The Potions Master's Storeroom

Chapter Four

I primped before I went down to breakfast the next day and was appalled at myself. I’ve never been a primper, and images of myself tarted up like a Lavendar or Parvati assaulted me with sharp, painted nails. Putting down my hairbrush was an act of white-knuckled will, and I forced myself to pull my hair back into its habitual messy bun. The robes I put on were slightly nicer than I generally wore to teach, and the color, a gorgeous royal blue, did look nice on me. However, they were the modest cut to which I was accustomed, my naughty bits demurely covered.

I made my way to the Great Hall, feeling a Snapish pleasure that most of the students were gone for the holidays and the corridors were empty. Relaxed, I settled into my seat at the Head Table and spread my napkin on my lap. The Hall was nearly devoid of people except for the Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, myself, and Stuart Montrose – the little blighter I knew spiked the punch at the Yule Ball.

“Hermione, dear, I feel like it’s been ages since you and I have had a chance to chit chat.” The older woman’s brogue covered me like warm treacle. “Why don’t you move down here and sit next to me?”

I was a bit reluctant to move. The seat I had chosen was one of the farthest away from her, and I’d picked it in the hope that when Severus came in, he would feel safe enough from scrutiny to sit next to me. Minerva was correct, though. It had been a while since we’d had our last tete-a-tete, and I feared offending her. She’d become like a mother to me since my own were killed in the war.

“Of course, Minerva.” I picked up my plate and moved next to her, taking a brief moment to pat her hand. “How are you enjoying the book I lent you?”

“It’s fascinating, but hardly ‘light reading,’ as you described. Arithmantic Principles in Transfigurative Sciences – the title alone should have tipped me off. I think to go any farther, I shall need to pick up an Arithmancy primer from Sinistra.” Her voice was dry.

“Oh! If you need to borrow a book on Arithmancy, I’ve got several that…”

“My dear,” she interrupted. “Although I appreciate the offer, I think I need something a bit more basic than would be found in your library.”

“Oh, of course.” I poured us both cups of Earl Grey tea with milk and sugar.

“So…” Minerva’s voice was carefully offhand. “I saw you danced with Severus at the Yule Ball. That was awfully nice of you. He doesn’t often get an opportunity to dance with a pretty young witch.” She buttered a piece of toast before biting into it with every evidence of pleasure.

“There was nothing nice about it. It was entirely my pleasure, I assure you.” I smiled and felt my cheeks warm.

“Don’t be silly. I saw you rescue him from Professor Trelawney. You know I like Sybil just fine, but she can be a bit delusional where he is concerned.”

I snorted impolitely into my tea. “That’s not all she’s delusional about.” My cup clattered as I placed it firmly into its saucer. “And besides, Minerva, the dance might have started that way, but by the end of it I was glad that I had gotten the opportunity to spend the time with him. He’s quite funny, you know.” I hoped my cheeks weren’t as read as I suspected they were.

“Hermione, I must ask you to cease and desist spreading rumors about me. I only find one thing in this world funny, and it is that the weakest third of the Golden Trio is selling jock straps to oversexed Quidditch players.” Severus’s voice drifted over my shoulder and mortified, I turned to look at him.

“Professor Snape! Good morning, sir!” I stammered, suddenly feeling like an ickle firstie.

He arched a sooty brow and glanced at me from the corner of his eye. I was pleased and reassured when he took the seat next to me. “If you persist in that nonsense, I shall go back to calling you Ms. Granger. You’re making me feel terribly old.” Severus ran the tips of his fingers over the back of my hand where it rested on the table.

I shivered. His touch marked me as his in front of the headmistress and the few students who were lolling at their tables eating breakfast. Stuart Montrose was watching us, his eyes bulging at the open display of affection from his snarky Potions professor. Severus snarled at the boy, and the fifth year turned his astonished gaze back to his porridge.

“Severus, you look well this morning,” I said, attempting but failing to control the flush that I could feel creeping up my neck.

“Thank you, Hermione.” His fingers slid between mine and rubbed. “You look… not unwell.”

I looked over to see Minerva’s eyes focused on where our hands rested together on the table. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were saucers. An unexpected wave of irritation washed over me. She had spent decades boffing a man fifty years her senior who had an unfortunate habit of losing candies in his beard. For days! Was it really so shocking that I might find a man such as Severus, a powerful wizard in his prime, unbearably attractive? I licked my lips, eyeing his broad shoulders. Casting a sour glance towards her, I flipped my hand palm up so that our fingers could entwine. Spots of color appeared in the headmistress’s cheeks and she turned away.

Serves her right, I thought.

“Do you have plans for today?” His smooth baritone demanded my attention, and I saw that his mouth was curled in amusement. Apparently, I was an open book to him.

I pulled his hand into my lap and wrapped my fingers around it. “I thought I might go into Diagon Alley. I’ve several books waiting for me at Flourish & Blotts that I’d like to pick up.” I moved Severus’s hand a bit farther up my leg and spread it out so that he was cupping my upper thigh. “Do you think you might like to join me?” My tone was deliberately offhand, but I shifted in my chair so that his hand slid even higher. My eyes were wide and (hopefully) guileless.

He smirked and flexed his hand. Oh, gods. Had I thought I was seducing him? What a joke! One quirk of that haughty eyebrow and a touch of his hands and I was a pile of socially-unacceptable goo. “It would be my pleasure, Hermione.”

---

The day was bright and lovely; the sort of day when the sunshine made me want to stretch my arms out and spin with delight. I fairly skipped next to the Potions master who, even with his winter garb on, was still dressed like an ascetic rook. However, his cloak had a sumptuous black fur trim and his gloves were butter-soft leather that made me realize that Severus had a secret, hedonistic streak a mile wide.

Snow crunched beneath our feet as we walked towards the gates of Hogwarts. I danced a couple of steps ahead, pleased with the noise and excited about our excursion.

“Are you cavorting, madam?” His face was gentle and very nearly hopeful as he watched me enjoy the weather.

“Maybe I am.” I danced back to him and ran my hands over his fur trim. Peeking up at him, I laughed to see his flustered but pleased expression.

“Does the prospect of spending the day with me make you that happy?” His voice was teasing, but I heard the uncertain edge beneath it. I understood that answering his question improperly had the potential to wound him.

“The fact that this is a gorgeous day and I am getting away from the school in order to buy books that I have been waiting on for several months pleases me. The fact that I get to spend this perfect day with you makes me ecstatic, Severus.” I smiled at him with sincere warmth, and his shoulders straightened, the muscles unspooling with a lazy grace.

He reached for my hand, his touch more tentative than it had been this morning at breakfast. Severus stroked my skin for just a moment, before a strange expression crossed his aquiline features. After pausing for a heart beat, he released me and tucked his hands into his cloak. His shoulders climbed once more towards his ears. I cocked my head, curious. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, of course.” He didn’t look at me, and in a moment we’d passed through the Hogwarts gates.

I stopped and he continued to walk, not realizing that he’d left me behind.

“Severus.”

He turned to face me, one brow arched like a black rainbow over his eye.

“You can be honest with me. I’d prefer it, you know.”

“Of course I can.” His shoulders were hunched and his gaze was disbelieving.

“Really. I know that you haven’t been used well, even by people who were supposedly your friends. But I don’t have an iron in the fire. I just want to get to know you.” I was trying desperately to be honest without revealing too much. After all, a cornered Snape was a vicious Snape, and anything that made me vulnerable would be fair game to him. But I wanted Severus to trust me and feel like he could share part of himself with me. Otherwise this would be nothing but a mindless fuck. And although I was libidinous enough that my body was shouting Yes, yes!, I was hopeful that this could grow into something more. I wanted something more.

He sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, his eyes darting to mine before sliding away like a frightened bird. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“What isn’t?” I tried not to sound like I was swallowing my own tongue.

“This, you foolish girl,” Severus hissed, gesturing between us. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“Oh.” What was he trying to say? Surely he couldn’t mean… “Uh, do you mean you’ve never…” I trailed off and looked at him significantly as if to say ’you fill in the blanks’.

His mouth tightened and he stepped close to me, the heat of his body in the winter air a tangible presence against my chest and stomach. “Ms. Granger, do not make foolish assumptions.” Severus’s fingers tangled in my hair, and he pulled my head to the side, exposing the long line of my neck. “I could make you scream my name with very little effort.” His lips trailed nipping kisses to my ear, and I shuddered at his hot, wet breath as he sucked the lobe into his mouth. I caught my bottom lip between my teeth and tried to lean into him, my entire attention focused on the naughty things he was doing to me.

With one last, forceful kiss he pulled back. The winter breeze was frigid against the area where his mouth had been. I felt bereft. My hand reached up to cover my neck, and I looked at him with glazed eyes.

“It’s the rest that’s new to me. I do not know how to be… a lover.” Severus spoke the word as if it was foreign to him and as unappealing as Dolores Umbridge in nipple tassels.

His meaning washed over me, and my brow cleared. “Oh, I see.” I tapped my lips. “What is it you think that lovers are required to do?”

“I don’t know. Be sweet and gentle. Give chocolates. Write love poetry. Play nice with their partner’s friends. Loll about on the beach in a speedo during joint vacations. All sorts of things that I don’t have the inclination to do.”

I laughed, although inside I ached for him a bit. The man had given his whole life to the cause, and because of it, he’d never had a real relationship. “I would have no idea what to do if you wrote me poetry or gave me chocolate. I suspect I’d examine it for a hiccoughing draught or something equally evil.” We were silent for a moment before I stepped closer to him and rested my cheek against his chest. His arms slowly, carefully, curled around my shoulders. “Can’t we try being friends? And then we’ll see if anything grows from there.”

His heart rate sped up beneath my ear. “I want to…” His voice was tentative, but his fingers tangled in my curls.

“Then let’s, Severus. I feel so drawn to you that I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself for letting this opportunity to get to know you pass me by.” The tip of my nose rubbed gently against the soft skin behind his ear.

He gave a shuddering breath and pulled me tighter against him, wrapping me in his warm cloak. “All right. I can’t promise you that I will be what you desire in a beau, but I will try.”

We stood pressed together for another endless moment. I imagined that we were both feeling oddly vulnerable, and delaying the instant when we’d have to pull back and look each other in the eyes. I tilted my face up until it was buried in his neck and took a deep breath of mint and juniper.

“During this process of… becoming friends…” His voice rumbled.

“Yes?” I pressed my lips to his jaw.

“Am I still allowed to kiss you?”

“I’d be upset if you didn’t.” I pulled back slightly, raising my face to his, my eyelids fluttering shut.

I waited for his mouth to touch mine, and when it didn’t I cracked an eye open to see him smirking down at me. “Maybe later.” He flicked me softly on my nose.

“Jerk,” I muttered and pushed up onto my tip toes so that our mouths crashed together. He made a surprised noise and then his lips gentled against mine. Severus sucked on my lower lip, and kissed me so sweetly that my heart ached. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine with a pleased smile curling his lips.

“Are you ready?” he murmured. “Flourish & Blotts is breathlessly awaiting your arrival, I’m sure.”

“Hold your horses. I’m busy,” I muttered and twined my fingers more tightly in the hair at the nape of his neck.