Indecent Transactions

Severus walked over to Brin, gently taking her elbow and examining the burn mark, now fading. Her blue eyes rose to meet his, anxiously, but she was relieved to see Severus looking at her, one side of his mouth quirked in a crooked smile.

\"That was quite a stunning spell you used back there on me,\" Brin smiled back at him. \"I never even saw it coming.\"

Severus\' warm, long fingers curled around her upper arm, \"Hmm?\"

Brin was trying to come up with some witty remark, but noticed that Severus had frozen, suddenly starring over her shoulder. She spun around, but the room was still empty. She turned back to him, \"What.\"

\"The house elves will be here any moment,\" he said, pulling his wand from his pocket and stepping away from Brin. He tapped to the nearest wall with his wand, whispering something inaudible. Slowly, the wall slid sideways, silent except for a slight rush of musty air, revealing a steep staircase leading upwards into the darkness.

Before she could get more than a cursory look around, Severus led her up the stairs and into a wide hall framed on one side by broad, floor-to- ceiling windows. Outside the glass, the sun was just rising, coating the surrounding hills in a warm, pinkish glow. A dull ache started up deep within Brin\'s chest, and she had to tear her eyes away as they turned a corner into a windowless hallway. Severus stopped in front of a wooden door, removing a small silver key from his pocket to unlock it. Stepping inside Brin was surprised to see a rather large bedroom. \"I hope this will do, for now,\" said Severus.

Brin trailed her fingers lightly over the ornately carved wooden post at one corner of the bed, glancing up at the thick red-mesh canopy overhead. Severus smoothly traversed the room, nonchalantly flicking his wand to start a fire in the fireplace. They both turned towards each other, speaking at the same time:

\"Would you...\" started Severus.

\"What do...\" Brin began.

\"Please go ahead.\"

\"No, no, I insist, you continue\"

\"You never told me,\" Severus paused to think about which question he wanted to ask, \"about the potion.\"

\"Ah,\" said Brin, \"simple enough. An Imperius salve, I think that would describe it.\"

Severus\' forehead crinkled, \"I remember thinking that several of the ingredients we discussed were very similar to your average love philter.\"

\"Yes,\" she responded once again, \"but what is total obedience if not love?\"

Severus started to say something but stopped himself. He looked out the window, \"You were going to ask something?\"

\"I just wanted,\" Brin paused to take a deep breath, \"to ask about Lucius...\"

Severus crossed the room to Brin, but she found that he was looking at the rip in her sleeve again. Slowly, he reached out and drew his fingers lightly over her exposed arm, watching goose bumps raise as he stroked. Severus raised a surprised eyebrow. \"My, my, my. You look troubled. If you\'re going to let that group of dunderheads get to you that way, you\'re not the girl I thought you were.\"

\"Was there a compliment somewhere in there?\" asked Brin, a smile tugging at her lip.

Severus didn\'t answer her question, but turned his eyes up to hers. For a moment she found herself utterly lost in the two black pools. And then she could stand it no longer; she kissed him, fast and hard and fervent, tearing the breath from his lungs in an instant like fire, and, like getting struck square in the forehead by lightning, the kiss was over before it had begun. Severus felt almost light-headed with the short, sharp, but oh-so-sweet shock she\'d given him, and the daze that followed it.

He let go of her slowly, his eyes cryptic. Then he turned and swept dramatically from the room.

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For several minutes Brin did not move, could not think. Finally, she seemed to regain her senses. She walked to the door. Locked. She had expected that. Not feeling particularly hopeful, she stepped up to the broad panes overlooking the yard at the side of the estate. Again, the locks refused to give no matter how hard she tugged at them, and after a moment she gave up trying. Feeling a spark of anger move through her, she picked up a spherical marble ornament from a nearby table and hurled it with all her might at the window. The missile bounced off the glass without leaving so much as a scratch-spelled against \"accidental\" breakage, no doubt-and she turned from it with a scowl, reluctantly accepting the fact that she was well and truly confined.

She did have to admit that, as prisons went, this one was far from unpleasant. The early morning sunlight looked brittle beyond the windows, now coating the sloping green hills with a bronze-ish sheen. About a hundred meters off, the outline of thick forest hugged the base of the slopes and wrapped around the property to the southwest. It was all rather picturesque.

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He sat curled in an armchair in his rooms, seeming very much like a villain from some Muggle mystery novel, inherently evil and foreboding. He was brooding, as he often did, his eyes dark as they gazed unseeingly into the flames, flames that writhed as if in pain.

Severus Snape was pissed off.

Not to mention tired - ridiculously tired, even allowing for the fact that it had been a long week. He wasn\'t angry with any person in particular. Except himself, perhaps. He had ruined the way things were supposed to work. He knew why they couldn\'t just... It was because neither of them was the sort of person to do that. And yet this afternoon, he didn\'t know what this afternoon was. Maybe it was something that she would do, to steal a kiss without any protest. He sighed. Merlin, what a day.

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because it surprised him when he felt a light hand touch his shoulder, shaking gently. Instantly, his eyes snapped open, and he blinked up at the outline of the diminutive house elf that stood silhouetted in front of the darkness of the window. \"Master Malfoy wants you to meet him downstairs, sir,\" the house elf said, eyes luminous. It sounded apologetic about waking him.

Severus\' insides clenched at the softly voiced instruction, making him run cold all the way down to his fingers and toes. He sat up slowly and crossed his arms in front of him his chest, unconsciously reverting to one of his defensive poses. He shook several loose strands of smooth black hair from his eyes, \"Very well. Tell him I will be down shortly,\" he said, feeling suddenly very much awake.

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I\'m here, thought Brin to herself, locked away until they decide what should be done with me. But do they believe that I will actually let them take the potion, or even give them the potion? The niece of Dumbledore, assisting the dark lord... Yet they have always been desperate for power, and what I am offering is too good to be true, almost. Lucius is the one I must convince, of course. He is the one who can bring me before the dark lord. Oh! If they only knew that the power they desire lies within this very castle! And I shall need to retrieve it, as soon as possible.

Brin stood and removed her wand from her pocket, cautiously looking over her shoulder at the door. No, they would give her time to squirm, Lucius would make sure of that. After several failed attempts to open the windows and door, she hid her wand under the far corner of the mattress.

Severus...if only he could give me access to Voldemort, but I cannot put his position at risk, under suspicion. But he will talk to Lucius on my account; he must be doing that now. How they struggled for control in the dungeon! Severus, please do not let your anger get the best of you, let Lucius take command-this has to be his decision if we are both to get out of this alive.

She surveyed her room, the large four-poster bed with a luxurious red canopy, across the dark wooden floor a marble fireplace, 2 chairs, a small table, and a dresser all of the same dark wood. On the table there was a little book, she picked it up, The Furnace of Wrath, Potions of the Salamander. She opened the front cover, finding a small piece of parchment within. Unconsciously, she traced the small, restricted black wording with her finger as she read:

”You may have some time on your hands

Found one of my personal favorites the other day

Severus”