Payback is a Witch

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 26 ~ Veritaserum on the Rocks

Hermione pulled open the door a bit harder and faster than she intended to, she was so intent on not seeming to be out of sorts at the Potions Master's visit. Severus' hair ruffled a bit from the wind and he looked down at her with an arched eyebrow.

"I was beginning to think you weren't at home," he said to the witch.

He could initially feel apprehension coming off of the witch, but as she looked up at him, he felt a small pulse of desire as well, probably in remembrance of his last visit. The wizard looked past her into the house, his black eyes scanning it rather cautiously.

"Where is your familiar?" he asked Hermione.

"In the living room. Come in, Severus," she replied, stepping back and letting the wizard in. Severus stood inside the foyer, waiting for Hermione to escort him into the living room, rather than just walking into it as usual. That cat was big.

Hermione led him into the living room. There, stretched out on the sofa, lay Bagheera…looking at the wizard rather lazily.

"What a beautiful animal," Severus thought as he looked at the panther. "Formidable too."

Bagheera heard his thoughts and hopped down from the sofa, stretching and showing off his long, lean body and flexing his claws. He had watched the wizard enter and thought he moved rather like a feline himself. He could sense no fear in the Potions Master, only curiosity. His head lowered, Bagheera approached the wizard.

Severus stood very still as the big cat circled him, sniffing his robes and familiarizing himself with the wizard's scent. He could smell desire on the wizard and a bit of nervousness, but it wasn't directed towards him, but Hermione. Finally he sat down in front of the wizard, looking up at him with his golden eyes.

"Severus, this is Bagheera. Bagheera…Severus," Hermione said by way of introduction.

"Hello Bagheera," Severus said, looking down at the beautiful panther.

"He is not quite so ugly now that I look at him. He is like a cat himself…he moves like one. He is strong. Dangerous. He would protect you as ferociously as I would. I like him," the panther thought at Hermione.

"You're approved," Hermione smirked at Severus.

"Thank you, Bagheera," Severus said to the panther, reaching into his robes pocket and pulling out the shining globe. "I brought you a gift."

Begheera's ears flicked forward with interest as the wizard drew out his wand and removed the globe. Then he enlarged what looked like a ball made of thick, brown burlap. Bagheera stiffened immediately, his golden eyes going wide.

Severus tossed the ball into the living room and Bagheera took off after it, grabbing it with his claws, then rolling on his back, writhing as he played with the ball, snuffling it, his eyes narrowed in pleasure.

"What is that?" Hermione asked as the cat began to bat the ball around, rolling on it and purring.

"Catnip," Severus replied, a small smirk on his face as he watched the panther scamper about, digging his claws into the ball and tumbling head over heels with it.

So much for Bagheera being dignified.

"You are such a suck-up," Hermione said with a small grin.

"Just being cautious," the wizard replied, "especially after the way Raucous returned to me after meeting the cat. He was completely white. He is darkening now, but he must have received quite a fright. He refuses to return as long as Bagheera lives here.".

Hermione looked a bit guilty. She had put Bagheera on the snarky bird after all. But Severus didn't need to know that. But the wizard felt her pulse of guilt and arched an eyebrow at her. He didn't say anything however. Instead, his dark eyes noticed the clear bottle of veritaserum resting on the coffee table. He looked at Hermione.

"I think we'd best get on with why I am here, Hermione," he said to her silkily, his belly tightening uncomfortably. "But first I need a wizard's oath from you stating you will only stick to questions involving you and I."

Hermione's belly was also in a knot as she nodded and made the oath. Bagheera looked up as he felt the powerful swirl of magic flow around him, then picked up the catnip ball in his mouth and padded down the hallway into the guestroom. He would find out what passed between his Mistress and the wizard later.

Hermione pointed to the armchair.

"You can sit there, Severus," she said.

Severus began to unbutton his robes. He wanted to be comfortable. Hermione watched him with mixed emotions. Normally when he unbuttoned his robes before her, it was for one purpose. Severus felt her pulse again. He only hoped when this was over, her pulsing would be hot, strong and accepting. He laid his robes on the sofa, then walked over to the chair and sat down, loosening his collar. He watched as Hermione walked to the coffee table and picked up the bottle of veritaserum. She approached him.

"This is a half hour dose," Hermione said, "But it will cease to work if you've said all you have to say. My own brew."

Severus only nodded. He felt like flubberworms were roiling about in his stomach as the witch uncapped the bottle and offered it to him.

"It will take about five minutes to work," she said as Severus took the bottle from her hand. He looked at her for a moment. She had never seen the wizard look so vulnerable. This was hard for him. Most likely Severus had never taken Veritaserum in his life.

The wizard brought the bottle to his lips, hesitated a moment, then drank the contents down. He handed the bottle to Hermione.

"This is it," he thought as he met her amber eyes. "I bare my soul now. Hopefully she won't rend it to pieces afterward."

Hermione walked over to the sofa and sat down on the edge of it, watching the wizard intently. She realized she was so apprehensive about tonight, she hadn't thought of any questions to ask him.

The Potions Master's eyes began to glaze and he relaxed in the armchair. Hermione's heart began to pound as the veritaserum took effect.

All right. She would start with some basic questions.

"What is your name?" she asked the wizard.

"Severus Arsenius Snape," he answered.

"How old are you?" she asked him.

"Forty-four years of age last January," he answered.

"And what is your occupation?" Hermione inquired.

"I am a teacher and a Potions Master," he replied.

"Do you know why you are here?"

"Yes."

Hermione looked at him, then realize her questions had to be focused.

"Tell me why you are here," the witch said.

The wizard's dark eyes regained some of their intensity.

"I am here to convince you to become my lover," the wizard responded. "My only lover."

Hermione felt her heart skip. Severus wanted a monogamous relationship with her? He had to. He couldn't lie under veritaserum.

"But what about your other witches? You are used to variety, Severus. One witch will become boring after a time.

The wizard shook his head.

"I don't want them. I want you. I can take you in many ways…there will be enough variety with you witch. I will not become bored, not with the connection I have with you. I can feel you. I cannot feel them so they no longer satisfy me. I can't fuck them any longer. It is too empty. They cannot bring me the pleasure you do. The emotion. I want that."

Hermione looked at the wizard.

"What about what I want, Severus? Suppose I don't want you that way?"

"I felt you, Hermione…when I occupied your body and when I last took you. You want what I want…another person to connect to beyond sex. I can give you that, witch. I can make you feel whole every time you lie with me. Only accept me, and I will be what you want and what you need."

Hermione's eyes glistened a bit, then she centered herself.

"Why Severus? Why this change…it is so drastic. You aren't the type of wizard who gives of himself. You have always been a taker when it came to witches. And why me?"

"Hermione, I've been a man without humanity for most of my life. I connected with no one, bonded with no other living being because of what I was. Who I served. How I lived steeped in deception. I had nothing to give but my life, Hermione. And no one had anything to give me but hatred and disdain. Except the witches. They gave me their bodies in exchange for the dark sexual pleasure I could give them, gave me the freedom to let the pain inside me out, pummeling it into them, releasing it into them. Respite from my darkness as I met their needs. They were something I could control when I fucked them, turned them, twisted them into what I needed. There was so little else I could control, Hermione. Yes, I took what they offered me, and gave them what they wanted. A good hard fucking…but nothing else."

He looked the witch directly in her eyes.

"You are the only witch who was a virgin when I took you. I have never had another untouched witch. So for me, Hermione…even though I did not show it…you are special. And you are the only witch I ever desired to spend more than a night with me, hence the weekend in my home where I took my pleasure of you over and over again. And you let me know that despite my bringing you there under duress, that you liked my treatment of you. You were more than any of the others I've had. You had substance, intelligence and innocence…which I took selfishly. But I needed a witch like you, if only for a weekend…if only once in my miserable life. Someone pure and wholesome. You also offered me more when you asked to kiss me. I believe you could have become mine then if I had given in. But my life did not allow that kind of connection. I did not allow it. You would have been a source of weakness and I could not afford weakness. So I expelled you from my bed and my life and returned to what I was used to. Quick hard fucks with witches that were only interested in quick hard fucks. You weren't that kind of witch then."

Hermione flushed. She was that kind of witch now it seemed. Or became that type. She had never loved or had any emotional connection with any of the wizards she fucked. She had a kind of love for Ron, but not the kind of love that binds a witch and wizard together. Severus continued.

"But you became that kind of witch…but not for the same reason. As far as your sexual life goes, you are a victim of your own strengths, and have had to settle for purely physical encounters or go without male contact at all. As a young witch, you have needs to be met. The lack of connection was the price you paid to live as normal a life as you could. You are daunting to most wizards, Hermione. You are brilliant and driven, the kind of witch that makes men feel inadequate outside of your bedroom. You either are their equal or far above them, able to do more and accomplish more than they ever could. You overshadow them and their fragile egos. You need a wizard who appreciates your strength and intelligence, and isn't threatened by it. A wizard who applauds your accomplishments and takes pride and joy in them. A wizard who will not feel diminished by your success, and who will treasure the opportunity to be the one you turn to when you need to feel connected physically and emotionally. There are few wizards like that, Hermione."

Hermione felt as if the wizard was picking her soul apart. She had settled for what she could get, if not love, then at least an orgasm or two. In this way, she found she was a lot like Severus, though their reasons for being this way differed. She had never seen that before.

"I was not a wizard like that until the Switch. I have always applauded your brilliance…albeit secretly and never felt threatened by it. But I never knew what it was to connect with a witch…and believed I didn't want to know. But you changed that. I felt your need and your desperate desire for connection when I was in your body, and when I left it, I felt that same need from you in my presence. I wanted to use that emotion to make you surrender to me completely, but instead I was lost to it, Hermione. Completely lost to it. No witch was ever as passionate and tender with me as you were. No witch ever made me want to provide what she needed as opposed to what I wanted…until you. I had never been kissed the way you kissed me, or embraced the way you embraced me. I never wanted to be part of a witch the way I wanted to be part of you. Not just take you and fuck you…but be part of you. Can you understand this, witch? We both surrendered that night. You are the only witch I ever surrendered to willingly and wholly."

Severus shifted in the chair and leaned forward.

"No other witch can give me that, Hermione. It is as if an entirely new world has opened up to me…but there is only one doorway into that world, and the doorway is you. Everything else pales in comparison. And I tested it. I went to witch after witch and although I wanted sex, I didn't want theirs. I wanted you and only you, so I could experience that wonderful, overpowering connection as our bodies met. And I tell you witch, I want you now. What is the change in me? You are. Drastic, yes it is…but I am like a starved man who is staring at a banquet that he cannot reach. If you refuse me witch, I am doubly condemned. Condemned to the dark, empty life I have always led, and even more condemned because I have tasted what connection is…food for the soul, Hermione. I am tired of starving. I don't want to go back to the meaningless trysts that used to feed me. You can save me from that…and in return I will give you all the passion and connection you'll ever need witch…and try to redeem myself for the selfishness I exhibited in your younger years. Become my lover, Hermione Granger and you will always be satisfied and whole."

Hermione felt as if she wanted to cry. Dear gods, she had no idea the wizard felt so strongly. She watched as Severus' eyes began to clear and he straightened in the armchair…his dark eyes shifting around the room before resting on her. He looked a bit afraid. She had never seen the confident wizard afraid before.

Severus swallowed. He remembered every word he'd said to Hermione, and hoped that his sincerity was evident and he had moved her heart. He felt as if he were teetering on the edge of a precipice and would fall over if she denied him. He stared at the witch, waiting for her to say something. Anything.

Instead of speaking, Hermione stood up and reached into her robes pocket, pulling out a small bottle of clear liquid. It was veritaserum.

Severus looked at her. She wanted him to go under again?

She must have understood the look in his eyes.

"No Severus…this is not for you," she said, her voice trembling with emotion, "It's for me. I don't know how I feel about you…not really. This will let us both know."

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A/N: Wow Severus. :::shaking head:::: That man is just too deep. Sigh. Don't you just wish a guy would sit down and tell you something like this? Too sweet. Surprise on Hermione's part. She's willing to take veritaserum and be questioned by Severus??? The gods only know what kind of questions he'll ask her. lol. And Bagheera with his catnip ball. Too funny. Sorry about how long this took to post.:( Anyway, please review.