The Inverted Boggart... Strikes Again

-THE INVERTED BOGGART... STRIKES AGAIN

By: Lana Manckir

~ Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, "I see no difference."

Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight. ~

Hermione bit her bottom lip, trying to tame the frizz in her hair as the memory of that day in her fourth year played itself in her head, yet again. Every time she felt insecure about her appearance, that day when Malfoy hexed her front teeth would come flooding back. But not because of her teeth... she had them shrunk to normal size, which turned out to be a good thing. She could even thank Malfoy for that.

No... What really hurt was how her heart was crushed and broken into tiny pieces. She would never forget the disdainful expression with which he spoke those hurtful words to her. That hurt more than any humiliation of being laughed at by the Slytherins, and even some Gryffindors too. It's incredible how one's mind can gather so many awful details in situations like that.

She knew Snape was a bastard, and he would never act nice toward her. But she didn't care, for some weird reason she liked him exactly like that. She was always prepared for his lashing out at her eagerness to ask questions and the nicknames he gave her. 'Insufferable know-it-all' or 'Stupid girl' were his favorite choices, and even that didn't phase her at all.

What he said that day, hurt more than any of those things. She remembered crying for the longest time and was glad everyone thought she was upset because of the hex. God knows what her friends would say if they knew she had a crush on the Potions Master.

But that was a long time ago and now she was in her last year, apprenticing with Professor Snape and a few months away from graduation.

Her feelings were still the same, if not, they had grown into something stronger than a crush. She tried to improve her looks, but there was little she could do and no matter how she tried to approach him, he showed little interest in her or what she had to say. When he wasn't ignoring her, he was making his sarcastic little comments. It was a wonder why she liked him...

Placing her potion books in her book bag, she left her Head Girl's room and made her way to the dungeons. She always made sure to leave her quarters ten minutes before going to her evening classes with Snape, so she wouldn't be late.

She entered the empty classroom and headed to her usual table, setting the cauldron, ingredients and a parchment and quill for her notes. After five minutes, Professor Snape walked in the classroom.

Not even bothering to look at her, he waved his wand to the blackboard and the instructions for her advanced level potion appeared. He sat at his desk and went on with his own work.

Even knowing it was useless, she greeted, "Good evening, Professor."

He grunted in return, as he scribbled his scrawl on what looked like students' essays, his quill moving furiously, soaked in red ink.

She sighed and started her potion. It wasn't like this every day; sometimes he would show her how to make those potions that were more dangerous and complex. She loved to work alongside him, it was a good excuse to observe his face and elegant movements. She reveled in the closeness and his intoxicating scent.

After she was done with her potion and was taking notes of the color and consistence at every stage, her concentration was broken by Filch's voice at the door. He entered the room dragging a large trunk with difficulty, as it kept shaking wildly.

"Excuse me Professor, I just trapped two Boggarts in this trunk and Professor McGonagall told me to bring them to you," Filch said out of breath as he struggled to put the trunk inside the classroom.

"Why on earth would she do that?" Snape asked annoyed at the interruption. Couldn't McGonagall get rid of the Boggarts herself?

"She said she had no time for that," Filch replied. "And by the way Professor, these are the different kind, those troublesome inverted Boggarts."

Snape's lips curled up and he suddenly understood why McGonagall didn't want anything to do with it. He remembered the episode two years ago, when this unusual creature had been found in the girls' bathroom, on the second floor.

Instead of turning into the victim's deepest fear, it turned into their deepest desire. And in his opinion it happened to be a lot more troublesome than the usual Boggart. But it was worth seeing the embarrassed look in McGonagall's face when the Boggart revealed her deepest desire.

"Very well Argus, I'll take care of it," Snape said, dismissing Filch.

The trunk shook violently with the two creatures inside.

Hermione had been watching the whole interaction with apprehensive eyes. She heard about the Boggart found in the Girls' bathroom, and the new creature had been added to their Defense Against The Dark Arts' books ever since. They even had to learn the spell on how to get rid of it, but thankfully, she didn't have to practice on a real one, for they were very rare to come by. That would surely have been embarrassing, having her Boggart turn into Professor Snape in front of the whole class.

"Miss Granger!" Snape called.

"Yes Sir?"

"I trust you know the spell to get rid of these creatures?" he asked.

"Y-yes but..." Her legs were starting to feel like there were no bones to support them.

"Come over here, I can't get rid of two Boggarts at the same time, so you're going to have to take one of them," he said waving his hand.

"Sir, I never practiced on a real one, I'm not sure I can do that," she said knowing full well she could do it.

"What is it Miss Granger, afraid of what it might turn in to?" he asked with a smirk.

'This will be fun,' he thought seeing the tortured look on her face. He knew what he desired most wasn't anything that everyone didn't already know about, for the one in the girls' bathroom had turned into an Order of Merlin award.

"No, I ... I don't really think it's a good idea... I - I'm not very good with Boggarts," she stuttered nervously.

"My, my... I didn't think I would live to see Miss know-it-all refuse to show off her many talents," he said silkily, causing her to shiver.

She looked down. Her cheeks were burning and she knew she was blushing already; how would she be able to face him after he saw what the Boggart would turn into?

"Well, I have no time for more of this foolishness! Come over here and do as I say, before I start deducting points from Gryffindor!" he said as he turned back to the trunk.

Hermione reluctantly made her through the tables to the back of the class, where the shaking trunk was. She watched as Snape walked around it and closed the door. She was trapped and couldn't even run now, for Snape stood in front of the door.

"All right now, when I open the trunk, have your wand at the ready." Pointing his wand to the lock he said, "Alohomora!"

The trunk got still. A few seconds of silence passed, then it flew open and Hermione braced herself closing her eyes in denial. When she heard Snape's gasp, she knew he had seen it. Finally she had managed to bring human emotion on Snape, she just wished it was something other than surprise and probably disgust.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes ready to get rid of the thing, only to drop her wand to the floor, as surprised as Snape was.

Snape had also forgotten about his wand or anything else for that matter, he leaned his back to the door and all he could do was watch.

The two Boggarts had come out of the trunk and had turned instantly into each of their deepest desires. Hermione didn't even care that her Snape-Boggart was there, she was fascinated, looking at the copy of herself that stood in front of the real Snape.

She didn't think that even Snape knew this was coming, otherwise he wouldn't have forced her to do this with him.

But the surprises weren't over at all.

The two Boggarts moved closer and she was brought back from her shock, retrieving her wand. She pointed at the thing, ready to say the spell, when the creature stopped and instead of coming any closer to her, it went to the other Boggart.

And suddenly she and Snape were watching the copy of themselves snogging right there in front of their faces.

Snape-Boggart grabbed Hermione-Boggart's neck and pulled her closer into a deep kiss. The Hermione-Boggart gripped his dark hair with one hand and the real Hermione gasped as she saw the creature's other hand reach for Snape-Boggart's crotch.

She couldn't bring herself to look at Snape but she could feel he was tense and as shocked as she was.

The Snape-Boggart grabbed Hermione-Boggart's arse and lifted her up, carrying her to the nearest table. Then it gracefully started to peel her clothes off.

Hermione and Snape were hypnotized by the scene developing in front of them, and neither made one move to stop it. She heard Snape catch his breath as the Snape-Boggart took Hermione-Boggart's bra off and her breasts were in full view.

They stared as the Boggarts stripped and it didn't take long for them to lay naked on the table, hands and tongues everywhere. Hermione's jaw hit the floor when she saw the size of the Boggart's erection. The room was suddenly very hot for her to bear.

When the Hermione-Boggart moaned and said, "Yes!" as the Boggart was obviously inside her, Hermione snapped.

"We have to do something, Professor!" And for the first time since the whole episode started, she turned to look at the Potions Master's face.

He looked like there was absolutely no blood left in his body.

As if coming out of trance, he blinked a few times and replied, "Yes... I think it's breast... I mean best!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking again. "At the count of three, we direct our wands to the respective.. uh Boggarts and say the spell."

Hermione nodded, and waited for Snape to count. As they pointed their wands and prepared to say the words, the last thing they heard was, "Yes, Severus, fuck me harder!"

"GRAVIS AGRIMONI!" they both yelled louder than needed, as if to muffle the Boggart's embarrassing words.

The creatures swirled into nothing, and the room grew silent again.

Neither of them could meet each other's eyes. Hermione was appalled and relieved at the same time. At least she wasn't the only one to be embarrassed. Then a thought hit her. With all the surprise, she hadn't realized that if Snape's inverted Boggart was her, then it meant he had the same feelings for her too.

As if the same thought was crossing his mind, he looked at her with a mix of confusion, uncertainty and surprise. She met his eyes and there was an unspoken understanding that filled both their hearts with hope.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Granger," he finally said.

"Yes sir." She walked back to her table and after cleaning up her cauldron with a swish of her wand, she took her book bag and headed for the door.

"Have good night, Miss Granger," he said.

She turned back to him and replied, "You too, sir."

As she walked back to her quarters, she couldn't help the smile on her face. This was the first time he had wished her good night.

THE END

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