28: Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter 28: Hell Hath no Fury

Severus Snape continued to walk a fine line in the inner circle. The Dark Lord was growing ever-more desperate to gain followers, desperate to track down Potter and have it out with him before he got any stronger. The Dark Lord often asked Severus about his progress with Hermione, how she was adjusting to her new perception of him. Severus was careful to give information only accurate enough to mislead. The fact that Hermione wasn't a member of the Order yet meant she had access to only limited information at this time. Something he was grateful for.

Keeping the secret of his marriage was growing increasingly difficult as Severus had to protect more and more memories. He gleaned information about more attacks, and was careful which he alerted the Order about and which he did not. He couldn't draw too much attention to himself, so he found ways to gain information to which he would not otherwise be privy. Half a dozen attacks had now been thwarted through his notes to Hermione.

Having his plans undermined so often was a cause of great frustration for the Dark Lord, making him erratic and impulsive. Over the past few weeks he had begun to punish many in the ranks when he thought they had let their assignments slip to the wrong people...those few Death Eaters who didn't end up in Azkaban, anyway. The Aurors had managed to catch most of the aggressors on these occasions. Several followers had reached their deaths for their apparent treachery. Snape didn't enjoy watching those torture sessions, but Hermione was right, every servant the Dark Lord disposed of before they reached the final battle was one less for the Order to deal with.

It was obvious his information was reaching the Order, and they were acting on that information. He also knew Lupin's non-answer to his and Hermione's discussion of a few days earlier was putting pressure on her. She was walking a tight line, keeping him a secret while doing her best to fight for the light. He knew that she, Potter and Weasley had been doing a little poking around to gain more information about the Horcruxes. Though she hadn't come out and said so, her general comments made that clear enough.

Even after he revealed that he knew about their search, Hermione kept most of the information to herself. And though she had discussed options with him for destroying the Horcruxes...in the least specific terms they could manage and still be clear...he had heard nothing about whether she had taken action or not. He imagined he would have felt her relief and elation if they had accomplished the feat, but he'd felt nothing of the kind.

That worried him as every day that passed before it was destroyed was another opportunity for the artifact to be lost or stolen. Not that he figured the three kids were being incautious with the item, but it was still a possibility. On top of that, he worried that when the three of them did finally try to destroy the Horcrux in their possession, one or more of them might end up injured or even killed. Waiting to hear that all went well was just one more layer of frustration.

It hurt that she wasn't confiding in him, didn't trust him fully, though he understood why she felt it necessary to hide some things. It had been several days since they had managed to get together and he was growing anxious to have her in his arms again.

Weary, exhausted from a late night of standing at attention for the Dark Lord while men came and went with their reports of their duties, Severus finally decided he couldn't wait any longer to see her. If he wanted to be any good the next day, he had to spend a little time by her side.

As the meeting closed, Severus moved away from the main group, heading outside the circle of wards that prevented the Dark Lord's followers from being able to Apparate away mid-torture. While he kept his Occlumency shield firmly in place, the back of his mind worked on how to entice her out of her tent for the night.

He figured that was why he didn't see Hestia Nott until it was too late to avoid her. That and the thick canopy of trees surrounding him, giving them far too much privacy.

"Severus. You've been very difficult to track down lately." She walked over and crossed into his personal space, her breasts almost completely exposed in the deeply cut top under her opened Death Eater robes. Her chest glowed in the combined light of their wand tips.

There had been a time when the sight of those large breasts all but pushed against his chest would have done something to his blood pressure. Since the soul mate potion, however, no woman was half as alluring as his wife. She was right, of course, he had been avoiding her as best he could for the past several months, despite her many attempts to seduce him. "I've been very busy Hestia."

He considered backing away, but decided the retreat would only encourage or enrage her. When she closed the distance between them until her body bumped up against his, however, he decided he couldn't just stand there. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently pushed her back. "We've had a lot of fun together in the past, but that's over now."

Her blue eyes flashed with anger and embarrassment. "You've been avoiding me for months. Does that little Mudblood really make you happy? Can she really take my place?"

It was all Severus could manage not to react to her words. How had she found out? The Dark Lord wanted to keep his relationship with Hermione a secret. More importantly, how much did she know about the situation? He allowed a secretive smile to slide slowly onto his face. "Found out about her, did you? She a rather nice piece of young flesh. I was under the impression my grooming of the chit was still between the Dark Lord and myself."

She crossed her arms in front of her, lifting her breasts higher, nearly exposing the aureoles in her attempt to seduce. Subtlety was not her forte. "I have heard whispers from various sources. The Dark Lord has been far less discreet about your project than with some of the others. He seems to think you are doing your job well. I'm afraid she's making you soft. You and I always enjoyed each other before." She uncrossed her arms and reached out, running her fingers along his jaw line.

He reached up and pulled her hand away. He was taking a calculated risk, but her admission to knowing about his physical relationship with Hermione had opened the door. He had to end all hope Hestia may still harbor here and now. "She doesn't make me soft, but hard. When I have a young, nubile woman willing to do anything to please me in bed, why would I ever want a worn out, well-used vessel such as yourself?"

He squeezed all the contempt he could muster into his face and looked her up and down. She had passed herself around among the Death Eater men, not restricting herself to the single ones, so he doubted she would go long without another bed partner. They had hardly been exclusive.

Her eyes narrowed at his words and her face darkened. "You will pay for that, Severus. No one treats me with such disrespect. Imperio."

A light, calming feeling came over him as she smiled and walked up. Her hands lifted to his neck and began undoing his many buttons. "You see, Severus, no man ends things with me. It's my choice to walk away, not yours." She pressed a kiss to his jaw line, then followed his jaw down to his mouth.

When he stood impassively, she growled under her breath, then ordered, "Kiss me."

While one part of him complied another part began to question the soft floating feeling that surrounded him. This wasn't Hermione he was kissing. He was fairly sure he hadn't wanted to kiss anyone else. Why was he kissing this woman? Then again, everything felt so calm and peaceful, a feeling he so rarely found. Only in Hermione's arms did he usually find even a portion of this peace and the woman's hands were definitely affecting him, arousing him, pushing his body to respond to her. But it wasn't Hermione. A feeling of anger managed to radiate through his chest, but he was quite certain it wasn't his own. Anger and pain so strong, even in his hexed state he realized it was coming from his wife. His Hermione.

With this thought he broke loose from the curse and pushed Hestia away. The woman stumbled, but before she could catch herself, he had his wand leveled at her. "You will never touch my person again, Hestia. Your actions have ensured that I will never want you back." He channeled the anger hurling through him, the jealous rage that his wife was feeling, and used the energy it created to focus his attention, and his hex, to best effect.

"What was that?" Hestia asked after the puce bolt of light absorbed into her body.

"Just a little something to ensure you don't forget my feelings on this matter." He leaned over until his nose was only an inch from hers, all the venom he could muster filling his face. "You won't be able to find pleasures in the flesh for at least a month...not by your hand or anyone else's. If you ever touch me again, I will ensure it lasts forever."

Still glowering, he Apparated to the cottage. When he arrived, the stress of the situation was filtered away, leaving behind only the jealous rage of his wife. "Bloody hell, I don't need this right now." What he needed was her body...warm, soft and compliant.

When he reached for the diary in hopes of setting up a rendezvous with her, he realized her distance and direction were all wrong for Harry's relatives. She was farther south than that.

Her parents' home. That gave him reason to pause. Would they find him if he came to call? Should he put on a disguise just in case? He knew his face had appeared in a few Muggle newspapers, just as Sirius Black's had several years earlier. He decided to take a chance; he could always use an Obliviate if he had to. The real question was whether his wife would hex him on sight. Maybe a note in the diary would be a good thing. She might be persuaded to meet him at the cottage.

Hermione, I need to explain to you, it wasn't what you think. He stopped writing because she had begun her own message.

You ruddy well didn't try to get away, did you? I could feel your arousal, the touch of her mouth on yours, her hands roaming your body. Don't try and tell me you couldn't get away. You're a ruddy wizard, surely you can take care of yourself. If you didn't want her, whomever she was, you wouldn't have been making out with her. I'm closing this diary and I'm not opening it again until I stop thinking up new ways to kill you.

Hermione?

But there was no response. With a growl, he flung the diary across the room, then stalked to the bathroom, tossing his clothes on the floor wherever they fell. He needed to scrub the stench of Hestia Nott from his body, then he was going to make his wife listen to reason...one way or another.

Nearly an hour passed before he exited the shower, his face and body glowing red from the hot water and scrubbing he had given it. His hands were raw from the harsh soap he had used, but he nearly felt clean. Then he meticulously prepared his clothing to go to his wife.

It was nearly two in the morning when he Apparated into the back yard of the Granger home. All the lights were off and the place was silent. He felt the hum of magic in the air that said there were wards on the house. It took twenty minutes to break them before he unlocked the front door by magic and putting a cushioning charm on his feet, crept up the stairs to the bedrooms. Loud snoring issued from the door down the hall...he hoped that was Mr. Granger and not his wife. After checking for additional protective wards, Severus opened the door before him and immediately fell to a silent freezing spell.

"Lumos." Hermione's wand lit by his face and she let out a great huff of air, then whispered, "Severus, you prat." She poked her head down the hall toward her parents' room. The snoring continued on. "Best get in here before you wake them up." With a wave of her wand she magically lifted him from the ground and guided his body to lie on the bed. He heard the whisper of a silencing spell as she closed the door.

"What do I do with a traitorous jerk like you? I feel your anguish, your self loathing, but I don't understand why you let that woman touch you, whoever it was. How could you do that to me? To us?" She pursed her lips, then waved her wand, unfreezing him, followed immediately by a summoning spell to collect his wand, and another that bound him in magic ropes. "Talk."

He did, he talked as quickly as he could, explaining in detail what had happened and the way her anger had helped him break through the imperio. When he was done, he asked, "You could really feel her touching me? Even those light touches? I've only felt pain in your behalf before, at least when we were so far apart."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "Thinking of trying it again sometime?"

"Of course not. Even if my body responds to stimuli, my mind could never handle betraying you. The enchantment won't allow that." Severus noticed she was in a short cotton nightgown that had blood thrumming through his veins in a way Hestia had never manage to accomplish...even before he found his soul mate. "How did you hear me?"

She waved at him to be quiet, then placed a hand on the wall and muttered the wards back into place on the house. Then she modified them so they would recognize him in the future. "I know you're telling the truth. I was trying to sleep at this time of night...though I was making more headway coming up with suitable retribution for your apparent treachery and I didn't hear you," she said, then released his binding and tossed him back his wand. "The wards alerted me. What do you think, I'm going to leave the house unprotected all night so any Death Eater..." her words were cut off by his mouth as he leaped from the bed and kissed her.

With a sigh at the rightness of having her in his arms, he pulled her toward him. She slid her hands over his chest and around his neck, pulling him closer than ever, and he thought he felt his brains running out his ears.

"I missed you," she muttered.

"So why did you make me wait so long?" he backed her to the bed and they fell onto it together, his mouth not stopping in the frenzy to possess.

"I don't know. It about killed me and it wasn't that long."

He moved his mouth down to her neck, teasing and tasting her skin. "A whole slew of Death Eaters could be ransacking the first floor and you wouldn't know it."

"Oh, I'd know. You missed one of the wards. You were the only one who entered. That feels so good." He had moved to nibble on her collar bone, tasting the slightly salty spot at the base of her throat. "Contraceptive potion?" she managed to ask.

"In my pocket." He fished around for a vial, the busied his hands while she emptied it.

She took possession of his mouth again and yanked at his shirt, tearing off the last two buttons in her enthusiasm.

******

A couple hours later Severus awoke when Hermione stirred in his arms. He tucked her head under his chin and pulled her closer to him, reveling in the memory of the coupling. "Got your brain back yet?"

"Mmmm, questionable. You're still here, I don't know if I can think when you're this close." She nuzzled his chest with her face, running her lips everywhere.

"Did you call me a prat?" He hadn't even noticed her words at the time, but now they came back to him.

She laughed low in her throat. "Upset I'm not terrified of you anymore?"

"Well, no. Though you have been acting a bit off kilter lately, or we would have done this days ago. I want to wake up with you in my arms every morning." He swore low in her bushy hair. "Hestia was right, you have turned me soft. I can't believe I just said something like that."

"I like that you can be soft, sometimes, just the same as I like your sarcasm and acerbic wit. And I keep hoping some day we will be able to sleep in the same bed every night. Until then, let's do it again some time." She stretched beside him, raising his temperature another couple of degrees.

He ran one hand down the length of her, reveling in the soft skin and sweet smell of his woman. His woman...it never ceased to amaze him that he was married to her, and that she generally welcomed him into her arms...even if he did have to grovel and explain first. Her chatter and constant questions didn't even annoy him as much as they used to. "If we must, I might be able to squeeze in a little time right now."

*****

When she woke again the sun was just hanging on the horizon and a million birds were welcoming the day outside Hermione's open window. With a fumbling grasp she picked up her wand and pointed it at the window, making it close loudly.

One of Severus's hands delved back into her bushy mane. "You know, I'm growing rather fond of this hair. I think you should keep it." His lips found the base of her throat again and Hermione could feel her blood start to hum. Who knew she had such a sex drive?

"Yeah, good plan." She opened one eye and saw the time was six-thirty a.m. She groaned. "As much as I'm enjoying this, my parents will be up soon."

"So let them get up. I'm busy here." He moved up to her jaw line, licking and kissing a trail to her ear. "You always taste so good."

"Severus. Please stop." She gave him a little nudge, but it proved ineffective.

"Say it like you mean it and I will."

She felt her bones melting again, but she wanted to speak with him. This time she needed to get a few words in, at least. "Stop, we need to talk. Come on." Her nudges were a little more forceful and Severus conceded to her, though it was clear he would rather continue his own line of inquiry...how quickly could he melt Hermione's brain?

When he had moved away a few inches, Hermione reached out and brushed his long hair out of his face, then rested her fingers on his cheek. "You look tired. You haven't been taking care of yourself."

"I don't always get a lot of time to sleep and I've been needing you." He turned his head and laid a kiss on her palm. It was so sweet she had to wonder if he was simply trying to manipulate her into returning to their previous activity. Then again, he had made great progress in showing a softer side of himself from time to time.

Her insides melted a little more when he kissed her palm again, and she no longer cared if he was manipulating her, but she forced herself to stay focused. "The Order, Lupin is getting a lot of pressure about where he's getting his information. Eventually someone is going to insist. You'd be safer if they knew you were still passing information to me."

"They won't believe me based on your faith in me, Hermione. If we tell them, that will be the end of my being useful." He lifted a curly tendril of hair from her face. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are? Like a desert oasis to my soul."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure you're my snarky professor and not someone in disguise? Did someone dose you with something?"

Laughter rolled in his chest before coming through his lips. "And if it's not the snarky professor, but someone else entirely. What do you think you could do about it?"

She lifted her knee until it was well placed to do some damage. "Oh, I think I could make an imposter have his regrets. Honestly, I don't think I could mistake you. I could practically feel my blood humming through the door before I knew who was on the other side. That's why you only got stupefy and not something considerably nastier." She removed her knee from its dangerous position. "Even though I was angry enough with you to have been very, very harsh with my hexes."

"I thank you for that." He kissed her wrist, then pressed her palm to his cheek. "But if that weren't the case? If you didn't feel a reaction, how would you know for sure if it wasn't me?"

"Well, I could always ask you where your favorite freckles are." He had commented on said freckles late in the night when he had been doing some 'undercover investigating.' The memory alone made her grin salacious.

"Mmmm. That would work." He trailed his fingers along the area where those freckles existed, bringing goose bumps up on her skin. "What if you don't want to get so personal in front of others?

"I could ask my pet name for you. Prat." She laughed when he tickled her ribs in response.

"Definitely not what I'd most like Potter to hear."

"Fine." He started nuzzling her cheek, and she had to nudge him away again before she lost track of the conversation. "How about a secret phrase. You could say that I like chocolate ice cream."

"Just out of thin air like that?"

"Mmmm," his hands were doing delightful things all over her back and stomach, and Hermione decided to let him get it out of his system so they could have a real conversation.

*****

"Is Potter still working on his silent defense?" Severus asked some time later as he began dressing.

Hermione covered up in a robe, planning to shower as soon as he left. "He's not seventeen for another week, but I've had him working on it a bit. We've been working on his Occlumency skills still and he continues to improve. I couldn't get in at all yesterday when we worked on it. At least until I distracted him." She grinned at the memory. "I'm getting better at Legilimency, testing him most afternoons and he's improving. We've also continued our other project and might be getting close to furthering that end. I guess we'll see if we're right when we get there. I got the potion set up at the cottage yesterday, the first set of ingredients prepared and lined up, but haven't started it. We'll need to get things started on it this morning if you can spare the time."

He nodded. "As soon as you can break away from your parents. I've been checking around the Riddle house for certain artifacts of interest. No signs, but I'll let you know if I have any other ideas." His fingers busily fastened the long row of buttons on his vest.

"Even in the heat of summer you wear so many layers. Don't you broil?"

Severus looked over at her and lifted a brow in disdain. "That's what cooling charms are for, my dear. For my part, things have been moderately slow lately. I haven't been able to get close enough to overhear anything interesting in the circle in the past few days. The Dark Lord is keeping things quiet. I've been working on a couple of the others, though. We'll see what I come up with in the next little while."

When he slid on his shoes a moment later, Hermione knew their time was at an end. He slid his cloak over his shoulders, shrugged into it, then reached out and rested a hand on her cheek. "Tell me we can get together again for the night soon...at the cottage."

She nodded. "I'll work something out. Stay safe and away from that Nott woman."

That brought a twisted smile to his mouth, "I'll do my best...I'm sure she's still furious. I wish someone besides Lupin knew about us. Have you heard from him yet?"

She twisted her hands together in front of her, then decided to fess up. "Actually, about half the Order does know that there's someone. The twins let them onto it, they just don't know who...but no one can discuss it outside the Burrow, so they can't carry tales that might get back to the wrong people. And I kind of came in late after our date last week, gave them a real shock when they thought I must have been kidnapped and found out I'd spent the night with someone instead. Well, I suppose you figured that out from what Remus said at the bookstore."

He seemed to weigh her revelations, but finally nodded. "I'm glad you've taken measures to prevent tales."

She smiled to herself. "Ron's been trying to guess your identity for some time now. His most recent guess was Cormac McClaggan." She pulled a face at him. It was starting to wear her out, dodging the questions from Ron and Harry. Ron had continued to be cool toward her, but she could tell he was making an effort to pretend he didn't care. She wished he would find someone else to crush on so he could let her go.

"Death Eater. He just joined last week. It wouldn't hurt to watch out for him. Tell everyone. And Blaise Zabini seems to have made that last step as well." His lips pursed, his eyes lowered. "I was hoping . . . I couldn't save Draco, too much family pressure, but I hoped Zabini would take his own way." He took Hermione's hands in his and gave them a squeeze. "I'll be in touch."

Hermione pulled her hands away, then threw her arms around his shoulders. "Take care of yourself."

"Ditto."

After a lingering kiss she stepped back, and with a crack, he was gone.

*****

"So it's not Cormac McClaggen," Harry began when he, Ron and Hermione sat down to eat outside a little fish and chips place a couple miles from number four, Privet Drive that afternoon. The food wasn't as good as the one in Dover that she had visited with Severus, but it was heck of a lot better than Ron's cooking any day.

Hermione shook her head. It was actually kind of funny sometimes to listen to the two boys guessing. They would never guess right. Not in a million years. Mostly because Harry hated Severus so bad he couldn't consider that the man had a single good quality. After spending the previous night with him, Hermione could attest that there were many good qualities in Severus Snape. She held back a grin and returned to the conversation. "Cormack's a Death Eater, just took the mark last week. Blaise too. Don't let me forget to mention that to the Order tonight. In another week we'll actually be in on the meetings for a change. That will be nice." There was another meeting scheduled at Grimmauld Place, and the kids were tagging along for the trip. Harry suggested it, but Hermione figured it was because Ginny would be going over with her parents and he wanted to spend some time with her.

Harry let the hand carrying some chips to his mouth drop in surprise. "How do you know he's a Death Eater?"

Hermione wanted to slap her forehead when she realized she shouldn't have known that tidbit of information. The same way I knew the Creevey home was being targeted. The same way I knew Bellatrix Lestrange was looking for Neville, hoping to take out the rest of the family. I can't tell you. "Talked to Tonks this morning." Why aren't you wasting time talking about Quidditch instead? Note to self: pull Tonks aside before the Harry or Ron have time to question her.

"You're much calmer than you've been in a few days, Hermione. Have you had a little snog time since yesterday?" Ron asked, putting on a good front of nonchalance. "I thought you were going to your parents' house?" He sounded a bit suspicious.

"I did, I spent the entire night there in my own bed. Then I had breakfast with my parents." The boys' minds always circled back to this one question: Who is Hermione secretly in love with, and why wouldn't she tell them? Hermione knew the not-knowing was driving them crazy, but she couldn't tell them. "Have you both been clearing your minds before bed? We need to work on our Occlumency before we go to battle."

"Yes, I'm working on it," Harry said. "How about you, did you work on it before bed last night?"

"Mmmm, yeah. I can honestly say my mind was utterly blank when I went to sleep last night." Both times.

"Don't think I want to know what that means." Ron waved a hand to dismiss it. "It's the Cheshire cat grin. What's going on with you Hermione? Why won't you tell us who this bloke is? I mean, he can't be that bad if you love him." He was trying very hard to look unconcerned in a personal way, but was failing utterly.

You'd have a serious attitude adjustment if you knew the truth. "He's not bad, it's just complicated. We both think it's in our best interest to keep things low key for now. I suppose in that case I shouldn't have hexed your brothers so thoroughly." Still, she couldn't find it in her heart to regret what she had done to them. There were times she thought she had been too nice.

"Fred has decided it's not such a bad thing after all," Ron told Harry. He turned back to Hermione. "He said he'd like to know how it was done. Maybe he could adjust it to fit in a sweet of some kind, and last only a couple minutes. It's brilliant spell work, he says."

She grinned. "When it's worn off of them, I'd be happy to share. Between now and then, they can suffer. How did your first day of work go anyway?"

Ron began speaking animatedly about working at the shop and all the people he met. Hermione said a quick prayer to any powers that might be listening that he would meet someone through the shop and take some pressure off her.

*****

A man disguised as a twenty-something punk rocker watched the trio sitting at the table, laughing and teasing each other. He saw them in that carefree moment and decided they obviously needed a few reminders of what trouble meant. Starting with the Mudblood girl.

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AN: A big thanks, as always, to my beta, countrymouse, and to notsosaintly for taking the time to slog through the line of stories waiting for validation.