[FIC] Mysteries of Antiquity: Severus/Hermione :: gift for just__drive Title: Mysteries of Antiquity Author: Recipient:just__drive Pairing: Severus/Hermione Rating: harmless NC-17 Word Count: 2482 Warnings: Not really. Maybe, sex under an enchantment? Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. Summary: Hermione works as a curator for the Magical Department of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, when she has some difficulties with identifying several of the artefacts, the Museum sends in an expert to help her. However, she gets more then she bargained for with this exchange. Author's Notes:just__drive, I hope you like it. I know this Snape is not very nice, but I tried to keep him as canon as possible.
I have to thank quite a few people because I had some severe problems getting an inspiration for this story. You all know who you are.
And a huge thank you to the mod for being so patient with me.
It was June, and the hot and dry Chamsin was blowing through the streets of Cairo, making it hard to breathe. You could almost feel your nerves wither with each passing step taken.
A small woman with brown, bushy hair and chestnut coloured eyes, hurried through the hectic and raucous dirt covered streets, the air weighty with sand, dust, and exotic odours.
Hermione Granger’s target was the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, her place of work for the past ten weeks. She was there as a curator for the new Wizarding Department of the museum, searching and identifying magical objects amongst the ancient Muggle artefacts.
She had made a lot of progress, but lately had had some trouble with some of the most harmless looking items in the exhibit. They were removed from public display after some bizarre occurrences with Muggles that frequented the museum.
Five Muggles disappeared; one elderly man tried to commit suicide in the Museum and was now treated in St. Mungo’s because the Muggle hospital couldn’t deal with his vivid hallucinations, which were strangely enough featured by uncontrolled bursts of magic. A woman died a mysterious demise two weeks after she had visited the museum, and a young couple engaged in certain activities behind the statue of Alexander The Great.
For weeks the young witch had tried all the spells, hexes and jinxes she knew, as well as several difficult potions, but to no avail. Not being able to find out which of the artefacts had caused these separate incidents, she was rather disheartened by the whole endeavour. And now the museum had the gall to send her an expert to assist her.
She wasn’t at all thrilled about that. No one had asked her if she needed or wanted help. They hadn’t even bothered to consult her on the type of expert necessary for the job. The museum had just informed her, via owl no less, that she could expect this so-called ‘specialist’ on Monday. The parchment didn’t mention a name, if the expert was a woman or a man, or from where they came from.
Hermione just hoped that he/she would not arrive too early, so she might have a chance to talk with her boss and tidy up her office, which had gotten a little cluttered with her research papers, books and such.
Entering her office she discovered there was already someone there.
The silhouette of a stature, clad in black, was standing before her desk, back turned towards her. However, she could tell the figure was that of a man despite the dark, shoulder length hair. She cleared her throat, and when the form turned around she had to grab onto the door jam to steady herself as she almost fainted dead away.
She was looking in a familiar face – sallow skin; black, cold eyes; a long, hooked nose – scowling at her.
“Close your mouth and stop gaping, Miss Granger. It is not very becoming,” a familiar voice broke through the beating of her heart. It was the voice and the face of a dead man. The late Head of Slytherin House, Potions master and headmaster of Hogwarts, Death Eater and member of the Order of the Phoenix: Severus Snape.
“But… you are Severus Snape!” Hermione managed to say.
“Very well observed.” he sneered back at her.
“But… but… you’re dead!” she stuttered out, her fingernails biting into the wood of the door jam.
“Obliviously not,” he retorted, a scowl littering his face as he spoke.
“How?” she asked, genuinely interested in hearing his response as she relaxing her fingers from the wood a little.
“That is none of your business, Miss Granger. Now can we begin with our work that I was so urgently called away from another project to oversee?” the not-so-dead Severus Snape replied as he turned his back to her once more.
“Our work?” a livid Hermione asked, placing both of her hands of her hips as she took a step into the room. “This is my work, my project, and…”
“Very well, I shall leave you to it then. I do not need, nor do I want, this job. I for one, have better things to do than wasting my time working with an obnoxious know-it-all ex-student. Goodbye, Miss Granger!” Snape briskly walked towards her, brushing by Hermione as he went to exit the room.
“Professor Snape, wait!” Hermione called, placing a shaky hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. It seems I really do need your help. Please, stay.”
Severus whirled around flinging Hermione’s hand from his shoulder; it fell limply to her side.
“Fine! But I am not a professor any more. Mister Snape will suffice. You will begin with tidying up this dragon nest. How anyone can work in here is beyond me.”
Hermione wanted to reply, but a very dangerous scowl from the man beside her quashed any and all responses. She quickly got to work straightening up the papers upon her desk and shoving them into drawers. She had to get her office into something that less resembled a ‘dragon nest’ as he had so aptly put it.
~*~*~*~
Two weeks later, Hermione was ready to use an Unforgivable on the man who had totally invaded her office and made it his own. He was entirely unpleasant to work with. If one could call it working together, she had the feeling she was just an insignificant minion.
Granted, he had successfully identified the artefact causing the Muggles to disappear, he even brought them back, though he didn’t tell her the whys or hows of how he had managed it. This only further infuriated her, as she had thought them to be partners on this case, but his lips were firmly sealed whenever she asked.
One week later, he found the object that was responsible for that woman’s death, and yesterday he found the item that triggered the man’s suicide attempt. He didn’t see fit to inform her about his success, instead she had had to hear about it from her boss. Her questions about how he found the artefacts were consequently and continually dodged.
Now he was searching for the last artefact on the list, and Hermione was banned to idleness.
Suddenly, Snape mumbled something that sounded liked a lot of swearing and then he was quiet again. Several minutes later, he spoke up, “Miss Granger, please come over here. I think I found the last artefact on the list.”
Excited that he was finally involving her, even though it was her work, Hermione joined him at her desk. He handed her a small, golden amulet that was often used at the end of an ancient Egyptian wedding ritual. It looked like every other amulet she had seen, and she had already begun to wonder if he just wanted to spite her when she felt a tingling sensation creeping up her arm. She dropped the amulet immediately on the desk and gave a surprised gasp.
“What was that?” she asked him intrigued despite her better judgement.
“A tingling,” Snape replied.
“Yes of course the tingling,” she snapped, “what exactly does it mean?”
“It is nothing harmful,” he replied cloyingly.
“Now that’s informative,” Hermione spat back at him, annoyed at the invasive way that he would answer or just plain ignore her questions. “I will go upstairs and inform my boss that we found the last artefact.”
“No. You will not,” Snape replied in a bored tone.
Now Hermione could no longer contain herself. She was fed up with Severus Snape and his impossible conduct. It was little wonder that she made it through six long years under his tutelage. She was about ready to chop off his head and place it in an exhibit that read, “Most Impossible Man in the World,” consequences be damned.
“Mister. Severus. Snape. You are one sexy, snarky bastard!” she purred out in a voice not her own.
Mortified, Hermione clapped both of her hands over her mouth; her head was spinning. Did she just say what she thought she had said?
‘Where did that came from?’ she thought embarrassed. ‘I am so dead!’
But instead of the Avada Kedavra she had expected, the impossibly tall, sexy bastard just smirked, “Thank you, Miss Granger! I have to say you are quite an attractive specimen of the female species yourself,” he replied. His voice doing funny things to her insides.
‘What?! Did Severus Snape just pay me a compliment?’
“Now come over here and get undressed,” Snape ordered her.
The reasonable part of her wanted to go to him and slap him squarely in his face, instead she found herself slowly walking towards him, eyes never leaving his face, as she leisurely started to unbutton her blouse.
She came to stand before him, clad in only her bra, kickers and shoes. She must have shed her skirt along the way, but she had no recollection of this fact. Confused, she cocked her head to the side and asked him, “What’s going on?”
“This amulet was used for wedding rituals, primarily for arranged marriages,” Snape explained in his best professor tone. “It is enchanted to enforce the couple in consummating the marriage. We are obviously victims of the enchanted amulet. The only way to break it, I believe, is to have sex.”
“Oh,” was Hermione’s only reply.
Snape understood that as an agreement and waved his wand, leaving him standing completely naked before the befuddled witch. He was thin, too thin. Hermione could clearly see every single rib and his hipbones stuck out at odd angles. The black hairs on his chest, arm, legs and between this thighs made his skin look even more sallow. The faint contours of the Dark Mark on his left arm were still visible.
All of a sudden Hermione found herself in the arms of Severus Snape. He kissed her upon her lips, and he wasn’t that bad at it. Driven by the spell, Hermione put her arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss until their tongues were fighting each other for domination.
One of Snape’s hands travelled up her back and opened her bra while the other hand was busy creeping into her knickers. He slowly worked his hand through her pubic hair, and then his index finger slipped between her already wet folds. Finding her clitoris he rubbed it in slow and steady circles, causing Hermione to moan into his mouth. He abandoned her centre to take off her knickers.
When he had her completely naked, he lifted her up effortlessly, and sat her on the desk, never stopping his thorough exploration of her mouth. He stepped between her legs and leaned over so that Hermione was forced to lie back on the desk. She let her hands travel down his body, her right hand grabbing his erection and languidly stroking up and down his hot shaft.
Any further foreplay was unnecessary; the enchanted amulet had done that job already, so he penetrated her in one swift movement. After only a moment of adjustment, they started to move, awkwardly at first, but steadily gaining more and more confidence until they moved in perfect sync as if they had already done this a thousand times before.
It was quick, hot, and aimed at a fast release, their orgasms approaching fast. The table was squeaking and creaking under their assault, their moans, groans and heavy breathing completing the orchestra.
Hermione was surprised when she felt the quick and powerful orgasm take hold of her, and she screamed out loud. This, in turn, caused Snape to follow her over the edge with a grunt.
Breathing hard, they tried to recover, when the same tingling sensation signalled the lifting of the enchantment, and they found themselves in quite an awkward situation – naked bodies entwined on her desk of all places.
Hermione dared to look up and stared directly into Snape black eyes, and then her whole world faded to black.
~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up several hours later, alone and dressed, but still lying on the desk where only a few hours ago, she assumed, she had had the best sex of her short life. Whilst contemplating this, a flying memo landed on her face startling her into instant consciousness. Confused, Hermione picked it up and read it. Her boss wanted to her in his office immediately.
She had no time to wonder about where Snape had gone, or why she was dressed, or think about what had happened on her desk.
In her boss’ office she was surprised to learn that she could continue with her usual work because the task of identifying the problematic artefacts was completed.
“So he informed you that he was able to find all the objects?” Hermione asked.
“Yes, he gave me his report, collected his fee and left an hour ago. You two did a great job, and found three dangerous artefacts that will be put in a safe place until someone can research their capabilities,” her boss replied.
“Three, sir?” Hermione asked perplexed.
“Of course. The incident with the kids ‘having fun’ behind the statue was just a case of overactive hormones and a thirst for adventure. Now, go home and relax. You have the day off tomorrow.”
“Err… thank you, sir. Did Mister Snape tell you that about the couple?” Hermione asked, bewildered.
“Mister Snape? What gives you that idea? Professor Snape is dead, as you should know,’ her boss gave her a perplexed look, one that held an ounce of sympathy, before continuing. “Mister Loprieno gave me his full report on your findings.”
“Who?” Hermione cut him off.
“Antonio Loprieno, the Egyptologist you worked with for last three weeks. Really, Miss Granger, go home. It seems you are a bit overworked.”
“Yes, sir.” And a completely bewildered Hermione made her way back to her office.
~*~*~*~
Back in her office Hermione did a thorough search for the amulet, but she couldn’t find it anywhere. Instead an owl was demanding entrance at her window. Opening the pane and allowing the owl entry, she took the letter from the birds’ outstretched leg, but before she could give it a treat it was already gone.
Looking down at the envelope in her hands, she saw her name was etched across the front of it in very familiar handwriting.
Miss Granger,
This letter will turn into a Portkey at exactly 10 p. m.
I will expect you at that time.
I need your assistance for further research of the wedding amulet.
Please, be carefully prepared.
S.S.
That man’s behaviour was still impossible, but she was sure she could break him of some of his more annoying habits.
Taking the letter with her, she left her office with a small smile on her face as she hurried home. She only had approximately five hours, and there was a lot to be done before 10 p.m. rolled around.