A/N: Don't worry I didn't forget about my other story but this thing popped into my head this weekend and I just needed to write it. It will probably be three chapters long and very smutty in the end.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just very happy to play with everything that she created.
Summary: Our favorite couple needs to take a necessary road trip across the country to find some much needed potions ingredients. After the war they are not sure how to react to one another and when she saved his life he felt obligated to take her on as his apprentice… But how will their professional relationship fare when they are forced to share eight full day's together?
You can annoy me all you want
"Surely you don't need all that?" His arms were full of suitcases and crates with gods know what.
"What makes you so sure I don't?" Her arms were crossed again and the look in her eyes was a defiant one.
"For one, this is my assignment, not yours, and second, if I don't need all this, you sure as hell don't either." His face said it all, daring her to contradict him.
"Stop fussing Severus and put it in the car." He grunted something she wasn't able to understand but she could think of a few things that would come from his well-versed mouth.
"It's Professor or Master Snape to you Miss Granger." She just laughed, they had been over this a million times already.
"You are no longer my Professor, Severus." She had the audacity to giggle and he squeezed his eyes to give her a look that would make many men or woman squander into submission. But not little Miss Granger, the wench just wasn't scared of him and it annoyed him to no end. "And do call me Hermione."
"You have no respect woman." He just shook his head and to his own chagrin, loaded all her stuff into the car. "I still don't get why we have to drive up there? We can just apparate there and commandeer a car and drive back, no harm done and we safe a lot of time."
"It's not possible and you know it, you just want to have something to complain about. You and I both know that some objects cannot be apparated with, it's too sensitive to come into contact with any magic and seeing as we need them to abstract the Bat spleen we can't risk it to explode." He knew this of course, he just wasn't looking forward to spending the next eight days with the annoying Miss Granger.
Of course he spend almost all his days with her already, with her being his apprentice he didn't really have that much of a choice. But having her around night and day for eight days straight would surely do something to his mental state, and not in a good way. Every day that she was around him, he wondered with himself how he ever landed in such a position. He had never in his forty years, hired an apprentice, and surely not a Gryffindor one.
After the war, which he surprisingly survived after being attacked by the Dark Lords evil bastard of a snake, he hadn't been in his right mind. On the brink of dead he was transported to St. Mungo's and spend a good three months in there, trying to recover from the highly venomous attack that had robbed him of his voice. Little did he know that it was Miss Granger that had volunteered to work at the hospital because the staff hadn't been able to help all the patients that were wounded, due to the war.
One day she had just ventured into his room to check on his status and sort of never left. Once she found out that Severus Snape had survived the war, she had taken it upon herself to see that he lived. She had felt guilty for doubting him even a second after he had killed Dumbledore. Tending to his wounds and making sure that he was comfortable, was her way of saying sorry and to make amends.
Unfortunately he had been forced to endure it all because due the loss of his voice, he wasn't able to send her the hell away from his room. So she stayed. And after a while he hated to admit to himself that he kind of got used to her mindless rambling and her over-caring tendencies. She had even read to him when he was too tired and had kept all the annoying reporters, he didn't want to speak to –not that he could, but still…-, at bay. She had taken care of him in a way that no other person had ever done for him, not even his own mother.
She had even been the one to suggest therapy for his voice, something that St. Mungo's healers hadn't been thinking about, they would have just send him home without his voice. Many of the healers had been previous students of him and they couldn't care less if he got his voice back or not. To have Miss Granger fighting for him on his behalf was a new and very welcome feeling.
So in the end it felt like he owed her something, not really a life-debt but definitely something. And if there was one thing in life that he hated it was to be in someone's debt. The first thing he did, when he was able to leave the hospital, was making sure that the debt would be fulfilled and he had asked Miss Granger what she desired. Biggest fucking mistake of his life because she had asked him to be his apprentice so that she could receive her Potions Mastery.
And that's exactly what got them in this precise moment, loading up a car to get a few very rare potion ingredients that would help her into the process of becoming a Potions Master herself. He tried to exclude her from this trip though, by lying to her and stating that he needed the ingredients for his own personal brewing and that he didn't need her to accompany him. He wasn't fully lying though, he really did need the ingredients for personal brewing but she didn't know yet that she was going to help him brew the potions, he wanted it to be a surprise because she would definitely be over the moon to help him brew the multiple potions of Draught of Living Death.
She had never had the chance to brew the potion because while her fellow students had been brewing them in their seventh year, she had been hunting Horcruxes to kill Voldemort. After the war it had taken Hogwarts too long to be rebuilt and she had refused to go to Durmstrang or Beauxbatons to finish her NEWTs. To Severus it hadn't made any difference that she hadn't finished her NEWTs because he knew what she was capable of and to take her on as an apprentice, it was only his opinion that she needed.
After he was able to leave the hospital he hadn't wasted any time and within a month he had been the owner of his very own Potion's company. He got requests from all over Britain and he secretly was glad that he had an apprentice to help him brew, or he probably would have been overwhelmed within a week.
"Severus, what are you waiting for, get in the car." Little Miss wench was staring at him again, her hands glued to her hip.
"Yes, yes, impatient little…" He wisely didn't finish the sentence and went to take the passenger's seat.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to drive this car?" Her voice went higher and he lifted his eyebrows to look up at her.
"Why would I drive this car Miss Granger? Did you forget that you suggested driving in the first place? Surely you wouldn't suggest such a thing if you didn't have driver's license?" He was baiting her and enjoyed every minute of it.
"What?!" She shrieked and he couldn't help but smirk at her reaction. "You don't know how to drive? Oh… well… Fuck!"
He actually laughed out loud at her swearing. Little-miss-perfect never swore and to hear such a prominent word leave her prissy mouth, got him into a full on laugh, which made her eyes bulge.
"Language Miss Granger." He drawled and got up from the passenger's seat. "I was just kidding, I have a driver's license and know perfectly well how to drive one. Now get in the car."
She stomped her feet, she actually stomped her feet, which got him into a whole new round of laughter. Her mouth was agape as if she was trying to say something but words wouldn't leave her mouth, it was all highly amusing.
"You…Don't you… you are the worst!" She finally yelled out and he just took her by the shoulders and pushed her down into the car, still laughing at her little childish fit she was throwing. She could annoy him all she wanted, but he sure as hell would retaliate.
After at least an hour of silence she wasn't able to shut up anymore and he smiled a little while he listened to her rambling again. Since he found his voice again, they fell into one argument after another and more than once he had been planning her large and gruesome death in his head. It kind of became their thing, he or she would say something that would anger or irritate the other and they would fight for a few minutes before one of them would shut up and ignore the other, before the whole thing would start all over again.
They both had very strong opinions and would rarely or rather never, give into one another and they would just keep arguing until they became too frustrated. At the beginning it had been hard for Hermione to accept that he was no longer her Professor and that was allowed to talk back without ending up losing house points or getting detention. When she finally realized that he had nothing to hold over her, she found the freedom very liberating and indulged in it every second she got, obviously to his irritation.
"Severus I'm hungry and I have to pee, can we stop?" She finally stopped her trail of mindless chatter and motioned to a restaurant somewhere further down the road.
"Fine, we'll take a break." It would take them a few days to reach Sutherland at the top of Scotland and he would need his rest when he would be the only one to be able to drive them.
After they would reach Sutherland it gave them a day or two to gather their needed ingredients and take the long trip back to Spinner's End, where he had built his potions lab. They needed to go to this particular cave to retrieve a nearly extinct bat that would provide them with the spleen they needed.
It was the Ministry of Magic that had put in the order for this particular potion. After the disaster with the Dementors, they decided to use other recourses to secure Azkaban, the Wizarding prison that was highly populated after the war. Nearly every Death Eater or supporter of the Dark Lord had been locked up and waiting for their verdict. Before the war had ended, the worst punishment would have been the Dementors Kiss. Punishment by death had been banished for almost two hundred years now and it was not likely that it would return, so without the Dementors, they needed some new kind of punishment. That's were Severus would come in.
By brewing a very strong Draught of Living Death, they would be able to keep the prisoners under control by bringing them to sleep, right on the brink of death. So killing them, without really killing them, it is the perfect solution. But it was that request that forced them to take this particular trip, much to Severus' dismay.
After dinner and using the bathroom, they found themselves on the road again. Miss Granger had finally shut up and was fast asleep beside him now. He couldn't help but glance at her every minute or so. Her hair was still as wild and untamable as ever but he didn't find it as bothersome as he did at school. She always kept it in a high ponytail when they were brewing but outside the lab she just let it run wild. Her face was relaxed while she slept and could see the constant stress and worrying leave her face.
She was haunted by the war, he could see it on her face every day, especially in the mornings when she would arrive at his home with puffy red eyes and a tired look on her face. She must be having nightmares, just like every other person that was alive in Britain right now, he sure as hell did. Dreamless sleep potion only did so much and he couldn't use it more than once a week out of fear to getting addicted. She had never complained to him about it and they never talked about the war and their roles in it.
He found out that Miss Granger, despite her obsessive rambling, wasn't a talker. She would talk to him about everything that was rather shallow and obvious but would never talk about her feelings or what was really on her mind. He respected that because he sure as hell didn't want to talk about his own feelings. He had everything very neatly tucked away in the back of his mind, protected by several layers of occlumency.
His eyes ventured from her face down her body. He noticed since day one that she didn't care about her clothes or any other material things that girls her age were obsessed with. Miss Granger was practical and her clothes were the perfect example of it. Her jeans were simple but he couldn't help but notice that they hugged her lean legs perfectly, not to mention her round buttocks that she kept showing off, very unaware.
She had been wearing a short sleeves shirt throughout the day, but right now she was wearing some old Quidditch jumper, that probably belonged to Potter or the Weasley boy. It was still rather warm for the middle of September and her bare feet were merely covered by some flip-flops. Looking down he had to admit that she had the most adorable feet, small, lean and they just looked smooth. He focused his eyes quickly on the road again when the thought of running his hands along them popped into his mind. He cursed at himself for letting his thoughts astray. She was his previous student, swotty little-know-it-all and his current apprentice, there was not a chance in hell that he was going there.
When it was too dark to really make out the road he finally decided to call it a night and pulled over to some muggle motel that lay isolated from a small town a mile back. After retrieving two sets of keys, one for himself and one for Miss Granger, he still found her sound asleep in the passenger's seat. He tried coughing a few times but she didn't wake up and he cursed under his breath while he took a hold of her shoulders and shook her a few times.
"Huh… what? Professor Snape?" Oh now she would use his proper title.
"Wake up Miss Granger, we are at a motel, it's time to go to bed." He cursed at himself again for his poor choice of words. He made it sounds as if they would be sharing a bed together.
Her eyes went big and to his shame he noticed that she caught on. "Together?" She blurted out and he felt his own cheeks flush red. Damn!
"Of course not Miss Granger, don't be daft. Here is the key to your room, I have my own." He dangled the keys in front of her face to make his point.
"Oh…Oh!" She finally seemed to catch on to the improper conversation and pulled her hands to her face out of shame. "Of course we do, I'm sorry Severus." Okay she was properly awake now.
He didn't speak another word, just gathered his bag and left for his room. There was only so much Miss Granger he could handle for a day and she definitely over limited his quota. He heard her follow him and made sure she was safely into her room, that was next to his, and finally went inside himself to get some much needed rest, he probably wasn't going to get.
The next morning, her eyes were even more puffy and red than they normally were and he was slightly worried about her. Not that he was one to talk, he probably looked ragged and tired himself for only being able to sleep an hour altogether.
"Rough night?" He opted and poured her another cup of coffee. They both indulged in a lot of coffee in the morning, it was the only thing that kept them from killing each other when they were working together. They were both grumpy and definitely not morning persons.
"I've had worse." No matter how bad she seemed to feel, she always stayed positive, he admired that about her. "You?"
"Same. Ready to go?" He started to rise and she just followed him without answering. He liked that she didn't pry and he extended her the same courtesy.
For the next four hours they didn't speak another word, he kept busy by driving the car and she just stared out the window, probably miles away in her mind. After lunch her whole persona changed again and she was back to her chatty self.
"Let's play twenty-one questions." She was sitting half turned in her seat and one leg was perched underneath her bum.
"What makes you think I like to play childish games?" His voice was short and he didn't care that was cross against her, she was used to it.
"Because I want to and you have nothing better to do. I'll start, what's your favorite color?" He snorted, every single person that went to Hogwarts knew the answer to that question.
"Black, don't ask stupid questions Miss Granger."
"It's Hermione and it's your turn."
He cursed and called her a nosy wench again, which only made her laugh. Finally he gave in, seeing as he had little choice. "Fine, for god's sake, what's yours?"
She beamed and bounced a little in her seat which made him role his eyes. "It's blue. Don't give me that look, just because I'm a Gryffindor doesn't mean I like red. My turn again, when's your birthday?"
"January 9th, but I don't do birthday's. Yours?"
"September 19th, and I totally do birthdays. You can't just bounce back the questions, it doesn't work like that." She actually pouted and crossed her arms.
"Merlin woman you are hard to satisfy, just be happy that I'm playing your insipid game."
"That's just the rules, either you play fair or you don't play, it's that simple. Why did you leave Hogwarts?" That was probably the most personal question she had ever asked from him and he fell silent for a second.
"I would say it's none of your business but I guess that's not how this game works either, am I right?" She just smiled at him and oddly he found himself willing to spill. "I don't know if you know this but it was never my choice to teach at Hogwarts, it was one of Albus' demands to be able to keep tabs on me. I know that you saw my memories so I don't have to tell you about that but know that it was never my intention to teach."
"But you were so good at it." He looked at her and noticed that she was honestly telling him the truth, it was strange to hear her appraisal.
"Thank you. Why did you pick Gryffindor?" She looked at him in confusion but finally seemed to hop on his train of thoughts.
"Before Professor McGonagall stood on my doorstep, I had never heard of Hogwarts or magic for that matter, I just thought there was something wrong with me. After I found out and paid a visit to Diagon Alley and bought as much books on the subject as possible, I made up my mind. I wanted to be courageous and smart but most of all I wanted to gain friends, I never had any friends when I grew up and I thought that in Gryffindor I could be brave and smart and still find some friends." Her words contained more pain than she had wanted to lead on and he tried to act as if he didn't notice.
"Okay sounds fair, Ravenclaw would have never been the right choice for you." He didn't know for sure if that had been her other option but he knew that it must have been.
"Did you get any other offerings besides Slytherin?"
"How very Slytherin of you Miss Granger, simply changing the question like that." She slightly smirked at him and he couldn't help but smirk himself. "But yes, I did."
"And how Slytherin of you Severus, for simply just answering my question without really answering it." He laughed again, she knew how to play his game.
"Okay, fine, yes, I was offered Ravenclaw and to my own dislike, Gryffindor as well." She bounced right out of her seat, which made him jerk the wheel slightly and almost went off the road because of it. "Miss Granger, get back in your seat before you get us killed!"
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to but I was just so surprised, you and Gryffindor? It's just mind-blowing. But when I think about it, it kind of makes sense, the role you played in the war was very courageous, and not many would have been able to do what you did." And she didn't even know half of it.
"Here's another, how did you stay friends with Potter and Weasley? They don't seem to share the same intellect as you and they are impulsive where you are cautious." He was obviously curious about this one.
She had settled back into her seat and he could see the wheels in her head turning. "You know I honestly don't know. You are right we are very different but in a good way. At the beginning we weren't friends at all. You remember that troll in the dungeons in our first year? That's where we became friends, I was crying in the bathroom because Ron had said something stupid about me but when they found out that the troll was heading towards said bathroom, they were the first and only ones to come safe me, and it kind of just stuck. They are like my brothers, at least Harry is, we fight, we argue and we laugh together and it just works. I wouldn't have it any other way. And do you realize that you just gave me a compliment?"
"Don't get used to it. Why does Potter feel like your brother than but not Weasley?" He just couldn't help himself, he was being far too nosy.
"Oh well… Uhm… Ron and I dated just after the war. Although you couldn't really call it dating, we shared a kiss and a not so satisfying night together and that was all it was…" She was blushing bright red now and he wasn't able to look at her, why did he ask such stupid questions?
"Forget I asked. Do you have brothers or sisters that are blood bound?" Best to talk right passed it.
"Hé, not fair, this is your third question in a row, it's definitely my turn now." She shrieked and he laughed. He had definitely been aware that he was the one asking questions three times in a row and he had been curious when she would catch on.
"You just have to pay attention Miss Granger, I thought you smarter than that."
She smacked him lightly on his arm and he could see her draw her arm back in shock, fear etched on her face for his reaction. She had reacted as if he was one of her little friends and somewhere in his mind he actually liked that she did, it only showed him that she was comfortable around him. A small smile made its way onto his face and he turned his head away from hers.
"I never took you for the violent type but make sure you don't do it again." No matter how much he liked to be treated like one of her friends, he didn't like being hit.
"I'm sorry Severus, I won't do it again. Do you still want to play?" Her voice was small now and he didn't even have to look at her to know that she was biting that lip again.
"I think we played enough for now, let's find a place to get some dinner, I'm starved." She just nodded and went to turn back into her seat, bringing both her bare elegant feet back on the ground again.
While they were eating in a somber diner that was empty besides them and some older couple, it had started to rain and the weather outside resembled their somber looks. Their play of twenty-one questions had changed the dynamics of their professional relationship. Somehow things had become personal and they had a difficult time putting things into perspective. It also was very obvious to Severus that this had been the first time since leaving Hogwarts that he willingly opened up to someone, even though she had shared way more than he had done.
After dinner they went back to the car but after driving more than an hour it became clear that they should just pull over for the night. The rain was pouring down and made it difficult to see and they didn't want to get into any accidents. It was another muggle motel that they found and Severus ran through the rain to get them rooms, while she waited in the car.
"Yours is right beside mine again, goodnight Miss Granger." He just dumped the key into her hand and grabbed his bag out of the car to run to his room. She followed suit and didn't notice that he waited again to close his door before he made sure that she was safely in hers.
The warm shower was more than welcome, even though the bathroom wasn't that clean and he was sure these motel rooms were mostly used by cheating wife's and husbands. It would simply have to do and he wasn't picky, his own home at Spinner's End was the perfect example for it.
The rest of the night he spend by watching television, something he hardly ever did and he was again remembered why he didn't. Some stupid relation program was playing and felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep.
At one o'clock in the morning he jumped right out of bed when he was awakened by a loud thunder that was very nearby. He cursed when he noticed it was just the weather and not another attack by the Dark Lord. Just then he noticed that someone was knocking on his door rather loudly.
He grabbed his wand from the nightstand and made his way over to the door, peering through the little peephole that was in the middle. He saw no one but the knocking just went on. Ready to blow the first hex he slowly opened the door the peer outside.
"Miss Granger!" He pushed the door open entirely and saw the disheveled and scared look on her face. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Of course he hadn't seen her, she was way too small to reach the spying hole that was more on his eye level.
"Can I please come in?" Her voice sounded panicky and he stepped aside and waved his arm towards the room to indicate her welcome.
"Of course, did something happen?"
She shook her head and looked around his room as if she was looking for something. "No, it's just… I'm…"
"Spit it out woman." His patience was lacking once again.
"I'm afraid of thunder." She had her eyes cast downwards, probably afraid for his reaction. Right at that moment another thunder struck loudly and she winced at the sound, retracting her form even more.
Normally not one for pity he found himself rather distraught by her body language and felt the odd sensation of wanting to comfort her. "You can stay, you take the bed, and I'll sleep on the couch." He eyed the thing right next to the television and cursed himself for offering it, the thing was disgusting, very small and not even Miss Granger would fit on it.
"Oh no, I don't want to steal your bed, It's yours, I'll take the couch." He was impressed that she didn't even look weary at the filthy thing and he just couldn't help himself.
"Stop, don't touch that thing, it's disgusting. We'll share the bed, it's no big deal, you stay on your side and I'll stay on mine." And right then his mind found it necessary to notice what she was wearing and it didn't do him any favors.
Her green shorts were shorter than any piece of clothing he had ever seen on a woman and her white top was only held together by spaghetti straps and he could see her nipples through the small piece. At least her belly button was covered. Not that it mattered, he was already getting hard just looking at her nipples and he moved himself towards the bed so fast that she couldn't even blink. He moved right under the covers and turned his back towards her.
"Thank you Severus." She whispered and the little tremble in her voice went straight to his cock. How the hell did he end up in this situation? He couldn't even remember the last time that he had an erection.
"Goodnight Miss Granger." He could feel her enter the bed on her side and he noticed that the mattress hardly budged, she was fucking tiny.
He lay awake for another half hour, listening to her breathing that slowly seemed to even out. How could she be so relaxed around him? Never in his entire life had someone purposely sought out his company to find comfort or anything like it, for her to do so made his chest contract a little bit. He pushed down the weird sensation and closed his eyes to find some sleep himself.
He almost never slept on his side for obvious reasons, like never turn your back on anything, and he turned to move to lie on his back. He couldn't help but sneak an eye towards Miss Granger and before he knew it, he was staring down at her face for the next half an hour. Right then another thunder struck loudly, obviously even closer than the last one had been and he could see her jump in her sleep. To his horror she had moved closer to him when the thunder had struck and right now they were only mere inches apart. She was on her side, faced towards him and her knees were scrunched up, almost touching his upper thigh. Her hands were clasped in front of her and now barely touching his upper arm, so much for staying on their own sides.
He contemplated moving away from her or leaving the bed altogether but he just couldn't find the strength to move a muscle, so he stayed and held his breath for what felt like an eternity. When the next thunder struck he almost jumped out of bed straight away but something held him in place. Looking down he noticed that she was hugging his arm right now and one of her knees was slightly drawn on top of his thigh. He was rock hard by now and tried to think of things that weren't Miss Granger related. Like Albus in his underwear or Umbridge stark naked, it didn't help one bit when he kept feeling the tingling feeling that her skin left on his.
When he got over the first shock of willing human contact for the first time in like forever, he willed himself to relax a little and finally he was able to drift off to sleep, following her example.