Hermione Triumphant!

Chapter 7: Hermione Triumphant

AN: Thanks as always to my wonderful beta! She is the absolute best.

AN: See Disclaimers in previous chapters. Warning: lemons ahead... well, fake lemons anyway.

OOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OOO

I want to tell you, sister, about lust. Lust has power, and women wield that power better than any man could hope to. Lust is a weakness in men, my sister. Men are slaves to their flesh and leave themselves open for manipulation. A sultry smile, one single flash of your breast, and you will have a willing and eager man, ready to do your bidding. Indeed, even Merlin, great wizard that he was, met his downfall due to lust.

My greatest enemy was a non-magical woman. I feared her and loathed her as my enemy, but I respected her for her power. She used whatever resources available to her, and she played a key role in bringing down Avalon. She was a beautiful woman and incited a number of men to fight their battles in her name. She could incite a legion of knights with a single smile, and she did. Yes indeed, my sister, Lust can be very powerful if used correctly.

Excerpt from 'The Blessings of a Witch'

Hermione sat in front of the fire of the seventh floor classroom, holding a cup of cocoa in her hands. This place had become a sanctuary for her, and she was sure the other girls felt that way too. When she had entered the room, she had found Pansy and Millie already there, playing a game of Exploding Snap.

'Oh, er... Hi girls, I didn't expect to find anyone here,' Hermione said as the two girls looked up when she walked in. Pansy stood up immediately when she saw Hermione's face; it was obvious the Gryffindor girl had been crying.

'What happened?' Pansy asked in alarm.

Hermione shook her head. 'It's nothing... I... I just.' She took a deep breath and tried again.

'I just saw Ron snogging Lavender in the Gryffindor common room.' She felt her eyes well up with more tears.

'I guess it doesn't matter if we would have made a good couple. He kind of made the decision for me.' Pansy and Millie had lead her to the nearest couch and given her a cup of cocoa, attempting to comfort her. Each girl sat on one side of her, and Pansy had slid an arm around her back.

'I'm sorry, Herm. Guys can be such jerks!' Millie said.

'Do you want me to go hex him for you?' Pansy asked half-jokingly. 'I know a hex that can cause severe diarrhea!'

Hermione choked out a surprised laugh at Pansy's suggestion.

'Don't tempt me!' she said, giggling at the thought of Ron having diarrhea every time he tried to snog Lavender. 'Besides, I already hexed him.' She told Pansy and Millie about her canaries and how she had sent them after Ron.

'You know, Hermione, you would have made a wonderful Slytherin! You are so creative with your hexes!' Pansy exclaimed in admiration. She then told Millicent about Marietta Edgecombe and how Hermione had a hand in spelling 'SNEAK' across her face.

Millicent and Pansy were both roaring with laughter by the end of the story, and soon Hermione couldn't help but join in. Pansy and Millicent then told Hermione about various pranks they had played on their fellow Slytherins through the years.

Hermione thought they were as bad as the Weasley twins and shared her opinion with them. 'The only difference is,' Pansy said with a smug smile, 'we never did get caught for them! Nobody knows who the pranksters were!'

'True Slytherins then!' Hermione declared, knowing they would take that as the highest compliment.

It was after curfew when the girls finally decided it was time to leave. Hermione hugged them both; she felt a lot better after spending the evening with them. She smiled when she thought of what good friends they had all become. In less than one term, she went from only having Harry and Ron to having a whole group of girls she could depend on. She thought of what Morgaine had said in her 'journal'; there truly was something special about having girls you could talk things through with. There really was power in a woman's voice.

The three girls quietly started to walk down the seven flights of stairs. Pansy hadn't brought her Invisibility Cloak with her, and they were worried about getting caught. When they reached the main hall, they whispered goodnight as Hermione headed back up to Gryffindor Tower and the two Slytherins down towards their common room.

Hermione hadn't gotten very far when a voice stopped her in her tracks.

'Miss Granger, are we out for a midnight stroll?' Professor Snape said in a soft mocking tone as he melted out of the shadows to stand in front of her.

'Professor Snape! Sir, I...' she stammered in a high pitched voice. She couldn't think of a reasonable excuse for being out this late. Snape interrupted her before she could say anything else.

'Miss Granger, please come with me,' he said in a curt voice before turning on his heel and stalking away as his robes billowed behind him.

She jogged a few steps to catch up with his long strides, wondering where he was taking her. She followed him into his office, and he gestured for her to take a seat opposite his desk. He sat at the desk and steepled his fingers under his chin. He regarded her for a few seconds before speaking, making her want to squirm under his steady gaze.

'Miss Granger, what were you doing tonight?' he finally asked.

She blinked. She had been expecting him to rage at her and assign her fifty detentions while taking house points. His voice was calm and low. She was so relieved he wasn't yelling that she almost gave him an honest answer to his question, but she stopped herself in time. She thought about her words carefully. 'I was taking a walk, Professor Snape, I couldn't sleep,' she said in a casual voice. The professor shook his head and leaned forward.

'Try again, Miss Granger.' His voice was almost a whisper now, and he was looking straight into her eyes.

She resisted the urge to fidget and cleared her throat.

'What do you mean, sir? I... I wasn't tired and thought a walk would help,' she reiterated, her voice sounding a bit rough.

'Miss Granger, you are lying to me. I saw you say goodnight to Miss Parkinson and Miss Bulstrode,' he stated.

Hermione's eyes widened, and she bit down on her bottom lip.

'Er... yes, sir. Um... I just ran into them in the hall... on my walk.'

'Miss Granger, are you becoming friends with Miss Parkinson?'

Hermione thought about what she should say. Pansy had told her that Snape had paired them up with the intention that the two girls become friends. It would only make it seem as if Pansy was doing what she was told. Hermione would just need to make sure Pansy was made aware of whatever Hermione would tell Professor Snape. She had been hanging out with enough Slytherins lately to know that he would double-check her story.

Hermione took a deep breath. 'Yes, sir, I suppose I am a bit. I mean, we work really well together in your class, and she's quite intelligent.'

Snape was quiet for a moment after Hermione spoke.

'Miss Granger, you are aware of the work I do for the Order?' he asked in a low voice.

Hermione nodded silently.

'Due to the... unusual... nature of this work, I often times have to proceed very carefully when serving two masters.' Hermione saw a slight grimace cross his face and felt a pang of sympathy for him. She wondered what it would be like to have to face Voldemort on a regular basis.

'Miss Granger, I must warn you against forming any sort of attachment to Miss Parkinson.'

Hermione had to hold back a smile. Snape was warning her about Voldemort's plan! This proved that he was fighting for the side of the light. He was trying to protect her. Working with Pansy had caused Hermione to start doubting Snape's true allegiance. She was relieved to find that he was still on their side.

She tried to look dismayed at his statement, knowing the role she needed to play.

'But, sir, surely it cannot be a bad thing to build some unity between the Houses... like the Sorting Hat said in its song.'

The corners of Snape's mouth turned down in reaction to her idealism. 'You do not know Miss Parkinson as I do, Miss Granger. Please believe me when I tell you that she has ulterior motives for befriending you,' he said in a curt voice.

Hermione nodded and looked down at her feet. 'Yes, sir.' She tried to sound disappointed.

'I believe it is time you got back to your dormitory, Miss Granger,' Snape said, his tone gentling in response to her apparent disappointment. He stood and walked towards the door, waiting for her to precede him.

'I will walk you to Gryffindor Tower so that you do not get caught by Mr. Filch.'

Snape was silent as they walked towards her dormitory. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, he grasped her elbow before she could climb through. He was standing rather close to her, and she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

He leaned down to speak softly in her ear, and she recognized the scent of sandalwood and chocolate that she had smelled on him in the bookshop.

'Miss Granger, I know you had hoped to be friends with Miss Parkinson. Try not to be too disappointed. You must remember to be more on guard, especially with members of my own House.'

Hermione's breath hitched at his closeness, and her heart started to beat a little faster. He was so close she could feel the heat from him, and his breath was warm on her cheek.

'Thank you, sir. I appreciate your looking out for me,' she said, her voice sounding just a bit breathless.

He straightened up, nodded at her and quickly strode away. Hermione watched him walk away before entering the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione sighed gratefully when she found it silent. It was quite late, and the rest of Gryffindor had gone to bed. She could see remnants of the Quidditch celebration scattered about the room in the form of sweets wrappers and butterbeer bottles.

She quickly walked to her dorm room and changed for bed. Once in her bed, she pulled the bed curtains closed and lay back in the bed, thinking about the night. It had been an eventful evening. She heard soft snores coming from the next bed over; Lavender was fast asleep. Hermione wondered how Lavender would act towards her tomorrow: the other girl had been with Ron when Hermione had set her canaries after him.

Hermione smiled when she remembered Pansy and Millicent's reaction to her story. She was so glad she had found them to be such good friends. It was so nice to talk with other girls about her problems and to know that they sympathized and understood.

She then thought about her conversation with Professor Snape that evening. He had stood so close to her outside in the hallway. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms as she thought of his breath on her face.

She had liked the way it felt to have him stand so close. During one of their slumber parties, the Slytherin girls had all talked about how sexy Professor Snape was. At the time, Hermione had protested along with all the other girls.

Professor Snape was greasy and cruel, not sexy. Hermione remembered what Daphne had said in his defense. 'He's not nice and handsome in a classical sense, but his eyes are amazing! They are so intense and full of passion... and that voice! All soft and smooth. I could listen to him talk forever!' Hermione hadn't understood at the time and had just wrinkled her nose at the thought of Snape being sexy. Tonight had changed her opinion of him. She understood what Daphne was talking about now. She wondered, as she had at the bookshop this summer, what it was that made him smell like chocolate. Sandalwood wasn't too surprising – it was a rather masculine scent and seemed to be a good fit for a Potions teacher – but chocolate? Where did the chocolate smell come from? she wondered.

Hermione sighed; she needed to stop focusing on what her Defense teacher smelt like. There were more pressing matters to think of.

She knew it was time to tell the other girls about Professor Snape's role as a spy. Tonight had made that clear to her. She knew it was a vital piece of information, and not everybody could know, but she trusted the other girls now. Pansy, especially, needed to know that Snape was someone they could trust. It was time to lay all their cards on the table.

~~~~~~~~~~~OOOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OOOO~~~~~~~

Hermione felt a small pang of nervousness as she walked into the seventh floor classroom on Monday night. She wasn't looking forwards to revealing Snape's secret. Some of the girls were already paired off and practicing Occlumency with each other when she arrived. Since their last slumber party, the latest practice sessions were checkered with the girls bursting into laughter. The girls were all working on projecting fake images in their minds, and the images tended to be rather amusing; they all decided that Luna was the best at this.

Hermione wiped her wet hands against her school robes before announcing loudly, 'I need to talk to everyone, please. It's rather important.'

She waited until all the girls had gotten comfortable as she resumed her place in front of the couches. She was reminded of the first time they had all met here in this room. The only difference was that Pansy wasn't standing beside her; the Slytherin witch currently had the same curious look on her face as every other girl as they waited for Hermione to speak.

Hermione cleared her throat.

'Okay, well, I have to tell you all a secret. I think that we have gotten to the point where we can trust each other, and it's time you all know of this. Harry, Ron and Ginny already know about this,' she said, nodding towards the redhead. Ginny smiled slightly as the other girls looked towards her.

'What I have to tell you is about Professor Snape. You all remember our first meeting when Pansy told us he was a Death Eater. Well, that is true. He is one... or rather, he was one.' Hermione noticed that most of the girls looked confused at her choice of words. She continued before anyone could interrupt.

'Snape became a Death Eater when he was quite young... I think he was eighteen. I am not sure when exactly this happened, but while Voldemort was still in power, Snape came to Dumbledore and begged for help. It was about that time that he started teaching here at Hogwarts. Since then, Snape has been a spy for Dumbledore.'

Hermione heard a number of gasps when she announced this. Only the Slytherins kept their faces blank.

'How do you know?' Pansy asked in a skeptical voice. 'For that matter, how does Ginny or her brother or Potter know? Why do you all have this information?'

Hermione told the girls about staying at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. She couldn't tell them where it was exactly because of the Fidelity Charm, but she explained how they had spent their summer before fifth year. She went on to tell them about Sirius Black and the fight in the Department of Mysteries.

With the exception of Ginny and Luna, all the girls looked surprised at the end of Hermione's narrative. She had just given them a lot of information to digest.

It was a few minutes before anyone said anything. It was Pansy who broke the silence first.

'Are you sure we can trust Snape? Why was he helping us to be friends? Remember, he told me he had paired us up so I could make friends with you and follow the Dark Lord's orders.' A number of the girls nodded their heads in agreement at her words.

Hermione told them about Saturday evening when Snape had caught her after curfew.

'He was trying to warn me away from you, Pansy. It was actually kind of funny.' She related to them about how she had acted disappointed and sad that her new friend might have ulterior motives.

'I think he felt sorry for me!' she finished, smiling at the memory. 'I really played up my disappointment over the fact that you weren't really my new best friend.'

Millicent turned towards Ginny 'Do you trust Snape, Gin?' Most of the girls looked towards Ginny to see what she had to say.

She nodded slowly as she thought about it.

'Yes... I do. He was at a lot of the Order's meetings that summer, and I eavesdropped on a few before Mum discovered our Extendable Ears. I think he is spying on Voldemort for Dumbledore. Besides, Dumbledore trusts him, and the Headmaster is the most powerful wizard in the world.'

Millicent nodded, accepting what Ginny said before she turned back towards Hermione.

'You trust him too?' she asked, looking at Hermione. Hermione acquiesced.

'I think he is walking a fairly thin line. He has to show his loyalty to Voldemort by helping Pansy, but he also has to prevent Voldemort from succeeding.'

'Should we tell him?' Susan Bones spoke up. 'Tell him that we are on his side and can help him?' Susan was a Hufflepuff through and through and hated to think of anyone in pain or suffering.

Hermione was already shaking her head when Pansy intervened. 'No, I don't think we should tell him... yet. Voldemort is a strong Legilimens. I don't want him to find out about us through Snape's mind.'

'I agree with Pansy,' Hermione added. 'Snape is actually a strong Occlumens, so maybe we can tell him later. But for now, I think, this should be our secret. Just us girls.'

'Snape is a strong Occlumens?' Anjali asked in an excited voice.

Hermione nodded. 'He tried to teach Harry Occlumency last year. Apparently, it's the reason he has been such a good spy for Dumbledore.'

Anjali turned her eyes to Padma. They had become close friends, and they frequently partnered up to practice their Legilimency and Occlumency.

'Maybe we could use him!' she suggested to the Indian girl. Padma's eyes were twinkling as she nodded slowly. 'That's a good idea; we should give it a try.'

The two girls smiled at each other before Anjali stood up and stepped to the front of the room. 'Padma and I had an idea.'

Hermione sat in Anjali's seat, gratefully relinquishing her place at the front of the room.

'Padma and I were thinking about the fake images we have been practicing lately,' Anjali said.

'We have all gotten better at it lately, and obviously we all feel confident with our Occlumency and Legilimency.' The rest of the girls nodded when she said this. They had all worked hard and felt proud at what they had accomplished in such a short time.

'Padma and I found one problem. We are all so comfortable with each other. We have never had our skills tested by someone outside of our group.'

Hermione glanced at Pansy and could tell they were thinking the same thing. It would be disastrous if Pansy tried Occlumency against Bellatrix over the holidays and was unsuccessful.

'We need to try our skill against someone we aren't comfortable with...somebody whose mind is unfamiliar to us,' Anjali continued. 'If Snape knows Legilimency and Occlumency, maybe we can test ours on him.'

'How are we going to do that?' Tracey Davis asked. 'We already agreed not to tell him what we are doing. It would be suspicious if eleven girls, all of a sudden, asked him to train us in Occlumency and Legilimency. Not to mention the fact that only Slytherins would be brave enough to ask him for anything.'

'We have a plan for that,' Padma retorted as she stood up next to Anjali.

'We need to do two things; we need to prompt Snape to use Legilimency and then imagine something that will surprise him enough to get a reaction. He is pretty good at hiding his emotions, so it will have to be pretty drastic. The only way we will know if our fake image is working is by his reaction,' Anjali said slowly.

'We thought,' Padma resumed, taking over for Anjali, 'that if we were acting out of character in class, maybe Snape would use Legilimency to find out what was wrong or different.'

'Like if we smiled after he yelled at us, or even laughed out loud,' Anjali said.

'So, if I laughed at him instead of acting terrified, he might use Legilimency to find out why I'm acting that way?' Jarilyn inquired with a smile.

'Right,' Padma answered. 'Then you just have to make sure he can maintain eye contact with you and imagine something that is so horrifying that he can't hide his reaction.'

Pansy smiled her Slytherin smile. 'Something horrifying... like an image of you having sex with Snape right there on his desk.'

Hermione felt herself blush and noticed she wasn't the only one. Daphne laughed as she noticed the red faces. 'It might not work for me, given my reputation, but it will definitely work for some of you Gryffindors.'

'Daphne, you could imagine yourself hunting Crumple-Horned Snorkaks!' Luna interjected. The girls erupted in giggles.

'This is a great idea,' Millicent said, looking at Anjali and Padma. 'I say we take a week to perfect our fake images, and then we test Snape out.'

OOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OOOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OO

The next week, unfortunately in her opinion, flew by for Hermione. The girls met frequently as they worked out their fake images and practiced on each other. Hermione still felt her cheeks grow pink when she thought of the fake image Pansy had helped her devise. She bit her lip nervously as she walked towards the Defense classroom. They had decided to include Dumbledore in their test as well as Snape. Snape would get suspicious if every one of them acted strangely and was imagining something completely out of character. Today would be their first day of testing, with Hermione going first.

Hermione felt herself break out into a cold sweat as she entered the classroom. She took her seat next to Pansy, trying not to let her nervousness show.

'Relax!' Pansy whispered into her left ear. 'You look really suspicious, and you are fidgeting!'

Hermione took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. I can do this. I can't believe I'm going to do this! Why did I agree to this?

In typical fashion, Snape burst into the classroom, slamming the door behind him. He immediately started to lecture the class on casting silent spells. At this point, most of the class had mastered simple spells without speaking. The harder and more difficult the spell, the more focus and energy it would take to cast silently. Snape asked the class if anyone could name some of the defensive spells that used the most energy and focus of the caster.

Hermione bit her lip and almost felt like sitting on her hands. The first part of 'their plan' was to act in a way that would prompt Snape to use Legilimency. Pansy pointed out that all Hermione had to do was avoid participating in class, and that would be enough to make him suspicious.

Severus stalked around the classroom as he lectured the students on defensive spells. A majority of the dunderheads had a glazed look in their eyes, and he wondered if they ever listened to anything he tried to cram into their hard skulls. He curtly barked out a question and then slowly let his gaze drift around the classroom, waiting for someone to volunteer the answer. After waiting a few seconds, he looked towards Granger; parroting the textbook was better than nothing.

To his surprise, Miss Granger did not have her hand in the air. He briefly thought that the day her hand was not eagerly waving in the air should be declared a national holiday.

Snape allowed himself a small sneer. 'Well, well, our resident know-it-all doesn't have the answer? Will wonders never cease?' he said, lowering his voice an octave as he strode towards her, weaving around a few desks.

When he stood in front of her and Parkinson, he spoke again. 'Miss Granger, I'm surprised. Could it be that you did not complete the reading?'

'Per... Perhaps I am just trying to please you by not being a 'know-it-all',' she answered, her voice shaky. She then tried to affect a smug smile.

It might have been effective if her face hadn't turned an unflattering shade of pink.

Interesting, he thought. What is she up to? He glanced at Miss Parkinson and wondered if this was her influence.

'Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, for your impertinence.'

There had been a 'murmur' throughout the classroom when Miss Granger had talked back to him. The class had never seen her talk back to a professor before. Snape quickly turned to face the rest of the class. 'Take out your books and read chapter fourteen. After you are finished, I want three feet on the energy used by three different defensive spells. You may choose which ones you want to write about.'

Snape stalked back to his desk and sat down before looking back at Miss Granger.

She was still acting nervously and was now white rather than pink in the face. Her eyes were wide, and she was staring right at him. He was becoming impatient with her behavior. What on earth is making the girl so nervous? He looked into her eyes and silently cast Legilimens on her; he wanted to know what was making her act so unusually.

Severus had to hold back a gasp as he entered her mind, which must have been wide open because he was immediately thrown into what must have been a daydream.

She was sitting on top of the desk with her legs straddled on either side of him. Her skirt was hiked up around her hips, and he could see the expanse of her white thighs. He kissed her passionately while unbuttoning her blouse to reveal a lacy, black bra. Her legs came up to wind around his hips as she threw her head back and pressed her lace-covered breasts closer to him. She moaned his name as he pulled aside one lacy cup of her bra to suckle on her breast. She reached between them and slowly unzipped his pants to free his erection. Snape watched breathlessly as the fantasy Hermione ran her hands up and down his erect cock. Fantasy Snape was slowly pulling off her knickers... when he came to his senses and ended the Legilimens.

Tearing himself away from her gaze, he took a few deep breaths, trying to compose himself. He didn't know what was more unbelievable, that the Gryffindor know-it-all was daydreaming in class, or that she had such creative and graphic daydreams.

He realized that her little fantasy had made him rock hard, and he felt a flash of shame as he adjusted himself underneath his robes. He would not be getting up to stalk around the classroom today.

After he had composed himself enough, he looked up towards Miss Granger. She had opened her book and was quietly writing her essay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~OOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN: Please review! This is my first ever fanfic, and you just read my first attempt at adding a little lemon to my story, even if the lemons only took place inside Hermione's mind. Was it at all believable? What do you think? Was it hot or was it boring? Constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions are all welcome!

AN: I want to thank everyone who has already reviewed this story. Every time I get a review, it gives me a burst of writing energy and it makes me want to update all the sooner!