Role Play
Chapter 32 of 40
AuretteSeverus and Hermione discuss battle readiness, and a few other things...
ReviewedThanks go to astopperindeath, who has done a wonderful job of knocking out the last few chapters so we could keep this train chugging towards its conclusion!
He had slipped his hands down my arms and so was in the perfect position to keep me from pushing him off me when I reacted to his statement.
"Are you mad? We couldn't possibly..."
"Hermione, it's the perfect time. You must see that everything is ready and momentum is on our side. If we wait any longer, doubt will creep in and that can destroy a movement faster than anything else."
He kissed along my brow, smoothing my worry lines with his nose.
"Having the Dark Lord be as mad as a hatter will only work to our advantage while people are afraid. Unfortunately, people are only able to be afraid for so long before they seem to get used to it and shut down. If we wait too long, that will happen, and we will lose those that might throw their lot in with us.
"There is a feeling in the air at the Ministry that something will happen soon. Now they know it. When the day comes and goes and the prophecy goes unfulfilled, the Dark Lord will become overconfident, and his loyal minions will take the next day off to celebrate. Being prepared for a battle and suddenly being summoned for one with no notice are two completely different things, psychologically." As he spoke, he never stopped his soothing caresses or his gentle nuzzling. He stilled my fears with his certainty and confidence.
"Trust me; we are ready."
"Alright. If you think so, but I'm afraid."
He let out a strangled laugh.
"Don't think I am not, Hermione. I have everything to lose now. I take comfort in the fact that if anything happens to you, I won't be around to suffer for it."
"Yes, but what about me? If something happens to you, I am alone. Severus, I don't want a shiny new world without you in it."
He lifted up on one arm, stroked his other hand down my torso and splayed his hand across my stomach.
"I don't want to leave you alone. I want to cherish you and worship you for the rest of my days. I would like to see this belly swollen and ripe with a child I have planted in you. But remember, Hermione, this happiness we share now came at the cost of dreadful despair. If I fall, trust that you will someday know happiness again and that I rest easy knowing I gave you the chance."
"No! Don't say things like that!" I struggled, and he let me wriggle out from under him until I was up on my knees facing him as he propped himself up on one arm.
"If you get yourself killed, I will find your little hiding place in your cellar, and I will take that damned stone, and I won't give you even a minute of eternal peace! I'll call you every day and tell you just what a prat you were for leaving me!"
He chuckled, and his hand came up and wiped away a tear from my cheek.
"I believe you would if it were possible. But the damned thing doesn't work. I've tried."
"You have? Why doesn't it work?"
"I'm not sure." He scowled and twisted to flop back down on the pillows. "I think it is because I am not related to one of those damned Peverells. Potter was. I don't think even Albus was...which makes it even more foolish for him to have tried to put that blasted ring on...but I suppose there was a compulsion along with the curse.
"Either way, despite my... reluctance, I risked using the stone. I wanted Dumbledore's counsel. As fortune would have it, the stone doesn't work. My research couldn't turn up an explanation."
"Why were you reluctant to use it?"
He gave me one of his patented looks he always used when someone asked a particularly ignorant question in class.
"Hermione, the stone calls your dead. Why would I have been happy with the idea of facing my dead?"
"Oh. Right. But surely... well... never mind."
"Yes, I tried to call... others. I see the question in your eyes. No one came. There was nothing."
I stroked his face.
"I'm sorry you were without counsel. I don't like to think of how long you were alone."
He captured my hand and kissed it.
"I tried other things. I went to Italy and showed some artists there photographs of Albus, but the portraits were always missing a spark. Oh, he would wave and twinkle and look as if he was pondering something of great importance, but he didn't do anything else. The portraits of Phineas and my mother eventually demanded I remove him; they didn't like being cooped up with an idiot. There are now three of him hanging in my cellar all waving at each other like pillocks." His sneer was rather evocative and contained all his frustrations.
"So if the stone doesn't work for you, what about the other Hallows? You've obviously used the cloak, but does the wand work for you?"
"Yes, the wand works, but I have to say using it is an unpleasant experience. It is rather powerful but also seems to be... eager. I dislike it. I worked with it enough to know its strengths, but I prefer my own."
"So we really are into the countdown, aren't we?" I asked.
"Yes, my love. It's time."
"What do we need to concentrate on in the next two weeks?"
"We will drill in formations and practice tactics. I wish we could have you women practice Apparating, but that's not possible, so we need to train for situations we can't leave in a hurry."
"If possible, we would like to have different clothing. Angel pointed out that lovely as they are, we are a little clumsy in our robes and thought Muggle slacks would not only be better but also symbolic."
"I'll see what I can do. Anything else?"
"Everything else, but nothing pressing at the moment."
He reached over and pulled me into his arms.
"I can think of a pressing matter that needs immediate attention."
He kissed me slowly. As our tongues played lazily with each other, a thought struck me, and I pulled away quickly.
"You said the Dark Lord would be looking at your memories of tonight, yes?"
"Yes, but that's not the thought we would particularly want in our heads at the moment," he tossed back.
"What if we created a better memory, one that would be a bit better at deflecting suspicion then a jumble of images you cobbled together?"
"Why do I suspect I am not going to like whatever you say next."
"Because it's perfect and you didn't think of it!" I shot back at him as I scrambled off the bed. I looked around until I found our robes over by the door.
I ran back to the bed with an armful of clothes and tossed them in his lap.
"First you need to transfigure my clothes into a school uniform..."
"I will do no such thing!" he bellowed. Tossing the clothes away as if they were infected, he scrambled out of the bed.
"Of course you will. Then you change yours to look more like your teaching robes."
"Like hell I will!" he thundered.
"Oh, do stop, Severus. This is a perfect idea. Now, let's see. Yes, a little more foolish wand waving, and we can make that area over there look like a potions bench."
"What? No! Hermione, I demand you stop this at once. It's not amusing; it's sick!
"I know, that's what makes it perfect. You get to 'put me in detention' and the Dark Lord thinks you're a kinky bastard, not someone with any other possible reason for electing to go question the Mudblood."
"Don't use that..."
"Hush, you said yourself that he leaped to the same conclusion that Macnair did. This is perfect! Ask all the questions you want. I get to sound vacuous and slutty, give all the answers that he would want to hear and then act all willing and acquiescent and then you have your way with me. Simple."
He looked at me like I had grown another head, but I could tell my logic had won out when he crossed his arms petulantly.
"I doubt I will be up to having my way with you dressed like that."
"Perfect, you're supposed to be inhibited anyway. This is only the second time, as far as the Dark Lord knows, right? The more uptight you are, the better. It will add verisimilitude."
He looked like he wanted to spit, but he waved his wand and levitated my robes back over to me.
"Detention, Miss Granger."
I do admit I shivered just a little bit at that. Fantasies I hadn't even realized I'd had danced through my head.
However, the reality was not the stuff of legends. Severus never really got into his part. I was an old hand at role play and acting vacuous and adoring, but he just kept putting his hand up and demanding I give him a minute.
At one point, I was on my knees before his chair with my hands clasped behind my back and chasing his limp cock around in a circle with my mouth while he glared down at me with his arms crossed over his chest and an 'I told you so' expression. I stopped for a moment to collapse laughing. That didn't go over well at all.
In the end we had enough to work with, according to him, and he couldn't change my robes back fast enough.
"I'm not sure I'll be able to put together a memory that doesn't make me look completely pathetic," he groused as he sat down hard on the end of the bed.
"Don't worry, love, we'll keep track of whom he tells and make sure they all rot in Azkaban." I made him a cup of tea and brought it to him. "What if I made it up to you? What if I dressed in something you would want to see me in now?" I twirled my hands in the air as I stood before him.
His eye took on an appraising look, and then he smirked and pulled out his wand. It was one of those smirks I didn't like to see, one that usually occurred when there was revenge in the equation.
Just as I was thinking this might not be a good idea, he started flicking away. I blinked when a pair of glasses perched on the end on my nose and then looked down at my attire.
"Good heavens, Severus! You..."
Words failed as I recognized who I was dressed similarly to: Irma Pince.
"You made me a librarian!"
He chuckled as he stood up before me and gathered my hair up into a knot on my head and poked his wand through it.
"Books can be sensual things, Hermione. Does it not follow that a woman in command of thousands of them could be... enticing?"
I smirked at that.
"You're overdue, Mr. Snape. There will be a penalty."
My mouth went dry when I saw his eyes start to burn.
"You kinky man," I rasped before he kissed me.
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Latest 25 Reviews for The Princess of Gryffindor
597 Reviews | 6.94/10 Average
I agree with Mick42 in the sense that I don't like the Voldemort won/everyone's dead/Hermione's a whore stories. I avoid them like the plague. I decided to give this one a go based on the reviews. I was very, very skeptical. There were aspects to the writing that I didn't like, such as it being written in first person, but the memorial scene alone made it well worth the read. I may have shed a tear (or 10).
Wow...just wow. Now I know why all of these other reviewers have shed a tear. I am a mess. Still smiling tho'! Captivating read. Kudos!
Yay, all finished. It's been a while since I've read this, so I had forgotten a lot of the details in the ending chapters, but I still love it as much as I did the first time I read it. You have my in tears reading the end couple of chapters now, but that's terribly easy to do to a pregnant woman, so don't worry too much lol.
I just love Snape, have I ever mentioned that? I do. And it's stuff like this in stories- him vowing to protect Hermione- that make me love him even more..
This is one I've read before, on ffnet I think, but I have to read it here too, it just seems impossible not to reread your favorite stories when you come across them somewhere. The bonus is that you already know you love the story, even if you can't remember all the details between point A and A.D.
My dear Aurette,I have spent half of yesterday and all of today re-reading this unbelievable story. Half of the time, I've been a sobbing, sopping mess - when S&H were gathering forces and found people who were still alive, the whole Harry and Ron speaking to Hermione from the great beyond, the memorial scene (holy crap, talk about sobbing!), reuniting with Minerva's ghost, and the list goes on. I love the plot of the story. I love your numerous OCs. I love how the young DEs revolt. I love how forces from all sides join together to fight the Dark Lord. I love the romance between S&H. I love how utterly vulnerable he is to her, and she to him. I love how wizarding society hero-worships Snape in the end. I love So Many Things about this story. If my heart could take it, I'd start it all over again, but I really wasn't exaggerating when I said I was sobbing half the time I was reading. This might sound odd, but reading this today, US Memorial Day, just makes it seem even more poignant. But I do think it's honoring to RL sacrifices by reading about fictional ones. Thank you so much for this absolutely wonderful story, and for giving me such an enjoyable (if teary and snotty) way to spend my day off.Love,Christev
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Heartbreaking and wonderful and worth rereading. Thank you for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I'm so glad you enjoyed. ;-)
Just re-read this and had to mention: Best Epilogue Ever. Why couldn't you have given JK a few pointers? ;-p
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! She never asked... Thank you!
I've just flown through the last several chapters, held in thrall to this story! This is just genius, you know, starting at a place of total desolation - this terrible post-war dystopia - and taking all the elements from DH (the prophecy from Severus, the Hallows, even walking beside the dead and moving with them before returning to earth - thanks particularly for including Draco with the others), using them as they were meant to be used, finding another way of stopping Voldemort and reenvisioning a new world in the aftermath.
And I love seeing Snape marked as the Man Who Lived! And a father! And the Minister! (And that proposal? Mmm-hmm... clearly, he has caught on to everything Hermione's been teaching him!)
You strike such a great balance between comedy and high drama. It's such a pleasure to read.
Oh, Goyle. Goyles will be Goyles, I suppose!"I think you have just been metaphorically peed on." Oh, I love this line... particularly since Severus' possessiveness towards Hermione is such a strong part of his character (which is why his reluctant willingness to 'share' Hermione rather than lose her was SO terribly shocking).
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Thank you! And I think, by his behavior in this chapter, you can see he tacitly took those words... back.
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
Oh, absolutely! That's what's so marvelous to see in this Snape. He acts impulsively so often, and then immediately knows that it's not what he really wanted, and is slowly learning to keep it all in check as he accepts the fact that she really loves him and that he's truly safe with her.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Hannah and Neville! Woo-hoo! (You can just feel the little triumphs along the way - things are getting brighter all the time!) And the lack of trust between all parties involved... yes, that feels completely, completely believable.(Also,I don't know that I've ever met an original character that I've liked, but Peaches is fantastic. Just fantastic. You make me change my mind on a lot of things, I think...)
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I intentionally started this tale as dark as I could make it, and then slowly let the light in. Neville and Hannah were such a beacon of hope...
Ah, the trust between the two as they examine the girls! And her red robes... yes, I imagine Severus doesn't want Hermione in anything less than a high-necked robe in front of her old beau.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Trust is something they thought they had, but as you can see, they are both too emotionally unsophisticated to not end up with issues.
Whoa, whoa, whoa... Elder Goyle and Ma are two revelations here, aren't they? As for the former, it really makes me wonder (again and again) what Voldemort's plan was 'when' he won. Why cheat Death if you have nothing to live for? For someone as hypothetically long-sighted as he was (looking to an eternity of power and control over the wizarding world), he's remarkably short-sighted here (what do you do now that you've won?). You raise all sorts of fascinating questions here. And Ma, with the Veritaserum? Grand.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Ma was intended to just be a stock vilain, but she elbowed her way toward three dimentional. I was very happy with the way she worked out.
The robes! Wonderful, wonderful, all around, from Hermione's comfort in them and the note exchange.Charlie and Viktor? You're really getting things moving here, aren't you? Momentum. You're really a master with creating a momentum that just pulls a reader through the story. I don't mean just here, but everything I've read up til now - it's so well paced and unfolds so naturally. In case I haven't said this in a chapter or two, thanks so much for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I was very attuned to the pacing of this tale. It was my very first mult-chaptered fic and getting the pacing down right was one of my primary concerns. Thank you so much for reviewing it!
Hooray! I love what you've done with Theo Nott. The second guessing and the regret shows how easy it was for misguided, then-ambivalent people to latch on to Voldemort's coat tails. (Cloak tails?) Very like Severus at that age, no?You're also hilarious, but I suspect you know that. "Conjure myself some decent clothes?" FABULOUS.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Exactly! I saw Theo as not being wildly different from young Snape, just perhaps a bit more entitled. I am so glad you liked this.
Wow. There are so many things I love, love, love in this chapter. First off, the relationship between Severus and the Malfoys. (Ach, and the horror of their deaths!) Next, Dumbledore's attitude. I, for one, have a tendency to vilify the man. Reading the repentance he shows here makes me rethink a lot of things about him. (So thank you for challenging me!) But you're right - we have a lot of evidence in DH that there are many unspoken things in his past that explain his present actions. And, of course, it's just a relief to see that he finally has someone to tell all this to, someone who will care for him and stand by him through it all. This is just wonderful, and I'm completely loving your writing and this story!
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I also have a tendancy to vilify Dumbledore, but I know that was never JKR's intention, so every so often I try and reset my thinking. Then I backslide. lol.
There are so many reasons I love this story... wonderful narrative flow, seamless incorporation of canon devices (Hallows! Can't wait to see them in action!), a fresh perspective on the nature of evil in the Voldemort regime, a place to see regrets worked out and atoned for.But the single greatest reason why this is so fabulous is your clear vision of your characters. What we know of them from JKR is fleshed out so beautifully here, and it's not a happy-go-lucky, cleaned up and sanitized version of the very broken people we know (and love), but a hard look at the mistakes they make and how they learn together to move on and forgive one another in a much deeper understanding of who the other really is.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
This chapter was my impetus for writing the whole fic. I wanted to get to this scene. Of course, once I did, I then had a Ministry to over throw... lol.
Oh, now that's interesting... incorporating the Hallows? I think this means we'll get to see some action from the Elder Wand (killing Voldemort?), the Resurrection Stone (Harry and Ron?), and the Invisibility Cloak (I have no idea on this one... it's useful in so many ways). I can't wait to see where they lead!
Severus' thoughts on the ambition of Voldemort five years out are interesting... it certainly does make you wonder - what would Tom have done had he won? Did he have a plan in place? I mean, the fear of ignominious death aside, what was really motivating his actions? What did he envision for the Wizarding world?
There's much that I enjoy in this chapter... the way they recognize each other as being, really, the only people left on earth (that we know of so far) who can really see one another is fantastic. Antarctica banter with penguins! 'Whoever had broken this man deserved to burn in hell.'What I found myself wishing I had here was Hermione's musings on her own sexual history. Was she a virgin before she was enslaved here? I found I wanted this when she first talked about her position as a whore with Snape as well... I just want it sometime. (Maybe it's coming up later? We'll see!) There seems to be space for her to say that she's still a virgin (so to speak) with a great deal of this as well. And defend her innocence. Since she never kissed Ron in the final battle (AU breaks off earlier here, right?), has she even been kissed?
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
(Because Severus very well may be right in trying to stop her... for her own peace of mind, certainly, and for the fact that she's been traumatised for years there. Another sexual experience now may not be helpful on the road to recovery, and he'd certainly be remiss if he didn't know the situation before letting her have her way with him...)
The harpsichord? That's hilarious. Does she tune it herself, as well? All the descriptions of this place add up to a bizarre, depressing, garish nightmare. It's like everyone tossed in their leftovers and out popped a brother, or several people's lives just vomited out all their extras on the (Voldemort-run) street.
Ah, Draco. I'm sad to hear he's lost. I have a soft spot for him as one of the people who gave Severus a will to go on in HBP and DH. I would have liked seeing your Snape deal with him.
That last long paragraph on the enigma of Snape? Spot on. It sums up why he's such a fascinating character in canon: powerful and powerless, beautiful and ugly, lauded and humiliated. The ambiguity of him is so rich, and not in the Dumbledore 'we sort too soon' sort of way, claiming that he's truly a Gryffindor at heart merely because he's on the side of good.
As to protection, well, that's another one of the strongest themes attached to him in canon, isn't it? He's constantly fighting to protect people - even people he despises -and he prepares them all to do the same. Your Hermione's a lucky girl...
Well done, you.
Hmm... "I, too, practice self-denial?" I think he might practice a few kinds of denial here, since he did just move to kiss her. (Of course, perhaps poor Severus doesn't know any better. He missed out on the 'What not to do whilst visiting a whorehouse' lesson in finishing school.) I greatly appreciate a post-DH Snape who doesn't know what to do with a woman... after all, when you poke around in canon, it seems fairly obvious that his social calendar was empty.
I also enjoy the dynamic you're setting up between Hermione and Peaches, the latter of whom is clearly in control of her own destiny in a way that Hermione just isn't... yet.
And...Harry and Ron? What?!?
Oh, gravy! Lime-green peignoirs and silver mules? This is a high class establishment poor Hermione's stuck in. (Although the lime-green clothing is oddly reminiscent of St. Mungo's...)
I love a phrase like "She floated in like a frigate in full sail." Really, the oppressing shabbiness of the place is overwhelming. I'm so very wary of new characters, so I'm really hoping I will like yours... Peaches, maybe yes? Ma, maybe no. Unless we do know Ma or Angel already and they're just under aliases like the Princess?
Drinking Cocoa enticed me back here to revisit this wonderful, deep, rich tale once again, when I should be doing my own writing and in other ways getting the heap of papers on my desk cleared and sorted (not to mention getting to bed at a decent hour). But, no, I had to swallow this beautiful work whole once again, rediscovering all its complexities and marvels, emotions and heatbreak, fascinations and intricacies. And it is now nearly 2am, and I can at last climb into my solitary little bed, wrapped in the warmth of some quite satisfying and delicious writing. Thank you.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I thank you, truly, for your revisiting this story. Nothing is more satisfying than knowing it is apreciated on a second reading as well. :-)
I give it five years before Brilliant figures out how to spell that journal open and gets the shock of her young life hahahaha.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! Oh, that would be Brilliant! You need to write that fic!
Response from StarryEyedNoOne (Reviewer)
I haven't wrote HP fanfic since I was the age of a first year lol. I pray to any diety that's listening that NONE of it is still floating aroung out there. :-\
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! I understand. I once read that if you aren't embarrased by something you wrote a year ago, you are no longer growing as a writer. Hell, I get embarrassed over things I wrote last week...