Chapter Text
[Seventh year at Hogwarts. Voldemort still alive. Dumbledore still alive. Severus still spying for the Order, playing his role as faithful Death Eater. Harry and friends still planning and working to bring Voldemort down.]
Chapter 1
Hermione knew she shouldn’t be out of bed. She knew she shouldn’t be here, lurking in the corner of the dungeon hall. She knew there would be consequences if he noticed her. But tonight she’d seen his flinch, his carefully hidden reaction, the stiffening of his left arm as he made his way away from the others. She knew it must mean he had been summoned, and she was determined to make sure that he was ok.
Harry had been letting her use the Marauders Map at night (he hadn’t pressed her yet as to why), but she’d been curious since the first time she’d noticed Professor Snape being summoned. It had been three weeks prior, and she’d been studying late in bed, checking the map periodically late into the early morning hours. She had finally noticed the name Severus Snape seemingly standing still in the dungeon hallway. She had watched for more than twenty minutes before finally deciding that he might not just be lost in thought at this odd hour. Something was probably wrong. Using the map and a disillusionment charm she’d been working hard on, Hermione was able to make her way undetected down to the dungeons to find him collapsed in a heap on the floor. Quickly taking inventory, she’d been able to cast renervate and revive him. He seemed barely conscious, but she was able to support him until he let them through the wards into his rooms. He then recovered enough to tell her that he was fine and he promptly and unceremoniously threw her out of his rooms, slamming the door in her still concerned face. She stayed outside watching the map until she saw his form make it into his bedroom and remain in what she would have to assume was his bed, and hopefully not just another location on the floor.
So tonight, knowing he’d been summoned again, she’d settled herself into her little corner and waited. It was nearing two in the morning, and she could feel her eyelids getting heavy. She checked the map for the three hundredth time, and finally, there were the footsteps of Severus Snape, making their way down her hallway. Shit. He had come from the other direction before, which meant that this time he would pass directly in front of her. She tucked away the map, stood and pressed herself against the cold stone wall. She wasn’t even sure why she had felt the need to check on him personally. But, she had anticipated being able to check on him from a distance. She hoped that at this close range she wouldn’t give herself away. She heard his soft footsteps approaching, and she couldn’t help watching as his black-clad figure emerged from the shadows. He walked with a feline grace, confident, with a hint of something else she couldn’t recall seeing before. Usually he strode purposefully, or perhaps stalked stealthily as he snuck up on students, but she’d never seen him move with this kind of… casual allure before. He moves like smoke, she thought. He’d always been graceful, but the way he moved tonight captivated her attention and stirred something deep inside. No scowl, no sneer. He was… fucking sexy. It was the antithesis to Professor Snape’s persona as far as she had ever been aware.
She slowly let out her breath only after he had passed her hiding spot, relief flooding through her. As her heartbeat began to come down, she gasped as she suddenly found herself without camoflauging charm, a hand pressed against the stone wall by each of her ears, a tall body barricading her in, and very dark eyes boring into hers. There was something glittering and dark crackling in the depths of those eyes, like lightning behind the clouds. Something very different than anything she’d seen in them before. Yes , there was something very different going on here tonight. She wondered if he was drugged or high. His pupils were dilated, and there was something wild and dangerous flaring in the depths.
Looking down at her, he cocked his head slightly, as if pondering the riddle that was her. A cat contemplating a trapped mouse. He then refocused and his gaze dipped down to fully take her in: from her curling hair, to exposed neck, to buttoned blouse and uniform skirt to bare legs and back up again. For a moment she could feel the heat of that gaze and her body flushed in response. Gods, he has most definitely never looked at me like that before. And though she had never once in her life considered him sexy, tonight, he was dripping with it. The smile still played at his lips, quirking further as she sucked in her breath when his face drew closer to hers. She stopped breathing entirely when his mouth neared hers. However, at the last moment he turned and instead leaned in to whisper in her ear.
“You shouldn’t be down here little girl.” His voice was low and silky, sliding down her spine. His breath tickled the shell of her ear and his voice vibrated in her head and down through every nerve. For a moment she couldn’t breathe and all thought ceased. The dangerous undercurrent of his words made adrenaline race through her body, even as something else seemed to be warming in her veins. Internally she bristled at being called ‘little girl,’ she was nineteen after all (counting the time-turner year). And yet standing here before this older, dark and extremely lethal wizard... that was exactly what she was. Next to him, she was innocent and naive and utterly vulnerable, but she couldn’t help feeling drawn to him, even as her survival instincts urged her to run. She was quite sure she should be trusting her instincts. A low chuckle danced across her skin, his mouth still unnervingly close to her ear. He wasn’t even touching her, and yet she could feel his body’s energy pressing against hers. An electrical charge hummed in the air between them. She felt him inhale deeply through his nose, as if breathing in the smell of her hair.
“Go back to your bed, sweet thing… you shouldn’t tempt the things that lurk in the dark,” his voice rumbled. At these words, her eyes fluttered and closed as wildly inappropriate thoughts of what could happen next skittered across her brain. Though only a moment passed, lost in her imaginings and the tension of her body, Hermione opened her eyes, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just like that he had rejoined with the shadows and she was left alone again in the hallway. Evidently he’d made it back “ safe” after this summons, she choked to herself. But now it meant she was brimming with questions about what had just happened, and how and how the usually snarky and indifferent potions professor had been replaced with a seductive, melt-your-knickers off total bad boy.