Throwing Tantrums

A/N: Due to uninterrupted gloomy rain, and a bit of gentle arm twisting, *giggle* I've decided to update this fic a little sooner than I expected to. Normally I like to wait until I at least have the next chapter's first draft done, but this blasted rain is making me blue! I decided a few reviews would perk me right up. So here's the next chapter, and I'm hoping it won't be too much of a wait before I update again, though it may be a bit longer than usual.

I wouldn't be even thinking about updating if the lovely and comma wielding Vaughn hadn't sent this chapter back to me today. Vaughn rocks!

Disclaimer: They are not mine; I only take them out to play.

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I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

-Hunter S. Thompson 1937-2005

"I'm not going to do it! Leave me be!" Severus screeched at the top of his lungs. Rushing from the downstairs lav, Severus ran to the library. His arms flailed wildly above his head as he continued to shout, "Leave me be!"

With a frustrated sigh, Hermione trailed behind him. The first few days with Severus living in the house had been unexpectedly easy. The very first day had been exhausting, but not because of the madman in their midst. It took Hermione, Ron, and Harry all day long to get the bedroom next to Hermione's sorted for Severus. In the morning, Severus had done his best to help. There was certainly nothing wrong with the man's magic; he'd accomplished quite a bit until he tried to open the curtains and gotten bitten by a doxy. The doxy bite upset him, and despite the fact that Hermione had the antidote at hand, Severus quietly pouted about it for the remainder of the day.

On the second day, Hermione was doing her best to get back to her research. It was no easy task when Severus was haunting the library like a wraith, puttering about and talking to the furniture.

Frustrated, Hermione asked him, "Severus, is there something that you would like to do today?"

With a sneer worthy of his old self, Severus surveyed the desk and worktable that was overflowing with Hermione's books and parchments. "I might," he said disdainfully, "continue with my own research, if some whore hadn't spread her things all over creation."

Rising from the worktable, Hermione shook her head with a sigh. "Severus, if you need something, you should ask me. We all want you to be comfortable here. I may not be able to give you the moon and stars, but I think that I can manage a desk."

With her wand and a few well placed levitation spells, Hermione rearranged the furniture to make space near her worktable. She then levitated over a life-sized and ugly statue of an erkling. The statue was truly hideous, so Hermione doubted that Harry would mind it doing temporary duty as a desk for Severus. A few charms later, and the nasty little erkling had become a large and handsome desk. There was a bookshelf built in above it, and a row of drawers down one side. Another smaller but no less hideous knickknack was soon transformed into a matching chair.

"There you go, Severus," Hermione said with a smile. Hermione had always had a knack for transfiguration and was rightfully proud of her work.

With a clear look of childish delight, Severus ran one hand lovingly over the desk's shiny surface. "This is for me? This is mine?" he said with a note of uncertainty.

"All for you," Hermione replied with a smile.

"No messy whore is going to let her research spill all over it?" he said, giving her workspace a frightful glower.

Chuckling, Hermione said, "I promise to keep my things off of it. All right?"

"I suppose," he said in a bored voice, but the delight was back in his eyes.

For a while longer Hermione was distracted while Severus took off his shirt, removed the leather pouch that he still wore strapped to his side, and took a myriad of tiny objects from it. He then began restoring them to their normal size. By the time he was done, the shelf above his desk was full of books and the drawers were full of scrolls filled with Severus' rather cramped writing. Before long, Severus was rummaging through several books and making notes on a new sheet of parchment. Left in peace for the first time that morning, Hermione went back to her own research.

There had been a minor kerfuffle at lunchtime that day, but nothing catastrophic. It had happened when Ron had come into the library to tell them that lunch was ready.

"Busy," Severus had replied shortly.

Leaning over Severus' shoulder, Ron picked up a piece of parchment and asked, "What are you so busy working on that you can't take a moment to eat?"

In a flurry of sudden movement, Severus had snatched the parchment away from Ron and given his hand a loud smack. "Don't touch my things, you redheaded whore!" he snarled. Quieting immediately, Severus sat staring at the top of his desk with his shoulders hunched forward. He looked like a frightened dog who was expecting a blow from its master. Hermione was about to intervene when Ron spoke.

"Severus, I need you to do something for me," he said calmly.

"What?" Severus snapped.

"I'm willing to try to get along, but I need you to tell me what you expect from me instead of throwing a fit when I get something wrong."

"I didn't throw a fit," Severus said petulantly, rolling his eyes.

"No, you didn't. But that was pretty rough, smacking me like that. How about you try talking to me first? What made you angry and what would you like me to do?" Ron continued calmly.

"Don't touch my things!" Severus snapped. Then, with a sigh, he said it more pleasantly. "Please don't touch my things, redheaded whore."

"All right," Ron said. "I will not touch your things. Is there anything else?"

"Please don't loom over me," Severus said with an exaggerated shudder. "It gives me the willies."

Realizing that he was still leaning over Severus' shoulder, Ron straightened up and moved to the side of the desk. Squatting down so that he was at a level with where Severus sat, Ron said, "I shall do my level best not to loom. Better?"

"Yes, thank you, whore," Severus said politely.

"Now then, you have told me what you need me to do," Ron began, "I have something that I need you to do."

"What?" Severus asked suspiciously.

"I went to a lot of trouble to make lunch for us all. I don't want that trouble to be for nothing. I know that you are busy, but I need you to come and eat lunch. It won't take long, and then you can come back here and work."

Tilting his head to the side in thought, Severus then shrugged his shoulders and said, "I suppose that I can manage that."

"Thank you, Severus," Ron said politely.

As Severus and Ron stood, Hermione continued to work. "Aren't you coming?" asked Ron.

"I really need to get this bit sorted," Hermione said distractedly. "I'll grab something later."

Walking over to where Hermione sat at her worktable, Severus leaned over her. Apparently he had no trouble looming over others.

"The redheaded whore went to a lot of trouble to make lunch for us," he said archly.

"I'm really very busy..." Hermione began.

"It won't take long, and then you can come back here and work," Severus parroted with a crooked grin.

"You really can't expect Severus to be polite when you are showing him such a shabby example yourself, Hermione," Ron said, chuckling.

"Fine!" Hermione snapped. "I'll go eat your nasty old lunch!" Rising, she dutifully followed the two men from the room.

As they walked down the stairs to the kitchen in the basement, Severus muttered to himself. "Is the lunch nasty? Is it old? I don't care how much trouble the whore went to, I'm not going to eat a nasty old lunch."

"I'm sure that it's a very nice lunch, Severus." Hermione said with a sigh. "Ron's a good cook; Molly taught him."

"You called it a nasty old lunch," Severus muttered.

"I didn't mean it. I was frustrated."

"Silly little whore lies when she is frustrated. She must lie all the time!" Severus said gleefully as they entered the kitchen.

"Just sit down and eat, Severus!" Hermione said, giving him a gentle push towards a chair.

Severus had indeed sat down and he ate politely with the rest of them, but every time he glanced in Hermione's direction, he had giggled like a schoolboy. It had been all Hermione could do not to hex him.

That had happened yesterday, and as frustrating as it had been, it didn't hold a candle to the situation that Hermione now found herself in. She had obviously committed a high offense, in Severus' opinion. She had suggested to Severus that he take a shower. Malfoy had warned her that it would be a difficult task, but Severus had seemed so reasonable so far. She certainly hadn't expected him to throw a complete and utter tantrum like an angry three year old.

Following him into the library, Hermione saw that Severus was still running about, still shrieking at the top of his lungs, and still flailing his arms wildly in the air. When he saw that Hermione had followed him, he fled to the corner of the room where he stood, head wedged tightly into the corner, still yelling loudly.

Words interrupted his high pitched shrieking. "Leave me be! Leave me alone! Don't touch me, you nasty little whore!"

Luckily, Ron and Harry were out of the house at the moment. While they had both been surprisingly patient with Severus, if faced with this situation, they may have reached for their wands. Hermione's hand itched to grab her own wand, but Draco had warned them that using magic to try to contain Severus when he was throwing a fit would only make it worse when the magic was lifted. Though Hermione was a Muggle-born, the years at Hogwarts had left her very dependant on magic. The present problem left her rather at a loss.

Crossing to where Severus was pressed into the corner, Hermione tried putting a hand gently on his shoulder. Shaking off her hand, Severus pushed past Hermione, dropped to his hands and knees, and crawled away to hide behind the sofa. It wasn't a very good hiding place, not only because Hermione had watched him go there, but because he hadn't quite crawled far enough. Staring at where Severus' feet and bum stuck out from behind the sofa, Hermione simply stood immobile for a moment, shocked at his behavior. She had wondered why Severus had not been able to protect himself from the Death Eaters, as he seemed odd but sensible most of the time. Here was her answer, hiding behind the sofa with his arse hanging out. When Severus was upset, he lacked all sense about such matters. With a sigh that was becoming a habit, Hermione went over to Severus and sat down on the floor next to him.

"Severus," she said as calmly as possible, "would you talk to me please?"

"No!" said Severus, stubbornly wrapping his arms around his head.

Reaching out a tentative hand, Hermione stroked it gently up and down his back, as her mother used to do when she was frightened. Severus seemed to relax, but he didn't unfurl. It was then that Hermione noticed that he was trembling. Why, he wasn't just being obstinate, he was frightened!

"Severus, I've upset you, and I certainly didn't mean to. Won't you please sit up and talk to me about it?"

"Leave me be! I don't want a shower!" Severus whined.

"I promise that I just want to talk right now. I'm not going to force you to do anything. But I need to understand what's upset you so."

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because I care about what happens to you, Severus. I don't like it when you get upset, or frightened. It makes me feel bad."

Finally uncurling, Severus sat on the floor and looked at Hermione curiously for a brief moment. "I make you feel bad?" he asked sadly.

"No, not you. I like you!" Hermione reassured him. Lifting a hand to sweep his dirty and tangled hair out of his face affectionately, she continued. "I like you...so it makes me feel bad when you are unhappy."

"Then don't make me take a shower and I'll be happy!" Severus said with a crooked grin.

"But that's not healthy, Severus. And if you got sick, that would make me unhappy too." At his skeptical look, she changed tacks. "Besides, you're already getting pretty whiff. Much as I like you, I won't want to be around you if you smell bad," she said in a mock serious tone.

"Then I'll do a spell again," he said petulantly.

"Those cleaning spells only go so far, as you very well know. You need a real shower. Why don't you want to take one?"

At first, Hermione thought that he would not answer. Dropping his head until his chin hit his chest, it was a long moment before he spoke. When he did speak, his voice was soft and hesitant. "I don't like being naked. That's when they hurt you...when you're naked...when you don't have your wand. That's when the whores find you. That's when they hurt you and burn you."

Surprised to find herself near tears, Hermione did her best to blink them away. This poor man before her would likely be frightened by her tears, even if they were on his behalf. It simply broke her heart to see what this once strong and proud wizard had become. He was like a strange caricature of his former self in some ways, a lost little boy in others. It was little wonder that Severus was afraid of showers; he had obviously been the victim of the other Death Eaters' nasty little games when he was unprotected.

"Severus," Hermione began, doing her best to remain calm, "we've talked about how things are now that you live in Harry's house. No one is going to hurt you here. None of us will ever hurt you."

"I know that!" Severus snapped. "But you won't be there, will you? I'll be all alone in there and they'll come and you won't be there and they'll hurt me again!" he said in a rush. "I'm not taking a shower! You can just hold your nose, little whore!" Here he demonstrated the action on his own nose.

"What if I stand guard outside the door while you shower? I promise I won't let anyone in."

"This isn't Hogwarts," Severus said in a tone which suggested that he thought Hermione was a complete idiot. "Any old whore could Apparate in there, and you'd never know."

"Fine then," Hermione said, nearing the end of her patience, "what if I stay in the bloody lav with you? I could turn my back, so that you could shower, but I'd be right there in the room in case any whores pop in."

"You'll peek!" Severus shouted gleefully. "The naughty little whore will peek to see what sort of wand I have!" Severus dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Believe me, Severus, no one in the entire world cares about your wand! I promise that I won't spy on you."

"Silly little whore must be frustrated. She's lying again. Perhaps when my research is done, I'll make you a list of the whores in the entire world who do care about my wand," he said seriously.

"You may spare me the experience," Hermione snapped, which made Severus giggle again.

Rising to her feet, Hermione held out a hand to help Severus up off the floor. For a moment, he just stared at her hand, and then he lifted his eyes to look briefly into her eyes.

"You'll stay with me? You won't let the nasty whores in?"

Hermione's impatience fled as she looked down into those black, trusting eyes. "I promise," she said softly.

Taking her hand, Severus let Hermione help him to his feet and followed her docilely into the downstairs lav.