It Starts With A Dance

It Starts With A Dance

Chapter 5: If It's Not His Fault. . .


Hermione had no idea how to combat Oliver as they sped away from Hogwart's Castle; she couldn't use her wand on him because she didn't know what was causing him to act in such a way, and she couldn't fight him because she was well aware that spells and potions that could control a person could also augment his strength ~ and temper. Hermione shuddered and decided not to try that particular can of worms. Instead, she turned to her assets in an effort to give Neville and Severus time to realize she was missing.


"So, Oliver, where're you taking me?" Hermione said sweetly, trying not to arouse his suspicion. She forced herself to lean back into him, and Oliver relaxed his grip a wee bit, so he wouldn't hurt her. 'That's a good sign,' Hermione thought, 'At least he doesn't want to hurt me, for now.'


"It's a surprise, 'Mione," Oliver said, nuzzling her neck as Hermione shivered in disgust; Oliver was a friend, but not one to use such an endearment. "Besides, I promised we'd be back in time to meet our new students. I don't know if Minerva told you, but she's changed a few things ~ you and I are co-Heads of House. Isn't that lovely?"


'As lovely as a Dementor's kiss,' Hermione thought, and she wondered where exactly the conversation was going. "I'm sure we'll work well together, Oliver. Who are the Heads of the other Houses?"


Oliver was quiet for a moment, and his arms tightened around Hermione's waist. "Why do you ask? You could only be a Head of Gryffindor House, Hermione. Minerva will find Heads for the lacking Houses. Severus Snape is reluctant, however; he has low opinions of the other possible Slytherin Heads. There are very few available."


Hermione opened her mouth and shut it quickly. She thought it was quite strange that Oliver would automatically mention Severus, without her mentioning the older man first. She filed the fact away for later mentione to Severus and Neville.


"You're right; why should I bother with other Houses than our very own," Hermione said blandly, but Oliver perked up at her words.


"I'm glad you feel the same way, 'Mione," he said, and she cringed again as he continued, "And I'm sure we'd have none but Gryffindors of our own."


Never one for theatrics, Hermione had heard enough. She abruptly fainted and fell away from Oliver's grasp, off the broom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


"Longbottom!" Severus Snape bellowed into the Herbology greenhouse. "Damn it, you filthy excuse for a ghost, let alone a professor, where are you?"


Neville floated through the ceiling and hovered around Severus's head as he regarded his former professor.


"Now, that's not very nice, Snape. Say please and I'll think about speaking to you," Neville said coldly, completely unafraid of the tall man ~ he was already dead, after all.


"Fine, I'll continue looking for Hermione myself," Severus said, knowing Neville wouldn't desert Hermione in a time like this.


"What do you mean? When I was out at the pitch earlier, Hermione was saying her goodbyes and gearing up to greet students," Neville said, floating down to the ground and settling in front of Severus. "Isn't she at the greater entrance, waiting for her Head Boy and Girl and the prefects?"


"Well, I went 'round to her chambers to escort her to the greater entrance, her room was locked up tight, the way she always leaves it," Severus said, a drop of concern entering his voice.


"And you know how she leaves her rooms every morning?" Neville said teasingly, and Severus glared at him. Neville coughed and continued. "Right then. Did you check the library?"


Severus whipped out a ratty old parchment and tapped it wordlessly with his wand. "I had Tonks and Lupin make my own 'Marauder's Map' for me, and neither Hermione nor Oliver are represented on it."


"When did you last see them on the map?" Neville said, suddenly all business.


"Well, you said that you'd keep an eye on them until noon; it is two o'clock now, therefore I've been searching for two bloody hours! When did you last see them together?" Snape was exasperated with his former student. He'd thought that where Hermione was concerned, Neville would care a bit more, and he said as much. "How well do you really care for her, when you're so cavalier in tossing her safety to the wind?"


"That is uncalled for, Severus!" Neville said, using the older man's given name on purpose. "I care for Hermione as much as you do, at least, and I shouldn't have left early ~ I understand that. But Hermione is resourceful, and strong, and I had no reason to believe that anything more was amiss."


"You were there when Oliver had that temper change at breakfast, Longbottom. I told you he's enchanted in some way, wasn't that enough?"


"Stop blaming me, Severus, and let's get moving. By the way, I may have left, but why did you take so long to contact me? Why weren't you checking your map even while I was supposed to be on watch? You never trusted me with my own cauldron, why trust me with Hermione?"


Severus turned on his heel and trotted out of the Herbology garden, angry at Neville, but angrier at himself; he had a niggling feeling that part of him didn't want to share Hermione's gratitude upon the 'grand rescue', as Severus was beginning to think of the entire mission, that day and the final outcome of the mystery. He paused for a moment so Neville could catch up with him. Severus had no idea where Oliver would go off-grounds, and the map didn't extend very far, just to the end of Hogsmead and the Shrieking Shack, both of which were Hermione-less.


"Wood said he taught you to fly. Where?" Severus said abruptly as they left the school grounds.


"What do you mean, where? Mostly on the school quidditch pitch. What does that have to do with Hermione?" Neville asked, floating past Severus to look him squarely in the face.


"He's enchanted by something, potion or spell, so he's not doing a lot of new thinking, Neville. His baser instincts are going to take over, and they are going to be partially directed by the fact that he's stationed at Hogwart's and the limitations on travel. So, again: where else did he teach you to fly?"


"There's a large well-grassed field about four kilometers past Hogsmead. One time, when it started to rain and we were too tired to go back to the school, we found an abandoned cottage and stayed there until we could get back to school. Maybe that's where he took her."


Severus considered that for a moment before he began walking faster. "Do you think you could remember the way to that cottage?"


"Yes, but don't you think you should try a broom instead of walking that distance?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Hermione woke when Oliver shook her gently. She opened her eyes briefly but when she saw him smiling over her, his button-down shirt open to frame his chest, her eyes grew wide. He was holding her gently, a cool cloth in one of his hands while the other caressed her torso just between the underside of her breast and her ribcage. She could feel that her sweatshirt was gone, and her thin cotton undershirt was barely worth mentioning; she thanked all the gods she could mention that she actually put a bra on over her rather voluptuous breasts. His eyes moved from her face to her chest, and her nipples puckered under his gaze. He smiled and Hermione cringed away from him, remembering that smile from somewhere, but she couldn't remember where.


"Ah, Hermione, this is going fast, but I can't say I'm upset," Oliver said, his voice deepening with each word. "I'm sure we'll make lots of wee ones, all Gryffindors as smart as you and as athletic as me."


'That's as likely as Severus rescuing me again,' Hermione thought to herself. 'And if he does, I'll do anything he wants; this Oliver is just too fucking weird.'


"Ollie," Hermione cringed at the nickname; Oliver had always hated it, and more than one willing future "Mrs. Oliver Wood" had found herself single after refusing to stop using the abhorred nickname. If anything was going to snap Oliver out of the enchantment, "Ollie" would.


"Yes, 'Mione?" Oliver's eyes were glazed over, and he laid her back on the cushiony carpet he'd been kneeling on while he held her. Hermione had had enough; the look in his eyes was sickening, and the nickname had the exact opposite effect of what she'd been expecting and planning.


"Perhaps we should wait? I mean, you don't expect me to be a woman of little virtue, do you?" Hermione was desperate, and it was showing.


"But Ronald said you were begging for it. And I think you should beg now!" another abrupt mood swing and suddenly Oliver was on top of Hermione, his hand painfully tangled in her hair so she couldn't look away. "What do you want to beg for, Hermione? What do you want me to do?"


"Get off," Hermione whispered, trying to pull away. Her hair was still wavy and curly, so Oliver had no trouble getting a good hold of her. "Please, I'm begging you to get off of me."


"Get off on you? Wouldn't you rather have me in you?" Oliver brought his face down to Hermione's, and she could feel the spittle hit her cheek. She turned away, trying to get a good angle to knee him somewhere, anywhere, just to get him off her. "Come on, 'Mione girl, what do you want?"


Finally, while Oliver was busy trying to nuzzle into Hermione's neck, she got the angle she needed.


"I said," Hermione growled as she lined up her golden shot, "'Get off of me!'" Hermione grunted and kneed him in the groin, effectively shoving Oliver off her as if he'd been shot out of a cannon.

Hermione looked around for a broom but couldn't find one. She went for her wand in her back pocket, but it wasn't there. She looked up to see Oliver's tall, leanly muscular form lurching to his feet.


"Fuck, you recover fast," Hermione said before she thought.


"Hermione, you shouldn't have done that. I would never hurt you, you know that; I just want to make love to you. But now I have to do something about what you did to me. Just remember, from now on you decide what happens to you. Behave, and this won't have to happen again," Oliver said, and the look of almost perfect sanity that can come only from insanity scared Hermione into a corner.


Hermione felt her back meet the corner and she didn't bother to take her eyes off Oliver to see the truth of her situation: whether Oliver was doing this on his own or under enchantment, she was literally backed into a corner in a house she didn't know, and there was a good chance that no-one would arrive in time to save her from Oliver, and Oliver from himself. Wandless and broom-less, Hermione was beginning to feel panic in the form of bile crawling up the back of her throat. She plastered a smile on her face and decided to try to talk him down.


"I'm sorry, Oliver. I just like things a little rough in the bedroom, that's all," Hermione said, desperate to gain a bit of time to think. "I didn't know that a big, athletic man like you wouldn't like that." She cringed ~ did she really just say that? She was disgusted with herself for a moment before Oliver rushed her. She tried to roll under him and get clear, but he snagged her denims and dragged her under him.


"Hermione, I'm so glad to hear that. That means you'll like this, then," Oliver growled, grabbing a nipple and pinching so hard Hermione cried out in pain. "Good, ye like it," he rasped, and he twisted as he stripped Hermione of her t-shirt and bra. Unable to do anything else, Hermione broke down and started to cry for the sheer frustration of not being as physically strong as her attacker.


"Get off me," Hermione moaned, trying to keep moving so Oliver wouldn't be able to get a good enough grip to remove her pants. "Get off me. Get off me. Oh, Merlin ~ please just get off!"


A strange look flickered across Oliver's face and Hermione barely had time to turn her head to avoid a sharp smack. With renewed energy and anger, Oliver moved from her chest to her waist, trying to pry her legs apart.


"I know you fucked Weasley, Hermione. I just want my due ~ if you fucked him, aren't you moving up in the world by shagging me? Besides, it isn't as if Snape's here to save you this time," Oliver hissed, and Hermione barely recognized him, his face screwed up in anger and his neck muscles contorting in his rage.


"On the contrary, Wood, I am here and you are going to remove yourself from her body or I will kill you where you lay, and no-one would charge me for saving the girl who helped defeat Voldemort," Severus Snape roared as he blew the door of the abandoned cottage wide open in a show of sparks and splinters. Neville Longbottom floated in, carrying a heavy kimono-type robe for Hermione.


Oliver didn't stop; in fact, he moved even faster, paying no heed to the others in the room, opening his own trousers while tearing Hermione's denims with almost inhuman strength. Neville couldn't make himself solid enough to fight Oliver and Severus was at his breaking point. He threw a high-powered stunning spell at Oliver, but the enchantment afforded him extra strength and resilience, and the spell was just absorbed by the side-affects of the enchantment. As Oliver positioned himself at the junction of Hermione's thighs, she screamed and Severus snapped.


"I told you to remove yourself from her!" Severus roared, hurling himself at Oliver and knocking him off Hermione and into the far wall. The enchantment had taken enough, or was losing hold, because the blow knocked Oliver out. Severus stayed over Hermione, shielding her as he hissed at Oliver's still, shallowly breathing form.


Neville hovered near the pair, silently offering the kimono but not saying a word; he wanted to see what was happening between the two, who were both breathing heavily and ~ to his surprise ~ both seemed to be crying. Severus was cradling Hermione while trying to gather her torn clothing around her for her comfort. She kept pushing his hand away whenever they came near her chest or hips, and Severus was whispering to her, words Neville couldn't hear. Setting the kimono down next to the pair, Neville floated over to Oliver, laying a semi-solid hand on the unconscious man and apparating back to the entrance to the Hogwart's grounds.


The words Neville couldn't make out were:


"I'm sorry, Hermione. I should have told you back then ~ I'll never let anything happen to you, I'll always be in time. I should have been here before."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*