Dancing In The Rain
Severus Snape laughed hard at the look on Lucius Malfoy’s face as they stepped out of the restaurant to discover it was raining hard.
“Well, you did insist on coming to this part of Paris to eat, posh restaurant you said, and nothing else would do. This is a Muggle area. I cannot sidealong away with you.”
“Where are the taxi’s?” Lucius said as he stepped out onto the pavement to look, just as a car sped past through a large puddle, cascading the water up and over his new shoes and trousers, drenching him in the process.
Choking with laughter Severus opened up an umbrella and held it above his friend.
“A bit fucking late.”
“Come on, we can pop into a nice little cocktail bar I know around the corner,there you can dry off and you can call a taxi on the new mobile phone I just gave you.” He grabbed his arm and hauled him under the umbrella as they crossed the wet cobbles.
“I’m still getting wet,” he complained further.
Fed up with his best friend’s antics, Severus drew him in close and kissed him soundly as the rain continued to fall, ceasing further grumping.
A dark figure lurched along the wet cobbles, drenched by the rain and exhausted pulling her suitcase on wheels behind her. Her right shoe had lost its heel a mile or so back as it got stuck in a drain. Her case had a wonky wheel from being thrown down a set of stairs by the man whom she thought to be her best friend.
Hermione Granger was exhausted, not only from her long walk but from crying. She had thought coming to Paris to meet up with Harry Potter and his family would be great fun. She had not been met with the open arms she had expected but with anger, insinuations and ill feeling.
She had hardly crossed the threshold of the Magical Hotel when Harry Bloody Potter had announced to all and sundry in the hotel foyer that she was a traitor to the Light. He then proceeded to propel her down the staircase with a hard shove and threw her suitcase down after her.
“She should be banned from all Magical hotels in France.” He hollered down after her.
Shocked by his reaction and her rejection and ejection she had been left traumatised. The word was out and no matter what magical hotel she approached , all refused her entry. All on the word of Harry fucking Potter.
The rain had slowed down to just the odd spit as the two men turned into the lane that held the cocktail bar. The streets had been very quiet due to the rain and they had not encountered any people along their route- up till now.
Severus peered into the gloom, The night had drawn in quick due to the rain and the clouds above. It was dark as many windows had their blinds and shutters firmly closed. In this part of Muggle Paris the street lights were old and did not give off much illumination.
He had good eyesight, magical eyesight, he peered at the person who had just passed them across the street. The silhouette looked familiar. He stepped away from Lucius and craned his neck forward a bit further to watch their gait.
“Granger?” He called out into the night.
Hermione never heard him and kept on limping along. Her focus was on nothing apart from putting one foot in front of the other.
“Granger, is that you?” He hollered a little louder. He felt Lucius step up and settle in behind him.
“Is it Miss Granger?” He whispered with interest into his ear.
Severus nodded and moved forward. He sensed something was wrong.
“Granger?” He spoke close to her in a low tone, not to distress her. He got no reaction and inhaled as he whispered in a soft pitch, “Hermione? It is Severus, Severus Snape.”
That got a reaction. Her eyes flickered up and he watched as they slowly focused upon him. She had come to a natural halt.
“Severus?” She shook her head as if to clear it, “Severus Snape?” She asked, disbelieving what she was seeing.
“Yes, it is I.”
Lucius quietly stepped around to the other side of Hermione.
“I am here also my dear.”
Hermione turned her head towards another familiar voice. She stared at him with wide eyes and promptly fainted into his arms.
Wrapped in a cosy tracksuit and snuggled up in bed, after a hot bath they provided Hermione with the information she was missing. They took it in turns to tell her how she had come to be in Lucius’s apartment.
She disclosed to the men how she came to be vacationing in Paris. How she was meant to be spending the holiday with the Potters and how all went to pot.
“I should have arrived in Paris on Thursday, but my temporary boss, Percy Weasley made me stay late and by the time I got home it was Friday morning. I had to redo my tickets as I was travelling by Plane. I can’t help but wonder how he managed to take over from Kingsley while he is off work sick. I also learned that a trace had been put on me while working at the Rehab unit. It was Kings, who informed me of it only two weeks ago.
“Only the Aurar Department head can authorise that or his Deputy Head,” Lucius chipped in.
“Fuck!” Hermione and Severus said at the same time.
They knew who had done this and now knew why Harry Potter had taken against her and acted like he did. With Percy in charge at the moment he too had access to top secret files.
“That little shite has passed along information to Potter,” Severus growled, “I’m sure of it.”.
“After all you have done for them my dear,” added Lucius.
“Bastards, the both of them are bastards” She turned away from them and stared off into the distance, to think and to hide the tears forming in her eyes. “You never told anyone?” She turned and asked Severus directly.
Severus frowned then light dawned on what she was referring too. He blushed remembering how they had ended up together when he had rescued her from her car in a flood.
“Hermione!” Severus stuttered. He had not told a soul of their past liaisons. “No, never.”
“They have been spying on me, watching where I go.” Her bottom lip began to wobble, “who I talk too and doubtless had tracked them too.”
Lucius saw her threatening tears and leaned over to wipe them away with his handkerchief.
“Hush!” He dabbed gently at her eyes.
Hermione held her breath as the blonde man leant over her and with a soft and delicate touch carefully dried her eyes. She was enthralled at his action, it was so gentle and no one ever before had ever done such a thing for her in the past - not until now. She felt fresh tears begin to well.
“Now, now my dear shoosh!”
His soothing words and his actions warmed her heart. she glanced across at Severus, who looked as stunned as she felt. Lucius smelled amazing and she inhaled his scent and was compelled to move in close. She, for the very first time embraced him. she sighed as he returned the hug. Feelings of trust, nurturing, and calm swept through her whole being. This was what she had been missing.
Severus leaned back on the pillow and smirked as he met the eyes of his best friend. He saw the happiness on his face and sparkle in his eyes.
they broke off the hug and Hermione turned and glanced back at Severus, her face flushed. She looked calmer now.
“Lucius has been wanting to hug you for ages.” Severus said as he winked.
“I had been wanting to hug him too.” She admitted and faced lucius. “ I could not when you were my client in the Rehabilitation Unit.”
“He also wanted to kiss you too.” Severus called out with a mischievous smirk as he stretched out on the bed to watch the show.
“It is up to you my dear,” Lucius said, holding her hand lightly in his, as he looked at her. “I will not be offended if you -”
She cut him off as her mouth crushed against his and he gathered her up in his arms, thrilled at her reaction and returned the kiss.
Lucius had not been kissed like this by a woman since prior to being locked up in Azkaban.. He had not desired anyone since his Cissy, not until now.
Severus never imagined how turned on he could be watching Lucius kiss the only woman he had gone to bed with in years. He had never revealed that to anyone but he thought that Lucius had figured it out now.
Severus was jolted from his musings by being tugged in for a long and tender kiss from Lucius.
Hermione squirmed as her libido kicked in as she watched the men kiss each other. She had seen them interact before but nothing on this level. Her own body reacted and she felt jealous at being left out. She wanted them both.
“Come my dear,” Lucius said as he wiggled the fingers of his extended arm as he reached out towards her.
She moved towards them and grasped at his hand as he tugged her in for another kiss. His lips tasted of Severus.
Severus wrapped an arm around her and turned her face up to his and kissed her soundly.
“I never thought I’d be a snake sandwich.” Hermione chuckled as the two Slytherin men hugged her at the same time. .
Lucius slipped out of bed a few hours later having been woken by his Floo Ward being triggered. He stuck his head inside the Floo to find who had called him at such a late hour.
“It’s Gus Lucius, I think you would like the first copy off the press tonight.
“Really?”
“Yes, be warned it is not great news for one of your good friends, it also reveals some personal information about you too.”
A newspaper folded and newly printed hurtled through the International Floo System and arrived safely into Lucius’s hand. He gasped with shock at the headline and its moving images. He thanked his friend and then asked him to do one thing for him before he closed and blocked the Floo, before waking Severus.
“Look what they have done!” He shoved the copy under Severus’s nose and glared. “We cannot allow this to happen to our Hermione!”
Severus raised an eyebrow at his euse of the words, ‘our Hermione’, inhaled and let out a long low growl of anger as he took in the newspaper’s front page.
EXCLUSIVE!
TRAITOR TO tHE LIGHT REVEALED
Harry Potter speaks out on how he has been deceived for years by his best friend.
By Rita Skeeter.
The front page of the Daily Prophet, had the moving image of Harry Potter shoving HermioneGranger down a set of stairs and then him, throwing her luggage down after her.
Both Wizards were angry and were unaware that Hermione had been standing in the doorway of the sitting room listening to them. Their angry whispering had become louder as they had read further sections of the newspaper. It was the tones of their voices that had woken her.
As she listened she knew what must have happened. She felt used and seeing the men distressed like this made her upset. Without voicing a word she moved silently into the room and plucked the offending newspaper up from the coffee table where it had been thrown.
Both men froze in mid rant and each looked shocked to see her there. She calmly gazed at the front page and swore.
“Fucking Skeeter,” she glowered at the images of her being thrown along with her luggage down the stair by Harry and watched it repeating over and over again.
The wizards tried to remove the damaging paper from her grip but she stubbornly held on. She howled out another oath as she stabbed at the image.
“Don’t you think it is rather strange that there was a magical photographer there at that precise moment and angle to capture me crash and burn like that?”
They looked at the moving image in more detail, taking in the angle and composition.
“Look, there’s Percy Weasley as well as some other familiar faces all smirking even before Potter loses it with you.” Severus said angrily, as he pointed at the image.
“As if they were expecting it?” Lucius suggested, “look at Molly and then Arthur he is none too happy.”
Hermione slowed down the photograph as she used wandless magic. She peered closer at the individuals in the background and watched their mouths closely. Thanks to her Great Auntie Jean who had taught her to lip read, she had figured out what everyone had been saying.
Tears rolled down her face as she began to translate the silent image into words. They hated her, the venom coming out of mouth’s of people she had assumed had been her friends, shocked her to the core.
“Hush my dear,” Lucius reassured her, “this is the one and only newspaper to be printed. The press has ceased printing for the foreseeable. He told her about his friend Gus.”
Hermione hurled herself into his arms and she began to laugh.
“You are amazing, thank you.” She took his face between her hands and kissed him .
Severus had sent off an urgent message while Hermione had peered at the slowed down images. He had recently created a new magical solution that could be revolutionary in the magical world. He had given this solution the previous week to only one person. He growled low as he had seen that very persons’ name in small print alongside the dramatic moving images that had been plastered throughout the publication.
“Do I not deserve a hug too?” asked Severus as he returned after sending off his Patronus. He smirked as he disclosed this new secret of his and how he was about to blackmail one of the Daily Prophets photographers.
Severus was bowled over by the double attack on him with two pairs of arms ensnaring him and two mouths plastering him with kisses.
They were eating a very early breakfast still laughing when a message came in from Kingsley Shacklebolt with a deep apology not only for Hermione but for all of them.
It transpired that Kingsley had been sent anonymously a set of Magical Images that not only moved but spoke. He was shocked at the contents they revealed. .
He reassured them that he had undertaken the task of producing the necessary warrants for the arrest of both Harry James Potter and Percy Weasley. They would soon be in custody of the French Magical Law Enforcement Agency and then would be transported back to the UK.
He was distressed that his own people could try to bring his ministry down but he now had the evidence that would expose Harry James Potter and Percy Weasley behind his recent poisoning.
“I have been in Paris less than 24 hours and look at the trouble I have caused.” Hermione hugged her wizards tight. Then sighed and shook her head and announced. “I should cut my holiday short and head home by plane today.”
Shocked, the two wizards looked crestfallen. Together with words, kisses and hugs they managed to get her to change her mind..
This is so amazing!” Hermione gushed with enthusiasm as she stared out from the top of the Eiffel Tower and gazed with pleasure out at the panorama of Paris. With the two wizards at either side of her they pointed out some of their favourite places.
“Look, I can see our apartment from here!” Lucius announced with a chuckle.
“Our apartment?” Asked Severus surprised.
“Of course my darling, it is ours for as long as you wish it to be.”
Hermione watched Lucius and Severus share a deep and meaningful kiss. She blushed and made to move away but a hand from each of them tugged her back towards them.
“By ours, Hermione, I do mean all three of us, not just Severus and I.”
“But you have known each other for far longer,” she protested.
“When I became better acquainted with you, when you took such good care of me and showed me how to become the man I am today, with or without magic. You made me wish to live again. I saw it from that first day when I sat forlorn in that ugly ill fitting tracksuit. But you saw something in me and I saw the look of desire in your eyes for a man barely living.”
“Draco kept reminding me of that day.” Hermione blushed.
“And he kept me informed of how you watched Severus too,” Lucius chuckled, “Especially if he was walking away from you or bending over.”
“Ah ha!” Severus crowed, “I knew it Granger, that arguing and bluster was all just a ploy, to look at my arse!”
Hermione smirked and gave his bum a gentle circular caress and sighed. “Nice arse.”
“Ours,” confirmed Lucius.
“Ours, “ repeated Severus as they both looked at Hermione with affection.
“Mine!” She said with delight. They shared a deep three way hug.
They all laughed as the wind blew their hair as the weather began to take a turn for the worse and clouds rolled in promising rain.
“You’ve caught me out, must admit I think you both are very fit for your age.”
Severus and Lucius looked shocked at her comment and she back peddled by adding she did not think them old at all, making things worse.
“My dear, it is about to rain and I do not wish to get wet. May I suggest we return home and Severus and I will show you how much stamina we have for two old men!”
“You are much older than i am” shot back Severus with a huff.
Impatient to get home, Severus wrapped his arms around them both, then apparated them straight into their bedroom.
Hermione could never have predicted, not even in her wildest dreams, that her vacation to Paris would end up as it did. To know that someone whom she loved and trusted could treat her like shite and turn her day from light into the darkness of hell.
Then, miraculously two men crossed her path in the dark and they held out their hands and hearts for her to take. She of course grabbed the lifeline she had been offered. Her life turned back around into the light so full of love and warmth. She vowed never to let them go. They were hers.