By Vivien
Author's Note: This is a sequel to my story "Regaining". It will not make a lot of sense if you haven't read "Regaining" first. But if you haven't, here's the gist of the plot. Hermione was poisoned in her 6th year with a Leeching Elixir designed to strip her of her magical powers. Severus Snape had been the first to theorize the Elixir, even though he had destroyed all his notes on the potion when he left the service of Voldemort. Much angst and trauma resulted, and Hermione very slowly recovered with Severus's help and expertise. This is not a shipper's story - yet. The relationship between the two has become a warm one, but it is still very much teacher and student. I have planned two shorter bridging stories (including this one) that will take Hermione to adulthood, and then things will look a little more romantic ;) Sorry!
A few shout outs: thank you Aspen for encouragement, thank you Riley for Ars Alchemica and PTQ, and thank you Twinkledru for starting the whole thing for me.
UPDATE: Revised to sorta kinda match Order of the Phoenix canon
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On a cold March day in her seventh year, Hermione Granger sat on a stiff backed chair outside of Madame Hooch's office, nervously tapping her foot. She shuffled the pages of parchment notes she'd brought with her, glancing once again to make sure that she'd written down all the questions she'd wanted to ask. The door creaked opened. A tall girl with long brown hair stepped out of the office, attempting to balance a large stack of parchment rolls and bound sheaves.
"How was it, Julia?" asked Hermione.
"Not too bad," replied the Ravenclaw. "There are still quite a few openings on all the schedules I saw. There aren't as many for the Ministry Departments - which ones are you interested in scheduling?"
"All of them, really," said Hermione, "but mostly Magical Law Enforcement and any of the research divisions."
"I think you'll do fine, then. Don't worry." Julia adjusted the papers in her arms, trying to straighten their precarious position. "Well," she sighed, "I'm off to start filling in forms."
"Bye," said Hermione faintly, watching her go.
Scheduling Day was for seventh years interested in participating in the Interview Days coming up in June, right before the N.E.W.T. exams. Today she would schedule interviews with employers who would then screen her applications and decide on whether to give her an actual job interview. What she did in the next few days would determine her career in the Wizarding world. To say that she was feeling pressured would have been the understatement of the century. To admit that she had no idea of exactly what she wanted to do after school would be unthinkable. She had some idea after all, but whether they were the right ideas kept her up tossing and turning most nights.
Of course, with the war raging around her, she wasn't certain there would be a life for her after school at all. Every day might be their last. Voldemort would be making his move anytime now - all of the Order, and many of her fellow students, waited anxiously in dread through the lulls in violence. Harry especially was showing stress, even though they all prepared themselves for the inevitable battle as well as they could. Dumbledore's Army was no longer a casual club - it was an entity prepared to do whatever was necessary to protect Hogwarts if there was no one else left to do so.
At least there had been no wide spread outbreaks of poisonings with the Leeching Elixir as they had feared. Her attack had been the only one. The poisoning hadn't affected her intelligence, even if it had destroyed much of her magical capability. She was no longer able to make top marks in Transfiguration and Charms, but her other abilities had increased at an alarming rate.
Before the poisoning she had passed all of her O.W.L. exams with flying colors, but had only this year been able to resume the N.E.W.T. level classes. Potions, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes classes were dreams come true. No longer fettered by the health problems of last year or struggling, disinterested students, she was free to finally attempt projects that challenged herself.
As for Transfiguration and Charms, she'd been given special permission to take independent study classes with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. The tutoring often left her feeling frustrated and disappointed despite the gains she'd made. However, this did not damage her spirit. In fact, it made her a bit more stubborn to succeed than before. Her most important goal was to pass the Apparation exam before the end of the summer. She was regaining enough of her powers to function well enough at everyday Transfiguration and Charm work, but she feared she would never attain the level of power she once had. Hermione grieved about this, but decided to do her very best, no matter her disability.
"Right then," said Madame Hooch, opening her office door. "Are you ready, Miss Granger?"
"Yes ma'am," said Hermione, her reflection disrupted. She stood and walked into the office, as ready as a seventeen-year-old would ever be to make a life changing decision.
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Half an hour later, Hermione staggered out of Madame Hooch's office weighed down by a vast assortment of paper and parchment. Still trying to process the information she'd been given, she made her way down to the dungeon classroom of Professor Snape, early for her next class.
Of all of the classes in her seventh year at Hogwarts, the one Hermione enjoyed most was her special elective class, Applications of Ancient Texts in Potions Brewing, with Professor Snape. Even though the Leeching Elixir had been originally theorized by Snape in his days as a follower of Voldemort, this did not diminish him as an excellent teacher in her mind. Over the past year, she had come to admire him as she admired all of her teachers. That she now felt a kinship with him as fellow Potion brewer stood him in further stead.
She had discovered through this class that she also had a gift for languages. After the first month of linguistic theory to prepare her and the three Ravenclaws who had been chosen for the class, Hermione had surpassed Professor Snape's high standards in language acquisition and translation. The course consisted of a series of increasingly challenging projects. She had quickly picked up translating the ancient languages of the assigned potions texts and had then been able to correctly brew them. Researching the obscure or differently named ingredients posed her classmates a serious challenge, but Hermione had spent nearly her whole time at Hogwarts researching some obscure fact or other. She had moved on with Snape's encouragement to even more difficult projects.
Currently she was translating a fragmented 9th century Arabic parchment which apparently contained a potion for changing inanimate objects into clothing. If it worked, and Snape had warned her that some of these old potion recipes would not, even when properly translated, it might be useful to her at some point in lieu of Transfiguration spells. Not that she often needed to change a rock into a sweater, but one never knew. She was having to use Translation Charms to bridge the gaps of the parchment's text, and between translating the old Arabic and making actual sense of the translation, her progress had been slow going. Being distracted as she was wasn't helping.
She looked at her watch. Professor Snape should be arriving any moment now. She would be glad to see him, especially today. She hadn't realized how quickly her seventh year at Hogwarts was speeding to an end. With the N.E.W.T.'s approaching, she found herself insanely busy and extremely stressed by the approaching end of school.
With the threatened Wizarding community becoming more dangerous daily, the idea of staying at secure Hogwarts was quite appealing. To someone who in a few months would begin a new life and a new career in such a frightening world, the idea of being a student for awhile longer wasn't such a bad one.
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Severus left the afternoon staff meeting in a hurry so as not to be late for his weekly appointment with Hermione. Last year, they had fallen into a pattern of meeting twice a week to work towards her rehabilitation. This year Hermione had decided that once a week was enough, seeing as how she spent so much time in the dungeon classroom between both of her Potions classes. Occasionally during these Thursday sessions before Applications of Ancient Texts, they worked on brewing her pain drops or Magnifying Potion together, as she would need to be able to do so on her own - 'in a few months', Severus thought with startled realization. But mostly they spent the time discussing Ars Alchemica articles (he had secretly taken out a double subscription so they could both savor each new issue at their leisure) or working on their own projects in companionable silence. He treasured this time. He had never allowed himself to have a favorite student before, a protégé of such potential. When she left Hogwarts, he knew that it was inevitable that her messages by owl post would come less and less as the years passed - he had seen it happen with all the other teachers. The classroom would seem empty without her presence.
However, Severus knew there were much more important matters with which to be concerned than his loneliness. Their world might be ending at any moment, despite all the Order had done, all he had risked. But if she survived and the battle was won, Hermione would have much too bright a future to dwell upon her past. He was sure that damaged though some of powers were, she was an immensely powerful witch. He intended to do whatever he could to ensure that she had the chance to forget him, if not what he had taught her.
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"Good afternoon, Miss Granger," he said as he swept into the classroom in his customary manner.
"It's Hermione, Sir," she smirked, reminding him for what seemed the millionth time that he was allowed to call her by her first name, "and a good afternoon to you."
"How are you feeling today?" he asked. "Professor McGonagall mentioned you had some trouble focusing on your Apparation practice yesterday. Any problems I should be aware of?"
"Other than the fact that Apparation practice is damned hard? No, nothing's wrong. I wasn't in a focused mood yesterday."
Severus walked to the front table where Hermione was sitting. He summoned his desk chair over to sit in front of her. "This lack of focus wasn't related to Scheduling Day, was it?" he asked.
Hermione smiled and pushed her work aside. "How did you guess?"
Severus scowled. "Once Madame Hooch posts her conference schedule, the stress levels of Seventh Years become palpable for the first time. Not for the last time though, of course. It's quite annoying, really."
Laughing, Hermione said, "Well, you'll have to excuse us. It's only our impending doom staring us in the face for the first time."
"In all seriousness, Hermione," said Severus gently, "how did it go today?"
"Not too badly," she said, reaching for a thick portfolio and setting it on the table between them. "I have a few options, it would seem. I scheduled several interviews for several promising positions. I actually was in time to sign up for quite a few Ministry departments as well." She began shuffling out stacks of parchments. "There are a few private companies offering entry level positions in Potions and Arithmancy, but I don't know much about them." She handed him the first few announcements.
He glanced at the first. "Peden's Patent Potions... they produce home cleaning products - a big advertiser in Witch's Weekly, I understand. Wolfram and Hart, London Arithmancy Office... stay away from this one. It's an American firm with a shady reputation. Mewton's Apothecary... this one has a decent reputation for medicinal potions. Hmm, the rest seem to be smaller companies. I haven't heard of any of them." He handed back the parchments.
"Well, I wanted to keep my options open," she said, filing the papers away, "so that I'll at least have more options than the others. I'll need all the chances I can get."
"Hermione, have you decided yet what you really want to do? I can't see you slaving away on floor scrubbing potions or cold remedies. Do you want me to make some inquiries regarding Arithmancy positions?"
"No. I've decided that I want to work in Potions. Arithmancy is interesting, but it isn't nearly as rewarding as completing a potion that you brewed yourself. The chemistry implications alone fascinate me." Her face lit up as she spoke, reflecting Severus's own love for the art of potion making. "But what I really want to do... I want to do this. I want to research and translate and experiment. And... "
"And you're worried you won't get into the Ministry," he said.
"Terrified," she said, hauling out a thick packet from the portfolio. "I mean, the application process alone is enough to worry me, much less interviewing for an actual position. I'll need reference letters from all of my teachers. You will write me one, won't you?"
"I've already written it, Hermione," Severus replied soothingly, "and made several copies for any department for which you want to apply. Any of your teachers would be willing to help you with the application packet, but since you are here so often, I volunteer myself."
"Really? That would be such a big help, Sir," said Hermione with a sigh of relief.
"I'd like your permission to contact some of my acquaintances at the Ministry on your behalf, " he continued, immediately thinking of Lobelia Easterling, Potions Mistress of one of the Department of Mysteries research laboratories. "Professor McGonagall would be delighted to do the same, I'm sure."
"Yes, please," said Hermione. "I'd be so grateful for any help. This is such a daunting time, what with the N.E.W.T.'s and the Apparation exam and finding a job. Do you know I've already received four wedding invitations from classmates who are getting married in the summer? You have to grow up so fast in the Wizarding world. And then there's... well, you know. Whether we'll actually live long enough to enjoy adulthood."
"You will, Hermione," said Severus firmly. "Don't let yourself think like that."
Hermione shrugged. There wasn't much she could do but try to be hopeful and plan for the future, even if it was hard to imagine. "I do have another question for you. It looks like I have two options in entry level Potions positions at the Ministry. I can either be apprenticed or assist in a laboratory. Which do you think is better?"
"To be honest, neither is ideal. As an apprentice you gain the status of your master. If you have a highly placed one, you stand in better stead of higher advancement. However, you are limited to the knowledge of one person. As an assistant, you gain experience from many more people, but unless you show outstanding drive and abilities, it's easy for you to get overlooked for promotions. Both positions require you to do, well, scut work until you've proven to your superiors that you can do better. However, you have a set number of years in which you must work as an apprentice. A laboratory assistant doesn't have that limitation."
Hermione made a face. "What a waste of time and potential. Which did you choose?" As soon as she spoke the words, she wished she could have called them back.
"I chose poorly," said Severus, his features tightening. "Pride makes one much more susceptible to bad choices."
"I'm sorry I brought it up, Sir, I wasn't thinking," Hermione said, looking down at the table in embarrassment.
"Don't be sorry, Hermione," he replied. "I'd rather you learned from my mistakes. Before I was offered... an alternative, I had decided to be an apprentice."
"Could I..." Hermione began, "I mean to say, could I stay at Hogwarts and apprentice with you?"
"No, Hermione," Severus said, trying not to show how touched he was by her request. "One condition of my release from the Unspeakables retraining facility was that I would never be allowed to take on an apprentice."
"Well, that's not terribly fair, is it?" said Hermione hotly. "Couldn't Dumbledore-"
"Hermione, you need to leave Hogwarts. Staying with me as an apprentice would do you a disservice, even if it would let you stay in a familiar setting for a little longer. You are the most promising student I've ever had, and you belong in a place where your brilliance can be recognized and honored."
Hermione turned pink around the ears. After thinking another moment, she said, "I think being an assistant would be better than being an apprentice."
"I agree with you," said Severus, "It's a much better position for you to be in."
"I don't want to be stuck working years for someone who's not as good as you or to be stuck in a dead end job in a boring laboratory," Hermione said. "And then there's the whole prospect of Interview Day. I've heard horror stories about... Sir, are you all right?
Severus had gone quiet and paler than usual. He reached for his left forearm. "No, Hermione, I'm not. " He spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
Eyes widening in shock, Hermione said, "You've been called."
Nodding, Severus stood and walked to the fireplace. Taking a pinch of Floo Powder, he said, "I must go. Stay as long as you wish, Hermione. Please set the wards in place when you leave."
Hermione hurried to stand before him. "Be careful, Sir."
She looked terrified for him, and this only intensified his own feeling of dread. Severus smiled wanly. "I shall try." He threw the powder down into the hearth and commanded, "Private rooms." In a flash of green flame he was gone.
After a moment, Hermione turned and walked back to her table. Shuffling papers around, she tried to return to her work. After a few more moments, she gave up. She wrote out a note for the classroom door, alerting the other students that class would be canceled.
She knew that Professor Snape had been called at least one other time during the previous year, but never in her presence. She was frightened for him, and, indeed, frightened for everyone around her. Voldemort had been relatively quiet for a few months - this summons could not bode well. Finally she packed up her things, warded the classroom, and headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Ron would need to know, and she wanted to be with her friends. She shivered in the cold air of the hallway and headed towards the stairs leading her to warmth and companionship.