The Makeover - COMPLETED

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 22 ~ A Surprise Visit


Hermione showered and dressed, this time deciding to wear her white muggle lab coat, a t-shirt, jeans and trainers underneath. The witch also decided not to make any allusions to what happened last night or this morning in the dungeon corridor. She needed to focus. She planned to stimulate the Mark again, this time testing the wizard’s stamina to see how long he could stand the spell. This would be important as she came up with more testing. She had to make sure the tests could be accomplished before the Professor met his threshold for pain.

Hermione was sure the Professor would think she was being vindictive. Maybe a small part of her was, but she still needed to do this. He would just have to understand. The witch also needed to approach him on helping her to come up with a way to stop his blood from reacting to the summons. A simple demonstration should convince him it would be in his best interest.

The witch exited her rooms to find the Professor already standing in front of her lab. The wizard watched her approach with hooded eyes.

“So what kind of tortures do you have planned for me today?” he asked her silkily as she unwarded the lab.

“Sustained stimulation of your Mark,” Hermione replied, opening the door and walking in. Severus scowled at her.

“Sustained?” he asked, his face black. “Miss Granger, if you are using my compliance as a way of paying me back for…”

Hermione whirled on him.

“I can’t design experiments if I don’t know how much pain you can stand, Professor. It is nothing personal,” she snapped, stalking over to her desk and rifling through her parchments.

“Such hostility, Miss Granger. Are you suffering from misplaced aggression…or is it…frustration?” the wizard asked suggestively, unbuttoning his robes.

“It’s exasperation,” she hissed at him, walking over to the cooler and taking out the Petri dish of blood. The witch removed the stasis spell and brought it over to the counter. She looked up to see Severus standing in his silk boxers, socks and boots again.

“Oh dear gods. Couldn’t you wear something under your robes?” Hermione asked him, trying to keep her eyes focused on his face as the wizard gave her a thin-lipped smirk.

“Miss Granger, I am already out of my comfort zone enough as it is. I refuse to be made even more uncomfortable just to make you more so,” he replied, walking over to the counter and standing unnecessarily close to the witch.

“Space, Professor,” Hermione said evenly.

Severus stepped to the side a bit, but not much. Hermione could see his rippled abs out of the corner of her eye. Gods, the wizard was tight.

“What are you doing?” he asked the witch as she pulled out her wand.

“I want to show you what happens to your blood when you are summoned,” Hermione replied. She cast the summons spell on the blood and Severus observed the reaction.

“This reaction starts around the Mark itself, then spreads throughout the body slowly, which is why the summons becomes more painful the longer it goes unanswered. The sickle-shape of the cells slows circulation and the blood basically dams up in the veins, only a few slipping through. Very painful. If I can stop this from happening, I can render the summons painless, if not stop it,” Hermione said, removing the spell and looking up at the Professor.

“You are going to need someone to cast the spell as you try to stop the process,” he said quietly.

“Yes, I am. I’m hoping you will do it, Professor. I will give you equal credit if we are successful,” the witch said for incentive.

Severus’ black eyes washed over her.

“I don’t need the credit,” he responded. “I’ll do it because I am tired of the random pain the Phantom Summons causes me.”

Hermione smiled at him.

“That is wonderful. Thank you, Professor,” she said as the wizard walked over to the chair and sat down, stretching out his long, muscular legs and laying his arm on the wooden extension, Mark up. His dark eyes rested on her.

“I believe you have some pain to cause me,” he said in a low voice.

Hermione quickly cast a stasis spell on the Petri dish and returned it to the cooler. She approached the wizard, her amber eyes meeting his black ones as she put the tip of her wand to his Mark. Severus looked at her sullenly.

“Professor, really…I take no pleasure in causing you pain,” she said sincerely.

Severus snorted.

“The Dark Lord used to tell me the same thing before casting the Crucio spell. Just get on with it, witch,” he said, tensing.

Hermione whispered the spell, her eyes glistening.

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In his lair, Peter Pettigrew grasped his forearm and hissed as the strange summons burned. He quickly jumped out of his bed, grabbed his wand and headed for the exit. It was daylight and he took held his wand at the ready. If he exited and anyone was in the graveyard, he would have to kill them and dispose of the body.

At the bottom of the stairs, he said the spell that opened the grave. It slid to the side and the rotund, balding wizard stepped out into the day, squinting against the light, his nose actually quivering like a rat. No one was about.

The pain increased.

“I’m coming, Master,” the wizard said, then disappeared.

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Severus was gritting his teeth against the pain. He had taken it for five minutes so far. All around the wizarding world, others were suffering as well. Hermione had no idea she had discovered the General summons Voldemort used to contact all his deatheaters. If she would just add a name she would be able to summon individuals. But the witch had no way of knowing that.

Suddenly there was a crack of thunder and both Hermione and Severus looked up.

Peter Pettigrew stood there, staring at them.

“Peter,” Severus hissed as Hermione stared back at the wizard, shocked and unable to move.

The fat little wizard looked at Severus and his face contorted with hatred.

“Traitor!” he hissed, pointing his wand at the Potions Master, who was defenseless.

“Avada Ked…” he began.

“Expelliamus!” Hermione screamed, hitting the wizard with a powerful blast before he could complete the Killing curse, sending him flying against the shelving, glass beakers and vials falling to the floor and breaking all around the wizard. Peter was hurt but not unconscious. He groaned and struggled to sit up.

Severus dove for his robes, frantically trying to get his wand out as Hermione trained her wand on the wizard. Gods, everyone thought Peter Pettigrew was dead.

Suddenly both Peter and Severus cried out and clutched their Marks. Another Phantom Summons had been activated.

Peter grimaced and disappeared.

“No!” Hermione cried, then whirled on Severus. She ran up and grabbed his arm, making him hiss from even more pain.

“Follow the summons!” she yelled at the wizard. “Hurry! Peter’s answered it! He’s the key! Follow him, Professor!”

Severus grabbed his robes and disapparated, Hermione clinging to him. They appeared in the graveyard, wands held at the defensive. Unfortunately, they were facing the wrong way and didn’t see the grave slide close.

Hermione released Severus’ arm and started to look around.

“Stand still you silly witch!” Severus snarled at her as he pulled on his robes. “More than likely Peter figured we would follow him and hid quickly. He might not have had time to cover his tracks. You’ll ruin them if they are present.”

Hermione froze and rose to her tip toes, looking at the ground. She didn’t see anything. But she didn’t have the trained eye the Professor did. His black eyes scanned the ground. The dirt was hard, but there were some loose grains on top. He wasn’t looking for impressions. The ground wouldn’t hold them. He was looking for fresh patterns of scatter that couldn’t be attributed to natural disturbance such as wind.

“The summons is more than apparation, Professor,” Hermione said to the wizard. “It has to be. Peter should not have been able to enter or leave Hogwarts. The summons must transform the sender into a kind of temporary port key destination for deatheaters.”

It was impossible for anyone to create a port key destination inside of the Hogwarts grounds except for Dumbledore. Hermione was only able to use the Track-a-port on Severus because she had the Headmaster’s authorization. Obviously, the summons magic wasn’t subject to this limitation, perhaps because of its temporary nature and the fact that the destination was a living being rather than an inanimate object.

Severus nodded, still looking at the ground. He found what he was looking for and followed the pattern to a small overgrown grave. He looked down at it, an eyebrow arched. Hermione walked over to him, still not seeing anything.

“What?” she asked.

Suddenly, Severus blasted the ground to the right of the grave, creating a small crater in the ground. He studied it for a moment, then pointed his wand at the grave. Hermione’s eyes went wide.

“You aren’t going to desecrate a grave, Professor?” she gasped.

“I don’t think the occupant will mind…if there is an occupant,” he replied silkily. He blasted the grave and a large cloud of dirt rose up, covering both of them. Hermione coughed and fanned the cloud away. When it cleared…the earth over the grave was unmarked.

“I believe we’ve found Peter,” the Potions Master said darkly, “And the source of the Phantom Summons. Go back to Hogwarts and inform the Headmaster. I’ll wait here.”

“What are you going to do?” Hermione wanted to know, scared for the wizard. She realized she didn’t want anything to happen to the snarky Potions Master. “Professor, this is dangerous. Come back with me and we can all return together. You don’t know who’s down there. Maybe Voldemort himself.”

Severus looked at her. The witch was frightened to death for him. So, she didn’t want anything to happen to her potential deflowerer. He fought back a smirk.

“Just go. I’ll be fine. Get Albus,” he ordered the witch, his eyes glinting. “I can take care of myself witch. I’ve been doing it all my wretched life. Now go! You’re wasting valuable time.”

Hermione stared at the wizard, then said in a small voice, “Please be careful, Professor. Please.”

“Don’t worry witch. I have no intention on leaving this world before bedding you,” he replied, making Hermione flush.

Even in this situation the wizard just had to go there.

Hermione took one more worried look at the dark wizard, then disapparated.

Severus studied the grave for a moment, then put away his wand and rubbed his pale hands together.

“All right, Peter. Let’s see just how strong your wards are,” the wizard breathed, stretching his hands out over the grave and concentrating. He was going to try and pry the grave open with wandless magic. Only Albus knew he had this ability and it was somewhat limited. He couldn’t perform every spell this way…but he could focus raw magic to an extent and through visualization, perform some feats.

The wizard’s hair began to writhe and crackle as power gathered within him. He visualized a pair of large, powerful hands gripping the side of the grave’s hidden entrance and wrenching it open. With a snarl Severus threw the power toward the grave and began to pull, shaking from the effort as the wards resisted him.

“Come on,” he hissed, “Open! Open!”

The Potions Master felt a slight give and redoubled his efforts, perspiration starting to run down his face as it contorted. His entire body was tensed and straining as he magically yanked at the grave. There was a bit more give.

“Yesss,” he hissed, pulling with all his might. Suddenly the grave slid open, revealing a stairwell leading down into darkness. Severus pointed his palms to the sky and released the excess magic, then quickly pulled his wand, and carefully peered into the grave’s depth. Peter would most likely cast the Killing curse at him.

The Potions Master looked around on the ground and saw a broken piece of a tombstone. It looked to weigh about ten pounds. He picked it up and threw it down into the darkness.

“Avada Kedavra!” Peter screamed, shooting the dread green light at the sound, bathing the stone in the deadly spell.

Severus quickly charged down the stairs, his wand extended.

“Expelliamus!” he cried, sending the spell in the direction the Killing curse came from. There was a scream and a crash. Severus followed the sound, pressing against the wall just as another blast of the Killing curse shot past him.

“Shit,” he breathed before shooting a spell several times in quick succession back at the desperate wizard. It had to have taken Peter by surprise.

“Avis! Avis! Avis! Avis!” the Potions Master cried, sending flock after flock of small, twittering birds toward the startled wizard, who starting swinging his hands as they collided with him. These particular birds didn’t take kindly to being batted, and they converged on the wizard, beating him with their wings and pecking at him with their sharp little beaks.

“Get away from me!” Peter cried, flailing wildly at the birds, which flew at him over and over. The wizard dropped his wand.

Severus calmly walked into the room, watching Peter try and fight the little birds off. He noticed the dropped wand, picked it up and put it in his pocket. He looked around the small room, his black eyes falling on the beaker of blood in the center of the room and the jar of black liquid at the base. Severus frowned. He knew what it was immediately.

“So, you’ve been keeping the Dark Lord’s blood viable, eh Peter?” the wizard said, walking toward the pedestal.

“You keep away from that!” Peter screeched, fighting his way through the birds and charging the Potions Master, his eyes crazed.

Severus waited for the wizard to get into range and hit him with a powerful right cross, breaking his jaw and knocking the fat wizard unconscious. He crumpled to the floor. Severus looked at him, then his black eyes shifted toward the blood bubbling in the beaker. The pain of the summons was gone now. He was in the presence of the last living part of the Dark Lord.

“A good try, my Lord,” Severus said, reaching out and picking up the beaker, examining it. “Now I send you into the darkness forever.”

Severus flung the beaker across the room into the stone wall, where it shattered, the blood pouring down the wall, then instantly coagulating, turning black. It was no longer in stasis and died immediately.

“No more Phantom Summons,” the wizard thought, his eyes turning on Peter. The wizard’s jaw hung slackly, his entire face bruised. He was out cold.

“I could kill you and claim self-defense, but death is too easy a way out. Better you go to Azkaban and be some deatheater’s bitch for the rest of your miserable life,” the Potions Master said to the unconscious wizard.

Severus looked around the room and saw the latest issue of Playwizard resting on the small bed. He walked over and picked it up, studying the cover.

“Madame Boobula, eh?” he thought, arching an eyebrow then opening the magazine, turning it sideways and letting the centerfold drop down. He nodded.

“Nice,” he said as he looked at the curvaceous blonde witch, who was leaning back against a Hungarian Horntail completely nude offering up her breasts to readers.

It had to be a photo manipulation. The dragon would have swallowed her down, boobs and all. But the witch’s breasts were huge. “Non-augmented” the caption read below her.

The wizard walked over to Peter’s small table, pulled out a chair and sat down, rifling through the magazine of naked witches, guarding the rotund wizard and waiting for Albus and Hermione to return.

At least his service to Hermione was over.

It was getting close to the time she would service him.

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A/N: Well, they’ve got Pettigrew and destroyed Voldemort’s blood. Good use of the Avis spell. I always wondered what it was good for. Probably weddings. But Severus found another use for it. And a way to pass the time until Hermione returned. lol. Please review.