Marriage Law

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9

Chapter 9 ~ Coming Clean

Severus was sitting in front of the fireplace, sipping a firewhiskey when the door to Hermione’s rooms opened and the witch emerged. She could see him sitting staring into the fire.

“Severus, I’m back,” she said to the Potions Master.

There was silence for a moment, then the Professor said rather coldly, “Well, that was a fast visit. Was Mr. Bradcliff not in, or did you both opt out for a quickie?”

Hermione could almost feel the iciness in his words as she walked around the chair to face him. His eyes flicked over her for a moment, then dropped back to the fireplace. She noticed a package on the table next to him. She took a deep breath.

“Severus, I need to talk to you. To clear things up. May I join you?” she asked him.

The Professor grunted assent and took another sip of his drink, before setting it back down. He didn’t look at her. Hermione settled down in the armchair next to him. He could smell the jasmine scent she wore clearly.

“What is it you wish to tell me, Hermione? About your other paramours, perhaps?” he asked her, his black eyes shifting toward her. Hermione was taken aback by the coldness in them.

“There are no other paramours,” she said, “In fact, Severus…there are no paramours at all.”

He simply looked at her. He knew what he saw last night. She was clearly going to her rooms with the young wizard, and this morning she said he had been wonderful and sweet. What more did he need to know?

“You don’t need to lie to me, Hermione. You told me on the stairwell before I gave you the ring that I didn’t know you. That you might have a rather active love life of your own. I didn’t believe you. You proved me wrong. It seems my assessment of your virtue was deeply in error,” he said, turning his eyes back to the fire. She thought she heard a touch of disappointment in his voice.

“You weren’t wrong. It’s just…when you mocked me about being a virgin, and said how much of a problem I would be to explain to your lovers, I got angry and I … well, I shot back at you with that lie. You made it sound like I didn’t know anything…and I didn’t…I don’t. But, you were so fucking smug that all I could think of was making you think you were wrong. I planned to make you think I had lovers from that moment on. I had Ginny help me get a new wardrobe and school me how to act to attract wizards,” she said.

Severus turned his black eyes on her again. She continued.

“Last night, I went to Gryffindor Tower dressed in my new clothes and attracted almost every male wizard there. I felt like I had power. All I did though, was play wizard’s chess. I overstayed and it was past curfew. Erin only walked me back to my rooms. You went inside before you could see him leave. He never came into my rooms. All I did was kiss him on the cheek to thank him for walking me back to my rooms. Then he left.” she said.

Severus continued to look at her, his eyes unreadable. She went on.

“And this morning, when you asked me how my date went with Erin, I realized you thought I brought him into my rooms and fucked him. I started to tell you that you were mistaken, but then I thought about the woman you brought to your rooms, and I…I just didn’t want to seem like I spent my wedding night alone when you didn’t. I’ve never had sex with anyone, Severus. It was all a scheme to make you think I had my own lovers to occupy me…it was like a kind of pissing contest. Your lovers against my lovers. I didn’t want you to think I didn’t have a life beyond my books and studies. I didn’t want you to see me like some little girl you had to baby-sit for. I guess I wanted you to see me as a woman, not just a little know-it-all you got saddled with. I’m sorry I made you so angry. I’m sorry about everything.”