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A PERFECT MATCH

Chapter 13: Strategy for seduction

Hermione woke up feeling quite energetic. Today was going to be the start of the most important project she ever engaged in. The seduction of Severus Snape ! She smiled, confident she would succeed. Realising he had to teach a few classes this morning, her smile grew even bigger. Now she could dig into it immediately after breakfast.

At first she considered asking Ginny for help. However, knowing the younger girl was totally wrapped up in Draco Malfoy at the moment and certainly not forgetting about the lack of discretion she displayed recently, she decided to do this one on her own.

The prospect of having this incredible man longing for her gave her a tingling feeling all over her body. Come to think of it, she wasn’t all that hungry ! Instead of going to the Great Hall for breakfast, she headed for the library. She needed a quiet place to think right now.

Nearly there, she saw Sirius coming her way.

Oh, God. She had totally forgotten about the other night and she couldn’t let Sirius think …

 

“Hey, good morning !” Sirius gave her a peck on the cheek and her heart suddenly weighed a ton.

 

“Oh, hi Sirius.” She felt her stomach turn, but there was no way she could put it off any longer.

 

“Er, listen. About what happened the other night, you know, what I asked you …” she hesitated, feeling very awkward about the situation.

 

“I know what you mean. Don’t worry about it, let’s say it was the wine and the moonlight, shall we ? Just two friends having a bit of fun.”

 

Relieved, she smiled and started to walk away from him, when he stopped her.

 

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t go out together again, does it ? As friends I mean ?”

 

At first she didn’t know what to say, but she did have a good time, and he was Harry’s godfather after all, so …

 

“Yes, why not, and next time we can invite Remus to go along with us.”

 

“Oh, ok. See you” And he walked away.

 

Happy about being able to clear the air with Sirius, she entered the library.

Now, where to start ? She sat down at a table, her notebook in front of her, ready to draw up her battle plan. Actually, she could do with some guidance. She never thought about how to seduce a man and didn’t know a way to go about it. Her gaze went to the left side of the library. It was the magazine section. Maybe …

She got up and browsed the magazines. Most of them were scientific, but on the very last shelf, she saw something familiar. The label read: ‘Muggle Lifestyle/Females’ and she stared right at the glossy cover of Cosmopolitan. She grabbed half a dozen issues and took them to her table. Soon she found what she’d been looking for. There was an article in the February issue from earlier that year, titled: “10 ways to get your man.”

There would of course be a lot of crap in it, but some bits could be useful. She started reading, her quill pointing at her notebook, ready to write down the advice.

Some time later, she leaned back into her chair. This was not going to be easy ! Then again, who ever said it would be ? Making him notice her wouldn’t be too difficult, she was under the impression he was very much aware of her existence already. She had to focus on her strong points. Did she have any ? Well, according to the magazine, men fell for long hair, breasts and hips. OK, so she did have long hair and she always thought her breasts would never seize to grow, so that looked promising too. Only her hips … they were rather slim. Oh, two out of three wasn’t all too bad ! She needed to be around him as much as possible, taking every opportunity to touch him. That she could do ! He had touched her on several occasions, so she should be able to arrange things for her to be in such a position he had to do it again.

Hopefully she would be able to control her own feelings at that time. She just had to push him over the edge so he would kiss her again and then he wouldn’t be able to deny the mutual attraction anymore.

Next: jealousy. She immediately discarded this method. After seeing his reaction to Sirius the other day, she was not eager to undergo another of his jealous moods. She needed to remind herself of his darker side. No doubt she would have to withstand a lot more of his sneering sarcasm if she was going to tempt him, but better not infuriate him too much.

No, making him jealous was not an option.

Praise. Now that would be easy. He was a brilliant scientist, so it should be easy to praise him. However, she’d have to be careful not to criticise his teaching methods !

She suddenly realised it was passed lunchtime and he would be expecting her in the dungeon.

Quickly returning the magazines, she picked up her notebook and headed for the lab.

 

When she got in, he was reading the book with the obscure ingredients.

She pulled a few strings out of her knot and made sure her blouse had two unfastened buttons before she approached him. Obviously he had heard her come in, for the words he spoke were clearly meant for her.

 

“Take the cauldron, we are ready to begin with the weakening potion.”

She couldn’t tell what kind of mood he was in, but at least he didn’t sound irritated, so that was a start.

 

“Where do we begin ?” she asked him.

 

“The basic ingredient is Marshland Purificus.”

 

“What is that ?”

 

“It was a purifying liquid, found in the swamps of East-Anglia.”

 

“Was ?” she sounded a little alarmed.

 

“Yes, most swamps have disappeared now, and the liquid is lost for good. Luckily for us, muggle chemistry came up with a very similar substance. You know it as ‘bleach’.”

 

“But that’s poisonous !”

 

“Indeed, very much so. I use it to clean up my lab. We will have to use a magical sieve to extract the poison before we pour it into the cauldron.”

 

While speaking, he covered the cauldron with a large, round sieve, took a big bottle of bleach from the bottom shelf and poured it into the cauldron.

 

“Now we need to add some fresh leeches. I’ll go look for them later.”

 

“Couldn’t we use some of the dried ones ?”

 

“No, they have to be alive when they are thrown in. Are you too much of a sentimental Gryffindor weakling that your love for the animal-life will prevent you completing this task ?” he sneered.

 

“Of course not, I realise the importance.” She had to swallow her pride, aching to answer him with a sneer as well, but she thought about her plan and stayed calm.

 

“Next we will need the saliva of a werewolf. Easy enough, it’s going to be a full moon tonight, so I’ll ask Remus to collect some of his own.”

 

“But he’s going to go all wild, isn’t he ? Then how is he going to remember what to do ?”

 

He looked very pleased with himself when he said:

 

“I made some adjustments to the potion I prepare for him. Only his physical appearance changes. Mentally he remains Remus, including his intelligence.”

 

“That’s incredible !” Hermione sighed in admiration.

 

He gave her a little smile and she realised she just scored a point. Time for action !

She was writing down the ingredients for the potion, standing very close to him. She saw an opportunity and dropped her quill.

Both bent down at the same time and when she looked at him, she saw him taking a quick peek at the opening of her blouse, before his eyes met hers.

“How clumsy of me.” She whispered, picking up the quill and raising herself without loosing eye-contact. Her heart missed a beat when she realised she was loosing herself again in those dark magnets and she needed all of her strength to focus on her notes again.

 

“That leaves us with the virgin blood. Have you found out how it fits in this potion ?”

 

Apparently he needed some time to snap out of the trance as well and picked up his book.

 

“Just as I expected, the book says it makes the wizard stronger. However, right at the bottom of the page, an interesting footnote was added. Virgin blood takes it’s power from the fear the virgin feels when the blood is taken. If the virgin should not feel this fear and is willing to give the blood freely, the blood will lose it’s power. More so, when the powerless blood is used in a potion, it will weaken the magical powers of whoever drinks it.”

 

“Waw.”

 

“Yes. I will ask Poppy to summon one of the younger students and ask for some blood. We will of course have to explain to the child why this blood is needed, otherwise she will still be afraid of the needle and the blood would be useless to us.” He obviously didn’t like having to include one of the younger students in their secret business.

 

“You don’t need to inform one of the younger students. I already know everything about the importance of this potion and I’ll be happy to donate mine.”

 

He stiffened when he heard her saying these words, realising the implication. She had never seen him so ill at ease. She grinned. Did he really think all students had sex before they graduated ?

 

“That, er, that would be most convenient. Thank you. I will draw some of your blood tomorrow, after I’ve added the saliva. At least, I suppose nothing will … er … change in your … er … condition overnight ?”

 

Hermione tried very hard not to giggle and she just shook her head, thinking: not unless YOU have something else in mind, professor Snape !

 

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