Hard Times for Severus Snape - (Editing)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 21 ~ Eric's Little Visit

Severus sent Hermione out at precisely eight o'clock that evening to a distant forest to harvest enough night blooming herbs to keep her busy for several hours. He then put up a temporary anti-apparation ward in his study just in case she found some reason to come back early. He would be sure to ward the doors so she couldn't walk right in.

The Potions Master then walked into Hermione's room and shrunk every piece of furniture in it. He collected them up, carried them into the study and put them in his top desk drawer. He re-entered her bedroom, rolled up his sleeves and began to 'redecorate'. When he was finished, he looked around with satisfaction then lowered all the torches to a very dim level. He exited the room and sat down in in the armchair in front of the fire. A bottle of potion sat on the small table between the chairs, and a glass. And a long chestnut hair.

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Eric waited until eight-thirty for Hermione to show up. It was unlike her to be late. Something must have happened, and he suspected the pale dark wizard who was mentoring her had something to do with it. He didn't like the way the man looked at him. Like a rival. But Hermione would never go for a bloke like that. He was downright spooky.

Eric sat at the table for a bit longer, waiting. He had paid for the room and he didn't want it to go to waste. He was anxious to fuck the lovely witch again. It had been months. Hermione had been so busy her last year, she didn't have time for him, or any man for that matter. She had to be good and randy.

Eric drained his butterbeer and stood up. He wasn't going to go without her tonight. She had agreed to come to him. She was willing. He hadn't coerced her much. If she wasn't planning on coming, Hermione would have sent an owl informing him of the change in plans. She was thoughtful like that. She wasn't a woman to stand a wizard up cold.

He left a coin on the table and exited the Three Broomsticks. As soon as he cleared the inn, he apparated to Hogwarts.

The school had modernized a bit. There was a magical doorbell installed on the gate, along with an All-weather Magic Mirror. Visitors could now be buzzed in. Eric appeared in front of the gate and rang the bell. After several moments, the face of an agitated Argus Filch appeared in the mirror eyeing the young wizard suspiciously.

"What is your business at this hour?" Filch said by way of greeting, frowning at the young wizard.

"I'm here to visit Hermione Granger," Eric replied to the grouchy old git. He certainly was unfriendly for a gatekeeper.

"You already visited her once today," Filch said accusingly.

Eric scowled at the image in the mirror.

"I wasn't aware that there was a limit to the amount of visits you could make," Eric said evenly.

Filch considered this, then said, "Well there isn't…but there should be."

The gate buzzed then swung open.

"Go on in…and be sure to leave at a decent hour. I don't want to have to get up out of my bed for you, damn it," Filch growled, vanishing from the mirror.

Eric shook his head and entered the gate. Surely they could find someone more amicable to greet visitors. He took off across the grounds at a run, reaching the castle quickly. He pulled open the main doors and walked in, making a right into the dungeon corridor. It was eerily quiet as he walked, and he felt as if the very walls had eyes. Eric hunched his shoulders and kept going. Finally he came to the Potions office. He knocked loudly.

"Hermione? Hermione, it's Eric!" he called, rapping again.

He waited several minutes, then heard a noise inside the office. The door swung open but he didn't see anyone. It was rather dark.

"Hermione?" he called, stepping into the office, his hand on his wand.

He saw a short, cloaked figure standing in the doorway to the study.

"Come in, Eric. I was hoping you'd show up when I didn't arrive at the inn. The Professor is gone for the evening, and we have the rooms to ourselves," came Hermione's voice. It was rather low and sultry.

Eric smiled at this.

"I'm already in," he said, walking swiftly toward the witch, his arms extended. A small hand stopped him.

"We're going to do things a bit different tonight, Eric," she said. He could just make out her curly hair. The witch warded the door and walked into the study.

"Why is it so dark?" Eric asked, following her. It was kind of spooky.

"To set the mood," she responded, "Follow me, Eric…to my bedroom. Or should I say 'the House of Play.'

Eric liked the sound of that. He followed the witch eagerly. She opened the door to her bedroom. It too was dimly lit. He could make out some shapes. He walked in and the witch warded the door.

"Eric, how long have you known me now?" she asked him, untying the string to her cloak.

"Almost three years now," he said.

"Three years is long enough to share my secret with you," she said with a low chuckle.

"Secret? What kind of secret, Hermione?" he asked. The witch dropped her cloak and he could barely make out her curvaceous form. Dear Merlin. Was she naked?

The witch walked over to a square shape and picked something up off it.

"You know Eric, I have an affinity with dungeons. Actually I enjoy them. They appeal to my dark side. Do you have a dark side, Eric?" she asked, walking toward him slowly.

"Everyone has a dark side," he responded huskily. Was Hermione going to get freaky with him tonight?

"So do I," she said, raising her hands so the room brightened.

Eric's eyes went wide for two reasons. The first was Hermione was wrapped in a short, skintight black leather dress that stopped just below her upper thighs. It left nothing to the imagination. She also wore a black spiked collar around her neck, and spiked wristbands. She was holding a whip. Her legs and feet were bare. Gods, she looked dangerous and delicious in the torchlight.

Second, it was the room itself that brought the wizard up short. Manacles dangled by chains hung from the ceiling, and there was an old-fashioned rack, complete with stretching wheel and more manacles. There was a large wooden cross attached to the wall, with metal restraints built in that seemed to close over where the throat, wrists, and legs of a victim would be. Whoever was locked to that thing would be bound like Jesus.

An assortment of wicked looking whips and chains hung on hooks on the wall, and there was a table with rather rusty cutting instruments, the most terrifying of them all, a huge pair of garden shears. In the corner was a chair that had short thick spikes sticking out of it. Who in the world would willingly sit on that?

Hermione cracked the whip sharply, startling the wizard and drawing his attention back to her.

"What is all this, Hermione?" he asked her hoarsely.

"My playroom, Eric. I've been schooling you over the past three years for this moment. Tonight, you graduate," she purred at him. Then she cracked the whip again and began walking toward him.

"Nothing turns me on more than pain, except blood," she hissed, her eyes glowing madly.

She walked over to the table of rusty instruments, put the whip down and picked up the horrible garden shears.

"I just need to mark you," Hermione said, snapping the blades together sharply.

Eric swallowed.

"Mark me where?" he rasped.

The witch's eyes dropped to his pants. Eric looked down too, then back up at her. He felt as if he would never have an erection again. He looked at the shears.

"I just need a bit of your flesh, to prove to me you are worthy," she said, "worthy to fuck me."

She clipped the shears together and slowly walked toward the wizard, who started backing toward the door.

"I…I really don't think I'm worthy, Hermione," Eric said…"Actually, I'm feeling quite unworthy to ever fuck you again." His eyes roamed the room again, and stopped on a large dark stain on the floor.

"Is…is that blood?" he asked, his voice quavering.

Hermione followed his gaze.

"Yes. From a marking gone wrong. He jerked and I snipped off a bit too much. But it was reattached, no real harm done. I left the blood though. It adds atmosphere," she said, smiling at him in a rather predatory way as she continued to slowly approach him.

That was it for Eric. He went for the door and pulled on it wildly.

"Eric, you're not trying to leave are you?" Hermione pouted at him, "Not before you are marked for next time."

He turned back toward the witch, who was almost upon him with the shears. There was a crazed, glittering look in her eyes, which seemed darker than usual. It must be a trick of the light. Eric licked his lips, which had gone suddenly dry, as had his throat.

"Um…Hermione. There's not going to be a next time. I'm just not into pain…or blood. Especially my own. So stay back," he said, drawing his wand. "I don't want to hex you. I had no idea you were so fucking twisted. I knew you were different. I sensed it. I just didn't know how different."

He pointed his wand at her, and the witch stopped approaching him.

"Back up," he said warningly, his hazel eyes focused on the rusty garden shears.

Hermione backed away slowly until she was across the room.

Eric turned his wand on the door, lifting the ward easily. He turned back toward the leather-clad witch. His hazel eyes raked over her. She still held the garden shears, open in clipping position. He swallowed.

"Hermione, what we had was great. Awesome. But I can't handle this. Consider our buddy-ship dissolved," he said, backing out of the room, holding the wand on her. She had left the study door open.

"But Eric, what about when I return to school?" she said to him.

"You'll go your way, and I'll go mine," he said, looking at the huge bloodstain again. Any witch who could do that to a wizard's cock, he wanted nothing to do with.

"Can't we just get together and talk once in a while?" she asked him.

"No. A clean break, okay? It's been fun Hermione, really. Have a good life. I'll just show myself out, ok? Ok."

Eric squeezed out of the door and pulled it shut behind him. The witch heard him running from the room. He would probably apparate mid-run when he got through the main gates.

The witch walked back to the table and put the shears down. Then she started to laugh. As she did so, her voice began to deepen and she began transforming, her body lengthening, her curves disappearing, her skin turning pale, and her chestnut hair straightening and darkening. Her nose began to grow, and her leather dress loosened and lengthened to a robe. Soon, Severus stood there in all his dark glory.

He was still laughing.

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Hermione appeared in the study with a crack of thunder at a quarter after eleven, a small sack in her hand. She was rather dirty, earth smeared on her face and hands. She looked exhausted.

"You didn't tell me moonflowers grew in the cracks of mountainsides! I almost killed myself," she said to the Potions Master, frowning up at him as he sipped a firewhiskey.

"I assumed you knew how to collect moonflowers. A simple accio would have sufficed," he replied.

He finished his firewhiskey, set the glass down and looked at her, the flames of the fire dancing in his eyes.

"I guess you aren't as all-knowing as I give you credit for," he purred.

Hermione bit back a scathing reply. She pulled out her wand and touched it to the small bag, increasing its size. She thrust it out at him.

"Here are all your herbs, Professor," she said evenly.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Surely you don't expect me to sort them and put them away, apprentice. That's your job," he said silkily, rising and stretching luxuriously, his dark eyes falling on her.

"I'm going to bed, Miss Granger. After you separate and sort those herbs, please remember to lock and ward the stores door," he said, "We don't want any students slipping in and stealing boomslang or some other equally valuable ingredient."

Hermione knew that was a jibe at her for when she raided his stores back when she was a second-year. Didn't the wizard forget about anything?

"Yes sir," she said tiredly. Then she brightened a bit.

"Did Eric leave a message for me?" she asked the Potions Master. He usually owled her back when she sent him messages.

Severus looked down his great nose at her.

"I'm sure I don't know, Miss Granger. I am not a message taker who rushes to bring you news of your various paramours," he said snarkily as he headed for his rooms. "Good night, Miss Granger."

He closed his bedroom door.

Hermione wanted to say 'fuck you, Professor' so badly, but that would have left her open to all sorts of withering responses from the Potions Master. It wasn't worth it. She could imagine his response.

"Anytime, Miss Granger," and fixing her with those deep, dark eyes.

She shuddered. He was an utter bastard, and she still thought about fucking him again.

The witch hefted up the bag of herbs and reduced it again. She approached the study wall, opened it and proceeded into the Potions classroom, to sort the herbs and put them away. If she were lucky, she'd be in bed by three.

In his room, the Professor lay in his bed naked, his arms folded behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. He had a mean erection. It pulsed vigorously. He sighed. He needed to wait for her to get in bed, so he could send her a few detailed images. He was getting tired of waiting for her, particularly since she showed she was ready for sex by agreeing to meet that blonde-haired cretin.

The Professor smirked. He wouldn't have to worry about him again. Not only was Eric gone for the summer, he was most likely gone for good. The rusty garden shears and the blood had been 'shear' genius. He only hoped the young man would beat a hasty retreat whenever Hermione approached him, or else he could count on a very nasty hex coming his way. A snake wouldn't be low enough for this one. Still it had been fun making the wizard sweat. And interesting to be Hermione for a while. If the Polyjuice Potion had lasted a little longer, he might have explored himself in that form more fully. It might have been quite educational as far as learning her body firsthand.

The Potions Master sighed again, and waited for Hermione to finally go to bed.

He had some dreams to throw her way.

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A/N: LOL! Severus is too, too much. Transforming into Dominatrix Hermione???? :::grinning ear to ear:::: I am so twisted. Anyway, please review this chapter ya'll. I'm really interested to see what you have to say about it. See you next chapter.