Under the Influence

A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews, everybody! They feed my muse and make my plot bunnies horny. Thus, I have quite a few baby plot bunnies running around. That's a good thing. The drink for the chapter was inspired by Applekissis and Periwinkle.

On a side note, everybody come check out the Hideaway. http://thaelixir.proboards49.com/index.cgi

Disclaimer: It's JkR's restaurant. I'm just pretending I'm a bartender. And making no money at it.


Chapter 11- Thursday afternoon

Hermione stopped packing her dorm for a moment and listened. She heard a funny tapping noise. She followed the sound to her window. There was a large brown owl flapping his wings and tapping the glass with his beak impatiently. She opened the window the let the creature in. He flew through the open window, made a lap around the room, and settled finally on the desk, ruffling his feathers and looking quite put out. He stuck out his leg, revealing the parchment tied to it, and looked at Hermione with an expression that plainly said, "Well? Get to it."

Hermione smirked at the impatient owl and untied the parchment. She unrolled it to reveal familiar choppy penmanship. It read:

Hermione-

Would like to accompany me to dinner this Saturday night? I've made reservations at Lord Cavalier's for 8 pm. It this is acceptable, please send your reply with this owl.

Yours, Severus

Hermione smiled to herself. Maybe all of her not so subtle hints were finally paying off! Was this a real date? Sounded like it. Lord Cavalier's was a VERY nice restaurant. She grabbed a quill and parchment and replied:

Severus-

Sounds like fun. I'll meet you there at eight.

Yours, Hermione

Hermione had hesitated signing the letter with "yours," but that's how Snape had done it, so it must be okay. She wondered the meaning behind signing off letters that way, but decided that most women read too much into those things, so she just let it go. Whatever would happen would happen.

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

Severus was pleased to see his owl return so quickly. That meant Hermione hadn't deliberated her answer long. Not that he was timing the owl or anything, mind you. His bookshelves really had needed reorganizing. He had plenty to keep busy with while waiting.

'I feel like a ruddy schoolboy again,' Severus thought, shaking his head.

He untied the parchment off his owl, then tossed the owl back out the window so it could fly to the owlery. The owl cawed at him in mock anger, then flew off haughtily.

Snape unrolled the parchment and grinned at the reply. He finally had an opportunity to be a gentleman and take her out somewhere nice. He was going to court her and treat her how a lady should be treated.

He abandoned his organizing project. He had much more interesting things to prepare for.

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

Saturday night, Lord Cavalier's Restaurant

Hermione apparated in front of the restaurant. She was about five minutes early. She looked around for Severus, anyway.

A finely dressed man approached her, holding a long stemmed red rose. He handed the rose to her with a small bow. Hermione looked at him, confused, and then she saw who it was. Severus.

He looked amazing. His hair was freshly washed, and had been tied back while it was still wet, so it was in a sleek ponytail. A few strands had escaped the leather thong and framed his face. He was wearing a fine suit, black of course, but if you looked closely at his tie you could see little burgundy pinstripes running through it. The suit fit like it was custom tailored for him, the pants clung to his ass in such a delicious way, then loosened over his thighs to fall to the tops of his shoes.

Hermione was gobsmacked.

"Do close your mouth, Hermione, you look like a fish."

"Sorry, you look incredible! I can't help it!" Hermione shook her head a bit to clear the hormone induced haze he had inspired, and swallowed a load of drool.

Hermione was worth an extra glance, herself. She was wearing a short black cocktail dress with a plunging back, black tights and black strappy shoes. She had piled her mass of curls on top of her head, in a sleek golden bush.

"Shall we?" Severus held his arm out to her.

"Uh huh," Hermione took his arm. She was still incapable of coherent thought.

They entered the restaurant together. When they crossed through the front door, Severus pulled Hermione slightly in front of him and rested his hand on the small of her back. Hermione could feel the electricity from his touch shooting all the way to her toes.

"Two for Snape," Severus told the hostess. She nodded, and led them to their table.

Severus kept his hand on the small of her back the whole time, making Hermione's legs go weak. She stumbled just as they reached the table.

"Hermione, are you okay?"

"Damn shoes," she mumbled. Secret of being a woman: if you're clumsy, blame it on your shoes.

Severus nodded, and pulled out her chair for her. Hermione sat down, then did the awkward chair scooty motion, trying to get closer to the table. Severus sat across from her and opened his menu.

"So, are you all packed up?" he asked, trying to make polite conversation.

"Yes. I move to my parent's house tomorrow," Hermione told him.

"Food looks good."

"Sure does."

"Do you know what you want?"

'Yes, and it's not food,' Hermione thought. Out loud she said, "No clue."

"Can I order for you?"

"Sure."

"Are you allergic to anything?"

"No."

Snape waved a waiter over to their table.

"I'll have the prime rib, rare, and the lady will have lobster," Snape said, looking at his menu.

"Very good sir," the waiter took their menus and left.

"Nice place," Hermione said, looking around.

"Excellent food. I should have ordered wine!" Snape raised his hand to signal the waiter again.

"No need. Let's wait until he comes back." Hermione consoled him.

"Have you decided about teaching yet?"

"Almost. You know, I think I would like teaching if it weren't for the students."

Snape laughed. "That's the truth."

"How's your Weasley wannabe?"

"He managed to get the swamp cleaned up."

"That's good."

"Yes."

'This is so awkward,' Snape thought in exasperation. 'Too much pressure.'

The waiter showed up with two steaming bowls of soup, and left quickly.

"Damn! I didn't get to order wine!" Snape raised his hand again. The waiter ignored him.

"Good soup," Hermione said between sips.

Snape looked down at his own bowl. Cream of tomato. Yuck.

"So..." Hermione said.

"So..." Snape replied.

"God, this is so awkward! Why is this so weird?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. Do you want to get out of here?"

"To the bar?"

"To the bar."

The couple stood and made their way outside.

"Aren't you going to pay the bill?" Hermione asked.

"Nope."

Hermione laughed, and together they apparated to the bar.

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

Snape had forgotten what Saturday nights at the bar were like. Crowded. Bigtime crowded. Snape was surrounded by sweaty stinky college age boys and girls who seemingly forgot to button the top three buttons of their shirts. He wrinkled his nose.

"There's no where to sit!" Hermione complained.

"Not a problem."

Snape put on his evil professor mask and stalked to their table. He glared at the people sitting there.

"We had this table reserved."

"Like hell you did!" The guy sitting there stood in anger.

"Excuse me, son. You do not want to start with me." Snape said calmly.

The girl sitting at the table tugged on her date's arm. "C'mon, Todd, let's just go."

"Yeah, Todd, listen to your girl. You. Do. Not. Want. To. Start. With. Me."

Todd glanced from Snape's cold expression to his girl's pleading one, and good sense won out. "Fine." He led the girl out of the bar.

Hermione laughed as Snape pulled out her chair for her. "Well done, Professor Snape."

Snape took a bow. "It was too easy. I kind of wanted him to start with me."

Hermione shook her head. "Poor kid never had a chance."

"A snowball's chance in hell, maybe."

Hilda the waitress arrived at their table. "What did you do to the people who were here?" she asked, smearing the grease about the table with a rag.

"They suddenly remembered they were imbeciles and they decided to kill themselves."

The waitress shrugged. "Whatever. Whaddaya want?"

"I want a Sloe Comfortable Screw," Hermione said, never taking her gaze away from Snape.

"Make that two," he added, staring back at Hermione.

Hilda saw the tension between them, and smiled. She walked away humming. It was always nice to see people in the first stages of a relationship.

Hermione scooted her chair next to Snape's, just like last week. Again, he put his arm around her.

"Thanks for asking me out tonight."

"Don't mention it."

"I had a good time."

"No you didn't."

Hermione laughed. "Well, maybe not. But I still could..."

"True. Want to start the night over?"

"No. It wasn't a bad night, just awkward. I never feel comfortable in those places."

"And you're into comfort."

The waitress arrived with their drinks and left quickly. She didn't want to interfere with the vibe between the pair.

"I am into comfort. I guess that makes me an easy date."

"If you're so into comfort, why do you wear those shoes?" Severus gestured to her feet.

"They're cute!"

"But are they worth the pain?"

"Most definitely."

Severus reached under the table and drew up her feet. He removed her shoes and started rubbing her soles through her tights. Hermione moaned. This man was a god!

"If this is the treatment I'll be getting, I'm wearing uncomfortable shoes every week."

Severus smirked. He massaged her feet, and drank his drink, and massaged some more. Hermione's throaty moans and little squirms were quite alluring.

The waitress delivered two more Sloe Comfortable Screws, giggling to herself. Got to keep the social lubricant flowing.

Snape put her feet down to rest in his lap while he slurped his new drink. Hermione wiggled her toes against the bulge she found there.

"Hermione! What are you doing?"

"Exploring a bit."

"Are you drunk?"

"Not even close," she said, grinning.

"Care to explore a bit more?"

Hermione nodded. Snape pushed her feet off his lap and lunged for her. He smashed his lips against hers, opening his mouth and thrusting his tongue into hers. She growled and matched his movements, fisting his hair with one hand and caressing his back with the other. Snape ran his hands up and down the bare skin of her back, causing Hermione to shiver. Hermione stood, and not breaking the kiss, crawled into Snape's lap, straddling his legs.

"Ahem," the waitress interrupted.

Hermione looked at the waitress with hooded eyes. "Yes?"

"May I suggest you two continue this somewhere more private?"

Hermione giggled and Snape actually looked sheepish for a minute.

"Yes, sorry. We got... carried away. We'll be leaving now."

They stood, and Snape pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket. He handed several to the waitress. "This should cover Wednesday's tab, also."

They left the bar quickly, holding hands. Once they reached the alley, Snape gathered her into his arms and together they apparated to her dorm room.

They landed on a pile of boxes.

"Shite. Everything's a mess since I'm moving tomorrow. Sorry," Hermione buried her head in her hands.

"Is the bed clear?"

"No, sorry. I don't even have sheets on it anymore."

"We don't need sheets."

"Can we go to your place?"

"Not while there's students there."

"Damn."

Snape wrapped his arms around Hermione and rested his forehead on hers. "We'll continue this later, my dear. We'll figure something out." He kissed her deeply.

Hermione sighed. She wanted to scream! All ready to shag, but nowhere to go.

"I'm going to go now, before I lose control and take you up against that wall," Snape said sadly.

"You could, you know."

"I want our first time to be better than that. Keep it in mind for later, though."

Snape kissed Hermione soundly, the apparated home for a wank.
*********

Sloe Comfortable Screw:

3 oz sloe gin
3 oz Southern Comfort® peach liqueur
3 oz orange juice
3 oz vodka


Stir or shake ingredients & serve with ice.