Under the Influence

Disclaimer: I don't own it.


Chapter 4- Next Week, Wednesday night


Snape entered the bar to see Hermione already at her stool. As he got closer, he saw she had a small pile of lemon rinds on the bar in front of her, and a few empty shotglasses.

"Started already, Miss Granger?"

"Yes I have!" Hermione sang loudly.

"What is it tonight?" He picked up one of the shotglasses and sniffed. "Tequila?"

"To-Kill-Ya!" Hermione belted out.

Snape smirked. Hermione seemed to be in a good mood tonight.

"How many have you had so far?"

"Oh, three or four. Hey, you need to catch up! Bartender! More To-Kill-Ya!"

The bartender set two grimy shotglasses on the counter, along with a sliced lemon on a tiny cutting board, a salt shaker, and a half full bottle of tequila. At Snape's raised eyebrow, the bartender remarked, "If I try to keep up with you two all night, I'd have to neglect my other customers." He turned on his heel and headed toward a woman at the end of the bar.

"We have really got to learn his name," Hermione noted.

Snape began to fill the shotglasses. He sprinkled a bit of salt on his hand and held a lemon slice in the same hand. He raised his shot with the other hand in a mock salute, and then quickly licked the salt, drank the liquor, and bit into the lemon.

Hermione pushed the other full shot to him.

"You have to keep up, Professor. Three more shots for you and then I'll start drinking again."

Snape just looked at her.

"Miss Granger, if you had waited for me to get here before you started drinking, you would not have found yourself in such a situation. Why should I accomodate your request?"

"Because I asked so nicely, and because you were mean to me last week." Hermione put on her best puppy dog expression.

"I don't recall you asking at all, Miss Granger. And those looks don't work on me. I'm not a simpering idiot."

"You were the one who referred to it as a request." Hermione's face melted into its normal expression.

"Touche, Miss Granger." Snape took another shot.

"Another!"

Snape put on his evil professor mask.

"Those looks don't work on me either, Professor. I'm impervious after six years of being exposed to them. I guess you could say I developed a tolerance that turned into an immunity."

Snape poured and drank another shot.

"One more!" Hermione yelled in his ear.

"Miss Granger, do try to control yourself."

"I'll control myself after you drink another shot!"

Snape sighed. When had he turned into somebody who took orders from a twenty year old know it all? Nevertheless, he readied himself to take another shot.

The world was moving in slow motion for Hermione. She saw Snape's long tongue dart out and lick the bits of salt crystals off the back of his hand, his other hand raised in preparation, the glass raising to his lips, the amber colored liquid draining from the glass and into his mouth, his throat swallowing, adam's apple bobbing, and finally, the bite into the lemon slice, miniscule droplets of juice spraying around his mouth.

It was beautiful. Like a symphony. Something deep inside Hermione's chest tightened. It was then she realized something very important about herself: She was horny.

Not only was she horny, but it was possible that she had a tiny attraction toward Severus Snape.

Okay, maybe not so tiny.

"Miss Granger, why are you staring at me like that?"

Snape's baritone voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Um, nothing Professor. Another shot?" Hermione could feel her cheeks burning.

"It's time for you to drink now, too."

"Let's take a shot together." Hermione sloppily poured two more shots.

They readied the lemon and salt. Together they raised their shotglasses, and as Snape's tongue started to lick his salt, Hermione yelled, "WAIT!!!"

Snape jumped, spilling part of his shot.

"What is it now?"

"What are we drinking to?"

"Does it matter?"

"YES!!!"

"Okay, what about your divorce?"

"We already drank to that."

"Well, then, what do you suggest?"

Hermione thought.

"Hello?" Snape waved his hand in front of her face.

"I'VE GOT IT!!! Let's drink to Wednesday nights."

"Okay." Snape raised his shotglass again. "Ready?"

Hermione nodded and lifted her own glass, "To Wednesdays."

"To Wednesdays." Snape and Hermione drank their shots collectively.

Hermione half-dropped her glass on the bar. She looked at Snape.

"So, tell me about your childhood."

"I think not."

"Okay. I'll tell you about mine."

"I saw your childhood, Miss Granger."

"Not before I came to Hogwarts."

"True." Snape poured two more shots.

"Well, I am the only child of Richard and Jane Granger. My parents are dentists, and they met in dental school, fell in love, and married after graduation."

"Fascinating."

"You know, I'm going to talk whether or not you care, so you might as well refrain from sarcasm."

"That would be like telling water not to be wet, Miss Granger."

"Anyway, I was born after my parents had been married for three years. I had a tendency to get into trouble-"

"You don't say," Snape interrupted.

"-so they decided not to have any more children. Especially since strange things would happen when I was angry or happy. Books would fly off shelves, toys would levitate, you get the picture. I grew up a lonely child. I preferred to read instead of playing with other children. Harry and Ron were my first friends ever."

"And when you stepped onto the train, you met them, and lived happily ever after," Snape said in a bored voice.

"No, actually, they hated me until after Halloween, when I was cornered by that troll. When I got to Hogwarts, I was so desperate to prove that I could do magic just as well as anybody born in a magic home, that I guess I came off as a bit of a snob."

"Really?" The sarcasm dripped from Snape's voice.

"So, I figured I was destined to never have any friends. Everybody hated me. Even after Harry and Ron became my friends, I still felt alone. They had such a bond. Whenever Ron and I would fight, things between Harry and I would be tense too."

Hermione took a shot quickly. Suddenly she whirled on her stool and looked Snape in the eyes.

"Want to do body shots?"

Snape's eyes widened.

"No."

"C'mon, it'll be fun. I'll just put the salt here-" she trailed her hand down Snapes neck, "then lick it off."

Snape grabbed her wrist.

"Miss Granger, you are too drunk and I am too old."

Hermione sighed and thumped her head on the bar. She then raised her head and poured another shot, spilling a liberal amount of tequila. She didn't bother with salt or lemon, she just swallowed the drink and dropped the glass back onto the bar.

"God, that was embarrassing. Sorry. I should get going. I don't feel like apparating; I'll just take a cab."

"I'll share with you."

Snape pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket, counted off a few, and dropped them on the bar. They went outside, and walked a few blocks down the street in silence. A row of cabs were parked in front of a popular dance club.

Snape opened the door of the cab and held it open for Hermione. She put one leg in the car, and just dropped into the seat. She picked up her other leg with her hands and pulled it into the cab. Snape closed the door, circled around the back of the cab, and climbed in the back seat next to her.

"Where to?" the cabbie asked.

Hermione started singing again,"Show me the way to go home...I'm tired and I want to go to bed, I had a little drink about an hour ago and its gone straight to my head."

Snape interrupted her solo, "Miss Granger, where do you live?"

"Oxford dorms, Petersen hall, room 3B, magic corridor."

The cabbie sent Snape a questioning look, but started driving anyway.

Snape looked at the woman in the seat next to him. He really looked at her, for the first time in his life.


A/N: Hermione's song is from the movie Jaws. I just invented Hermione's dorm room. I have no idea if there is a Petersen Hall at Oxford, and I'm pretty sure there's not magic program there.