"No, Harry!! Not that one!!" Hermione caught his hand. "You want powered moonlily not powdered nightshade."
Harry quickly corrected his ingredient, and muttered, "Thanks Hermione."
"Be careful next time. You're using a dragon's blood base. Nightshade and dragon's blood are explosive when mixed." Hermione chastised him.
"Very good, Miss Granger." Professor Snape said in his characterisitcally silky voice.
Hermione jumped. She hadn't heard him approach her. She looked up at him. "Thank you, sir." She muttered shyly and then turned back to her potion.
Snape looked at Hermione's back as she turned away from him. His gaze stroked her dark hair. There was no denying that she was attractive. Where did that thought come from?? You're going mad Severus Snape. She's just your know-it-all Gryffindor student. In a sudden fit of ill-temper he rounded on Harry. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for not…paying…attention!!!" He snapped.
Harry looked like he was going to say something, but Ron stood on his foot under the table. "It's not worth the detention mate." He said as Snape walked away. "Besides did you see how he was looking at Hermione??" He snickered.
"What do you mean??" Hermione asked from Harry's other side.
"I mean, that he was undressing you with his eyes. That's what." Ron said, chuckling again, but managing to look disgusted at the same time.
"Ron, this is Snape!! Sanpe doesn't "undress" students." Hermione gasped. She found herself wondering if Snape at ever undressed anyone.
"I'm just telling you what I saw!!" Ron protested in self defense.
"Harry back me up!!" Hermione begged.
"I don't know…he was certainly giving you some strange looks."
"HARRY!!!" Hermione was so shocked that she over tipped her bottle over her cauldron. Instead of just two drops of lavender water she tipped half a bottle in. A loud bang like a gunshot echoed through the dungeon. Up near the front of the room Snape jumped as though something had bitten him. Turning like a gigantic bat in flight he strormed towards them.
"What happened??" He asked icily.
"Sorry Professor!! I accidentally scared Hermione and she over did the lavender water. That's what caused the bang."
"Detention, Mr. Potter, for horseplay. Miss Granger?" He looked at Hermione who was staring in shock at her smoking cauldron. "Are you alright, Miss Granger?"
"Y-y-yes, Professor." Hermione stammered out in a whisper.
Just then the bell rang for class to end. "My office, 8pm sharp Mr. Potter." Snape said as he whirled away."I want 18 inches on sleeping droughts on my desk by Monday." He announced to the room at large. "Class dismissed."
In the general clamor of students hurrying to leave his room, Snape watched Hermione prepare to leace. She scourged her cauldron, shrank it, and stuffed it into her bag. He found himself admiring her for the zillionth time htat day. As usual his mood blackened when he caught his train of thought. So black was his temper that the first years who made up his next class were constantly cringing all period.
As Harry lef the dungeons with Ron and Hermione even Snape's detention couldn't bring him down. "Ron's right, Hermione!" He exclaimed as they climbed the marble staircase. "I think Snape fancies you!"
"You two are so ridiculous!" There is no way in hell." Hermione assured them, but despite her best efforts her face reddened. "I'll see you both at lunch." She turned down a side corridor that led to Professor Vector's Arithmancy classroom.
"Bloody hell," Ron muttered as he and Harry joined the throng heading for Divination. "I think she fancies him!!"
"Hermione does not fancy the Greasy Git, Ron!" Harry assured his frined. But Ron wasn't convinced, not by a long shot.
Snape found that for the rest of the morning Hermione was never far from his thoughts. He found himself dwelling on her silky hair and her brilliant smiles. When a particularly iept first year made a mistake he compared them to her brilliance. But Severus Snape needed no one. He'd become the Order's most valuable spy and he hadn't needed help. He needed nothing. No, his mind told him. You have nothing so you've convinced yourself that you need nothing.You needed her.
It was trued. The young Severus Snpe had needed Lily Evans, but James Potter had gotten her. He'd closed his heart that day. But you don't really enjoy the solitude, that conscience like voice whispered at him again. Someone with life and spark would do you good.
"The world has nothing to tempt me with anymore!!" He raged at his empty study. A few of the jars rattled ominously from his voice. But even as he shouted it to the emtory room, he realized that his heart had ceased to believe it.
Lunch at the staff table promised to be a tense affair. Snape was still in a black temper that would make the teachers near him uncomfortable. He though that maybe by being extrea nasty these strange new feelings of his would go away.
The teachers reacted very differently. McGonagall, Sprout, and most of the others avoided him. Unusual, they usually at least tried to talk to him. Dumbledore on the other hand reacted completely predictably. He smiled and siad warmly, "Good afternoon, Severus."
"Good afternoon, Headmaster." Severus said stiffly. Dumbledore took his seat still smiling.
Only two other teachers made a point of adressin gthe Potions Master. Remus Lupin, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, gave him a polite hello. Remus' co-professor however was not as pleasant. Noting the dark look on his colleague's brow, Sirius Black smiled. "Did some student let off a dung bomb in the dungeons, Severus?"
"No." Severus said darkly. He wouldn't give Sirius the pleasure of him asking why.
As it turned out he didn't need to. "You look HORRIBLE!! Did you wake up with you slacks in a bunch??"
"Sirius…" Remus cautioned in a warning tone from off to one side.
"What did you say, dog??" Severus hissed at Sirius, ignoring Remus completely.
"I said…you….look….horrible." Sirius said bluntly.
Severus reached simultaneously fro his wand and Sirius' mind. His mental probe was greeted by a block as solid as stone. He growled. Sirius had learned Occlumency had he, well that just put a new twist on the game. In the time it took to think this a barrage of jinxes and curses hit him. He flew backwards. Scrambling to his feet he went immediately on offense, but before he could launch even one curse Dumbledore stepped in.
"Thank yo ufor that wonderful dueling demonstration. Now I think our students should be allowed to eat something. Feel free to use classtime to further their knowledge of dueling, though." At his words hundreds of eyes shifted back to Severus and Sirius.
"You never know when dueling might come in handy." Sirius offered with a bow to the audience. This was greeted by thunderous applause from the Gryffindor table.
Hermione fidgeted between Harry and Ron. Both boys were giving Sirius an enthusiastic round of applause. Hermione found that she just couldn't bring herself to join them. Accutely awar when Snape entered the Great Hall, she'd seen the whole interaction. Sirius had adressed Snape and then attacked him. She like Harry's godfather, but she flet bad for Snape. Her heart twisted for him and she barely stopped herself from jumping up when Sirius' curses sent him flying.
"Did you see that, 'Mione!!" Ron gushed as the scene at the head table abated. "Sir…I mean, Professor Black totally pulled one over on the Greasy Git."
"He attacked him you mean." Hermione protested.
"Pfsh, no." Ron said looking disgusted. "He just one upped him."
"Sirius provoked him and attacked him!!" She protested.
"Are you backing Snape up?!" Harry asked incredulously. "Snape probably bated Sirius into it."
"Sirius spoke to him first. I was watching!" Hermion blurted.
Ron's eyebrows flicked up . "Do you fancy him?" He asked, his earlier suspicions bubbling to the surface.
"Oh don't be ridiculous, Ronald!" Hermione snapped. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go to the library." She rose and left the hall. But she didn't go to the library. She couldn't. Ron had struck a cord. Did she fancy Professor Snape? No! She thought firmly. There is nothing there. Nothing!!
The afternoon passed quickly away and the weekend set in. It was a somewhat dreary October day so Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent Saturday holed up in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione insisted on them spending at least an hour on Snape's essay. Then they boyts delved into a game of Wizards Chess. Hermione, who still found the game barbaric all these years later, continued to work on her essay.
Sunday a storm broke loose over the castle and further restricted the students time. By noon Hermione retired to the library to aviod the racously loud Wizard Chess tournament in the common room.
Snape spent the dreary weekend in his dungeon office. He tried to work some in his lab, but the second time he added the wrong ingredient he gave up. He was just too distracted and it was all her fault. If she hadn't done….whatever she'd done to him then he would be in this snit. But that wasn't fair. She probably never dreamed of affecting him the way she did. Well, more like a ngihtmare really. He though as he caught his reflection in the mirror.
Monday morning dawned with the crispness that comes after the rain. It was clear and dry, but still cold enough to merit scarves outside. At midmorning Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the throng of Gryffindor's and Slytherins trooping into the dungeons. Once inside they took their seats in the back quietly.
"I'll collect you essays with your potions at the end of class. Your insturctions…" Snape tapped the chalkboard with his wand and words began to appear, "are there. Get to work." Immediately the bustle began.
Not long into the period Ron began frowning. "This doesn't seem right." He said, furrowing his brow. "Hermione will ou look at this for me?"
Sighing, Hermione walked around the table. She looked into the cauldron. Instead of the crystal clear Veritaserum they were supposed to be brewing, a thick brownish sludge filled Ron's cauldron. "What have you done?" She asked.
"I don't know." Ron shrugged. "Something wrong I guess."
"No kidding." Hermione muttered. She added an ingredient that she hoped would clear it up, but instead a geyser of superheated steam blillowed up. It scalded her face and hands as she bent to stir. Being magical steam its burns developed in the form of raw and bleeding gashes. She screamed involuntarily as the pain hit her.
Snape's head snapped up at the sound of her scream. He only vaguely saw the blood coating her arms, hands, and face before he snapped into action. "Potter!" he yelled, "Get her to the hospital wing, immediately!!" To the boy's credit, Potter jumped right up and did what he was told instantly. In a moment they were under way. Then Snape rounded on Ron. "What happened, Weasley?"
Ron flinched away from Snape's wrath. "My potion didn't look right and I asked Hermione to check it for me. She added an ingredient that she said would clear it up. She bent to stir it and the steam bubbled up. It burned her, but the burns….Well, you saw them, sir." He finished lamely.
"Yes, Weasley, my eyes work just fine thank you." Snape snapped. He thought a minute and then he looked into Ron's caludron carefully. "I'm obliged to give you a measure of credit, Weasley. Never in all my years as a teacher has a student ever screwed up Veritaserum this badly." He smirked. "This is Saberon. It's a torture potion. Miss Greanger is lucky she mearly encountered the steam."
"What would swallowing it do?" Neville Longbottom asked shyly.
"It's like swallowing shards of a knife blade." Snape said evenly. "Now back to work." AS he walked back to his desk he couldn't quiet the palpatations of his heart. He wanted to go check on Hermione, but knew that it would look inappropriate if the Head of Slytherin House went to visit a Gryffindor student. Especially a Gryffindor that he was generally thought to particularly dislike. Over the course of the rest of the day, worry blackened his already black mood.
Madame Pomphrey obliged Hermione to stay the remainder of the day, even though the cuts were healed in an hour. She said that since they were magically induced she wanted to make sure that no infection occurred. Anxious about missing her classes Hermione made Harry promise to take decent notes for her. He promised he would and that he'd even stop by and get her work from Professor Vector. And so Hermione was left alone fro the day in the hospital wing.
She was released that evening around dinner. She gathered her things. As she was leaving her bag crinkled. Without even checking she remembered that she hadn't turned in Snape's essay. Abandoning her designs on Gryffindor Tower, she began to head down to the dungeons. She really didn't want to see Snape, but he was probably at dinner. In that case she'd just slide it under the door of his office.
When she arrived at the door to his office habit made her knock. To her shock a curt voice snapped, "Come in and be quick about it!!" Hurriedly she opened the door and stepped inside.
The Potions Master's office was perpetually filled by a strange, eery glow. It eminated from the shelves of potion ingredients floating in liquids of varying colors. Snape sat behind the large black wood desk grading papers. He looked up into the one set of eyes he'd been most secretly longing to see. "Miss Granger." He acknowledged trying to disguise his racing pulse. "They released you from the hospital wing already?"
"Yes, sir." Hermione said. Her voice sounded small and breathless even to her own ears. Stop it!! She chastised herself. He's just your teacher.
"Perhaps they should have kept you longer for observation." Snape said sounding uncharacteristically concerned.
"If Madame Pomphrey had tried to keep me one more minute I'd have hexed her." Hermione protested. To her surprise Snape laughed.
"I can only imagine Madame Pomphrey's anguish in trying to keep you in bed at all, even if only for one afternoon." He said, still smiling.
To her increasing surprise, Hermione found herself returning his smile. She felt completely at ease.
"Now, Miss Granger, what did you come all the way down here to see me about?" He asked.
"I didn't get a chance to turn in my essay, Sir." Hermione said, pulling it out of her bag. She stepped forward and handed it to him. "I also wanted to ask if there was a way to make up the work I missed in class today."
Snape was silent for a moment. Being just the two of them in his small office was more than he cold ask for, but it was also dangerous. She awoke foreign emotions in him that he was still learning to control. None the less, he spoke his first thought. "I need a lab assistant for some work I have to do this Saturday. If you'd consent to help me I'll give you full marks on your Veritaserum." He offered.
He was rewarded when Hermione's face lit up. "I'd love to, Professor. Thank you." She exclaimed.
"You're welcome, Miss Granger. I'll expect you here at 8 o'clock in the morning. Please be prompt."
"Absolutely. I'll be here on time." Hermione promised.
"Very good. Now, its getting late and you still need your rest." Snape siad. Hermione nodded and turned to go. "Oh, and Miss Granger… I'm glad your not seriously incapacitated."
"Thank you sir." And with that she disappeared out the door.
After she'd gone Snape sighed to the empty room. "You're asking for trouble Severus." He said outloud. "You should not be spending time alone with her." But it was set and ninety percent of his being wanted it more than almost anything else.
