It was nearing eight o'clock when Severus made his way deep into the Hogwarts dungeons towards the Advanced Potions laboratory. The lab was located away from the typical school traffic – fittingly, considering the amount of experimental brewing that occurred there. Back when Severus had taught potions, the privilege of brewing in this laboratory belonged only to seventh years who showed a particular talent for the art of potion brewing. Needless to say, it had been a very long time since Severus had deemed any student gifted enough to brew here. Unfortunately, Slughorn had seen fit to change the practice and the lab was now being used regularly by most of the seventh-year potions class, a fact noticeable by the general mess of the room.
"Damned students," Severus spoke under his breath at the sight of a particularly smelly puddle of dried-up potion left on a tabletop. Slughorn obviously didn't have as high of hygienic standards as Severus did – when it came to potions, that is.
"Scourgify," a quiet voice came from the corner. Severus jumped, but quickly relaxed upon seeing Hermione on her hands and knees intently cleaning an even more menacing patch of spilled experiments. She did not seem to notice the professor's entrance, so focused she was on the task at hand. Severus knelt next to the girl and, speaking the same spell, helped finish the job.
"Hello, Professor," Hermione smiled.
"Hello, Miss Granger. Shall we get started?" Severus said with a friendly nod.
Within moments, Severus had thoroughly yet efficiently explained tonight's procedure to the attentively listening assistant . The night soon found both deeply immersed in their tasks. Severus marveled at how quickly Hermione picked up new information, and how she was able to speedily process it and spew out potential relationships that even he had overlooked. Yes, Miss Granger would most definitely be an asset to any organization or corporation that chose to hire her. Severus felt he could easily already write a thorough recommendation from only four hours of work.
Four hours! "Miss Granger, I do believe it is nearing midnight. You ought to be in your dormitory at this time."
Hermione looked up from a flask that contained a creamy purple substance. "Time flies when you're having fun," she spoke with a lopsided grin. Severus wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.
"Fun or no fun, you really should not be out of bed after hours. You run along and I will clean up this mess."
The young witch put a stopper on her work, grabbed her bag and muttering a quick, "All right. G'night, Professor," headed towards the door. As she was about to pull on the handle, Hermione halted, turned around, and looked at Severus. She took a breath as if to steady herself and spoke, "I... I just wanted to say... Thanks. This, the tea, Ronald today... You've helped me probably a lot more than you understand. It... isn't just Ron... There's a lot going on right now and it's just nice to have something good to look forward to."
Severus was slightly taken aback by yet another burst of emotion from Hermione, but he remained cool and composed as he replied, "It is an absolute pleasure working with you, Miss Granger."
Hermione gave Severus a small, sad smile. Severus returned it.
With a last wave, the young witch opened the heavy wooden door, walked out, and shut it lightly behind her. Severus shut his eyes and let out the breath he had been holding
Later that evening as Severus lay in his bed, he let his mind wonder to the young Miss Granger. She reminded him so much of himself at that age – smart, slightly awkward, determined to leave a mark on the world. Only, Hermione is interested in a mark much different than the one I made, Severus thought as his fingertips lightly traced the dark symbol on his forearm. Miss Granger was so naïve and innocent – at her age Severus had already delved deep into the dark arts. Too deep.
But Miss Granger was not naïve and innocent, the man reminded himself. Six months ago she had battled some of Britain's most dangerous criminals and survived. She knew of horrors most witches and wizards had never even dreamt of. She is brave too, Severus marveled, much braver than I was at sixteen. While she is busy saving the world, I wanted to destroy it. His memory was flooded with scenes of his younger self committing atrocities in the search for power. As he had every night for the past fifteen years, Severus buried his face in his hands and drowned in regret over all that he had done.
A few minutes had passed when the man's head snapped up.
"Severus Snape," he muttered to himself through gritted teeth, "Keep. Your. Emotions. In . Check."
As suddenly as the memories had poured in, they vanished. Severus was left with a blank mind and an eerie sense of calm. He soon fell into a deep sleep filled with faces and voices he didn't recognize anymore, all begging for death.
.
The first part of the month of December passed without incident. Hermione continued working with Severus every Friday night and the two grew to become casual friends. Since that first night, Hermione had not shared anything of her personal life and neither had Severus, both choosing to keep their feelings private, but relishing in each other's company. It had become routine: Severus would arrive promptly at 7:50, meeting Hermione who would already be in the room. Together, they would set up for whatever brewing the evening would bring. Then, after four hours of work, Severus would send the girl away and clean up the laboratory on his own.
This night was no different. As the former potions master entered the Advanced Potions laboratory, he came to find Hermione sitting on a lab desk, fiddling with her wand, using emerald smoke to paint swirls on the air around her. Seeing Severus, the young girl pocketed her wand with one hand, used the other to fan away the smoke, and jumped down to the floor to meet her teacher.
"What will we be doing today, Professor?" came the usual greeting. Severus noticed how Hermione's eyes widened as her cheeks pulled the corners of her mouth into a smile. Her unpainted eyes batted twice.
"I want to test a theory regarding the Drought of Living Death and whether or not it can be made temporary,"
"Sounds fascinating. Let's get started!"
Within moments the two had taken their places at their respective stations. The smile on Hermione's lips was replaced by a pucker of concentration as she precisely measured each ingredient dictated by Professor Snape. Unbeknownst to the young witch, Severus glanced at her from the corner of his eye whenever his potion brewing required a pause. Miss Granger had been showing up in his thoughts as of late, and he was not sure why. The man often found himself pondering if Miss Grager would find the book he was reading interesting, if she would enjoy the wine he was drinking, or how she would react to the terrible editorials printed by the Prophet these days. All past week Severus had looked forward to this evening, but not because he was particularly excited about his potions work. Something about Hermione gave him a sense of warmth that had long been absent in his life.
Just at that moment, Hermione looked up, caught Severus' eye boring deep into hers and gave a shy smile. Severus was caught off-guard, but managed to smile back before turning to his work. He did not dare another peek that night, afraid of the potential consequences were he to get caught again. He did not want Hermione to get the wrong idea about his feelings for her. They were feelings of friendship. Friendship, he told himself. You're friends.
It was nearing midnight when Severus took out his pocket watch, stared at the cluster of starts displayed there and sighed, "Well, our evening session draws to an end. I am afraid I have made you late yet again, Miss Granger."
Hermione's cheery temperament fell, but she gave a small chuckle as she tidied up her work station. Even though Severus insisted that he was responsible for clean-up, the young witch always made a point to tidy up as much as she could before leaving.
"It really is no problem, Professor. No one misses me at this time," she spoke as she bounced from one cupboard to the next, putting away jars and flasks of various ingredients.
"Surely your friends must have complained about your absence every Friday night of the past month?" Severus slowly spoke. He did not wish to pry, but also wanted to make sure he was not intervening too deeply with her social life.
"No, really, my friends all understand. Besides, there isn't much to do at this time of year besides crowd around the common room or go to the library and study. I'd much rather be here." Her eyes danced as she finished putting away the last of her materials. It was obvious the young woman was looking for something else she could do, prolonging her stay in the dungeons.
"I believe your work here is done, Miss Granger. You may go. As always, I am much obliged for the help you've provided."
Hermione tried in vain to hide her disappointment. With her hair bouncing behind her, she made for the door.
"Goodnight, Miss Granger," Severus called out as the young witch stepped through the threshold.
"You have a great night, Professor," and with a small wave she shut the door behind her.
"What the hell do I think I'm doing?" Severus asked the bleak dungeon walls that surrounded him. The man picked up his wand and cast the cleaning spell that would leave the room spotless, wishing he could also scourgify his past.
