Temptation
"Swing it a little closer, Fred."
"I'm trying."
"Crooks, no," she hissed in warning, as her kneazle readied himself to pounce on the ear that dangled from its long thread.
"Right there, I can hear them. Wonder who they're talking about."
"Well don't be a git, George; let us all hear," Ron complained, trying to squeeze in closer.
With a quick tap of Fred's wand, Professor Dumbledore's voice began to flow out from the ear, filling the hall they were cloistered in.
"With Voldemort back, Severus will require assistance-"
"Oh I just bet he does," Mrs. Weasley snarled in disgust. "Tell me Albus, does he regularly require assistance during the school year too?"
Through Fred and George's latest invention they were testing, they heard a crashing of chairs and the sound of something slamming down on the table before Professor Snape's frighteningly calm and quiet voice whispered too low for them to hear. Then with a shout that had them all springing apart, she accused, "Her inability to keep her legs closed and not whore herself out for a Death Eater is the reason we're all here in the first place! So forgive me if I will not be catering to Severus's perverse need to treat her as if she is somehow better than the rest just because she sucks his -"
A resounding smack interrupted Mrs. Weasley's flaming words - something Hermione herself had been subjected to during the previous school year making her feel sympathy for whomever had incurred the witch's fiery hatred - the clap of skin on skin echoing through the eavesdropping device.
"You'll do well to remember, Molly, that I do not allow anyone to slander my family and if you continue to do so, I will be forced to reclassify you from the poor, illmannereed nuisance that I currently find you to be, into a threat. And you won't like how I handle threats to my family. So leave her alone ."
A low growl rumbled around the kitchen and up through the Extendable Ear, prompting the unknown witch to coo, "It's okay darling, I can handle this," causing the menacing sound to fall off into a purr before going silent. "Now then Severus, I believe it is time for us to go. We can't be late for our own dinner party."
"Some dinner party, torturing Muggles between courses," Moody taunted, his voice sounding as if he had recently gargled with broken glass.
"We are in the middle of the social season, appearances must be kept," the witch responded shortly. "Or would you like to go back to the days before we joined your Order and provided you with everything you needed to be successful through our money and connections?"
Hearing the worn kitchen door creak open, they all dropped to the floor in hopes of not being seen as the twins recalled the ear. Peeking through the slats of the banister, Hermione watched as the witch glided on dagger-like heels out of the kitchen, the exquisite hood of her royal blue cloak pulled up to obscure her features. Following close behind with his long, menacing, and arrogant stride quickly catching him up to his companion, she noted the absence of his voluminous teaching robes. Instead he wore a bespoke muggle suit that moved with his body like rippling water, showcasing the finally sculpted planes of his body that she only knew existed prior today because of how tightly she had held on to him when Professor Lupin had changed into a werewolf.
"Miss Granger," he called, hardly even caring to stop as he waited for her response.
Gulping at having been caught, Hermione slowly rose up from the floor and answered, "Yes, sir?"
"As you are the only one in possession of skill and knowledge suitable to be of help to me, you will wait for me in the basement where I'll be setting up a lab at exactly eight o'clock tomorrow morning. We'll begin with the proper procedure of preparing ingredients for Wolfsbane and once I deem your understanding satisfactory, I will teach you how to brew it. Then either you'll take over with providing for the wolf or you'll kill him. Either way, it'll be one less thing on my plate."
Elated over the opportunity he was giving her, she tried to keep a lid on her giddy excitement as she all but squealed, "Thank you, Professor. I promise I won't let you down. Thank you."
"No, I do not believe you capable of such a thing," he quietly responded, making her heart sore as she watched him leave Grimmauld Place, her eyes going against her command as they strayed towards his taut bum.
After learning the delicate intricacies of brewing Wolfsbane under Professor Snape's private instruction eighteen months ago, Hermione had excessively been in charge of seeing to Remus's needs. Every month for the seven days leading into the full moon, she had been given open access to her professor's private stores to collect the tools and ingredients she would need. Then she would set to brewing between classes and rounds as a Prefect in either his private lab, the second floor girls' bathroom where she had previously brewed Polyjuice, or back in the basement of Grimmauld Place.
It was a process she had repeated so many times that now brewing the potion that teetered between crucial and deadly was simply an act of muscle memory. However, without a licensed Potions Master to supply her with the more heavily regulated ingredients, she found it to be far more difficult. And that was before she even took into account the exorbitant cost of the rare, hard to find plants and flowers like the Buddha's White Moon Lotus which was essential for its properties in mental purity, spiritual perfection, and peace.
Having arrived too late to brew the potion for January's moon, let alone track down the required ingredients, Hermione was determined to have it crafted for Remus before the one in February. The proper tools had been easy enough to acquire. She was already in possession of both a silver stirring rod and knife - carrying both with her in her bag at all times - that Professor Snape had given to her from his private collection the summer he had taught her the potion. As for the silver lined cauldron whose price made her balk - and possess a newfound respect for the small fortune her professor had in personal equipment - upon seeing it in Potage's, Albus had requisitioned a rather old and neglected one from the school labs for her use. But after a morning of being passive aggressive as she loudly banged out the dents, stunk up the flat with the strongest and foulest solution she could find for stripping tarnish, and commandeering the entire kitchen sink and hot water supply for scrubbing it clean until an overly nosey and critically passive Lily fled, it was once again in pristine condition.
Spreading out across the kitchen's peninsula, she lined up her notes and lists, her tools, and the ingredients she had been able to purchase from Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, as well as the ones she had pilfered under Albus's weak, plausible deniability from the school's greenhouses. On a separate counter she had a map of Muggle London rolled out with a translucent overlay of the magical hotspots around the city and a variety of colored inks which she used to code the map.
Blue circles indicated reputable shops while orange were places that she knew weren't exactly on the up and up but could possibly have what she required. Purple represented parks and other green spaces that unbeknownst to Muggles had a variety of magical plants blooming in the open. Red Xs, of which there were many, were all the places she had already tried with no success and the black ones marked places of last resort. She didn't want to resort to breaking and entering and theft - or possibly grand larceny - but if it meant Remus wouldn't suffer, then she would do it.
Glancing over her map, she made a list of the next three boroughs she would search that weekend while the cauldron began to heat on the gas stove - something that would have had Professor Snape raising a brow at her as he dryly questioned who was pushing her to homicidal thoughts for the way she was risking cross contamination with food prep areas. While her self distilled water slowly crept to a rolling simmer, she returned to grinding her moonstone. It was a task she desperately wished she could use magic on as she was on day three and had only just graduated to a coarse powder. However Wolfsbane was far too delicate and often required her set up to be magic free.
Setting it aside as wisps of steam began to rise from her cauldron, she pulled her cutting board to her and set to plucking the petals from the dozens of flowering dittany plants she had collected. Rolling them up as she began to hum music from the not yet produced Dirty Dancing , she cut them with a chiffonade technique before depositing them onto her scale. Once she had exactly an ounce, she moved to splitting the stems and scooping out the sap inside until the weight doubled. Then with it added to her cauldron, she placed her cutting board over top to cover it half way and hopped up on the counter to continue grinding the moonstone into an acceptable powder.
Swaying to the song in her head, while her hands were at task and her dittany free to take its time simmering down into a heavily concentrated topical healing potion and ingredient, she began singing under her breath:
I'll make you happy, baby, just wait and see
For every kiss you give me I'll give you three
Oh, since the day I saw you
I have been waiting for you
You know I will adore you 'til eternity
As she looped through the song again and again, her mind correlated the lyrics to the bracelet she had seen Professor Snape wearing. Though she knew he was an impossibility regardless of what decade she found them both in, she had still researched through fiction and non-fiction works for a better understanding of him and whatever dynamic he had with some witch - or wizard for all she knew. And as she read, the more certain she had become that the warm and light feeling he had given her when he had simply fixed her depressed hair bow was exactly what she wanted, craved, even needed from a partner.
Upon entering the Wizarding World, her entire life revolved around either proving herself worthy by going above and beyond in everything that she did or being the responsible one; the level headed one; the one caring for everyone else's safety and needs; the one they affectionately called a swot, a know-it-all, uptight, or said lacked the ability to have fun, laughing while not knowing the words still stung even when said in jest - maybe even more so for whose mouths they fell from. It had been a quick transition. One day she had the safety and shelter of her parents' home and love and the next, she was ostracized, harassed, discriminated against, and targeted for either her blood status or proximity to Harry. And now more than ever she was utterly alone. Yes, she had Albus, Minerva, and even the sweet but crotchety Aberforth as well as Remus and reluctantly Regulus, but she was still out of her time and therefore completely alone having to do everything for herself.
She craved the attention and praise that was now absent from her life; the guiding hand; the protection; the release of responsibility; the attentive care. She wanted the assurance and safety such a partner could provide her with; the ability to for once not have to be capable and self reliant. She needed a Daddy. And unfortunately for her, the only wizard she could fathom such a release of herself with was already taken in the future and in the present, was a loyal member to a group who wanted her kind eradicated.
I have got to get out and meet more people, she thought, as she aggressively twisted the pestle down on a particularly still large piece of moonstone.
Jumping down from the counter, she set aside the outlet for her frustration to check on her dittany when there was a knock at the door. With a glance at the stove clock telling her that her afternoon was gone and it was now half three, she waved her hand in the general direction of the door, opening up Lily's flat and called out, "Hey Remus, I'm in the kitchen."
"What on earth…" he asked, walking up to the other side of the peninsula.
Catching him from the corner of her eye, she admonished, "Don't touch that; you'll contaminate it," before he could stick a finger in her not quite powdered moonstone. Giving the cauldron a quick stir to check the viscosity, she turned back to him and leaned over the counter, ready to take advantage of the presented opportunity as she said, "If you want to help, I do have a job for you."
"I'm shit at potions but sure, Hermione. What do you need?"
"Hold your hand out, palm up please."
Doing as she instructed, Hermione slowly closed her hand around her knife while asking about his day and once he was suitably distracted, swiped the sharpened blade over what Lavender referred to as the life line.
"Godric's sac! What the fuck was that for?" He shouted, closing his hand up as he snatched it back, growling, "Was that silver?"
"Look at me," was all she said in response, standing on the tips of her toes so she could cup his face and hold his eyes to hers. Seeing his left pupil dilate as his wolf came to the forefront, the golden color of his eye nearly glowing, she greeted, "Hi Moony. Sorry about that, but I need the blood of the inflected I plan to brew for, so it had to be done." Grabbing a beaker, she held it under Remus's clinched and bleeding fist, tilting it downward so she could collect her sample.
"Seriously, what the hell are you doing and how do you know about me?"
Giving a dull look, she took a pipette and filled it with her fresh dittany, squeezing a few drops into his hand. As she measured out his blood and moved it into an unbreakable jar, writing the time, date, and phase of the moon at collection, she listed, "The pupil of your left eye regularly shifts from human to wolf; you appear to have Heterochromia but if that were true the amount of gold versus blue your irises possess wouldn't change; your senses are sharper, your reflexes quicker, though the closer we get to the new moon the less finely tuned they are; you sniffed and licked my mail instead of casting detection charms to search for traces of dark magic or ill intent last week; and the most glaringly obvious clue of them all, I'm from the future."
Stretching out his healed hand, he rubbed at his multi-day scruff and mumbled, "Okay, that's fair. Still doesn't answer what you're doing and why it requires my blood."
"Oh that's easy," Hermione replied, transferring her cauldron to the counter to cool as she cleaned up her rather chaotic space. "Damocles Belby will have a breakthrough in helping lycanthropes through the full moon later this year, skyrocketing him to fame and fortune despite the astronomical cost and difficulty in brewing the potion. When properly crafted, the potion will make your transition less painful and allow you and Moony to happily coexist regardless of the moon phase, thus negating the fear of going savage and tearing into more than just helpless bunnies.
"My Potions Professor brews it for you and two summers ago he taught me how. He even handed the job off to me. So all of this," she said opening her arms up to indicate her mess, "is my attempt at getting ready to brew it for you next month. And I say attempt because without a licensed master and a benefactor with deep pockets, it is exceedingly difficult to get my hands on aconite - which is what I was attempting to buy in Knockturn Alley the other night but all of theirs was prepped for poison - and the White Moon Lotus. But I have a number of contingencies should we get too close to the window of your daily doses that I can fall back on; I hope. That lotus flower is proving most difficult. I can't remember when they began growing it here."
"You're doing all of this for me?" He asked in disbelief as he helped carry her things to the sink.
"Don't look so shocked, Remus. You may have been my professor first, but you became a dear friend and I still think of you as such even now."
Surprising her by wrapping her up in a hug that lifted her feet off the ground, he murmured, "Thank you, Hermione. I don't know how I can ever repay you or thank you enough for this, but I'm going to try."
"No need," she said, drawing comfort from his warmer than normal body temperature and accelerated resting heartbeat.
Kissing the crown of her head as he set her back on the floor, he shook off the clog of emotion that had coated his voice and said, "Right, now go change so we can head over to the meeting. And make sure you put on jeans or trousers or something. Moody and the rest are already having a field day over a witch coming out with us tonight. No need to give them extra ammunition by showing up in one of those overly sweet, swishy dresses of yours."
"Because that's not at all sexist," she said, rolling her eyes as she entered her room.
As she pulled on a pair of jeans with a snowy blue lace detailed racerback tank and a thick white sweater that dipped low and knotted in the back, Remus feebly defended the other's antiquated beliefs about a witch's capability.
"It's not so much that they think you're inferior, it's more that they worry about what could be done to a witch in an effort to break her. I mean whether it's right or wrong it is still valid. There have been rumors about the occurrence of Death Eater revels and a natural concern and speculative curiosity has been born about what they do."
"I highly doubt they rape muggleborn witches and muggle woman. We're beneath them, remember? Too lowly to even be worth living, let alone tainting their precious, pure, microscopic cocks."
Coming out of the room, she quickly created a pull through braid, stopping it at the nape of her neck where she secured the rest into a ponytail, before tugging on the sheepskin boots she had loved so much in her own time which were only just beginning to debut in England in '79. Checking that her wand was in her pocket, she nodded to Remus that she was ready and grabbed the economically friendly navy puffer coat she had purchased in place of the longline, blush colored, cashmere peacoat that had caught her eye her first day in the past. Then heading down the stairs of the walk up, he took her hand and held her close as he turned on his heel and Disapparated from the front of Lily's building.
Reappearing in front of the stately beachfront mansion that belonged to the Potters, she let go of his hand and promptly puked in the sand.
"Oh Merlin, that was terrible," she coughed, casting a spell to clean out her mouth.
"Sorry about that, I figured just doing it would be easier."
"Nope, you're probably right."
"Don't worry, by the time the classes start at the school, you'll be used to it. Now come on, Dumbledore said four sharp, we have but a minute or two."
Groaning as Remus began to pull her up the sandy walkway, she quickly followed, her stomach once again highly unsettled. At least the mission to snatch Umbridge would be happening in London. Worst case when it was over, she could hop the turnstile and take the tube back near Diagon Alley and just pay for her stolen ticket tomorrow when she had Muggle money with her.
Following his lead through rooms decorated with subtle beach luxury, they made their way into a large study with a massive oblong table in the center where everyone was beginning to take seats. Giving a small wave to Albus as he nodded in her direction, she sat down next to Remus with Lily filling in beside her, and James and Sirius after her. Looking at the faces that surrounded her, she was able to place Neville's parents - Frank and Alice - a not yet disfigured Moody, a younger, more free love looking sort of Kingsley, Molly and Arthur, Minerva, Poppy, Aberforth, Hagrid, a couple she could only assume to be Harry's grandparents for the way the wizard had his and James's trademark unruly hair, and sitting on Remus's other side, Peter Pettigrew.
"Hey, I heard we were getting some fresh blood in here," he said, offering his hand over Remus. "Sorry we haven't gotten to meet. I was busy when Dumbles called for us, so I didn't get to be in on the big secret that is you."
With good reason, she thought, eyeing his hand with barely contained disgust, as she placed her own in his and allowed a quick shake before feeling as though she were dirty for doing so. Brushing her hand clean of the unseen filth under the table, she shortly offered her alias, "Hermione Lukovë."
"Hermione, you okay?" Remus whispered, close to his ear, his hand resting low on her thigh as he did so, the touch instantly calming her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. This is all just a lot," she lied, earning a skeptical look from him.
"You're really terrible at that."
"So I've been told."
"Okay it looks as though we are all here now," Dumbledore said, bringing the room to order. "As some of you may have noticed, we are joined by a new member, Hermione Lukovë, a recent Durmstrang graduate. As she adjusts to life here, she will begin to immerse herself into the ton with the hope of getting us an in with the society witches who have married into darker families or have come from darker families. She is already in association with Regulus Black and we hope that come the spring holiday he will arrange her introduction at the debutant viewing in order to keep her close.
"We are?" She blabbed, curling her lips in as if it would bring the words back to her.
"Well you sure do spend enough time with him. Letters every day, ornate displays of magic, trips up to the castle just to see him. I mean he even refers to you as Milady and the future Lady Black," Lily sneered.
"It's true," a blonde witch said on Sirius's other side. "My sister is a sixth year Ravenclaw and has said everyone is abuzz over whether or not Regulus will wait for the season to commence before making an official declaration of courting."
Howling at her side, Sirius said, "This is just too funny. My brother, the baby Death Eater, is in love with the Order's newest witch."
"He's not in love with me. He only calls me that to get under my skin."
"Trust me," he chuckled. "Reg would make no such comment if there wasn't a serious intent to make you just that. With him at your side, you'll have unrestricted access to everything we need so please, Hermione, keep leading my brother around by the nose. It'll be useful and entertaining."
"He's your brother? How can you be so callous as to not only write him off but cheer on his failure?"
"He's a Death Eater or as good as; that's how."
"Merlin, no wonder he's hell bent on me kicking your arse if this is how little you think of him."
Leaning over James and impossibly close to Lily, his grey eyes ignited with fire as he seethed, "I'll have you know, I offered my brother an out - several of them in fact. He however chooses to follow around that unwnated bastard Sn-"
"Albus, I think you've lost the room to the children," Moody grumbled, silencing the rest of Sirius's heated words. "Let's sort out the pureblood lass later and go over the night's plan now, as we only have…" he said, glancing at his watch. "Two and a half hours until the target crosses through the green space."
Rolling a map out across the table, Moody directed, "Umbridge is expected to cross through Saint James's Park to the Buckingham Apparation spot this evening at six thirty after accompanying the Minister and Undersecretary to the Muggle Prime Minister's home. As an aide, she will be without an auror detail and therefore easy enough to sweep up. We will need three of you covering Birdcage Walk, three at the Mall, four milling about the Victoria Monument, and at least two within the green space itself.
"Black, Pettigrew, Potter, you three will take Birdcage. Longbottom, Shacklebolt, Weasley, you three have the Mall. Bones, Diggle, Hagrid, and myself will take Victoria. Lupin, you and the little girly here, will cover the green space."
"You're letting her go?" Lily asked incredulously. "James, you all but tied me to the chair the last time I attempted to join a mission and you actually know what I'm capable of doing."
"That's why he didn't want you coming," Peter snickered, high-fiving Sirius behind their chairs.
"We don't even know anything real about her skill!"
"Miss Evans, please control yourself," Minerva admonished, her lips pursing as she pinned the redhead with her well practiced look of disapproval.
"Miss Lukovë is an exceptionally trained and accomplished witch, Miss Evans. She has been instructed in Defense by no less than two known Death Eaters as well as a dark creature.
"Furthermore," he continued, raising his voice over James and Sirius's demands as to who had taught her. "She has already been battle tested on several occasions. And if that is not enough for those of you who question her skill, perhaps this is: I personally requested that she join not only the Order, but tonight's mission. She is not only more than capable but she possesses knowledge of our target that not even Alastor has been able to retrieve. "
"Look, I'm not overly happy about this either, especially in light of this new information," Moody concurred, "but if Dumbledore says she's in, then she's in. Questioning her is questioning him and we don't do that at this table, ya understand?"
Quieting under her chastisement, Lily mumbled her agreement falling back into her seat as she crossed her arms reminding Hermione more than a little of Ron's occasional petulance.
"Now then, as a refresher for everyone, and an introduction for the new girl, let's see your patronus charms. I'll go first."
Shooting from the tip of his wand, a donkey of all things appeared, trotting along the table before vanishing, making Hermione snort at the fitting comparison. Next was Frank Longbottom's Guinea pig, followed by Kingsley's lynx, Arthur's Jack Russell which matched his son's, and surprisingly a dragon for Hagrid who was currently still using his pink umbrella that hid his snapped wand. Bones and Diggle had an abraxan and bear respectively, with Sirius, Peter, and James producing matches to their animagus forms. Then it was Remus's turn who quickly revealed his wolf before slashing his wand through it and finally hers.
Bringing forth the memory of the day she had lied for Harry and Ron about the troll, the day she had finally made her first and second friend in either world, she whispered the incantation and watched as the blueish silver wisps of magic glided forth, forming into the elegant swan that had replaced her otter after the battle in the Department of Mysteries.
"Pen; a female swan," Remus said, things clicking into place in his head.
"Yeah but how did little Reggie know that?" James asked, watching the bird float on Hermione's magic.
"I don't know. It wasn't even always my patronus," she admitted, canceling the charm.
"Now that everyone knows their assignments and the other messengers, let's roll out," Moody barked. "Lupin, keep Lukovë in your sights and everyone else remember, capture with minimal damage. She needs to be at the Ministry no worse for the wear come Monday morning."
"Aye, aye Moody," Sirius saluted, before jumping on James's back as they flooded out of the room.
"You ready to be pushed through a tube again?" Remus asked, keeping his hands on her shoulders as they made their way out.
"Not particularly."
"Want me to lie and say you only puke the first time?"
Turning around and gripping his hand in hers, Hermione grumbled, "Let's just get this over with," before letting out a shriek as Remus once again spun without warning, pulling them from Dorset back to London with a loud crack.
Landing with a harsh step, her head spun for a moment as her stomach threatened mutiny. Slowly taking in breath in spite of her body's panic encouraging her to gasp and gulp, she slowly raised from having bent over and tentatively smiled.
"That wasn't so bad," she jinxed, before gagging into a corner of the alley, her stomach mercifully empty.
Rubbing her back as he pulled her ponytail from over her shoulder, Remus soothed, "Side along is the absolute worst. Independent Apparition is nowhere near as bad. Besides, should you even be doing this?"
Wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her sweater, Hermione responded, "It's been over a week. Most of the symptoms have passed. In fact, until you decided to take me along like ripping a plaster off, I was doing quite well."
"Are you saying I'm not skilled at Apparition?"
"I mean if the furry tail fits," she smirked.
"Ha, ha," he responded dryly, playfully snapping his teeth in her direction. Throwing an arm around her shoulder, he ruffled her hair and said, "Come on pup, let's go for a stroll."
"Pup? I'm the same age as you!"
"Only kind of. I mean are you even technically born yet? Besides, Moony has spoken: you're his, our, pup and there's no changing his mind once he gives out a designation."
"Well, if Moony deems it so, then I must accept."
It was a quiet night in London; eerily so given that it was a Friday evening and the city should have been coming alive around them to reflect such a day and time of the week. Instead, they had been traversing every path within the park for the last several hours coming upon no one but those stationed around the perimeter. Feeling a stillness settle over the water as they crossed Blue Bridge for the fourth or possibly fifth time, Hermione stopped and looked first to the palace and then out to Duck Island.
"Don't you think it's odd?" She whispered. "No one else is out. Not even tourists looking to capture that perfect, unobstructed photo of Buckingham lit up for the night."
"Where are the ducks? The swans?" He questioned in turn.
"What?"
"Look," Remus instructed, pointing in both directions. "When we first got here there were mallards and swans floating by; squirrels and pigeons meandering by the benches. Now there's…"
"Now there's what?"
Grabbing her arm, he first attempted to Apparate in plain sight but when he was unable to take off, he started to drag her across the bridge saying, "We have to go," while pulling out his wand.
Keeping Hermione behind him, they headed first in the direction of the Mall only to see a line of black cloak clad figures emerge from the trees. Futilely turning back, they found themselves trapped as more came from Birdcage Walk, prompting a string of swear words to fall from Remus's lips.
"Shit, shit, shit, " he swore, crowding her into the bridge's railing only for her to turn so they were back to back. "I should have fucking noticed."
Pulling her wand out and slowly raising it to point at the Death Eaters she faced, she calmly said, "Now isn't the time. We need to get a message off to the others."
"Yeah but the moment we do, they'll attack."
"I only have three, that seems manageable. What about you?"
"Same but there's no guarantee more won't show up."
"Well, that's a risk we're just going to have to take."
"The second you can, run. Run and do not look back, Hermione. Do you understand me?" He nearly growled over her shoulder.
"I'm not leaving-"
"Yes, you will."
"Okay," she quietly agreed, though she was sure they both knew she was lying. " Expecto Patronum!"
"James, Kingsley, Moody," she started to instruct, only for her swan to evaporate as a cloud of black shadows swarmed them, gathering into clusters and forming into even more Death Eaters, closing what little space remained in the trap they had fallen into.
Refusing to make the same mistake she had last summer by becoming frozen with indecision and thus granting them the offensive advantage, she didn't spare a single thought before she began firing off spells. Stinging jinxes; slicing hexes; conjured arrows launched with Oppugno; balls of bluebell fire; one after the other she casted over and over again, forcing whoever she faced to retreat further as they deflected and protected against each spell.
Around them the air began to fill with the sharp scent of smoke and the unmistakable tang of magic; the sweet bitterness of dark spells making her tongue tingle. The quietness that had tried to alert them to the coming battle ended with the thunderous cracks of the other Order members risking their safety and chance at escape as they arrived to help bail them out.
Continuing to push the wizard she faced further back - his boots leaving long tracks in the banks of the park's lake as he lost traction in the sandy mud - she flicked her wand to the water and forced a wave to rise. Casting like a conductor before her orchestra, she commanded the water to funnel and hurled it at the man she faced.
But as it spiraled down, ready to consume him, it halted. Then with a thoughtless flick of his wand, the icy water rained down upon them; a cold, amused laugh echoing from behind the silver skull mask he wore before he turned back into shadows, slipping through her fingers as he blended in with the unlit park.
"Lumos," she hissed, frantically turning, as she tried to track where he'd gone.
Catching movement along the trees on the other side of the shore, she earned back her Gryffindor badge as she heedlessly took off after it. Jabbing her wand as she ran, she tracked the moving shadow with its mind tickling familiar harsh laughter, incinerating and exploding tree after tree as he toyed with her. Aiming for the ground in an attempt to trip him up as she missed yet again, she kicked up frost covered grass and hard packed dirt, creating a blinding shower.
Shielding her eyes against the debris as she coughed into her arm, her breath was stolen from her at the sudden appearance of a hand around her throat. Stilling as she found herself becoming the prey, she shuffled backward into the wizard's solid frame as he applied a slight pressure to his hold and jerked her to him by her waist.
"You sure are fun to play with, little girl," he whispered in her ear, his voice startling her as she finally placed just who she had been fighting. "Are you sure you're on the right side? You seem far too vicious for the likes of the Order. Now will you be a good girl and not attack me if I let you go?"
Swallowing against Severus Snape's large hand, Hermione remained as still as she could, only moving enough to nod her head as her mind screamed to keep rigid while her body threatened to relax into him as if he were holding her like a lover and not a captive. Siding with her brain and remaining as unmoving as a statue paid off for her though as he began to relax his grip on her.
Silently, she counted to three as he further fell into the belief that she would become compliant. Then as his hand dropped from around her neck, she struck. Throwing first an elbow into his abdomen, followed by her slamming her head back into his face, and following it up with a jab of her foot into his knee, Hermione was able to slip free of him.
"Fuck," he swore, tearing off his mask as she turned around and quickly raised her wand, shooting off a half powered Reducto to his knee, shattering the bone.
With the man who would become her professor and the object of her present and future desire satisfactorily incapacitated, she turned and made a run for it. However she didn't make it far enough before she heard an angry, " Epsiky ," followed by the heavy footfalls of him chasing after her.
Spinning around with her wand at the ready, she tried to reason with him.
"Look Pro- Snape, it's going to be better for us both if we just call this a draw and go our separate ways."
"And what makes you think I'd be willing to give up that easily?" He drawled, slowing down to a leisurely stride as he studied her.
Sighing because she knew he wouldn't, Hermione said, "I don't, but I'm hoping you can understand how terrible this could look for the both of us. You've been electing to taunt and play with me this whole time when we both know you could have subdued me before we even left the bridge. As for me, I cannot continue to engage with you. It's too…"
"Yes?" He purred, closing in on her as her back bumped into a tree.
"Too tempting," she whispered, tilting her head back to meet his gaze as he brought his left arm up to cage her in as he towered over her.
Slowly reaching up as if she were a timid animal he was concerned would frighten under a sudden movement, Snape gingerly grasped her jaw between his long fingers and tilted her head up towards the sliver of moonlight that dared peek through the barren branches, shedding light on a moment that was better kept hidden. With a hint of pressure, he moved her face first to the right then to the left, closely examining her profile.
Closing the last few inches that remained between them as one of his thighs fitted itself between her own, he brushed his lips along the shell of her ear and purred, "What are you doing out here, little angel?" His voice both alluring and predatory. "They don't even let Lily come out when it's time to play for fear of what we might do to her. And yet," he breathed, inhaling the rose wrapped gardenia scent of her shampoo, "here you are. Innocent as a lamb and so willingly ensnared by the Devil."
"Because she's a witch or a mudblood?" Hermione attempted to spar as she began to lose her mind to the heady feeling he brought forth in her; her voice instead coming out in a husky gasp as he threaded his fingers through her sopping wet hair and pulled, eliciting a silent, unbidden whimper of Daddy in her thoughts.
With another tug on her waterlogged braid, he admonished, "Such an ugly word to be falling from such pretty lips. You should be careful, sweet girl. Someone might just take you across their knee for defiling yourself in such a way."
"And is that someone meant to be you? In case you haven't noticed, you're a Death Eater. A bit hypocritical of you wanting to, 'take me over your knee,' while your mask lays back there forgotten, don't you think?"
"You're a cheeky one aren't you?" He smirked, the wide expanse of his hand pushing into the center of her chest as he shot a silent Stupefy through her. Gently laying her on the hibernating earth - the ground rendered soft and warm from another show of nonverbal, wandless magic - he debated, "I may just have to keep you," only to add, "but not tonight," as Remus's increasingly worried voice began to carry towards them, the duel having ended while she had been locked in his trance.
Still lingering over her despite the others closing in on them, Snape lowered himself to his haunches, reaching out to brush the back of his knuckles along her cheek.
"You really are beautiful, little witch," he whispered so softly, she was surprised his words weren't lost to the night. Dropping a hand into the dirt, he balanced his weight as he leaned into her and pressed a kiss to her temple murmuring, "Stay safe and try to resist the shallow charms of Black until I find you again." Standing up, he summoned his mask back to his hand and promised, or possibly threatened, "Come your ruin or my salvation, you're mine now, angel, and I don't share well," a loud crack of apparition punctuating his words just as Remus, James, and Sirius broke through the cropping of trees.
AN:
Now that Severus has officially made his 1979 introduction, there MAY be one more chapter before I take brief pause. Most probably though I will be transitioning to writing a new chapter or two for The Resurrection Witch, A Sorted Marriage, and two one-shots. So if this isn't updated in say the next week or so, there probably will not be new content until mid-December.
-SLaG
PS: The featured lyrics are from Be My Baby which is listed on the playlist. And speaking of the playlist, two new songs were added this week.