Okay, THIS chapter I've been GAGGING to post for THREE YEARS! I'm so glad I get to share this with you. SOOOO much planning went into this chapter and it was one of the first I wrote for this story. The menu was extensively researched, but should you find any mistakes, please know they are mine and not some fabulous chef's.

As I noted in the foreword, there is a bit in here about Fois Gras. I am writing as I think the characters would respond, so don't kill me. This is a sensitive subject to some people, so please be warned I have a small, brief description of the process (nothing gory) and arguments for and against it. Many of you probably think I'm crazy for giving this much header space for goose liver, but I have been in some serious arguments about it, so I'm covering my butt.

"Other than that, have a good time!" - Lou Ann, (Shag)

Chapter 6

Severus flooed back to Hogwarts, then proceeded to tug off and toss his robes wherever they might land in complete aggravation. He looked around his humble quarters and sighed in frustration, heading for the bathroom.

He really needed something to calm his nerves.

His freedom from society was starting to take its toll. Yanking off his trousers and pants in one shove, he flicked his wand at the bath and directed water from the tap to the copper slipper tub sitting proudly in the center of his bathroom. He'd already added Miss Granger's tonic before realizing it was Miss Granger's tonic that he was adding. Looking at the vial now shaking in his hand, he fought with himself on his reasons to use or not to use what little pleasures were left to him.

It was clear that had he left early on in the evening after his and Miss Granger's shouting match, he would have simply thrown this bottle to the wall and let it smash, splattering his re-creation all over the stone wall.

Hmph. Re-creation. Recreation. Now there was a word with double meaning, if ever there was one.

His thumb slid over the glass in his hand and he added a more generous amount to the now steaming water. He dropped the newly empty container onto the bathroom counter and made his way to slip into the soak.

"Ohhh. Merlin, just the right temperature."

Perfect for easing away the troubles arising from his previously unfortunate seating arrangement.

The dinner had been a casual affair, by Malfoy standards, and Miss Granger had been seated directly across from him at a small, square table. The flower arrangement and fairy lights floated a few feet above the presentation, lending a lovely, delicate scent to each remove. He'd paid careful attention to their meal to refrain from having even polite interaction with his former student.

He'd smirked at the plating of dragon fruit, and glanced sideways at Lucius, but he merely sliced the fruit into a smaller portion and bit in. Odd. Normally, his hosts would at least be sharing glances at their private joke, but Narcissa wasn't even looking in his direction. She was eying Miss Granger.

With a slight expulsion of breath though his nostrils in irritation, he refocused on his own plate. After trimming the savory slice of fruit down to an edible size and taking a bite, he had been pleasantly surprised at the revelation of it being soaked in grape vodka. That combination with an aside of small, peeled lychee was brilliant. Knowing that silence would be a higher compliment, he simply enjoyed his fruit.

Miss Granger, however, was not aware of proper table manners, or had been made of more earthy stock than he'd previously assumed. Her delighted moan of appreciation was met by three pairs of eyes, but she looked to Narcissa first.

"I'm sorry, but this is amazing. What is it?"

Their hostess started to take pity and explain, but Severus couldn't resist the opportunity, "Something the know-it-all doesn't know?"

Miss Granger glared at him in that stuck-up expression she so favored, "I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware I needed to study before coming to dinner."

He couldn't help but rejoin with his standard, "Not all learning-"

"Comes from books. Yes, I remember."

He glared at her interruption, and was about to let her know exactly how he felt about that when Narcissa intervened,

"Children."

If he wasn't the one glaring down Narcissa at the same time Miss Granger was, he'd have laughed at the duality of it. As it was, he merely resumed eating his fruit in dejected silence.

"Let's keep our civility, Severus. It's understandable if Hermione doesn't know about fruits imported from Mexico and China."

The young lady in question rejoined in a pointed tone, "Yes, thank you, Narcissa."

He looked up at her with slitted eyes and she gave him a look that said 'there, take that'. He sneered and watched as their plates disappeared and their second course took form.

Neatly distracted by the dish before him, he started compiling the ingredients in his head. He could see the beetroots and ricotta...and what looked like black currants. The taste was divinely complex, with a flavor of a light, fruity, floral wine vinegar. There was a yellow petal as garnish and he assumed the wine was partly made from gorse. He nearly moaned, himself, but kept in check.

He glanced to Miss Granger to see her face curled in ecstasy. She also refrained from commenting but was clearly enjoying herself.

He shifted in his seat and looked down to take another bite.

That course was gone far too quickly, but was replaced with something equally beautiful. He wondered why he'd not been treated to such rich fare as this in so long, but then remembered he was in company of an esteemed guest. Hmph. If they'd rolled out the red carpet for that bushy haired know-it-all, what did that make him?

He stabbed his soup spoon into the jaunty pear-half sitting mockingly in the middle of a generous puddle of vichyssoise. Bringing the spoon closer, he inhaled the peppery scent of watercress and something else...something... He tasted the spoonful and his mouth was instantly caressed by a creamy horseradish sauce along with the buttermilk, peppery watercress and sweet asian pear. He sighed in contentment. He could create these dishes. He could. Damn the Malfoys and their selective pampering, he could very well make these dishes himself.

He could even afford the exotic ingredients if he wanted to...he sighed again, this time in consternation. It didn't matter what he wanted, if he only made it for himself, did it?

He silently ate three more spoonfuls of soup, careful not to scrape the bowl of his spoon against the crystal it was served in. Severus had just looked up to see Miss Granger's reaction to the soup when she met his eyes with a smile. He closed his expression and drank in the sight of her unadulterated excitement. She was genuinely enjoying herself.

He felt the magic of a plate change and looked down at their next course, registering shock. Looking back across the table, he wondered if she knew their hosts had spent a small fortune on their 'salad', if this could be called such. Delicate arrangements of seafood and vegetables, some topped with gold leaf, some with a very pale, buttery caviar. He glanced around the table and found several dynamics at this dish. Lucius shared a smirk with Severus and went right for the caviar. The younger, darker man nearly choked at the speedy relish his host devoured several hundred pounds worth of sturgeon roe.

Narcissa was peeping at Miss Granger through her lashes, waiting for a response. He mentally scoffed. If the girl had no idea what fruit they'd been eating, how was she to know anything about the dish of delights before her?

She was apparently full of surprises, however, as she looked to Narcissa in concern. Their hostess met her eyes and took a bite of lobster garnished with caviar, pointedly indicating with a raised eyebrow that, yes, she should eat it.

Miss Granger's eyes met the table and a slow blush rose to her face. Hmm. She was apparently aware of at least an idea of the cost and was now gathering her nerve to put a small bite worth at least a hundred pounds into her mouth.

For some odd reason, he decided to match her bite with size and timing, watching her chew the soft, silky, nutty roe with slow deliberation. When her mouth moved, so did his. He wanted to watch her face and know exactly what she was tasting as it happened. He couldn't fathom the reason why, he'd just done it.

There was a crystalline moment when she looked across the table and met his eyes, then swallowed. She blinked, and while watching him watch her, she raised another portion, slowly opening her mouth to slip the delicacy inside and dragging the silver out from between soft, flushed, glistening lips.

His eyes flickered between those lips and her eyes, but she'd dropped her gaze too quickly to the table.

Indeed.

He shifted his seat ever so slightly and tasted the crab.

At home, he relived that unexpected memory as he carefully tied his hair on top of his head and leaned back into the copper slipper tub. His hands ran through the water, waving it over his shoulders as he hunched even farther down. He inhaled the sweet fragrance of chamomile and felt the tonic start to work on his nerves, for they had indeed been frayed by the time he'd left for the evening. Running his fingers along his skin, he noted the pleasant feeling trailing after each touch, like the tail of a star chasing light.

He closed his eyes and remembered the next course as it lay before them.

It was, wonderfully enough, rabbit stuffed with foie gras, served with avocado, watercress, mushrooms and leeks. From his nose to his mouth, down his throat to his stomach, every bite was utter perfection.

Miss Granger finally had an attack of conscience.

"I can't eat that."

He smirked and prod, "Whyever not? Afraid of eating Babbity Rabbity?"

He was surprised when all she did was shake her head – where had she learned of the wizarding children's tale? – and glared, "The foie gras. I know how that's made and I just can't..." She actually looked a little shaken.

He made his argument with a perplexed expression, "So you'd prefer it for the goose to have died in vain?"

"What?"

There seemed to be an undercurrent of something else being said between them, but he ignored those greater implications and carried on, "The deed is done, Miss Granger. Why not enjoy the results of such care?"

She looked down at her plate, then back up again, unsure.

Lucius carefully interjected, "Have you never tried it?"

She shook her head.

Severus was quick to sneer, "Then you don't know why it's considered such a delicacy."

Her argumentative nature reared its bushy head again, "But it's torture. It's inhumane."

Apparently neither of their hosts felt the need to correct her, so it was up to him. He resorted to teaching mode and asked her, "Is it inhumane to grow a fruit and pluck it once it's ripe?"

She shook her head again, gulping out, "That's different."

"Is it?"

Glaring at him, she responded, "You don't stuff it full of food until the liver explodes."

He scoffed and sat back in his seat, "Really. You must know your subject if you wish to argue its purpose."

And of course, that got her dander up, "We toured a poultry farm in France when I was a child! I saw them!"

Now for the counter-attack, "What did you see? Hmm? Exploded livers everywhere? Gavages strewn about?"

Her suddenly unsure gaze met his across the table, "No."

Needing more to work with, he pushed back with a, "Well?"

"The ducks and geese couldn't walk, they were so fat. And there were so many of them."

He nearly rolled his eyes. "Hmm. A large population of well-kept, well-fed poultry. How horrifying for you."

Her response was typical, "You can't tell me the practice is ethical."

Oh-ho, time for correcting the do-gooder, "Can't I? A Jewish Rabbi condoned the practice as allowable under their dietary law because none of the limbs are damaged. It is one of the few fats they are allowed to cook with, so it's not particularly the liver these geese are fattened for. I supposed you'd care to tell me that thousands of years of Egyptian heritage is also unethical?"

Narcissa, ever the perfect hostess, intervened at the moment of Miss Granger's embarrassment. "You can either scrape it out," and her expression gave her thoughts on that course of action, "or you can give it a try, dear. It's already made and if you don't like it, we'll never serve it to you again."

Severus was rather put out that Narcissa redirected his repartee, but watched with hidden glee as Miss Granger, dejectedly and with grating knife on plate force, acquiesced to loading her fork with a portion of every content of the plate. They all watched as she bit carefully down, pulling the food into her mouth off her fork. As she rolled it across her tongue, taking one careful chew, her expression bloomed into near panic. She stopped chewing and stared, helplessly at each of her dinner partners, tears beginning to brim in her bright amber eyes.

Severus was rather afraid of her rejecting it completely, especially as he was directly across from her. He quickly admonished, "Hurry up and swallow, girl, before you spit it out."

It was Lucius' choking that clued him in to his verbal faux pas, rather than the hysterical chew-swallow-and-spluttering-laughter Miss Granger was now currently hiding behind her napkin. Narcissa just reached for her wine and rejoined, "Now, Severus, dear, you mustn't use such suggestive commentary outside intimate company. Who knows what Our Hermione must think of you, now."

Lucius chuckled a little more than was appropriate in appreciation.

Severus' face was completely flushed with embarrassment, which he quickly tried to hide behind a closed expression and a steady sip of wine. As he did so, he chanced a glance over the rim of crystal at 'their Hermione'.

Even later, in his soak, he covered his face and groaned at his unfortunate statement, but that was nothing in comparison with Miss Granger's rejoinder.

She caught his glance and lowered her napkin, revealing a flushed face and lips parted in laughter. She cut her eyes to each side, gathering the gauge of her audience before putting him smartly in his place. "Don't worry, sir. I know that good girls don't spit out something that's already in their mouths."

Lucius completely guffawed at that, obviously delighted at Miss Granger's coarse comment. Severus blushed harder, his mind immediately going to an image of those flushed, pink lips sucking him off. For some odd reason, he mentally retaliated with a visual of stuffing her mouth with his cock until she gagged from it, perhaps in the spirit of the foie gras they were eating, and really had to adjust his seat beyond subtlety.

Laughter died down to soft smiles. Miss Granger turned to their hostess, "Everything has been lovely, and I'm sorry about being so rude when you've so obviously taken a lot of care in preparing this menu. I can't wait to see what's next."

Narcissa smiled warmly and reached over to grasp her guest's hand in comfort, "Never you mind, Hermione. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Learning to enjoy the pleasures in life is not always what one would expect, don't you think?" She ended her gift of wisdom with a telling glance at Severus, most likely intending for her comment to be on his ascetic lifestyle. What it ended up being was a very charged insinuation that Miss Granger and himself should perhaps learn to enjoy each other.

He took another steadying sip of wine as Miss Granger answered, "Oh, absolutely. Some of the most rewarding knowledge can come from seeing a known subject in an entirely new light." Her own little pearl was given with a final bite of her rabbit stuffed with foie gras and a veiled look coquettishly through her lashes at Severus.

Back home, his hands were exploring very well-known territory with slight tugs and pulls at his genitalia. It was wrong, so very wrong to think of stuffing Miss Granger's mouth full of his cock, but at that moment, it felt like it could very well be the solution to all his problems. For all he knew, and for all her innuendo, she may actually like giving oral sex.

The thought of forcing her head down on him, only to have her submit to his cock-thrusting, was a heady thought. His left hand grasped his shaft fully and he groaned in appreciation of the tightness of his own hand and the hot, wet currents of water flowing across his body. He slipped his right hand down to roll his scrotum and slightly pull, moaning his heightened pleasure into the small room.

His mind drifted back to their final course: dessert. She made an absolute beggar of him and hadn't even known it. The chocolate cake would have been decadent on its own, but with the Marsala laced through the batter and passion fruit mousse layered between, it was absolutely delicious. To top all of that sweetness, there was a dollop of Italian mascarpone. He took one bite and was in thrall, but it was Miss Granger's reaction that had him matching her eating pattern again.

A low rumble reached his ears and he'd have almost looked for some small animal had it not been for the evidence before him. She was thrumming with ecstasy at the chocolate confection, still with the spoon in her mouth. Chocolate bark had melted on her lips and she unabashedly licked it clean with her tongue.

Narcissa's tittering laughter couldn't even tear his eyes away from the sight before him. She lifted another spoonful and so did he, matching bite for bite, watching, waiting, listening for the evidence of her pleasure. She dropped a hand into her lap, most likely innocently, but his mind went to think about what she could be doing down there. He wanted to think about her humming and sucking on his cock like that, slipping her fingers into her feminine folds and moaning more loudly than before. He was utterly and completely captured by her devouring of dessert and the entire time, her eyes were closed. She was most likely fantasizing about having such a piece of culinary art at her disposal night and day and he was daydreaming about her licking that passion fruit mousse off his cock.

Licking it, just like a lolly.

He snapped to, clearing his throat and dropping his spoon to the dish with a clatter. Narcissa and Lucius were busy making eyes at each other when the noise abruptly disrupted them. Everyone turned to look at Severus and he cleared his throat again.

"P-pardon me. I think I've—got a bit of sweet stuck in my throat..." His eyes widened as he realized the possible connotations of what he'd just stumblingly said. Before he could completely embarrass himself, he flew to the wash room to splash cold water on his face. He should leave, he should leave now before he did something truly embarrassing.

And so he did.

Quietly calling a house elf, he informed the creature that he would be leaving and to let its mistress know as soon as dessert was over. Not looking back, he stalked over to the nearest fireplace and flooed back to Hogwarts with a loud huff.

He, of course, had not seen Lucius give Narcissa a concerned glance and then a nod when he'd felt his old friend leave their wards.

Sitting in the tub, he couldn't get the sound of Miss Granger's low, delicious thrum out of his head. He could easily picture her sucking off his staff like a Lolita with a lolly and his hand flew faster and faster over his engorged penis. A finger slipped over the glans and he gasped audibly, bucking up into his own hand with abandon.

He kept thinking about the chocolate, and all those lovely fruits passing over her lips, each flick of her tongue on her fork as she savored and swallowed. Her eyes gliding over to him in dark suggestion, the heave of her decolletage in her dark gray dress with its fitted drape, giving him the idea that, had she been sucking him off, he could easily see her breasts bouncing and shifting within.

Why was he fantasizing about her? So what if she was a former student, she was Hermione Granger! The one person who could quite possibly keep him on his toes had him on his back, daydreaming for her mouth.

That mouth...

He could almost feel her tongue caressing him, muscling across his turgid skin as she sucked her cheeks hollow with his cock in her mouth.

Almost there...

In his mind, her eyes flared up to meet his as she serviced him and he bucked forward, shoving every last inch of himself into her hot oral cavity...

A last thrust into his hand and he was in heaven, pulsing out the end of his evening into the still-hot water of Hermione's tonic.

xoxo

Muahahahaha...