A Terrible Temptation

A/N - I really do have much of this planned out before hand, with the occasional detour that the characters want to make, kinda like those tours of Europe where all the destinations are planned out, but the choice of where to eat is up to you. This challenge is hard because Hermione is not allowed to find out about the switch until it is over, so considering how very smart she is and how very unlike Harry Severus is...One has to tap dance rather quickly to keep it believable. I hope this chapter will fill in some blanks for you. Blame Kate for the fact that EPU won\'t have a chapter today.:) She made me re-write this chapter again. Yes, the chapter is tons better, no, there won\'t be a chapter for EPU. SORRY!!!!!!

Thanks to: Genrou (Stop reading my mind, you!), tifsuz (LOL), Imhilien, ShagsTheDustmop, heartnut, Deeble(ROFL - Yes it was up to your usual standards), Deb, Campy, Talene, Kiristeen, Tarrin, Phoenix, Kalina, Dame Niamh, spaz, Redone, Abra, Mel, Red, Helen, Ancientgirl, Lizski and Laura. I love you all!


Chapter 17 – Cat Magic

Minerva leaped from the banister to the steps and padded down the stairs, whiskers twitching. The darkened halls were lit like daylight to her feline eyes and she had no trouble nosing out the trysting couples whose occupancy of unused classrooms and closets after curfew was strictly forbidden.

Shooing Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini from a closet was particularly satisfying. The points taken from Slytherin as well as the potential House scandal amused her no end. Draco Malfoy was having a very bad month.

She wished she could tell Severus, but her evening chats with him had ended after the body switch. She missed conversations like the one they had had tonight. Usually she had just popped into his office and they had traded friendly insults and gloated over the points they had deducted from each other’s Houses and in general groused to each other about classes and the idiot children they had to teach.

She supposed she knew the irritable and sarcastic Potions Master about as well as anyone did. Certainly she knew him far better than Albus did, despite his belief in his own omniscience.

She was just turning the corner to head down the main staircase when Crookshanks materialized from the shadows. No matter how many years she had lived as an animagus, the haneazneazle had her beat on sheer sneakiness.

“Hey, gorgeous.” Crookshanks purred. Minerva chuckled, making her whiskers tremble. His flirtation was a game they had played for some years now.

“Good evening, Crookshanks.” She replied primly and sitting back on her haunches, she tucked her tail neatly over her toes.

“What’s a lovely ball of fluff like you doing in a place like this?” He asked her with a leer.

“Slumming, of course.” She yawned elegantly, displaying her disdain for him and he grinned back at her, amused by the by-play.

“About that job you gave me, I’ve been doing my best to keep her unaware, but She-who-provides-food is in heat for Cat Nip Man. She hasn’t yet noticed the scent difference between him and RuffFur,Fur, but I doubt I can keep her distracted for very much longer.” Minerva blinked again, this time in surprise.

“Really?” this was an interesting development.

“She’s dreaming about Cat Nip Man but thinks she has the mating urge for Ruffled Fur; it’s ruined her naptime and making her ignore me.” Crookshanks complained with a flick of his tail.

“Can’t have that, now can we?” Minerva drawled. “How much longer can you keep Hermione from figuring things out? If she starts treating Severus differently than Harry his life could be in danger.” Minerva stretched, loosening her back muscles and thinking hard.

“Another couple of weeks, tops. She-who-idesides-food is pretty smart for a human.” Crookshanks didn’t include Minerva in the category of human. He seemed to think that her occasional lapses into a less elegant form were somrt ort of mistake on her part; after all, who wouldn’t want to be a cat full time?

“I hope that’s long enough to get Severus back into his own body.” Minerva cleaned her whiskers thoughtfully.

“Me too, I want my supply of cat nip to come back.” Crookshanks rolled on his back in a display of cheerful hedonism. “He always has the finest California Green.” The tomcat purred.

“Ever the thoughtful and self-sacrificing soul, I see.” Minerva chortled, her tail quivering in amusement.

“I am a cat.” Crookshanks looked at her with a touch of exasperation. “Someday, Silver Fur, you will learn to enjoy life as it comes and take pleasure in all the small important things.” Looking into the huge gold eyes, Minerva was startled by the gentle rebuke. There was a deep wisdom in the half-kneazle, an understanding that went beyond her imagining.

“I look forward to that day.” She replied honestly and Crookshanks gave her a tail flick of farewell and was gone.

Severus woke feeling miserable and groggy. His bed curtains were drawn and his erection was pressing against his pajama bottoms with urgency. He had been dreaming about Hermione and the results of the dream were going to require a cleaning charm. In his own body, he might have had a hope in hell of getting the tented sheets to subside through meditation but Mr. Potter’s body was rarely so obliging.

There was always the slight feeling of wrongness in him when he had to attend to these troubles, not to ion ion the dream. Both Potter and Hermione were his charges, students under his care. He had, at one time, thought that his restraint around the students was due more to fear for his job than any moral constraint, but he was having to reevaluate much of that reasg, ag, along with a great deal else. He was discovering a noble streak in himself that he found quite revolting.

Images from his dream came rushing into his mind, of Hermione arching beneath him, calling out his name as she climaxed. The flash of remembered dream served to motivate his fingers as he grasped the shaft of his penis and slipped it free of the pajama bottoms. His wand was under his pillow and a quick lubricating charm was all that was needed to prepare himself.

The sensitive head rubbing on the underside of the sheet added to the conflicting sensations of soft skin and hard calluses wrapped around the shaft. He tried not to think about whose body he was in as he methodically stroked himself. He had resisted the need to relieve the pressure growing behind his balls for some days now and the memory of last night’s gentle caress, the warmth and softness of her skin beneath his fingers, sent him over the edge far faster than he had expected. He knew that despite his best efforts to keep silent, Hermione’s name had slipped from between his lips as light flashed behind his eyes and his seed spurted with his release. He prayed no one had heard, especially Ron.

A quick cleaning charm took care of the outer residue but he still felt vaguely dirty and rather frustrated. He wanted out of this body and back into his own. He wanted to tell Hermione how he felt but he also didn’t want to go against the Headmaster’s wishes.

He rose and stumbled to the shower. It was Saturday and the game against Slytherin was today. He washed, feeling like he wanted to scrub the whole past month away. He was being torn in two by conflicting desires and thoughts. He wanted to win -- all Slytherins did -- but he didn’t want to beat his own House.

He wanted Hermione. He wanted her so much that he was growing hard again in the shower. He wrenched the knob to cold and felt himself whither under the onslaught of the icy water. He wanter ber but he didn’t want her dead. He turned off the water and turned to meet Ron’s knowing glance. Damn.

“Morning, Harry.” Ron had his own towel around his waist and his arms crossed as he watched his friend.

“Morning, Ron.” Severus mumbled, feeling obscurely guilty in ways he didn’t understand completely. Ron shot him a seductive glance and leaned towards him. Severus jerked back from the look in Ron’s eyes with something akin to panic.

“You’ve been avoiding me, baby, and I’ve missed you.” Ron glanced up at him from under his lashes and Severus felt his gorge rising. Please, Merlin, don’t let it be true. He searched frantically through Potter’s memories for any indication that he was queer and shagging Ron and found nothing.

“Uh, beg your pardon?” He stuttered out, pulling the towel tight about him and stumbling backwards. His reaction seemed to confirm something for the redhead because he dropped the seductive act instantly and gave Severus an appraising look.

“You are acting very strangely, Harry. Normally you would have gone along with the joke and made some stupid comment about me being a poofter, not turned green at the gills. What is going on, Harry?” Ron asked him with pursed lips and an expression startlingly reminiscent of Molly Weasley.

“I really wish I could tell you, Ron.” That was the honest truth; he wished he had someone who knew Hermione really well that he could talk to about his feelings and about the conflict within him. Despite their often combative and turbulent history, he suspected that Ronald Weasley would be a good listener.

“I’m not stupid kno know.” Ron retorted very gently. He looked around the empty bathroom and sighed. “I may not be a Slytherin, but even I can’t miss the obvious.” It was a self-deprecating little speech and it made Severus smile. His feelings for Hermione must have been pretty blatant for Ron to notice them.

“I never thought you were stupid, Ron.” He answered with partial truth. He never did k thk the boy was stupid, just thoughtless, reckless and as subtle as a bludger.

“Well, you certainly made me think that you did.” Ron replied and then dropped his bombshell. “Professor Snape.”

Severus’ jaw dropped and he saw the gleam of triumph in Ron’s eyes. His mind whirled trying to figure out where he could have blundered the act so badly.

“How did you know?” There was no point in hiding it now and Albus would be upset if he obliviated the

“It was in everything you did and said. Harry may be a prat sometimes, but he doesn’t snark and he would never say ’Boo’ to Draco Malfoy, or call him a slack-jawed mediocrity, either. He’d call him a wanker, but none of the rest of that.” Ron was watching him with an amused smile that Severus found rather irritating.

“It’s been a very long time since I was seventeen.” Severus admitted, toweling himself off and heading into the bedroom. The others had already left and he was alone witn Wen Weasley.

“So why isn’t Harry in your body?” Ron asked the last question Severus had expected.

“The potion and portkey combination didn’t work as well on his immature mind as they did on me.” Ron frowned and Severus continued, cutting him off. “I am not insulting Potter, Ron, it’s a matter of age. His mind simply hasn’t developed sufficiently for the potion to be as effective.” Ron paused and nodded.

“Is this who you really are then, when you aren’t playing spy?” Severus closed his mouth, stunned at having been caught off-guard again by Ron. “I’ve been watching you for a while, trying to figure it all out, but it wasn’t until Dumbledore stopped you from kissing ‘Mione that I knew for sure.” Severus flushed at the mention of his loss of control.

“I shouldn’t have allowed it to get that point.” Severus admd. “d. “She’s much too young for me.” They both dressed and an awkward silence descended.

“Do you like her?” Ron asked and his crossed arms sligslightly aggressive stance precluded any lies on Severus’ part. Ron looked as though the very idea made him slightly ill, but that he was manfully trying to stomach it for Hermione’s sake.

“Ron, if Voldemort ever had even the slightest suspicion that I thought Hermione was anything other than a pain in my arse, ouldould make certain that she was the centerpiece of Death Eater festivities at his next gathering.” Ron’s face had paled at the thought of what Voldemort’s loyal followers would do to his friend.

“You need to tell her, mate.” Ron’s eyes were on him and knowing that he saw Severus and not Harry when he looked at him was strangely warming. “Hermione doesn’t deal wit with being kept in the dark.”

“I know, but I can’t risk her treating me differently. You know how she is about teachers.” Severus was tired to the bone and quite sure that he couldn’t play this game for very much longer.

“True, she certainly wout hut hug you anymore.” Ron’s expression was both knowing and slightly self-conscious; he had hugged Severus, thinking that he was Harry, a few times in the past month himself.

“No, she wouldn’t.” The slight tone of regret must have been enough to clue Ron into Severus’ feelings. From the timbre of the conversation, Severus guessed that he hadn’t overheard his professor moaning Hermione’s name as he had masturbated. Severus doubted the boy could have kept himself from beating his face in if he had.

“Tell you what, you write her a letter -- anonymously, if you have to -- and post it to her. Tell her as much of the truth as you can and let her make up her own mind. The fact is, telling Hermione any sort of lie is a bad idea.” Ron shook his head with an air of vast experience.

“A letter. Not a bad idea, Ron.” He smiled at the young man and Ron Weasley walked over to him an extended a hand to where he was sitting on Potter’s bed. Severus clasped his hand and let himself be pulled to feetfeet.

“We have to beat Slytherin today.” Ron winked at him and Severus laughed.

“I will endeavor to do my best, despite my torn heart.” Severus replied with a salute to the Team Captain.

“You’d better; we are way behind this year!” The two of them went down to breakfast, still laughing.