Adjustment

Hello! Hope everyone had a good couple of days. Thanks to everyone that took the time to review. The answer to the Famous Last Words--Movie Edition along with a new quote will be at the end of each chapter. Let's get on with the story, shall we? And as I'm prone to saying at moments like these--Please REVIEW!

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Chapter Four

            The nightmare had Hermione sitting straight up in bed—which was quite odd as it wasn’t her own nightmare making her do so. It had been her bad luck that she had forgotten to do the things that would have kept her from hearing the noise in the first place, she thought angrily as she listened intently. She heard screaming coming from the other room. Soon she got up and went over to the other room where Lucius Malfoy was he screeching at the top of his lungs.

            Stopping at the foot of the bed, she yelled, “Wake up!”

            Snapping awake, Lucius sat in bed sweating and panting.

            “Would you care for a water? A calming draft? A silencing charm for the others that were lucky enough to have slept through this?”

            “What I want, Miss Granger, is for you to leave immediately!” he demanded as he pulled on his blankets to try to cover his nude body.

            “Embarrassed, Lord Malfoy?” she asked. “You needn’t be. Nightmares after participating in a war are like arseholes. Everyone seems to have them and they do nothing but throw more crap into our lives.”

            He was silent a moment before he let a snicker out. “That is well worth remembering.”

            “Okay…you do that…” She closed her eyes, as she snuggled down into the large chair she was sitting on. “Pardon me, but I’m going to sleep on the chair over here…nothing personal…got drunk earlier…sleep now…”

            Grabbing his robe, he put it on and managed to get close to where she was seated quite awkwardly in the chair. Sure enough when he got near enough, he could hear her soft snoring. What to do, he asked himself. Well, there was only one thing to do, he reasoned.

            “Severus!”

            It was a bleary eyed headmaster that came into the room, glaring at the blind man. “What?”

            “Lovely disposition as usual,” Lucius said coolly. “Miss Granger came over when she heard me screaming and fell asleep here in the chair. I’m at a loss what to do with her.”

            “You must be joking,” Severus said sarcastically. “Please dear Merlin, tell me this is a hideous joke.”

            “I’m not laughing and she needs to be elsewhere.”

            Rolling his eyes heavenward, he muttered, “It is a joke. A giant cosmic farce! What do you think I am? A Gryffindor?”

            “I take you for being half asleep if you can’t think of a spell to get her from one place to another,” Lucius hissed.

            Severus so wanted to glare at the man, but it would have been lost on Lucius. Instead he went over to Hermione and kicked the chair, waking her with a start. Blinking sleepily up at the dark wizard, she hadn’t a clue what he was doing disrupting her sleep.

            “Get up and go back to your room,” he told her. “Now.”

            Getting to her feet, she proceeded to kiss Severus. Having no time to react, he was forced in essence to simply feel—her lips caressing, her tongue delving and demanding, and her body pressing and wriggling against his in an invitation older than Merlin. Pulling back slowly, her eyes were still closed even if her now swollen lips were not. Opening her fathomless amber colored eyes she looked into his shocked midnight black ones only to lean in one last time and lick at his now reddened lips. It was that last touch that had him shivering, desire rippling through his entire body.

            But she pulled back and straightened her nightclothes, as she cleared her throat and said, “Always wanted to try that, but was never drunk enough until now. Good night.”

            She stumbled out of the room, leaving Severus stunned at what just happened.

            “Did that witch just kiss you?” Lucius asked.

            “No.”

            Laughing Lucius walked back to his bed, proclaiming, “I couldn’t see what happened and I know you’re lying, old friend.” He heard Severus muttering curses as he left the room and laughed all the louder, adding, “I can feel your blush from here!”

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            The next day for Severus was torture. Hermione, he reminded himself, had been drunk. She obviously wasn’t in her right mind. No witch in her right mind had ever kissed him like that without being paid upfront and even then it never really involved kissing his mouth. He watched her from the shadows as she went through the motions of attempting to get Lucius to cooperate with some of her ideas. He hadn’t heard a word out of her mouth, but rather watched her body with the attention usually reserved for boys during puberty. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but on the same token he was rather satisfied to be his age and to be standing at attention as he was. Blue balls aside, he hadn’t been this turned on since Sirius Black gave him a lust potion in fifth year. Uncomfortable, yes, but a relief nonetheless in a very weird way.

            “Why should I be the one to try it out?” Lucius's demand interrupted his thoughts.

            “Because you need to tell me if it works,” she told him, attempting patience. “If I test it, it’s pretty damn useless. It is for you, Lord Malfoy, not me. The spell needs to be geared towards you.”

            “I am not a spell tester, Miss Granger!” he exclaimed.

            “If you want to get around this house independently, you better damn well start,” she told him. “I came here to help you. But if you can’t even be bothered to do anything…”

            Severus came forward then. “Enough. It’s clear you both need time away from the other. It’s time for breakfast.”

            Hermione let out a growl of frustration and left the room, slamming the door. Severus let out a long sigh, looking over to his friend who was acting very much the stubborn child standing there as he was.

            “I’ve never taken you for a fool,” Severus said quietly. “Hermione Granger is one of the foremost minds to be found and she is trying to help you, you stubborn goat.”

            “I will not lower myself…”

            “Lower yourself?!” Severus barked. “You’re an idiot if you call what she’s asking you to do lowering in any fashion!” He went over to Lucius, taking his arm and putting it around his own. “You’ve always been a dramatic individual with a ripe ability to exaggerate just about anything and still be believable, but tell me truthfully—do you even believe what you just said?”

TBC...

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And there's chapter 4! I know that it was a bit on the short side, but I've been attempting to keep the chapters between one thousand and fifteen hundred words. This felt like a natural stopping point, something I've been trying to keep to in regards to this fanfic. But not to worry, more is coming soon.

Okay! Time for Famous Last Words: Movie Edition! The answer to the last one was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I told you it was a bit tricky. I also said to read it carefully. The words "no man" during the final frontier speech was last used in the movie "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". It was also the launching point of the use of the words, "no one", which was used in the Star Trek (2009). A big round of applause goes out to Dawn, who knew the movie, that Spock (Leonard Nimoy) spoke the words, and that Nicholas Meyer directed!!! Kodos go out to both SER and ChaosLady for knowing the movie and the character. Cookies for all the winners!!! If I missed you, I'm sorry.

Time for the next quote! "Now tell me...What's become of my ship?"

Care for some clues? Okay, here they are--This is the second movie of now four. This line is the only one the character has in the entire movie. There you go! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.