Trysts With Quidam

Trysts With Quidam

Chapter 3: Dimanche

Severus sat at his cluttered desk and cast his gaze upon the tie lying amongst his scattered papers. He usually didn’t procrastinate when it came to grading his students’ essays, but it was almost impossible for him to stay focused on any task because his mind was aflame with thoughts and theories on the mystery from the previous two nights.

Severus had assumed that the students returning for an eighth year wouldn’t be as much of a pain in his arse as the younger children. They were, after all, adults.

They were definitely proving him wrong.


He had spent hours searching for any clues that it had been Harry Potter out there in Hagrid’s hut, but his only piece of evidence incriminated one of his Slytherins instead of that arrogant Gryffindor.

He thought back to his second evening of watching the impostor at work. Before Severus discovered that it was Potter, he had believed it to be a legitimate, yet kinky and foolish, couple who were getting their rocks off at his expense. They had seemed so loving towards each other. He had not witnessed a frantic tumble. It had appeared to be genuine lovemaking.


The first night, he feared that Lavender Brown had developed a schoolgirl crush on him, and that someone was taking advantage of it. However, during the second rendezvous, he could have sworn that it had been the same girl because of the similar way that she responded to her lover. Therefore, it had to be someone other than Lavender Brown or Ginny Weasley.

After finding out the other Severus’ true identity, Severus reverted back to his original theory that a male student was using his identity to take advantage of female students. Ginny Weasley was at the Burrow for the weekend, so Potter had obviously tricked Pansy Parkinson into taking her place by using Severus’ identity as leverage. Severus believed it possible that he had also forced her to take on Lavender’s identity on the first night. Severus wondered if Potter had threatened detention, or if he had offered her something else. He knew that Pansy was happily dating Draco, so her decision had to have been made under duress.

The only problem with his latest conclusion was that he still believed the girl’s affections to be genuine. He needed a second opinion. He needed a woman’s opinion.

He was shaken out of his deep thought by a quiet knock on his office door. He picked up an essay and a quill, and he pretended to be marking the essay.

“Enter.”

Hermione slid open the door and hesitated in the entrance a bit before working up the courage to approach the professor’s desk. It was Sunday and the only day that she didn’t have to help him in the Potions lab, but she thought that working on her Potions project would get her away from the boys for a bit.

Harry had asked her to join him for a game of Wizard’s Chess, but she automatically had the urge to turn him down. She loved her best friend, but she didn’t want to be in his presence that morning. She wanted a bit of solitude, so she made her excuses and descended into the dungeons.

As she stood in front of Severus’ desk, she began to doubt her decision to disturb the professor. He looked very busy, and she didn’t want to anger him. He looked up at her, and a chill flowed through her.

She knew that he was waiting for her to speak, so she asked, “Professor, I’d like permission to use the lab today.”

Severus sighed. He was frustrated with trying to figure out his problem, but Hermione thought that he was annoyed with her.

She started to slowly back away, but she stopped when he said, “You may use the lab, Miss Granger, but I haven’t the time to supervise you today. Make sure that you clean and store everything properly when you are finished.”

Relief filled Hermione, and she gave him a slight nod and made her way to the lab.

Severus could tell that Hermione was nervous about asking to use the lab on a Sunday. When she got nervous around him, she also got very quiet. He liked her when she was quiet. Her precision and poise while working was most appealing to him, and he had never beheld a more beautiful vision than the gentle smile that graced her lips when she was reading.

Severus silently chastised himself for thinking such inappropriate thoughts about a student. She was no longer a child, but she was still untouchable and very afraid of him. He abruptly stood up from his chair and stared in the direction of the lab. Hermione was an intelligent and levelheaded woman who was familiar with most of the students at Hogwarts. Severus realized that she would have enough insight and discretion to help him solve his mystery.

It would be embarrassing to relate the story to her, but he had already made a fool out of himself by asking her about Lavender Brown, and she had answered him with polite grace. He reasoned that he couldn’t possibly make things worse by telling her the whole story, and he knew that it would be worth it because she could definitely offer a fresh point-of-view. He only had to summon up the courage to approach her about it.

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A myriad of potion ingredients perfumed the air in the lab, and Hermione was standing with her back turned towards Severus. Her hips swayed back and forth as she hummed quietly to herself while stirring the potion. Thick steam rose from the cauldron and quickly caused her white shirt to cling to her moist body. Her hair was situated in a bun at the top of her head, but stray tendrils of it clung to her neck and face.

Severus didn’t realize that he was staring at her until she used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe the sweat from her brow before continuing to stir the massive cauldron before her. A disturbingly familiar ache gripped his heart while watching her work, but he couldn’t quite place it. He cleared his throat in order to alert her of his presence.

Color flooded her cheeks, but her surprise was otherwise unmarked as she turned to her professor with a questioning look.

She automatically blabbed, “I’m sorry, Professor.”

With wide eyes studying the bare stone floor, she waited for his usual sarcastic remarks.

Severus sat on a nearby stool and clasped his hands together in his lap. Hermione looked so demure and lovely in that instant, but her expression was also adorably funny because she went from a sultry temptress to a little girl in trouble within a few moments. He held back a laugh because he knew it would be inappropriate. He surmised that such an unfamiliar sound coming from him would probably scare her even more.

“Miss Granger, you have no reason to be sorry, so stop pouting like a child.”

In an effort to please her professor, Hermione adopted a regal posture, smoothed out her clothes, and waited patiently for him to state his purpose. She no longer looked at the floor, but she still failed to look him in the eye.

Severus gave a loud sigh at the realization that he had just chastised the woman to whom he had come for advice. Biting and sarcastic remarks were his trademark, but he sometimes wished that he could tone them down a bit. He looked into Hermione’s eyes for clues to her feelings, but there were none. She was carefully looking over his shoulder.

“Please . . . sit down. I apologize for interrupting your work, but I would like to talk.” He hesitated and folded his arms across his chest before saying, “I have a rather bizarre problem with a student, and I think that you may be able to offer me a more accurate perspective on the entire situation. Do you mind?”

Hermione tensed even more and kept her unseeing eyes fixed on his shoulder. Her heart beat erratically against her chest at the thought that he had discovered her secrets, but, if that were the case, she didn’t think that he would be sitting alone with her. She quickly reasoned that she was being paranoid and collected her wits.

“I don’t mind at all, sir.”

“Please, Miss Granger, look at me.”

“Please” was not a word that Severus Snape used often, and he had just used it twice in one sitting. Hermione was so caught off guard by his civility that she immediately moved her eyes to his face.

He was smiling at her, and she wondered how long he had been doing so. With eyes alight with admiration, she studied his pleasing features. She loved his alabaster skin, coal-black hair, and intense eyes. Before she could stop herself, she was looking directly into them. Her heart’s desire and curiosity forbade her eyes to look away from his. She knew it was dangerous, but all she could do was attempt to mask her true feelings as she treasured the allure of those dark orbs.

As soon as her spellbinding eyes met his, Severus experienced conflict. He wanted to touch her and run from her at the same time. He couldn’t identify the emotion in her eyes, but their luminance was striking. He stood and walked to her cauldron because he felt like he was about to crack under the pressure of her gaze, and he refused to lose control in front of a student.

He panicked at the realization that he was once able face mental assault and physical torture from the Dark Lord, but he couldn’t meet the gaze of a woman after asking her to look at him. He disappointed himself with the thought that he must have lost his edge.

With Severus out of her line of sight, Hermione regained her composure and asked, “What did you want to ask me, Professor Snape?”

Hearing her pronounce his surname sent chills up his spine, and he quietly breathed, “Gods, I need to find a woman. This is ridiculous.”

As Severus collected his thoughts, so did Hermione. She relaxed into her chair, and he calmed himself by examining her project. Severus thought of the perfect way to start his story, so he went for it.

“Miss Granger, you and Mr. Malfoy spend a great deal of time in the lab, so surely one of you has noticed missing ingredients.”

“Actually . . . no, they are all accounted for. Why?”

Severus appeared to be casually reading her notes when he answered, “A student has been impersonating me using Polyjuice, Miss Granger, and I intend to find the culprit tonight.”

Hermione softly whispered, “I’m sure you will.”

Severus quickly looked up from the notes, but she was sitting there as if she had said nothing at all, so he continued, “Forgive me for coming to you with such a personal matter, but someone is using my identity to seduce my female students. The seriousness of the situation requires that I use all of the resources at my disposal. You, Miss Granger, could be my greatest resource since you can provide me with a student’s prospective.”

Her heart fluttered at the thought of being his greatest resource for anything, but her face continued to display the proper mixture of concern and shock as was expected after hearing such information from a professor.

She was rarely in his good graces, so she knew that she had just been presented a rare opportunity to influence Severus in her favor. In her current predicament, telling the truth, or, at least, telling most of the truth would ultimately work to her advantage.

With all of the sincerity expected of her, she answered, “I will help you in any way that I can, Professor.”

At length, he related to her his convoluted tale. He left out the sordid details as much as possible, but he made sure to include every other nuance of his encounters with the impostor. He included his conflicting theories about the motives of the students involved. When he was finished speaking, he waited for Hermione to answer.

After a deafening silence, Severus said, “Miss Granger?”

Summoning all of her courage, she replied, “I suppose that it could be a couple in love. I can only imagine how satisfying that would be.”

She was now looking boldly into Severus’ eyes.

He swallowed hard and asked, “How satisfying what would be?”

In an attempt to look as innocent as possible, she looked away from him and appeared to be dreaming, as she stared at the empty space in front of her.

“I would give anything for a single moment with the man I love.”

Severus was transfixed by the far away look in her eyes. The way that she absently ran her manicured fingers across her pink lips caused him to speak before thinking.

“Why can’t you be with him?”

“He doesn’t even know that I exist. At least, not in that way.”

“I find that difficult . . .”

He suddenly caught himself before he finished the sentence and loudly cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry, Miss Granger, for prying into your personal affairs.”

Hermione’s expression turned sober and she said, “You said that you have an idea of the student’s identity?”

Severus took in a deep breath. “He used an invisibility cloak last night.”

As he made that statement, he merely looked at her with a knowing look. He knew that she would catch his meaning, and she did.

“Harry was with me last night, Professor.”

At last, Severus recovered his trademark scowl and moved around the table to where he was standing over her.

“You are protecting Potter.”

Summoning up more of her Gryffindor courage, Hermione stood to face him.

As soon as she stood in front of him, Severus knew that he had made another mistake in regards to his treatment of his most brilliant student. She was visibly upset.

Standing directly in front of him, she said, “I was with Harry last night, Professor, whether you believe me, or not.”

He could see the sincerity in her eyes, and he could smell the strawberry scent in her hair. He was so close to her, and he was studying a stray curl that had fallen into her eyes. He so badly wanted to reach for it and tuck it behind her ear, but the moment passed when she did just that.

“Do you still want my opinion, sir?”

“Yes.”

The bold glint in her eyes returned, and she confronted him with a powerful gaze.

She stated, “I don’t think that you should be looking for a boy. It sounds to me as if your culprit is a lovesick female student.”

Severus didn’t believe what he was hearing, but she looked entirely confident in her conclusion.

He sounded curiously intrigued when he asked, “How did you come to such a conclusion, Miss Granger?”

She calmly turned away from him and continued working on her project. Her appearance was serene and detached, as she began her detailed explanation.

“You stated that the woman always looked upon her lover with the same affectionate expression, so, logically, it’s likely the same person. She must be using one of her classmates to fulfill a schoolgirl fantasy with her teacher. She could even be using more than one boy. That could be the reason for changing her appearance from night to night. She could be impersonating whichever woman happens to strike the fancy of each of her lovers. You never mentioned any similarities in the actions and expressions for your impostor from one night to the next, did you?”

Severus was rendered almost completely speechless, but he managed to answer, “No.”

He was stunned at the fact that Hermione thought it possible for a student to want him in that way. However, he had no ammunition with which to argue. He hadn’t thought about it before, but there were subtle differences in the impostor on the second night. Her explanation made perfect sense, but he doubted that a female student would be able to pull off something so devious. To the members of his generation, sex was usually viewed as a man’s game. He knew that modern women took control over their men more often, but his mind just didn’t think of women in those terms.

In his mind, Severus still had a reason to be suspicious of Harry Potter. Even though Hermione’s explanation was incredibly logical, he wasn’t ready to buy into it.

She then shrugged her shoulders and cast her eyes sideways to gauge his reaction while saying, “Of course, as I said before, it could also be a young couple just having fun at your expense.”

Hermione seemed composed, but she was nervous about his reaction and she wasn’t sure how much longer her courage would last in the presence of Severus Snape. She noted that he was lost in thought and wearing a somewhat confused expression. A slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Just then, Narcissa Malfoy pranced into the lab with all of her aristocratic flair. Without a glance in Hermione’s direction, she thrust her ostentatious cloak and hat into the younger woman’s arms.

While giving Severus a flirtatious smile, she said, “I apologize profusely for arriving here unannounced, Severus, but I couldn’t resist paying you a visit since I am already in the castle.”

Hermione flinched when she saw the way that her professor looked at the other woman. He seemed almost in awe of her, and he readily accepted the warm embrace that she bestowed upon him.

Hermione bowed her head and walked slowly to the cloakroom. As she placed Narcissa’s things on a hanger, she noticed a golden strand of hair clinging to the cloak. As it glistened in the light, Hermione thought about how much she wanted to draw Severus’ attention. If she had flowing blonde hair and elegant clothes, then maybe he would look at her like she was a goddess, too. Hermione breathed a heavy sigh and went back to the lab.

Severus and Narcissa were still engaged in an intimate chat.

“What brings you to Hogwarts, Cissa?”

“Draco owled me for Potions ingredients, and I so rarely get to visit with him these days. I decided to bring them to him. We spent a little time together, but he wanted to go play Quidditch with his mates.” She moved closer to him and cupped his cheek in her hand. “You look well, Severus. You must pay Lucius and I another visit, soon.”

Hermione was starting to feel uncomfortable and very annoyed. She quickly put away her supplies and fled the room.

As Narcissa continued talking, Severus’ focus was on his student. His curious eyes watched her every move.

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Severus arrived early to Hagrid’s hut with the intent of waiting for the mystery lovers to arrive, but the quaint home was already occupied upon his arrival. It was also warded against him, which is why he was surprised to find the back window still open for his viewing pleasure.

At that moment, he was certain that his opponent knew of his presence and wanted to be watched. Severus hated the feeling of being one step behind in any game, and he certainly wasn’t going to let a student best him. He scowled at the thought that this students thought him perverted enough to just sit back and watch the night’s events without attempting to apprehend them. The scrupulous professor surveyed his surroundings before closing in on the open window.

He thought that nothing could shock him more than the events of the past two nights, but he was incredibly wrong.

Anger swelled up inside of him at the sight of himself thrusting wildly into the supple body of Hermione Granger.

While turning into the darkness of the bitter night, he bit his lip and tightly clenched his fist in an effort to dispel the agony tearing at his heart.

After composing himself, Severus realized with a sigh of relief that it couldn’t really be Hermione. She would have known better than to be there with the fake Severus because she knew the whole story. He briefly consoled himself with the fact that he had told her about the happenings, so there was no danger of her falling prey to someone’s devious game.

As he stood looking into the menacing darkness of the forest, his thoughts digressed even further in regards to Hermione. He wondered why he was so relieved that it wasn’t her being ravished in the room behind him. There was still a possibility that it was one of his other students being taken against her will, and that thought did not sit well with him. However, it bothered him only because he was supposed to abhor such behavior as a teacher and a decent person. He felt obligated to care about the welfare of all of the girls at Hogwarts, but his reaction to the thought of Hermione being used in such a way had been much deeper than a teacher being concerned for a student.

Severus stood amazed and immobile. On that random Sunday night, he discovered his love for another woman that he could never call his own.

Through many painful years as a Death Eater, he had protected her and her friends. He had watched her grow out of her bushy hair and know-it-all attitude into an attractive and sophisticated woman. He felt comfort from her presence in his classroom, and it saddened him to think that she could not find the same comfort from his presence.

At the sound of a shrill scream, he turned around and stared at the goddess in the window. She continued to vocalize her pleasure loudly as an orgasm rolled through her glistening body. She was bent over an old wooden table, and her lover was taking her hard against it.

Severus stared longingly at the scene before him and thought about how grateful he would be if it were really he and Hermione on that table. Swallowing hard, he gave himself a mental shake to clear his head. He adjusted his robes and moved into the shadows. There were pumpkins all around him in Hagrid’s small garden, so he sat on one of them and waited for his opportunity to strike.

While he was waiting in silence, he noticed that the commotion from the hut had ceased, and the lights flickered as silhouettes moved around the room in search of their clothes.

Severus quickly rose to his feet and crept closer to the house, but he stopped dead still when he saw the woman standing in the window. She looked out at the black night and sighed before her lover wrapped his arms around her from behind. She closed her eyes, smiled, and leaned into his chest. Just when Severus thought that she situation couldn’t unhinge him any further, she took her lover’s hand in her own and studied it before raising her eyes to meet his through the darkness.

Severus knew that she couldn’t be staring at him, but his heart felt like it would beat out of his chest while she continued to stare in his direction. Without looking away, she lifted her lover’s hand to her mouth, and kissed it firmly. Afterwards, she brushed her cheek against it and let it go.

Her expression became serious. She stepped away from her lover’s embrace and rested her hands on the windowsill. Severus could hear her command, as she said, “Go.”

The single whispered word echoed through the night and put Severus on alert. The man slipped away, but the woman remained at the window with a smile on her face. Severus felt that her smile was taunting him because he had to make a decision. Would he go for her, or would he go for the man that he thought to be Potter?

As he sprinted in the direction of his impersonator, he didn’t notice Hermione’s wicked smile broaden before she walked away from the window.