Dilemma

Chapter 13 -- Dilemma

There was a strange mist hanging around the Hogwarts grounds. Hermione hadn't seen anything quite like it since the third year, when Dementors had been posted around the castle. It was strange because the headmaster had not mentioned anything to her, Anthony, or any of the other staff as far as she knew.

'Hermione?' Harry asked from beside her as she stood at the cold, misted window in the third floor corridor.

'Hmmm?' she mumbled incoherently, staring out.

'Are you alright?' he ventured.

She nodded softly and looked at him. 'This weather is strange, like Dementor fog. It's a little creepy to be honest,' she replied mutely.

'Yeah,' he agreed. 'I think that there might be more to this than just weather though.'

Hermione got an idea. 'Harry, I think I'll just nick off to the library for a bit. There's something I need to take a look at,' she lied.

'Alright,' he said, hoisting his bag more steadily onto his shoulder and turning to leave. 'I'll see you later.'

Hermione watched as he left and did not move until he was completely out of sight. She was going to visit Snape. He of all people had to know something about the unusually dreary weather. Without thinking about it twice, she walked as quickly as she could in the general direction of the downstairs, hoping that she would not run into anyone she knew on the way, as she could not risk getting distracted.

She finally reached her destination and moved to knock urgently on the door, only to have it immediately opened on her as her palm came into contact with Snape's chest. She snatched away her hand quickly as if she were afraid that he would yell at her and muttered a quick apology. 'Sorry.'

'Is there something that you wanted, Miss Granger?' he asked silkily.

'Actually, yes. But I think it might be better if you let me inside to discuss it,' she said daringly. Snape glared at her momentarily, only to have a stony look thrown back at him. He relented, stepping aside to allow her entry.

'You realize, Miss Granger, that gallivanting down to my office and demanding entrance is not the appropriate way to get what one wishes,' he sneered with a trace of his usual sarcasm.

'Oh, I understand, Professor!' she spat acidly. 'I just didn't expect you to be the kind that appreciated good manners! Especially those from a Gryffindor know-it-all!'

Snape winced slightly. He had hit a high note and apparently Hermione was a little more sensitive and hormonal today than she would have normally been. The cause? Well he didn't know, but he intended to find out.

He closed the door and gestured for Hermione to take a seat before sitting down himself behind his desk. 'Now I assume there is a purpose for this little--visit?'

Hermione nodded sharply. 'It's the weather. I don't know what it is, but this just doesn't feel right. It's gloomy and it feels like the castle has had its cheerfulness drained from it. Just like a Dementor.'

Snape's eyes widened and his lips twitched. He wanted to smile, but he could not allow it in front of Hermione. 'Ah, very good, Miss Granger, perceptive as ever,' he purred softly, sending chills up Hermione's spine. 'Yes, everyone else would simply shrug it off and account it as a normal end-of-winter fog, but you, Miss Granger. You question it and apparently you have made a reasonable conclusion.'

'You mean to say, that all of this, the fog, all of everything is the cause of Dementors?' she asked incredulously.

'You are correct,' he said simply.

'Why are there Dementors in these parts? I mean, what do they want here at Hogwarts?' she asked curiously.

'Well I'd have thought it was obvious,' he said with a quirked eyebrow.

Hermione sat still for a moment and pondered the information she had gathered in the last twenty minutes. When it came to her, she gasped and covered her gaping mouth. 'They--the Dementors... have they joined Voldemort?' she mused loudly.

Snape winced slightly at the use of the Dark Lord's name. 'Miss Granger, do I have to remind you about using that name?' he snapped coldly. 'But you are quite correct, nevertheless. They have sided with the darkness and are here for Potter,' he said in a slightly softer tone.

'Oh, Merlin, help us,' Hermione whispered softly.

'Merlin indeed,' Snape muttered under his breath in agreement.

Hermione looked up at him in surprise. 'What are we going to do?' she asked.

'YOU are not going to do anything. Professor Dumbledore and I have arranged a security plan for the protection of the students, especially Mr. Potter, and the arrival of the beasts will be made as soon as the headmaster sees fit,' he said prudently.

Hermione bristled at his tone and set a sneer onto her face before peppering him with another question. 'And what do these security measures entail, Professor?' she snipped angrily.

'There will be not trips to Hogsmeade for the remainder of the school term. Nobody will leave the inside of the castle without a guardian of some sort, and powerful barriers have been erected and strengthened on the perimeters surrounding the castle,' he replied in a dreary tone.

Hermione's eyes widened with each new precaution. No trips to Hogsmeade? No trips to Hagrid’s? No sun-baking on the grass while Ron and Harry fly about on their brooms in the fresh air above her? 'Does that also mean that there will be no Quidditch?' she asked urgently, wondering how Harry and Ron would take this news.

'Regrettably, yes it does,' he replied with slight morose.

Hermione couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not, but she was starting to feel the familiar throb between her legs as his silky baritone spoke volumes to her, sounding like liquid dark chocolate surrounding her. She decided then that it was best that she leave, lest she be tempted to do something she would later regret. [a/n As if you would regret anything with Severus...]

She stood and looked her professor hard in the eye. 'Thank you for confirming my suspicions, Professor Snape,' she said curtly, moving to the door to leave.

'My pleasure, Miss Granger,' he replied smoothly, causing her step to falter just a bit as she curled her hand around the door knob, ready to open it.

She left without another word, leaving Snape alone at his desk with a painful throbbing between his legs. The first thing he did before he reached down to try and relieve some of the pain was to flick his wand to lock and ward the office, then letting his hand wander to the bulge in his lower region.

His hand brushed it experimentally, and its reaction was to twitch uncomfortably. He quickly unbuttoned his pants and freed his throbbing erection from its restraints and stroked it a bit before the hunger for more grew and he was soon thrusting uncontrollably before finding his release and coming with a groan.

Panting, he finally calmed and cast a cleansing charm over himself and buttoned his pants up again. Damn, what that girl did to him. Even when she was furious with him, he seemed to be too easily aroused by her. Her scent was intoxicating, her presence demanding, her beautiful eyes were completely and totally innocent and passion-filled. He couldn't imagine a more beautiful and intelligent witch.

She had come to mean so much to him in the past three months. He knew her better now then he ever expected he would. And he wanted to know more. She drove him to the point of insanity and back, sent him on a trip that he never expected he would take and was feeling a new emotion, in a part of him that he had not thought existed.

And she belonged to another.

He pulled his watch out of his pocket and examined its beauty. Peering inside, he viewed the time and saw that it was almost time for dinner. Just enough time for a nice cold bath to get rid of any excess arousal, as a precaution. The Potions master of Hogwarts could not very well be seen walking about the school with a raging erection.

And besides, he really needed to get over this school-boy reaction to her.