Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery

Chapter 13 ~ Hermione’s Final Solution

Mid-morning on Sunday, a rather hung-over Severus exited his rooms to visit the infirmary and get some sober-up potion from Poppy. He still hadn’t brewed a new batch for his personal stores. The Potions Master noticed a piece of parchment magicked to the door. He tore it off and read the message printed on it. The message consisted of only three words.

Brew the potion.

Severus didn’t need a signature. The note was from Hermione. She had decided to drink the Lotus Root potion to kill her feelings for him once and for all. He hurried to the infirmary for the hangover cure. He had brewing to do.

As he rode one of the staircases on the way back from the infirmary, Severus caught a glimpse of Hermione crossing the Great Hall. She was heading in the direction of the Dark Arts rooms. She had her wand in her hand and walked quickly with a determined look on her face. She was going to see Marcus. By the look of her, it was going to be quite a visit. Severus was tempted to disillusion himself and follow her, but decided against it. He’d do better to go and brew the Lotus potion. It was a simple potion to create, but the effects of it were permanent. Any feelings that the potion extinguished remained extinguished for life. All that was needed was a drop of blood from the person they wished to lose feeling for. In this case, his blood.

The Potions Master returned to his rooms, entered his lab and got to work. He should be finished brewing the potion by the time the witch was done with Marcus.

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Hermione walked up to the Dark Arts office and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” said Marcus, who was seated at his desk, looking over his schedule. Hermione opened the door and walked in. Marcus immediately stood up and smiled at the witch.

“Hermione! What a pleasant surprise,” he said, glancing at the clock. It was only eleven-thirty. “I thought we were to meet up in the Astronomy Tower at noon. You’re a bit early.”

Hermione sat down in the comfy armchair in front of his desk and crossed her legs, her wand resting across her lap. Marcus noticed the drawn wand, and sat back down.

“Yes. There’s been a change of plans, Marcus. We won’t be doing lunch,” Hermione said quietly. “In fact, we won’t be doing anything. Ever.”

Marcus had been in enough situations to know he was in danger. There was a look in the witch’s eyes he had seen many times before an enemy attacked him. She must be on to him.

“What do you mean, Hermione?” he asked, tensing to leap out of the way. His wand was in his robes, and his robes were hanging on the back of the door. He was defenseless.

Hermione noticed him tensing and read his body language. She knew which way he was going to move. He was on to her.

“Incarcerous!” she cried, aiming her wand two meters to the left of the wizard.

Marcus leaped right into the path of the ropes that flew out of her wand and crashed to the floor on his face, bound tightly. Hermione stood up and walked around the desk, looking down at the wizard. His nose and mouth were bleeding. Hermione didn’t feel a thing as she looked at his battered face.

She pointed her wand at the wizard again and levitated him back to the chair, dropping him in it hard. Then she walked back to the chair, sat down and looked at him for a good while.

Marcus stared back at the witch, hardly believing she had caught him so easily. But then again, he had heard the witch was smart. She had anticipated where he was going to go. Finally Hermione spoke.

“I think you know why I did this,” Hermione said to him, her eyes narrowed.

Marcus nodded, then spit out some blood.

“Why, Marcus? What did I ever do to you?” she asked him.

He looked at her.

“I needed the money,” he said simply.

“No. That may have been true initially, but when the Professor told you there was no need to pursue me, you were going to continue anyway,” she said evenly.

“You ever look at yourself in the mirror?” he asked her, “Especially naked? You’re beautiful. I’m sure I’m not the only wizard in the world who wants to fuck you. We’re not all Snapes you know.”

“What kind of wizard would seduce a virgin for pay?” Hermione asked him, her eyes dark.

“Me. It was kind of like a double reward. Money and fresh pussy. You can’t beat that with a broom,” the wizard said. He didn’t sound repentant at all.

“So you planned to seduce me, fuck me and leave me afterwards,” Hermione said. It was a statement, not a question.

“Pretty much my standard mode of operation,” Marcus replied, lifting one eyebrow, “You would have been no different than any other witch, with the exception of you being a virgin. But I would have taken care of that. Anyway, you should be blaming Snape for the brunt of this. It was him who hired me to fuck you and get you off his back. What the hell you want with a sour bastard like that is beyond me anyway,” the wizard said, his tongue licking at his split lip.

“I do blame him,” she said quietly. “I’ve already decided what I’m going to do about him, but it was you who would have hurt me the most if I fell for you. You’re the worst kind of predator. Taking advantage of heartbroken witches and adding to their pain.”

Marcus looked at her.

“How did you find out anyway?” he asked her.

“A little bat told me,” she responded, “the question now is, what am I to do with you? I can’t just let you get away with this, but I can’t ruin you so badly you can’t teach class. Of course, I could go to Dumbledore with the entire story and get both you and Severus in trouble, maybe suspended if not outright dismissed. But I don’t want the story of this to get around. Telling Albus about it would be like shouting it through a bullhorn to the entire school.”

She looked at Marcus consideringly. She had heard about the wizard’s exploits and for the most part had written it off as gossip. No one could be that bad. But after what she witnessed in the pensieve, she knew the wizard was probably worse than anything rumor could come up with. He was a pig in every sense of the word.

Hermione’s eyes lit up.

“I know what to do to you,” she said. Marcus’ eyes went wide as Hermione pointed the wand at him.

“Animus Porkcus!” she said.

Marcus began to writhe in the ropes. Then a blue glow surrounded him as he shouted for help. His body shrunk and rounded as the ropes fell off. He disappeared behind the desk.

Hermione stood up and walked partially around the desk.

“Here piggy, piggy,” she called.

A pink snout emerged.

“Come on out, Marcus,” she said. A round, pink, violet-eyed pig walked from behind the desk and grunted at her.

“There, now the body fits the personality,” she said, pointing the wand at him again.

“Phallus Impotentus,” she intoned, bathing the pig in white light. The pig began to squeal angrily.

Hermione smirked at him.

“The pig transformation will wear off by morning. The impotence spell will last about a month. Not even a gallon of lust potion will help,” she said, standing up and heading for the door.

She looked back at the pig, who was still squealing miserably.

“I suggest, Marcus, that next time you need extra money, you find yourself a second job,” she said, exiting the room and closing the door tightly behind her.

Hermione put a silencing spell on the door as well as a “Do Not Disturb” ward, so whoever came to the office would know not to bother the wizard. She left no food or water, but Marcus would survive just fine. The witch headed back towards the dungeons. There was just one more thing she needed to do to end this nightmare. Then she thought about it. Actually there were two things.

Walking through the Great Hall and toward the main doors, she reached in her pocket and took out a piece of crumpled parchment. She transfigured it into a black hooded cloak and slipped it on, raising the hood.

She walked out of the main doors on to the Hogwarts grounds, and headed toward the owlery, scanning the skies. After about twenty minutes, she saw what she was looking for. Raucous, winging his way back to the owlery and the floo to Severus’ rooms. She was hooded because if the bird spotted her, he would flee. As it was, Raucous gave the hooded figure a quick glance and continued on to the owlery. Hermione pointed her wand at the flying bird.

She muttered a spell, and a bright beam of yellow light soared directly in front of the unsuspecting raven. It hit Raucous squarely. The bird let out a squawk and tumbled from the sky for several heart stopping moments before he recovered and streaked to the owlery.

Hermione smiled wickedly and walked back into the castle.

In his lab, Severus heard Raucous raising hell and opened the door. The racket moved closer and closer as the bird hopped through the rooms, looking for his master. Finally he appeared, angry as a wet kneazle. Severus looked down at the bird and shook his head as Raucous chattered and squawked, fluttering around in a right temper.

The raven’s glossy black plumage was now a bright fluorescent yellow. Raucous sent images of a hooded figure standing outside of the castle. Then he sent another image of Hermione lying on the ground with what appeared to be a stake through her heart.

Severus shook his head again at the bird sympathetically. Hermione had struck again.

“Sorry Raucous. There’s nothing I can do. The spell has to wear off on its own. It will take a week at the most,” he said.

Raucous screeched in outrage. He had to look like this for a week? Damn that witch.

“She probably got you for showing me the image of her naked,” the Potions Master said.

The bird’s feathers drooped. That had been pretty nasty of him. Then he squawked at his master angrily. This was his fault. He showed it to Marcus.

“I’m sorry, Raucous,” Severus said.

The bird cawed something scathing at Severus, turned and flew from the lab, heading for the rafters in the study to sulk. He was yellow. Yellow. How would he ever live this down?

Yes, Hermione had struck again. Severus had to admit, it was quite original. She had probably taken care of Marcus too, though he couldn’t imagine what she had done to him. Hopefully not anything that would get her arrested. Like casting an Unforgivable on him. Well, soon she would be coming for him. But she had to get the potion first. If she drank the potion before hexing him, she wouldn’t do it. She would have absolutely no feelings toward him at all. No love, no anger, no hunger for revenge. Nothing. He would never be able to affect her in any emotional manner again.

He would become a kind of non-entity. She would see him, possibly even speak to him but never react to him. She would retain all her memories, but they would no longer touch her. She’d know that she once loved him, but there would be nothing else. He would be out of her mind and heart for good.

Severus looked down at the bubbling black brew. It was finished. He turned off the flame and applied a light cooling spell. It was best consumed warm.

There was a knock on the office door.

“Come in,” he called.

Hermione entered and walked into the lab. She looked at him silently, her amber eyes glistening. She didn’t have her wand in her hand, and she made no threatening moves. She just looked at the Potions Master, pain evident in her eyes.

Severus stared back at her.

She was dressed in blue jeans and a red tee shirt that said “Please Don’t Make Me Kill You.” Severus imagined the slogan was meant to be humorous, but right now…it was downright chilling.

Hermione finally spoke.

“Is the potion ready?” she asked the wizard.

“Yes,” he replied, “It’s cooling.”

Hermione fell silent again. She still made no threatening moves. She didn’t even look angry.

“I saw what you did to Raucous. What did you do to Marcus?” he asked her.

Hermione looked at him.

“I’m sure he’ll be here to tell you once he’s recovered. You might want to keep your wand close by. I guarantee he’s going to be pissed,” she said obtusely. She wasn’t going to tell him.

He lifted a brow at her.

“What about me? Surely you have some particularly nasty hex to cast on me,” he said to her.

Hermione shook her head, and said tiredly, “No, Severus. I’m not going to do anything to you. It’s your nature to be nasty and sneaky. Hiring someone to fuck me to get me off your hands isn’t really that surprising when I think about it. You’re capable of just about anything.”

“But I think you will be punished. After I drink this potion and you are taken out of my heart for good, I think that later on you might come around and realize what you threw away. And when that happens, Severus…you will not be able to forgive yourself. It will be too late for us and you will be haunted by this missed opportunity until the day you leave this earth. And I won’t even care. You won’t exist for me anymore except as someone who takes up space. I’ll lose my virginity to some other wizard and move on with my life. That is what you wanted after all. That is what you will get.”

Severus’ eyes swept over her.

“I see,” he said quietly, feeling that the witch was probably right.

Someday he would regret not accepting her love, even if he didn’t love her. She could have brought him some pleasure, some respite. In fact, he was starting to regret it now. But he couldn’t admit it. Something inside him wouldn’t let the words come out. Instead, he poured the potion into a glass, half filling it.

Hermione looked at it.

“Give me a double dose,” she said.

Severus looked at her. Did she want to forget how she felt about him that badly? Obviously she did. He added more potion and handed it to her.

Hermione took the glass and brought it to her mouth. Then paused as she looked at the Potions Master over the rim.

She lowered the glass, and walked up to the wizard. Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him softly on the lips. He didn’t resist. It was the sweetest, softest kiss Severus ever received in his life, full of innocence and longing. Hermione stepped back, her eyes full of unshed tears. His dark eyes rested on her steadily.

“Goodbye Severus, my love,” she whispered.

Then she brought the potion to her lips, and Severus watched quietly as she drained the glass.

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A/N: Oh my gods. Sooooooo sad. I almost cried and I’m writing the doggone story. Sigh. What’s next? We’ll see. Please review.

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The Burning Pen

Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence. Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately. You are not welcome here. The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 14

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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