Under the Influence

A/N: Love the drink recipes! I have several ideas that I'm excited to use! Anybody dying of UST yet? Thanks to moon_muse for the drink idea for this chapter.

Disclaimer: It's JKR's playground. I'm just climbing the jungle gym.


Chapter 10- Wednesday Night.

It was a casino theme this week. Sam had spread green felt over the top of the bar and had placed several decks of cards and bowls of poker chips along the length of the green surface. He was wearing a white shirt with a black vest and a funny little visor.

Severus showed up a bit later than usual. He'd had to give a detention to a student who thought it'd be funny to bring in small pieces of the Weasley twin's swamp. The idiot was trying to figure out how to make his own. Snape shuddered to think what the kid would've done if he had succeeded.

He did his a check around the room for Hermione. No sign of the wench. He walked up to the bar.

"Sam!"

"Yes, Severus?"

"Has Hermione been in yet tonight? I'm running a little late."

"No, I haven't seen her," Sam replied, polishing glasses with a holey rag.

"Huh. Okay, I'll have a glass of whiskey."

Snape sat on a stool at the bar. Sam set the whiskey in front of him. He picked up a deck of cards and played a round of solitare. Three rounds of solitare and four glasses of whiskey later, there was still no sign of Hermione. Severus set down the cards.

"Why don't you give her a call?" Sam asked, seeing how agitated Severus was getting.

"That's not necessary. I'll have a shot of vodka and a shot of tequila."

Sam raised his eyebrows and poured the drinks. Snape drank the shots in quick succession, then gestured for Sam to refill his glasses. Sam shrugged and poured the drinks. Snape drank.

An hour later, Snape stumbled away from his barstool and left the bar. He spent most of the night vomiting in the alley next to the bar. When dawn broke, Severus finally had enough wits about him to apparate home.

*******************

*Next Wednesday night*

Hermione entered the bar, glowing. She had just finished her last final earlier that day and was confident about the result. She was almost prepared for graduation!

She didn't see Severus anywhere, so she ordered a Tom Collins and took a seat at the table. She sipped her drink slowly, waiting for his arrival.

Snape threw open the bar door and stalked toward Hermione. He was in full "evil professor" mode. He was glowering, and his muggle trenchcoat was billowing just like his robes did. He violently pulled a chair away from the table, making a loud dragging sound against the rough wood floor. He plopped into the chair ungracefully.

"Miss Granger," he said coldly.

"Oh, it's 'Miss Granger' now, is it?" Hermione was confused.

"Where were you last week?"

"Last week?"

"Yes! I was here waiting for you! You never showed!"

"I had to study for finals!"

"Well you should have owled!"

"I didn't know we had a set date or anything."

"You come here every week! I expect to see you when I come here!"

"I didn't know it was mandatory for me to show up every week, PROFESSOR!" Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. Why were his knickers in such a twist?

"Well, it is! You can't just change your routine without notifying me!"

"I can do whatever the hell I like, Snape! I am an adult. I told you I had finals, you knew I had finals, what's the big deal?"

Snape stopped to think. What was the big deal? He felt kind of stupid waiting for her at the bar all night, but that wasn't the core of his anger. He had been seething all week. He had removed so many Gryffindor house points that McGonagall had actually banned him from removing points for a few days. Why did she affect him so?

Then the lightbulb above his head lit. He liked Hermione! Not just liked her, but actually had feelings toward her. Yes, he knew she aroused him, and he found her amusing and distracting, but he had no idea that he felt this strongly toward her. Could it be possible? Could he actually be in love?

"Dear God, I need some whiskey." Snape practally ran for the bar.

Hermione had seen the various expressions cross his face, first anger, then confusion, and finally panic. What had disturbed him so deeply? And when she thought about it, he did have a point. They kind of did have plans every week. Unofficial plans, but plans nonetheless.

She shrugged and finished her drink. She was just about to go to the bar to get another when Snape arrived back at the table, balancing two large glasses of whiskey and two Tom Collins's. He set all four glasses on the table at the same time.

"Sorry for not showing up last week. You're right, I should have owled. I do come here every week, expecting to see you. I guess I didn't realize you might also expect to see me too," Hermione mumbled into her drink.

"It's fine," Severus replied curtly.

"Is everything okay tonight? You seemed kind of...disturbed."

Snape sighed. He was not ready to talk about his feelings. Hell, he had just figured them out for himself.

"It's been a rough week. Minerva banned me from removing Gryffindor house points. The students eventually figured out I couldn't remove points, so they've been acting up. I have been overseeing a lot of detentions."

"Why would she do that?"

"I've been, uh, excessive in punishing Gryffindors this week."

"Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. I finished my finals!"

"How did they go?"

"Good, I think. It's been rough, trying to get through four years of college in two years, but I'm glad I did it. I'm almost done, and I'm ready to move on with my life," Hermione said, sucking on a cherry.

Snape was mesmerized by the picture she was painting before him. Her full, pink, slightly moist lips were puckered around the bright red cherry. Her teeth were grasping the cherry delicately and every once in a while, her tongue would dart out and lick the cherry lightly. Merlin, he had never wished to be a cherry before, but there was a first time for everything.

"Severus?" Hermione was waving her hand in front of his face.

Severus shook his head. 'You've got to keep it together,' he chastised himself.

"Sorry, I was distracted. Have I told you about the boy in my class who aspires to be the next Fred and George Weasley?"

Hermione grinned. "Tell me," she said, leaning forward in interest.

Severus sucked back his whiskey. "Well, it started a few weeks ago when I noticed he always smelled funny. Swampy. Then, last Monday, instead of brewing Deflating Draught like he was supposed to, he was doing a chemical analysis of a portion of the swamp Messers Weasley had left behind in the Battle of the Bitch. I caught him, of course, and assigned detention. Since then, I've been paying attention to what he says in passing. He wanted to recreate the swamp, and take things a step further by figuring out how to magick live animals into Hogwarts to live in his swamp. He says he wants to work for the Weasleys after graduation, in their research and development departments. I guess we've been fortunate so far that he hasn't pulled any major pranks."

"Fred and George always said they knew when to cross the line and when to just toe the line a bit."

"I disagree. They crossed the line whenever possible. It was getting so Filch was refusing to have them serve detention, because they would prank him while being punished."

Hermione laughed, "I believe it. So what are you going to do with the kid?"

Snape grinned, "I thought I could have him figure out how to remove the swamp. This, of course, would mean spending hours everyday with a mop and bucket and that horrible swamp."

"Are you sure you want to give him more access to it?"

"Why not? He already has portions of it hidden in his trunk."

"Just out of curiosity, which house does he belong to?"

Sanpe raised his glass, murmured, "Slytherin," and emptied the contents.

Hermione chuckled. "More to drink?"

"Please." Snape handed her his glasses.

Hermione took the empty glasses to the bar, and ordered more drinks. Snape took the opportunity to think some more.

'She does flirt with me. The more drunk she gets, the more suggestive she becomes. Is it because she's drunk and wants something to fuck, or is it because she's actually interested in me? She said I was her best friend. Am I just a friend? She's coming out of a very public divorce. Is she taking a break from men for a while? Am I too old for her? Is she too young for me? And what about other people? What would people say if they saw us together. We left together at the Victory Day celebration; she didn't seem ashamed of me there."

Severus rested his head on his arms, he suddenly felt very tired.

Hermione set the drinks on the table and Severus felt her hand rubbing his back gently.

"Poor, Severus. Had a rough week. What can I do to help?" Hermione crooned.

'If only you knew,' Severus thought.

"Booze," Severus grunted, reaching for one of the glasses.

"This isn't whiskey. What is it?" he asked, when he raised his head and saw the drink.

"It's called a Kiss in the Dark," Hermione told him, staring into his eyes.

"Is it now?" Severus took a sip. "Yum, kind of like a martini."

Hermione downed her drink quickly, and reached for another.

"So have you decided if you're going to work at Hogwarts?" Severus asked.

"No clue. God, these go straight to your head."

Hermione scooted her chair as close to Snape's as possible, and leaned into him. He put his arm around her.

"You know, you're snarky and sarcastic and can be quite mean at times," she whispered.

"You're insufferable and snobby and you think you know everything," he replied.

"You're greasy and mean to Gryffindors."

"You married Potter."

"You have low self esteem."

"So do you."

"You drink too much."

"You match me drink for drink."

"And despite all this, I like you anyway."

Snape kissed her forehead and tightened his grip. They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the feel of holding and being held. Soon, Hermione was snoring.

Snape picked her up, cradling her. He carried her to the bar.

"Sam, can I pay our tab next week? Hermione is exhausted, and I can't reach my wallet."

"No problem," Sam nodded.

Snape carried Hermione to the alley and apparated to her dorm. He tucked her into bed, taking care to make sure she was covered well. He leaned over and kissed her lips lightly.

"I like you too," he whispered before apparating home.
******

Kiss in the Dark:

3/4 oz cherry brandy
3/4 oz dry vermouth
3/4 oz gin


Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.