Six

SIX

It was Friday, and for the first time in a long time Hermione was looking forward to her weekend off. She and Ginny had been meeting for coffee on and off since Harry's visit, and the manipulative Mrs Potter had finally persuaded her friend to come for a girl's night out. She had invited Luna Lovegood and Parvati Patil along too, and Hermione had been reluctant at first, knowing that Parvati was engaged to George Weasley. But Ginny had reassured her that Parvati and George blamed Ron totally for the breakdown of their marriage and that Parvati couldn't wait to see her and tell her so.

Before she could even turn her thoughts to what to wear on her night out, she had the store room to sort out again. All of the potions were up to date, she had no brewing to do, and if she was lucky, Severus might let her leave early. Hermione hung her jacket on the coat rack she had added to the corner of her room beside the lab but decided not to bother with her robes. They only got in the way when dusting and besides, she felt far more comfortable in her jeans and t-shirt. With firm resolve, she tied her hair back and set off towards the store room. Snape was teaching a Master Class and would be absent all day, leaving her free to buckle down to the task.

Hermione methodically lifted all of the phials, bottles and boxes down from the shelves and started to dust. It was cathartic, doing physical work like this and she always felt better afterwards. It also gave her time to think. Today, her thoughts were not only of her impending night out and the inevitable hangover to follow, but of her boss.

They had settled into a comfortable working relationship, but Hermione felt it was becoming more than that. There were times that Severus would stay in the lab just watching her brewing, and his presence was no longer off-putting but reassuring. They would talk about the work, and he had suggested in passing that she may want to extend her education and become a Potions Master herself one day. He hadn't said 'I will teach you,' but Hermione thought that's what he was offering. Still, she couldn't always figure him out. His presence had always been intense, and that hadn't changed. The man exuded something, she couldn't put her finger on what, but there were times she knew he was there without looking, almost as if she sensed him. He was the most masculine man she had ever met, and his aura was sometimes so overwhelming she had to put distance between them. She had found herself staring at him more than once, and she was particularly intrigued by his hair. He always had it tied back when brewing, but like her, he enjoyed letting it fall loose when he wasn't working and it fell between his shoulder blades like a waterfall of black silk. It changed him completely and the first time he had done it, it took her breath away. He wasn't handsome in the conventional sense, but there was most definitely something. She wondered if he had a woman in his life. A man like that wouldn't have to look far if he wanted a bed partner. Hermione flushed at the thought of her old Professor enjoying the pleasures of female flesh and shook her head. She shouldn't think of him like that. He was her boss and now, seemingly her mentor. It wasn't proper and anyway, it wasn't something she would ever know. It was none of her business what the Professor did in private.

Hermione climbed down from the shelf and went to shift two crates from the far wall to sweep behind them. When she reached them, she noticed an odd shimmering above them and frowned. Magic wasn't usually permitted in the store, but it was obvious that something had been disillusioned. Hermione withdrew her wand and gently tapped the object. It sounded just like another crate. She couldn't remove the charm inside the store, so she pulled the crates into the lab firmly and then cast the spell. Nothing happened. Hermione frowned, realising that if the crate was disillusioned, Professor Snape had not wanted her to find it for some reason. But by hiding it, Hermione was all the more intrigued and now she was determined to find out what had been hidden. Hermione was used to solving puzzles but Professor Snape was also good at setting them, and it took her more than an hour to remove the layers of protection he had placed around what was, eventually, just a normal packing crate used for deliveries. She flicked open the clasps and opened the lid to reveal eleven bottles of brown, mud-like Polyjuice potion. There was space for a twelfth bottle, which had obviously already been used. Hermione sat back on her haunches and breathed deeply. She thought the Professor had a special order for the potion, so why hadn't he sent it on? She knew it had been ready for over a week, but one bottle had gone and he hadn't wanted her to find it. Hermione's heart started to beat faster. What did she really know about Professor Snape, anyway? She had always assumed he was on the side of good, but this was based only on the facts presented at the time. What if he really had been loyal to Voldemort? What if the potion was part of a plan to rebuild the Death Eaters and bring Voldemort back in some form or another?

Hermione felt her ire rising. There was no way she was going to let Snape or anyone else away with anything, and she was feeling hurt and disappointed. She had thought she could trust him. With a flick of her wand she placed a tracer charm on each of the remaining bottles. She would soon find out if any of them had been moved and she would be able to follow her charm to the potion and its possible user. She might have to involve Harry later, depending on what she discovered. With a heavy heart, she carefully replaced the protection charms to the crate and disillusioned it again. She was nothing if not thorough, and if Snape really wasn't who he pretended to be, she wouldn't let him get away with it.

***

Severus Snape was starting to live for the weekends. Hermione had left early the previous day, seemingly preoccupied with whatever plans she had with Potter's wife and her cronies. She had said little as she left, but he didn't know the complicated workings of a woman's brain when she was preparing for a party or some such, so he had let it go. No doubt he would hear all about it the following week. He had his own preparations to make.

He had spent a leisurely day reading and writing a letter to Minerva, who had been most interested to hear how Hermione Granger was getting on. He had eaten early and was now almost ready to welcome his invited guest. He fastened the fly of his trousers carefully having left his underwear off for ease of access. Tonight's scenario had been carefully thought out and he wanted nothing to get in his way. He felt a frisson of desire as he contemplated the next few hours of his life and cursed himself for having never thought of it before.

Fastening the final button, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He wasn't a catch like Hermione, but he had learned through trial and error how to please a woman. This was why the ladies of Constance Barclay's Pleasure Emporium were always happy to oblige him. They were paid in more ways than one.

'Gorgeous,' purred the mirror in a sultry tone.

'Thank you,' he replied darkly. He had never been able to shut the damn thing up so it was easier to just respond and go. He walked through to the sitting room and poured a large glass of Firewhisky. He stood by the crackling fire and stared into the flames, and was half way through a particularly arousing daydream when his alarm alerted him to his guest. Downing his drink, he walked briskly into the office and opened the door. A tall woman stood before him in a dark, hooded cloak.

'For your pleasure,' she murmured.

At the agreed password Snape bade her come in and the woman removed her hood. She was slim and willowy with stunning blonde hair. Her eyes were wide and blue; her lips pouted prettily and were slicked with pale pink gloss. He could see under her cloak that she had ample breasts and shapely hips, and to any other man he would have fulfilled every fantasy. Damn it, she would have even done for him before now. But Snape had other desires and other needs, and he couldn't wait a moment longer.

'Constance explained the terms of the evening?'

'She did, sir. Although I am sure I could satisfy your baser pleasures in my current form,' she said sexily, running a red, painted fingernail along the buttons of his robes.

'No doubt,' Snape said with a slow smile, looking her up and down. 'But I promised you will be amply rewarded, in more ways than one. Follow me.'

Snape walked purposefully into the lab, locking both the outer and inner doors. The lab was set up for brewing, but the potion was a fake. He couldn't risk injuring the woman for the sake of his fantasy.

'Wait here,' he said as he walked to the store. Lifting the disillusioned crate, he carried it to the potions bench and quickly removed the charms and flipped the lid. He carefully removed a bottle of Polyjuice and placed it on the counter before replacing the crate. He returned and un-stoppered the bottle and then removed a folded handkerchief from his pocket. Lifting a few hairs, he added them to the Polyjuice, which began to bubble and turn a vivid shade of purple.

'You want me to drink that?' The witch asked him warily.

'I m told by your predecessor that it tastes of blackcurrants, and she certainly wasn't complaining when she departed, have no fear.' Snape's eyes glittered as he poured the Polyjuice into a glass and passed it to the blonde.

She paused for a moment before gulping the contents down in one go. She licked her lips seductively and smiled. 'Delicious, actually,' she said.

Snape flicked his wand and the bottle and glass vanished, and he turned towards the witch just as she began to transform. Snape watched keenly as she shrank slightly, and her cloak pooled at her feet. Her blonde hair started to kink at the roots and turned from its lemony shade to medium chestnut. Her face slimmed down, and her eyes turned from blue to caramel brown. Finally her lips lost their pout and changed to full, plump cushions, and Snape smiled with undisguised delight.

'Perfect,' he whispered. 'I am about to give you instructions and I need you to follow them closely.'

The witch nodded forlornly as she examined the unwelcome changes to her body. Rosie had told her he was good. She had better not have been winding her up.

***

Hermione had been half-way through her second Cosmopolitan when the tracer alarm had activated. Ginny and the others had looked at her in shock when she suddenly jumped up and announced she had an emergency to deal with, but she would explain later. Right at that moment she had a spell to follow. She dashed from the club through the back door and immediately a blue flame appeared in front of her. She followed it to a clearing and as it started to glow brighter, she knew she needed to concentrate on the flame and Apparate to wherever it would lead. She was very surprised to find herself outside Hogwarts, but the flame lead up to the main door so she continued to trot along behind it. When the flame headed towards the dungeon, Hermione ran down the corridor, not truly knowing what she would find but realising that someone was using the Polyjuice potion and it hadn't travelled very far.

The outer door to Snape's office was locked, which Hermione found strange in itself. He only ever locked it when neither of them was there or after rounds at night, but it was only half past nine. Hermione was able to unlock the door, of course. Snape had given her right of access when he wasn't there. The pale blue light of her charm stopped outside the door of the lab and then flickered out. Whoever was using the potion was behind the door, and she unlocked it silently and pulled the door open just enough so that she could see beyond.

Snape was brewing at the end of the bench, but she couldn't see anyone else. Still, her charm had never let her down before, so she waited and watched. Snape paused in his brewing and seemed to grip the edge of the bench. He looked as if he were in pain and Hermione had to fight the urge to go to him and check he was alright. He closed his eyes and started to sway, and suddenly, with a sweep of his arm he cleared all of the brewing equipment away.

'Get up here, witch,' he growled. Hermione started to flush. Did he know she was there? She was about to back away but what she saw next had her transfixed.

Snape pulled a woman up from the floor in front of him and lifted her bodily onto the bench. His fly was wide open and Hermione gasped as she saw his stiff, erect and glistening cock. With a silent gasp she realised the witch must have been giving oral sex to the Professor, and that what she had seen on his face wasn't pain but pleasure. She felt a slight tingling between her legs and squirmed as she tried to ignore it.

With swift movements, Snape spread the witches' legs wide open and his hand disappeared between them. Hermione heard her moaning as Snape inserted a finger, then with the other hand he found the witch's clitoris and rubbed her firmly. With a cry, she arched her back and screamed her orgasm beneath him, and he watched her face with smug satisfaction.

Hermione felt her crotch dampen as she watched. The witch on the table certainly seemed to enjoy Snape's actions, and she stared as she realised there was something familiar about her. Snape was now stood with his trousers around his ankles and his cock so stiff it was resting against the smattering of hairs above his pubic bone.

'You're been wanting this all day, Granger. Say it, beg me to fuck you,' he said deeply, his voice reverberating around the room.

Hermione stifled a gasp and looked even closer at the witch on the bench. It was her! She was wearing her brewing robes, which Snape was pushing up around her waist with his slim hands, and Hermione watched as he slipped his fingers between the fake Hermione's legs and thrust in preparation. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards him, teasing the lips of her pussy until she couldn't bare it.

'Please, Professor, Fuck me, please, please...'

Hermione couldn't stop herself from sliding her fingers into her own knickers. There was something very wrong about Snape fucking a Polyjuiced version of her, but she just couldn't stop watching. Her fingers found her clit and she started to rub herself in firm circular movements, allowing a finger to slide inside her wetness now and again. On the desk, Snape pushed his length into the fake Hermione, and both Hermione's gasped in pleasure. When he started to thrust, Hermione quickened her movements. Snape was grunting and began to pound into the witch on the bench. His head tipped back and his eyes closed as he fucked her, until with a shout, he pulled out of her and came all over her exposed belly and thighs. From her vantage point, Hermione heard him whisper her name, and she came herself, holding onto the doorframe as her legs shook beneath her.

Hermione watched as Snape pulled the witch up from the desk, and she flushed in embarrassment. With a quick freshening charm, she closed and locked the door of the lab and left before Snape could catch her.