Chapter Five

Chapter Five –

It was well past midnight by the time Hermione made her way back to the vacation villa. She had nowhere else to go. She had no money and no wand. She had gone to the nearest bank and had tried to withdraw funds to leave, but all of her accounts were frozen, lending further credibility to the story Snape had been pedaling her. He obviously was the bastard Minerva always claimed him to be.

How could this be happening to her? Without her wand, she couldn't Apparate. (Not that she would attempt to Apparate home. It was too far.) She didn't even have any money for a Portkey or an owl. That bloody bastard, whom she had fancied herself in love with all these years, had effectively trapped her in vacation hell.

Never mind the embarrassment over the whole "by the way, I've been in love with you ever since I can remember" situation. She would never survive that humiliation. Merlin, when had her life gone from dull to pathetic?

Sighing, Hermione slid the door open and welcomed the cool breeze of air-conditioning that greeted her arrival. She closed the door behind her and crept into the dining room, where she stopped short.

He was there, sitting at the table, lying in wait for her, and apparently wearing nothing but his black trousers. She couldn't catch her breath; all that smooth skin on display. He looked magnificent, minus his slightly swollen nose.

Oh Merlin! He isn't wearing a shirt! her underprivileged hormones screamed.

"Shut up," she hissed softly.

"I beg your pardon," he replied.

Determined to make the best of a horrible situation, Hermione smiled. After all, playing nice was the only way she was going to get out of this without killing him. "Professor Snape... I...I wanted to apologize for my outburst and actions earlier. Nothing is ever accomplished through violence." Though it sure did feel good.

"I further wish to convey my... sincerest apologies for..." Hermione paused, trying to focus on what she was supposed to be apologizing for. She hadn't done anything wrong! "Actually, I changed my mind. I don't wish to convey my apologies to you for anything. I've done nothing wrong.

"It's you who have done the unimaginable!" she ranted, taking a step toward him and getting a small satisfaction when he flinched. "I don't know why you would think I would model one of my characters after you, but you are sorely mistaken. Any similarities are purely coincidental."

He slid something across the table and sat back in his chair, ignoring her brief tirade. Her eyes widened as she recognized her red notebook. She snatched it and hugged it to her chest as though she was protecting her babe from the hideous monster before her.

"How could you?" she seethed in outrage. "My notebook! How dare you touch my notebook? Regardless of what you might think, everything that's mine does not belong to you!"

Severus stood, unperturbed over her distress. "I've made several edits and cannot even begin to tell you how disturbed I am over the main characters in your latest book. I've had to put up with Potter for seven years. And I've also made notes regarding your outlines for the books after that.

"Please, for Merlin's sake and my sanity, tell me that you are not actually considering modeling a character after Ronald Weasley." He gathered a blue notebook and walked into the kitchen area, strategically placing as much distance between them as possible.

Flipping through her pages, she made little strangled noises of disgust as she saw just how much editing Severus Snape had done. Her manuscript was covered in red ink, destroyed and utterly ruined, the familiar scrawl of her Potions assignments splattered like blood on the pages.

Splattered like blood on the pages? That was actually quite good. She would definitely have to work that in somewhere into one of her books.

Hermione opened the notebook to the last clear page and quickly scribbled the thought down. She was always scribbling things down. Writing was her life.

The blue notebook in her nemesis' hand jerked and fluttered open to a seemingly blank page. He looked at it, an amused, yet somewhat concerned, expression crossing his face. "Splattered like blood on the pages?" he asked. "Are you planning an attempt on my life?"

Hermione covered the distance between them, snatching his notebook from him and hastily thumbing through it. "You've copied my notebook!" she shouted, her cheeks ruddy with temper.

"You bastard! You smarmy, righteous, self-centered bastard!" she yelled, wishing for her wand to hex the smug, satisfied grin on his face.

"Thank you for the compliments," he retorted drolly. "There is no need to get upset, Miss Granger. I was merely protecting my investment."

Mentioning the temporary injunction fed her rage. Hermione stalked into the kitchen and poked him in the chest, the impact driving him backwards a step or two. "You don't own me!" she replied, her voice quivering with rage.

"You don't own this." She shook her notebook in the air and poked him again. "That injunction is a forgery, and you are a fraud, Professor Snape.

"Once I get back to London, I will have you brought up on charges for this. There is no way the Wizengamot would make such a ruling, and I will see you in Azkaban for what you have done." Hermione moved to poke him again, but he caught her hand in his and pulled her off balance and against him, effectively trapping her hands against his chest.

"If you think for one moment that I am going to allow you to physically assault me again, you are sorely mistaken," he growled, quickly glancing at her wet, plump lips. "I have already suffered one injury, and I shan't allow another. As for the injunction... I assure you it is quite real. Once I provided proof to the Wizengamot that you maliciously set out to ruin my career, they had no choice but to honor my request for immediate restitution."

She tried to pull away from him, but in her current position, all she could do was turn her head.

"I assure you that my claim is quite real, Miss Granger. I could have you arrested for the attack on my person, but you would be useless to me incarcerated." His breath was hot against her cheek.

Hatred and silence descended between them, neither of them willing to cede to the other.

Hermione could feel the sting of tears and winced as she realized they were inevitable. She shuddered, keeping her eyes slammed shut to stem the flow. Would her humiliation never end?

"What do you want from me?" she whispered shakily.

Tears? Merlin preserve him!

He was used to tears. He actually thrived on his ability to make students cry. It was a gift, really. It wasn't so much that he enjoyed other people's pain. It was just that he was a miserable sot and misery loved company.

Then why did he feel badly for the Muggle-born witch?

He should take pride in his accomplishment. He had set out to discourage her obvious infatuation with him, and he was succeeding spectacularly judging by the look of dark hatred in her eyes.

Miss Granger wasn't stupid, nor was she a coward. She was wavering, her distress manifesting in the form of frustrated tears.

Not that she was acknowledging his "rights" to her intellectual property, but she looked defeated, her head hung low, her loose hair forming a honeyed curtain around her face.

Severus shook his head, admonishing his thoughts. The next thing he knew he was going to start writing sonnets to the bloody chit.

"I just don't understand..." she sniffled, her voice belying her exhaustion.

"I have charmed the notebooks," he stated. "I shall be able to see whatever you write, and you will be able to view the edits I make in your notebook."

Hermione stiffened in his arms, yet didn't make an effort to pull away. There were no more tears and no more sniffles.

He sighed, inhaling her feminine fragrance and cursing the sharp twist of desire that clenched in his gut. He could try reasoning away the obvious truth, but lying to himself served no purpose. Hermione wasn't wearing any of the tawdry scents vacationers buy while on holiday. He couldn't blame the subtleties of attraction on that. Perhaps he should just shag her and get it over with. He could always Obliviate her later.

A sharp pain traveled up his leg as she dug the heel of her sandal into the top of his foot. She went lax in his arms, becoming dead weight and twisting away from him as he released her. He limped away in an effort of self-preservation, but he didn't get very far.

Hermione accosted him with the red notebook, smacking him in the back of his head and cursing. "You sanctimonious arse!"

He blocked the notebook and withdrew his wand, but she kept hitting him, and he couldn't get a clean shot.

"...Touch my stuff!"

Severus dodged another swing at his head and winced as she made contact with his shoulder. He really should have paid more attention to the self-defense course in Muggle Studies. Miss Granger was proving to be more dangerous without her wand than with.

She pummeled him with the notebook, backing him against the cupboards. "Give me my wand, you bastard!"

As she pulled back to strike him again, he Stupefied her. Unconscious, she fell forward and into his arms.

Somehow, Severus resisted the urge to just drop her and let her sleep on the kitchen floor for the night. It would serve the bloody hag right! But his conscience, what little there was of it, would not allow that. Instead, he floated her body into the guest room and deposited her onto the bed, deciding not to Rennervate her until morning.

Perhaps he should tie her up for good measure. Sighing, he shut the door with a soft click and made his way toward the master bedroom. Her things were everywhere. Yes, he should be a gentleman and take the guest room, but that would only take away from his hastily constructed plot for revenge and the farce that he really did own her.

The blasted witch certainly wasn't making things easy for him. He had, of course, expected some resistance, but not violent resistance. First, she had broken his nose, and then accosted him with her notebook. At least he had escaped the second attack unscathed.

Severus plopped down onto the bed and closed his eyes, Floo-lag finally catching up with him. Hermione Granger was Stunned. It wasn't like she could Rennervate herself and come after him. However, it would wear off sooner or later.

"Petrificus Totalus," he murmured with a slight wand movement. "That should hold you until I wake up."

--

Hermione seethed two days later after having finally been Rennervated. To find that she had lost two days of her vacation had made her realize something.

Severus Snape was a coldhearted bastard that no one cared for, for a reason. Everyone hated him, including herself. If there was a fan club of who hated Severus Snape more, she would be president!

After he had Rennervated her, she had made the big mistake of trying to jump on him and steal his wand. He had cast the Body-Binding Curse on her and had calmly leaned over and placed a punishing kiss upon her lips.

"I apologize for keeping you Stunned for two days. I was suffering the effects of Floo-lag and forgot about you."

Some apology! She hadn't been able to respond to him. All she had been able to do was watch him as he paced back and forth and set the terms of their "truce."

He had released her from the curse long enough for her to agree to the terms. After all, she couldn't very well fight back. He had a wand. She didn't.

And then she remembered.

She didn't have to fight back. Ginny would be arriving today to collect chapters one and two of the new book. Chapter one was basically done, but she hadn't even started on chapter two. Once Ginny arrived, Severus Snape was going to get his comeuppance.

Staring at the blank page, Hermione tapped her fingers of the armrest of the lounge chair by the pool. She took a deep breath and tried to connect with her creative processes. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the unpleasant memories of the past three days.

After several minutes of trying to banish Severus Snape from her thoughts, she gave up and slammed the notebook shut.

She couldn't believe it. The bloody git had cast the Killing Curse on her muse. It was dead... a rotting corpse that smelled horribly in the back corner of her mind.

Oh Gods! What was she to do?

She had set James and Virginia up so carefully in the last book. Her fans were expecting the next book to be about James and Virginia!

Her heart raced, and she started to sweat. A panic attack would not do! She didn't have the time. She had to keep it together. There was no way she was going to let Severus Snape win. His ridiculous ruse was just that... a ruse.

She may be wandless, but she still had her wits! She would prevail! She would get even! She would go to Harry as soon as this nightmare was over and learn how to Apparate without her wand.

The inner cogs of her ever-ticking mind turned at a maddening pace. Her embarrassment over the last few days had simmered into outright hatred. Any illusions over loving the un-lovable had been put to a quick death. Her former professor was obviously out for revenge. Minerva had always warned her about how petty he could be.

Hermione smiled and opened her notebook. Closing her eyes, she tapped into her Molly muse. If Severus Snape thought he was going to edit her notebooks and demean her work, she would give him something worth reading. It obviously wouldn't be fit to print, but what she was about to write certainly would make him squirm.

She started writing, choosing the first person perspective to personalize his reading "enjoyment." All she had to do was wait until Ginny arrived. In the meantime, her nemesis was in for several cold showers.

--

"I've got to go, Percy!" Ginny repeated, gathering her bag and heading toward the door. She had been trying to leave her stupid git of a brother for several hours now, but he had kept coming up with things that he "just had to get done" prior to her departure. At this rate, she was going to miss the Portkey.

"But, but..." stammered Percy. "I need you to..."

"I don't bloody well care! You can magic your own legal drafts," she growled, mentally ticking off what she needed to pack for her trip. Who was she kidding? She was definitely going to miss the Portkey.

"Ginny!"

She turned in a huff, the red light of a Stunner hitting her square in the chest.

"I'm sorry, Ginny," Percy mumbled, rushing forward to catch his sister. He caught her with a huff. "I just can't let you go. Professor Snape paid me too much money for you to go mucking up his plan... whatever it may be."

He hefted her unconscious form against the wall, stepped back, and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. "Mum's going to kill me."

--

TBC

Author's Notes: As always, I must thank my beta-readers who provide the spit and polish for my average punctuation and grammar. Jen provides the gentle push that spurs the creative process. Cocoachristy is spot on when it comes to finishing my incomplete thoughts. Soul Bound is the comma-Nazi. They are awesome and deserve a round of applause.

Thanks to all who have reviewed. Most support the new direction of the story. Some don't. I respect each and everyone's opinion, though I have not answered all of them. At this time, I am unable to do so.

In fact, I am having surgery on Friday and must postpone the story. On the bright side, I will be off work for three weeks and will be able to focus on the development of the story. I can't promise that I will update, but I will try. At this time, I am not sure how I am going to be able to type with a cast on my hand.

As for this latest chapter, I have to say this. I am much happier with this "wandless" Hermione than I was with the "forgetful" Hermione. I am especially enjoying the way she has dealt with Snape, and I promise that it will only get better from here.