If the Crime Fits the Punishment

ok, legal thingie...... not mine. borrowing from j.k. rowling. i\'ll give them back. i swear! (damn, i can\'t type with my fingers crossed!;p )

next....read and review. i\'m enjoying this, and i would like to know if you are, too!

Chapter Three: Keep Your Enemies Closer
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Kendra stood in the middle of the stone room, staring at the fruits of her labor. The Returning Spell had worked exactly as it was supposed to, and she now had a completely unconscious Snape strewn across her floor. She tapped a finger against her lips as she thought. She stared about the walls, studying every bit of the chamber\'s scant decoration until her gaze landed on the chains. Yes, that was precisely where he needed to be.

Picking her wand up from the near by table, she pointed it at him and used Professor Flitwick\'s swish and flick technique while calling out \'Wingardium Leviosa.\' Snape\'s body lifted gently off the ground, her wand guiding him. With another pair of charms, she had him chained to the wall and divested of his robes. The pile of black garments lay neatly over the back of a chair.

With a smile and another cackle of maniacal laughter, she removed Snape\'s wand from his robes. It was soft and smooth from years of his hand caressing the wood. She shivered, and had to wonder at why she\'d had that particular reaction. She hadn\'t shivered in years, and the last time had been in his presence. She Apparated out of the room, wand in hand. When she returned, the wand was no longer clenched between her fingers.

Perverse pleasure had her marching over to where Snape was chained to the wall. His head was slumped forward over his chest, and she took the opportunity to study him closely. While his chest and arms were as pale as his face and hands, there were muscles clearly defined under his skin. He didn\'t look nearly as much like the scrawny bastard she had equated him to for the last eight years. For some reason, that thought sent a curious pang of sensation coursing through her.

Standing this close to him, she couldn\'t help but notice his scent. Like old leather and spicy liquor. With maybe a little good old fashioned sweat underneath it all. Not at all an unpleasant odor. It brought memories to the surface of him passing her in the halls. She could remember that unique scent billowing out of his robes whenever he whipped around suddenly.And that was something he did frequently when passing her. For some reason, the knowledge that he was both better built and possessing of a very masculine scent bothered her more than she thought it should.

Kendra stood, stunned and shaken. This was a man she detested with every ounce of her body. She shouldn\'t be admiring him like he was a Greek god or Hollywood hunk. She would look him in the face, and it\'s imperfections would make her anger boil again. He\'d always managed to get that reaction from her before. All he\'d had to do was look at her with his typical sneer, and she\'d seen red. Surely that hadn\'t changed.

With trembling fingers, she lifted his chin to better view his face. His skin was still pale, telling her he very rarely left his dungeons for long. His nose was still slightly crooked, his lips thin. But the usual pinched look was relaxed with sleep. There was an almost child like quality to his face. The harsh lines that bracketed his mouth were smoothed out. She could see evidence of the softness that he had possibly shown the world at one time. With his muscles slack from unconsciousness, he looked some what like the little boy he had most likely once been. He looked human. He looked sensual. Desirable.......

\'Damn!\' she cursed under her breath. She snatched her hand back from under his chin, and his head dropped to his chest once again. The jolt seemed to prod him to wakefulness, and she stepped back from him. His head rotated for a moment, then settled back into the sleepy droop it had previously had. She sighed with relief and forcibly dragged her mind back from the enticing picture he somehow made. She was not going to feel anything but hate for him. It was time to start prepping herself for his eventual waking.

Shaking her head at her stupidity, she stalked off into the darkened shadows to ready herself.....

A groan escaped him as the blackness of deep sleep withdrew from his mind. His head pounded and his mouth was dry. He muttered a faint curse under his breath. He couldn\'t recall drinking so much that he should have a hangover. Severus slowly lifted his head and found himself standing against a wall. The room he was in was made of stone and darkened. He could only see a few stones in the floor in front of him. A faint noise brought his head up to squint into the shadows, and a figure slowly emerged from the far side of the room.

\' I see you\'re awake,\' a soft voice spoke to him. It was feminine and husky. There was the slightest hint of an accent to it that he couldn\'t immediately place. First one foot, then the other emerged in to the small circle of light that flooded around him and over a good sized patch of the floor. They were dainty, and well shaped. They were followed by the rest of the voice\'s owner. He stared in surprise.

The woman before him was like some ancient goddess. Beautiful, yet dangerous. He could see that much in her eyes. Said eyes were focused entirely on him, glaring orbs of brilliant emerald green that seemed to be looking right through him. Fiery red hair cascaded down her back in long curls, ending somewhere around her thighs. She was pale, the type of paleness that came from a lack of natural light. It was something with which he had a great deal of experience.

Black robes hung loosely about her, and it took Snape several moments to realize they were his. They were too big on her, the full fabric completely obscuring the rest of her from view. She held a wand in her hand, the tip pointed at him lazily. He glanced down then, and noticed she\'d left him his trousers. His hands rested at his sides, but thick cuffs were locked about them. His fists clenched tight. It seemed he was held upright by some sort of spell.

Severus looked up at her, his sneer firmly in place. She gifted him with one of her own. Somehow, he found it reminiscent of the one he always wore. She walked closer, until she stood within reach, and her laugh rang out in the room. He could remember hearing it as he fell headlong into blackness. \' You sent me the bottle of brandy?\' His voice was icy cold. One of his eyebrows lifted.

\'Very good, Professor. That\'s ten points to Slytherin! Of course I sent the brandy,\' the girl told him arrogantly.

\'The card was a lie, then,\' he stated angrily. She smiled widely, just a little crazily.

\'Oh no,\' she shook her head. \'Everything I wrote in it was the truth. You did inspire me. You made me work hard to achieve my goals. This!\' she ended triumphantly, her hand extended in his direction.

\'Me?\' he glanced around the room. \'How am I your goal?\'

\'You are going to stay here as my prisoner. We shall see if you can cope with pain and suffering as well as I was forced to cope with it. I\'m going to make you suffer, the same way you made me suffer,\' she explained casually, as if they were discussing the weather.

\' I\'m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I don\'t recall ever seeing you in one of my classes. I\'m quite certain I\'d remember someone like you,\' Snape told her. And he was not lying. He was sure he\'d never set eyes on the lovely young thing before. He\'d never forget eyes that expressive. The fire burning in said eyes, a fire that smouldered with the light of fanatical obsession, was worthy of any member of Slytherin House. But he knew he\'d have recalled her face, had he taught her.

\' I see my expectations were correct. You do not remember me, Professor. But why should you? I was, after all, insignificant,\' she snarled, putting a sneered emphasis on his title. \' I never attended class looking like this. Maybe these would help.\' A wave of her wand brought a pair of ugly, thick spectacles into her free hand. She placed them on her nose, shoving them up against her face. He stared at her blankly.

\'No, Professor?\' she looked amused, still placing the same emphasis on his title. Another wave of her wand, and the cascading hair was pulled up to the back of her head in a bushy pony tail. Her robes changed from his all black to the student robes of Hogwart\'s, a Gryffindor badge on her left breast. He still stared at her, but a spark of recognition was slowly creeping into his black eyes. \' How ab-b-b-oot now?\" she studdered in her heavy brogue.

A look of disbelief passed over his face before his sneer returned in force. He remembered that voice, that face. But how had the plain jane girl turned into this beautiful woman? \'Miss MacLeod,\' he growled at her, his arms reaching for her. She danced merrily away from him, and the only sounds to be heard were his rasping breath mingling with the rattling of his chains.

\'Aye, Professor. Ye got it in one! Another ten points to Slytherin!\' she laughed again, and a wave of her wand returned her appearance to it\'s previous state. Her hair tumbled down her back like liquid fire, her green eyes sparkling without the aid of glass before them. She stepped forward to peer up into his face with a scowl. \'For every unkind and desparaging remark you\'ve ever made to me, I will make you pay,\' she whispered in a too quiet voice. He noticed her brogue was all but gone.

\'You think to keep me in chains? It\'s truly a laughable idea,\' he snarled at her. Her smile widened, and he saw a sparkle of something in her eyes.

\'Go ahead and try to escape,\' she offered happily. \'Use every charm, jinx, hex, and spell you know. It will not release you from my chains. Of course, you\'l have to go about it....oh, how did you put it? Yes, I remember now. Without all that silly wand waving. The chains have been bespelled. By myself. With a very rare, very ancient spell. Do you mind if I have some popcorn while I watch? This should prove highly entertaining.\'

Her assurity that he could not extricate himself from his bonds galled him, and made him run the gamut of spells, counter spells, curses, jinxes, and hexes he knew. After over an hour of muttering, he was still secured to the wall. Her smile had grown wider, until he thought her head would split wide open and the top of it would topple backward like the lid of a jewelry box.

\' I\'ve no idea how you\'ve managed this little trick of yours, but let me assure you of one thing, Miss MacLeod. When I get out of these damned chains, there will be hell to pay. And make no mistake,\' Severus hissed at her. \' I will extract payment from your hide!\'

She watched him as he scowled at her, his eyes cold and black. For some reason, she didn\'t seem very impressed with his threat. She heaved a sigh and opened her mouth. He was sure she was about to make some snappy comeback, but a strange expression flitted over her face, then her mouth snapped shut and she glared at him contemptuously.

\'The time for talking and threatening is over. I think it\'s time I put action to my words,\' Kendra told him in that way too quiet voice. He had to strain to hear her. She paused for a moment, then slowly undid the clasps on the robes. The black garments slipped from her shoulders and slithered down her legs, landing on the floor in a heap.......

end chapter three
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don\'t worry, good people..... the smut is on it\'s way!

i have to give many thanks to Madam Shark for her continued support. she\'s my sounding board, editor, and even contributing writer. I love her lots, and without her, this wouldn\'t be here!

also, to Kenly Sekuri...a shout out and thanks. your support means so much. i\'m so glad you\'re liking this, too!

Lori: once agian.... thanks for your comments. i almost felt sorry for him, too. and i\'m the one who put him in the position. i wouldn\'t leave you hanging. even if it came down to exchanging emails and sending chapters that way!

Simone: that was sort of my thought..... Snape, bondage, yummy...... oh, now you\'ve got me drooling! thanks for the syrup. it will be making an appearance soon.