CHAPTER 19
Chapter 19 ~ A Little Amplification
Hermione got the “wait and see” treatment from Severus concerning the size of his endowment. No amount of cajoling would get him to budge on the issue. Her very vocal insistence continued through breakfast and Hermione finally stopped harassing him when Severus calmly threatened to whip it out and let her measure it herself. Hermione spent the rest of the meal scowling at the Potions Master over the table as he leisurely ate his oatmeal.
After breakfast, Severus announced he would be spending the day in his lab working on a special project. Hermione wanting to know so much about his cock made him impatient to give her a good, hard look at it as he pounded it into her. Nostrils flared, he entered the Potions lab, went to his stores and surveyed what potions he had and considered how to enhance them to speed up his healing process. If Hermione hadn’t irritated him so much, he might have asked her for her opinion. Well, he’d figure it out on his own. He took out every healing potion he had on hand and got to work.
Hermione showered and dressed in a bright, christmasy sweater and her now trademark low-slung jeans. She brushed her hair out and topped it with a cheery Father Christmas type hat. She was in a good mood, despite the Potions Master’s stubbornness about revealing info about his tool. She decided she was going to decorate the study and surprise Severus. Whether it would be a good surprise or bad surprise remained to be seen. She flooed to the main hall, and was heading for the main doors to walk to Hagrid’s when she was suddenly blocked by a tall body.
“Mrs. Snape,” came the low, mocking drawl of Draco Malfoy. The blonde wizard stood in front of her, his blue eyes hard and cold. Hermione made to walk around him.
“Move, Draco,” she said. She tried to pass him and he bumped her back with his body. Draco was almost six feet tall now, and had broadened. He was built very much like his father had been.
“They haven’t found my father yet. I think he’s dead. What do you think?’ he hissed at her. Hermione looked up at him.
“Why would I think anything?” she replied, a bit nervously.
“Because you were the last person to see him,” Draco said.
Hermione frowned at the wizard. He was talking like she and his father had shared a meal or something. The last time she saw Lucius, he was trying to kill her.
“When I last saw your father, he was very much alive and trying to kill me after I wouldn’t let him rape me,” Hermione spat at him.
Draco scowled down at her.
“I think the Professor killed him,” Draco said, his eyes glistening with hatred, “Over you. A fucking mudblood. And if he did…then someone is going to pay for his death. What happened to you wasn’t worth my father dying for. You’re nothing. The Professor’s plaything.”
“I’d be careful about that Draco,” Hermione said, arching an eyebrow at him. “I’m more than the Professor’s plaything. We aren’t getting an annulment. He wouldn’t take kindly to you insulting his wife.”
Draco spluttered a bit at this news.
“He wouldn’t stay married to you. The Dark…” he began, then caught himself.
“The Dark Lord wouldn’t approve, Draco?” Hermione finished for him. Draco’s eyes widened as he realized Hermione knew Professor Snape was a deatheater.
“I assure you the Dark Lord both knows of me and approves of me,” she said, giving him a nasty grin. “Not bad for a mudblood, eh? To get the blessing of the Dark Lord?”
Draco just stared at her. If she did have the blessing of Voldemort, then he couldn’t avenge his father. Lucius’ attack on Hermione had all but ruined the family name. It was his father’s fault of course, but Draco couldn’t see it like that. Whatever reason his father had for going after the mudblood, it probably was a good one, and as far as Draco was concerned, she deserved what she got.
Draco’s gray eyes flicked over the witch. She had become beautiful. He hated that. Just one more charmed thing about her fucking existence. Yes, she probably did wrangle some approval out of the Dark Lord. She was brilliant, exceptional. Voldemort would want someone like that in his ranks, and would even overlook her being filth in order to have her talents.
Draco grimaced at her.
“I’m going to find out if what you say is true, mudblood. If it isn’t, you’d better watch your step around Hogwarts. Accidents can happen anywhere at anytime,” he snarled.
“Are you threatening me, Draco? I’m sure the Professor would be interested in knowing that,” Hermione said, her amber eyes glittering.
“Tell him what the fuck you want. It doesn’t make a difference to me,” Draco retorted, though he did go a little paler.
Hermione frowned up at him before pushing by him, exiting the castle and heading for Hagrid’s. Draco spun and watched her as she exited the door. She thought she was untouchable.
No one was untouchable.
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The injured nifflers weren’t healing fast enough. They weren’t dying, but the combinations of healing potions Severus tried did not seem to be working. He sat down on the stool and stared at the little animals. He decided to try amplification of his situation, a thought process that Hermione said she used when trying to come up with solutions to problems. It consisted of taking a portion of a problem and expanding it, describing the components of it until the main issue is clarified and can be attacked with logic.
All right. His problem was that his body was injured, and his injury was keeping him from bedding Hermione. The reason the injury was keeping him from bedding Hermione was because his body wasn’t healing quickly enough. Yet his body was healing at the proper rate, it was just that the rate was too slow for his liking. Eventually his body would heal completely if given enough time. So his body needed time. Time was the crux of the matter.
Severus sat there a moment, considering this. Time. The passage of time. He needed to find a way to manipulate time in relation to his body. He thought, scowling and tapping one long finger to his temple. Then he paused. And smiled. He walked as quickly as he could to his stores and checked the ingredients he had in supply. Yes! He had everything he needed to brew the potion.
Severus walked back into his lab and retrieved a pewter cauldron from the lowest storage shelf, carrying it slowly to the counter and setting it over the burner, igniting it with a spell and turning the flame low. He scourgified his distillation equipment several times before casting a purification spell on the twisted glassworks. He walked back to his potions stores and picked up a basket. He began to select what he needed. He believed he found the answer. His eyes narrowed as he thought about Hermione. If everything went well, she’d get her ‘measurements” tonight.
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Hagrid was delighted that Hermione was going to decorate the Professor’s rooms. Together they trudged into the Forbidden Forest and selected a nice sized tree. Hagrid shouldered it and carried it back to the castle for her, down to the dungeons and set it up in the study for her. Hermione herself brought some garlands, bows and set about decorating the hearth, stringing the garlands, attaching the bows, and hanging little golden bells that tinkled merrily every few seconds. She listened to them for several moments, then put a silencing spell on them. They would drive Severus crazy and he would probably end up blasting the entire ensemble to charred strings.
She then set about decorating the tree, being sure not to use any cherubs. Severus hated cherubs, due to Dumbledore’s overuse of them at practically every event he arranged. She added candles, tinsel, bells and brightly colored balls, and a luminous star on top. She stepped back to look at her handiwork. It was quite nice, and the smell of fresh cut pine filled the study. If she were alone, she would have decorated more, but this was new to the Potions Master and she didn’t overdo it. It was going to be their first Christmas together. She doubted if he had celebrated the holidays since he was a child. Hopefully, he would accept the decorations if not actually like them.
The decorating done, Hermione decided it was time to visit Harry. He was once again stuck at Hogwarts for the holidays. Ron and Ginny had gone home to spend Christmas with their family. Dumbledore was concerned that Harry wouldn’t have enough protection to go with them, and managed to hold off the irate Molly Weasley concerning this. Molly mothered Harry as much as she could, and felt terrible the young wizard wasn’t going to join them this season. But that was the price of being the wizarding world’s greatest hope.
Hermione entered the common room and found Harry polishing his broom. The black haired wizard looked up and saw her, a smile lighting up his face. He put his broom and rag down, stood up and waited for her to approach him and gave her a huge hug.
“Hermione! Hey, it’s good to see you. I would have come down, but I know that Snape isn’t in the best of moods these days,” he said. Harry of course knew what the Professor had done to Lucius to avenge Hermione, and he approved. He would have done it himself if he had the opportunity.
“He’s not as snarky as you think, Harry. More like frustrated,” she said, blushing a little as she sat down on the sofa. Harry sat next to her.
“Frustrated? Why?” he asked her.
Hermione looked at her friend, and wondered if she should tell him of her decision to stay with the Professor and be a real wife to him.
“Harry, I’ve decided to stay married to the Professor,” she said.
Harry’s eyes widened, but he didn’t react as violently as Hermione thought he might. He wasn’t Ron after all. He hardly seemed surprised at all. He wasn’t really. The Professor had killed for her, and gone through horrible torture. Hermione probably felt obligated to him. But obligation really wasn’t enough to base a marriage that would last forever on.
“Hermione, do you love him?” Harry asked her, his brow furrowed as his green eyes searched her face.
“Yes,” she said shortly.
“Does he love you?” Harry asked. He couldn’t image the Professor loving anyone.
“I don’t know, Harry. But he promised to be kind to me, to protect me and to give me the respect due to a wife,” she said, “that’s what a husband who loves his wife does. I think I could live with that.”
“Yeah, Hermione,” Harry said, “That’s all well and good…but there are other things. You know. Intimate things. Can he make you happy that way?”
Harry didn’t feel comfortable talking about the Professor shagging her, but Hermione was a young woman. She would need someone to love her and keep her satisfied as well. If the Professor couldn’t do that, she would be miserable.
“Harry, when he touches me, I feel everything I think I’m supposed to feel for a man I love. I don’t know yet if he can make me happy that way, because…well…because we haven’t gotten that far, but I think he can. He’s experienced and he wants me. I think we’ll be all right in that department,” she said, blushing furiously.
Harry had a terrible thought.
“But Hermione, what about Voldemort? You’re a muggle-born. Surely he won’t want the Professor to stay married to you,” he said, frowning slightly.
Hermione pulled out her wand and cast a silencing spell around them, so no one would inadvertently hear them if they were to walk into the common room.
“Harry, Voldemort is going to want me to join him and take the Dark Mark when I finish my studies,” she told him.
“What! You can’t do that Hermione!” Harry exclaimed, his green eyes wide with horror.
“Just listen, Harry,” Hermione said, placing her hand on his to calm him, “If I take the Mark, then I can be a spy too. I can work against him for the Order. Maybe find a way to destroy him. It will be at least four years until I become a Spells Mistress. Severus is going to teach me occulmency, so I can fool the Dark Lord. And I can make my joining him conditional, so he can’t make me do the horrible things the other deatheaters do. Don’t you see, Harry? I can help. Maybe I can help you. Maybe you won’t have to face him alone.”
Harry blinked at her. Hermione? A spy?
Harry thought about it. Hermione was pretty sneaky. She was smart too. Very smart. She had great powers of observation. She might see something about the Dark Lord no one else did, and be able to find a way to use that information to destroy him. He had no doubt she could be a good Occulmens. Hermione could learn anything.
“And I could stop Voldemort from hurting Severus so much. You know how he’s suffered over the years and no one could do anything about it. I’ll be able to. At least that will be some help to him. He’s working for all of us, after all,” she said, her eyes shining.
Harry nodded. Hermione did love the Potions Master. And if he made her happy, then that made Harry happy. As far as Hermione becoming a spy, Harry always knew that she would be involved in something special and powerful when she got older. Hermione might well be the key to ending the madness of the Dark Lord once and for all.
Harry looked at Hermione, really looked at her, not as his friend but as a young woman. His eyes swept over her.
“Hermione, Professor Snape is a very lucky man to have you love him,” Harry said quietly, “I hope he realizes that some day.”
“He will, Harry,” Hermione said, “I’ll make sure of it.”
The two friends smiled at each other, then fell into companionable silence for a while, before Harry looked over at the chessboard.
“How about a game, Hermione?” he asked her, smiling.
Hermione grinned at him.
“Harry Potter, I believe you are a masochist,” she said.
Harry looked perplexed.
“Why?” he asked as Hermione removed the silencing charm, got up, walked over to the chessboard and sat down in front of it.
“Because you like getting your ass whipped so much,” she replied, setting up the pieces.
Harry laughed and joined her.
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In his lab, Severus picked up the treated niffler and placed it in the exercise cage. He had just given the injured animal a dose of the altered healing potion he had created. It had brightened immediately, rolling to its feet and standing up on its hind legs. The niffler sniffed around the cage a bit, then scampered over to the wheel and enthusiastically started running in it at top speed. Severus gave it a slow, lascivious smile, leaning down close to the cage.
“Ah, my little friend,” he said to the niffler, “You have just made me a very happy wizard.”
Severus picked up a piece of parchment and a quill and started working on the calculation to determine how much potion he would have to imbibe to get similar results to the niffler’s.
He smiled wickedly as he worked out the ratios and found the correct dosage.
Mrs. Snape would be in for quite a surprise tonight.