"Let's see if the Head Girl can't earn 100
points."
Hermione almost choked on her own spit at his
words and fought to keep her expression from changing as she
gathered her wits about her. That had not been what she had been
expecting so soon after their little game of questions and answers.
Not breaking eye contact, she stood up, leaned over the desk and
kissed him… tentatively at first but soon long and deep. His eyes
were still closed when she broke away from him. "Five points, Miss
Granger." he whispered, breathless from her touch.
She felt a thrill rush through her and, for the
first time in a long time, it was one of anticipation rather than
fear. By letting her call the shots, he had freed her from the pain
she experienced whenever she was fighting the Imperius. And where
had he come up with this scenario? She wasn't sure she wanted to get
close to that answer but it would be an experience to hear him award
more points to her in a night than he'd awarded to all of Gryffindor
during her school years.
Hermione stepped around the desk, reaching up to
loosen her tie as she moved to stand before him. When she got there
she was surprised to discover the tip of her nose was level with his
diaphragm. He seemed a lot taller tonight than a week ago, but then
again, she'd been wearing 5 inch high stiletto heels on Saturday and
tonight she was wearing a pair of sensible oxfords that added only 1
inch to her 5' 4" frame. It was absurd, but the change of outfit and
the loss of 4 inches made her feel a little timid. She knew it was
ridiculous as they both were fully aware of what she was, but she
couldn't help feeling funny. There were far too many familiar and
beloved elements mixed together here in this room tonight for her to
be comfortable. Even as she went over her doubts in her head, she
could feel the Imperius impose itself and override her feelings.
Auto-pilot engaged. Well, if that didn't solve her moral dilemma,
nothing would.
Using her hands, she steered him backwards
towards the chair behind the desk at the head of the room. When he
finally stumbled against it, she pushed him into the seat. He said
nothing but a half-smile curled along one side of his mouth at her
actions--taunting her--daring her to surprise him. Alright then. She
dropped to her knees between his legs and smiled wickedly at him as
she ran her hands up his thighs and started unbuttoning his
trousers. "I'll show you just why I'm Head Girl, Professor."
"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Lucius, will you turn
that thing off!" Narcissa Malfoy was not amused by her husband's
voyeurism. "Watching Severus Snape getting his jollies is the last
thing I need to see, thank you very much."
"As you wish, dear." Lucius replied, a little
disappointed because things were finally starting to get
interesting. Only Snape would consider an Advanced Potions lesson to
be foreplay, he thought to himself as he pointed his wand at the
mirror on the wall. Oh well, whatever turns you on. "Finite
Incantatem." The scene unfolding in the tranfigured Grey Room faded
to be replaced by his reflection and that of the sitting room behind
him.
"Why are you showing so much interest in this? I
know it's a momentous occasion when Severus the Monk has sex, but
what's it to you?" she asked him, setting down her embroidery and
studying him through narrowed eyes as he came over to sit on the
edge of the chair across from her. "Are you up to something?"
"Aren't I always, my dear?" he replied, reaching
out and lifting one of her hands to his lips so he could plant a
kiss in her palm.
"Well, are you going to elaborate or not?"
"I've found that addicts have an easily
exploitable weakness." Narcissa immediately understood what he was
doing--after all they'd been together for twenty-five years now, it
would be strange if she couldn't read him. Now she knew why her son
had been sulking and skulking around the manor for the past few
days, speaking only in monosyllables. That Mudblood girl who was
entertaining Snape happened to be his favourite plaything.
"Why Lucius, that's positively rotten and
inspiringly twisted." she half reprimanded, a smile on her face.
"I know," he told her, lifting his hand to rest
on his chest. "You know it's not easy being me, Narcissa." he
intoned seriously, but his eyes were dancing. He was rewarded with
hearing her tinkling laughter as she swatted at him playfully.
Harry, Ron and Fred made up the third team of
flyers scouting the coastline and they were exhausted. They'd
started in the Shetland Islands 2 days ago, moved to the Orkneys
yesterday and were currently flying over the Irish Sea on their way
to the Isle of Man from the Hebrides. They hadn't found anything
resembling the place Snape had said was the location of the brothel
so far. He hoped Remus and Sirius and their teams were having better
luck than they were. He felt a little stretched. They'd been using
potions and charms to keep themselves awake, and while they were
working, it didn't stop the fatigue from seeping into their bones
and settling there like an arthritic ache.
After another hour of flying, the Isle of Man
loomed out of the sea. Harry signaled Ron and Fred and they followed
him down to land in a field on the northernmost shore of the island.
Ron slid off his broom thankfully, stretched and sank into the cold,
dewy grass. "Gods, that feels great. My bloody arse is sore and I
could do with a nap."
"Well, I can't promise you a nap, but we can rest
here for a while. I want to study the coastline first." Harry patted
down his robes, looking for the pocket where he had secreted the
enchanted scroll of linen. After a minute or so of searching, his
fingers closed around the map and he pulled it out. He sat down
lotus-style in the grass and spread the blank cloth out on his lap.
Fred came up and knelt beside him, looking over his shoulder as
Harry touched the tip of his wand to the map and spoke, "Ambitus
Mannanan's Isle." At his words an image began to form in the centre
of the square, and after a few minutes a perfect representation of
the island's outline seemed to float on the surface of the cloth. A
crimson dot close to the northernmost tip of the island, identified
now as the Point of Ayre, indicated their current position. Harry
and Fred sat crouched over the enchanted map committing the
coastline and its approximate length to memory, while Ron lay on his
back staring at the clear night sky and humming tunelessly as he
chewed on the end of a quite juicy stalk of grass.
After a time, Harry looked up at Fred. "Good
enough then, mate?" he asked. Fred nodded and Harry touched his wand
to the map and ended the spell. As Harry began to fold the now blank
map up and put it away, Fred stood up and stretched as hard as he
could before stepping over to give his brother a kick in the
backside.
"Come on you git, move your arse!"
"Ow!" Ron spat out the grass and rubbed the back
of his leg. "You're the bloody git, Fred!" He huffed as he
got to his feet.
"Now, now, don't you two think that's enough
brotherly love for one night?" Harry tutted at them as he sat
astride his broom and waited for them. "There's miles to go before
we sleep."
"Oh, bloody hell… he's waxing poetic again, Ron.
Let's mount up quick!"
"Right you are, Fred." Ron said, flashing a grin
to match the one on his brothers face as he straddled his broom and
kicked off into the air.
Hermione was up to 75 points and wracking her
brain to come up with the next way she could earn points. She'd gone
through just about every trick in the book. Snape had not handed out
any more than 20 points at a time, the bastard, and even that was
only once. He'd awarded the points in a daze. It had been when she
had straightened up and looked into his eyes after fellating him.
Even she had to admit that it had been the best effort she'd ever
given to the act. No wonder he'd been a little dazed--she prided
herself on her professionalism, however twisted that was deep down.
She leaned in and kissed him thoroughly, buying herself a little
more time to find the trump card, something worthy of 20 or 25
points. After a moment, Snape broke away from her.
"Why, Miss Granger, if I didn't know better I'd
think you were stalling for time." He was rewarded by the sight of
her chewing nervously on her bottom lip. "I tell you what, why don't
you lean back on that desk there and rest a moment?" Hermione
frowned, trying to decode what he was telling her but failing, and
leaned back.
Severus turned and rifled through the pile on the
floor that was his clothes, seeking out the linen shirt he wore
under his heavy velvet jacket. After a few moments of fumbling, he
had worked the shrunken vial from its nest and clasped it tight in
his hand. Here goes nothing, he said to himself as he
restored the vial to its original size with a handy bit of wandless
magic. "I hope to hell you paid attention to tonight's lesson." he
muttered as he straightened up and turned back to face her.
"Is anything the matter, Professor?" she asked,
noticing he'd tensed up.
"Anything and everything." he replied a little
shortly as he leaned in to kiss her neck "Pay attention!" Hermione
was suddenly alert as she heard the sound of a wax seal being broken
and concentrated on what he was doing. She shivered as she felt a
cool, viscous liquid run slowly between her breasts and gasped as he
moved his hands to massage the liquid into her skin and push her
back to lie on the desktop. Her skin began to tingle pleasantly as
he continued pouring the liquid and rubbing it into her entire body.
She let herself get swept away by the feeling of his hands on her.
"What is that?" she whispered, surprised at how
every single inch of her felt like it was on fire as the sensation
of tingling grew under his touch.
"Kenyan Caralluma, Cypripedium Blephariglottis,
Phoenix Tears, Curcuma Pierreana and Lignum Vitae in an almond oil
base." He smiled as her eyes widened. Good girl! He could
tell that she'd identified the substance and was a little puzzled.
"But isn't that…" He raised a hand to place a
silencing finger to her lips and she could taste the strangely
bittersweet concoction on his hands. The ingredient list he'd given
her belonged to the one potion he hadn't questioned her about
tonight--the Vestigium Teneo potion. Had that been deliberate?
Suddenly he moved to run his lips along her stomach and she gasped
as his hair lightly brushed her skin, causing a ripple of pleasure
to spike down to between her legs with its touch.
"Conservo Hermione," he whispered and she
shuddered to her core as the potion activated. He raised his head to
find her propped on her elbows and watching him with wonder from
beneath eyes heavy-lidded with arousal .
"Wow… 20 points to Slytherin, Professor." There
was an undercurrent of humour in her voice as she spoke. "Who'd ever
have thought?" She left the rest of her comment unsaid, knowing
somehow that he didn't want her to talk about what he'd just done.
"Speaking of points, Miss Granger, there's still
this matter of the 25 you have yet to earn."
"Yes, sir!" she answered his widening smile with
one of her own.
The trio zipped along the northwestern shore of
the island, keeping their eyes open as they scouted the coastline
below them. So far, it had been uneventful, mostly gently sloping
beaches dotted with the odd building, but nothing matching what they
were looking for. After another five minutes, the coastline started
to change, beaches giving way to low cliffs and soon the lights of
the town of Peel could be seen in the distance.
After casting concealment charms to keep
themselves from being seen by any muggles in the town, they flew
over the quaint port with St. Patrick's Isle in its bay and Ron
sheared off from them to scout the place out while Harry and Fred
carried on down the coastline. After a few minutes Ron caught up to
them and he was looking quite pleased with himself.
"I think I might have found what we're looking
for. Come and see." Harry and Fred did not need to be asked twice
and followed Ron as he flew to the side of the small isle that faced
out into the Irish Sea.
There, obscured from Muggle sight amidst the
ruins of Peel Castle, stood a large red sandstone manor house. They
could feel the edges of a number of different wards around it from
where they hovered, close enough to check the place out, but not
close enough to activate any spells the place might have.
"I think you're right Ron." Harry spoke, sounding
relieved and a bit afraid all at once.
