Deliver Me

Chapter XVI – New Beginnings


“All you can say, is you care? You care! You care?” it was an angry question to question his statement.

“Need I repeat myself?”

She was agitated, smacked him, got up and walked away. There was nowhere to go, so she locked herself in his bathroom.

Well he wasn’t really expecting that.

Severus stayed stationed in his chair almost dumbfounded by what just happened. What the hell was the matter with her, he thought to himself.

He got up, magically undid the door’s lock and blasted it open.

She was sitting at the edge of the bathtub looking at him clearly unamused at his elaborate entrance. Hermione raised an eyebrow.

She’s turning into me now, he smiled inwardly.

He continued to glare at her rubbing his jaw, where her hands had made contact.

“Well aren’t we violent,” he said silkily, “Do tell, why whenever you are presumably angry, you resort to violence? If I’m not mistaken, you assaulted Mister Malfoy in your third year?”

“I punched him. There is a difference. He deserved it, and so did you,” she disputed.

“It isn’t very ladylike.”

“Ladies are in company with gentlemen, as you see, there aren’t any in my presence.”

“I am not amused nor am I intimidated by you Hermione. At the most I’m greatly displeased.”

“Just shut it,” she groaned making her way out the door.

He grabbed her and hauled her up against the wall pressing his weight against her.

She inhaled sharply and winced, “You aren’t any less violent, sir,” she let out raggedly.

“I am a Death Eater, remember?” his words were like an icy knife cutting through her. His admission had its desired effect and she felt a shrill run through her body.

His arms were parallel at either side of her head and he moved his leg between her knees, she was stuck.

She never once broke her eye contact with him, “How could I forget, I’m sure you use to have girls, such as myself, all the time, any time, however you wanted them - down on their knees and your probably shared with Malfoy senior. Dear sir, I am in no way as naïve as you think I am, nor am I inapt to believing that you so much as ‘care’. You choose your words quite well. I applaud you.”

He moved his hips against her stomach increasing the pressure between her and the wall. Whatever the desired effect it was not sensual, more like painful.

“What do you want me to tell you? That I love you and can’t live without you?” he asked menacingly.

“Contrary to your popular belief, no,” she answered.

“Then, pray tell, what do you want?” his voice like hot velvet.

“If you bend in any closer, you’ll probably exterminate any possibilities of any hopes of mine for procreation, I can barely breathe with you this close to me as it is.”

“Deal with it. Answer my question.”

“What do I want?” she asked.

He rolled his eyes in impatience, “Yes.”

“Freedom from you,” she hissed.

“We established that, anything else?” he asked sarcastically.

“I told you I want to get away from y-” she was cut off by his hand around her mouth.

“Stop playing games with me, no bullshit this time woman. You are not moving until you give me a straight answer,” he said angrily.

She blinked and tried to nod her head in acceptance. Those black depths of his eyes, those ebony dark pools were beginning to make her uneasy.

“Do you want the truth?” her voice was beaten and her eyes soft.

“That is the point,” he was sharp.

That angered her. The man seemed compassionless and obscenely rude!

The fire that slowed down in her eyes, sparked back up with his last comment and she tried to raise her hands up to push him away, possible hurt him in the process if she could.

“No you don’t.”

She was breathing quite hard and she narrowed her eyes at him. His hands were locked around her wrists that were pinned against the wall.

“Talk to me,” there was softness in his voice, she was not expecting that, “I want to help you.”

“You do?” she looked like she didn’t believe him.

“Why else would I go through all this?”

“I don’t know.”

“I want to try, Hermione.”

“Try what?” her voice was low and feeble.

“To help you.”

She leaned her head towards him almost like she was going to kiss him, only she didn’t. She diverted her head to the side and leaned in against his cheek.

He released her hands and she placed them around his waist as he cradled her shoulders.

“You give love, you get love. It’s that easy. It all happens in the end. So no, I don’t want you to tell me you love me and can’t live without me. If you didn’t mean it truly, then it wouldn’t be worth saying. Some things are sacred and that’s one of the things that I believe are,” she whispered in his ear.

“You are very wise for your years, Hermione,” he told her softly.

“Sometimes I think you are not wise enough,” she replied and she wasn’t sure if she heard him correctly when he said in a light, tender chuckle, “You have no idea how right you are.”

He looked down at her.

She looked up at him, “Can you do something for me?”

He looked a bit apprehensive at her, “Yes?”

“Can you just hold me, please? Just this last time,” she asked.

“Last time?” he inquired.

“Last time,” she responded, though he thought she was surely joking.

He picked up her and took her over to the couch by his fireplace; he rested her down, sat beside her and motioned her into his arms.

She sat on his lap and rested her head on his shoulder looking at the flames. He cradled her like a babe and let his head lay gently on hers.

Hermione moved her hands over to his face and looked up at him, motioning him towards her, “Kiss me.”

“No,” and his lips were getting closer to hers.

“Kiss me.”

“I told you ‘no,’” and his lips met hers, slow, soft and long.

Her head was spinning in ecstasy from his kisses.

“I want you,” she told him.

“Not yet,” he replied.

“Yes,” she retorted between kisses.

“No, dearest, the next time I have you, and I will, it will be just the right time.”

She didn’t like that, “I want you.”

“I know.”

“You’re full of yourself.”

“I know,” he was sucking her bottom lip slowly.

“And you’re self righteous,” her hands where gliding through his hair, deepening his kisses manually.

“I know that too,” he told her as he kissed the side of her lips moving down to her chin and grasping her mouth again.

She moaned and moved her lips to his cheek, “Stop saying you know everything.”

He nipped her ear lobe and sexily hissed, “Oh but I do.”

His nips ran down her neck and back up.

“Do you now?” she asked moving her head downwards trying to find his lips again.

“What do you think?” and he told her riding her mouth again.

“I think you have you’re too arrogant for you own good.”

“You like arrogant men.”

“Malfoy arrogant and I’m not snogging him am I?

He let out a soft laugh against her lips.

He slowed down when he was sure she was intoxicated from his kisses and told her to close her eyes.

She snuggled into the crook of his neck, trying to get as close to him as possible.

Severus held her tightly and stroked her hair until they both dozed off in each other’s arms.

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“I’m glad your back Hermie, I missed ya,” Ron told her at Monday’s lunch break.

She giggled, “I missed you too Mister Weasley.”

“Oh, hey look at what Charlie sent me,” he told her handing her a bracelet.

“It’s a bracelet,” she stated the obvious, “You’re not turning queer are you?”

“Don’t be silly, course not, it’s made of dragon scales, quite manly I think,” he told her.

“I’ll bet you do,” she laughed and he made a face at her, “Fine, it’s manly,” she retreated.

And a smile reached his face.

“Hey guess what?” Harry said coming over to their portion of the table.

“Snape’s gone and a really hot veela is going to be our new potions mistress?” inquired Seamus listening in on their conversation.

Hermione shot him a dark look, Ron laughed and Harry rolled his eyes.

“No,” Harry explained, “Mystic Mayhem is having a ‘harem night’ tonight at eleven for seventh years as a closing to winter and a kick off to spring and of course N.E.W.T.S.”

“Oh, that sounds awesome!” Seamus shot.

“We have lessons!” Hermione protested.

“Umm, yea and they end at like eight. More than ample time for us to get ready and go out again,” Ron conjured.

“But we need to study,” she scowled.

“Oh, c’mon Hermione, get your knickers out of a knot, let’s go, you haven’t been out all semester,” said Harry.

She frowned even more.

“It’ll be fun, I’ll harass Dean, Parvati and Lavender,” Seamus pointed out.

“And I’ll talk to Neville and Luna next period, we can make a mini event out of it, I’ll find Roger and Padma too. It’ll be loads of fun,” Ron suggested.

“So it’s settled, we’re going to Harem Night!” Harry put the final words on it.

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Hermione walked into the dungeons around seven in the evening for an hour-long follow-up session on research with Snape.

“Good Evening, Hermione,” he said as she walked in, he was sitting at the edge of his desk watching her enter.

“Evening professor,” she sat at one of the desks and took some of the parchments into her hands and began to read.

He watched her every moved intently and quite confusingly, she was separating herself from him.

“Professor, this makes no sense, I don’t follow,” she pointed to the parchment in her hand, “If you steam the bat wings with the Venus dew and then boil it with the skagger pus, how does that help heal a zmbora-jellyfish sting? Wouldn’t it have no effect? When you boil skagger pus doesn’t it evaporate into nothing?”

“Very good observation, Hermione,” he was using her name, “but, because you are steaming the Venus dew, the consistency thickens, and when boiled with the skagger pus created a thicker non-evaporating substance.”

She nodded in comprehension and continued to read the parchments as he continued to gaze at her.

When she didn’t look back up at him for at least five minutes, he went over and stood in front of her.

She didn’t look up.

He leaned in.

She continued reading.

He bent in further and put his hands on both sides of her hips on the table that she was sitting on top of.

She continued to read.

“Interesting isn’t it?” he asked.

And when she did finally look up, the ebony eyes before her shocked her for their intense, close presence.

Hermione moved her head slightly back a little, trying to get him, the room and those eyes into focus.

“Yes, quite, interesting,” she stammered.

He enjoyed the confusion on her face.

Severus leaned in to kiss her and she turned her head away. He growled out loud in dissatisfaction and grabbed a fistful of her hair and made her face him.

Her eyes were calm and he released his fist and just let his fingers swirl around her hair.

“If that’s it, I think I should go,” she told him.

He glanced at his watch, it was only seven-thirty, surely he could keep her…make her stay for another half hour.

What the hell was the matter with him? He was supposed to be the one showing no interest in the opposing party. She looked completely uninterested. She was supposed to be the one chasing him, why was he trying to make her stay? He couldn’t care less, or did he?

“I think not,” he hissed.

“What would you like for me to do next?” she asked him.

“What would you like to do?” he asked.

That confused her a little.

“I…”

“You?”

“I…”

“Yes, Hermione?”

“I…”

“I know the meaning of the word ‘I’, what is it that you want?”

“Can I …”

“Can you what?”

“…leave early?”

He wasn’t expecting that answer.

He peered at her, “Pray tell, why?”

“I wanted to rest, actually,” she semi-lied. Going out with your friends and having fun, was resting, it just didn’t involve a bed and sleep.

He actually bought that answer, “Very well, you may go.”

As she got up to leave, he grabbed her and kissed her. His mouth unyielding and hard. Severus noticed she fought it at first not responding, and then she gave in … just a little. It struck him as odd.

“S…t…o…p…” she could barely get the words out of her mouth.

He didn’t stop as he heard a moan of soft and low pleasure escape her lips and he smiled against her mouth.

Their bodies meshed closer and closer together, until she could feel the warmth of his body radiating through his clothes on to her.

He was about to pull away and she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him further towards her.

If the desk she was sitting on was any longer, he probably would have laid her down; rather he pulled her upwards making her put one of her legs around his waist to prevent herself from loosing balance.

“Just one?” he whispered to her picking her up completely off the table, making her put the other one around his waist just to stay close to him.

Then he stopped.

She looked at him very confused.

He licked her cheek in one stroke, “Go.”

She was utterly breathless. She grabbed her bag and left.

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“It’s about time you got here,” Parvati exclaimed as Hermione reached the Tower.

“Sorry,” she replied.

“Nah, its fine, Padma’s in my room, we took out all of our Indian stuff, we might as well dress the part tonight,” she explained and led Hermione to her room.

It was one of those amazing things about growing up, sporting a completely different look over the past couple of years, the Patil twins no longer looked like virginal, traditional Indian girls. Not to say that looked like whores, quite the opposite, on the contrary, neither one possessed long waist length hair anymore. Rather, Padma cut hers shoulder length and highlighted it in red. Parvati on the other hand, cut hers about the same length just a little shorter in various layers and possessed perfect dyed edges in an iridescent purple blue color. And just for those special occasions when they had to adorn their hair with wild flowers, sarees and gems, all they did was cast a hair spell that lasted a couple of hours. Oh yes, the Patil twins had become the resident fashion experts at Hogwarts. Who would have thought?

“This is too cute!” Lavender squealed looked at herself in the mirror. She had on tight black leather pants, which were complemented by Padma’s two-toned, deep pink and orange, Indian silk, triangle halter-top. Lavender was definitely pleased with herself. She added glitter to her eyes and blew a kiss at her reflection.

The girls rolled their eyes.

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"Let's Go! Will you hurry it up?" Harry shouted at Hermione, who was in her bedroom, still dressing.

It was 10:30pm and Harry was going to strangle her if she didn't hurry up.

“This is such déjà vu,” Ron stated as they waited with their posse consisting of the Patil twins, Lavender, Luna, Seamus, Dean, Roger and Neville.

"I swear, Hermione if you don't get down here in two minutes I'm going to go up there and get you, dressed or not! Hermione!" Harry yelled.

“Chill!” screamed Padma, “You’re giving me a blasted headache!” He ignored her.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled, on his way to the girl’s hallway of Gryffindor, "Hermione I'm coming in, you better have clothes on!"

Just as he was about to open her door, she opened for him, and his jaw dropped.

Hermione was wearing slim fitting, low draw string capris that did more than just flaunt her figure, which looked extra extended by the mere fact that five inch stilettos were attached to her feet. She borrowed a very low V-neck, backless halter from Parvati, who nicked it her ‘top of tantra’ for its lack of material. It was again, another one of those two-toned, Indian silk numbers, in green and aqua that were just perfect for the nights. Parvati even put a cobra on her back lined in gems to add to the effect because her hair was up.

“You look…”

“Yes?”

"Amazing! Is that kajal?" Harry asked referring to the strong mascara marks around her eyes.

“How did you know?”

“Lavender is fascinated by the stuff, she’s been blabbing about it for the past twenty minutes and how she’s never going back to regular eye liner ever again, and blah blah blah…”

She laughed, “and look!” she pointed at the aquamarine diamond like bindi Padma gave her for the middle of her forehead.

“I must say, Hermione, if I didn’t think of you like a sister, I would offer to shag you based on tonight’s ensemble alone.”

“Harry Potter!” she laughed.

He turned the same embarrassing shade of red that Ron was famous for.

"Whatever, everyone's waiting, let's go," and with that they left.

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Mystic Mayhem was totally redecorated for the night’s festivities. Belly Dancers, Fire Blowers, Veelas lounging in filled and tall champagne glasses and multi-colored laser and strobe lights flashing everywhere.

“Oh I love this look!” exclaimed Parvati, “It reminds me of a watered down version of Club Sutra.”

“Club Sutra?” asked Neville.

“It’s this place in Mumbai. Padma and I visited family over there last summer, Club Sutra is … well… this is cleaner than Club Sutra.”

Padma laughed.

“I don’t get it?” asked Neville.

“You know Club Tantra in London?” she asked.

“No,” he answered.

“Have you ever heard of Karma Sutra? Book of love amongst other things?” she asked.

“Of course,” Dean answered.

“Yea? So?” asked Roger.

“Think of the book, no actual sex going on, and the looks of this place times about ten,” Padma explained.

Seamus and Ron’s jaws dropped in union.

“That is Club Sutra. Club Tantra is its sister club in England,” Parvati said.

“You were like 16! They let you in?” exclaimed Roger.

“Like we said, there was no ‘real’ sex going on,” Padma defended.

“So Harry when do you want to visit India?” asked Ron.

“Nah, I think I’m planning a trip to London,” inferred Seamus.

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Sometime later, Hermione and Harry were sitting in a corner sipping their drinks talking amongst themselves watching everyone else dance.

“What time do we have to be back? What time is curfew tonight?” Hermione asked him poking the whipped cream atop his pina colada with her finger before tasting it.

“Um, it’s at three,” he told her. “Merlin, you make that look sexy.” Watching the cream on her fingertips touch her lips.

She giggled, “Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

He grinned sheepishly. “So how what’s up Hermione? I feel like I haven’t had a conversation with you in ages.”

She laughed, “Nothing much Harry, what’s up with you?”

“Much of the same. But, Merlin, Hermione, you won’t believe this, but Dudley got a girlfriend!”

She almost choked, “You’re kidding!”

“Yea, I was just as surprised. Mrs. Figg told me! She owled me the other day, to make sure I was fine and gave me a little update on the Durseley’s.”

“That’s hilarious.”

“It gets better, guess her name?”

“Give me a hint.”

“Think of Dudley’s name and think of something that is just as ear wrenching as that?”

“Dudley and Derris?”

“No.”

“Dudley and Della?”

“Think Dudley and something that rhymes with Nymphadora.”

“Nothing rhymes with Nymphadora.”

“Dampsadora rhymes with Nymphadora perfectly well.”

“You’re kidding! That’s an awful name for a child, it’s not even a real name!”

“To the Woodings it is.”

“Dampsadora Wooding?”

Harry nodded.

“Good Heavens. Where did they come up with that one?”

“I’d be frightened to know.”

“I can’t picture you half wit-cousin being nice to anyone.”

“Neither can I, but Mrs. Figg, said its’ a sight to see. He’s always giving her flowers, and chocolates, and he’s inviting her over for tea almost everyday.”

“What are you talking about?” Seamus said coming over.

“Harry’s spoiled cousin,” Hermione answered.

“Dudders?” he asked.

“Dudley,” Harry corrected.

“Same difference, who names their kid that anymore anyway?” he grabbed a drink and sat down.

“Gods, I’m glad we went out tonight, this was awesome. We have to do this more often,” Roger said coming over to the table.

“What time is it?” Hermione asked again.

“Five minutes past two,” Harry smiled.

“Harry take me for a walk,” she asked.

“Now?”

“Now. I think the smoke from the hookah’s are bothering me.”

“Okay, you want to go to the Three Broomsticks?”

“Yea that’s fine.”

“Okay, we’ll met you guys over there in forty to floo back to the castle,” Harry told Seamus walking out with Hermione.

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“Feel better?” he asked her once they were sitting in the Three Broomsticks.

“Yea.”

“So…”

“So…”

She smiled.

“How are things with, umm, Snape?” he asked.

“They are there.”

“Okay.” He was expecting more of an answer, but was willing to take whatever it could get her to talk about.

“Well not really, I’m trying to distance myself from him.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

She looked at him in total shock, “I thought you didn’t like him?”

“I don’t, but he makes you happy, then why not? He does make you happy right?”

“Yes, of course, but I don’t make him feel the same way.”

“So?”

“Harry, I’m not going to waste my time pursuing someone who doesn’t love me back, much less, someone who can’t stand me or half the things that I do. I’d rather invest my time elsewhere. Finish my thesis project, get all I can from it, cut all ties and go.”

“Go where?”

“Anywhere, that isn’t near him.”

“And where would that be?”

“Actually, and don’t get mad Harry.”

“I would never be mad at you.”

“My other cousin, my uncle David’s son, William, you remember William?”

“The one that lives in New York, yea I remember.”

“Well after graduation, I was thinking of taking some time off and visiting him.”

“For how long?”

“Indefinitely.”