Chapter 10

Hermione vaguely registered the castle's morning bell ringing at the usual time, but had been encouraged to ignore it by the Headmaster sliding his hand quickly across the bed and onto her bare stomach, leaving it there gently to restrain her from getting up. She was so tired from the repeatedly broken night that it hadn't seemed a strange thing, at the time.

The second time she awoke was clearly late-morning, bright May sunshine was streaming through the windows, and there was a disembodied chatter filtering through from the grounds outside that suggested it was break-time, or even lunch? No, it couldn't be lunch time already, surely? She wondered exactly how late it was, and how long they had slept for.

The hand on her stomach was still there, hot and a little sweaty against her skin, and his long fingers had crept upwards and were just touching the soft underside of her breast. She turned her head slowly to the right, a little afraid of what she might see, but was relieved to see that Professor Snape was still slumbering heavily on the pillow next to her. Was he even aware of how intimately he was touching her? This was all so very bizarre, but then the whole world had gone insane in the last two weeks, nothing was as it had been before.

Hermione used the time to study the features of the wizard she had found herself unexpectedly in bed with. In the bedchamber of the Hogwarts' headmaster, nonetheless. A surly, partisan wizard with whom she believed she was reasonably well acquainted, after all the years spent in his classroom, just a brief look at him whilst at rest told her she knew nothing. He was powerful yet gentle, honest yet complicated, kind yet spiky.

Snape was sleeping on his front, his right arm stretched out with a hand possessively splayed upon her belly, his face turned towards her.

His severe features were slackened in sleep, softening the appearance of his deathly pale skin. The lines around his brows were less pronounced, his mouth full-lipped and slightly open, rather than the thin, pinched slash he usually wore. It looked inviting, and she had the strangest urge to kiss the parted, plump lips, remembering how he had kissed her with such passion a few hours before.

He was snoring a little. His eyelids looked gossamer thin, criss-crossed with blue veins that betrayed a fundamental level of exhaustion. Snape's eyelashes were surprisingly long and thick, brushing against the tops of his pale cheeks, black on white in a stark contrast. Untidy black hair was strewn about the pillow in untidy strands, and there was a definite sheen of oiliness to it.

Hermione felt incredibly awkward. She had allowed the Headmaster to take her virginity during the night, and although it had been consensual (well, as consensual as sex can be when both participants are under a dark compulsion curse) and rather enjoyable, it was still bum-clenchingly embarrassing to wake up next to a teacher.

Taking advantage of his slumber, she wriggled sideways out of the bed, trying not to disturb him and allowing his hand to slip from her stomach to the mattress as she slithered to the floor. Heading straight for that beautiful bathroom and closing the door tight behind her, she set the shower to run, threw off the pyjama vest which was the only garment she was still wearing, and stepped into the stone cubicle, revelling in the hot water pounding on top of her head, circling her neck so that the strong jet pummelled the sore muscles there, and in her back and shoulders.

Bliss. Now, how long could she stay in here?

-xxx-

Severus opened his eyes as soon as he heard the bathroom door fully close. He had, of course, woken as soon as Miss Granger began to move, a life lived under the constant threat of death made one more immediately cautious than most people.

What the fuck had his hand been doing on her breast? Had he done that, during the night? He supposed he must have, since Miss Granger was unlikely to have grabbed her hated professor's hand and placed it on her own tit.

It was a great pity, and a rather a personal embarrassment, that he felt no remorse for his manhandling of a student, only the low thrum of arousal at how soft her skin had felt under his hand, and his early morning wood was certainly more … pronounced than usual. He closed his eyes, breathing in and out deeply, hoping that this was a mere case of a natural morning erection rather than the first grasp of the compulsion making itself heard again.

Listening to the shower run, he heard her rifle through the many bottles that were on the shelf there, for he liked to experiment with brewing his own toiletries, and mentally ran through his plan for the day, wishing that a communal shower was on the agenda.

As if, old boy.

They would contact Lupin through the Floo, and he would take her to visit Grimmauld Place, that was of course, now her sole property. He wanted Miss Granger to tell the wolf about the Horcruxes, so that the former Defence Against the Dark Arts professor could understand the complexity of what they were trying to achieve.

Unfortunately, taking down the Dark Lord would be only the first part of the plan, since there were many who followed his ideals now, deviant souls who had responded to his skewed leadership and who had infiltrated the Ministry and the school.

Severus looked up as the bathroom door opened and Granger exited, squeezing her hair dry with a towel and wearing his green towelling bathrobe, which was so long it was almost trailing on the floor, the long sash wrapped twice around her. His traitorous cock lurched again at the sight of this young, brilliant witch in his chambers. The only women he'd had in here previously had been paid by the hour and swiftly dispatched back to Knockturn Alley after he'd completed the agreed transaction.

He summoned his wand neatly into his hand from the bedside cabinet and aimed it at her, transfiguring the bathrobe into a plain set of work robes that the students wore around the school, and a charm that dried her mess of damp frizzy hair into something that looked far too attractive for his current semi-aroused state to cope with.

"Thank you, Sir," she smiled, running a hand through the soft curls in a way that made him want to do it too.

"You cannot visit Grimmauld Place in your pyjamas," he replied, brushing away her thanks. "And nor can I have you running about the corridors in that state, back to Gryffindor Tower whilst there are students and professors everywhere, as it is break time. Now, if you would kindly wait in my office whilst I attire myself, we shall then proceed as planned."

She nodded, and headed for the door in the panelling that led out to the office. Severus heaved himself out of the bed and into the shower, which he had never had to use still wet from a previous occupant before. He was certainly not thinking about her lack of underwear beneath the robes he had conjured for her.

-xxx-

"Lupin!"

Professor Snape was barking at the green flames in his office fireplace, a huge structure that was flanked by two iron phoenixes, into which he had just thrown the Floo powder, before hearing a voice respond and sticking his head fully inside. She could not hear what he was saying, nor what Lupin was responding.

After a few minutes, he removed his head from the fire, stood up, and gestured that she should step through.

Whirling through the Floo and arriving seconds later in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, so familiar that she felt like crying, Hermione launched herself into Lupin's arms and was embraced in return, so tightly that it took her breath away.

She was still in his arms, lifted from the floor, when Snape stepped elegantly over the grate, brushing some imaginary soot from his coat as he waited for the two of them to compose themselves. He looked oddly displeased, and Hermione wondered why, before remembering that these two wizards had been sworn enemies, and had now been thrown together by necessity of circumstance.

Extricating herself from Lupin's hug, she took a step back and looked at him. He looked shabbier than ever, wearing a baggy brown cardigan that seemed too big and hung from his thinner frame, and he looked like he could do with a good wash. His sandy blond hair was greyer, and the scars on his face looked even more livid than before. His eyes were lined with purple streaks underneath, and he looked exhausted.

"Hermione."

He smiled, as if in relief, before sinking into wooden kitchen chair.

"I'm here, Remus," she replied, sitting down next to him and taking hold of his cold hand.

"Thank Merlin one of you is still here. I am so very sorry for your very great loss, Hermione."

"And I for you. I saw … I saw Tonks. You know, that night."

Lupin gave a tight nod, as if not trusting himself to say any more, lest he release too much unbidden emotion. Not that she'd have blamed him.

Professor Snape had not yet joined them at the table.

"Have you eaten yet this morning, Lupin?"

"Not yet."

"But the elf has delivered your food?"

"He has. It's under a stasis charm, on top of the cooker. It seems to be rather a lot, this morning."

"Of course, it is," Snape retorted. "I knew that Miss Granger and myself would be coming, and unable to eat breakfast in the Great Hall, so I arranged for the elf to bring enough for three. Now, let us eat."

Hermione watched in surprise as Snape made a few movements with his wand that removed the stasis charm and sent three plates of mouth-watering English breakfast towards them – eggs, bacon, toast, mushrooms, tomatoes and sausages, along with a jug of pumpkin juice. Lupin jumped up and fetched glasses and cutlery from the huge wooden dresser that ran along one wall of the kitchen. Her kitchen now, she supposed.

So, the Headmaster had been sending Remus food every day, feeding him regularly from the Hogwarts kitchens, even deputising an elf to bring him whatever the school was eating? How … kind and thoughtful, and yet he had not even mentioned it to her. It seemed he was not a man who sought gratitude, and it must be a regular arrangement, for neither wizard acknowledged it. Her stomach rumbling, and hunger took over curiosity as she tucked into her breakfast, far preferring the Grimmauld Place kitchen to eating in the Great Hall, now it was under the suspicious eyes of the Death Eaters.

At length, they sat back, drinking tea that Lupin had made on the stove, the Muggle way, seeming to prefer not to use his wand.

"Severus," he began. "Let us discuss the matter in hand. Where can we go from here?"

Snape looked at both her and Lupin, as if assessing whether he trusted them.

"We need to eliminate the Dark Lord, of that there is no question. Even after he is gone it will take some work to stabilise the country again, for there are many Death Eaters who will not relinquish their new power and status without a fight. But Tom Riddle must be our priority, and the key to taking down the Dark Lord is the snake."

"The snake?"

"Yes, Nagini, his pet, of sorts. Miss Granger, would you explain why?"

Hermione turned to her friend.

"Remus, Voldemort's snake, it is a Horcrux."

The werewolf leapt to his feet in shock.

"A what?"

"Sit down, Lupin," Severus told him, silkily. "You are a Defence professor and you know very well what a Horcrux is. But there is more to tell you."

"More? Hermione, how can there be more?"

She swallowed, hard.

"Voldemort made more than one Horcrux," she told him, not enjoying the horror that was widening his eyes. "He initially planned to split his soul seven ways, making six Horcruxes and leaving the seventh part inside his own body."

"Initially planned?"

"There ended up being an unintended eighth," she replied, her eyes filling with painful tears.

"Harry," he said, flatly.

"Yes," she sobbed. "Harry. Voldemort killed a part of his own soul when he murdered Harry."

Lupin bit down hard on his clenched fist, in clear distress.

"What of the others? Aside from the snake?"

"They are all destroyed. The first was Tom Riddle's diary, the book that forced Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Dumbledore told me about that diary and what happened with the Chamber, but not that it was a Horcrux."

"It seems that Albus did not tell anyone about the Horcruxes, with the exception of Mr Potter," interjected Snape.

"Well," Hermione continued, "Harry stabbed that diary with a Basilisk fang in our second year. The venom within inadvertently killed the piece of soul contained within."

Lupin whistled low, as if horrified and impressed in equal measure.

"And the rest?"

"Dumbledore had identified many of them. There was a ring, an old ring that used to belong to Salazar Slytherin, which he went and found before he even told Harry about the Horcruxes."

"This was how Albus sustained the curse to his hand," Snape explained. "The Dark Lord would not have left his Horcruxes without multiple layers of magical protection, after what happened with the diary."

"That's right," she said. "There was also a cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, we found it in the Lestrange's vault at Gringotts, Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem that was in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, and a locket that was also from Salazar Slytherin. We found that around Umbridge's neck at the Ministry."

"And you have destroyed all these?" Lupin asked, incredulously.

"Yes. Well, not alone. Harry, Ron and myself. We started searching for them right after we Apparated away from Bill and Fleur's wedding."

"You are astounding."

"And that, Lupin, was my reaction also," Snape agreed.

"All those things I heard about in the Prophet and on the wizarding radio. The raid on Gringotts, getting caught at the Ministry … this is what the three of you were doing."

Remus shook his head, as if to clear an infestation of Luna's imaginary Wrackspurts.

"Where do we …?"

"The snake is the key," Snape answered. "Nagini must be killed before the Dark Lord. Once this is done, he will be as mortal as the rest of us, and can be felled with nothing more than a simple Avada. The difficulty is that he allows no one near the snake. She is mostly kept in a magical golden sphere, only coming out to feed. But she grows fat and unhealthy through lack of exercise, and not wanting to risk her life and therefore the loss of his final Horcrux, I believe he will soon attempt to loosen her restrictions, whilst keeping her under his complete control."

"Couldn't he just make more Horcruxes?" she asked, genuinely worried.

"That would be impossible, even for the Dark Lord and his phenomenal command of sorcery. He has already split his soul seven times, and it would have been damaged enough after one. The tiny, insubstantial sliver of soul that remains inside him would not be strong enough for him to risk creating even one more. It would be tantamount to suicide," Snape replied, quietly. "It is why he now seems less than human."

"Killing the snake is going to be down to you, isn't it, Sir?"

"Possibly. It depends whether he takes Nagini from the Little Hangleton house to any of the other places he visits. I can observe him at the times when the Inner Circle are called to meetings, and other similar occasions, and of course when he visits the school, but we need other spies, other lookouts, to cover other places, especially at the Ministry."

"Kingsley," Lupin said, quickly. "He would be the only one we can place there. But it would put him straight in the line of fire, a spy hiding in plain sight."

"And where do you think I reside, Lupin? And have done for years, since the return of the Dark Lord?"

Remus looked down at his empty plate, a shamed expression on his face, but did not answer. Snape was right.

"Where is Kingsley?"

"He and his wife have taken refuge in the Burrow. We correspond by owl and Floo."

"I agree that it needs to be Shacklebolt that we station inside the Ministry, but have no current idea how to do this. Can you arrange a meeting for next time we are here? I suggest that nights are better."

"I'm sure that I can, but Hermione? Won't her absence from the school be noted?"

"Do not trouble yourself with that. I am ensuring Miss Granger's continued safety from those in the castle who would seek to do her harm."

Hermione did not miss the quizzical look that Remus gave her, and saw his eyes avert to her bare feet, which she guiltily tucked away under the chair, out of his line of sight. He cast his wolf Patronus with a pained expression, for Tonks' Patronus had matched his own, sending a message for Kingsley.

"Have you heard anything from Fleur?" she asked.

"Not a thing. To watch one's husband cut down in cold blood … and they had only just found out they were expecting."

"Miss Delacour – Mrs Weasley, she is with child?" Snape asked.

"She is."

"Then it is even more important that we bring her into our alliance. The Dark Lord's followers are everywhere – Snatchers, in particular. If she attempts to return home to her family in France she will be thwarted, there is little doubt."

The silence that fell across their gathering of three indicated that they all knew what he meant by thwarted. Fleur would be captured and made an example of as an opponent to the Dark Lord. Bill Weasley's child would never get the chance to live. Yes, they needed to find her, and quickly.

Hermione stood up and stepped across to the kitchen fire, throwing in some Floo powder and calling out for Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's seaside home in Tinworth, but the call went unanswered, the flames flickering but nothing more. She turned around to see Remus looking at her, but Snape's eyes were downcast and his pale hand was clutching hard to the table top. Was he okay?

"Can we visit?"

"Give her time, Hermione. She knows you are alive and trying to contact her. She may be holed up and licking her wounds, as we all are," Lupin advised, gesturing for her to return to the table.

Kingsley Shacklebolt's lynx Patronus came leaping through the wall just then, spiralling in the air and speaking with the former Auror's deep voice, confirming that he and his wife would attend Grimmauld Place in three days hence, at midnight.

"We will be here," Snape replied. "Now, we must return to the castle before the end of the lesson period, so that Miss Granger can return to Gryffindor Tower undisturbed."

He got up uncharacteristically awkwardly, fussing with his coat and pushing a rough hand through his hair. Hermione wasn't sure she'd ever seen him make such a casual gesture before. He opened the Floo connection and called out for his own office, ushering her through first.

-xxx-

As Hermione stepped through and he made to follow her, Lupin caught hold of his arm. Instinctively, Severus snatched it away. The compulsion was beginning to beat inside him like a steady drum, and it had been getting worse for the last twenty minutes or so. He wanted no one's hands on him … except hers.

"Is there something I'm missing here, Snape?"

"I cannot imagine what you mean, Lupin," he replied, smoothly.

"Hermione. Here with you, barefoot and in robes that clearly aren't hers. They're green, for a start. What is going on?"

"That is not one bit your concern. Rest assured that I take my protection of Miss Granger extremely seriously."

Realising that his reply was cryptic but not wishing to expand further, since the truth was probably rather close to what Lupin was insinuating, and his growing erection would soon demonstrate that, he stalked into the Floo and spun back to his office, landing far more heavily than he usually did, since he was distracted by the blood that was rushing to his groin. He stooped down on the hearth rug, a little winded by the shitty landing.

"Sir! Are you alright?"

He did not answer, but breathed heavily, lifting his eyes to hers. She would know.

"Are you compelled?"

"I am. I apologise, Granger. Rest assured I will not hold you to any agreement we made in the heat of the moment last night. You are entirely free to leave this office at any time."

She slipped her rather lovely carved wand from her sleeve, and cast a Finite Incantatum upon her robes, turning them back into the green bathrobe he had conjured them from.

"We both agreed to help one another, Professor. Neither of us should be in pain if the other is able to relieve it?"

Fucking Merlin, he wanted her.

Standing up, and not taking his eyes from hers, he took her hand and led her back into the bedchamber they had left two hours before, the bed had been freshly made by his house-elves. Severus kicked off his boots and removed his long coat, slipping his belt from around his hips and opening the top button of his trousers. Granger was looking at him, watching him.

"May I?" he asked, taking hold of the sash around her waist.

She nodded, although he could see she was biting the inside of her cheek. He was hardly surprised. What a disgusting situation for a young witch to be in.

He pulled, and the sash opened, causing the bathrobe to fall open, revealing her nakedness beneath it. Egged on by the compulsion, he could not help but push the garment from her shoulders, enjoying the way it slithered to the floor, and her little gasp as he did so. He wanted to scoop her up in his arms, embrace her, ensure she knew how desirable she was, and kiss her mouth – but his confidence deserted him. Broad daylight was very different to the black darkness of the middle of the night where he had spewed filth in the ear of this child without compunction.

"No doubt you wish to face away from me?"

She looked frightened.

"Um … I suppose so?"

He guided her towards the bed, laying down on it and drawing her to him, her back to his chest.

"I have to touch you, Miss Granger. I cannot help it. Not if I am to satisfy the compulsion."

"It's okay. Do what you need to do."

The chamber was warm and sunny, but he summoned a sheet to cover them both anyway, in an attempt to make her feel more comfortable and less exposed. Sliding an arm over her, he ran his hand up her thigh and over her hip, continuing over her stomach and towards her breasts. At this angle he could touch them both with one hand, playing two nipples with his hand opened wide, one under his thumb and the other under his smallest finger.

He felt her sharp intake of breath, and it aroused him further. Hating himself, he ground his covered erection against her back, taking a handful of warm tit and playing with it. Severus pushed his long nose into her hair and began to nip at her earlobe, just managing to restrain himself from pushing his tongue inside – ye Gods, he wanted to explore every inch of this girl with his fingers and his mouth.

Suddenly, her body shivered.

"Are you cold?"

"No, I think it's the compulsion," she replied. "The more you … touch me, the more I seem to want you to."

He kept his mouth in position by her ear.

"Are you aroused by me, Granger?"

"Yes, Sir. Very much so."

He groaned in resignation, and began to quickly release his cock, pushing his trousers and shorts down his thighs a little. He pressed his bare groin back against her arse, and returned his fingers to gently tweaking her nipples into hardened points, gratified to hear a little moan of pleasure. He could almost fool himself this was real, this fake desire that she had for him.

"The more I touch you, the more my compulsion quietens. It seems we are working against one another. For one of us to achieve relief, it results in the worsening of symptoms for the other."

"Is, er, climax the most complete relief?"

"It is in most compulsion curses, and seems to be the case here. Since our mutual endeavours last night, it has been many hours since we have been troubled by symptoms."

"I suggest we do that, then," she replied, in a matter-of-fact tone that made him smirk, and he was rather relieved that she couldn't see him.

"Do you wish me to assist you?"

"You'll have to, I'm afraid. If I attempt to touch myself my fingers get hexed."

"That is interesting. I can seek relief from my own hand, but not climax."

"Well, I wouldn't really know much about that."

"I beg your pardon?"

He leaned over her, and could see the side of her face burning with a red blush.

"I've never had an orgasm before last night, Professor."

Holy bloody fuck, and mother of Circe.

She'd not only been a virgin, but had also had her first ever orgasm by way of his greedy mouth?

"I apologise, Granger. I had no idea."

"There's no need to apologise, Sir. I made the decision. And it was, well, really nice, actually."

The compulsion chose that moment to kick him in the balls, forcing his unwilling tongue.

"In that case, may I interest you in another?" he asked, a little disgusted at his own lasciviousness.

His hand was already travelling down from her breasts, skimming her stomach and delving between her legs, as she mm-hmmed her agreement, seemingly and thankfully unbothered by his sleazy overtures. At his first touch of her damp and welcoming folds, Severus groaned involuntarily against her ear, allowing his hot breath to whisper through her hair and vibrate against the sensitive shell.

In broad daylight, this little witch wanted him. He found it surprisingly easy to push the 'but' to the back of his mind.

Sliding his hands between her thighs, he lifted the top one and pulled it backwards over his own leg, lining up his solid erection with her tight entrance that he had claimed for his own the night before.

He spread her labia with one hand, and dipped one long finger inside to tickle her clitoris, distracting her attention from any residual ache as he pressed his cock into her, pushing his way into the narrow channel that felt like heaven on earth. Severus tried to be as gentle as he could, despite every synapse screaming at him to pump into her like an express train.

His compulsion was being further satisfied with every stroke. There would be no excuse to fuck her in such a manner, however much he might want to. He had not bargained on Miss Granger's increasing enthusiasm as her own compulsion built.

"Rub me faster," she whispered, grinding her pubis against his hand. "Please?"

"As if you have need to say please," he growled, adding two more fingers to her clit and frigging her faster. "To feel you come is my pleasure."

A flurry of frantic little gasps told him that she was close, and he stilled the movement of his invading penis as she reached her peak, went stiff in his arms as he strummed her, and then – she released. Her hips began thrusting and writhing as she shook her orgasm free, she was fucking him.

He grasped her hip with his wet fingers, holding her tightly as he began pumping into her, all politeness forgotten as he chased his own climax, his balls tightening with the pressure.

There was no sound apart from the frantic breathing of two magical beings, and the long, deep groan of relief as he spilled himself inside her. His cock pulsed with release as he jerked out his orgasm with guilty relief, clutching tight to her hip.

She remained facing away from him as their breathing slowed. Wandlessly, he cleansed them both, and covered her with the sheet, for it had fallen to their feet during their fuck.

Fuck? It had felt far more like lovemaking.

Get a grip, Severus.

-xxx-

"We are partway through afternoon lessons. Everyone will be in their classrooms. I suggest that now would be a good time for you to return to Gryffindor Tower."

Taking this as her cue to leave, Hermione all but leapt from the bed, grabbing her vest from the chamber floor to cover at least some of her nudity, and headed straight for the door to the office, where she would find her pyjama shorts still behind his desk, where he had pulled them so slowly and sensuously from her body the night before.

She did not relish the thought of negotiating Hogwarts' corridors in a state of undress but had little choice.

"Wait."

His deep voice resonated from the doorway, as she was pulling on the shorts and scraping her fingers through her hair to tidy it, finding it still softly curled from his spell earlier, rather than frizzy, rough and tangled.

"I am afraid that you look … debauched. And by that, I mean, debauched in the best way. Unfortunately, that is not what is expected of me, in order to keep our cover."

He slunk across the room towards her like a languid panther, stroking the side of her neck.

"I have to put some marks on you. Some indication of struggle. The Death Eaters will be looking for these signs. Please, forgive me."

Magic thrummed through the hand that was on her neck, and then he ran his fingers across the side of her lip and under her eyes. Then, screwing up his forehead and mouth as if it caused him pain, he ran his hand gently over her right wrist, and she watched the dark bruising appear painlessly under his touch. That must be what was on her face too. She must look a complete mess, and this was confirmed by his visible wince as he looked at her.

"I am sorry."

"Don't be. This is just a role we are playing in order to stay alive. You haven't hurt me."

"Just a role we are playing," he repeated, brushing his fingertips up her bare upper arm as he stepped back from her, his eyes blazing with what appeared to be an intense sadness.

Merlin, how bad were her fake injuries that he would look at her like that?

He released the wards on the main office door, and opened it for her. It was like leaving a lover, but yet it wasn't, although she wasn't sure that two shags qualified her to know very much at all.

Not trusting herself to say anything that wouldn't sound incredibly stupid, she gave the dour Headmaster a single nod of farewell, which he returned, before tiptoeing barefoot down the circular staircase, praying fervently that she didn't have the bad luck to run into anyone before reaching the common room.