The Gilded Cage
folder
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
62
Views:
119,223
Reviews:
944
Recommended:
3
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
62
Views:
119,223
Reviews:
944
Recommended:
3
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
I don’t own Harry Potter or anything recognizable to the HP-Universe, JK Rowling does. I’m not making any money off the writing of this fanfic.
Fides Punica
SorceressFunjin- Woo-hoo! The Lady has won a prize. Good call.
iamtherealmaverick- I always viewed both of them too prideful to ask for help.
pittwitch- AFF broke me heart when they got rid of SS/OFC. Sigh.
TQW- *grins* You’re such a drama queen. I just want to know if they can translate, ‘These are not the droids you’re looking for.’
MomoDesu- Ah, so you like the human-bowtruckle impression? It seemed appropriate.
VoraciousReader- What is a RenFaire without a catapult? It’s as necessary as peasants dressed in velvet and sunburnt cleavage. Let the volleys fly.
zairaphel- Glad you stumbled upon it. I’m trying to remember to update M/W/F.
Elo- Yes, even in Azkaban, the idea of sleeping with Severus hasn’t lost it’s appeal.
Rini- You make a good point about Lee, but we also don’t entirely know what kind of boss HG makes. I bet she expects just as much out of others as she expects of herself.
neelix- There’s something rotten in me that I enjoy how awkward it is for him to be a soft touch.
Catysmom- If nothing else, I can always count on you to review.
delores- Thanks! I’m so not in her class.
LCDrusilla- *hands Drusilla a puppy, pixie sticks, and can of fizzy cola to go with that high*
Olwen- He has such delightful issues, doesn’t he?
AlexMalfoy- No, you don’t want a hubby in Azkaban. You just want Snape tied up in your closet. Don’t worry, I understand completely.
CB- Well, actually it’s like picking on a thread of a cheap sweater. Nice to see you around again.
HermioneMalfoyFan- My husband tends to say ‘What’s wrong?’ over and over, which doesn’t help at all.
*
Chapter 13 – Fides Punica
In the very early hours of the day, long before the sun announced its presence through his window Severus sat in his armchair lost in paperwork. The night had been an exercise in will-power for him. Hermione cried herself out and when he realized she was out like a light, he put her to bed. It was the decent thing to do. The witch needed her sleep, but Severus was certain he’d catch all sorts of unholy hell for it.
With his wife soundly asleep, her wand was left completely unattended, Severus found himself staring at it intently. He wasn’t supposed to touch it. He didn’t even know if it’d work for him. Or if the wards would go off if he attempted to use it, but his fingers itched. It had been so long since he’d felt magic thrum through his body.
The temptation proved too great.
As Severus picked up her discarded wand he easily felt connected to the wand. It didn’t channel power as his own wand so easily did, but it was there. With a hoarse voice Severus Snape quietly intoned his first real spell in years, “Lumos.”
By wandlight he read. And read. Severus soaked up as much as he could as he sifted through product reports, market analyses, research updates, and proposals.
He just couldn’t help himself. The temptation again proved too great. Taking the self-inking quill up in his hand Severus furiously began the task of marking parchment as if grading a third year’s potions essay. And by the gods it felt good.
He learned quite a bit about Granger Industries and was heartily impressed, but going through her satchel yielded other shockers. He was already quite aware that a man could tell a lot about a woman just by what she carried in her purse, and Severus was thoroughly unsurprised to find all sorts of womanly trinkets, filing cabinets, journals, ‘emergency’ whatnots, and… a tent? The bottom of her satchel, if it truly were the bottom, Severus wasn’t quite convinced, was littered with oodles and oodles of tatty, frayed, and broken-nibbed quills, gum wrappers, and assorted loose coinage.
What had him most dumbfounded though was a small black case containing medical supplies. Apparently Hermione kept a First Aid kit worthy of an entire paramedics team on her at all times. Again, interesting, but not noteworthy given how paranoid the girl tended to be. No, what caught his immediate attention were her prescription potions. She carried enough potions to stock Poppy for a term. The case contained: Migraine-Be-Gone, Femi-all Pain reliever, Heartburn and Indigestion suppressants, and Anti-depressants.
Lots of Anti-depressants.
By the looks of it, Non Solum Noctus, or commonly known by the street name ‘Liquid Sunshine’ for the physiological effect it had on the imbiber.
Severus pulled a tiny bottle of the whisky colored brew from the case and it immediately resized itself to fit in the palm of his hand. Pulling the stopper Severus took a good whiff and coughed. He had to spare a glance towards the soundly sleeping witch curled up in bed to make sure she didn’t stir. No, Hermione was out.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. He wasn’t entirely sure who was brewing her anti-depressants, but she was certainly paying him some serious galleons for them given their potency. It was enough happy juice to make a Dementor produce it’s own patronus.
No wonder the witch was unconcerned about her sex drive; it was non-existent. As far as he was aware, (and unless there had been some major breakthrough in potions research in the last five years - which he highly doubted), no Potions Master had been able to perfect an anti-depressant that didn’t inhibit sexual desire.
Pleasure, happiness, and the brain’s synaptic responses to both were a tight closely bundled knot. Messing with one area caused a sympathetic or overcompensation from another. And as amazing as the brain was, it often had a difficult time of keeping confusing nervous system messages straight. Hence he reflected with a wry grin, the juxtaposition between a little bit of pain thrown in with pleasure heightened a sexual act.
But not for Hermione. She was of course, as previously stated in their contract negotiations a frigid bitch.
‘Oh well,’ he resigned himself, ‘it’s not like I could have her anyway.’
****
Instead of waking up with a jerk to the sound of her blaring alarm clock Hermione snuggled deeper into her soft duvet. She was holding on to the wonderful sensation of being just on the cusp of sleep and awareness. Any minute now her alarm or chirping blackberry would break her peace, but she was bound and determined to enjoy the warm comfy feeling as long as it lasted.
There was a slightly odd feeling nudging her at the back of her brain, registering that something was wrong, but Hermione mentally shooed it away. The sheets were so soft and smelled slightly of herbal soap that she couldn’t help but to want to wrap herself deeper in them and shut the rest of the world out.
When her eyelids finally relinquished their evening duties Hermione gasped to notice how bright the light hit her eyes. She always woke before the sun was up. The second thing she noticed was her sheets were a honey taupe. That was funny… her bedclothes were pale blue.
Hermione bolted upright in bed.
“You!” she screeched.
Severus peered over the top of a folder to acknowledge the witch was finally up. “Yes, and hello to you too,” he said easily.
“You let me… Oh I can’t believe you… you… you… evil man. What were you thinking? Wait!” Hermione held up her hand, “What time is it?”
Severus only shrugged; it was sometime after breakfast and before lunch. Though by the slight whine of his stomach lunch should be coming around fairly soon. “You’re the one with the wristwatch Hermione.”
Of course. After a quick glance at her watch Hermione jumped out of bed. “How dare you let me sleep til noon!” she raged. “Do you have any idea how important today is? You can’t possibly know how much you’ve ruined my day. What were you thinking letting me sleep here?”
Again Severus shrugged his shoulders. If only because it infuriated her. “Don’t get snippy with me Madam, I was the one forced to surrender my cot to you. You could at least give me the common courtesy of thanking me for it. You were certainly in no shape to apparate last night, and I’d say the sleep has done you a world of good.”
“Good? Good? What the hell would you know what’s good for me? I’ve missed half the day you moron. This will set me back weeks! Weeks!”
Hermione made a grab for the piles of parchment and notebooks Severus had laid on the floor, hastily shoving them in her satchel.
Calmly Severus replied, “You’ve only missed the daily planning meeting and production conference call, though I’m not exactly certain what a conference call is.”
“And that’s another thing!” she hissed, parchment clutched in her fist. “You had no right. No right! To go through my stuff. Just where the hell do you get off reading my intellectual property? These are trade secrets. I could sue you for this!”
Severus shrugged again, enjoying the way her eyes narrowed each time he did. “Go ahead, take me to court. You’ve already got my house. What else can you do to me? Extend my life sentence?”
*
A/N:
Non Solum Noctus – Not by night alone
Chapter Title: Fides Punica - Treachery
iamtherealmaverick- I always viewed both of them too prideful to ask for help.
pittwitch- AFF broke me heart when they got rid of SS/OFC. Sigh.
TQW- *grins* You’re such a drama queen. I just want to know if they can translate, ‘These are not the droids you’re looking for.’
MomoDesu- Ah, so you like the human-bowtruckle impression? It seemed appropriate.
VoraciousReader- What is a RenFaire without a catapult? It’s as necessary as peasants dressed in velvet and sunburnt cleavage. Let the volleys fly.
zairaphel- Glad you stumbled upon it. I’m trying to remember to update M/W/F.
Elo- Yes, even in Azkaban, the idea of sleeping with Severus hasn’t lost it’s appeal.
Rini- You make a good point about Lee, but we also don’t entirely know what kind of boss HG makes. I bet she expects just as much out of others as she expects of herself.
neelix- There’s something rotten in me that I enjoy how awkward it is for him to be a soft touch.
Catysmom- If nothing else, I can always count on you to review.
delores- Thanks! I’m so not in her class.
LCDrusilla- *hands Drusilla a puppy, pixie sticks, and can of fizzy cola to go with that high*
Olwen- He has such delightful issues, doesn’t he?
AlexMalfoy- No, you don’t want a hubby in Azkaban. You just want Snape tied up in your closet. Don’t worry, I understand completely.
CB- Well, actually it’s like picking on a thread of a cheap sweater. Nice to see you around again.
HermioneMalfoyFan- My husband tends to say ‘What’s wrong?’ over and over, which doesn’t help at all.
*
Chapter 13 – Fides Punica
In the very early hours of the day, long before the sun announced its presence through his window Severus sat in his armchair lost in paperwork. The night had been an exercise in will-power for him. Hermione cried herself out and when he realized she was out like a light, he put her to bed. It was the decent thing to do. The witch needed her sleep, but Severus was certain he’d catch all sorts of unholy hell for it.
With his wife soundly asleep, her wand was left completely unattended, Severus found himself staring at it intently. He wasn’t supposed to touch it. He didn’t even know if it’d work for him. Or if the wards would go off if he attempted to use it, but his fingers itched. It had been so long since he’d felt magic thrum through his body.
The temptation proved too great.
As Severus picked up her discarded wand he easily felt connected to the wand. It didn’t channel power as his own wand so easily did, but it was there. With a hoarse voice Severus Snape quietly intoned his first real spell in years, “Lumos.”
By wandlight he read. And read. Severus soaked up as much as he could as he sifted through product reports, market analyses, research updates, and proposals.
He just couldn’t help himself. The temptation again proved too great. Taking the self-inking quill up in his hand Severus furiously began the task of marking parchment as if grading a third year’s potions essay. And by the gods it felt good.
He learned quite a bit about Granger Industries and was heartily impressed, but going through her satchel yielded other shockers. He was already quite aware that a man could tell a lot about a woman just by what she carried in her purse, and Severus was thoroughly unsurprised to find all sorts of womanly trinkets, filing cabinets, journals, ‘emergency’ whatnots, and… a tent? The bottom of her satchel, if it truly were the bottom, Severus wasn’t quite convinced, was littered with oodles and oodles of tatty, frayed, and broken-nibbed quills, gum wrappers, and assorted loose coinage.
What had him most dumbfounded though was a small black case containing medical supplies. Apparently Hermione kept a First Aid kit worthy of an entire paramedics team on her at all times. Again, interesting, but not noteworthy given how paranoid the girl tended to be. No, what caught his immediate attention were her prescription potions. She carried enough potions to stock Poppy for a term. The case contained: Migraine-Be-Gone, Femi-all Pain reliever, Heartburn and Indigestion suppressants, and Anti-depressants.
Lots of Anti-depressants.
By the looks of it, Non Solum Noctus, or commonly known by the street name ‘Liquid Sunshine’ for the physiological effect it had on the imbiber.
Severus pulled a tiny bottle of the whisky colored brew from the case and it immediately resized itself to fit in the palm of his hand. Pulling the stopper Severus took a good whiff and coughed. He had to spare a glance towards the soundly sleeping witch curled up in bed to make sure she didn’t stir. No, Hermione was out.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. He wasn’t entirely sure who was brewing her anti-depressants, but she was certainly paying him some serious galleons for them given their potency. It was enough happy juice to make a Dementor produce it’s own patronus.
No wonder the witch was unconcerned about her sex drive; it was non-existent. As far as he was aware, (and unless there had been some major breakthrough in potions research in the last five years - which he highly doubted), no Potions Master had been able to perfect an anti-depressant that didn’t inhibit sexual desire.
Pleasure, happiness, and the brain’s synaptic responses to both were a tight closely bundled knot. Messing with one area caused a sympathetic or overcompensation from another. And as amazing as the brain was, it often had a difficult time of keeping confusing nervous system messages straight. Hence he reflected with a wry grin, the juxtaposition between a little bit of pain thrown in with pleasure heightened a sexual act.
But not for Hermione. She was of course, as previously stated in their contract negotiations a frigid bitch.
‘Oh well,’ he resigned himself, ‘it’s not like I could have her anyway.’
****
Instead of waking up with a jerk to the sound of her blaring alarm clock Hermione snuggled deeper into her soft duvet. She was holding on to the wonderful sensation of being just on the cusp of sleep and awareness. Any minute now her alarm or chirping blackberry would break her peace, but she was bound and determined to enjoy the warm comfy feeling as long as it lasted.
There was a slightly odd feeling nudging her at the back of her brain, registering that something was wrong, but Hermione mentally shooed it away. The sheets were so soft and smelled slightly of herbal soap that she couldn’t help but to want to wrap herself deeper in them and shut the rest of the world out.
When her eyelids finally relinquished their evening duties Hermione gasped to notice how bright the light hit her eyes. She always woke before the sun was up. The second thing she noticed was her sheets were a honey taupe. That was funny… her bedclothes were pale blue.
Hermione bolted upright in bed.
“You!” she screeched.
Severus peered over the top of a folder to acknowledge the witch was finally up. “Yes, and hello to you too,” he said easily.
“You let me… Oh I can’t believe you… you… you… evil man. What were you thinking? Wait!” Hermione held up her hand, “What time is it?”
Severus only shrugged; it was sometime after breakfast and before lunch. Though by the slight whine of his stomach lunch should be coming around fairly soon. “You’re the one with the wristwatch Hermione.”
Of course. After a quick glance at her watch Hermione jumped out of bed. “How dare you let me sleep til noon!” she raged. “Do you have any idea how important today is? You can’t possibly know how much you’ve ruined my day. What were you thinking letting me sleep here?”
Again Severus shrugged his shoulders. If only because it infuriated her. “Don’t get snippy with me Madam, I was the one forced to surrender my cot to you. You could at least give me the common courtesy of thanking me for it. You were certainly in no shape to apparate last night, and I’d say the sleep has done you a world of good.”
“Good? Good? What the hell would you know what’s good for me? I’ve missed half the day you moron. This will set me back weeks! Weeks!”
Hermione made a grab for the piles of parchment and notebooks Severus had laid on the floor, hastily shoving them in her satchel.
Calmly Severus replied, “You’ve only missed the daily planning meeting and production conference call, though I’m not exactly certain what a conference call is.”
“And that’s another thing!” she hissed, parchment clutched in her fist. “You had no right. No right! To go through my stuff. Just where the hell do you get off reading my intellectual property? These are trade secrets. I could sue you for this!”
Severus shrugged again, enjoying the way her eyes narrowed each time he did. “Go ahead, take me to court. You’ve already got my house. What else can you do to me? Extend my life sentence?”
*
A/N:
Non Solum Noctus – Not by night alone
Chapter Title: Fides Punica - Treachery