Mastering Temptation

CHAPTER TWENTY: Snake Charmer









Hermione sat at the Potter’s kitchen table, her elbow on the table and her cheek resting in her hand. Harry had baby James over his shoulder patting the little one’s back while Ginny flitted back and forth across the kitchen preparing dinner.





“Hermione, what is wrong with you? You are normally so chipper and full of energy.” Harry was looking at her, worry furrowing his brow.







“If I’m not mistaken, Harry, last night was her night to go clubbing with Draco.” Ginny said, smoothing her hand over the baby’s dark curls as she passed by.





“Is that why you are so out of it? You stayed out all night with Malfoy?” Harry asked. Hermione yawned and sat back in the chair.





“Yes, but it wasn’t just Draco; Lucius and Severus came with us as well.” She said tiredly.





“What?” Harry’s eyes widened in surprise and Ginny slammed a pot on the stove as she turned to stare at Hermione.





“You didn’t really take Snape and Lucius Malfoy clubbing…to a muggle club?” Ginny asked, her curiosity obviously pricked.







“Yes, they went as part of my birthday celebration.” Hermione said, reaching for her glass of soda and praying that the caffeinated beverage would wake her up a bit.







“No one was harmed I trust?” Harry asked, unable to wrap his mind around their former professor and the elitist Lucius Malfoy going clubbing.







“No, actually they were quite a hit; women fell all over themselves trying to get their attention.” Hermione chuckled softly. “Both of them are actually rather decent dancers.”





“You danced with Snape?” Harry asked incredulously.





“Well he didn’t really want to, he’s surprisingly graceful but I don’t think he enjoys dancing very much.” Hermione said.







“What is it with you and Slytherins, Mione? You are completely surrounded by them.” Harry got up and set James in the little Moses basket sitting on the table.





“I don’t know, perhaps there is a little Slytherin in me somewhere that feels an affinity for them.” Hermione almost laughed at the double meaning known only to her. She had spent the night with a not so little Slytherin who spent more of his time in her rather than out.





“Our Hermione is a regular snake charmer.” Ginny teased, winking at Hermione over her shoulder. ‘If they only knew’ Hermione thought with a slight smile.





“I still don’t get it, and since when do you socialize with Snape? I thought you were working for him and that was all.” Harry asked, folding his arms over his chest as he reclined in the chair.





“He is Lucius’s best friend and Draco’s godfather, I see him regularly at their house.” She could see Harry’s frown of disapproval and she was relieved that her relationship with Severus was to be kept secret for the time being. Her friends were not going to understand it any better than they understood her friendship with the Malfoys. In fact she suspected that the fallout would be far worse.







“So not only have you worked for the last three deatheaters but now you have managed to befriend them all as well?” Harry didn’t like Hermione’s choice of companions but he knew he had no right to dictate her friendships. He knew she was lonely now that he and Ron had settled into family life, but he still had issues with her close relationship to the Malfoys.





“Harry, stop.” Hermione said softly, she knew he was just being protective but she was growing weary of continually defending her friendships to him. “Lucius has changed, I wish you would give him a chance and we all know that Severus’s role as a deatheater was a cover. Draco never took the mark, so technically you can not call him a deatheater.”







“As far as Draco is concerned, that’s just semantics but I will concede that he seems to have changed and he seems to genuinely care for you. But Lucius tried to kill you, all of us actually, how can you stand him? And Snape, well the man couldn’t stand you!” It was the same conversation they had engaged in time and time again, but Harry still couldn’t understand.







“Lucius is a changed man, Harry. I know you don’t believe me, but he is. I know what he did, I haven’t forgotten, but I have forgiven. And as far as Snape goes, he has been nothing but kind to me.” She said.







“How is work, by the way?” Ginny asked suddenly, eager to stop the conversation before it evolved into yet another argument between Hermione and Harry.







Hermione offered Ginny a grateful smile for changing the subject.





“It’s good, though I am considering going back to Lucius when the school year is up.” Hermione said. “I’m already working for him on Saturdays.”







“But you love your job! You were so happy to get the position I don’t understand why you would want to leave.” Ginny said, pulling a pan from the oven.







“It’s because Snape is making her life miserable, just like I predicted he would.” Harry said smugly. Hermione was growing more and more annoyed with Harry by the moment.







“No, its not that, things are pleasant at the school, my reasons are personal and I don’t care to get into them.” She said, watching as Ginny began to fill serving dishes.





“Why go back to Lucius, I thought you felt uncomfortable working for friends?” Ginny asked as she began to levitate the filled dishes and sent them into the dining room.





“He pays well, I’m comfortable with him, I know what he expects and how he likes things done and truthfully I worry about him.”







“That’s rich! Worried about a deatheater!” Harry scoffed.







“That’s enough out of you, Harry!” Ginny said, her hands resting on her hips in a gesture that reminded Hermione of Molly. “She is a grown woman and she can choose to be friends with whoever she pleases and you can just mind your own business! Now put James in his crib and go sit down, dinner is ready.”







“Yes, dear.” Harry mumbled, embarrassed to have been scolded by his wife for his behavior. He picked up the baby and left the kitchen, leaving Hermione and Ginny alone.







“Don’t mind him, Mione. He can’t help himself when it comes to worrying over you.” Ginny said, taking Harry’s vacated chair and scooting closer to Hermione. “Are you really alright? You do look a bit peaky?”





“I’m fine; I just didn’t get much sleep. After dinner I’ll go home and climb straight into bed I promise.” Hermione said, smiling softly at her friend. Ginny smiled back and then stood to lead the way to the dining room.









Hermione spent the evening with her oldest friends celebrating her birthday over dinner and then, after she insisted on helping Ginny with the washing up, she floo’d back to her house in Wiltshire and wearily made her way into bed. She snuggled into the pillow where Severus had slept the night before and smiled at the scent of bayberry that lingered in the pillowcase before drifting off to sleep.







* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *





Severus walked entered his office via floo to find Hermione going about her normal morning routine. His correspondence was stacked neatly on the desk along with other documents requiring his attention. She was just setting out a tray containing his breakfast when she noticed him.





“Good morning, Severus.” She said, smiling up at him as she prepared his tea. “You have an appointment first thing this morning with Minerva; in fact she should be here anytime now. A representative from the Ministry Education office will be here just shy of luncheon so I told the kitchen staff to prepare you a tray and have it sent up as soon as they leave. You are also supposed to teach the third year potions class this afternoon as the current professor is out ill.”







“Who is filling in for the other classes?” He asked, settling in behind his desk.







“Ministry sent a sub, but they did not have adequate credentials to instruct above second year, hence the reason you have the honor of taking the third year class. Will you be alright? It has been awhile since you’ve taught a class.” She teased, setting the lesson he would be instructing on the top of the pile. “They are brewing a sleeping potion, nothing difficult.”





“I am sure I can handle it.” He drawled, watching her as she flitted to and fro about the room gathering binders and documents. “Did you enjoy your day with the Potters?” He asked, wondering why she hadn’t mentioned the fact that he had spent Saturday night through Sunday morning making love to her again and again. In fact she was so casual it was as if nothing had happened and it was just another day.





“I did, baby James is just so sweet!” She said, smiling brightly. “I did feel a little bad though; I was so tired I kept dozing off.”





“Tends to happen when one doesn’t sleep.” Severus said, his attention focused on his breakfast.





Hermione looked over her shoulder at him as he looked through the documents on his desk between bites. He hadn’t mentioned their relationship or even attempted to touch her, intimately or otherwise. She wasn’t sure how to respond to this distant version of Severus after spending the night with the amorous, passionate side of him.





She sighed a little forlornly; she had missed him terribly the previous day. As much as she loved her friends, she had wanted to stay tucked in her warm bed beside him.





“Is there anything else I can get you?” She asked, stopping beside the door. Severus didn’t look up; he continued to shuffle through the documents before he finally spoke.





“Are you wearing the pin, Hermione?” He asked, his eyes still focused on his desk. Her breath hitched slightly and her cheeks began to flush.





“I am.” She answered softly.





“May I see?” He asked, setting his fork down and leaning back in his chair, his eyes locking with hers. “Come closer so that I may see clearly.”







Hermione placed the articles in her arms on a low filing cabinet and pushed the door to his office closed before she walked over to stand beside him. Severus turned in the chair to face her, waiting with his elbows resting on the arms and his hands crossed over his abdomen.





She offered him a saucy little smile and placed her left foot on the chair seat between his legs, her toes brushing against his crotch slightly. He smirked at her audaciousness. She began to gather the soft fabric of her black skirt in her hands, the hem rising slowly over her knees and up her thigh until the lacy band of her stocking was revealed, along with the silver serpent adorning it.





“Are you satisfied?” She asked softly.





“Any particular reason for placing it in that location?” He asked, wishing she would inch the skirt just a little higher so he could see what color knickers she was wearing beneath it.





“I missed you yesterday, and last night. So I decided to keep a piece of you where I missed you most…beneath my skirts.” She gave him a naughty little half smile and chewed her bottom lip gently.





“Is that right?” He asked, his brow arching in surprise at her suggestive comment. He leaned forward and slid his fingers lightly up her calf, over her knee and along the inside of her thigh. “Well, we will just have to remedy that very soon, won’t we Ms. Granger?” He looked up at her for a second, and then leaned forward and kissed her thigh softly just above the pin.





The door to the outer chamber opened and closed and Hermione hastily shoved her skirt back into place and lowered her foot to the floor.





“I bet that’s Minerva.” Hermione said as she walked towards the door, she glanced back at him over her shoulder before she opened the door and smiled when he winked at her. “Have a good meeting, sir.” She said softly before slipping through the door and into the outer chamber where the day’s first appointment waited.