Vector's Challenge

Chapter 9

Vector paid no attention to the students as she ran through the halls. She heard McGonagall cry out, "Emmy!" as she ran, but paid no attention to that either. Vector ran down the stairs, through the dungeon corridors, rounded a corner, and caromed like a pinball off Snape. Graph paper and folders scattered everywhere.

"Ooof! Professor Vector, what is the meaning of this?" he asked as he got up, then pulled her up.

"They know!" Vector spat out at him. "You told your little Slytherin bastards about the bet!"

Snape frowned at her. "They are not all my bastards, Professor Vector. Contrary to idle speculation, I didn't and do not get around nearly that much." He couldn't resist making Emmy Vector blush. And if you think that is shocking, you should hear some of the other rumors about me, or see what I can do with Polyjuice. "But yes," he then nodded, "I had to disabuse them of all the wild rumors going about. It seems as if the Gryffindors had us practically married off."

Vector grew furious. What does he mean, not all of them are his bastards? "Well, at any rate, informing them of the terms of the bet disqualifies everything you've said and done after that date! And since it was less than a month, it means that I win! Prepare to have your hair washed, Snape!"

"You are not weaseling out of this bet that easily, Emmy Vector!" Snape hissed as he grabbed her shoulders.

"Ah -- Let me go, Severus Snape!" Emmy cried out.

"Not until you listen to me, you fool woman!" Snape said through gritted teeth, still holding her by the shoulders. "You are not getting out of this that easily." He backed her up against the dungeon corridor wall. "I was merely letting them know the truth, the truth, do you hear me, woman? Not rumor, not half-truth, not lies, but the actual truth about what the terms of the bet were." Emmy was almost totally silent except for her heavy, wheezing breaths. "I had to reassure them that I was not mad, dying or an imposter, Emmy. None of them would come near to me to ask what was going on!"

"Well," Emmy wheezed softly, "you are rather intimidating, you know."

"Mmm. Yes, I suppose I still have that, IF I win the bet with you, fool woman!" He gripped her shoulders more tightly.

"Ouch! Severus, you're hurting me!" Emmy cried out.

"Good," Snape replied, although he eased up on the pressure. "Foolish woman, do you realize who and what you are dealing with? Do you have any idea just how much danger I carry with me, you mewling little innocent?"

"I am not so innocent as all that, Severus," Emmy replied.

"Oh, Emmy." Snape shook his head. "Emmy, Emmy, Emmy, no matter whatever you have done or seen, you are a babe in arms compared to me."

"Try me, Severus," Emmy whispered. She tilted up her head, closed her eyes and opened her mouth.

Snape could not have resisted that appeal even if he was under Imperius. He dragged his hands to her back, pulled her up to his mouth, and kissed her as if she were a fountain in a desert. He would show her that he was not a tame pet for her to play games with. He would frighten her away, force her to call this stupid bet off, and be free of this irritating, clever little woman with her shining brown eyes and hair, her graceful step, her lovely figure which he could feel pressing against his body. And her soft, sweet mouth kissing him back.

She was kissing him back. Him, Severus Snape, the ugly, gawky, greasy-haired, ex-Death Eater Potions Master. He nearly dropped her in shock. She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him even harder. The scream of his own conscience forced him to break it off. How could you even touch such a sweet little innocent? he thought to himself. "Where did you learn how to kiss like that?" he croaked out.

Emmy smiled softly. "My late husband," she replied. Then something washed over her like a wave of cold water, killing the soft warmth in her eyes. She shoved Snape. He let go of her, let her pass. Yes, now she has remembered who I am and is disgusted by me, he thought.

She ran down the corridor to a corner, and then shouted back at him, "And I'm going to ask Dumbledore about the terms of the bet, Severus!" before she turned the corner and was gone.

Snape looked around the hallway. The woman had left graphs everywhere. He picked them all up, smoothed them out, and gently put them back into the folders. For some strange reason, Snape could feel himself smiling as he headed back toward his classroom. She was still calling him Severus, and she had kissed him back.