Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery

Chapter 70 ~ Hell Hath No Wrath Like a Pregnant Witch

At seven and a half months, Hermione’s emotions became quite volatile. Both Eli and Severus crept around the house with their ears pinned back. Severus got a first hand taste of just how emotional Hermione was. One morning while he was in the shower, a very big and naked Hermione attempted to get out of bed and found she couldn’t do it. She rolled on to her back and tried to sit up, but couldn’t…and found she couldn’t manage to roll back over either.

When Severus emerged from the bathroom in his silk boxers, he found his wife floundering on her back like an overturned turtle. He burst into laughter, and instead of helping her, stood there for several minutes in absolute conniptions. Not a wise thing to do at all. Finally when Hermione screamed at him to help her, he pulled her to her feet still chuckling.

“So you think it’s fucking funny, Severus?” Hermione snarled at him, reaching for her wand on the nightstand.

Severus sobered immediately. When Hermione cursed, she was truly and deeply pissed. He started backing away.

“Now, Hermione…put the wand down love,” he started, then turned and ran for the door. But he wasn’t fast enough.

“Crocuta crocuta!” Hermione spat, blasting her husband, who was enveloped in a brown light and smoke. When the smoke cleared, Hermione looked at him with satisfaction.

“Now laugh about THAT!” she said, storming into the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

Severus sat there and laughed. That was all he could do, considering Hermione had turned him into a spotted hyena. He stood up and padded over to the mirror, sat down again and looked at himself.

Damn it.

His eyes were still black and his coat was rather pale and short with a spotted black pattern. He had a thick neck and powerful jaws, while his front legs were long and his back legs rather short. Severus stood up and noted his back sloped deeply. Not a very handsome beast at all. He looked at the bathroom door, walked up to it and scratched on it with his paw.

“Go away, Severus!” Hermione called, “Or I swear I’ll make some carrion for you to eat! Probably out of Raucous!”

Raucous spent a lot of time at the house now…and most of it laughing at Hermione as she struggled around the house. He loved to see her sit down, and would wait expectantly for her to attempt to get up on her own. Sometimes she had to roll to the floor and pull herself up. Oh, he loved it. He was always wary though. She was in high hex mode all the time now. He would hide when he slept so she couldn’t sneak up on him. But the way she puffed, he would always hear her coming anyway.

Severus sat down in front of the door for several minutes, listening to the shower running. Hermione was certainly taking a long time in there. Finally he realized she was staying in the bathroom on purpose. The transformed wizard padded out of the bedroom, down the hall, through the living room and into the kitchen, where Eli was preparing breakfast. The elf paused when he saw the hyena walk in.

“Master?” he asked, his ears moving forward.

Severus laughed at him. The elf had to fight to keep a straight face. He continued setting the table. Then he returned to the counter and picked up the coffee pot.

“I take it Mistress is grumpy this morning, sir,” the elf commented as he poured some coffee in a bowl and brought it over to Severus, setting it down on the floor.

The hyena snarled at the elf, but then lowered his head and tentatively lapped at the brew.

Eli then removed a plate of bacon, eggs and buttered toast from the table and also set it on the floor. Severus looked up at him, then started eating, his long neck bending oddly as he did so.

“Mistress’ spells are strong, Master. You has to wait until she is not mad,” he commented.

Severus knew this. Since becoming involved with him and Raucous, Hermione put her Spells Making knowledge to evil use, adding little safeties to her hexes so no one could remove them but her, or else they had to wear off. Well, they could be removed, but it was a very involved process that could take hours or even days. The protections even interfered with Eli’s powerful magic.

The Potions Master made short work of his breakfast, then felt a call of nature. How embarrassing. He walked through the kitchen foyer and scratched at the back door. Eli looked at him…then grinned, shaking his head as he flicked a finger at the door, opening it. Severus rushed out into the backyard and did his business, then scratched around it with his back legs, growling the entire time. He walked back into the house.

By this time, Hermione had emerged into the kitchen and was seated at the table, calmly drinking a glass of milk as her hyena of a husband walked in. Severus looked at her, but she ignored him completely. Yet she was still scowling.

Severus sighed and sat down, looking at her plaintively. When she kept ignoring him, he jumped up and put two paws on the table, staring at her.

“What?” she said irritatedly.

He whined.

“No,” she stated flatly.

Severus fought back a growl. He had to get to Hogwarts. He inched closer to her and tried to lick her face. Hermione pushed him down from the table.

“Ewww, Severus. Your breath stinks!” she said, grimacing at him.

He started pacing, looking from Hermione to the clock, to Hermione again impatiently.

Finally the witch pulled out her wand and flicked it at him. Severus appeared as himself again, on all fours on the floor. He got up with as much dignity as he could muster and glared at Hermione, who was tapping her wand against the table, daring him to say one word to her.

The Potions Master looked at her wand, then turned without a word and headed back to his bedroom to get dressed. Damn it. Wait until she had that baby and was healed. He was going to fuck her in the ass again for this one. Good and hard.

Now dressed for school, Severus walked back through the kitchen to find a little doxy with Eli’s head, circling the kitchen and chattering madly as Hermione scowled down at her plate.

“Have a good day,” Severus said hurriedly, almost sprinting for the floo as Hermione frowned up at him. He didn’t dare try to kiss her. Eli was on his own.

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Severus stood in front of the floo of his study in Hogwarts with a jar of pickles in one hand and a bag of banana chips in the other. He had picked them up on the way to school this morning, hoping this offering would put Hermione in a good mood when he returned home. He wondered how Eli fared. He put the banana chips in his robes pocket, then picked up some floo powder out of the box and threw it into the flames.

“My home,” he said, his black eyes focused on the fire as it turned green. He took a deep breath and stepped through.

When he emerged in the living room, he was relieved to see his mother. She was standing behind Hermione, who was sitting on the couch. She was brushing his wife’s hair. Hermione’s eyes were closed in pleasure as Isadora gently ran the brush through it.

“Mother,” Severus said, his relief obvious in his voice.

Isadora smirked at him, then made a noise surprisingly like a hyena’s chuckle. Severus instantly frowned as Hermione’s mouth drew up in a nasty little smile, her eyes still closed.

“Hello, Severus,” Isadora said.

Severus stopped scowling as he looked at Hermione. He had no idea what kind of mood she was in. He wasn’t afraid of the witch…just very cautious. He couldn’t hex her back after all.

“Hello, wife. I brought pickles. And banana chips,” he offered.

Isadora grinned openly.

“Offerings for the Queen?” she asked.

“Something like that,” he replied, scowling at his mother.

Hermione’s eyes snapped opened.

“Banana chips,” she said softly, her amber eyes resting on him evenly.

Relieved she accepted his gift of peace, Severus took the chips out of his pocket and walked up to her. He gave her a quick peck on the lips and handed her the bag, stepping back and watching her open them. Hermione took out a chip and crunched down on it…a look of bliss on her face.

“Thank you, Severus,” she said, giving him a smile.

Whew. He could move about freely now.

Severus walked over to his writing desk and took out some parchments from his pocket and set them down. Then he pulled out his wand and enlarged them. They were papers he had to mark. The wizard sat down, opened a bottle of red ink and picked up a quill. He started working on them.

He didn’t notice both Hermione and Isadora were looking at him, rather nervously now. Isadora had something to ask him, and knew instinctively he wasn’t going to take it very well. She had found a small flat in muggle London, set up her computer and was now back in business. Relocating to England had done nothing to her customer base, and she had plenty of work…maybe a bit too much as her business became known through word of mouth. At first, she received quite a few job offers from other travel agencies hoping to lure her and her accounts to their firms…but that would have cut in on Isadora’s commissions. She didn’t need to work for an agency.

She had set up two computer terminals in her flat, both connected to the Net. One for her…and one on which to teach Remus Lupin the business. He was going to be her assistant, and receive a commission which was a portion of her commission when he was up to par. A very generous forty percent on the arrangements he made in her stead. It would add up to more money than he had ever made, even at Hogwarts. She had even printed up cards for him. Remus Lupin: Travel Agent, hoping that he could start his own customer base.

But she needed to inform Severus of this, and what’s more…to ask him about the Wolfsbane potion he made for the wizard every month. What Isadora wanted to know was if Severus was trying to improve the potion or simply giving the wizard the standard brew. If he was giving him the standard brew, she hoped to influence him to work on finding a cure for the wizard.

Hermione looked up at the witch, encouragement in her eyes. She had Severus pretty much dancing to her tune concerning her pregnancy, but in matters of Potions Making she had no such power over him, or in anything else, actually. He still made his decisions based on what he felt best for him. Of course, Hermione planned to use her own more intimate influence on the dark wizard to help his mother convince him to try to help Remus if he gave her a hard time about it. She could still give a mean blowjob.

Isadora looked down at Hermione, then at her son, who was busily drawing red lines through parchment after parchment…totally absorbed in his work.

“Um, Severus?” Isadora ventured.

The Potions Master stopped writing and looked up.

“Yes, Mother?” he responded, his black eyes resting on Hermione however. She looked a bit nervous. Something was going on. He put the quill down.

“I want to ask you…er…tell you something. Now I don’t want you getting upset…” Isadora said haltingly as she walked around the sofa and sat next to Hermione.

His mother’s nervousness put Severus immediately on point.

“Tell me about what?” he said, sitting back in the chair now, his arms folded across his chest. Again the witches exchanged glances.

“It’s about Remus Lupin,” Hermione said to her husband, her amber eyes locked to his face, watching for his reaction.

“Lupin? What about him?” Severus asked, scowling, a low growl sounding in his voice. Anything to do with Remus and his mother couldn’t be good.

“Are you working on a cure for him?” Isadora asked.

Severus looked at both witches for a moment, then picked up his quill and started marking papers again.

“No,” he said shortly.

“Why?” his mother asked.

“Because Remus Lupin wants to die,” the Potions Master replied, “I see no reason to waste my time working on a potion to cure a wizard who doesn’t want to live.”

“Remus has such a defeatist attitude only because his life is so hard, Severus. Isadora has found a way to help him make a decent living now. His outlook is bound to change,” Hermione said.

Severus put his quill down and looked at his mother rather severely.

“You’re wasting your time, Mother. Remus has no heart…no will. No determination. He’ll give up on it, like he does everything. Like he did his job at Hogwarts…like he does at every job he gets,” Severus said dismissively. “Like he’s given up on himself.”

Isadora frowned at her son.

“You made Remus leave, Severus. By telling the students he was a werewolf. You knew their parents would be up in arms when they found out,” she said.

Severus arched an eyebrow.

“If he had any moral fiber, he would have ridden it out,” he replied, “instead he ran like a coward, afraid of a little contention.”

“A little contention? Severus, parents would have pulled students from his class, you know that,” Hermione said.

“Not my problem,” he replied, marking another paper.

Both witches scowled at the wizard.

“Severus, how can you be that way? Remus was an outcast…much like you were,” Hermione said.

“He had the Marauders,” Severus said coldly.

“‘Had’ being the operative word there. They’re all dead now. He’s been on his own for years. And with his malady, his life has been hell,” Hermione said.

“Cry me a river,” Severus said snarkily.

“Severus…Remus never did anything to you. Even the incident when he could have killed you, he wasn’t a party to it. He was friends with James, Sirius and Peter, but he never did a single cruel act to you. He’s never been a predator,” Hermione said, taking up the werewolf’s cause now. Isadora looked at her appreciatively.

“He certainly is a predator. He’s a werewolf Hermione, and very dangerous,” Severus replied.

“But he never preyed on you. Never. You have just grouped him in with the others without seeing him as an individual,” she snapped at him.

“He chose to be with them. He might not have attacked me personally, but he did nothing to stop them either,” Severus said, his nostrils flaring, “They ganged up on me constantly, and Remus said nothing. Not a damned word.”

“He was frightened, Severus. Scared to say anything,” Isadora said softly. “Don’t you remember what that was like? To be afraid to say when you didn’t like what someone did? Afraid of what would happen?”

Severus looked at his mother. He did remember. When his father beat her and he was young and frightened.

“Yes, I remember. But I was young then,” he said evenly.

“So was Remus. He had never had friends before, so even though he was older than you…he was still like a child when it came to relationships. He didn’t want to lose his friends. He told me he hated what they did to you, Severus. How he identified with you. It could have easily have been him they focused on. He was a werewolf. An outcast. He knows what it’s like to be a target, son. He lives it everyday. You have moved past it, but surely you remember how horrible it was to live that way,” Isadora said.

Severus didn’t say anything. He went back to marking his papers.

“Severus, I want you to help him. I want you to find a cure for him,” Isadora said softly.

“Why, Mother? Why should I do that?” Severus asked her coldly.

Isadora blinked at him a moment, her eyes wet.

“Because you know it’s the right thing to do,” she said softly.

Severus looked at his mother and his wife. Both sets of eyes were wet. He hated witches crying. It was like some secret weapon they pulled out when all else failed to make wizards feel horrible. And these were the two witches he loved most in the world.

He sighed.

“I’ll think about it,” the wizard said shortly, returning to his paperwork.

Hermione and Isadora looked at each other and gripped each other’s arms excitedly. Severus watched them with hooded eyes.

If he did help Remus, they were both going to owe him, big.

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A/N: Firstly, I would like to thank my reader Alex aka Beeky63 for the turtle reference. She had posted a similar incident that happened to her in a review and I thought it was hilarious and plucked it to add to the story, although Alex couldn’t hex her hubby for his thoughtlessness. I hope she found some vindication in that Hermione did what she might have liked to. Lol.

I enjoyed writing this chapter…especially the first part. Poor Severus and Eli. The second part was interesting to write also, particular since Isadora started out by teasing Severus about being turned into a hyena, and Hermione had just hexed him that morning. Now they wanted something from him, for someone he disliked. That happens so much in real life. People jerk you around and then want something from you. Those witches are lucky he loves them so much. 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 71

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