New ficlets.
Jul. 19th, 2009 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madeleoneTitle: Believe
Pairing: SS/HG
For: Lullabelle72
Prompt: autumn, the smell of something burning in the air, and gold
Rating: G
Word count: 478
AN: Many thinks to my wonderful, Beta, sweettiff_14 for all her help.
Hermione pulled her cloak more tightly around her to ward off the chill as she trudged along the path to Hogsmeade. She could feel the nip of a chill reminding her that autumn would soon segue into winter. The scent of woodsmoke from the chimneys hung heavy in the air, bringing to mind the smell of campfires, an awful remembrance of that year on the run. Gods, she would forever hate camping!
As she approached her destination her face broke into a smile. Since Severus had sold Spinners End and bought the house here, she got to visit more frequently. Arriving at the little house at the edge of the village she dropped the wards and let herself in, hanging her scarf and cloak by the door. Her mouth watered as the scents of dinner cooking greeted her. “Ummm, smells good!”
Catching her by surprise, arms circled her, pulling her in close and a voice whispered in her ear. “I thought you'd never get here,” he said, nuzzling her neck.
She gasped. “Severus, you startled me. I'm sorry I'm late, I had to deal with the dunderheads.”
“Better you than me,” he responded, chuckling at her dilemma. “I certainly don't miss those days in the classroom. Nothing could tempt me back there. I'm glad you were able to get away though, or else it might have spoiled my surprise.”
“Ooh! Surprise? I love surprises! What is it?”
“Greedy, girl. If I tell you what it is, then it won't be a surprise,” he admonished. “I'm saving it for later, after dinner. Besides the anticipation will make you savor it all the more.”
“You beast,” she teased. “How mean to tempt me then make me wait.”
They enjoyed a lovely meal—Severus had outdone himself. He enjoyed cooking; gourmet cuisine had become a hobby of his and he had done his best to make everything special. After finishing the chocolate mousse for dessert, they retired to the sitting room with a brandy.
Snuggling on the sofa, he pulled her into his arms kissing her passionately. “ Hermione, I treasure the time we spend together here, but it's not enough.” Reaching into his pocket he removed a black velvet jewelers box and placed it in her hand.
Swallowing a gasp, she slowly opened the box to reveal a perfect solitaire diamond set in gold. Severus continued, his voice uncharacteristically gruff, “I want you with me always, love, forever. Would you do me honor of becoming my wife?”
She was speechless for endless seconds before she launched herself at him, peppering him with kisses and hugs. “Oh, yes. Yes, Severus, yes!”
He sighed in relief. He had never dared to dream that someday there would be a happily-ever-after for the bat of the dungeons, but now finally he began to believe.
Title: Phoenix Feathers at Dusk
Rating G
Characters/Pairings Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Words 1350
Prompt: For Bambu345 dusk and phoenix feathers
Summary Severus is in need of a rare potions ingredient and Hermione knows where to get it.
Disclaimer/AN I do not own HP, it's all JKRs, I make no money here.
Many thanks go to my wonderful beta, sweettiff_14.
Severus perused the list of ingredients he needed for the potion for a special burn paste strong enough to heal scars from dragon's fire. He'd had a special request from Charlie Weasley, who was now in charge of the dragon preserve in Romania; one of his workers had gotten badly burned in a freak accident and now was quite badly scarred. Severus knew he needed something much stronger than a regular burn paste. He'd found the potion in an obscure book that he'd picked up in a little, out-of-the-way book store in Edinburgh.
The problem was, one of the key ingredients was the tail feather of a phoenix. Since Dumbledore's death, however, Fawkes had disappeared from Hogwarts and Severus was not aware of any other readily available source for phoenix feathers. He'd just discovered a new business venture that claimed to be able to locate the rarest of ingredients in the Wizarding World. He wasn't sure if he could trust their sources, but at this point he had little choice. He sent an owl off to Logralo's Ingredient Shop; their motto was “ We specialize in rare and unusual ingredients, if we can't find it, nobody can.” He hoped they were as good as they claimed. He'd checked with all his usual suppliers and hadn't had any luck so far, he might as well give this place a try.
He received a reply promptly the next morning, stating that while they did not have the phoenix feathers in stock, they had no doubt they could locate it for him. The note also stated that while they normally charged quite a hefty finder's fee for such an extremely difficult to locate item, they would be willing to waive said fee under certain circumstances. Would he be willing to meet with their representative the next day at dusk at the Leaky Cauldron, to negotiate the terms? Terms? What could he have that they could possibly want? he wondered, but he agreed to the meeting anyway.
He couldn't have been more surprised to walk into the Leaky Cauldron's private meeting room to find Hermione Granger waiting for him, than if it had been Voldemort himself sitting there.
“Miss Granger, what a surprise. You are not at all who I expected.”
“So sorry to disappoint you, Professor. Or do you prefer Headmaster?” she replied.
“I didn't say I was disappointed, Miss Granger, merely surprised. And as you are no longer my student and it appears that we may be doing business together, perhaps you could find it possible to call me Severus?”
“Of course,” she acquiesced. “If you would consent to calling me Hermione.”
“Very well, Hermione. What exactly is this meeting about, then? What is it we are supposed to be negotiating?”
“As I'm sure you are aware, Logralo's is a new business, and we would like to establish ourselves in the Wizarding World as a reputable supplier of ingredients of all sorts. What better way to do that than to secure a contract with the best know Potion Master in all of Britain.”
“Surely, you flatter me.”
“Flattery? I think not, Severus, merely the unvarnished truth. A contract to supply ingredients for your personal brewing needs, as well as to supply Hogwarts, would guarantee us a certain credibility in our area of expertise: rare and unusual ingredients.”
“And how am I to know that your firm, is in fact, reputable?” he asked.
She looked briefly as though his comment had hurt her feelings, but realizing he had a point, he really knew nothing of their business, she answered honestly. “You give us a chance, Severus. That's all you have to do, give us a chance. If we don't perform to your satisfaction you can fire us. It's that simple.”
He eyed her speculatively for a moment before replying, “You feel you can get me the phoenix feathers? I need them in a timely manner, I can't be waiting for weeks.”
“Without a doubt,” she replied earnestly.
“Very well, Hermione. Here is what I will offer: you get me the feathers, and I will sign a one year contract with your company.”
“A three year contract,” she argued.
“Two years with an option to renew,” he countered. “And I want it in writing that if your firm does not live up to our agreement the contract will be terminated.”
“It's a deal,” she cried. Reaching under the table she pulled out her briefcase and produced a sheaf of papers.
“What is this?” he asked, clearly puzzled.
“Our contract.”
“Oh, no, Hermione. I said I would sign this after you get me the phoenix feathers.”
Reaching back into her bag, without a word she handed him a long narrow box. Opening it carefully, he found not one, but two perfect golden phoenix tail feathers. “How did you find these so quickly? I just owled your shop yesterday, and was told they were not in stock.”
“Yesterday they weren't, but now, they are. We aim to please, Severus,” she replied with a smile. “Would you be willing to sign my contract now?”
His fingers tapped idly on the table. He was wondering if he'd been duped. Still, she had supplied the feathers, although he now knew that she'd had them in her possession all along. “I don't suppose you would tell me where you procured these from?”
With a sly smirk she teased, “Well, it's confidential, I can't reveal my sources. I suppose I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.”
Shaking his head, he commanded with a chuckle, “Give me the damn contract. I'll sign it.” Signing it with a flourish he demanded, “Don't make me regret this, Hermione.”
“I hope you'll never regret our association, Severus,” she said tapping the papers with her wand to make duplicates and causing the original to vanish, automatically on file at the Ministry. “I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of me from now on.”
They drank a toast to their new alliance. Gathering her things to leave she asked him, “It's nearly dark, would you walk me back to the shop? You could renew your acquaintance with my partners.”
“Partners? Who are your partners?” he asked, curious.
“Oh, you know them quite well, Severus. They're former students as well. I thought you might have figured it out. I am the gra in Logralo, I thought you might have already guessed who the other two are, but apparently not.”
He thought for a moment before the reality of it dawned on him. “Oh no, tell me it's not...”
“Lo-Gra-Lo, Lovegood-Granger-Longbottom, Logralo's,” she replied with a huge grin on her face. “Luna, is well versed in strange and unusual creatures. She can get us all sorts of things from Unicorn blood or hair to Acromantula silk to an eyelash from a Crumplehorned Snorkack. And Neville, of course is the resident expert on anything Herbological. If it grows, he's our man to find it.”
For a moment she thought he was going to be angry. He seemed to be contemplating the whole concept ,but he finally accepted it. Holding tightly to her arm, he demanded, “I will honor our contract and accept your partners, but on one condition, Hermione.”
“And what condition is that, Severus?”
“All my dealings must be with you. I don't want to put up with Longbottom's or Lovegood's antics. I'm sure they're both quite brilliant in their own way, but I don't want to deal with them.” He pulled her close to him with his final demand, “I am, however, more than willing to deal closely with you.”
Looking up into his face with a knowing smile, she linked her arm with his and replied as she led him off toward Logralo's, “And I'll be quite happy to deal very closely with you, Severus. Very closely, indeed.”
~fin~
Title: A Night at the Green Turnip
Rating Mature for language (just a couple of words really)
Characters/Pairings Hermione Granger/Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy
Words 1540
Prompt: For Aleysiasnape: drunk, in a room, and chocolate.
Summary: Hermione and Draco run into a problem. Severus and Lucius to the rescue.
Disclaimer/AN I do not own HP, it's all JKRs, I make no money here.
Many thanks go to my wonderful beta, sweettiff_14.
In a grubby little dive of a pub on a backstreet in a rather dicey part of Muggle London, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were drunk, quite drunk indeed. Hermione pounded her fist on the table and hollered at the barkeep, “Another round fer me an' my friend here!”
The bartender ambled over and stood next to their table, his arms crossed over his beefy chest. A huge hulk of a man with an eye patch and numerous scars that made him appear to have been on the wrong side of a knife fight or two, he eyed them seriously before speaking, “Don't ya think you an' yer friend have had enough already, deary?”
Draco could barely hold his head up; he was a lightweight when it came to the hard stuff, at least in Hermione's opinion. They'd only had a few drinks, three at the most—well, maybe it was four or seven. Possibly nine, but surely no more than that. She gazed up at the bartender belligerently, “Are you refushing... reshuing... ferush... Oh fuck it! Are you saying you won't serve us? Do you know who this is?” she asked pointing at Draco, who in turn smiled up at the goliath stupidly. “Tha's Drago Mafloy... Drakie Flamoy... Draco Maflie... shit...Molfie, MALFOY! Yea, tha's it, Malfoy, an' his father was a big, bad Deatheater, so you jus' better get us another drinkie an' forget you ever saw us, or his daddy might jus' hex you. Or wer' gonna leave and take our business to another eshtablick... esterbl... place!”
The burly barkeep glanced over his shoulder at the old drunk at the end of the bar. Unseen by Hermione the shadowy shape of a Patronus flew from the corner and out of the pub. The bartender ambled back over to the bar and pretended to be making their drinks, but instead he just watched them closely.
*~*~*
Lucius and Severus sat in the library at Malfoy Manor, enjoying a late night brandy and a game of Wizards chess when a Patronus in the shape of a hyena slunk into the room. “I think young Malfoy may be in a bit of a tight spot. He's at The Green Turnip, a little pub in a seedy part of London. Him and his lady friend are three sheets to the wind; barkeep's threatening to cut them off and she says they're gonna leave. Not a good neighborhood to be wandering around in their condition, sir.”
“Who's Patronus was that, Lucius?” inquired Severus, curious.
Lucius replied, “Mandingo Fletcher, a cousin to Mundungus; he works security for Malfoy Industries. Come along and help me, will you, Severus? It appears Draco has gotten himself in a bit of a bind. I don't know who his lady friend might be or what they may have said or done, but we may need to cast a few Obliviates before the Ministry interferes.”
The two formidable wizards arrived at the pub and entered in a swirl of black robes. Luckily, it was late and the only other occupants of the pub, besides Draco and his friend, were the bartender and Mandingo. “Thank you, Manny. I appreciate you contacting me. Does the barman need to be Obliviated?”
“No, sir. He's a Squib friend of mine. Pub's been pretty quiet for the last couple of hours. You just need to get them safely out of here. I'm pretty sure his lady friend's a witch, she made reference to hexing the barkeep's balls off if he refused to serve them. She looks a bit familiar but I really didn't get a good look at her face.”
Severus and Lucius approached the corner table. The girl now had her head laying on her arms and she was crying quietly. Draco was rubbing her back and speaking consolingly to her.
“Draco!” barked Lucius. “What is going on here?”
“Father!” Draco jumped to his feet, then swayed dangerously. “Severus.” Draco looked confused, what were his father and godfather doing here in Muggle London?
“Someone notified me that you and your friend might be in a bit of a bind here, Draco. Severus came along in case I needed assistance cleaning up your mess. Really, son, you should know better than to get inebriated in a Muggle area.” Severus pulled a vial of sober-up potion from his pocket, handing it to Draco, who swallowed it down with a shudder. He lost his befuddled haze and looked sadly at his drunken friend.
“Hermione didn't want to be seen tonight in a Wizard pub, she was feeling pretty badly. She got into a big, screaming confrontation with her supervisor at the Ministry and got fired. I thought I could take care of her, but that girl can drink. I couldn't keep up with her, she drank me under the table,” he admitted.
Severus groaned. Granger, I might have known, he thought. “Lucius, you take Draco home with you, side-along's probably best, even with the sober-up. I'll take care of Miss Granger. I didn't bring any more of the potion so I'll have to take her with me to get her sobered up.”
Bending down, Severus scooped Hermione up into his arms. Her eyes popped open, she gazed into his obsidian orbs and sighed, “Perfessor... what'er you doin' here? Am I haloosin... hulacey... haluyeee... Am I seeing things?”
“Most assuredly not, Miss Granger. I am entirely real,” he replied gruffly.
“Wow!” She wrapped her arms around his neck, the fingers of her right hand threading through his hair while her left hand caressed his cheek tenderly. She suddenly lunged forward to kiss him hard and deeply. Taken by surprise, he didn't pull away. “Wow,” she said again. “I've always wanted to do that, Severus.” Laying her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes she sighed, “This is a really nice dream.” Then she began to snore softly.
“Oh, for goodness sake,” exclaimed Severus.
“She's had a bit of a crush on you for quite a while, Severus,” confided Draco. Then thinking of the situation his friend was in he added, “Maybe we should take her home with us, all things considered.”
“Don't worry, Draco. I'll take care of her and I promise not to take advantage of the situation.”
*~*~*
Hermione woke up in a strange bedroom and not knowing where she was frightened her. Lifting the covers revealed that her clothes were gone and she was wearing just her knickers and a man's white undershirt, she couldn't quite remember how she came to be in this position. Shit!
Looking around she saw a vial of what appeared to be hangover potion on the nightstand. Sitting up and uncorking the vial she sniffed it carefully, then tasted a tiny bit on her fingertip. Determining that it was, indeed, hangover potion she gulped it down, greedily. Then she slid back down in the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and waited for it to take effect.
While she waited she tried to remember what had happened and how she had ended up here. And where in hell was here, anyway? She remembered being with Draco at a Muggle bar, the Green Parsnip or Radish or something like that. They'd both been pretty wasted. She remembered she had started crying about losing her job. She thought she remembered Mr. Malfoy and Professor Snape showing up, for some reason. Then she kissed the professor—wait, she'd dreamed that part, right? That didn't really happen. Did it? Oh, Merlin—what had she done?
Just then the door opened and Severus entered, floating a tray behind him into the room and setting it on the nightstand. “Oh good, you're awake and I see you found the potion.”
Hermione couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, she was so embarrassed. “Yes, sir, professor. Thank you very much,” she spoke softly.
“Hermione, it was Severus last night. I'd like it to remain so,” he said, leaning forward to lift her chin with the tip of his finger, forcing her to look him in the eyes. “It is my understanding that you had a particularly bad day yesterday?” She nodded in reply. “Well, it's a new day today. I've brought you some toast and a cup of hot chocolate. Finish this up, get dressed and come downstairs. I have some ideas for finding you a new job.” He stood to leave, stopping at the door when she called his name.
“Sir, er... that is, Severus. Did I... I mean, I think I remember... I... Did we kiss last night?”
He smirked at her before replying, “You mean you don't remember our first kiss, my dear? How very disappointing.”
“Oh, no, Severus. I do remember, but I thought perhaps it was a dream or figment of my overactive imagination.”
“No, sweet. It was definitely not a dream, nor a figment. But I guess I'll have to make very sure you don't forget the next one. Won't I?” He left the room, closing the door softly behind him.
Hermione stared in disbelief for several seconds at the closed door before she whooped in joy. Grabbing the hot cocoa from the tray she sipped it as she grinned goofily to herself. Yes, it was the dawn of a new day, and all things considered, it looked to be the beginning of a very good day indeed!
~fin~