Mastering Temptation

CHAPTER SEVEN: Personal Details







~~Late September~~







Hermione tied off the ribbon on Draco’s birthday present and then grabbed her jacket before stepping through the open floo connection that linked her house with the Malfoy estate. She stepped out into a large parlor and then made her way through the enormous estate towards the main dining room. She had been joining Draco and his father for dinner on Draco’s birthday for the last three years, it had become a tradition she looked forward to.







When she reached the dining room she stopped suddenly when she saw Snape standing near the door with Lucius and Draco. He had never attended any of their many dinners together in all the years she had been friends with the two Malfoy men, so she was more than stunned to see him there. All three men looked up at her arrival.





“Hello, Darling.” Draco greeted, kissing her cheek in his usual fashion.





“I’m going to let you get by with calling me that tonight, only because it’s your birthday.” Hermione said, shoving the wrapped gift into his hands. “Happy birthday, Ferret.”





“Hello, Hermione, how are you this evening?” Lucius asked, hugging her briefly. They watched Draco tear through the paper and fight with the ribbon trying to get to the prize inside.





“I’m wonderful, Lucius, thank you for asking.” She chuckled when Draco only managed to knot the ribbon, thus barring him from getting any closer to his gift. “Good evening, sir.”





“Oh, please, I’m no going to sit and listen to you call him ‘sir’ all night. She can call you Severus can’t she, at least outside of work?” Lucius asked.





“I never said she had to call me, sir. That was her choice.” Severus said. “Feel free to call me by my given name.” He said.





“Thank you, sir….I mean Severus. And please, I would like very much for you to call me Hermione.” Hermione frowned at how oddly intimate it was to use his first name. She hadn’t felt that way when she addressed any of her previous employers.



“Hermione, this is fantastic!” She looked over to see that Draco had resorted to magic to finally get his present open and was now staring at the black leather jacket in admiration. “It’s just like the one he wore in that film!”





“What film?” Lucius asked as Draco tried on the jacket.





“Rebel Without a Cause, I took him to see it at a film festival in London over the summer.” Hermione said. “For some odd reason he seems to think that he and James Dean’s character are kindred.”





“So you are a classic film connoisseur as well?” Lucius asked her.





“Why do you ask? I know you have no interest in them Lucius, you wouldn’t dare step foot into a muggle cinema.” She laughed. “At least not without the intention of harming the movie goers”





“Alas, my days of muggle torture are over.” He sighed dramatically and winked at her. “Severus here is a big fan of old films.”





“Really? Do you have any favorites?” She asked. She was fascinated by the small personal tidbit of information about Severus Snape. She had been working for him for nearly two months and while she could easily detail his schedule, what he liked to eat, how he takes his tea and just how he likes for things to be run in regards to the school, she knew little about him personally.





“Anything with that blonde chick in them.” Draco interjected, earning a frown from Severus.





“What blonde chick is that?” She asked.





“Marilyn something or other…..curvy piece of….” Hermione clapped her hand over Draco’s mouth.







“I know what she looks like and I told you to stop calling women that.” She said, frowning slightly. She jerked her hand back when he bit her finger.





“Sorry.” He said, lowering his head and looking up at her through the fringe of hair that had fallen across his forehead. “I will try hard not to refer to a woman as a piece of ass.”





“Draco, I swear there are times I wonder why I put up with you.” Hermione said, shaking her head and unbuttoning her jacket. A house elf appeared and took the light, brown leather garment from her and popped out of sight again with a soft smile.





“I think my servants actually miss you.” Lucius said. He had to admit that she had a way of getting the servants to perform their duties faster and with absolute perfection. He however, refused to be friendly towards hem.





“Well, I believe I am the first person in the house not to abuse the poor things.” She said as she straightened her clothes.





Severus was trying very hard not to ogle, but he was having a terrible time of it. It was the first time he had seen her out of her work clothes. He found the flirty skirts and heels distracting, especially the seamed stockings she seemed to favor. But dressed in her casual clothing she made his blood pressure rise to the point he feared a vessel in his brain just might rupture. Snug denim hugged her hips and thighs and the jeans were tucked into knee high, brown leather boots. She wore a cream colored knit top with a loose neckline and a loose fitting braided brown belt that rested on her hips.







“You look fantastic, darling.” Draco said. He wasn’t looking at her however; he was too busy watching Severus trying not to notice her. “I’ll be the envy of every man in the club.”





“Club?” Severus’s brows lifted curiously.







“These two go to London once a month to muggle night clubs.” Lucius said rolling his eyes.





“You could come with us sometime Lucius, muggle women would be all over you.” Hermione said. She reached out and tugged playfully on a lock of his hair. “Your pretty blonde hair would have them all swooning at your feet.”





“No thank you, Hermione. I don’t find the image of muggles crawling all over me whilst I attempt to wade through a sea of even more of them all that appealing.” Lucius said with a wry twist to his lips.





“Well, the invitation is always open.” She laughed. A house elf appeared and announced that dinner was ready. Lucius took his seat at the head of the table while Draco took his to his father’s right. Hermione always sat to the left of Lucius across from Draco and it appeared that for this dinner she would also be seated beside her boss. She smiled softly at Severus when he held her chair then took his seat beside her.





“Why isn’t the wine on the table?” Lucius frowned. “I have told those blasted elves again and again that I want the wine on the table instead of them popping up every five minutes to fill glasses and set me off my dinner.” He called for a servant and reached for his cane.





Hermione exhaled through clenched teeth and grabbed his cane at the same time he did. She was glaring at him. Severus was shocked at her boldness, no one, especially not a muggleborn, touched Lucius Malfoy’s cane.





“Lucius, you are not going to hit that creature.” Hermione said, maintaining a firm grip on the serpent’s head.





“If you are not firm with them, then nothing gets done the way you want it.” Lucius tugged on the other end, but she held tight.





“I am certain it was just an oversight. New elves were acquired before I left and I know that they haven’t been here long, they need time to learn how you like things done. Now let go of the cane.” Hermione said.





Severus found Hermione’s handling of the Malfoy men rather interesting. She had obviously earned not only the elder’s respect, but his affection as well for no other witch or wizard in their world would ever get by with being so bold.





Lucius stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed and a scowl on his face, but it was obvious there was no real malice in the expression. He reluctantly released his cane and watched her set it on the floor between she and Severus.





“See, I told you that you should have married her, Dad. She’s the only person in the world who isn’t awed by the almighty Lucius Malfoy and she can handle you.” Draco said.





“Now that is a scary thought, Draco. Trust me when I say your father and I would absolutely not suit.” Hermione laughed as she opened her napkin and laid it in her lap.





“You think being my wife would be scary?” Lucius asked.





“Lucius, I was your personal assistant for nearly two years. For all intents and purposes I WAS your wife; you just didn’t get to sleep with me.” She heard Severus’s knife clatter on his plate and looked over at him curiously. “Are you alright, sir?”





“Fine, just dropped the knife, don’t mind me.” He said tightly as he resumed his dinner.





“Muggle wives must be trying then, because I can’t remember a single time when Narcissa fussed at me the way you did and still do.” Lucius said.





“That’s because Mum was always in her own little world and she fussed at me instead.” Draco said around a mouthful of food that earned him another frown from Hermione.







Dinner continued on with more bantering between the Malfoys and Hermione while Severus observed quietly. It was obvious that she was quite fond of them and that she had in fact been running their lives and their home for them. She jumped up from the table when desert was served, snatching Lucius’s cheesecake from in front of him and heading off through house.





“What was that about?” Severus asked, watching her retreat.





“The elves put strawberry topping on Dad’s cheesecake.” Draco said, devouring his own desert in record time.





“Why is that a problem?” Severus asked.





“I have an allergy to strawberries.” Lucius said, waiting patiently for Hermione to return.





“You and I have been friends for almost thirty years and I didn’t know that, how is it she knows?”





“I told you I have never employed anyone so efficient in my entire life, nor have I ever seen anyone as good at their job as she is. She knows more about me than I do I think.” Lucius chuckled. Hermione came back through the dining room door and set another piece of cheesecake in front of Lucius, this one with caramel drizzled over it instead.





“The new elves now know not to serve you strawberries, and that you want the wine on the table, not served by them.” She said, settling herself back into her seat.





“Thank you, Hermione.” Lucius said.





“Do you always know so many personal details about the people you work for?” Severus asked, the first time he had actually conversed with her all evening.





“Well, with Lucius he works from home, so running his house was part of my job and since I think of he and Draco as family in a way, I know more about them than I would otherwise. But yes, I do make a point of knowing as much about the people I work for as possible. My job as an assistant, or secretary as you like to refer to me, is not just to handle the correspondence and other trivial details of your professional life.” She said, turning slightly towards him. “Perhaps other assistants think that, but I feel that a large part of my job is to make sure you have whatever you need in order to be able to do your job well, and that sometimes requires me to learn certain things about you that may be of a personal nature.”







“You have never asked me a personal question.” Severus said. In fact he had never spoken to her about anything more personal than the weather.







“You have no food allergies that I have noticed. You do not like mushrooms, you pick them out of everything, so I have ordered the house staff to make certain that they leave them out of your meals. You have a sweet tooth, hence the reason I always bring you chocolate biscuits with your tea When you are stressed or particularly frustrated you retreat to your lab and brew potions until you feel better and when you are in deep thought you have a tendency to drum your fingers on the desk.” She said smiling. “Those are just a few minor things I have picked up on, should I continue?”





“No, I think you have made your point.” Severus said. He was amazed that anyone knew that much about him, or even wanted to.





“I told you, you could not possibly be blessed with a better assistant.” Draco said.







“Thank you, Draco.” Hermione smiled, it always made her feel good to know she had been able to impress men like the Malfoys. “Well, dinner was wonderful as usual, Lucius.” Hermione said, handing him back his cane. “Do not hit the house elves with it or I’m going to take it away for good.” She laughed.





“Yes, dear.” He said sarcastically.







Hermione stood and laid her hand on Severus’s shoulder. She wasn’t sure why she did it; she never touched him casually or otherwise. He was clearly just as baffled, he looked at her hand where it rested on his shoulder and then his gaze traveled slowly up her arm until he was looking into her eyes. She felt her stomach clench and she tilted her head to the side as she looked at him, wondering at the curious reaction.





“I’ll see you on Monday.” She said softly, sliding her hand away from his shoulder slowly. He nodded his head in acknowledgement. She took her jacket from the servant and walked towards the door where Draco was waiting for her. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder at him. He was still looking at her and for the first time since she had known him, Hermione wasn’t all that anxious to get away from him.