A new fic by me. I know, I know… I should finish the ones I've started before posting a new one… But I have a good excuse this time. Honest! I'm on vacation right now and I'm using our laptop to type this while all my other fics are at home, on the stationary computer.
Either way, Whispers At Night will be updated as soon as possible.
Oh, and in other news: I've gotten myself a forum at fanfiction.net, so if you have any questions about my fics or feel like talking… or anything like that. Just give me a poke over there, and I'll reply as soon as I can.
And, yes to all you Lois and Clark fans, this might remind you a bit of the episode "Pheromone, My Lovely". I haven't actually seen the episode, but I have read the transcript for it, and while I have tried to write it as differently as possible some things might have "leaked" into the fic. And, in a way to honour that, I've named the fic after that episode.
Now, enjoy. I've got chapter two typed up all ready and it'll probably be posted sometime tomorrow.
Cheers!
Pheromone, My Lovely
Chapter one: Love Is In the Air
"Time's up. Now, if you're not completely dim-witted your potion should at least resemble something like this…" Snape held up a small flask. The liquid inside it was clear, almost as water. "Leave a sample of your potions on my desk. And I want a three feet long essay on Veritaserum and its uses by next week."
Hermione smiled as she poured her potion into a small flask. She had been a little late with putting in the newt eyes into her potion, but she was rather sure that her potion had turned out fine in the end. She glanced at the hissing potion-goo beside her. Poor Neville…
She corked her flask quickly, hoping that she'd manage to sneak some few moments into helping him before Snape threw her out.
She gripped the flask. "Neville!" she hissed, pretending to be studying her bottle closely. "Did you remember to add the batwings in the end?"
His eyes widened as he slowly shook his head. He grabbed some batwings and threw them into the potion.
"Good. Now stir three times counter-clockwise and then add one clockwise…" she muttered quickly. She knew that Neville's potion was beyond saving by now, but maybe she could save him from a T…
"Miss Granger," Snape said, his voice smug, "I know the colours must be fascinating to you, but could you please stop staring at your bottle and please place it on my desk?"
Hermione blushed and immediately stopped pretending to be studying the bottle. She gave Neville a quick glance, just to see that he was doing as he had been told.
"I tried to warn you," Harry whispered from behind her, "but you didn't hear me. Want me to take your bottle as well?" He gave a short nod towards Neville's potion, and Hermione quickly got the hint. If Harry took her potion, she could help Neville a bit longer while pretending to pack her books. She nodded.
Harry grinned. He carefully took the bottle away from her grasp, mouthing the words `Good luck' with a quick wink.
She smiled, thankful over Harry's thoughtfulness. She glanced back at Neville's potion; it was still looking more like goo, rather than the clear liquid they were supposed to achieve, but it did look a lot better. "Now, add the stinksap. Just three drops. Remember; three."
Neville paled and grabbed the small bottle with stinksap. His hands were shaking as he held the small bottle up-side-down over his potion.
No drops came out.
Neville shook the bottle slightly, hoping to get at least one tiny drop of stinksap into his potion.
"No, Neville. Don't!" Hermione exclaimed, just as the stinksap decided to follow the rules of gravity. Not only three, but four drops of stinksap came out from the bottle. The potion hissed. "Oh, Neville," she gasped, "what have you done?"
Neville stared dumbfounded at his potion. "I-I don't know."
She scurried forward, pushing him aside. "Oh, let me see…" she muttered. She stared down at the potion, frowning lightly.
The potion kept on bubbling maliciously, giving out an occasional hiss once in a while.
Hermione sighed and scrunched up her nose at the foul-smelling fumes. "I'm sorry, Neville." She shook her head. "I don't know how to fix that."
He sighed sadly. "Yeah, well… Thanks anyway," he mumbled.
"You better take your books now… Snape's staring at you," Harry muttered as he passed.
Neville sighed and cleared out his cauldron with a flick of his wand.
Hermione nodded shortly and gave Neville a quick pat on the back before collecting her books. "Sorry," she whispered before striding out to her waiting best friends.
---
"I guess I should start that potion's essay…" Harry stated as they arrived at their common-room.
"Say what? Come again, mate?" Ron exclaimed with a grin.
"Oh, come off it. The weather's horrible and I really don't feel like getting my arse kicked in a game of chess again…" He shot Hermione a lopsided grin.
Hermione smiled back weakly. "That's great, Harry… I think I'll just sit down by the fire… I don't feel too well."
Harry's grin faded immediately. "Are you all right?"
"Oh, yes, yes." She gave out a high, clearly false, laugh. "I'm fine. Just feeling a bit dizzy…" She quickly seated herself on the couch in front of the fire. "I feel better already."
Harry frowned, looking sceptical. "Well, if you're sure…"
She nodded.
"All right… I'll just sit over here if you need me." He pointed towards an empty table.
"I'm fine!" She snapped.
Harry quickly held up his hands in surrender as he backed towards the table he'd pointed out earlier.
Ron patted him on the shoulder, grinning slightly. "Well, if you're sure you don't want to play chess, I'll just go and ask Seamus instead."
Harry laughed, shaking his head in the same process. "You go ahead. I'll never get this bloody essay finished if I don't start now…" He seated himself by the table, picking up his potion's book, and a fresh, blank sheet of parchment. He began scribbling, quickly engrossing himself into the essay.
---
Hermione threw off her robe, discarding it onto the seat beside her. Was it just her, or was it really hot here? She fawned herself with her potion's book, glancing around the common-room at the same time. No, no one else seemed to be bothered by the heat…
Her gazed stopped at Harry who was deeply engulfed in his potion's essay. It was amazing, she thought, that she had never noticed before how attractive he was. Well, she'd sort of noticed, but it had seemed like a good idea to ignore it. Now she couldn't understand why. Slowly, she began to unbutton the top buttons of her blouse.
She rose, suddenly feeling a lot better: Great in fact. She straightened her skirt and smiled. She walked over to where Harry was working on his essay and jumped up, seating herself on the table. She crossed her legs, letting her skirt ride up quite a bit.
She dangled her legs slightly. "Oh, Harry…" she said in a singsong voice.
"Hmm?" Harry muttered, his eyes never leaving his parchment. "Just a moment Hermione, I-" His voice died as he noticed the very visible leg. He looked up, his eyes wide.
Hermione looked at him with a dreamy expression. She leaned forward, revealing quite a bit of cleavage. "What are you working on?"
Harry gulped. "My-my essay… you know, the potion one?" he moved back in his seat.
She moved closer. "Oh, that one… is it hard?"
"He-Hermione… Are you sure that you feel okay?" He managed to stammer out.
She waved her hand, moving even closer. "I've never felt better." She reached out, pulling a hand through his already messy hair. "Have I ever told you how handsome you are?"
Harry squeaked. "Handsome?"
She bit her lip, closing her eyelids half the way. "Very." Her voice was low, husky, even. She slowly leaned closer.
Harry jumped up. "Merlin! Look at the time!" He stared at his watch with exaggerated interest. "It's dinnertime already! Oh, look. Ron's already left… Well, we better go before all food's gone." He staggered backwards, Hermione following closely.
"Oh, Harry…" Her voice was teasing again. "Are you sure you don't want to skip dinner? After all, we could have so much fun…up here…alone."
Harry backed against the wall. "Listen, Hermione… I don't know what game you're playing, but this is making me a bit uncomfortable…"
Her hands started to travel across his chest slowly.
"Hermione?" He squeaked.
She leaned forward.
---
To be continued…
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