The Makeover - COMPLETED

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 15 ~ Initial Examination

Hermione took a deep breath and approached the near-naked wizard, drawing her wand and leaning over him slightly, the Professor’s dark eyes resting on her face as she murmured a spell. The wand’s tip turned blue and beginning with his head, Hermione passed the wand over him slowly. She was forced to look at his body as she did so. She was checking his overall health and if there were anything wrong she would have to be able to identify where the problem was.

Her amber eyes took in his strong, lean build. Severus was the first truly mature wizard she had ever seen like this. For some reason, she had believed the Potions Master was skinny, but this wasn’t the case. He had the build of an athlete, an athlete who kept himself in very good shape. As she moved the wand over him, she noticed scars along his chest and belly. Hermione colored as she passed the tip over his loins. The Potions Master shifted suddenly, making the witch drop her wand.

“Did I do that?” he purred at her, as the witch picked it back up and glared at him.

Hermione didn’t answer the smirking wizard as she leaned lower, passing the wand over his legs. Severus' eyes glinted as she did so. The witch straightened.

“Lean forward so I can do your back,” she said sharply.

Severus obediently leaned forward and Hermione started on his back, then gasped as she saw the criss-cross pattern of raised scars. There was one very large scar that started at the top of his left shoulder and ended at the top of his right buttock.

“What happened to your back, Professor?” the witch asked him, her voice almost a whisper.

“Voldemort. He used to torture me,” the wizard replied. “Those scars are from whips and scourges.”

“Oh my gods. You poor thing,” Hermione said sympathetically, her eyes filling. “Why did he torture you if you served him?”

Severus really didn’t want to talk about this.

“Suffice it to say, Miss Granger, I didn’t always tell him what he wanted to hear. Now please get on with the examination,” he said rather coldly.

“But what about this huge scar? What is that from?” the witch asked him.

Severus frowned.

“Do you really want to know, Miss Granger?” he asked her in a dark voice.

Hermione straightened and looked at him.

“Yes, I really do,” Hermione replied.

“That is a sword stroke I received for failure to deliver what the Dark Lord wanted,” the wizard said quietly.

“What did he want?” Hermione asked him.

Severus was silent for a moment.

“He wanted you,” the wizard replied, looking up at her and scowling slightly.

Hermione’s eyes widened.

“Me? Whatever for?” she asked.

“Because you were Harry Potter’s friend. He felt by taking you from him, he could get at Harry who would surely try to rescue you. He was a foolish boy. I was whipped every time I went before him without you. It had come to the point where Albus was considering sacrificing you, so the Dark Lord would not kill me. He said the safety of the wizarding world was more important than the life of one young witch and I had to live,” the Potions Master said in a rather distant voice.

Hermione felt a chill go through her. It was a horrible thing to hear…but considering how it was back then, Albus was right. But why hadn’t she been taken?

“So what happened?” she asked, “Why wasn’t I given to Voldemort?”

“I refused to take you,” the wizard said, looking at the witch. “And before you think it was some noble act on my part, I assure you…it wasn’t. I simply believed that you would be more of an asset to the wizarding world than I would be, if you were allowed to live. You were a brilliant witch, and when mature would probably been of great use to the Order if Voldemort had not been killed. When school let out and you went home, Voldemort was livid and intended to hack me to death. He must have had second thoughts and merely slit me open and let me almost bleed to death before healing me and allowing me to continue to spy for him. It wasn’t my time.”

Hermione blinked down at the wizard. He had saved her life when the Order would have given her to Voldemort. She had never known this. Severus frowned up at her.

“Stop looking at me like that Miss Granger. If I had thought there was any immediate benefit in giving you to Voldemort, I would have done it without a thought or guilt,” he sneered at her.

“The immediate benefit would have been not being tortured, Professor,” Hermione said. Her stomach was full of butterflies.

“Nonsense,” he spat at her, angry now. “The torture would have continued regardless. He enjoyed torturing me. Now, enough of this. Get on with the examination, witch.”

He stuck out his arm, Mark up, scowling blackly and not looking at the witch.

Hermione put her wand away. She would consider what the wizard had told her later. He was clearly agitated and she needed him calm and cooperative.

”All right, Professor,” she said.

The witch touched the Mark, tracing it with her finger gently, examining it. It looked like a frightful tattoo. A skull with a serpent extending from its mouth. It almost looked alive.

“When was the last time you received a Phantom Summons, Professor, and what was the duration of it?” she asked him, still studying the mark.

“The middle of last month. It lasted about two hours,” he replied, still looking away from the witch.

“On a scale of one to ten, what would you say the pain factor was,” she asked him.

The wizard considered.

“Initially an eight, but by the time it ended, it was a ten,” the wizard responded.

Hermione looked at him. The summons must have been painful indeed for the Professor to give it a ten after all the torture he’d gone through.

“How do you deal with the pain?” she asked him.

“I dance the Charleston,” the wizard said sarcastically. Then, “How do you think I deal with it, Miss Granger? It’s pain. I suffer through it. I have no choice.”

“Have you ever attempted to answer the summons in the hope that the pain would stop?” she asked the wizard.

“Yes. It didn’t work,” he said, his brows drawing together. “I was transported to the graveyard where Wormtail resurrected him during your fourth year. There was nothing there but graves and tombs. The summons continued to burn. There was no relief.”

Hermione was aware that every deatheater that answered the Phantom Summons was drawn to the graveyard and that the Ministry had investigated it thoroughly. Still, she needed to know the Potions Master’s findings.

“The length and intensity of pain varies from summons to summons, doesn’t it?” Hermione asked the wizard.

Severus nodded.

Hermione straightened. This was the first test.

“All right, Professor. I have found a way to get a reaction from the Mark, causing it to glow on the dead limbs. I want to see if I can replicate that response on your Mark,” she said to the wizard.

Severus frowned. When the Mark glowed, that meant pain.

“I believe that will be quite painful, Spells Mistress,” he said.

“It could be,” she agreed, “I don’t know, Professor. It isn’t my intention to cause you pain…if you don’t want to do it…”

Severus sighed. Albus had ordered him to help the witch.

“Go ahead,” he said.

Hermione hesitated for a moment, then drew her wand. She made a circular motion over the mark, then held her wand steady. Severus could feel power flowing into the Mark.

“Tell me what’s happening,” Hermione said.

“It’s beginning to tingle,” the Potions Master said, looking down at the Mark. Suddenly the snake began to writhe slightly and his flesh started to heat up.

“It feels like a summons is coming on,” the wizard said, beginning to grit his teeth as the Mark grew brighter. Suddenly it flared and the Potions Master gasped with pain, pulling his arm away and clutching the Mark. The pain began to quickly subside.

“I’m sorry,” Hermione said. “But now at least I know I am able to duplicate a summons magically.

“Yessss. At least you know that,” Severus repeated with a scowl as he rubbed his arm.

“Let me see your arm,” Hermione said.

Severus looked at her a moment, then slowly extended his arm. Hermione checked it for blisters or any damage. There was none. The snake was immobile again.

“I’m going to have to take a bit of your blood,” Hermione said.

“Why?” Severus asked her, a slight hitch in his voice.

“I want to see its reaction and find out if the Mark’s effects are only local or if it’s magic is imbued in your body as a whole. Your blood will let me know that,” Hermione replied.

Severus hated giving anyone his blood. Blood could be used to create powerful deadly potions that only affected the donor. He was a bit paranoid about letting his out of his sight.

“Very well, but I want whatever blood you don’t use returned to me,” the wizard said.

“What? Why?” Hermione asked him.

“Just think of it as a personal quirk, Miss Granger,” Severus replied evenly. “My blood is precious to me.”

Hermione stared at him a moment.

“Well, you won’t mind if I keep it in stasis, will you? I will most likely be doing more than one test on it and otherwise I will have to draw fresh blood from you each time I want to try something,” the witch said. That would be a real pain to do.

“As long as you keep it in a place where it can’t be easily accessed, I have no problem with that, but when you are done with your tests, I want whatever remains returned to me,” the wizard said, his dark eyes somber. “I can’t stress the importance of this enough.”

Hermione wondered what the wizard’s hang-up was. She shrugged.

“I will keep the cooler locked and warded,” Hermione said, “Will that be enough?”

“Strongly warded,” the wizard insisted.

“Yes, strongly warded,” Hermione agreed.

Severus studied her for a moment.

“Very well, you may take the blood,” he said to her.

“Thank you,” Hermione said a bit sarcastically.

The wizard leveled his eyes at her as she retrieved the vials that would hold his blood. She approached him and said a spell, sticking the tip of her wand against a vein in his forearm. The wizard flinched slightly, then watched closely as the two vials filled with rich, crimson blood. Hermione took the wand away and quickly cast a stasis spell on both vials, then put them in the cooler, make a great show of warding it securely.

Severus screwed up his face at her display.

“All that isn’t necessary, Miss Granger. Silly wand-waving has never impressed me,” he said to the witch. “Just make sure the wards are strong.”

Hermione sighed, finished warding the cooler and walked back over to the wizard. Gods, he was well-built. His muscles flexed as he sat up straighter in the chair.

“Is there anything else you want to do to me?” Severus asked her silkily as she stopped beside him. His eyes glittered and Hermione got the distinct impression he wasn’t referring to further mark-related examination. She colored.

“Not at the moment, Professor. This was just an initial examination,” she said, her voice sounding a bit strained.

Hermione then waved her wand over the wizard, casting a spell. The Professor felt warmth settle over him and sink in.

“What did you just do?” he demanded.

“I put a small alarm ward on you that will tell me when you are in pain,” the witch said. “I need to know when your Mark is invoked, so I can record what happens…maybe I will be able to help you with the pain.”

Hermione then walked over to the counter and picked up a small oval shaped item and pointed it at him. She clicked a button on top.

“Now, what is that?” he asked her.

“It’s a Track-a-Port. It turns you into a kind of port key destination. I will be able to port key to your side wherever you are. It is a device created by Fred and George Weasley. When the ward goes off, I will port key to you,” Hermione said. “I will have it with me at all times.”

Severus scowled. He didn’t like the witch having access to him like this. But damn it, it was part of her work on the Mark so he had to allow it. Then the wizard smirked. If he should be summoned in the dead of night, and Miss Granger port keyed to him, she would get quite a surprise, since he slept buck naked. Or what if he were in the shower? Hm. This could become quite interesting.

“Will you be taking it on your dates?” Severus inquired, easing into more personal conversation

The witch’s face fell.

“No. Currently I’m not dating,” Hermione admitted.

“Did your little Auror dump you?” the wizard asked, knowing this wasn’t the case.

Hermione frowned at the wizard.

“No, he didn’t dump me. I just found out we weren’t compatible,” she said evenly.

Severus looked at her.

“Isn’t that a shame, Miss Granger? All fixed up and nowhere to go,” he purred at her.

Hermione badly wanted to tell the wizard to shut up. Severus knew it too, by the mutinous look in her eyes. He smirked nastily then suddenly stood up, stepping close to her, the witch looking directly at his naked torso as he towered over her. She backed up.

“Do I make you nervous, Miss Granger?” he asked her silkily.

“A little. I’m not used to being alone with half-naked wizards,” she replied, her voice quavering a little.

“Oh, so naked wizards are more your forte,” Severus said, mirth in his dark eyes.

“No!” Hermione said vehemently, then caught herself. “No, I’m not used to naked wizards either.”

“Have you ever seen a wizard naked, Miss Granger? Other than in books I mean,” the wizard said in a low voice. “If you are curious…”

The witch colored.

“No, and no I am not curious, Professor. I got excellent grades in biology, thank you. I know what the male body looks like,” she responded, walking around the wizard and pretending to fix her parchments. “You can dress now. I’m done with you,” she said, hoping her voice sounded stronger than it was.

“Are you really?” he asked her, his voice soft…but there was something in its inflection that caused a bit of heat in the witch’s belly. Gods, he had to get out of here.

“Yes, I am. Please get dressed, Professor,” Hermione said. There was a bit of pleading in her tone.

Severus chuckled and picked up his robes. He put them on and buttoned them up securely.

“I’m ‘presentable’ now, Miss Granger. You can stop pretending to straighten your parchments and look at me,” the wizard said as Hermione flushed again. Was she that obvious?

Hermione turned around.

“Thank you for your cooperation today, Professor. I will let you know when I want to see you next,” Hermione said, relieved the wizard was leaving. His presence was a bit disturbing.

Severus looked at the witch consideringly.

“Before I leave, Miss Granger, I would like to ask you something,” the wizard said.

Hermione felt her stomach tighten.

“Go ahead,” she replied, her eyes meeting his.

“This makeover you had…what drove you to do it?” he asked her.

Hermione hesitated.

“I just got tired of looking the way I did. I wanted to look better,” she replied.

Severus nodded.

“So you did this for yourself?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she responded.

“Were you hoping this change would attract wizards, Miss Granger?” the Professor asked her, his black eyes seeming to look right through her. If she lied, he’d know it. The Professor always seemed to know when she lied, even as a student.

“Well…yes,” she admitted.

“And why do you want to attract wizards, Miss Granger,” Severus pressed her.

“Why does any witch want to attract a wizard, Professor? To find someone to love of course,” she replied.

Severus’ lip quirked.

“So it’s love you’re after. Romantic affiliation. Emotional commitment. The higher notion of male and female interaction,” he said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. “You think all that is necessary to be involved with a wizard?”

“Yes, I do,” Hermione replied.

“So naïve,” the wizard said under his breath, turning to exit the lab.

Hermione bristled. She was well-educated and hardly naïve about anything. Maybe sex, but she knew all the mechanics behind it…so had a working knowledge if not actually hands on.

“Naïve? What do you mean, naïve? I’m not naïve,” Hermione declared, her hands on her hips.

Suddenly the Potions Master turned back around and strode toward her, backing the witch against the counter, his body inches from her own, gazing down at her…his face unreadable as Hermione gasped at his closeness. Her heart began to pound as the wizard lowered his head, his mouth just a hair’s breath away from hers.

“I am a wizard who exudes nothing of romantic affiliation, emotional commitment, or any higher notions, Miss Granger…but you would let me kiss you if I desired,” he said silkily, his warm breath washing over her.

Hermione looked hypnotized, her head tilted back as she looked up at him. She felt she couldn’t breathe.

“My closeness has an effect on you. You think you are looking for love, but it is not as involved as that. In a manner of speaking, Miss Granger, you are ‘in heat.’ You would settle for a sexual experience if the wizard aroused you enough. But you are trying to take the safe, acceptable route. Or what you consider ‘acceptable.’ A few dates with a wizard, a chaste kiss here and there, the slow build-up, the proper amount of ‘time’ to ‘develop’ feelings culminating in ‘lovemaking.’ You would consider it ‘wrong’ to just let go and get fucked the way you secretly wanted without wasting all that time. That’s what I mean by ‘naïve’ witch,” Severus said, backing away from her.

“You’ve got a lot to learn, Miss Granger,” the wizard said, his dark eyes seeming to burn into hers. Then he turned and exited the lab.

Hermione stood frozen against the counter, breathing heavily, her entire body tingling from head to toe. Dear gods that had been intense.

The witch rubbed her hands over her face and straightened, drawing in deep breaths to calm herself. He was wrong. She wouldn’t have let him kiss her…she wouldn’t have let him touch her.

But deep inside, a part of her knew she would have.

And it frightened her.

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A/N: Whoo! :::fanning::: Severus, Severus, Severus. You’re putting the bug in Hermione’s ear…or knickers rather. She’s scared now…and what is she scared of? We all know. Please review.