The Punishment of Secrecy

Just like anything else you\'ll see on this site, I don\'t own the characters, the places blah blah blah. You know the drill. This story is littered with BDSM issues; spanking, whipping, domination, paddling,sadistic behaviours etc. If you don\'t like this sort of thing...TURN BACK NOW and DON\'T READ! If this is your cup of tea...continue and enjoy. It\'s a long one and not even close to being finished. Enjoy...
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Severus stood waiting for the arrival of the students on a cold, windy September evening. While he loved his profession, he had grown bored over the last couple of years. He wanted to do more, and not just in his career. He longed for some stability, hope and mostly love. While he knew who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, at this time, it was impossible to tell the world. He’d given up hope that he’d ever find someone when the person he had least expected trespassed her way into his heart.
Hermione Granger was one of the brightest students he’d ever seen. She had undeniable power and the common sense to control it. Complex spells caasilasily to her and her potions rivaled his own. He’d hoped he could coax her into a career as a Potions Master, as this would give him many opportunities to spend time alone with her, but found out she had her mind set on other things. Because she showed little restrest in his subject (although she excelled at it) he didn’t pursue trying to convince her otherwise, and therefore gave up hope of ever having a chance to get to know her on a personal level. He sighed as he watched the scarlet steam engine come to a halt and the students filing out. After a moment of watching them, he left, off to join the other members of the staff at the start of term feast.

The first day of classes was always the hardest. First years getting lost, Fifth years fretting over the impending O.W.L exams, and the lot of them getting back into the swing of things. It was a natural headache for the entire staff. Severus spent the majority of his time in the dungeons, even between classes. Today was no different. Many of his older students were dreading what he had planned for them; he could see it in their eyes. Double potions with Gryffindor and Slytherin were always interesting, even if its students didn’t produce the highest quality of potions. He found the rivalry between Draco Malfoy, a member of his own house, and Hermione to at least produce tension. For the last two years, he’d hoped that this tension would mount into a reason to keep Hermione after class, or perhaps, detention. His opportunity came almost immediately and while shocked at both of them, he was secretly glad that Malfoy had been the annoying git he was. There was a commotion at the back of the class, and a moment later, the breaking of glass. He moved swiftly over to the small group of students gathered around Malfoy and Hermione and walked through them like a hot knife through butter.
“What’s going on here?” he asked, turning his attention to Draco.
“Professor, I was just trying to get ingredients for the potion you assigned when the little mudbl…” Draco said, pausing when he caught a glare from several students. “When Granger here pushed me aside, causing me to knock over this vial,” he pointed to the floor where a slimy green potion had started to seep through the cracks in the floor.
“Ten points from Gryffindor and Miss Granger, I would like a word with you,” Severus snapped. “Longbottom, since your time here is usually wasted, why don’t you make yourself useful and clean up that mess. Mind you, you’ll need your dragon hide gloves unless of course, you’d like to see what this would do to bare skin. Everyone, back to what you were doing.” He turned and made his way back to his desk, Hermionese bse behind.
“Sir, if I may,” she started, restraining the tears that were pooling in her eyes.
“No you may not. Detention tonight at eight. Meet me here and we’ll get your detention out of the way. Dress in some older robes; I might have you doing something that requires you to get dirty. That’ll be all,” he said curtly, returning his attention to the stack of parchment on his desk.
“But sir, if I could only…” she stammered.
“Five more points from Gryffindor. Would you like another nights worth of detention?” he asked. She shook her head. “Good, then please return to your seat. You’ve already received a zero for the day. How about giving me an essay on the properties of belladonna and a list of some of the less common potions it is used in. I’ll expect it by the end of class.”
She nodded, still fighting tears, and rushed back to her seat. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, noticing that she was wiping the rebellious tears from her cheeks. He wished he didn’t have to be so hard on her, knowing that probably made her hate him more, but he was going to have his opportunity this evening to show her he wasn’t such a bad guy. He didn’t really have anything for her to do, seeing as it was the first day of the term, but he would find some menial task for her. He wanted nothing more than to give the detention to Malfoy, knowing damn well he probably deserved it, but if he were to give his ‘favorite’ student a detention, people would talk. No, this was better. He continued with his inventory and tried to put the evening out of his mind.

Dinnertime rolled around quickly and he sat at the staff table, wishing the time would speed up. He glanced around and found Hermione, bent over the table, whispering to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, her two best friends. Just as he was about to return his attention to the latest issue of the Daily Profit, she caught his eye. He saw nothing but loathing and disgust in them. He returned the glare and tried to put out of his mind what he intended to do tonight. More than anything he wanted to get his feelings for her out in the open. He knew he was attracted to her from the moment she set foot in his classroom in her first year, but thought it foolish seeing as she was so young. Now, six years later, she had turned into a fine specimen of a woman. Her hair was no longer frizzy and wild, but hung in smooth curls around her oval face. She’d grown several inches and filled out, looking to be more woman that child. He’d seen how much her mind had grown and that alone was enough to make him desire her even more. She was not some flighty schoolgirl who thought only of boys and fashions.
Severus shook his head, as though clearing it. When he chanced another glance at her, she was staring at him with cold, hard eyes. When she realized he was watching her, she turned her attention back to her meal, although she ate little. He excused himself from the staff table and returned to his office where he coplatplated what task he would have her doing.

Hermione arrived a couple of minutes before eight. He had expected her to do so, and was waiting for her in his office. She shot him a look of hatred as she stood before his desk, and he watched as her anger sent a flush of color up her neck and into her face.
“Miss Granger, thank you for being on time. I see you’ve dressed appropriately,” he said, as he looked her up and down. “I was thinking of having you dust off all of therediredients in my personal stores. You won’t need your wand; I don’t want anything else to become broken. Begin,” he said, returning his attention to the vials on his desk. She nodded and began pulling individual bottles and flasks off of the shelves, wiping them with a rag as she did so. After she would clear a shelf, she went a step further and wiped down the shelving and doors. He was impressed, but foolishly so. She was muggle born so she of all people would be expected to know how to clean manually. He watched her move the jars carefully and place them back in the cupboards exactly where she hadnd tnd them. He didn’t realize he was staring at her until she addressed him.
“Sir, is there a problem?” she asked. He shook his head. “I think there is Sir. You’ve been staring at me for the last half hour. Did I do something wrong? Put something back in the wrong place? Please tell me now because I don’t want to have to come here again for fouling something up,” she said, not trying to hide her disgust.
“No Hermione, I’m just thinking. Continue with what you were doing,” he said, pretending to read an essay.
She dropped the rag on the table and walked quietly over to his desk. He looked up and saw her smiling.
“Professor, you just called me Hermione,” she surprised. He thought about what he’d just said to her and realized that she was right.
“Yes, I believe I did. That IS your name isn’t it?” he hissed, pretending to be annoyed.
“Yes sir, but I was just wondering why, in almost seven years time, this is the first time you’ve addressed me by my first name. I’ve never heard you call ANYONE by his or her first name, not even the other professors,” she said.
He felt his heart race and his palms begin to sweat. Now was the perfect opportunity to tell her what he’d been thinking for the last six years, the thoughts that tormented him daily. He’d never been one to mask his thoughts, finding that being open and brutally honest was usually the best approach, but the idea of telling her that he was attracted to her put an unfamiliar knot in his stomach. His emotions were something he guarded very closely. He felt himself blanch and tried to keep his cool.
“Sit down,” he ordered. She moved to the far side of the desk and sat as she was instructed, her eyes telling him that she was perplexed.
“Hermione,” he started. “I was just wondering what you were planning to do with your future…your personal future.”
She sat back, apparently shocked at his query. When she started to speak, he shook his head and stopped her.
“No, your squabble with Malfoy is not the real reason I gave you detention,” he said, as he rose from his chair and walked over to where she was sitting. She began squirming in her seat, apparently uncomfortable with his presence but her eyes never leaving his. “I wanted to talk to you about more personal matters.”
Her mouth dropped open and moved as though she were trying to speak.
“What kind of personal matters sir?” she finally managed to whisper.
“Well, I have a confession to make. It’s not one that will be easy for me to tell or easy to hear, but I have to tell you or it’ll consume me. It is something I’ve dealt with for the last six years,” he said as he knelt down next to her chair. “I beg of you not to judge. I’m just a man, no more no less. I have weaknesses even if I don’t show them.”
“Professor…” she started, but he put his finger to her lips.
“Please, call me Severus, at least while we’re alone. Professor sounds so…cold. I’m not really as bad as you and your friends make me out to be.”
She snorted her disbelief and turned her head away from him.
“What exactly is it you’re trying to tell me SEVERUS,” she snorted, refusing to return her gaze to him. He ran his hand across her cheek and forced her to turn her head. He now recognized fear as well as confusion in her eyes. She was so easily read.
“What I’m trying to tell you Hermione is that I’ve been enamored of you since the moment I first saw you. I’ve been captivated by your intelligence and entranced by the beauty I knew you possessed. Look at yourself, you’re beautiful,” he said as he chanced running his hand down her face. She sat, petrified, unable to move but not stopping him either. “I just wanted to make sure you knew before you left Hogwarts that you have left your mark on me and my life will never be the same again. I don’t expect you to return my advances, and if you ask me to, I will stop and be only your teacher. All I ask is that you give me a chance.”
She looked up at him, as though for the first time and smiled. The anger had left her, even though the fear lingered.
“Profe…err…Severus, why did you choose to tell me this now? You know I have a lot on my mind, this being my final year and all. I’m just wondering why now, why today.”
“Well, I seized an opportunity that was given to me. I had not planned on doing this now. I was actually going to tell you at thd ofd of term, but when you and Malfoy had your scuffle this morning, I found the opportunity too good to pass. I must apologize now if my timing is off or if you find this inappropriate. I just didn’t know how else to tell you.”
She sat staring down at him for a few moments. He’d never been under such close scrutiny by a woman before and it made him nervous. He knew the worst part was over, he’d told her at last, but now he would have to wait to hear her decision. He put his hand ohershers and to his surprise; she turned her hand so that she could hold his.
“One thing I don’t think you’ve thought of Severus,” she said, looking into his murky eyes. “You could lose your job over this. I would hate to be the cause of your termination.” He chuckled, which seemed to shock her.
“Hermione, do you think I’ve not gone over every aspect of this in my mind? I know the consequences of my actions, and what would happen to us both if this were to become public. Both of us would be destroyed. I’d lose my job; you’d lose any respect that you’ve worked so hard for all these years. It would be disastrous. However, I’m willing to put this on hold, until you graduate and…” she put her finger over his lips to quiet him and shook her head. It was his turn to be perplexed.
“Why don’t we just see what happens? I mean we can carry on as usual and just let things take care of themselves. I don’t think we should try to go out of our way to pursue this, but I don’t think it could be ignored either.”
He adored her more in this moment than he had ever realized. She worried not only about herself, but the consequences he would face if they were caught. He was about to agree when something dawned on him.
“Hold on. You aren’t resisting? You don’t find me disturbed for being attracted to you? Why does this seem a little too easy?” he asked, unclear on why, when she seemed to hate him, she was so eager to continue to see him.
“You can certainly be a naïve man when you want to be Severus. Have you not realized that over the course of the last couple of years, I too, have grown fond of you? Why do you think it pains me so when you mark my papers so harshly? Why is it you think I leave your desk in tears when you berate me in class? I’ve certainly heard harsher words from other professors, but when it’s someone you are attracted to, it’s ten times harder to hear. There was no way I would approach you about it. I had a feeling that you felt the same as I did, but hell would freeze over before I suggested it openly. I knew this was one of those things you would have to do or it would forever haunt us both.” She ran her hand across his cheek and he chanced kissing it as it grazed his lips. She leaned forward, as though to kiss him, but the screaming from the hall stopped them both cold.
“What the hell?” he said, standing quickly. He exited the room, leaving Hermione to finish the task she’d been punished to do in the first place. Moments later, he returned.
“Bastard Peeves. He dropped an inkwell on one of my first years. I’d love for Dumbledore to send him packing,” he spat angrily.
Hermione placed the final flask on the shelf and turned to face him again. He walked to her side and ran his hand down the back of her hair.
“So young, so beautiful,” he said throatily as he leaned down to kiss her. She awaited his kiss, her full lips parted slightly in invitation. He took her head in her hands and kissed her hard. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled his body towards her own. She could feel his excitement building at the same rate as her own and dug her nails into his sides. He released her head only to work his way down to her neck. Just as she was reaching to undo his robes, there was another sound, like that of footsteps in the hall outside of his office. He moaned and released her quickly, both of them straightening their robes and flushed from their momentary excitement.
“I guess you’d better get back to your common room. It’s getting late and it seems we’re going to be interrupted all night,” he said pouting. She smiled and grazed his face with her soft hands again, before collecting her things.
“Severus,” she said, just before opening the door.
“Yes?”
Hermione opened the door, glanced up and down the hall and shut the door again. Practically running, she went to him again and kissed him as he had done to her only moments before.
“Good night,” she said, smiling teasingly and walked out of his office.