Another Chapter for Another Heart Calls. I'm sorry there have been few updates, but my computer died and I had to buy another one, which was no fun. I was having problems transferring all my documents to the new one, but we figured it out and now, I can work on the stories I have out now. Thank you for being so patient, I love you all!

Hermione followed Snape into the lab after he had finished whatever he had been doing in the kitchen while she was reading. He was silent, walking ahead of her, his stance just as commanding as he had been while she was in school. But this time, he wasn't the only expert, and she hoped that she would be given work today that was to her academic level and not the work of a glorified secretary.

Once they reached the basement laboratory, Severus waved his wand and the caldrons set up like they had the day before. Severus then turned to her and handed her the stack of parchments she had left in his lab so her cat wouldn't tear them.

"Miss Granger, I need you to start on these. You will be only handling the potions I make for private investors until I know what you can produce consistently. Then you may be moved to help me fill the orders for St. Mungos." He pointed to the table across from him. "Crates are at the back, and once you're done and everything is bottled, you are to package them and label them with the shipping labels in the box on the shelf above that."

"Yes sir." Hermione took the papers and pulled out the first few pages. Setting up the caldrons like Snape did, Hermione prepped the first round of ingredients for the five potions she was creating. She was aware of the eyes on her, but she ignored them, and continued her work. Her professors at University had taught her to prep before making her potions, and she could see where Snape had gotten into the habit.

Once she had chopped everything and measured out her liquids, she danced between her caldrons, stirring each one and lowering heat when appropriate. One at a time, the potions completed and with a gentle wave of her wand, the medications and tonics bottled themselves and the caldrons were scrubbed clean. Snape came over as she made quick work of crating the bottles, and she stiffened, but didn't stop.

"Let me see." Snape snapped his fingers and plucked the bottle from her hand. Hermione continued her work, ignoring the dour man as he swirled the liquid in the bottle, and then opened it to sniff the contents. When he was satisfied, he nodded, recorked the bottle and then passed it back to her.

"Sir, with all due respect, I am a potions mistress and I know what I am doing." Hermione finished her task, and with a wave of her wand, the crates were on the only empty table in the room, stacked neatly and ready to be shipped. Striding back to her table, Hermione started prepping her next round of potions. She was aware that his eyes never left her back, and she wondered hen he would finally trust her skills. With her luck, the man would never trust her completely, which frustrated her to no end.

*H*G*

Hermione worked until the clock on his desk chimed 2 pm, at which time Severus stretched and bottled his own work, waving his wand for the bottles to box themselves up. "Miss Granger? I usually take a break at this time for lunch. You're welcome to join me if you like."

Hermione barely looked up from her work, as she extinguished the last cauldron. "Let me bottle this up and I'll be more than happy to." Hermione had hoped that one day Snape would accept that she wanted to be his friend and to make him feel like he was wanted. In the months that followed Nagini's attack, Hermione had barely left his side, and had stayed with him after the trial in Number 12 Grimmauld Place while he recovered enough to take care of himself.

Severus nodded and went up the stairs, leaving her in the basement lab to finish her work. Dover sat at the door, waiting for them to emerge, and with a soft meow, he wound himself in dizzying circles around Severus' legs as they moved to the kitchen. He was confused as to why he invited her to eat with him. He didn't like her, at least he thought he didn't. They had only been working together for two days, and while he was relieved that he wasn't victim to her prattle, he still was on edge around her. He knew that he didn't have to like her, but it did have to be cordial to her.

He entered his kitchen and Dover jumped from the floor to his shoulders with ease. This was their routine. Severus worked until 2-2:30, Dover would wait until he returned from the depths of the basement and while Severus cooked lunch or dinner, Dover was on his shoulder like a demented parrot. Ever since he had smuggled the cat home, the pair had been inseparable.

"What do you think, Dover?" He addressed the cat. "Should we have fish and chips today?" Severus moved to the pantry where he kept the potatoes and took out a few large ones. "I hope Miss Granger eats fish."

"Miss Granger does eat fish." Hermione walked into the room and leaned against the counter. "Would you like some help?"

"If you would like." Severus handed her the potatoes, and reached up to steady the cat. He scratched him behind the ears as Severus moved to the refrigerator to take out the fish. Once he opened the wrappings that the fish was in, Severus took Dover off of his shoulder and put him on the window sill in the sun. Once his cat was situated, Severus set to work on the batter, coating the fish and frying them in a pan.

"You don't deep fry them?" Hermione sliced the potatoes into fries and dumped them into a bowl as she worked.

"I never have. It's less mess this way too." His gaze never left the stove.

Hermione finished her slicing and brought him the bowl, placing it on the counter. He nodded his thanks, and continued cooking. Hermione walked to the window and absentmindedly stroked the slumbering cat, looking out at his backyard that boasted a garden that took up most of the space. There was a small corner that held a bench in the middle of carefully placed flowers and in between two trees a hammock was strung.

"I never would have pictured you as much of an outdoors type, sir." She said in a manner that was recognizant of Luna Lovegood.

"My mother insisted I have a place to read during the summer months that wasn't my sitting room." Severus snorted. "I hardly have time to relax, if you can imagine."

"I understand, sir. I am the same way. With this job and the Ministry, I hardly have time for anything else." She pulled the sun warmed cat into her arms. "It's unfair in a way."

"Indeed." Severus continued cooking while Hermione walked closer to the backdoor. "Miss Granger, if you are intending on going out to my backyard, I insist that Dover stay inside. He isn't exactly an outdoor cat."

"Of course." She placed the cat down on the window sill once more, and slipped out to the backyard, leaving the door open, but making sure to shut the screen door.

Severus continued cooking for a few more minutes, but once he started work on the potatoes, Severus walked to the window that Dover had abandoned, favoring to sit on the floor by the open door. He watched Hermione wander around his garden, her fingers brushing lightly over the leaves and flowers. In the time that it took for him to check the food, Severus saw that she had taken up residence on his hammock, with a book that he hadn't noticed that she had.

Severus waved his wand and the cooking resumed without him, and he wandered out to the garden where she was and leaned against the tree beside her.

"Am I to assume that this is where you are going to be residing during your time with me?" Severus gestured to her with her shoes off and her reclined position.

"Sir, with all due respect, I never have any time to relax outside. I'm either at home, trying to right my apartment or I am at work. Sometimes, I have time to go out with friends, but that is not often."

"Then why did you take this job?" Severus was perplexed. If she had no spare time, why would she be taking on more responsibility?

"I need the experience." She simply said, flipping the page of her book. Severus nodded, though he was confused. A young woman like her shouldn't be trapped in his basement brewing potions and tonics for 9 to 10 hours a day. She should be out with her friends and having a life other than this.

"Won't you miss having a social life?" Severus looked at her with a frown.

"I never really had one to begin with, to be honest. Ron, Harry and Ginny go out without me most weekends because I'm working on things for work. Sometimes, Ginny comes over to have dinner with me and Ron does the same, but they knew that taking this job meant late nights and early mornings for a while." She turned a page in her book. "If they can't handle it, then I guess it's their loss."

*S*S*

Severus was confused. His apprentice was still in his home, an hour and a half over the time that she was scheduled to work. He assumed that she would have bolted from the house as soon as she was freed, but here she was, seated on the one swiveling chair in his lab, twirling back and forth, her hair flowing behind her as she spun.

"Miss Granger, don't you have somewhere else to be?" Severus looked at her over his glasses as he filled out the reminder of the slips he included in all of his deliveries. With her help for the past day or so, they had filled out more orders than he had been able to fill in months, and she had proved herself to be a very handy person in the lab. Not that he would ever tell her that to her face.

"No, Ron cancelled on me. Said that I take too long here and he wants to actually eat at a normal dinner time. I told him that he has to suck it up for the next few weeks, but he has been a little nasty about it." Hermione smiled sadly. "I just hope he comes around."

Severus nodded. "Well, if you plan on being here, why don't you fill out the slips for the potions you made, or take the slips that I have already filled out and put them in the crates? Then, seal the crates and put them in the cupboard over there."

"How do they get delivered?" Hermione slid off the chair and picked up the completed slips.

"The cupboard is charmed to send the crates to my customers. It's all with a simple spell I created. And, its free, I don't have to pay for the morning owls." Severus slid his glasses back down his nose.

"Can you show me?" Hermione slapped a hand over her mouth. Part of her contract was about not annoying him with idle chatter and he had made it very clear that he would be unyielding with his standards. "Sorry, sir."

"What are you sorry for?" Severus looked at her with mild interest. "Miss Granger, I was you teacher for 6 years. I can tell the difference between a know it all and someone who actually wants to learn someone else's knowledge. I cannot fault you for wanting to learn. However, whatever I show you here of my own inventions I must demand that you keep to yourself. I escaped the wizarding world for a reason."

He stood and walked over to where she was sealing crates. "I understand how this is strange. How I acted in my years at Hogwarts are not my true personality. How I am here, in a place where I can do what I love, without the eyes of Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall on me, without the eyes of Death Eater children and the Dark Lord himself, I can actually have my true personality present." He slipped parchment into crates with speed and grace. "I am still very personal and I don't like to share my thoughts and emotions. Just because I am sharing this with you now, does not mean that we will be 'braiding each other's hair' or any other soul bearing activities, but I will not fault you for wanting to learn and to better yourself. We are equals here. You are a potions mistress now, not a school girl. It's time to stop acting like this."

"Acting like what, sir?"

"Like you're still afraid of me."

Severus turned and flicked his wand, the sealed crates floating up and seating themselves into the cupboard.

"Sir, I am not afraid of you. We all saw the memories, we know what you did…" Hermione continued her slip deposit.

"Yes, the memories. I was wondering when you would bring those up." Severus ran a hand through his hair. "Those were to prove to Mr. Potter that I was not the monster that you all thought I was. It was also to share with him his fate that Dumbledore neglected to tell him." He turned back to her. "I never thought he would submit them as evidence in my trial."

"But it kept you from Azkaban!" Hermione exclaimed. She couldn't believe how he was acting. It was almost like he though he didn't deserve the redemption that he had.

"And how many other Death Eaters are there in my place?" Snape put his glasses on his nose to prepare the next day's orders. "I have murdered and tortured and done just about everything that they have done. I am no better than them."

Hermione stood, mouth agape, staring at the man who calmly sorted papers into piles.

"Miss Granger, I advise you to close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Severus looked at her over his glasses.

"I just don't understand, sir."

"Well, it's not for you to understand, now is it?" he stood up. "I am the way I am. I don't feel like I should be a free man, but that cannot be helped now, can it?" He handed her the folder of potions for the next day.

"It's late. Go home and get some rest."

*S*S*

Tuesday morning, Hermione sat at her desk in the ministry, twirling a quill in her fingers. The tentative relationship Severus and she had was strained a little more than normal. Severus clearly didn't want to hear about his heroism, and only saw himself as the villain.

Hermione didn't know how to turn his mind around, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to save him. Harry, Ron and herself had already done that and he clearly wanted nothing to do with them in that way. She figured that she would need to apologize for the dredging of old facts, hopefully in a way that would clear the air.

"Hermione?"

She turned and found her friend from University, Britney Mitchel, standing in her cubicle door.

"Oh, what are you doing here? What happened to the internship?" Hermione jumped up and hugged her friend.

"I came back from Iceland. I'm done with my internship and I'm back here to stay. I needed a new job, and I found one in the misuse of potions office."

"You're right down the hall from me!" Hermione held onto her friend's hands.

"Do you want to get lunch?" Britney asked, already pulling Hermione to the door.

"Let me get my purse and then we can go. There's a great little Italian restaurant down the street." Hermione slipped out of her heels and put on her walking flats and got her purse.

The two women left together, arm in arm. Both poked their head into their supervisor's office to inform them that they were going to lunch.

"Oh, Brit, I have so much to tell you!" Hermione led her down the street to the red brick restaurant where Hermione frequently ate lunch.

Once they were seated and ordered their meals, Britney grabbed Hermione's hands again. "Alright, tell me everything. How's Ron, how's work?"

Hermione laughed and accepted the wine from the waiter. "Ron's great. We're talking about moving in together in the next couple months. He's still working with his brother and the Aurors." She took a sip. "I also got a new job. It pays the same as my Ministry job so I'll be able to buy a house soon."

"Hermione, that's great!" Britney was always happy for her friend's successes. When they were in school together, Hermione had beaten Britney for the valedictorian spot and Britney was salutatorian. It never phased her though. Hermione's success was her success. When internships came up, Hermione had given up the Iceland internship for her friend. Britney had managed to land the internship with one of the world's most famous potions master's, Þórarinn Guðnason.

"So tell me about Iceland. How was it?" Hermione moved her arms so the waiter could place the pasta dish in front of her.

"Oh Hermione, it was soooooo great! Þórarinn Guðnason is a genius! We were working on a skin care potion that helps heal burn victims and Master Guðnason put my name on the patent so I'm making money from the work. He and I decided to stay in contact to help each other."

"I'm so happy for you! That's fabulous!" Hermione took a bite of her pasta.

"So where are you working? Other than the Ministry, of course."

"Oh, I work for Prince Potions now."

"Prince Potions?" Britney gasped. "Master Guðnason works with the owner! He says that the owner is the best in Europe!"

Hermione chewed on a breadstick, deep in thought. She had never thought of Snape as a genius or the best, but she knew that he was very smart. She was certainly lucky that she was able to work under his tutelage, and for pay. Hermione knew that there were people that she and Britney went to school with that had to get internships for no pay. One of the boys they knew still lived at home with his parents because he couldn't afford to live on his own.

"I had no idea that I worked with someone so smart," Hermione twirled the pasta onto her fork. "Well, I knew he was smart, but not that he was the smartest in Europe."

"Maybe you should talk to him about it?" Britney smiled. "we always spoke so highly of his skills in Iceland."

"Maybe I will."

*S*S*

Later that night, Hermione walked into the basement lab of Prince Potions, dropping her bag onto the hook, she always left her stuff on. Snape was seated where he had been the night before, working on some form of paperwork. Hermione took the folder with the potions orders and placed it on her station table.

"Professor?" Hermione went to the sink and quickly washed her hands. While she waited for him to acknowledge her, she put on the leather apron and went to her station with the folder.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" He didn't look up and continued to write on the paper.

"I met with a friend of mine this afternoon, and she has just come back from an internship with Þórarinn Guðnason and apparently he says he knows you?"

"Yes, I do know him. He and I have worked together on several projects in the past." He left it at that.

"He said that you were the best in Europe at potion making." Hermione started to chop her rat tails for the hair growth potion she was working on.

"I am." The quill scratched on the parchment with no signs of stopping.

"Why haven't you said anything about being the best yet?" Hermione laid down her knife and scooped the tails into a bowl.

"Because I didn't see reason to." Severus looked up at her finally, his eyes a little narrow over his glasses. "Why are you asking me all these questions, Miss Granger? If you and your little friend are planning something, I would strongly advise against it."

"What? Professor, we're not planning anything." Hermione was getting more and more angry with every passing moment. "Sir, we were catching up earlier and she mentioned her internship. That's all. She and I were in school together and she was #2 in our class."

Severus took a deep breath and nodded stiffly. "Maybe, we can arrange for the two of them to come here and brew with us. The two of you could learn a thing or two."

Hermione smiled a little and nodded.

"Return to your brewing. I have paperwork to do."

*S*S*

Hermione rolled her shoulders back and rubbed a hand over her neck, trying and failing to relieve the ache. She had been brewing for three hours before Snape had had her help him move dozens of crates of ingredients into the storage closet. Unfortunately, the ingredients were magic sensitive and had to be moved by hand. Severus had been kind and paid her an additional 50 galleons for the work that she did under the table. He had said it wasn't right for him to keep her for overtime and not pay her for it.

Before she had come home, she had used some of that money to do her grocery shopping before the shops closed, and she even had a little time to swing into her favorite clothing store to buy more of the skirts she preferred to wear while she brewed.

Now she had all the time in the world to relax and take a much-needed break before doing it all again the next day. She had just put away the clothes and the groceries when her floo activated and Ron stepped out onto her hearth rug, brushing off the soot on his threadbare robes.

"Hello, love, what's brought you here? I didn't think we had plans?" Hermione had poked her head out of the kitchen to look at her boyfriend.

"No, we didn't have plans. I'm sick of us not having plans, Hermione." Ron sat on the couch heavily, waving away the tea Hermione brought him.

"Ron, you know the crazy hours that I work now. You, Harry and Ginny all said that you were fine with going out later, or waiting till I could ask for time off after working there for six months. There's nothing that I can do about this. I wish there was but I could lose this job and we need it." Hermione went back to stir the pot that was bubbling away on the stove.

"We need it? Hermione, this job doesn't benefit me in the slightest!" Ron's voice went up in volume.

"How does it not? You were the one who keeps talking about buying a house together, but we can't afford it on a ministry salary and with what you make with the joke shop. Furthermore, you were the one who told me to apply."

"Because I didn't think he would have you working every fucking day, Hermione!" He ran his hands through his hair, clinging to the ends of it. "I thought I would be able to see you before bloody midnight."

"Ron, there's nothing I can do! He pays me for the time that I work and I'm making good money! And I get to use my degree." Hermione slammed her spoon down on the counter and glared at him. They really didn't fight, but when they did, they could get loud. Hermione preferred the fights that they had as kids over the ones that they had as adults. As kids, Hermione was just a nag, but now as Ronald Weasley's girlfriend, the fights they had were more geared toward her not taking care of his needs.

"And that's another thing! How do I know that you're working for him just for the sake of working for him? You and Harry were so keen on getting him out of Azkaban. How do I know that there isn't anything going on between the two of you? Maybe that's why you like to work long hours. Because you and Severus fucking Snape are such good buddies."

"He's my boss, Ron!" Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And he's 20 years my senior. And he hates the fact that Harry and I kept him from jail. There is nothing going on between him and I. How dare you imply that there was. I would never do that to you."

Ron just turned away.

"Why do you think there is something going on between us, Ron?"

"I don't know Hermione. You just never liked working long hours before, we used to go out and do things. Now, I'm lucky if I see you once a week."

"I'm sorry. But I don't know what you want me to do?"

"I want to see you more. I think you should work shorter hours with Snape or less days." He turned back around.

"Ron, it's a fixed schedule. He told me that I would be fired."

"Maybe that's a good thing then." Ron crossed his arms and refused to break eye contact.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Then I would get to see you outside of this apartment!" Ron stomped over to the floo. "I have to go." And just like that, he was gone.

Hermione stared at the dwindling flames for a minute or two before she fell to the floor, her body shaking with sobs, the pot on the stove forgotten.