Amour

THE STAG AND THE HEN(II)

Snape stood waiting for his bride to arrive. He was in jitters as he shifted from one foot to the other, impatient. Finally, a woman garbed in white, walked out as if through a dazzling bright light at the end of a tunnel and his heart lifted. She was no doubt the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Soft music was playing in the background as he caught her smiling under her veil. The soil underneath was staining the lower edge of her gown but she didn't seem to care. Wait. Wasn't the wedding supposed to take place at Hogwarts? But as she reached him and squeezed his hand, any other thought left Snape's mind. He was with the woman he had always wanted after all. Together they faced the reverend but Snape did a double take; performing the wedding ceremony was Tobias Snape. Words couldn't be uttered by him as he had gone into such a shock. He watched his father look contemptuously at Hermione and felt, rather than heard, him say,"Don't make the same mistake I did. The girl has got her tentacles around you and before you know it, she's gonna choke you to death." Snape quickly looked at Hermione, but she hadn't heard a thing. "Ladies and gentlemen. Today we have gathered here to honour the death-watch beetle that is the doom of our society, and in time, one feels certain, our entire species!"Tobias gave a freaky smile that didn't reach his eyes, which were still trying to communicate words of caution to his son. After such an utterance, Snape expected to hear a murmur from the guests but none came. The place was as silent as an empty hall, where his father's words were still echoing. He whipped around and saw that there truly wasn't anyone present, but that their wedding was taking place at a cemetery. The headstones of his as well as Hermione's parents were visible amongst many others. In a flash, his dream morphed into a nightmare. He turned horrified to Hermione who reflected his expression. The white of her dress was slowly turning crimson as blood leaked out of her every pore. She raised her hand in one desperate attempt to be rescued by her lover but he couldn't reach her in time and she fell dead into a grave that had been freshly dug.
Snape went into a violent fit of seizure, biting into his pillow that absorbed his scream. "Severus, it's okay. Wake up. It was just a dream. Open your eyes."Hermione had woken up feeling him shaking. His eyes flew open and was comforted with the sight of Hermione in front of him. He let out a breath and hugged her to him, burying his face in her bosom while she ran her fingers comfortingly through his hair.....................................................
Hermione got up, collected her phone from the bedside table and groaned seeing Ginny's texts. She felt the bed move as Snape also got up on the other side. "You okay now?"she asked. "Fine."he replied without facing her. He was a little embarrased about his dream and went straight out of the room. He knew he was gonna be busy today; some interior designers and workers were coming and he had to handle the reconstruction work that was already underway in the castle. He had told her that she could redecorate their home just the way she wanted and Hermione had given some suggestions. He was planning to see it through, so that it was completed before they started living there together. "Master Severus. Two gentlemen have arrived. They claim to be your and Madam Granger's friends."Mr.D'onfrio announced. Before Snape could give the permission to let them in, Ron and Harry strolled in themselves. Harry had the decency to atleast acknowledge his host's presence, while Ron was still gawking at the enormous structure and exclaiming,"Bloody hell!" "What are you doing here?"Hermione came in fully dressed to go. "We offered to help in moving stuff from your house to here."Harry replied and pulled at Ron's sleeve to get him back to his senses. "And also if there's anything to do here. We could be of use."Ron blabbered. "You're going out I see?"Snape asked Hermione. "Yeah. Ginny texted me- she wants me to come to Grimmauld Place. She has something in mind.."she informed."It's probably about doing my nails and hair and stuff. You can stay here, you have to supervise the work. And besides, you'll get bored there." "Okay then, have fun."Snape said and gave her a kiss. "See ya later boys. And don't give Sev too much trouble."Hermione called to her friends before leaving.........
"Oh no.."Hermione grumbled as she found out what Ginny's plan was. "Professor Snape had a stag night, now you would think I'm a complete waste of a friend if I don't throw you a hen party."Ginny said, already dressed and applying lip gloss.
"Of course not. You've already done so much, Gin-"
"Yeah well, I've been working so much for the last two weeks that I need to let off a little steam anyways. Luna is on the way- it'll be a girls' night. No phones."she switched hers off and skipped out. Hermione hated lying to Snape and guessed he'd be furious if he didn't hear from her all evening. So she sneaked her phone in her purse without her friend's knowledge, just in case, but kept it on silent mode. They first went to a quite pub and sipped on beers while talking. "Crowning glory! Rather a fitting name to kick start the night that is."Ginny remarked. Hermione munched on some nuts, making sure they had some solid food along with the alcohol. "How's your work coming along, Luna?"she asked. "Pretty good actually."Luna said airily,"Father expects me to take over the organisation by the end of this year." "I'm sure you'll do great."Hermione smiled. "Have you thought about what you're going to do next?"Luna asked casually. If truth be told, Hermione hadn't started thinking about her career before this point; she wanted the wedding to be over first. But before she could contemplate her life choices any further, Ginny interrupted,"No discussions about work tonight. We're here to have fun, girls! Let's go." They were dragged to another pub, where there was a lot more people and they had to fight their way to the bartender. They got themselves one drink each but when another girl tried to claim Ginny's second drink as her own, she almost clocked her. "You don't wanna do that."she warned, slurring her words. "Try me, I'm very fiesty!"Ginny shot back and poured the drink over her head. The girl seemed too drunk to make a move but her friends were closing in, so the three of them escaped. They came giggling onto the next pub, but an enormous Afro-American muscleman barred their way. "Don't you know who this is? This is The saviour of the world!"Luna remarked, showing Hermione off as a rare piece of artifact. Hermione gave a vacant expression at first but getting a nudge in the ribs from Ginny, she took up an elegant stance and waved, like she was royalty. "And we are together. You know like together together."Ginny grasped Hermione's shoulder and leaned on her seductively. The man remained unmoved, not in the least swayed by their phoney charms but a guy appreared at their shoulders,"That's okay, Markus. Let these girls enter." They looked around at him and he exhibited much swagger and a dazzling smile. They were so excited to get in that they didn't even properly thank him and went straight to the dance floor. After shaking a leg and banging their heads like crazy to the amplified music for a good part of an hour, they got a seat and downed glasses of margaritas in one go. "Is it too hot in here?"Hermione asked, fanning herself. "Let's see,"Ginny ripped open the top two buttons of Hermione's blouse,"Ooh, no. The temperatures just went a notch higher!" "Ginny!"Hermione cried as ample of her cleavage could be seen. As she hopelessly tried to fix her top, a waiter arrived at their table with drinks,"For the lovely ladies: courtesy of this bar's owner, Mr.Pine." They looked across the pub and saw the same guy at the door, staring back while sipping his drink. Ginny waved him over. "Hi, I'm James."he smirked cockily. "And I'm not gay. Not gay at all."Ginny leaned across the table to shake his hand while giving him her most endearing smile. "You are married though."Hermione added aside. "Would you gorgeous ladies care to join me and my friends at our table?"he asked, Hermione felt specifically to her. Luna shrugged, completely guileless, and was about to bound up but Hermione held her back. "Um, no thanks. Mr.Pine, thank you for the drinks, but we're not looking for anything to happen tonight." James raised his hands up in submission but gave her another stare before disappearing into the crowd. "Speak for yourselves."Luna said, looking longingly after him. "I don't like him. I mean, sure the engagement ring wasn't hard to miss?"Hermione made a face but decided to shake it off. "I have something I cooked up."Luna brought out a small flask containing a green liquid, which she promptly poured into their respective drinks,"It's called Green Fairy. It has powdered absinthe and would help us achieve a sweet spot for the rest of the evening." "Are you sure about this..?"Hermione inquired while Ginny tipped her glass in her mouth. "Totally. It is like ecstasy."Luna assured and together they drank it up. Hermione could instantly feel herself being lifted higher, like her senses were hightened, but she wasn't fully in her senses. As the night ascended, the alcohol intake increased; or maybe it was just the effect of the drug. And noone cared to eat something solid anymore as all rational thoughts escaped their brains. Soon, they found themselves sympathising with a gay transvestite. "And then he never even called me. When I went over to his place, his mum answered the door and said he didn't want to see me. He didn't wanna do anything with the likes of me!"the guy cried hoarsely on Hermione's shoulder. She patted his head,"How rude is that?!" "Fuck Darryl! Let's bust some moves on the dance floor. Show everyone what you got baby!"Ginny exclaimed and led the way to the middle. Luna kept muttering,"Excelsior!"while swaying with the drink in her hand. Hermione jived, shimmied, jigged with her friends without a care in the world. But when two hands creeped up her torso from behind, caressing her butt, the blaring music grew faded in her ear and she blinked several times to clear her vision that was almost blinded by the flickering lights. Normally girls have a built-in security system that warns them of creeps like this, or they exchange that 'look' amongst themselves that says,'Intruder alert!'. But tonight, the alcohol had rusted that trustworthy system and there was, to their dismay, a security breach. Hermione pushed James off herself as distant alarms rang in her head, declaring,"We have a Code Creep!" She glared at him, though not as intensely as she wanted to, but he flashed the same charming smile, as if what he did was allright. Hermione forced her way out through the crowd and headed for the washroom; she felt like cleansing herself of the repulsion she felt at the moment. It was like her body and her mind had become two separate persons: her mind said,'Call him. Text him. Let him know where you are.', while her body tried utmost to stay upright and take the right path to the nearest place where she could splash her face with water. Whatever she came across, her mind formed subtexts in front of her eyes.
Bar
Drink
No! Not another drop.

Sitty thing
Couch
Sleeeeeeeep

Bathroom
Need to pee.
Lie down on the floor and die!
She finally reached her destination and stuck her head into the basin. She wretched a couple of times, forcing the others to walk out in disgust. However, she was glad to have the washroom to herself. After a splash of water, her droopy eyes grew more alert and she fished out her phone from her purse. And sure enough, there were nine missed-calls from Snape and a text. He hadn't fully acheived a grasp on the mechanisms of sending an sms, so his message was in all caps, without any punctuation or spaces.
WHEREAREYOU
She rang his number and he immediately answered,"What the fuck Hermione?!" She bit her lip. God, he is pissed! She held onto the cold ceramic as her head swam and gulped back, only managing to say,"Come and get me." The display showed that her battery had run out. As she pushed away her hair, which had turned completely frizzy from all the wild dancing, she saw in the reflection of the mirror, James Pine standing at the door, his smile turning to a grin, as he stared lustily at her......................................................
The next was a blurr of action, as Hermione felt a mixture of terror, repulsion and bravery as James inched near her. It was a muggle bar and locality and she couldn't bring out her wand, but she doubted whether she could have been able to point it straight. He had her backed against a wall and she threw punches at him and kicked but her inebriated state made her lose balance, making her fall all-the-more against his body. The weak scream she emanated was most likely lost in the amplified music outside. The next thing she knew was the door slamming open and a blotchy black figure swooping in, flinging her violator off her. She didn't see what he did to the other, as she was too busy trying to reach the commode, feeling her diaphragm lurch with another bout of wretching. This time vomit came out and her rescuer came to her aid, holding back her hair as she puked. There was such a different way in which he held her from that of her attacker; like he was there to protect her and she could finally relax. Hermione felt her consciousness wash down the drain..................................................
Snape wiped the sweat off her greenish face and helped her up. Hermione was still conscious but lost to the world, mumbling to herself, or maybe thanking him. After he fixed up the buttons of her top, she was half-walking-half-carried out of the pub by her fiancé. He saw Harry escorting his wife and Ron his friend out too and together they apparated back to Grimmauld Place. Snape took Hermione to her room, but she had started giggling now while his anger was frothing, right on the verge of spilling out. "You gonna put me into bed? Like my daddy? Ooh, is daddy gonna spank me?" Snape smiled a dangerous smile as he seated her down on the bed,"Yes, your drug-addled candor knows no bounds." He bent down to take off her shoes and she grabbed him by his shirt-front to pull him close,"Talk dirty to me!" She rubbed herself against him and he looked at her amused. "You have been a very baaad girl- No I can't do it."Snape pried her fingers off his coat,"Even if you are my fiancée, I don't take pleasure in taking advantage of a senseless woman." He turned to retrieve a pair of pyjamas but he found Hermione had fallen back on the bed, with her bum sticking up and she was snoring slightly. He sighed and pushed her into a more comfortable position, pulling the covers over her. His fury had completely fizzed out as he watched the guileless beauty in front of him, and he ran his fingers through her hair before quitely leaving the room, turning the lights off.