Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor am I making any money off of this fanfiction!
A/N: I'm sorry it took so long for me to update hopefully this will make up for it. I also want to thank everyone who read and reviewed my oneshot Morning! I now present to you Chapter 11
Two weeks later found Hermione pacing her room. She was waiting for her first duel with Lucius. She continued to go over every spell, hex, and curse that she knew and the ones that Snape had taught her at their training over the past two weeks. Avery had been pretty much useless. Being her usual perfectionist self, Hermione had tied and clipped her hair back so not a single strand could fall into her face. She'd changed a pair of slippers into trainers and wore brown sweatpants with a red top.
When she heard the clock strike noon, Hermione turned to the painted doors and opened them. She wasn't surprised in the least to see the three wizards waiting for her. She ambled over to them, her mind closed off as usual. Voldemort smirked as she stopped in front of him. Lucius stepped towards her and she stepped back. As soon as they were in position a protective shield formed around Snape and Voldemort.
Lucius bowed and Hermione followed suit snapping back up into dueling stance. Before she could even blink he'd shouted, "Incarcerous!" and bound her with tight ropes before stunning her. A few moments later she opened her eyes and blinked at seeing Snape standing over her. As he moved back to the Dark Lord's side Hermione slowly got up and she whispered, "Round Two. Avis! Oppugno!" And the exact same canaries that had once attacked Ron Weasley flew toward Lucius' dace attacking him. She managed to doge a Locomotor Mortis hex and fired a jet of water with a well-aimed Aguamenti spell.
The water hit him right in the face just as he was casting a Crucio curse at her. Once again they stood glaring at each other. At the same time they fired their spells. Lucius yelling, "Expelliarmus." And Hermione almost screaming, "Sectumsempra!" Lucius' spell missed her by an inch but the curse she fired hit him dead on and he collapsed to the ground. Snape was looking at her rather oddly as he healed Lucius' wound. "He has lost too much blood My Lord."
"Then," Came the reply, "Miss Granger wins."
Hermione couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at those words. Her inner gloating was distracted by a CRACK! Voldemort had taken the unconscious Lucius and disapparated with him leaving her alone with Snape, who was walking towards her. Suddenly nervous she backed up as he approached only stopping when she bumped into the wall. His hands on either side stopped her from darting away.
"Miss Granger." He purred looking down at her. "You learned that spell from Potter I take it?"
"No sir." Snape's eyes glittered darkly at her answer. "Then where, pray tell, did you learn Sectumsempra?"
Hermione gulped at his closeness. "From your old potions books that Harry had. I learned it from the Half-Blood Prince." Surprise showed clearly on his face. He'd made Potter promise not to talk about it once the Order accepted him again. "There isn't a true hierarchy among magical folks so I looked it up. I found Eileen Prince, your mother. I saw her wedding announcement to the muggle Tobias Snape that's when I knew it was you." His eyes had grown dark with anger, but not at her.
He placed a silencing charm around them and spoke softly, "The Dark Lord is shall we say…enraptured with you, not that he would admit it. So he has ordered me to test your affection for him." Hermione's eyes grew wide. "What does that mean?" Snape sighed dramatically. "It means I've been ordered to try and seduce you." Then, the spell was gone and Snape was walking away calling back, "Hand-to-Hand combat training starts tomorrow."
"I can't believe this! I tell him I have feelings for him and he wants to test me." Hermione ranted to Crookshanks later that evening. The familiar looked at her and she slumped into her chair. "I don't even know why I like him."
'Maybe it's the power and respect that he commands.' Said a little voice in her head. 'He has useful knowledge yet people never do what he says as a last resort. They do what he wants when /he/ wants it.'
"Yes but he's evil. He wants to kill Harry because of some preposterous prophecy made by an old fraud." Hermione argued.
'Yes but he's fantastic in bed!"
"Oh shut up!" Hermione growled forcing the voice away. She rose and went into the bathroom to start the shower. Steam was pouring out of the shower as she entered and she sighed as the scalding water hit her skin. She stayed in the shower for an hour just relaxing and enjoying the peace. As she stepped out of the shower the last thing she expected to see was Severus Snape leaning against the sink, arms crossed, eyes raking over her naked body.
After getting over the initial shock she snatched up a towel and hastily put it around her body. "Professor. Ehm what are you doing in my bathroom?" He looked her in the eyes and she lifted her Occlumency walls to hear his silky voice, "Testing you. He is watching us." "How?" She thought back. "Like I'd know." "I am here to see if you would like some company." He said aloud.
"Err no thanks. I'm fine alone." Snape leaned forward and whispered, "Tomorrow then." And with that he walked away. Hermione stood rooted to the spot for a good ten minutes before she changed and climbed into be with Crookshanks and fell asleep dreaming of two men she shouldn't give a second thought about.
Hand-to-Hand combat proved to be twice as difficult for Hermione to learn and she lost all three rounds of her first match with Lucius. After another two weeks she was able to pin him to the ground long enough to win the match. After that she started training with her weapon of choice, a sword with a black hilt encrusted with rubies. Hermione proved to be rather good with the sword and a small dagger and Severus noticed that she seemed much more relaxed during training.
She was and with good reason. What with Voldemort avoiding her, Snape flirting with her, flirting back and she'd started writing to Ron and Harry again. Add that to the fact she was falling in love with the most hated and evil wizard of all time, Merlin only knew why, and she had taken it upon herself to find a way to stop the final battle, training was the only place she could relax. It wasn't as if she could dump all her problems on Snape and expect advice. He was secretly working against the object of her desires after all.
And pouring out her heart to Crookshanks was fine but then again he couldn't talk back though it looked as if he wanted to. The day before her first weapon fight found Hermione rather stressed. Snape was gone for the day so her limited training with Avery would have to suffice. She hated being in the same room as him. He was just as bad as Lucius talking to her as if she was and child and looking down his nose at her. He used her training as an excuse to try and hurt her without the Dark Lord's wrath.
After pinning him to the wall with her small dagger dangerously close to his manhood he cursed at her and the dagger had "slipped". So Hermione found herself heading to the library to just sit and read like she hadn't done in a month. Quietly she opened the large door and slipped inside only to stop dead in her tracks at the sight before her.
Voldemort was sitting in a wing-backed chair a book in one hand and a tumbler of amber liquid in another. She'd never seen him so relaxed and off guard. She summoned Hogwarts: A History from the shelves and padded toward him.
Voldemort started when he realized the chair adjacent his was occupied and he reached for his wand reflexively. He looked at Hermione as she sat reading quietly not even looking up at him. Both of her feet were tucked under her and she looked so at peace. He suddenly rose to his feet, acting on an impulse, and walked over to her removing the book from her hands. He pulled her gently to her feet and as soon as she looked up at him he pressed his lips to hers in a calm yet passionate kiss. It was then that Lord Voldemort felt an odd, unfamiliar tug in his chest.
A/N: Well there you go. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please Review!