Lesson Learned

"Ron, stop it!" Hermione snapped, for the sixth time that hour.

The red-head next to her sighed, impatiently. "What's going on with you?" he demanded, slumping face-down on their potion's table.

"We're in the middle of class," she pointed out, shrilly, her brown eyes surveying the room for the potion's Master. The man had the strangest ability to always sneak up on them when they least suspect it and she didn't want to get caught, again, because of an overly hormonal boy. Last time Ron had been caught, Snape had threatened to hang him upside down by his ankles from the rafters if he touched her again. He'd also promised a graphic mutilation of a certain body part that made most of the boys in the class squirm in their seats. But clearly that meant nothing to Ron as he was at it again.

"So? The greasy-git is probably drooling over Malfoy's perfect cauldron," for the now seventh time that hour, Ron's hand found their way high up on her bare thigh. "He probably won't notice anything."

"Ronald…!"

"Is there a reason why you can't keep your hands to yourself, Mr. Weasley?" the dark, silky voice growled from behind them. "Perhaps if you focused half as much attention to your potion, it wouldn't be overflowing and earning you a zero for your incompetency."

Ron gasped, leaping to his feet to save his ruined potion, but the damage had been done and needed to be cleared away, which Snape did, gladly with a flick of his wand.

"Thirty points from Gryffindor for slacking in my class,"

Hermione, along with the rest of the Gryffindor house glowered at Ron. Served him right for being such a grabby git.

The class ended promptly an hour later and everyone hurriedly stuffed their things into their bags and left the damp dungeon, everyone except Ron who was summoned to Snape's desk.

Hermione watched the red-head amble up to the professor's desk, head down, shoulders slouched. She felt no pity towards him. No meant no, it was about time he realized it, and if anyone could teach him, it was Snape.

A slight smile twitched around her mouth as she studied the older man. Tall, dark and strangely exotic in a pale, grouchy sort of way with his obsidian eyes and sleek, shaggy black hair. She'd always had a thing for men in authority, and no one could take control like Severus Snape could.

"Was there something else, Miss. Granger?" the bat of the dungeon drawled in his husky, baritone voice.

Flushing, Hermione quickly glanced down. "No, sir,"

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she hurried to the door, but not before he called her back.

"Keep in mind you still have detention tonight, Miss. Granger, and I expect you to be prompt."

Slicking her lips, Hermione nodded. "Yes, sir, I will."

Leaving Ron to fend for himself, she hurried up to the Gryffindor common room. Harry glanced up from his place by the fire, his glasses slipping off the bridge of his nose.

"Hey," he greeted her, shoving the silver framed glasses back up with his index finger. "Everything alright?"

Huffing, Hermione dropped her book bag on the floor and flopped down beside him. "It would be if Ron would learn to keep his hands and attention away from my panties. Honestly, how hard is it to understand the word 'no'?"

Harry grinned. "For Ron? Very hard. In fact, I don't think he even knows what it means."

"Clearly," she huffed.

"So, where is our pervert?"

"Snape kept him after classes," she replied, crossing her arms and leaning back against the sofa. "I hope he gives him an earful."

Ron never returned to the common room that evening, not that anyone noticed. Harry took off to play a game of Quidditch with the boys and Hermione found herself walking the path down to the dungeon for her detention.

A cauldron sat bubbling on a desk, filling the empty room with a sweet scent. Hermione frowned at the professor's absence. He was never late.

Curious, she inched deeper into the room, prepared to call out when the doors slammed shut behind her and she was yanked back against a hard chest.

"Care to enlighten me with your thoughts earlier?" a guttural voice growled seductively into her ear.

"I was thinking how sexy you look when you're reprimanding a student," she replied, turning to face her gorgeous lover. "And how much I love it when you get possessive and jealous."

Severus huffed, lips thinning. "I was not jealous, I simply don't like that dunderhead pawing what's mine!"

Hermione smiled softly. "Well, I certainly can't deny that, and I do so love being yours."

He arched a dark brow. "Is that so? How much do you love it?"

Going up on her tiptoes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and molded her body into his. She grazed his lips with hers, deepening the kiss with a single flick of her tongue. His arms tightened around her middle, crushing her greedily into the folds of his black robes. Her fingers delved into his silky tresses, fisting and keeping him captive to her.

After five, solid minutes of kissing, she drew back to give them a chance to breath. Her fingers tenderly stroked the side of his face while she peered lovingly into his eyes.

Severus smirked. "I knew giving you that love potion would be the best thing I ever did."

Hermione chuckled. "You never needed a love potion. I think I've been in love with you since the very beginning."

"That's every professor's dream, to have a bushy-haired, buck-toothed, know-it-all, first year mooning over them," he drawled, playfully.

She hummed softly. "You always were a dirty, old man,"

"I'll have you know you were perfectly legal when I made my feelings known. I even waited an extra year just to make certain you were comfortable with me."

"Even though I told you I was ready at seventeen," she sighed, "You were such a cruel man for making me wait for you until I was eighteen."

"Yes, but I have you now and that's all that matters," he drawled, dropping his head and nuzzling her neck.

Hermione moaned softly, her eyes fluttering closed.

"Now, what kind of punishment should you receive?"

She stiffened, drawing back to look into his face. "Punishment for what?"

"For letting that red-headed potato put his hands on you!" he replied, sternly.

"What was I supposed to do? Hit him?"

"Yes!"

Hermione gasped. "We were in the middle of class!"

"Nonetheless,"

Without waiting, he swooped down and hefted her into his arms and marched to his desk. He set her down gently and thrust apart her knees to wiggle between them. His long, pale fingers toyed with the buttons on her blouse, popping each one open until he could push the flaps apart, revealing her to him.

"I think," he murmured, bringing his left hand down to cradle her bra-clad breast, "I'll tie you down to my desk again. I love how you look sprawled, flushed and wet across my papers."

Despite the surge of heat coiling inside her, Hermione couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped her. "I bet your students will love knowing the things we do on their hard work almost every night."

Severus smirked. "Why do you think I give out so many essays?"

Laughing, she hooked her fingers around his collar and yanked him forward to meet his lips with hers. "You're such an evil man,"

He growled, pushing her down on the desk and murmuring the spell to tie her down. "Don't you forget it!"

Lost in her passionate punishment, Hermione didn't notice the shadow dangling from the corner rafter, bound and gagged, watching wide-eyed and nauseous at the couple writhing across the solid oak desk.

Severus waited until he'd thoroughly kissed Hermione and sent her on her way before glancing up at the unmoving figure and smirking.

"I hope you've learned your lesson on touching things that don't belong to you," he drawled, "Next time, I won't be as nice."

*~*~*~*~*~*

"What happened to you yesterday?" Harry asked Ron the next morning during potions.

Ron remained in his hunched position and stared unseeingly at his papers. "Got lost," he muttered,

Harry frowned. "How did you get lost? We know this castle like the back of our hands…"

"I got lost, ok?" Ron shrilled, leaping to his feet and startling his two potion's partners.

"What's gotten into you, Ron?" Hermione demanded,

"Nothing!" he barked, not meeting her concerned eyes. "Just…leave me alone."

Harry and Hermione exchanged curious glances, but left the red-head to his sulking.

"Clean up," Severus barked from the front of the class. "And I want everyone to write me a four-foot essay on the properties of Ginger roots. It'll be due in three days!"

Hermione caught her professor's eyes and grinned.

Ron caught the look and turned an nasty shade of green.