CHAPTER 8
Chapter 8 ~ Making Things Clear
When Hermione walked into the common room of Gryffindor Tower, she was in a kind of daze. Ginny was sitting on the windowsill, looking out of it across the school grounds. No one else was about. Hermione saw her friend and walked over to her.
“Hi, Ginny,” Hermione said rather hollowly.
Ginny turned a little startled. She thought she was alone. She looked at Hermione.
“Wow, Hermione, you look even hotter than you did yesterday. The boys are going to be falling at your feet and worshipping you,” she said, smiling at the witch as she looked her over with approval.
“Yeah,” Hermione said absently. She looked at Ginny sort of blankly. Ginny frowned.
“Hermione, what’s wrong?” she asked.
Hermione looked at the red-haired witch.
“Two things,” she said, “First, I’m pretty sure that Lucius Malfoy wants to fuck me, and expects me to let him do it, and secondly, I noticed something attractive about my husband,” Hermione replied.
“Lucius Malfoy! Gods, Hermione…he’s the hottest wizard in the wizarding world,” the young witch breathed. “How do you know?”
Hermione looked at Ginny. She couldn’t tell her about Severus being a deatheater and how the deatheaters often shared their wives with one another.
“Just by the way he talked to me, he didn’t exactly say it, but I could see it in his eyes,” Hermione said.
“I’d fuck him in a minute if he asked me,” Ginny said, “He’s gorgeous. Built. Sexy…”
Hermione frowned at her.
“But he’s cruel, Ginny. He would hurt you,” she said to the witch.
“I don’t care…it would still be good,” Ginny retorted.
Hermione didn’t think so. Severus didn’t say exactly what Lucius would do, but Hermione thought it was far beyond rough sex. The Potions Master said she could never be prepared for what Lucius Malfoy would do. He looked so concerned and worried, Hermione believed him.
“Well, he gave me the creeping flummoxes, Ginny. I don’t care how handsome he is. I don’t want him near me,” Hermione replied, shuddering.
“No accounting for taste,” Ginny said, changing the subject, her eyes widening with interest, “So, what did you find attractive about your husband?”
Hermione looked out the window for a moment, thinking about the Professor looking down at her.
“His eyes. They really are beautiful. So dark. When he looked at me a little while ago, I felt…I felt…well, I don’t know what I felt except that his eyes could maybe swallow me up,” she said, then she looked at Ginny, “Does that make me sound like an idiot?”
Ginny shook her head.
“No, it makes you sound like you are paying attention to the wizard you married. If you look further, you’ll see other things about him, too. Take a good look at his hands next time. And just listen to his voice…not what he says, but what he sounds like…then imagine what he could sound like if he were saying other things…whispering to you…saying dirty things…”
“Ginny!” Hermione said, “Snap out of it!”
Ginny’s glazed eyes reverted to normal.
“What?” she asked as she looked at Hermione, who had her hands on her hips.
“You went off on quite a tangent there, Ginny. Sounds to me like somebody’s been fantasizing about my husband,” Hermione said, grinning.
“Every night for weeks for a while there,” Ginny said, “but I’m the realistic sort. The Professor wouldn’t shag me. I’m not smart enough.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Hermione said, remember the drunken woman the Potions Master was with the night before. “I don’t think his standards lean toward the intellectual. I saw his date last night. Not top of the line, believe me. I suspect ‘talent’ has a lot to do with his preferences. She probably did what he liked.”
“Did you asked him about his date?” Ginny asked, curious.
“Yes. He didn’t say much about it. He was more concerned with how my date went,” Hermione replied.
“Your date? You didn’t have a date last night. You hung out here until you went back to your rooms…Erin walked…” Ginny faltered, her eyes widening with understanding, “Oh, he thought you and Erin…”
Hermione nodded. “He saw Erin walking me to my rooms when he was returning with his date last night. He went into his room before I entered mine and assumed I brought Erin in with me,” Hermione said.
“You corrected him, right?” Ginny asked.
Hermione didn’t say anything.
“Right, Hermione?” Ginny pressed, frowning a little
“No. I let him think what he wanted to think,” she replied, “Hell, he had someone in his rooms to shag. Why shouldn’t I?”
“How did he react?” Ginny asked her quietly.
“He was upset. Very upset. He yelled at me to get dressed and get out, basically,” Hermione said.
“Wow. He’s got it bad for you,” Ginny breathed. Hermione looked at her shocked.
“What?” Hermione asked Ginny, looking at her like she’d been hit in the head by a quaffle a few times.
“Why else would he be mad about you shagging somebody, unless he wanted to shag you himself. The Professor wants to fuck you, Hermione,” Ginny said. “He’s your husband too, it’s really his right.”
“I’m not the age of consent yet,” Hermione said, “even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. And I don’t want to.”
“You’re his wife, Hermione. That wouldn’t matter. Anyway, you’ll be eighteen in a few more weeks. It's not that far away,” Ginny said quietly.
“But Ginny, he already has women,” she said, “He already said how he didn’t want to marry me, how I infringe on his privacy, and he feels about having a virgin sleeping meters from his room.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t think you’re a virgin anymore. That kind of changes the game, Hermione. He thinks you’re fucking other wizards, and you’re his wife. That’s why he was probably so mad this morning,” Ginny said.
“I thought he was going to attack me,” Hermione said quietly. “For a moment, he had a look in his eyes that made me scared to death. Just before he went to get me the pain potion.”
“He’s an intense wizard, Hermione. It’s the quiet ones that have the tempers and the passion. That’s why I like them,” Ginny said going dreamy-eyed again, then she snapped out of it, looking at Hermione sharply.
“Pain potion? Why did he have to get you pain potion?” she asked.
“I slept in the wrong position last night. My neck hurt me,” Hermione replied.
“Did you specifically tell him your neck hurt you?” Ginny asked, one eyebrow arched.
Hermione thought about it. “No, not really. Parts of it I guess,” the witch replied.
“Hermione, think. What did you tell him exactly?” Ginny asked, “This can be important.”
Hermione thought about it, then told Ginny what she told the Potions Master as they ate. Ginny slapped her hand over her forehead.
“Hermione, he thought you needed the potion because of Erin,” she said, almost giggling. You told him you needed it because you were in the wrong position. He probably thought it was a sexual position, not your neck. He must have been furious that you’d give him such a detail.”
Hermione understood now why he blew up at her. He probably thought she came to Gryffindor Tower to hook up with Erin again. That’s why Severus had asked about the young wizard so pointedly. Why he told her to just go. Go and fuck Erin again. Circe. What a mess.
But still, when Malfoy showed up, Severus was ready to defend her. Whatever he was going to do, he changed his mind because he thought she might be in danger. He wanted to protect her like a husband would protect his wife. Then he walked her to the Tower, where he believed she was going to meet her lover. Now he was waiting in his rooms, concerned for her safety.
Hermione stood there quietly for a moment, thinking things over. She made a decision. She looked at the red-haired witch.
“I think I need to go back to my rooms, Ginny,” Hermione said softly. “and come clean about some things. After all, the Professor only married me to protect me. I think I need to clean up his opinion of me. He thinks he married a slut. Not that it should bother him, but obviously it does. I don’t want to make him crazy.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Ginny said to the witch as she headed for the common room passageway. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, Hermione said, pushing past the portrait and heading for the stairwells.
Ginny smirked.
She thought Hermione was going to be revealing a lot more to the Potions Master than she thought she was.
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In his study, Severus put the small package Malfoy had given him and Hermione on the floor before the fireplace. Extending his hands, he said an incantation and blasted it to bits. Whatever Lucius had given them, Severus was sure it was something designed to spy on them, something that would collect information. Severus knew how the wizard worked. He would do the same to any gift he received from deatheaters. If they wanted to know anything, they’d have to ask him.
Severus then walked over to the bookcase Hermione first pulled a book from when she arrived in his rooms. He searched the titles until he found the one he was looking for and pulled it out. He opened it gently and leafed through it, then put his large nose to it and smelled the old leather scent of the binding. He too loved books. The Potions Master carried the tome over to his desk and sat down, placing the book down as well. He pulled open the drawer, removed a large piece of parchment and set this down also.
He placed the book on top of the parchment, and started to wrap it.