Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters - they all belong to the
wonderful J.K. Rowling. Obviously, I make no money out of this (who on
earth would want to pay for it). It is merely intended as a homage to the
real JKR.
The title and the quote about perfumes of Arabia are from Macbeth.
A/N: This is in reply to Gildorelf's Expulsion challenge on the Yahoo DarkSarcasm group (groups.yahoo.com/group/darksarcasm).
Blood will have blood by KET (katta_t2002@yahoo.co.uk)
'But how are you going to get hold of unicorn blood?' asked Ron, putting his finger on one of the most serious weaknesses with the whole plan. 'We'll have to steal it from Snape's stores. There is nowhere else that supplies of it are kept at Hogwarts,' said Hermione. 'But it has to be done tonight if the Plan is to work,' objected Ron. 'How are you going to get into Snape's stores tonight?' 'I'll create a diversion,' offered Harry. 'I'll draw Snape out, and then you'll know that he is not around his stores.' Ron stared at this friend. 'Deliberately provoke Snape? He'll skin you alive.' Harry sighed. 'It'll be worth it if the plan works!'
Hermione offered no objection. She had an agenda of her own over and above the Plan - one that she was not about to reveal to Ron or Harry. The fact was that she wanted to see Snape's face when he realised what potion she had invented and brewed. For six and a half years she had impressed and amazed all her teachers at Hogwarts with only two exceptions - Trelawney and Snape. Trelawney didn't matter, but Snape ... The lack of recognition from Snape grated. In fact, she had become obsessed by him. He had begun to invade her dreams in a way that she didn't understand and wasn't sure whether she liked or not. She felt sure that she could banish him if she could just once see respect on his face.
While she mused, Ron considered the options. He could see that Harry was right - there was no alternative. 'I'll go with you,' he offered. Harry shook his head. 'No, you stay here and mind the potion,' he said. They had once again taken over Moaning Myrtle's bathroom for illicit potion making. Reluctantly, Ron nodded.
*******
'And so I found Potter in the corridor,' concluded Snape in an aggrieved tone to the headmaster. 'And you brought him straight here.' Dumbledore had a serious enough mien, but Harry detected a twinkle in his eyes. 'Yes, Albus,' said Snape. 'I think this is an expellable offence.' 'Let's see if I can sum this up,' said Dumbledore. 'There was a noise in the third floor corridor. Harry was found wandering around nearby after curfew. That would warrant a detention at most, I would have thought, ' he concluded mildly. 'But, but, but ...' stammered Snape. 'A valuable trophy was damaged!' 'And we have no proof it was Harry who damaged it. It could equally have been Peeves.' 'Peeves denies it!' 'And you would rely on Peeves' word?' Harry was beginning to hope that he might get away with a minor detention.
At that moment a humming sound started up in Snape's pocket. Snape withdrew a small sphere, rather like a sneakoscope and stared at it suspiciously for a second. As soon he had decoded its message, his face filled with rage. 'Someone has broken the wards to my storeroom!' he shouted. He turned to Harry and added in a hissing voice, 'If I ever find out this had anything to do with you, I'll have your guts for garters'. Harry could only watch helplessly as Snape swept out of the room.
******
Finding the unicorn blood was proving more difficult than Hermione had anticipated. Snape's store cupboard was organised in alphabetical order, but there was no sign of it under 'U'. Then she remembered that he had a special locked cupboard for particularly dangerous and valuable ingredients. Unicorn blood certainly fell into that category. But then she had to pick the magical lock, which took a little while. And once she was in the cupboard, she found the bottles were labelled in code. The code was not beyond her, but it took some time to break it. She had just located the bottle, when the door slammed open and Snape stormed in.
Sanpe grabbed her by the shoulder and fairly threw her against the wall. Hermione whimpered with pain and fought hard to maintain her dignity. Snape's mouth dropped open when he recognised who the intruder was. Then an unpleasant smile spread slowly across his face. 'Miss Granger,' he said silkily. 'What do you think you're doing?' She had no answer, so didn't reply. 'This is definitely an expellable offence.' And so a triumphant Snape marched a student to the headmaster for the second time that evening.
******
Dumbledore sighed to himself. This was tricky. Hermione Granger had broken so many school rules by her actions this night that he was going to have a very hard time preventing her from being expelled, even if she was head girl. But he didn't like the look of victory on Severus' face. It didn't become him and the situation didn't call for it. 'So - I'll ask you again. What were you doing in Professor Snape's storeroom?' 'In my locked cupboard.' 'Alright, in the locked cupboard in Professor Snape's storeroom.' 'I'd rather not say, sir,' was all Hermione offered. Dumbledore sighed again. Perhaps he was getting too old for this. 'I'm simply not prepared to deal with this in the middle of the night. You will both come back here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning and we'll continue this discussion then.' Snape stormed out furious that Dumbledore hadn't agreed to expel her there and then. Hermione left with a heavy heart.
******
Back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the three conspirators examined the situation. Harry had a detention hanging over his head. Hermione was now under serious threat of expulsion. 'What do we do now?' asked Ron. 'We carry on regardless,' said Hermione with determination. 'How?' exclaimed the boys. 'If we can only delay the expulsion by 24 hours, we can still put the Plan into operation tomorrow.' 'But we still haven't got the unicorn's blood!' 'I'll go back for it now. I know where he keeps it now.' 'But you'll set off the alarm again!' 'No I won't. I know what the wards are now. I'll dismantle them.' And as Harry and Ron had learnt over the years, there was simply no shifting Hermione once she had made her mind up to achieve something.
******
It was an uneasy Snape who paced his room that night. He was furious that Dumbledore hadn't backed him up. But even more, he was becoming uneasy about his own motives. There was something about the Granger girl - he simply couldn't get her out of his mind. He would be delighted if she was expelled, then he wouldn't have to see her again. Because every time he saw her, a strange sensation tingled down his spine and he really didn't want to examine the reason for that too closely.
In the end, he gave up all hope of going to sleep. He got dressed again and set off for another round of the castle corridors, although it was now 3am and extremely unlikely that any students would be out of bed. As he passed the dungeons, a sixth sense seemed to tell him to have a look, even though any breach should have set off his alarm system. Quietly, he crept into the classroom and on into the storeroom. He nearly had a heart attack when he spotted the sliver of light from a heavily hooded wand in the far corner by the locked cupboard. With an odd feeling of déjà vue, he crept up quietly on a small figure crouching in the corner.
It was Hermione's turn nearly to have a heart attack when Snape roared at her from two feet behind her back. This time he didn't have to throw her against the wall - she jumped up against it in fright of her own accord. Snape's face contorted with fury and he raised his hand to hit her, but at the last moment he came to his senses and drew back. 'What are you doing here?' he shouted. Hermione drew herself up to her full height and with the last vestiges of her courage, she answered him back. 'I might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb, sir.' Finally, curiosity got the better of him. 'What is it that you are so hell-bent on stealing that you are prepared to risk certain expulsion for it?' 'Unicorn blood, sir.' 'What the hell do you want unicorn blood for?'
And Hermione knew that this was her chance. Her chance to impress him. And perhaps to save herself from expulsion. 'I've invented a potion.' Snape scowled, but she was not to be put off. 'I have. I have invented a new potion. It distils the sanguinus curse into a potion.' Despite everything, Snape's attention had been caught. 'As I'm sure you know, the sanguinus curse will reveal anyone who has shed innocent blood by causing their hands to run with blood.' Snape nodded. 'But it is difficult to use because the presence of other guilt people in the room causes interference. But if its essence was distilled into a potion ...' She had his attention now, as she explained the stages she had gone through in her research.
As soon as she had finished, he reverted to his normal self and scowled at her. 'Don't think this ingenious piece of research will save you from expulsion.' But he couldn't help adding, 'What use would this potion be?' 'Well, we reckon that the reason that Lord Voldemort is so dangerous, is that so many people support him secretly - even within the ministry.' Snape couldn't really argue with that, but he sneered anyway. 'So what is this potion going to do about that?' 'Don't you see, sir. Tomorrow, for the Hogwarts' anniversary feast, all those people are going to be there. Lucius Malfoy, Macnair, Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle. Our plan is to spray them all with the potion. All the people from the ministry will be there, too. And when those hands start bleeding, they'll all know.'
It took a moment for the implications to sink into Snape's brain. Involuntarily he looked down at his own hands. It was only a small glance, but Hermione noticed. Her quick brain supplied the explanation, and suddenly she saw that she might have a hold over him. 'If I'm expelled,' she said slowly, 'I'll have no option but to take this potion to the ministry'. She fervently hoped that this was what he feared. It was. Snape had enough enemies at the ministry who had never forgiven him for getting off scot-free at his death eater trial and who would be only too delighted in testing this new potion on him. 'Of course, if I was not expelled, I would take it to Dumbledore instead. And I could give a discreet sign before the spraying began, so that anyone in the know who wanted to, could leave the table.' Snape knew when he was defeated. Besides - annoyingly - she was right. Voldemort would be much easier to defeat if his acolytes were gone. He sighed. 'I don't think we need to disturb Albus again tonight.' 'Alright, but you'll have to speak to him in the morning and get the threat of my expulsion lifted.' Snape nodded with resignation.
******
Harry and Ron nearly jumped out of their skins when Hermione entered with Snape. He inspected the potion and got Hermione to run through the ingredients again. The theory was flawless. He could see that it really might work. Slowly, he poured in the precious unicorn blood, donated by a friendly creature to Hagrid at the last full moon. The potion hissed and steamed. 'What if it doesn't work,' said Ron. And suddenly Snape realised that it had to be tested. 'Get out,' he snarled at Ron and Harry. Then, 'Stay!' to Hermione.
Once the boys were gone, he raised a ladle of the potion. It took Hermione a moment to realise what he was about to do. She was about to cry out to stop him, but it was too late. The drops of potion were already hissing on his skin and his hands turned red. He stared at them for a moment and then he turned and swept out of the room, cloak flapping.
Hermione tried to call out to tell him to wait, but she didn't have time before he was gone. She scrabbled around under the washbasin, retrieved the bottle of antidote and ran after him, but he was nowhere in sight. She ran down the corridor towards the classroom. The door swung open - he had clearly come this way. She entered the classroom, but he was not there. Then on into his office, she went, but that was also empty. Here, however, she found a magical opening into a long corridor that he had forgotten to shut behind him in his panic.
She ran along the corridor and skidded into a room that was clearly Snape's living quarters. There was no light except a smouldering fire, but she had an impression of book lined walls. At first she thought this room was empty, too, but then she heard something like a sob. He had sunk into a chair in front of the fire and was sitting with his head bowed in his hands. She knelt in front of him and said, not unkindly, 'You must take the antidote. It will burn your hands after a while otherwise.' He nodded and reached out for the bottle, but she shook her head. 'I have to rub it in. It won't help if you do it yourself.' Again he nodded and held out his blood-stained hands. 'I don't know what dosage to give you,' she said and placed one drop on his hand. In fact, the dosage of the antidote depended on how much innocent blood he had on his hands, but she didn't think it would help the situation to tell him that. She rubbed in the drop and the red faded to a dull pink. The second drop brought it down to a slight tinge. After the third drop, the hands were restored to normal. Hermione wasn't sure whether three drops was good or bad, but she suspected it wasn't too bad.
As the last of the third drop was absorbed, she realised how beautiful his hands were. Delicate and long-fingered. And he had relaxed as she massaged them. When she finished, he seemed to hold his hands there a fraction longer than was really necessary. Then he looked up and his black eyes gazed deep into Hermione's brown ones. Finally, she broke the eye contact, stood up slightly stiffly and turned towards the door.
******
Hermione looked beautiful in her new dress robes and her hair done in ringlets. She wore a dazzling smile and had all the old duffers swarming around her. As head girl, she was seated at the top table with all the dignitaries. There was no problem at all directing the conversation along the lines she wanted. 'And what is our charming head girl up to her in her studies,' asked a member of the board of governors, whom she strongly suspected of being a death eater. She smiled sweetly. 'I'm doing some research on distilling curses into potions.' 'Fascinating! Fascinating! Any particular curses?' This was almost too easy, she thought. In a clear voice that carried all round the table, she explained about the sanguinus curse. The governor/death eater put on a supercilious smile and said, 'This is all on the theoretical level, I take it. They don't allow this sort of potions experiment in a school, I trust.' Hermione's saccharine smile widened. 'Oh, I don't know. I'm rather famed for my potions brewing.' Several smiles around her wavered slightly. Then she stood up to look at the ceiling, pretending to be an air-brained teenage girl. 'Oh, look! The stars are out now!' This was the cue. Snape surreptitiously slipped away from the table. At the other end of the hall, Harry carefully levitated a balloon filled with the potion.
What happened next was so confused that no one present ever really remembered the details. The balloon floated over to the top table and suddenly burst. A number of men's voices screamed. When the dust settled, more than a dozen people were staring at burning blood-drenched hands, Minister Fudge and most of his closest aides among them. There was a deathly silence for a moment. Then Deputy Minister Weasley stood up and roared, 'Hagrid, seize them!'
******
Snape sat in his study looking at his hands. Innocent blood. Yes, there was no doubt about it. His hands had innocent blood on them. No matter how long ago it was, or what he had done to atone for it since, they had innocent blood on them. 'Here's the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand'. Oh, brilliant Severus - Lady Macbeth. There's a nice literary parallel for you!
He felt more lonely than he had ever done before. At the same time another image kept intruding. Small neat hands massaging his. 'Oh, don't be stupid. She was only administering the antidote. She would never have done it otherwise.' But he still couldn't get the image out of his mind.
At that moment, Hermione burst in without even knocking. 'We need more antidote,' she managed to get out in between panting hard. 'More antidote? But you made a full pint, didn't you?' 'Yes but some of them need soaking to get rid of the blood!' She looked up and met Snape's eyes and a sudden understanding passed between them. She didn't have to say it, but they both knew that three drops was nothing compared with this. 'You go back to the infirmary. I'll make the antidote,' said Snape. 'I'll put it in a silver flask. That'll increase its potency.'
******
Some hours later, Dumbledore finally pronounced himself satisfied. The current and former death eaters all had their hands back to normal and were sleeping, heavily sedated to prevent escape attempts. Arthur Weasley had called in aurors to guard them. There was nothing more to be done.
Dumbledore put his arm around Hermione's exhausted shoulders as he led her away. 'You really should have told me what you were up to, you know,' he said, by way of the mildest rebuke imaginable. Hermione smiled. 'But you would have stopped us.' Dumbledore nodded. 'Perhaps it was for the best.' Then he suddenly seemed to notice the silver flask in his hand. 'I think we should perhaps return this to Severus. I happen to know that it is a valuable family heirloom that he seldom let's out of his sight.' On a sudden impulse, Hermione said, 'You look exhausted. Go to bed. I'll return the flask.'
******
This time she knocked. A wary voice said, 'Come in', and she entered. Snape looked up at her standing in the doorway. He had in fact been asleep at his desk, but he wasn't about to admit to that. Instead he regarded her silently. 'I brought your bottle back,' she said. 'You know, that was one hell of a performance you put on back there. And one hell of a potion you brewed, ' said Snape, surprising himself with the words. Hermione stared. Here was the compliment, the respect that she had craved. 'Thank you,' she said. 'I would never have been able to do it if I hadn't had one hell of a potions master.'
Snape stiffened at the compliment. Hermione moved towards him, intending at first merely to shake his hand. But as she came closer, their eyes locked and she felt a thrill running down her spine. This was what she had felt in her dreams, but not understood. Now suddenly she did understand. This attraction was something she had never felt for anyone before, but instinctively she knew what it was. And his eyes never left her as she approached. In that heady mixture of exhaustion and adrenaline-soaked elation, everything suddenly seemed possible. Snape stood and took a step towards her. Then she felt his arms around her and his lips on hers. Her dreams had just begun to make sense.
********
Snape dipped the ladle into the potion and considered the result with disgust. 'It's gone blue!' Across the room, Hermione raised her sleek head. She joined him and stared at the potion over his shoulder. 'Have you considered adding beetle wings?' 'No, I think they would cancel out the ... no, wait a moment, you're right, they won't.' With excitement, Snape bent over a scroll and started making some calculations. He had come to love and companionship late in life and he never would have believed that he would find it so satisfying. Tonight Hermione would return to her job as a research potion brewer at the ministry in London, but she would be back next weekend, as she had been almost every weekend since she left Hogwarts five years ago. Sometimes he regretted that they couldn't live together all the time, but in reality the arrangement suited both of them. But, oh, how he looked forward to the weekends.
The End
A/N: Now you can all go 'Aaaah!' I'm sorry the ending is fluffy, but I do so want them to be happy together!
A/N: This is in reply to Gildorelf's Expulsion challenge on the Yahoo DarkSarcasm group (groups.yahoo.com/group/darksarcasm).
Blood will have blood by KET (katta_t2002@yahoo.co.uk)
'But how are you going to get hold of unicorn blood?' asked Ron, putting his finger on one of the most serious weaknesses with the whole plan. 'We'll have to steal it from Snape's stores. There is nowhere else that supplies of it are kept at Hogwarts,' said Hermione. 'But it has to be done tonight if the Plan is to work,' objected Ron. 'How are you going to get into Snape's stores tonight?' 'I'll create a diversion,' offered Harry. 'I'll draw Snape out, and then you'll know that he is not around his stores.' Ron stared at this friend. 'Deliberately provoke Snape? He'll skin you alive.' Harry sighed. 'It'll be worth it if the plan works!'
Hermione offered no objection. She had an agenda of her own over and above the Plan - one that she was not about to reveal to Ron or Harry. The fact was that she wanted to see Snape's face when he realised what potion she had invented and brewed. For six and a half years she had impressed and amazed all her teachers at Hogwarts with only two exceptions - Trelawney and Snape. Trelawney didn't matter, but Snape ... The lack of recognition from Snape grated. In fact, she had become obsessed by him. He had begun to invade her dreams in a way that she didn't understand and wasn't sure whether she liked or not. She felt sure that she could banish him if she could just once see respect on his face.
While she mused, Ron considered the options. He could see that Harry was right - there was no alternative. 'I'll go with you,' he offered. Harry shook his head. 'No, you stay here and mind the potion,' he said. They had once again taken over Moaning Myrtle's bathroom for illicit potion making. Reluctantly, Ron nodded.
*******
'And so I found Potter in the corridor,' concluded Snape in an aggrieved tone to the headmaster. 'And you brought him straight here.' Dumbledore had a serious enough mien, but Harry detected a twinkle in his eyes. 'Yes, Albus,' said Snape. 'I think this is an expellable offence.' 'Let's see if I can sum this up,' said Dumbledore. 'There was a noise in the third floor corridor. Harry was found wandering around nearby after curfew. That would warrant a detention at most, I would have thought, ' he concluded mildly. 'But, but, but ...' stammered Snape. 'A valuable trophy was damaged!' 'And we have no proof it was Harry who damaged it. It could equally have been Peeves.' 'Peeves denies it!' 'And you would rely on Peeves' word?' Harry was beginning to hope that he might get away with a minor detention.
At that moment a humming sound started up in Snape's pocket. Snape withdrew a small sphere, rather like a sneakoscope and stared at it suspiciously for a second. As soon he had decoded its message, his face filled with rage. 'Someone has broken the wards to my storeroom!' he shouted. He turned to Harry and added in a hissing voice, 'If I ever find out this had anything to do with you, I'll have your guts for garters'. Harry could only watch helplessly as Snape swept out of the room.
******
Finding the unicorn blood was proving more difficult than Hermione had anticipated. Snape's store cupboard was organised in alphabetical order, but there was no sign of it under 'U'. Then she remembered that he had a special locked cupboard for particularly dangerous and valuable ingredients. Unicorn blood certainly fell into that category. But then she had to pick the magical lock, which took a little while. And once she was in the cupboard, she found the bottles were labelled in code. The code was not beyond her, but it took some time to break it. She had just located the bottle, when the door slammed open and Snape stormed in.
Sanpe grabbed her by the shoulder and fairly threw her against the wall. Hermione whimpered with pain and fought hard to maintain her dignity. Snape's mouth dropped open when he recognised who the intruder was. Then an unpleasant smile spread slowly across his face. 'Miss Granger,' he said silkily. 'What do you think you're doing?' She had no answer, so didn't reply. 'This is definitely an expellable offence.' And so a triumphant Snape marched a student to the headmaster for the second time that evening.
******
Dumbledore sighed to himself. This was tricky. Hermione Granger had broken so many school rules by her actions this night that he was going to have a very hard time preventing her from being expelled, even if she was head girl. But he didn't like the look of victory on Severus' face. It didn't become him and the situation didn't call for it. 'So - I'll ask you again. What were you doing in Professor Snape's storeroom?' 'In my locked cupboard.' 'Alright, in the locked cupboard in Professor Snape's storeroom.' 'I'd rather not say, sir,' was all Hermione offered. Dumbledore sighed again. Perhaps he was getting too old for this. 'I'm simply not prepared to deal with this in the middle of the night. You will both come back here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning and we'll continue this discussion then.' Snape stormed out furious that Dumbledore hadn't agreed to expel her there and then. Hermione left with a heavy heart.
******
Back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the three conspirators examined the situation. Harry had a detention hanging over his head. Hermione was now under serious threat of expulsion. 'What do we do now?' asked Ron. 'We carry on regardless,' said Hermione with determination. 'How?' exclaimed the boys. 'If we can only delay the expulsion by 24 hours, we can still put the Plan into operation tomorrow.' 'But we still haven't got the unicorn's blood!' 'I'll go back for it now. I know where he keeps it now.' 'But you'll set off the alarm again!' 'No I won't. I know what the wards are now. I'll dismantle them.' And as Harry and Ron had learnt over the years, there was simply no shifting Hermione once she had made her mind up to achieve something.
******
It was an uneasy Snape who paced his room that night. He was furious that Dumbledore hadn't backed him up. But even more, he was becoming uneasy about his own motives. There was something about the Granger girl - he simply couldn't get her out of his mind. He would be delighted if she was expelled, then he wouldn't have to see her again. Because every time he saw her, a strange sensation tingled down his spine and he really didn't want to examine the reason for that too closely.
In the end, he gave up all hope of going to sleep. He got dressed again and set off for another round of the castle corridors, although it was now 3am and extremely unlikely that any students would be out of bed. As he passed the dungeons, a sixth sense seemed to tell him to have a look, even though any breach should have set off his alarm system. Quietly, he crept into the classroom and on into the storeroom. He nearly had a heart attack when he spotted the sliver of light from a heavily hooded wand in the far corner by the locked cupboard. With an odd feeling of déjà vue, he crept up quietly on a small figure crouching in the corner.
It was Hermione's turn nearly to have a heart attack when Snape roared at her from two feet behind her back. This time he didn't have to throw her against the wall - she jumped up against it in fright of her own accord. Snape's face contorted with fury and he raised his hand to hit her, but at the last moment he came to his senses and drew back. 'What are you doing here?' he shouted. Hermione drew herself up to her full height and with the last vestiges of her courage, she answered him back. 'I might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb, sir.' Finally, curiosity got the better of him. 'What is it that you are so hell-bent on stealing that you are prepared to risk certain expulsion for it?' 'Unicorn blood, sir.' 'What the hell do you want unicorn blood for?'
And Hermione knew that this was her chance. Her chance to impress him. And perhaps to save herself from expulsion. 'I've invented a potion.' Snape scowled, but she was not to be put off. 'I have. I have invented a new potion. It distils the sanguinus curse into a potion.' Despite everything, Snape's attention had been caught. 'As I'm sure you know, the sanguinus curse will reveal anyone who has shed innocent blood by causing their hands to run with blood.' Snape nodded. 'But it is difficult to use because the presence of other guilt people in the room causes interference. But if its essence was distilled into a potion ...' She had his attention now, as she explained the stages she had gone through in her research.
As soon as she had finished, he reverted to his normal self and scowled at her. 'Don't think this ingenious piece of research will save you from expulsion.' But he couldn't help adding, 'What use would this potion be?' 'Well, we reckon that the reason that Lord Voldemort is so dangerous, is that so many people support him secretly - even within the ministry.' Snape couldn't really argue with that, but he sneered anyway. 'So what is this potion going to do about that?' 'Don't you see, sir. Tomorrow, for the Hogwarts' anniversary feast, all those people are going to be there. Lucius Malfoy, Macnair, Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle. Our plan is to spray them all with the potion. All the people from the ministry will be there, too. And when those hands start bleeding, they'll all know.'
It took a moment for the implications to sink into Snape's brain. Involuntarily he looked down at his own hands. It was only a small glance, but Hermione noticed. Her quick brain supplied the explanation, and suddenly she saw that she might have a hold over him. 'If I'm expelled,' she said slowly, 'I'll have no option but to take this potion to the ministry'. She fervently hoped that this was what he feared. It was. Snape had enough enemies at the ministry who had never forgiven him for getting off scot-free at his death eater trial and who would be only too delighted in testing this new potion on him. 'Of course, if I was not expelled, I would take it to Dumbledore instead. And I could give a discreet sign before the spraying began, so that anyone in the know who wanted to, could leave the table.' Snape knew when he was defeated. Besides - annoyingly - she was right. Voldemort would be much easier to defeat if his acolytes were gone. He sighed. 'I don't think we need to disturb Albus again tonight.' 'Alright, but you'll have to speak to him in the morning and get the threat of my expulsion lifted.' Snape nodded with resignation.
******
Harry and Ron nearly jumped out of their skins when Hermione entered with Snape. He inspected the potion and got Hermione to run through the ingredients again. The theory was flawless. He could see that it really might work. Slowly, he poured in the precious unicorn blood, donated by a friendly creature to Hagrid at the last full moon. The potion hissed and steamed. 'What if it doesn't work,' said Ron. And suddenly Snape realised that it had to be tested. 'Get out,' he snarled at Ron and Harry. Then, 'Stay!' to Hermione.
Once the boys were gone, he raised a ladle of the potion. It took Hermione a moment to realise what he was about to do. She was about to cry out to stop him, but it was too late. The drops of potion were already hissing on his skin and his hands turned red. He stared at them for a moment and then he turned and swept out of the room, cloak flapping.
Hermione tried to call out to tell him to wait, but she didn't have time before he was gone. She scrabbled around under the washbasin, retrieved the bottle of antidote and ran after him, but he was nowhere in sight. She ran down the corridor towards the classroom. The door swung open - he had clearly come this way. She entered the classroom, but he was not there. Then on into his office, she went, but that was also empty. Here, however, she found a magical opening into a long corridor that he had forgotten to shut behind him in his panic.
She ran along the corridor and skidded into a room that was clearly Snape's living quarters. There was no light except a smouldering fire, but she had an impression of book lined walls. At first she thought this room was empty, too, but then she heard something like a sob. He had sunk into a chair in front of the fire and was sitting with his head bowed in his hands. She knelt in front of him and said, not unkindly, 'You must take the antidote. It will burn your hands after a while otherwise.' He nodded and reached out for the bottle, but she shook her head. 'I have to rub it in. It won't help if you do it yourself.' Again he nodded and held out his blood-stained hands. 'I don't know what dosage to give you,' she said and placed one drop on his hand. In fact, the dosage of the antidote depended on how much innocent blood he had on his hands, but she didn't think it would help the situation to tell him that. She rubbed in the drop and the red faded to a dull pink. The second drop brought it down to a slight tinge. After the third drop, the hands were restored to normal. Hermione wasn't sure whether three drops was good or bad, but she suspected it wasn't too bad.
As the last of the third drop was absorbed, she realised how beautiful his hands were. Delicate and long-fingered. And he had relaxed as she massaged them. When she finished, he seemed to hold his hands there a fraction longer than was really necessary. Then he looked up and his black eyes gazed deep into Hermione's brown ones. Finally, she broke the eye contact, stood up slightly stiffly and turned towards the door.
******
Hermione looked beautiful in her new dress robes and her hair done in ringlets. She wore a dazzling smile and had all the old duffers swarming around her. As head girl, she was seated at the top table with all the dignitaries. There was no problem at all directing the conversation along the lines she wanted. 'And what is our charming head girl up to her in her studies,' asked a member of the board of governors, whom she strongly suspected of being a death eater. She smiled sweetly. 'I'm doing some research on distilling curses into potions.' 'Fascinating! Fascinating! Any particular curses?' This was almost too easy, she thought. In a clear voice that carried all round the table, she explained about the sanguinus curse. The governor/death eater put on a supercilious smile and said, 'This is all on the theoretical level, I take it. They don't allow this sort of potions experiment in a school, I trust.' Hermione's saccharine smile widened. 'Oh, I don't know. I'm rather famed for my potions brewing.' Several smiles around her wavered slightly. Then she stood up to look at the ceiling, pretending to be an air-brained teenage girl. 'Oh, look! The stars are out now!' This was the cue. Snape surreptitiously slipped away from the table. At the other end of the hall, Harry carefully levitated a balloon filled with the potion.
What happened next was so confused that no one present ever really remembered the details. The balloon floated over to the top table and suddenly burst. A number of men's voices screamed. When the dust settled, more than a dozen people were staring at burning blood-drenched hands, Minister Fudge and most of his closest aides among them. There was a deathly silence for a moment. Then Deputy Minister Weasley stood up and roared, 'Hagrid, seize them!'
******
Snape sat in his study looking at his hands. Innocent blood. Yes, there was no doubt about it. His hands had innocent blood on them. No matter how long ago it was, or what he had done to atone for it since, they had innocent blood on them. 'Here's the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand'. Oh, brilliant Severus - Lady Macbeth. There's a nice literary parallel for you!
He felt more lonely than he had ever done before. At the same time another image kept intruding. Small neat hands massaging his. 'Oh, don't be stupid. She was only administering the antidote. She would never have done it otherwise.' But he still couldn't get the image out of his mind.
At that moment, Hermione burst in without even knocking. 'We need more antidote,' she managed to get out in between panting hard. 'More antidote? But you made a full pint, didn't you?' 'Yes but some of them need soaking to get rid of the blood!' She looked up and met Snape's eyes and a sudden understanding passed between them. She didn't have to say it, but they both knew that three drops was nothing compared with this. 'You go back to the infirmary. I'll make the antidote,' said Snape. 'I'll put it in a silver flask. That'll increase its potency.'
******
Some hours later, Dumbledore finally pronounced himself satisfied. The current and former death eaters all had their hands back to normal and were sleeping, heavily sedated to prevent escape attempts. Arthur Weasley had called in aurors to guard them. There was nothing more to be done.
Dumbledore put his arm around Hermione's exhausted shoulders as he led her away. 'You really should have told me what you were up to, you know,' he said, by way of the mildest rebuke imaginable. Hermione smiled. 'But you would have stopped us.' Dumbledore nodded. 'Perhaps it was for the best.' Then he suddenly seemed to notice the silver flask in his hand. 'I think we should perhaps return this to Severus. I happen to know that it is a valuable family heirloom that he seldom let's out of his sight.' On a sudden impulse, Hermione said, 'You look exhausted. Go to bed. I'll return the flask.'
******
This time she knocked. A wary voice said, 'Come in', and she entered. Snape looked up at her standing in the doorway. He had in fact been asleep at his desk, but he wasn't about to admit to that. Instead he regarded her silently. 'I brought your bottle back,' she said. 'You know, that was one hell of a performance you put on back there. And one hell of a potion you brewed, ' said Snape, surprising himself with the words. Hermione stared. Here was the compliment, the respect that she had craved. 'Thank you,' she said. 'I would never have been able to do it if I hadn't had one hell of a potions master.'
Snape stiffened at the compliment. Hermione moved towards him, intending at first merely to shake his hand. But as she came closer, their eyes locked and she felt a thrill running down her spine. This was what she had felt in her dreams, but not understood. Now suddenly she did understand. This attraction was something she had never felt for anyone before, but instinctively she knew what it was. And his eyes never left her as she approached. In that heady mixture of exhaustion and adrenaline-soaked elation, everything suddenly seemed possible. Snape stood and took a step towards her. Then she felt his arms around her and his lips on hers. Her dreams had just begun to make sense.
********
Snape dipped the ladle into the potion and considered the result with disgust. 'It's gone blue!' Across the room, Hermione raised her sleek head. She joined him and stared at the potion over his shoulder. 'Have you considered adding beetle wings?' 'No, I think they would cancel out the ... no, wait a moment, you're right, they won't.' With excitement, Snape bent over a scroll and started making some calculations. He had come to love and companionship late in life and he never would have believed that he would find it so satisfying. Tonight Hermione would return to her job as a research potion brewer at the ministry in London, but she would be back next weekend, as she had been almost every weekend since she left Hogwarts five years ago. Sometimes he regretted that they couldn't live together all the time, but in reality the arrangement suited both of them. But, oh, how he looked forward to the weekends.
The End
A/N: Now you can all go 'Aaaah!' I'm sorry the ending is fluffy, but I do so want them to be happy together!