Seduction by Design

Seduction by Design




Chapter Five


He did not sleep well.

All night he tossed and turned, uncomfortable in linens that still held her scent. He cast numerous cleansing charms – nothing helped. Any sleep he managed was tainted by curly-haired sirens that beckoned him back into their word of pure hedonism. He remembered how wonderful it was and the thought brought a putrid taste to his mouth. That and the bottle of brandy he inhaled.

So after his third trip to the loo, he figured a good old fashioned hangover potion and dreamless sleep draught were all he required to last the night.

He was wrong.

The combination ended up making him delusional. Now he was dreaming of wanton sirens, grabbing at him and biting at his flesh, mounting him only to ride him to their own completion, bringing him inches from release and denying him. He took the matters into his own hands, pumping away furiously without avail. No matter how many times he came, it wasn’t right. It wasn’t her.

Dawn broke. His bedchambers were a disaster. The room smelled like sex and sweat and his sheets were beyond cleaning. He striped his bed and threw everything but one pillowcase into the fire. It still smelt like her and he…kind of liked it.

Where was his ironclad will? Had that left him too?

That was another unfortunate side effect of his delusion – he was helpless, prone to suggestion and self-pity. He almost wanted to be coddled.

There lay the great divide. On one side, his wants and desires. On the other, his realities and needs. He didn’t need to be loved, or coddled for that matter. He did need calm. He wanted female attention, positive or otherwise, but he needed to get his work done. Pushing Hermione away only caused the rift to expand even further, separating the two parts beyond repair.

It was for the best, he kept telling himself. He was unworthy of her anyway, would have held her back and made her miserable – which in turn she would make him miserable until they decided to break the vicious cycle and part company only to have stained both their souls. Why come together only to break apart? Modern romance was too fickle to be played in – so he chose not to bother.

His life’s work was far more important.

He had rung the house elves for tea and toast. Once his empty stomach was somewhat soothed, he made his way to his labs where, to his pleasant surprise, it was Remus Lupin who waited, not Hermione Granger.

“Rough night?” The man asked.

Snape shot him a dirty look. “Everything went well last night?” He asked, not in the mood to verbally dismember the jovial man.

Remus’s eyes were sparkling, much like Dumbledore’s. He had changed his clothing – he was now in neat, brand new robes, a drastic change over his usual raggedy appearance. He had even shaved his habitual five o’clock shadow and cut his hair. He actually looked presentable. “Last night I went to Hogsmeade and I had a drink with a beautiful witch named Rose. We talked for hours and I walked her home in the moonlight. The moonlight.” Remus was giddy! “I didn’t even know if she really liked me or not – my sense of smell is non-existent. My hearing is even bad! I felt…normal. I don’t think I’ve felt like that since I was seven.”

“So you have lost them or they are not as sensitive?” He picked up his quill. “Delayed response for all senses, or just those two?”

“I don’t know. My reflexes aren’t as sharp.” Remus noted, whisked out his wand with a flourish. “I’m slower. I feel...older too. Does that make sense?”

“Perhaps.” Snape didn’t look up from his notes. “As a werewolf your life cycle is faster. All your frivolous frolicking has caught up to you.”

Remus laughed. “Nicely put, Severus. I should trust you to speak from experience.”

“Excuse me?” He looked up with disdain twisted into his features.

“Nothing.” Remus’s eyes scanned the laboratory. “Where’s ‘Mione?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea. I am not her keeper.”

“Sure about that, Severus?”

He dropped his quill and turned to face the man who seemed to see right through him. She had probably cried to him. “Whatever are you going on about today?”

Remus smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile, it was too smug. He didn’t like it. “Because I am not ignorant in the ways of the world. She is young, impressionable. You are her dark, brooding professor. All the story needs is some moors and it would be fit for a Bronte.” Remus took a seat normally reserved for Hermione. “That and you left a massive hickey on the back of her neck. The girl doesn’t play around let alone get out, so the finger was pointed at you.”

“A momentary lapse in judgment. We have both come to our senses.”

“Are you sure? Because you look like hell.” Remus cleared his throat. “Perhaps it was more than a momentary lapse?”

“Don’t be a fool, Lupin. I’m twenty years her senior.”

“So? I think we can both agree Hermione has always been mature. Hell, she’s had a smarter head than many witches I know as of late who are our age. Besides, she could never see the appeal of any boy her own age. Her eager mind needs experience to guide her.”

“It’s wholly inappropriate-”

“Why? She isn’t a student. She works with you, for you.” Remus Lupin, defender of all things Hermione. Severus wondered why he was pleading her case, but the man was insistent on continuing. “And obviously you work well, you said so yourself. What she lacks in imagination, you make up for in creativity. What you lack in organization, she makes up for in efficiency. Case in point, my potion. Neither of you could have done it alone, but together…”

Time to cut him off for good. “We still have to see if it works, Lupin, so I suggest you shove your optimism.” His eyes narrowed. “Anything that has transpired between myself and Miss Granger is really our concern, not yours. Such is evident by the information you are giving me now. It is not a simple as you’d want it to be. While I don’t doubt you enjoy playing a Hermione Granger Cheerleader-”

Remus shook his head. “You stubborn git. Why are you throwing away your one chance at happiness?”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” He muttered to himself.

“You are such a hypocrite, Snape. You claim to want to be left alone, but then you call so much attention to yourself by doing these insanely heroic things. You say you hate Hogwarts and all the students but you keep a constant vigil over them. You want to be alone, but you agree to an apprentice. Do you even know what you want?”

“I want you to shut up!” He roared, throwing down his first on the wood work surface.

“Aye.” Remus nodded. “I shall, but only after I say this. I am thirty-eight years old, unmarried, only just able to start living my life now. I have spent so much time a half shell of myself that I must now make the next forty years count. I have not had a choice, but you have. You have chosen to be live your life cut in half, never finding the fullest of anything. Is it any wonder why you find it lacking now?” Remus sighed. “You have a beautiful, young, energetic female reading and willing to embrace all of your strengths and weaknesses and give you your chance to live life to its fullest. You have oblivion on one side and heaven on the other. I implore you to rethink your choices, Severus. Lest you regret anymore of your existence.” His peace said; Remus left him, alone and cold in the sterile workspace.

Severus was not a stupid man, or ignorant to ignore Lupin’s parting words. A choice was made so long ago, a choice to live the life of a hero behind the scenes and never truly take the credit for the good he did – only continue to drive himself. It was a cold hard truth that he had never truly accepted. Remus was right. He had lived a half-life.

And Granger was apparently his last chance for fulfillment. But that fact was not altogether unappealing.

While he was rolled his eyes that the prospect of love would solve his lifelong charge – that being so blissfully in love could make him wake up in the morning and think ‘mission accomplished’ – it was not as horrible a prospect as he would have to admit. His work was his life’s ambition; a woman to share in it wouldn’t be so terrible. He figured he would marry one day, find a proper witch to wed and settled down and have a family. He had often thought about his own children, although never during a school year, a son to carry on his name, or daughter to carry on his work. But the folly of youth was replaced with years as a Deatheater and as a spy – a life he could never bring any woman let alone any child into.

His own family was an abysmal disaster. His parents were too caught up in their own endeavors to tend to their son, ignoring him completely. He had never been shown love in his home – a lesson he would be hard pressed not to repeat. He grew up cold to human touch for he had never known it, but secretly longed. That secret longing became buried under years of rejection and hatred, but in emerged oft – when he had been saved by Albus Dumbledore, he had felt wanted. When Hermione Granger kissed him he had felt wanted.

Any woman who would love him would have to be patient. And stubborn. And smart – for no imbecile could truly hold his attention long. She would have to enjoy quiet pursuits such as reading and most importantly know potions. He needed an equal, not a student, not a mother, not a trophy wife, but someone solid with affection for reformed greasy gits who were prone to be self-involved and have mood swings.

Oh bugger. He had just described her. Merlin.

Remus was a very observant man, more than he would have thought. He would have to make the man a godfather to his first child, or name a dog after him.

Snape smiled. For the first time in his life, he actually was optimistic for the future. Now that the fact was in his mind, all he needed to do was get back the girl. He chuckled.

Good thing no one else was in the room. He would have to obliviate his moment of weakness from their memory. He made a mental note not to let his jovial spirit affect his teaching. Nothing would ever be accomplished if the dreadful Professor Snape became…nice.

He closed his notebook and decided to take the day off to plan his plan of attack. His mission: seduce Hermione Granger back.


Tbc.

up next: Hermione’s seduction