The Seduction Game

Disclaimer: All of the Harry Potter characters and the Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling/Warnerbros. I am making no money.

Here we are! Second chapter. :)
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CHAPTER TWO: HIS SEDUCTION PLANS

Severus tried to remain calm. Lucius had just suggested seducing his former student - and that only to prove right what he believed, that he could be irrisistible to any woman if he wanted to.

Severus forged a taunting laugh. “Surely you are not implying to fool a young witch’s mind only to prove me wrong?”

“No, there are other benefits as well,” replied Lucius, glancing over at Hermione with a slight grin upon his face. “Really, proving you wrong is one of the less enjoyable sides of this idea, compared to others.”

Severus looked at Lucius with dark eyes. The jokes had gone on long enough, he had to be serious. “Lucius, you will not try to seduce that girl. She is more than half your age and - at least to some extent - a decent person. You may have escaped from Azkaban, but that does not make you immune.”

Lucius smirked. “Do I detect a spot of anger, Severus? Honestly, why would you care what I do, she is no longer your student. And I can assure you she would enjoy it almost as much as I would.”

Severus’s glare became more intent. “We still disagree on that point, and I don’t wish you to start playing again. Those days are far behind us, you know.” He glanced at Lucius, his anger thoroughly suppressed. “Or perhaps I am wrong when I say you have publically become decent? Because that is what you yourself claimed in front of the Wizengamot. If the Imperius Curse was really upon you, you wouldn’t plan on perving yourself towards young witches now that you are free of it.”

Lucius smiled. “Yes, there is definitely anger afoot! For some reason you don’t want me proving my point... I see. All right, you have made your point, Severus, and I have understood what you think of my little idea.” He lowered his voice. “Though, I suspect you have personal reasons for not wanting me to approach the Muggle-born... Am I correct?”

Severus didn’t reply, he feared whatever he said it would give him away.

Lucius smiled. “So, dear friend, I need to get moving. Perhaps I will see you during dinner tonight?” He hinted towards another door in the room, which led into a great dining hall. Then he turned and strawled away out of the British Department.

Severus wasn’t too sure if he had convinced Lucius to throw away the thoughts of his little game. Whenever something like that jumped to Lucius’s mind, he would usually pursue it whether he had anyone’s support or not. And the fact that it provoked Severus beyond reason was just an added bonus to him.

The man needed a spot of humiliation, thought Lucius to himself as he left the Department. Severus had played such an important part at the last battle, and Lucius was surprised the man was even willing to act formal with him. But, Lucius guessed, it was probably all because the Ministry of Magic had let him off. With or without Voldemort, they were still easy to convince with a sack of Galleons...

Lucius’s thoughts strayed to the girl, Hermione Granger. She wasn’t too bad looking, not at all, although she wasn’t the typical sort of pretty. Though that again could be boring, Lucius decided, and he was pleased with her body and that twinkle in her eye, he knew she could have potential. Maybe that was the reason Severus was protective of her. There was something there, Lucius could sense it. The Professor felt something, even if he didn’t know what it was himself, for that Granger. An attraction, or a lust, perhaps.

Lucius smirked to himself. The very idea of seducing the girl Severus possibly lusted for was brilliant. In fact, it was beyond brilliant, it was beautiful.

Lucius stopped his walk when the corridor walls on the right side ended, continuing with banisters from which one would have a great overlook down at the Entrance Hall and reception. Lucius went up close to the banister, putting his hands on it as he observed the happenings by the reception. There are certainly a lot of wizards and witches attending this, he thought.

Suddenly, the sound of great doors opening was heard from the end of the corridor. Lucius turned his gaze to see that it was actually Hermione Granger, accompanied by Harry Potter, the very one who’d killed his master.

Might as well start right away, thought Lucius with a grin, reminding himself that above all he had to act nicely to Potter, no matter how much he hated the man.

As Hermione and Potter approached, Lucius made his way from the banisters to the middle of the corridor and faced them with a grin. They had no choice but to stop in front of him.

“Excuse me,” smiled Lucius, his look mostly fixated upon Hermione, “but haven’t I seen you two somewhere before?”

“Yes,” said Potter coldly, “you were one of Voldemort’s supporters. And I killed him, so you ought to know who I am. As for Hermione, I hope you DON’T know who she is, she’d be better off without it.”

“Now now,” smiled Lucius, “no need to get angry, is there? I #821#8217;t know what you are talking about, Mr Potter. Yes, of course I know who you are, but only vaguely, as I was completely unaware of what I was doing during Voldemort’s times...” He looked back to Hermione again. “But where have I seen you before? There is certainly something familiar about you...”

“I went to school with Harry,” said Hermione, clearly uncertain of how to act in front of him. Potter’s angry glare was still burning. “Maybe you saw me there once.”

“Of course, yes,” smiled Lucius. “You’re Hermione Granger! My, haven’t you grown... I barely recognized you. Of course, I didn’t see much of you at all during the time you went to Hogwarts, but I daresay you have grown into a woman, haven’t you?”

Hermione didn’t do anything but smile slightly, definitely because Potter broke off before she had a chance to speak: “And you’d better watch your step, Malfoy. Although the Ministry believes in your story, I don’t. Just keep out of our way. Come on, Hermione,” he finished, walking past Lucius.

Hermione followed him without another word, but she did send Lucius a quick look as she went on.

Well, thought Lucius, that was a good first. He hadn’t impressed Potter, but that wasn’t to expect either. That one would hate him forever, there was no question about it. But Hermione Granger... She seemed to already have softened. She hadn’t actually participated in any of the very last battles, she’d been doing research for the Order of the Phoenix, and so she hadn’t seen Lucius do anything nasty that only a memory charm could erase...

Severus is going to hate me, concluded Lucius with a pleased look upon his face.

* * *

“Yes, I will be having dinner,” he informed the humble house elf. “Only a small meal though, nothing big,” he added.

“Oh, very well, sir!” squeaked the elf and ran off out through the door.

Severus’s hands rubbed his own sore neck as he thought through it all. He didn’t really want to attend dinner along with all these other unknown witches and wizards, but he had to eat, after all, and dining alone in his room every night was just stupid.

The further thoughts were more on whether or not he should have come there at all. He wasn’t going to giny lny lectures, although the Ministry - even with Albus’s support - had practically begged him to. He was one of the very few who could tell the honest inside story of the Death Eaters, but he didn’t want to do so, especially not in front of a huge crowd of strangers.

No, he’d attended only to see how the magic was developing after Voldemort’s fall. Were people doing further research to avoid anyone like him rising again? Or had they become so cocky after their victory they’d started working on finding the more decents sides of the Dark Arts? Because Severus knew all too well there weren’t any.

Oh well. The first problem to face now was dinner. He didn’t like big crowds, and to hobnob with strange magicians doing meaningless chatting.

In many ways, he should have enjoyed it. The wizarding community now thought of Professor Severus Snape as one of the great heroes of the second war, and most of them would be honoured to come face to face with him. The problem was, very few of the witches and wizards in the world who hadn’t met him knew how Severus even looked. Although he’d been written about beyond reason in the Daily Prophet, like all the other great Order members, the reporters had decided Severus looked too dark, mysterious and disturbed to be photographed - so they had settled with just using his name.

And even if he had been known by appearance, Severus didn’t like the attention. He preferred being anonymous, if he could help it.
Deciding to let the meal pass as quick and painless as possible, Severus put on his black robes and made his way to the dining hall.
It was a great hall, he had to admit to that. It had that sort of slightly darkened feel about it, with flaming torches to light up the enormous room along the walls and only with simple candlesticks on the many long tables elegantly set for dinner. Great, dark red curtains kept most of the evening August light out and the dark stone walls of the manor were not attempted brightened. At least there wasn’t some ridiculous celebration party feel to it, Severus decided with a slight sting of relief.

He had come earlier than most, he’d thought, but this thought was dismissed as he was faced with a rather filled dining room. Apparently the many British wizards and witches all decided to dine at exactly the same time...

Before managing to avoid it, and barely seconds after entering, Severus heard a voice close by saying: “Severus, old friend! Come and join me.”

It was Lucius, of course, at the nearest long table, smiling his slick smile as always, his white hair hanging loose in his neck, dressed in almost blackish green robes with hints of old Malfoy heir decorations discreetly covering areas of them. By his chair was of course the cane with the silver serpent’s head.

“Lucius,” said Severus as he took a seat next to his ex friend at the table, incapable of making up any good excuse to avoid it in time. “Still with us, I see?”

Lucius smiled. “Yes, indeed. I trust you’re still enjoying everything?” he said in the typical chit-chat way he knew Severus loathed, helping himself to a piece of the beef.

“Up to a certain point, yes,” replied Severus, he was also helping himself to the food, trying to avoid Lucius’s look upon him. As his goblet was filled by a passing elf, he spotted someone on the other side of the table, just three or four chairs further down.

“Yes, I’ve seen her as well,” smiled Lucius, quickly noticing what Severus had seen. “She is looking rather nice, isn’t she?”

Severus didn’t reply, he was too fixated on taking in Hermione to even notice Lucius’s comment.

She had certainly grown, there was no doubt about it. Hermione was wearing a black, not too formal dress in what seemed to be a silky-like material, following her every curve in the most elegant of ways. Although making her slightly pale, the black colour still made her look like a real woman, mature and passionate. The sight of Harry sitting next to her indicated it even more; he still looked like a young boy who’d outgrown his school robes.

“I must say, that dress makes her look rather beautiful, in more than one way,” Lucius went on. “Bare shoulders, I love that...” He smiled, and finally Severus looked back at him.

“May I ask what you are observing her so closely for?” he asked, trying hard to keep any emotion or personal opinion close to his heart at this point, focusing mostly on the liquid in his goblet.

“Why, Severus, I honestly thought you would have picked it up by now,” said Lucius. “You remember our discussion earlier today, don’t you?”

Severus looked at him, his gaze hard, fighting to express the anger he felt. This man just held no respect for other beings. He was going to simply toy around with Hermione, it seemed as though he had already made up his mind.

“Surely you weren’t serious,” commented Severus dryly.

“Dead serious,” replied Lucius. “As I always am when it comes to women. Only, not when I speak directly to them,” he added with a grin.
Severus found himself left with nothing but to try and convince the wizard with pure, common sense. “The very fact that you actually believe she will be attracted to you is what amuses me the most, Lucius,” he said, continuing casually on his meal.

“Yes, I know it is,” said Lucius, “which is why I said I would prove you wrong. As I will be doing. But I’ve come to understand you don’t appreciate too much my plans? You seem very persistent.”

“I believe it is a completely ridiculous idea,” said Severus simply, trying to seem as unaffected as possible, although his insides were turning. Lucius was really going to attempt this! There was only one slight hope he found himself left with: That Hermione would simply be completely disgusted with the much older Death Eater that was Lucius Malfoy. That was the most likely outcome, of course, unless - unless Lucius was as big a woman seducer as he claimed to be...

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I\'d love some reviews, as always...
Nex chapter: \"First Dance\", and here\'s a little teasy-thingy for next chapter:

Lucius had to smile he, too. Hermione had probably never experienced something quite like this before, she seemed just like the type who’d be sitting inside all day doing research and work, not bothering with a lovelife at all. This was really his chance to show her a few things...