Curiosity
Title: Curiosity
Team Name: Order of the Phoenix
Word Count: 100x7
Rating: PG?
Challenge: black rose challenge
Characters: Severus, Hermione
Author's Notes: Not JK Rowling, still poor, etc., etc. I like to imagine that Hermione was onto him the entire time but I didn't end up wanting to write anything from her perspective. :)
Severus' robes whipped around his ankles as he stepped out of his preferred Knockturn Alley apothecary and into the brisk October wind. About to return to the relative comforts of Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, he paused when he saw Professor Granger exiting a shop further along. She glanced up and down the street before slipping into the crowd and hurrying off. Severus waited a beat and then strode to the doorway she'd just vacated moments ago. He did a double-take and reread the sign, confused. Perhaps he simply misunderstood.
What had Granger been doing in a tattoo parlor?
---
He could not simply ask her. It was far too Gryffindor and besides, doing so would mean revealing he was interested in the answer, which he most certainly was not.
And yet.
Severus increasingly found himself staring in Professor Granger's direction over breakfast at the staff table, formulating theories about her presence in the unassuming shop. Each theory was wilder than the one before. But idle theories, he could handle.
It was when he found himself awake at night, imagining the many delightful places she might have etched her tattoo, that the situation became untenable. He had to take action.
---
His first attempt failed miserably. Apparently there was more than one faculty member at the school with secrets of a similar nature, because Severus' suggestion that the teachers register their body markings--purely for identification purposes, naturally--was shot down unceremoniously by none other than Minerva herself.
Interesting, yes, but not his desired outcome.
Next he tried striking up a conversation with Professor Granger over afternoon tea. His question of "I wonder whether you might know of any new or unusual places to visit in London?" yielded only a burst of laughter and a shake of her head. Failure again.
---
It was driving him madder with each passing week. He was so desperate that after one particularly blustery day in December he suggested she join him by the fire in his office for a cup of tea. Clearly surprised, she nonetheless agreed, and nervously he led the way. Once ensconced in his quarters, they sipped tea in silence. Professor Granger kept smiling at him encouragingly, and after a strongly-worded internal pep talk, he made his move.
"Perhaps you should remove your robe?"
As he shouted an apology at her back, he reflected that he'd never seen her move so fast.
---
He'd only meant that she ought to hang it by the fire to dry. But now she seemed to be avoiding being alone with him, and his curiosity about her tattoo had reached a fever pitch. Most damnably of all, Severus often caught her looking at him when she thought his attention was elsewhere. Her sly looks coupled with the mystery of her body art stirred him as nothing else had in a very long time. Still, he went out of his way to be polite, seeking her out and attempting to make her feel comfortable in his presence again.
---
Slowly his efforts paid off. Hermione, she insisted he call her now, sought him out to discuss the latest scholarly journals. He brought her unusual objects he found on ingredient-gathering sojourns. They took meals together, and she even volunteered to patrol corridors with him on occasion. They were, it seemed, friends.
And if Severus eyed her backside speculatively or hoped for a glimpse of skin--then that was only leftover interest about her tattoo, nothing more. Certainly, if he spent the darkest hours of night imagining how he might see it, well, that was not unusual amongst friends, was it?
---
The morning of his birthday, Severus found an invitation to dinner. Despite his attempts to remember they were friends and nothing more, all platonic thoughts fled when Hermione opened her door wearing a revealing robe in deep ruby red. She smiled, a new and different sort of smile, and he followed her like a puppy. Dinner lasted forever and no time at all; Hermione's touch as they ate and laughed was as drugging as fine wine.
Later, when he finally did see her tattoo, he wasted no time tasting it. The black rose was every bit as delicious as her.
Team Name: Order of the Phoenix
Word Count: 100x7
Rating: PG?
Challenge: black rose challenge
Characters: Severus, Hermione
Author's Notes: Not JK Rowling, still poor, etc., etc. I like to imagine that Hermione was onto him the entire time but I didn't end up wanting to write anything from her perspective. :)
Severus' robes whipped around his ankles as he stepped out of his preferred Knockturn Alley apothecary and into the brisk October wind. About to return to the relative comforts of Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, he paused when he saw Professor Granger exiting a shop further along. She glanced up and down the street before slipping into the crowd and hurrying off. Severus waited a beat and then strode to the doorway she'd just vacated moments ago. He did a double-take and reread the sign, confused. Perhaps he simply misunderstood.
What had Granger been doing in a tattoo parlor?
---
He could not simply ask her. It was far too Gryffindor and besides, doing so would mean revealing he was interested in the answer, which he most certainly was not.
And yet.
Severus increasingly found himself staring in Professor Granger's direction over breakfast at the staff table, formulating theories about her presence in the unassuming shop. Each theory was wilder than the one before. But idle theories, he could handle.
It was when he found himself awake at night, imagining the many delightful places she might have etched her tattoo, that the situation became untenable. He had to take action.
---
His first attempt failed miserably. Apparently there was more than one faculty member at the school with secrets of a similar nature, because Severus' suggestion that the teachers register their body markings--purely for identification purposes, naturally--was shot down unceremoniously by none other than Minerva herself.
Interesting, yes, but not his desired outcome.
Next he tried striking up a conversation with Professor Granger over afternoon tea. His question of "I wonder whether you might know of any new or unusual places to visit in London?" yielded only a burst of laughter and a shake of her head. Failure again.
---
It was driving him madder with each passing week. He was so desperate that after one particularly blustery day in December he suggested she join him by the fire in his office for a cup of tea. Clearly surprised, she nonetheless agreed, and nervously he led the way. Once ensconced in his quarters, they sipped tea in silence. Professor Granger kept smiling at him encouragingly, and after a strongly-worded internal pep talk, he made his move.
"Perhaps you should remove your robe?"
As he shouted an apology at her back, he reflected that he'd never seen her move so fast.
---
He'd only meant that she ought to hang it by the fire to dry. But now she seemed to be avoiding being alone with him, and his curiosity about her tattoo had reached a fever pitch. Most damnably of all, Severus often caught her looking at him when she thought his attention was elsewhere. Her sly looks coupled with the mystery of her body art stirred him as nothing else had in a very long time. Still, he went out of his way to be polite, seeking her out and attempting to make her feel comfortable in his presence again.
---
Slowly his efforts paid off. Hermione, she insisted he call her now, sought him out to discuss the latest scholarly journals. He brought her unusual objects he found on ingredient-gathering sojourns. They took meals together, and she even volunteered to patrol corridors with him on occasion. They were, it seemed, friends.
And if Severus eyed her backside speculatively or hoped for a glimpse of skin--then that was only leftover interest about her tattoo, nothing more. Certainly, if he spent the darkest hours of night imagining how he might see it, well, that was not unusual amongst friends, was it?
---
The morning of his birthday, Severus found an invitation to dinner. Despite his attempts to remember they were friends and nothing more, all platonic thoughts fled when Hermione opened her door wearing a revealing robe in deep ruby red. She smiled, a new and different sort of smile, and he followed her like a puppy. Dinner lasted forever and no time at all; Hermione's touch as they ate and laughed was as drugging as fine wine.
Later, when he finally did see her tattoo, he wasted no time tasting it. The black rose was every bit as delicious as her.