Daddy Dearest - (No Update, Edit)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 24 ~ The Conference

Several weeks passed and the first report cards came out. Mathias had good marks in every class, though he was a bit disappointed in his Potions marks. He felt he should have made a better grade. He should have, but Severus was purposely giving Mathias lower marks to keep him working hard, much as he had done his mother when he was her teacher. Mathias was highly intelligent, and although not as mouthy as his mother, he was equally adept in catching on. His brewing was quite good and he rarely made mistakes. His tests were almost always in the one hundred percentile, and his essays were well written and informative, clearly showing what he learned. Severus wanted to keep him challenged.

Hermione got a copy of Mathias' grades. What was good to most parents was only fair to Hermione. As far as she was concerned Mathias needed to apply himself more. His lowest grade was in Potions. She narrowed her eyes when she saw it.

Was the Potions Master treating Mathias like he treated her? His own son?

Now Hermione was making her way down the dungeon corridor to Severus' office. He had never given her an appointment time to meet with him, but she had received an appointment for the teacher/parent conference that always occurred after the first and third report card. She had already met with Mathias' other teachers. She had been quite disturbed when Professor McGonagall told her about the antler incident, and the suspicion that Mathias was the student that had hexed all three houses. Severus had not contacted her about this.

Hermione felt a bit of apprehension about seeing the Potions Master. She knew he had been avoiding seeing her. Severus probably didn't want to discuss what happened eleven years ago. He didn't feel the need to as she did. It didn't help that Hermione occasionally went back into the pensieve on those nights she felt randy. Justice was gone now, and self-love just wasn't cutting it.

Hermione had gone level three as well. She only did it once because it was so overwhelming. The witch could feel herself as Severus experienced her and his lust and pleasure had been several times stronger than her own. He had really taken full pleasure in the witch that night, and wasn't ready to stop when he suddenly came, driven to climax by her reaction. He fell asleep still full of desire for her. Hermione came out of the pensieve soaked in perspiration and sticky from her own climax.

The witch knew it wasn't wise to keep indulging in a memory, but it had been the best sex she ever experienced and so, was quite addictive. To make things worse, she was beginning to have dreams about the Potions Master again, just as she had in school. But the Severus in the pensieve was not the Severus that currently resided at Hogwarts. The Severus at Hogwarts had already had his fill of her.

Still, Hermione knew when she saw the Potions Master, she would have a reaction to him. She only hoped it was something he wouldn't detect.

She arrived in front of the Potions office and hesitated. Gods, how would she react to him? She took a deep breath and knocked.

"Come in," the Professor called.

The familiar voice caused a thrill to run through Hermione's body.

"Gods, I'm reacting to him like a randy seventh year," Hermione thought to herself as she opened the door and walked in.

Severus was sitting behind his desk, his black eyes resting on the witch.

"Good evening, Hermione. Please take a seat," he said gesturing to the small rickety chair before him.

"Good evening, Severus," she said, a little quaver in her voice.

The Potions Master caught it immediately. The witch sounded nervous. His eyes swept over her, noticing how her eyes shifted. She was trying to hide something from him.

"I'm sorry I never managed to make time for you over the past weeks. I've been quite busy. Perhaps we can discuss whatever it was you wished to speak to me about after we have gone over Mathias' marks," he said silkily.

"Perhaps," Hermione said.

Suddenly, she didn't think she could do it. He'd be sure to see how much the pensieve affected her. Even now it was difficult to look at him and not remember him hovering over her, his body flexing…his dark eyes fixed on her face, his features contorted in pleasure as he rode her body…

"Hermione, are you all right?" the Potions Master asked her. Her eyes had gone rather unfocused.

Hermione quickly gathered herself.

"Yes, I'm fine, Severus. Mathias' mark in your class seems rather low," the witch said, warming to the topic. "I wonder if I might see his marks for myself."

Severus looked at her with amusement.

"You sound as if you think I've been unfair to the boy," the Potions Master said.

Hermione frowned slightly.

"I distinctly remember you grading me unfairly, Severus. You never gave me the marks I deserved. I don't want you sabotaging Mathias' marks the same way," she said evenly. "If he works hard, he should get the marks he deserves. He's gotten A's and A minuses in his other classes. Yours is the only B. Potions is his favorite subject. He should have an A or an A plus at least," she said rather heatedly.

Severus frowned at her.

"Hermione, perhaps you should have taken up teaching rather than becoming a Spells Mistress. Then you would have the necessary background and knowledge to make such statements," the Potions Master said coldly. "I take other things into consideration besides marks when I give my end of semester grades. It isn't all mathematical averages. It is completely possible for a student in my class to make all A marks and still get a B, and it is possible for a B student to earn an A. I take attitude, skill, talent and effort into consideration as well."

"Potions is not like other classes, Hermione. A student's abilities weigh heavily in my grading. If I give the erroneous impression that a student is top-notch because of his accumulated marks, and he blows something up because he is not adept at some other aspect of Potions Making, then the blame falls squarely on me. I will show you the boy's grades if you insist, but I must insist you trust my ability to accurately give him the grade he deserves. I've been doing this since you were toddling around in your nappies."

"I still want to see his marks," Hermione said stubbornly.

The Potions Master had suspected Hermione would want to see Mathias' grades and had them prepared for her. He passed her the parchment.

"There you go," he said.

He watched as Hermione meticulously went over Mathias' grades, her eyes shifting left to right, then pausing as she did mental calculations. After several minutes, she looked up at him.

"They still seem a bit low, Professor. Why? What are you basing these grades on?" she asked him, handing the parchment back over the desk to him.

Severus looked at her a moment. She was very protective of Mathias and had his best interest at heart. She was a good mother and concerned about him.

"Mathias has your intelligence, Hermione. He does well on assignments and tests, and has an acceptable brewing technique that is improving. His grasp of Potions is admirable. However, he needs to be challenged. When there is no struggle, a student can grow lax and comfortable. In Potions, neither is good. It makes a dangerous combination and the resulting carelessness might even cost a student his life and the lives of those around him."

"The reason I gave Mathias a lesser mark is to keep him on point and make him work harder towards perfection…the same reason I kept your marks low when you were my student. You noticed however you received perfect marks in Potions when you graduated. That was in recognition for your cumulative effort over all the years. Do you understand now?" he asked the witch.

Hermione studied the wizard. For all those years she was his student, she had believed he was purposely treating her unfairly because she was a Gryffindor and because he didn't like her. Now she understood he wanted her to be challenged and to learn all she could. All of the extra credit work she did actually did increase her knowledge. She minored in Potions in university and walked away with perfect marks, she was so well prepared by the wizard. She felt a bit ashamed of herself now that she knew what he had done.

"Yes. Yes, I do," she said, beginning to rise.

Severus' black eyes looked at her sharply.

"Where are you going, Hermione?" he asked her.

"Well, I am satisfied with your answers concerning Mathias' grades. So I figured the conference was over," she said.

"Yes," Severus agreed. "The conference is over, but there was something else you wished to discuss with me. Something you felt so important you owled me at an ungodly hour of the morning asking to see me. Well, here I am. So we can discuss it now."

Hermione sat back down in the seat rather shakily. She didn't think she could talk about what happened the night he deflowered her without revealing that she was attracted to him in some way.

Severus noticed her hesitance. Hm. She was finding it hard to talk about the pensieve. He knew she would. It had to be unsettling to know that she was so aggressive that night, and that he only did what she wanted him to. It had to be unsettling to know that she liked it so much. It also had to be unsettling to realize she had wronged him the next morning when she accused him of being a lecherous bastard. There had been a little lechery on his part, yes, but she welcomed it. She had wanted him to fuck her. It seemed like she needed a little jump-start. Let's see how Justice Forall got her going.

"You know that Mr. Forall paid me a visit here at Hogwarts," he said to the witch, his eyebrow arched.

Hermione looked at him with such horror she looked as if a troll were barreling down on her. Severus fought back a smirk at her discomfiture.

"It seems he believed you and I engaged in some intimacy the night before at the Three Broomsticks and wanted some payback for me 'taking what was his.' Now, how did he come to that conclusion, Hermione?" the wizard asked, knowing full well the Auror had viewed the pensieve.

Hermione rolled her hands over each other nervously.

"I accidentally left the pensieve out when he came to clear out his things, and he saw a portion of it," she said in a low voice, "He didn't know how to use it and entered when I was walking up the stairs. He never saw us together talking, and never saw…saw the act itself. I snatched the pensieve away before he could see you took my virginity. Because we met in the same room, he thought it was recent."

"And you couldn't explain to him what he saw before he came storming to Hogwarts and called me out?" the Potions Master asked her, scowling a bit.

"Well, the scene was heated. We both were angry and upset. I wasn't thinking and he left in a fit of anger. I didn't know he would come here and fight with you," she said.

"You caused me a lot of pain for something that happened years ago," the wizard said in a low voice, his eyes glittering.

"What you did to Mathias and me was painful too," Hermione retorted bitterly, "I think you deserved a bit of pain too."

Severus' eyebrow arched at her admission.

"Oh, you do, do you?" he asked her.

"Yes I do," she said firmly, her chin lifted. "I know you had your reasons, but it still hurt to be abandoned."

"Maybe I did deserve it. And more," the Professor said quietly, his black eyes resting on her. "I look at Mathias and wonder if I should have taken the risk and acknowledged him. But so many people were being killed then, and I was…was rather put out by you…by your reaction. I really didn't want to be a father, Hermione. But when you had the baby, maybe I could have done something to help you. Yet, I felt you were intentionally trying to force me into fatherhood, a man you cursed for touching you."

He looked at her.

"You wanted me, Hermione. You saw the pensieve, heard what you said to me, saw what you let me do to you willingly. I had no idea that you were not lucid. I knew you were under the influence, but it wasn't that apparent. You seemed to have your sensibilities. You didn't act rip roaring drunk. You were merely uninhibited, and that could have been because of your desire for me as well as the drink. But afterwards, I did get the feeling you would regret being with me, and you did. Only when you awoke did I realize you had no recollection of what occurred the night before. But it still was affecting. I thought that we would part amicably," the wizard said, his dark eyes resting on her.

Hermione thought she saw a trace of heat in those black eyes.

"I want to apologize for that, Severus. I didn't know what happened between us for me to end up in bed with you. I assumed you got me in that room and just ravished me," she said.

The Professor's eyes glinted.

"If I had, Hermione, it still would have fulfilled your fantasy," he said in a low voice. "I ravished you in every one of the fantasies you told me about."

Hermione blushed bright red. After eleven years and a son, she could still blush. Justice must not have been doing his job.

"Are you still with Mr. Forall?" the wizard asked her, curious.

"No. We broke up the night of our meeting. He went Neanderthal on me and created a scene. We were going to part anyway, but that escalated it," she replied.

Severus calculated. That was over three months ago. So the witch was alone now. Hm. He wondered how she was dealing with her sexual needs. He studied Hermione and noticed how she flushed under his gaze and wouldn't look at him directly. She was also rather stiff. He had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn't viewed that pensieve only once.

"What happens on level three?" he asked her.

Hermione looked at him, startled.

"You're a curious witch, Hermione. You always have been. I know you entered that pensieve at level three at least once. What happened?" he pressed her.

Hermione flushed again. Gods, she couldn't discuss this with him.

"I think I'd better go, Professor," she said, starting to rise.

"Why Hermione? It's only a memory after all," he purred at her.

Hermione looked at him.

"To you it's a memory, but to me…it feels like something that just happened between us," she said, her voice trembling.

Severus cocked his head at her.

"Sit down, Hermione," he said evenly, "And tell me what happened at level three."

There was something in the wizard's voice that made her comply. Maybe something left over from her days as his pupil that made her obey him. She sat back down.

"I could feel what you felt when you took me," she said, turning red again, "All your lust, your desire, and how I felt to you. You…you didn't want to stop when you…finished."

Severus stared at her for several minutes, trying to process this. She felt his reactions to her? That must have been quite an experience.

"So you experienced my desire and my pleasure from my point of view?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded, not looking at him.

"That must have been…quite interesting," he said to the witch. "And you're right. I didn't want to stop, but you pulled an orgasm from me. You were quite delicious."

Hermione felt heat rising in her belly and squirmed a little. The Professor's eyes went hooded. He knew when a witch was getting aroused. Hermione's dealings with the pensieve had awakened the old feelings inside her. It had to be difficult for the witch to deal with, desiring a wizard who abandoned her and her son.

Hermione rose quickly.

"I really need to go, Professor," she said.

The conversation was getting on dangerous ground. She didn't want him to know she was attracted to him again.

"Certainly, Hermione," he purred at her. "Our conference was quite eye-opening, don't you think?"

Hermione looked at him.

"Yes. It was. Good-bye, Professor," she answered him, heading for the door, opening it and practically running out of his office. She didn't even close the door.

Severus sat behind his desk, looking thoughtful. Hermione had been his last parent. No one else was coming tonight. It was only going on eight o'clock, and it was Friday night. He had no classes in the morning.

His wicked side rose, as did his less wicked side.

They both started to battle.

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Hermione had rushed home from Hogwarts, her body all a tingle from the tantalizing talk she and the Professor had. When he said she had been delicious, she almost went into meltdown right in his office, she felt such a powerful flare of desire.

But this was a different time. Plus, he had abandoned them. She had to keep that in the forefront of her mind. Severus had turned his back on her and Mathias for eleven years. And if Mathias weren't in Slytherin, he would still probably be showing no interest.

She quickly had put on her nightclothes and her housecoat, and went to the kitchen to make some tea to calm down. She was sitting there, drinking it when a heavy knock sounded on the door. Who could that be at this hour?

Hermione picked up her wand and cautiously went to the front door.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Professor Snape," came the reply.

Hermione's heart leapt to her throat. She stood in front of the closed door speechless.

"Are you going to leave me on your doorstep all night, Hermione? Or are you going to open the door?" the wizard asked snarkily. "It's starting to rain."

Hermione started, then opened the door.

The Potions Master stood there, tall and pale, looking down on her, his black eyes glinting. There were little droplets of water on his cloak.

"What…what are you doing here, Severus?" she asked him.

"I've come to collect the pensieve," he replied.

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A/N: I couldn't resist writing another chapter. So I did. Quite an interesting one I think. Heh heh. Well, please review.