"

"I don't talk about the war with my mum," Anna said in an uncharacteristically small voice, "You know, because of her sister." Róisín nodded, feeling guilty for bringing it up. Anna added, "I still don't regret losing those fifty points, you know."

"I know," Róisín said gently, remembering all the drama when Anna spat on the ground in front of Vincent Crabbe, because his father had killed her aunt. Róisín could still picture the look of shock on the eleven-year-old Slytherin's face, who even at that age was chunky with muscle, like a bulldog puppy. Deciding to test the tongue-tie, Róisín continued, trying to sound disinterested,

"What about S-snape?" She stuttered a bit, but managed to get the words out. The charm must have been weakening. Róisín hoped her professor wouldn't remember to renew it.

"He didn't go to school with my parents or anything, he's quite young actually-"

"Yeah, thirty-five," Róisín supplied.

Anna gave her an odd look. "That's very specific knowledge."

"Oh, yeah," Róisín said, her chest tightening, "I think someone told me he was the youngest teacher once, and it stuck with me, the oldest is Mr. Binns, obviously."

Just then, McGonagall opened the classroom door and the students filed in for their last class of the day.

Róisín knocked on Snape's office door.

"Enter."

Naishiye Kiserian, the beautiful Nigerian girl in Róisín's year, was sitting in the chair across from Snape, both Slytherins leaning over an open textbook on the desk between them. Snape sat back and Kiserian murmured a thank you to him and stood up, her dark slim legs reaching above Róisín's waist as she passed her on the way out. Róisín looked back to her professor. Snape raised an eyebrow slightly and said,

"Miss Kiserian aspires to be a potioneer so she regularly seeks my advice."

Róisín made an effort to school her voice before replying,

"Oh, cool."

Snape gestured for her to sit.

"Arrangements have been made for you for the Christmas break," he began. "I will not be at Hogwarts so you are to stay in a safe house over the holidays."

"Oh, but… why?"

"You would not have sufficient protection here."

"But I was planning on going home sir."

Snape drummed his fingers on the desk with impatience.

"That's not feasible, Feral. You'd have even less protection in your muggle home than in the castle." Róisín swallowed over the hard lump in her throat. She wouldn't get to see her parents' reactions to their gifts. "You will tell your family that you've decided to stay at Hogwarts to study and on Sunday I will apparate you to The Order of the Phoenix Headquarters."

Róisín didn't know how to respond. She was still digesting the fact that she wouldn't get to play with Brandy and his new toy, and how her mum had said this was probably their old collie's last Christmas.

"The Order is a secret society," Snape continued. "It was set up by Professor Dumbledore to oppose the Dark Lord when he first rose to power. It disbanded after the Wizarding war but was reconvened this year."

Probably after Diggory's death, Róisín thought and recalled the boy's lifeless body, Potter crouched over it wailing, the brass band celebrating the end of the Triwizard Tournament screeching silent-

"Although you are to stay at Headquarters," Snape said, interrupting her memories, "you are not an initiated member of the Order and will not be privy to its affairs."

"Are you in the Order, sir?"

"Yes." His voice was clipped.

"Am I allowed to know who else is in the Order?"

"You will undoubtedly meet some members when you are at Headquarters. There are also other charges," - a scowl passed over Snape's face- "non-order members, staying at Headquarters for their safety."

Róisín's hands twisted and gripped at each other.

"Will they know why I'm there?"

Snape's jaw muscles tightened.

"The Headmaster has decided to inform a select few of the Order members," he said through gritted teeth. Róisín opened her mouth to complain at the injustice of the headmaster telling other people her secret when she still wasn't allowed to tell her best friend, but seeing the tightness in Snape's jaw, she realised he wasn't too happy with the headmaster himself. Instead she asked,

"Will you be there while I'm there, sir?"

"I will occasionally attend Order meetings at Headquarters, when my schedule permits it.

"You will return to Hogwarts in the new year, just before classes begin on the 10th, which means that you will be at Headquarters for almost three weeks. If you were to experience symptoms at Headquarters it would be inconvenient for me to… address them there." Snape sighed as though this whole tiresome issue was beneath him. "However, it is possible that if you came to me before you left Hogwarts, you wouldn't need me again until after the break." Need me. Róisín blushed at his words and looked down at her hands. Snape's voice was measured as he added, "I know we only just… dealt with your problem and I understand you probably won't have issues with your magic for a while, so if you'd prefer not to meet, then Headquarters is a relatively controlled environment with competent adult wizards who should be able to take care of you."

Róisín's eyes widened,

"Take care of me?" she asked. Snape rolled his eyes and drawled,

"Not the way I take care of you." A mix of relief and embarrassment washed over Róisín. "I meant that there will be no fear of discovery and therefore, if you were to exhibit symptoms such as involuntary magical outbursts the Order would be able to ensure you were safe."

Róisín pressed her clammy palms against the scratchy wool of her robes.

"Em. Ok, well whatever you think is best, sir."

Snape exhaled through his nose.

"It would be more prudent for you to meet with me beforehand," he stated carefully. Róisín avoided his eyeline and instead looked between the bridge of his angular nose and his large hands resting on the desk. There was a large black quill in the inkwell beside them. "Are you available Friday evening?"

"Em… yes?" she replied tentatively.

"Perfect," Snape muttered and stood up from the desk. Róisín lurched out of her chair, wanting to extricate herself from the conversation as soon as possible.

"Em, ok, see you then, thank you sir," she mumbled quickly and turned towards the door.

"Feral."

Róisín looked back to see Snape holding out a potion vial and remembered that she'd come here to collect a pain reliever. She stepped back and took it from him. He looked at her expectantly and she realised he intended for her to drink it now, so she grabbed the cork to unstopper it, but couldn't get it off. She felt her face go warm as she continued tugging and pulling. She knew it was stupidly reckless to use magic to unstopper a potion, and definitely wasn't going to do so in front of the potions master himself. "Give it here," Snape muttered and took the vial off her. He pulled off the cork with one effortless tug and handed it back to her. She knocked it back, and was hit with a pleasant taste of mint and fennel. She glanced at the vial with curiosity.

"It's Sabina's draught," Snape said. "It's specifically for the kind of pain you are in."

"Oh, em, thank you.. Did you brew this just for me?"

Snape sighed and vanished the empty bottle with a flick of his wrist. Already the slight ache between Róisín's legs was fading.

"Regrettably, I think it's a potion the Hospital Wing should stock anyway."

Well that's morbid, Róisín thought. She wondered why he didn't give it to her before they had sex, so that the whole process wouldn't be painful, and then remembered what Anna had said and realised that Snape, as a pureblood, probably thought taking potions before sex was taboo.

Róisín was surprised to see Snape grimace slightly. Then he said,

"I could give it to you beforehand, if that is what you want, but… it shouldn't hurt you when I-" He cleared his throat. "The sex shouldn't be painful, and if it continues to be we will have to stop."

"Please, sir," Róisín said through gritted teeth, "I asked you not to read my thoughts."

Snape raised both his eyebrows and ran his hand through his hair.

"Honestly Feral, it's not my intention to, but I keep slipping in, it's bizarrely easy." His hands were on his hips and he looked at her with narrowed eyes, as if curious as to what trick she was playing on him.

Unbidden, the thought of where else he could slip in flashed across her mind and Snape quickly looked away and ran a hand over his face. Róisín fought the urge to sprint from the room.

"You should leave, Feral."

She did not need telling twice. She grabbed her bag and hurried out of the room, wanting to be far away from the dark wizard so she wouldn't have to think about the strange tension between them.

A/N The ridiculously kind reviews on the last chapter really made my day! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!