- Chapter 2 -
Friday night couldn't come quickly enough for Hermione. Of course, she saw the Professor in the Great Hall for meals, and in lessons, but it wasn't the same when other people were around. It almost seemed as if he relaxed around her, as if they were both free to be themselves.
She hid the frock coat in her satchel on Friday, having perfected her hair and make-up again. She'd borrowed Harry's cloak too - on the pretext of having a secret date. It wasn't strictly true, but in Hermione's mind it was obvious what the two of them were leading up to. She knocked on the dungeon door and entered at the soft command.
Severus - Professor Snape - was once more seated at his desk, his head in one hand as he idly turned the pages in an old manuscript. He smiled slightly when he looked up at Hermione, the corners of his mouth peaking infinitesimally upwards.
"Finally! I was rather hoping you'd be early. Come on, we're going to the lab." He stood, and swung the heaving book under his arm as he strode over to the rows of ingredients that covered the back wall. Severus - Snape, pulled his wand and tapped the jellied frog's eyes, the pickled beetles and the dried rose petals. The entire wall swung backwards, showing another corridor. Hermione raised a delicate eyebrow.
"Rose petals, Professor?" she asked cheekily, hoping that he was in a good mood.
"Of course, Miss Granger," he responded as he entered the corridor, and opened another door. "Who would guess?"
Hermione found herself staring into what was possibly the most beautiful room she had ever seen. On the far wall was a long bench that held seven cauldrons, all of different sizes and metals, with pre-built, unlit fires. Attached to the right side of the table was what looked to be an ingredients bench with rows of scalpels, and knives and other Potions-related implements. The left wall was covered with shelves that held every Potions ingredient that Hermione could think of, and several that she couldn't even name.
She followed her Professor - her Professor, she liked that phrase - further into the room, and gasped in delight as she realised that either side of the door was covered in bookshelves, and a small, green love-seat style sofa sat in an alcove on the right wall, close to the books. Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself, and then turned to the Professor.
"So, what are we brewing, sir?" she asked, a half smile on her face.
"Amortentia," he said slowly. Hermione flushed bright red.
"The love potion?" Hermione forced her heavily beating heart to quiet itself. While she might be excited, now was most definitely not the best time for her to pass out. As much as she knew that Severus - damnit, Professor Snape - was a good man, a part of her still wondered if he wouldn't just leave her on the stone floor.
"Yes, Miss Granger." His rich voice held thinly veiled amusement. Hermione inched her legs closer together, trying desperately to ignore the warm feeling in the pit of her belly that had sprung up. "I trust you've heard of it?"
"Of course, Professor." She forced herself to think through the instructions, and ingredients for the potion, taking a deep breath as she did so, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Will we be brewing the base, or working on the latter stages?"
He smiled at that. He actually smiled. At her. Hermione had to resist the temptation to do a little happy-dance at his expression.
"The latter stages, or as far as we can get tonight. I brewed the base last Saturday, so it has sat for ample time. I see no point in brewing it again, it is not something that you will gain knowledge by brewing." Hermione nodded for him to continue. "Do you have any need to re-examine the brewing instructions?"
"No thank you, sir." Hermione demurred. "I have an eidetic memory, so unless your version is different to that of our Potions textbook…?"
"The instructions will be the same," he clarified. "Now then, to test that memory, I think that you should find the first set of ingredients that we will need."
Hermione was happy with the brewing, despite having been corrected more times than she could ever remember. Severus - Professor Snape - had put his hand over her own to show her better ways of slicing ingredients, of holding her knife, or her stirring rod. He'd corrected her stirring, moving behind her and placing both of his hands over her own. Hermione had thought she was about to spontaneously combust, feeling his warm chest press tightly against her back.
"Smooth circles, you see, Miss Granger? Smooth." He'd said in a low voice near to her ear. Hermione smiled a little, just thinking about it. She was stirring again now, this time in a figure eight movement. Severus - Professor Snape - was getting the next set of ingredients; moth wings. Hermione half turned to see him pulling the large glass bell jar from the shelf.
Later, Hermione would swear that she looked back to the potion for a moment only, but a moment was all it took.
With a great crash the jar smashed to pieces on the floor, scattering the wings around the room. Hermione turned away from the potion to see Severus - Professor Snape - clutching at his left arm. He hissed out in pain, stalking from the room. One hasty stasis spell later and Hermione was racing after him.
"Se- Sir?" A flash of black cloak through a door further down the corridor, Hermione ran into the room, a sitting room, still calling for him. "Professor, are you- I mean - is it him?"
"Yes, Miss Granger, it is." His voice was grave, coming from another room. "I must go to him. There is Floo powder on the mantel, tell the Headmaster once I have left. You may stay to clean up, and finish the potion, if you wish to."
When he reappeared in the sitting room his tight fitting robes had been exchanged for looser ones, and he held a silver mask in his hand. Hermione gasped at the look in his eyes… he was deadly.
"I will return, Miss Granger." He told her seriously. And then, with a pinch of Floo powder, he had stepped into the green flames. "Shrieking Shack." He called out, eyes still on Hermione. And then he was gone.
Hermione stood for a minute, perhaps two in shock, before moving towards the fireplace. Reaching for the boat on top of the mantel, she took a pinch of powder and threw it into the fireplace.
"Headmaster's office," she called out as she stuck her head into the green flames. Her head came out in the elder man's office immediately, although it took Hermione a few moments to recognise it from the strange perspective. It took the Headmaster only a moment to appear in front of her, kneeling gracefully on a pillow clearly left next to the hearth for that purpose.
"Miss Granger," he said gently. "What may I do for you today?"
"Professor Snape has been summoned, sir. I will be waiting in his laboratory for his return." The old man frowned, but nodded willingly.
"Hermione?" He asked quickly, before she could remove her head.
"Headmaster?"
"He will Floo back to his quarters, you should wait there." Hermione smiled tightly at the older man and nodded, taking her head fully out of the fire, ready to sort out the tasks that Severus - Professor Snape - had allocated to her.
- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -
Severus bowed low to the ground as he apparated in from the Shack. He didn't even attempt to work out where he had landed, his Master was there, he could feel it. His Master hadn't yet let him down, and if Severus could help it, his Master would never have cause to either.
"Sssseverussss," came the sibilant hiss that sent shivers shuddering southwards towards his spine. "My mosssst faithful."
"My Lord," Severus spoke softly, demurely, keeping his voice, and face low. It would not do to antagonise his Lord.
"What newssss do you have for me, Sssseverussss?" His Master asked curiously. Severus cautiously raised his head, dipping a hand into his robes to feel for a potion vial that he had carried with him for days, just waiting for his Master to summon him, so he could present his latest creation.
Black, obsidian orbs met crimson red, and suddenly his Lord was inside of Severus's mind. Severus revelled in the feeling, it wasn't often that Master submerged himself in another's thoughts, and Severus gave up all control over the direction of the thoughts that passed through his brain, letting his Master decide what was important, and necessary.
With shaking hands he raised the red vial as the memory of creating it, and of brewing it sprung to mind.
"You created thissss potion for me, Sssseverussss?" His Lord asked slowly. Severus nodded, too weak to do anything else. "What a good boy you are. I sssshall have to give you ssssomething, if it workssss. A reward. What do you dessssire?" Severus forced his mouth to open, for coherent sounds to fall from his parched lips.
"I wish for Potter's Mudblood friend, my Lord." Severus said, proud that his voice didn't waver the same way his heartbeat did. "I wish for you to order me to seduce her." Lord Voldemort chucked deeply.
"Ahh, Sssseverussss, the conssssumate Sssslytherin to the endssss of time, dear one. It will pleasssse me to grant you this wissssh. To defy Dumbledore, and to ruin the Potter boy'ssss friendsssship. A good choice, Sssseverussss." Severus bowed his head shallowly in acknowledgement of the compliment.
"I have brought another vial of the potion, Master, that you may test on another person, should you wish." Severus hesitated, pulling out the other vial and dropping to one knee. "I would volunteer myself, if my Lord should wish…"
A feral grin and a call for Wormtail was the only response Severus got. Around an hour later Wormtail had lost an eye, had several choice scars that rivalled Mad Eye Moody's, and the skin on the left side of his face had melted, all at their Master's wand.
Wormtail, of course, being the little rat, had attempted to dodge the first curse. At his Master's instruction, Severus held Wormtail under the Imperius curse to make him stand still. The body-bind hex would also have worked, but Severus shared the smiles and laughter of his Master as Wormtail screamed, and cried, and begged for mercy. The twit should know better, in their Lord's domain, there was no mercy.
Severus commanded Wormtail to take the vial from his hand, and to drain it. Only seconds after it had been taken did Wormtail's face begin to twist, and his body contorted in on itself. When he stood again, he looked the model of the man that he had been at age twenty-five. All of the scars had disappeared, the melted flesh looked as new.
With another grin, the Dark Lord drained the potion.
- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -
Hermione had lined up the most effective set of pain-reducing potions that she could brew on the coffee table in the sitting room. And then, thinking on the Cruciatus, a few muscle relaxants too. Then she turned down the Professor's bed, clearly not taking the time to sniff at his pillows and stroke the wonderfully soft sheets. And then, to stop herself from prying further, Hermione had taken a wonderful book on Potions from the lab, settling herself on the settee to read it.
Severus - Professor Snape - returned at around one in the morning. He looked surprisingly well to Hermione's untrained eye, but as soon as he spied her he frowned darkly, and shook his head sternly.
"Miss Granger, come with me to the Headmaster's office." With that he turned and stepped back into the green flames, leaving Hermione with little choice but to obey.
The Headmaster - as always - was sitting serenely behind his desk, half moon glasses perched precariously on the end of his nose. He smiled genially at Hermione as she stepped out of the grate, and nodded towards the seats in front of his desk. Obviously, Severus - Professor Snape - was pacing instead of sitting down, as usual for the man. Hermione could swear that she only saw him sit when he ate.
"Headmaster," he began, his voice rough and cracked. "I… I do not know how to proceed. The Dark Lord… he has… he has given me a task, a task that I am unsure with how to proceed."
"Well, my boy, if you need Miss Granger's help in making Potions, I am sure that she can spare more time from her studies." Dumbledore smiled jovially. Severus shook his head fiercely.
"No, sir, it is not a potion. I… It…! Just look! Please!" His voice broke painfully on the last word. Hermione sat, rooted to her seat as Dumbledore gently looked into the Professor's eyes, holding the gaze for only a moment.
"Ah, my boy, I see." He, too, frowned. "But you will simply have to tell Voldemort that you cannot complete the task." Severus's head was already shaking.
"Sir, you saw what he did to Pettigrew… what he made me…! Peter was late in feeding Nagini. If I were to fail him in a task, I am not sure that I would survive till the morn'."
"But we cannot allow Miss Granger to be dragged into this!" Dumbledore bristled. "She is underage, and still a student at this school!"
"I think, Headmaster, that I am plenty old enough to make my own decisions about whether I am to be 'dragged' into a situation or not!" Hermione interjected with a level voice. Both men turned to her shocked, apparently having forgotten her presence in the room.
"I… You are right." Severus - Professor Snape deflated, refusing to look towards the headmaster. "Miss Granger, I will show you in the Pensieve. I only ask that you not judge me too harshly, nor make a rash decision."
"I am not known for my rash decisions, Professor." Hermione stood, drawing herself up to her full height, her chin tilted firmly upwards. "And I, as with the others in the Order, understand that your duties as a spy mean that you must do things that you would rather not. I refuse to judge you for the great service that you provide us." That, and I'd probably still want to throw myself at you no matter what you'd done, Hermione finished her speech with the silent thought, although she did make sure that her eyes weren't facing either of the men in the room. Wouldn't it be awkward if they just read her thoughts from her mind?
Dumbledore stepped forwards, almost perfectly poised to object, but a stern glare from Hermione had him sitting back in his seat resignedly. A swish of his wand and a stone grey pensieve with runes etched into the sides flew out of a cupboard to land with a soft thud on the desk. Severus - Professor Snape - stood in front of her, eyes boring into her own.
"Miss Granger, the Dark Lord does not look… as he has previously." He began hesitantly. "He had me brew him a potion, one to change his appearance permanently to the man that he was at twenty-five. I… I did not ask him for a reward, Miss Granger. Please understand that, if nothing else, this was - is - the bidding of the Dark Lord."
Hermione nodded, watching in abstract fascination at the string of silver memory attached to her Professor's wand. He dipped it into the bowl, stirring slightly. One more approving glance from each of the men in the room, and Hermione dropped her head into the pensieve.
- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -
Severus - Professor Snape - had been right. Voldemort did look different. He looked rather… handsome, all things considered. Hermione shuddered at the thought - Voldemort was a deranged psychopath, and good looking or not her heart was taken by a better man, a good man. By Severus.
"Ahh, Sssseverussss, it feelssss wonderful!" He hissed, joy clearly etched into every fibre of his being. "I think that you desssserve a reward for thissss, but what can I give to you?" Voldemort's head tilted to the side just as Hermione's own did whenever she was working on a particularly tricky problem.
"My Lord, I ask for nothing but the pleasure of serving you further," Severus bowed low, eyes demurely at the stone floor.
"Look into my eyessss, my clever sssspy!" He hissed. Severus's head jerked upwards immediately. Voldemort took a step closer to him, taking Severus's chin roughly in his hands, drawing their eyes closer together. "Ahh, Dumbledore hassss forced you to apprentice this Mudblood of Potter'ssss, hassss he?"
"Yes, my Lord," Severus replied, his voice strained by the stretched position of his neck.
"Then sssshe, the girl will be yourssss. My thank you…" Voldemort threw his head back and laughed manically. "You musssst sssseduce her, Sssseverussss! Usssse her to get information on the Potter brat! And, once we have killed the resssst, you may keep her assss your concubine!"
"Thank you, my Lord." Severus said slowly as Voldemort released his tenuous hold on his neck. "You are generous."
"Only for my mosssst faithful." Voldemort laughed again, then twitched slightly. "I will give orderssss that sssshe issss not to be touched by any hand other than your own, Sssseverussss, unlessssssss you expessssssssly ssssuggesssst it!"
- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -
Hermione pulled her head from the pensieve, doing her very best to look as conflicted as she was sure she ought to be feeling after the scene she had just watched. Inside she was all but jumping for joy; she could be with her Severus without hurting his position as a spy!
"I… If you don't, will he kill you?" Hermione asked, faking anxiety rather well in her own, humble opinion. Severus shrugged.
"It is anyone's guess, Miss Granger. I, personally, think that he would be more likely to maim, or to seriously injure me. He likes to have a spy in Dumbledore's camp."
"I… I…" Hermione took a deep breath, looking up into the obsidian orbs of her professor, her professor. She reached out with her left hand, taking his larger hand in hers. "I couldn't bear it if you got hurt and it was my fault, sir. I think that we should do as he says."
"Thank you, Miss Granger."