Interlude

Dances with Witches by Pearle

Summary: Severus Snape loses a magical bet. The consequences? The Tango! My answer to the codpiece challenge on Wiktt. HG/SS

Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc. of the Harry Potter series are not mine they belong to J.K. Rowling and Co. I promise to return them when I am through. Well, most of them anyway.

~~~~~ Dances with Witches ~~~~~

Chapter 10 – Interlude

The morning sunlight streamed through her bedroom window giving new life to the dust bunnies hiding in the corners of the room. Hermione felt a warm body next to her shift as she stretched languidly in the bed. Her hand dropped to pet the soft orange fur of her familiar. His tail flicked back and forth in a lazy arc as she scratched behind his ears. She'd had the most delicious dream and was loathe to leave the warm haven of her bed and face the day ahead.

'Professor Snape. Severus. Oh, my god!' she thought. His kisses, the touch of his hands, and that voice, even his words, had awakened intense feelings deep within her. While she may not have had the dating repertoire of Lavender Brown, she'd had enough experience to know this was beyond anything she had ever felt before. Her own desire for the man had created a physical need for him. She had always been the sensible one and here she was, practically throwing herself at him.

A warm bath and some rather personal attention to herself had temporarily resolved that problem last night, but her mind had continued to replay their kisses and his words, over and over before she finally fell asleep. It was no surprise her dreams had been about him.

Hermione had always thought of him as Professor Snape. It sent a tingle down her spine to shift her idea of him from Professor Snape to Severus, but then he had certainly helped to change that image last night. While she had always thought of Severus as brilliant, she had rarely considered him as a man.

'There had been that time between sixth and seventh year. When you saw him just before he got in the shower at 12 Grimmauld Place,' she reminded herself. She'd had a few erotic dreams about him then, but it had been more of a physical thing. She had put it down to the product of an overactive mind and her own lack of personal involvement with anyone at the time.

The man had an amazing body from what she had seen back then. While he might appear tall and wiry, Severus was lean and muscular in all the right places. She had noticed a few other attributes last night that she was not even going to think about right now.

Even at 12 Grimmauld Place, Severus had maintained an aloof persona. She knew the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall, Albus and Minerva she mentally corrected herself. She had joined the Order of the Phoenix along with Harry and Ron in her last year at Hogwarts. They had insisted on having the 'Golden Trio' call them by their given names when they were at order headquarters. The practice just continued on a more permanent basis after graduation. Albus and Minerva seemed to be in the general vicinity of what one would call a friend or, as close to being a friend as the term might apply to Severus. She supposed he had been on his guard for so long, that it would have been near impossible to let anyone in.

In the past two years she had noticed a gradual change in the man. She had seen him at the anniversary celebrations and a few times when she had visited Ginny at Hogwarts. Ginny had graduated last year and decided to pursue a career as a mediwitch. Madame Pomfrey had been all too happy to take on an assistant. Hermione would visit from time to time, or meet Ginny on a Saturday in Hogsmeade. She had only seen Severus a handful of times in the last two years.

If Remus was to be believed, he and Severus seemed to have an amicable 'relationship' at present. While never friendly and relaxed, his comments were no longer barbed with malice and he appeared to be, well, healthier for lack of a better word. More rested, calmer, though that wasn't exactly it. She had assumed the change in his demeanor stemmed more from two almost concurrent events, their graduation and the end of Voldemort.

As far she was concerned, Sunday could not come fast enough. Unfortunately, before Sunday came, she would have to face today and tomorrow. Edmund and Charms. With a reluctant sigh, she dragged her body out of bed and headed off to take a shower and face the day. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Crookshanks burrow into the warm covers she had so reluctantly vacated.

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Hermione stood grinning foolishly as she looked at herself in the mirror. There, on the side of her neck, bloomed a lovely purple love bite. Maybe the rumors were true? The man just might be half vampire from the look of that mark. It was just high enough to escape her collar covering it. She giggled as thought she should leave it and see what Edmund's reaction might be. He might put two and two together and come up with the right answer. Then again Susan would faint if she figured out it was Severus that gave it to her. Not wanting to answer any questions just yet, she cast a small glamour over the area. There would be time enough for that group to find out she was seeing Severus. Last night was still too new. She wanted to keep him to herself for just a little while longer.

She would send Ginny an owl when she returned from class and let her know she would be at Hogwarts on Sunday. She debated telling her about Severus. Well, what could she say?

"Hi Ginny.

Cambridge is going well. Severus came for his dance lesson and we ended up snogging. Can that man kiss, among other things. I will be at Hogwarts on Sunday. See you then.

Love, Hermione."

No, not an option. Potions class would have been a whole lot better if she had known what an amazing kisser he was. She laughed as she shook her head. She would tell Ginny when she saw her. For now she would just say she would be at Hogwarts on Sunday.

With a light heart, she gathered her belongings and headed for class.

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"Don't you think six in the morning is just a little early to be working on our project?" Edmund thought Hermione was acting stranger than usual today and now this. They were sitting in the student union with the rest of the Charms study group trying to agree on a meeting time.

"When did you want to get together? What is wrong with starting early?" Hermione was barely paying attention to the group. She had work she wanted to finish if she was to go to Hogwarts with a clear mind on Sunday. No matter how much she wanted to see Severus, she still had to think of her class work first. They were going to start working on her theory. That alone would require additional research on her part. She made a mental note to see if she could get into the restricted section of the library for a few reference books. Severus had indicated he had a fairly large restricted library of his own they could browse for information. While the idea of seeing him and picking up where they left off was infinitely appealing, she was truly looking forward to working with him too.

"How about sleeping in? It's Saturday. We have all day tomorrow and Sunday. What's the hurry?"

"Well, we don't have all day Sunday, really. If we can finish early, I have some...errm...errands I need to take care of."

"Errands?" Edmund looked at her skeptically.

"Fine, I have plans for Sunday afternoon. Do you want to meet here or at my flat?" Hermione was packing up her notes.

"What plans do you have?" Edmund knew Hermione was not seeing anyone. There had been that disastrous blind date he had arranged for Hermione and his friend, George during their freshman year. As far as he knew, she had not been out with anyone else since.

Hermione glared at him. "I have a life, thank you very much. We will meet at my flat. Six AM tomorrow morning."

Kathy was watching Hermione pack up her belongings. "Where are you going?"

"I have work to do in the library." She said her goodbyes and headed off to the library, she had quite a bit of work to do if she was going to Hogwarts on Sunday.

Sunday. Severus. She thought Sunday could not come soon enough.

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Severus looked up from the stack of essays he was grading. A knock at his door had disturbed the quiet of the afternoon. Whoever it was had better have a good reason for disturbing him. "Enter," he barked.

Remus smiled, he could hear the annoyance in Severus's voice. "Good afternoon, Severus. How are you?"

"Lupin? What are you doing here? I did not expect you for another three weeks. Is there a problem? Don't you have some place else you need to be? Some place away from me?" Why was he here?

Remus sat in the straight back chair in front of Severus's desk. "Nice to see you too. Thank you for asking. I'm fine."

Severus's sigh was weary. "What is it you want? I have work to do."

"How exactly do you expect to make friends if you do not try?" Remus held up his hand. "Fine, fine. I just wanted to let you know I will be staying here at the castle for a while. So if you and Hermione need me, I will be around."

"I am sure I will regret asking, but why are you staying at the castle?" A headache was threatening to over take his head.

"It seems the current Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher has managed to hex himself. He will be in St. Mungo's for three or four months." A smug look on his face, Remus sat back in his chair.

Severus's eyebrow went up. "He hexed himself? How did he accomplish that?"

Remus laughed. "He was showing a class a new defense spell. Albus is still not sure what spell he used, but it ricocheted off two mirrors before hitting him. He was giggling wildly when they took him away. He seemed to have duplicated himself and then merged the extra parts with his real self."

"You mean..." Severus laughed out loud.

"Yes, four eyes, two noses, two mouths, four ears, four arms, and four legs. The healers say he can be cured, but it will take some time."

"Did he duplicate everything?" One brow rose for emphasis.

Lupin snorted as he realized what Severus was asking. "Well, I did not check myself, but the understanding was he duplicated his entire body. Could make him very popular, you know?"

Severus was still chuckling, " It could at that. Am I to assume you are the substitute instructor in his absence?"

"Yeah. I thought I should mention it to you before Albus announces it tonight. Harry said he would fill in when I'm unable to teach. I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted the position." It was no secret that Severus coveted the Defense Against The Dark Arts position year after year.

"Actually, Lupin, you are most welcome to it. I suggest you move the mirrors when you take over the classroom." For the first time ever, he did not care about not being chosen as the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. He would be working with Hermione tomorrow on researching her theory. It was the Potions Master she would be working with, not the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. Everything was fine as far as he was concerned.

Lupin smiled. "And how is Hermione?"

Severus scowled. "Pardon me?"

"Hermione owled Ginny she would be stopping by tomorrow. Ginny told Harry. And Harry told me."

Wonderful. "Miss Granger and I will be starting research on her theory regarding the Wolfsbane Potion."

Lupin's eyebrow went up. "Miss Granger?"

"Fine. Hermione. Shouldn't you be setting up lesson plans, or howling at the moon, or something? Or did you plan on staying here to annoy me further?" Enough was enough.

"I know when I am not wanted."

"No, you do not. That is the problem."

Remus chuckled as he rose from the chair. "Glad to see you took my advice. I will see you later."

"I cannot wait, Lupin." Severus nodded and returned to the stack of essays he was grading. He looked up as he heard the door close. He was glad that he took the werewolf's advice too.

Hermione. Severus thought Sunday could not come fast enough.

TBC

A/N: The steps and form of the dance (as well as those that appear in future chapters) are from this web site: Tango tutorial - http://64.70.140.102/ourdance.htm. Challenge rules can be found following chapter one.

Next up, Sunday at Hogwarts, a talk with Ginny, Remus, an argument, the Potion's Lab, and more. Enjoy. Please review and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you! As always thoughts, comments, reviews, whatever are always welcome.

Regards, Pearle