The Fire You Touch

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Chapter 17: Price To Pay

A wave of sarcastic applause met the ears of Aeryn, Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they crept into Potions class on Friday afternoon. "Well, well, well," Draco Malfoy called from his desk. "If it isn’t the Defunct Foursome."

The knot of Slytherins surrounding Malfoy snickered appreciatively.

"Surprised you and your friends are still here, Potter," said Malfoy calmly, hopping off his desk and walking up to Harry. Harry flinched back as Malfoy leered into his face. "We thought for sure that you’d be expelled this time—not that your crusade wasn’t a noble one, of course." He put a hand to his heart and sighed dramatically. "All the students would have remembered you with much thanks as we wandered the halls, free from Mrs. Norris’ scrutiny."

"Shut it, Malfoy," Ron growled, dropping his bag into his seat.

Malfoy slithered around the desk and wrapped his arm comradishly around Ron’s neck. "There’s a very interesting rumor going around the school, saying that Mrs. Norris was the victim of a mutant attack." He looked over at Hermione and grinned. "Maybe that’ll finally get the Ministry in here to do some tests and sweep out the undesirables…you know, mutants, Mudbloods, whatever they can find…sort of an ethnic cleansing…"

Aeryn tossed her bag in her chair and turned to face the Slytherin second year. "Let Ron go." Her words were quiet, but her voice rasped harshly across the room.

Malfoy’s gray eyes grazed over Aeryn’s face. "Nice bags under your eyes, Blake. Sleep much last night?" He pursed his lips sorrowfully. "A sure sign of guilt. So, how’d you do it? Stoneslow Spell? Fossilizing Curse? Or maybe you’re a—"

"That’ll do, Mr. Malfoy," Snape murmured, sweeping out from the storeroom as the bell rang shrilly. Something in his voice made the students quickly swallow their usual chatter, and they lined up silently to drop their essays on Snape’s desk. He sat back in his chair as a pile of parchment grew before him, his eyes glittering.

Aeryn did not look at him as she flung her paper onto his desk, but she could feel his smoldering eyes burning into her form as she made her way back to her seat with a pale face and her chin held high. But for all her attempts to put on a brave front, Aeryn was unable to listen to a word of the lecture. It took all her strength to sit up straight in her chair as Snape swept along the rows of desks, discussing the various forms of Invisibility potions.

After what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang, and the students grabbed their bags and bustled for the door. Aeryn slowly began to put her quill and parchment away.

"Miss Blake, please stay after class."

Aeryn’s fingers twisted around her eagle quill, snapping the feather in two with a loud crack. Harry, Hermione, and Ron paused at the sound, turning and looking anxiously at her from the door.

"D’you want us to wait for you outside, Aeryn?" Ron asked

"No," Aeryn choked. "No, I’ll see you in Care of Magical Creatures. Go on without me." After a nervous glance at each other, her friends left the dungeon.

The door clicked closed as Snape shuffled through the pile of parchment on his desk. Aeryn got up from her desk and turned her back as he pulled her essay from the stack. The parchment unrolled with a crinkle.

A heavy moment passed.

"Excellent choice, Miss Blake," Snape purred finally.

The rustle of robes echoed against the stone floor, and Aeryn turned as the Potions master walked slowly towards her. With a whispered word, the parchment in his fingers ignited and flared into ashes.

"I knew you’d come around," he said calmly. He lifted one long finger and gently stroked the skin of her cheek. "Especially after all this foolishness with Filch’s cat. It was very stupid for you and your friends to be wandering around up there by yourselves, you realize. Next time you might not get off so leniently."

Aeryn pressed her hands hard to her side to control the trembling. "Professor, please, I still have class—"

"Yes, I know," he mused. "A pity." He shrugged his shoulders, trailing his fingers across her face. "I suppose I’d best let you go—we don’t want rumors flying around the school about us, do we?"

"Of course not," she choked, trying not to shudder under his icy touch.

He smiled coolly, a gesture that did not quite reach his eyes. "Come to my chambers tonight, at midnight. You know the way—the password is ‘Heir Apparent.’" His fingers slipped from her face and he sauntered back to his desk. "I trust you will be discreet?"

His smug words sent rage flowing through Aeryn’s blood, but she merely nodded curtly and hurried out of the dungeon without another word.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing around the entrance to the dungeons. Aeryn very nearly bowled them over as she flew out of the stairwell. "Er…sorry," she exclaimed, putting out a hand to grab Harry as he stumbled backwards to get out of her way.

"Everything okay?" Hermione asked.

Aeryn felt heat surge through her cheeks, and she bent down and pretended to tie her shoe, ducking her face away from her friends. "Um, yeah. Hey, I told you guys not to wait up for me."

"We didn’t want to leave you," Ron said. "What’d Snape have to say?"

Aeryn exhaled, feeling as if she had just been punched in the solar plexus. "Nothing."

"Snape doesn’t keep students after class for nothing," said Hermione, her voice skeptical. "It had to have been something."

"He…" She couldn’t tell them the truth. She thought furiously for a moment. "…He gave me a detention. That’s all."

She sneaked a look upwards. The look on her friends’ faces was as if she had just told them she was going to grow wings and fly to Calcutta. "You’re kidding," Harry gasped. "Snape giving you a detention? But you’re his best student, even if you are a Gryffindor!"

She shrugged. "He didn’t like my essay or something."

Ron didn’t look convinced. "You just turned it in. How on earth could he have hated it already?"

"Look, I don’t want to talk about it." Aeryn straightened, refusing to meet her friends’ eyes. "C’mon, let’s go, we’ve still got class."

* * *

The day passed far too quickly for Aeryn, and before she knew it, she was standing before the stretch of stone wall that lead to the Slytherin chambers. "Heir…Apparent," she muttered, and the wall slid open to reveal the rough walls of the Slytherin common room. The dark shadows in the high-backed chairs facing the fireplace warned Aeryn that a few Slytherins were still awake. She cautiously quested towards the figures. There were only two; a fifth and sixth year playing an involved game of wizard chess. It was a simple thing to cloud their vision as she slipped through the room, just in case they happened to look up.

She paused at the end of the hallway, her hand resting on the heavy oaken door of Snape’s chambers. Not for the first time that evening, she wondered whether she should even go through with this. Was remaining at Hogwarts worth the price she would have to pay? If expelled, she would just go back to doing what she had before; cleaning houses and trying to keep undetected…but was that even an option now? Mutant registration had already become legal in the States, according to the Daily Prophet. Soon the rest of the world would follow suit, and Aeryn would be registered, her every move watched, and handicapped by an anti-mutant collar…

Two months ago, that option might have been acceptable. But Aeryn had been given a taste of the wizarding world, the world of which she was rightfully a part. Here, she had friends, and a chance to be accepted for what she was—even if her powers weren’t exactly magical. For the first time in five years, she had found a place where she could be happy.

She couldn’t lose that, no matter what the cost.

Aeryn squared her shoulders and rapped gently on Snape’s door. After a moment, the hinges swung open silently. Aeryn slipped into the Potions master’s chambers and shut the door behind her. The room was only half-lit, and it took Aeryn a moment for her eyes to adjust to the low light. A fire crackled in the fireplace, but oddly enough, she could feel no heat issuing from the snapping logs.

"I was wondering whether you would show or not." Aeryn jumped at the sound of Snape’s voice. He was seated in one of the couches before the fire, his back towards her.

"You didn’t leave me much of an option," Aeryn said quietly.

Snape rose from the couch and turned to look at her. Backlit by the flickering flames, he was a faceless blotch against the light. Aeryn couldn’t see the expression on his face, and that realization was frightening.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked.

Aeryn shook her head. "No, thanks." If she imbued anything right now, she was certain she would puke it all back up over the Oriental carpets. She walked slowly over to the fire, forcing herself to remain calm as his features became visible in the light of the fireplace. He was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants, and she realized that this was the first time she had seen him without his usual black robes. The thought did nothing to calm her nerves. "Professor, I have some terms to this agreement of ours."

Snape raised an eyebrow as he poured himself a goblet of amber liquid. "My dear, there is nothing to discuss."

"Yes, there is." Aeryn lifted her chin. Snape sipped from his goblet, his black eyes regarding her calmly over the brim of the cup. She forced herself to meet his gaze. "There are some things I won’t—I mean, this agreement only covers—" A trickle of cold sweat rolled down her spine. "I—will not do—"

Snape cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Aeryn—I may call you Aeryn, yes?" He set his goblet down on a table and smiled. "I think it’s safe to say that our relationship has passed into a first-name basis."

Aeryn did not comment. There was a faint rushing in her ears, as if she was standing at the seashore.

The firelight stained his teeth the color of blood. "My sexual tastes are not perverted, if that is what bothers you."

"Of course not." Her words sounded as if they were coming very far away, from someone else. "You just enjoy fucking your students."

"Really, you Americans can be so vulgar sometimes," Snape sighed. "You know very well, Aeryn, that you are the first of my students that I’ve fucked, to use your delightfully insightful terminology." He advanced slowly towards her.

Aeryn took an involuntary step backwards. "And I want you to stop giving my friends a hard time." The back of her legs smashed against the wall and she winced, her shoulder blades pressing against the cold stone.

Snape paused, looking surprised. Then he laughed. "If you are suggesting that I go against every image I have built as the cold Potions master who books no patience with inane Gryffindors, you are going to be very disappointed…Aeryn."

Her name rolled off his tongue far too familiarly. Aeryn’s hands curled into fists at her side. "I’m talking about Harry, Ron, and Hermione," she muttered. "I know that you don’t like them much—scratch that, you don’t like them at all—but I just want you to judge their work fairly. That’s not too much to ask, is it?" She clenched her jaw as Snape thrust his hands into her hair, rubbing his thumbs against her temples as he gazed hungrily into her face. "Also, I don’t want this—relationship—to have any bearing on how you treat them. If you’re angry with them, or me, for any reason…" She drew a deep breath. "…you take it out on me. Not on them."

He brought his face close to hers. His breath was warm against her skin and smelled like cinnamon. "That’s quite selfless of you, Aeryn," he purred. "But if I am to agree to these requests, I have some of my own that I want obeyed."

Aeryn swallowed. "Fair enough."

"You will not breathe a word of this to another living soul, for obvious reasons." His hands slipped from her hair and down her back. "You will be at my beck and call for as long as I desire to continue this relationship, and you will give me whatever I ask for without complaint." His arms wrapped firmly around her hips and pulled her body close against to his. "You will not attack me with any of your mutant powers, or I swear that I will kill you. Do you understand? In exchange, I will protect you from any mutant searches from the Ministry of Magic or anyone else. As for your friends—I promise not to be unduly unfair to them. Satisfied?"

Her eyes were burning with despair, but she nodded bravely. "Yes, Professor."

"Oh, please." Snape nuzzled his face into her hair with a throaty growl. "Call me Severus."

Aeryn choked back a sob as his hands began to roam freely over her body. Think of nothing…think of nothing…but his touch burned her like hot coals, and she bit her lip from crying out.

After a moment, the Potions master took her hand and led her through the antechamber into his bedroom. Like the rest of his chambers, Snape’s bedroom was lavishly decorated. Rich tapestries lined the rough walls, and Aeryn’s feet sunk deeply into the thick green carpet. A large bookcase rested against one wall, near a small desk lined with parchment. A delicate chandelier dangled from the high ceiling and lit the high wooden bed on the opposite side of the room. The Potions master silently shut the door behind them, and Aeryn’s heart plummeted.

With smoldering eyes of black fire, Snape slowly pushed Aeryn onto the bed. His long fingers began to methodically undress her, and Aeryn closed her eyes to hold back the tears.

It did not take all that long in reality. Snape was thorough and systematic. Aeryn kept her eyes tightly shut through the duration, clenching her hands until the fingernails cut into the flesh of her palms. After what seemed an eternity, the Potions master gave a loud gasp and slumped against her, breathing heavily.

After a long moment, he heaved himself off of her. "Seventy points…for Gryffindor," he panted.

Aeryn curled into a small ball, cradling her head in her hands. Tremors wracked her body, and her head was spinning crazily. The silence, punctuated by Snape’s heavy breathing, pressed unbearably against her. She hopped out of the bed and ran on stumbling legs to the bathroom, feeling bile rise in her throat.

She got to the toilet seconds before her stomach revolted and she vomited. Her stomach was emptied far too quickly, but still she gagged, until it felt as if her intestines would come up as well. The heaves subsided eventually, and Aeryn drooped against the floor, every muscle in her body feeling as if it had been stretched out of her skin and then stapled back into place. After a moment, she crawled to her feet and stumbled to the sink. She shakily rinsed her mouth out with water and glanced up into the mirror. A hollow-eyed reflection with dark circles under its eyes stared back at her. Aeryn looked away and splashed a handful of water across her pale face, fighting to bring her body back under her own control.

Snape was seated at his desk when she returned. "Do you know, I believe Mr. Weasley has just received his first A in my class?" He looked up, smiling, and waved a sheet of parchment in her direction. "I believe congratulations are in order—to you, of course, not to him. Fantastic performance, my dear."

Aeryn grabbed her discarded robe from the floor and pulled it on. The fabric scraped uncomfortably against her skin.

"Leaving so soon?" Snape rose from his chair.

Aeryn put her hands to her cheeks. The blood was beginning to return. As the Potions master walked towards her, she quickly headed for the door, but was stopped as Snape wrapped his fingers around her wrist.

"Professor, please—"

With a sharp yank, he pulled her back to him. "Severus," he corrected her, an icy grin twitching his lips. His greasy black hair was streaked with sweat. He placed a thin finger against her mouth. "Say it."

Aeryn fought back a wave of revulsion. "S-Severus," she stammered. If she stayed in this room any longer, she wouldn’t be able to control herself; she would try and kill him. "Please, let me go."

His hand spidered against the small of her back, pressing her trembling body against his. "What’s the rush?"

"Professor, I have the—"

"Severus."

His voice became edged with iron.

"Severus," Aeryn choked. Dear God, please get me out of here… "I promised to watch Quidditch practice tomorrow. If I back out, they’ll know something is wrong."

He lifted a hand and tangled it in her chin-length brown hair, his coal-black eyes cutting into her.

"Prof—Severus—"

He bent his head before she could duck away and mashed his face against hers. Aeryn stiffened as he pried her lips open and brutally probed inside her mouth with his tongue. Then he pulled away, and his teeth caught her lower lip. He bit down swiftly. Aeryn yelped as pain shot through her mouth, and she twisted away from him with a gasp.

A throaty chuckle rasped from his throat. "You may go," Snape whispered, and Aeryn stumbled back as his hands released her. She put a hand to her throbbing lip as he slunk back to his desk. She could feel her self-control slipping, and she ran out of his bedroom, out of his chambers, through the now-deserted Slytherin common room, and did not stop until she reached the entrance to Gryffindor tower.

"Golden Snitch," she growled as she skidded to a halt in front of the Fat Lady’s painting.

"Dear me, child, you’re out late this evening," the Fat Lady said sleepily, swinging open for her. "What were you—" But Aeryn pushed past her and hurried up the stairs, hopping over the invisible stair at the last second. She crept into the second year dormitory as quietly as she could. The other girls were fast asleep. Aeryn crawled into her bed, trying to ignore the screaming of her tortured muscles.

She lay awake for a long time, watching the cloudy night sky outside her window. By the time she fell asleep, her pillow was wet with silent tears.