A/N: Read and review. I value your input.
The next morning dawned too quickly. Hermione woke up in Ron Weasley's arms, possibly for the last time. She leant down and kissed him awake. They progressed into a rather intense snogging session until there was a knock at the door.
"You too come downstairs. Everyone is on pins and needles and you have to bare the torture as well."
They both shook their heads at Harry's words, but they got up and walked downstairs hand in hand. Shortly after they arrived, the letters came. It was a terrifying moment, when Hermione was opening her letter, hoping that Ron would be at the top of her list. She forced herself to read the whole letter instead of just skipping down to the names.
Dear Hermione Jean Granger,
Your selection process has been complete. The names listed below are in order of compatibility from least compatible to most compatible. As a reminder, you must meet with each match at least twice before you make your decisions. Your matches are:
Jacob Crawley
Harry Potter
Draco Malfoy
Abraxas Limoux
Severus Snape
Thank you for cooperating.
Sincerely,
Miranda Hurtwait.
Hermione started laughing hysterically. She was barely acknowledging her most compatible name, no she thought something was much funnier. She, of course, was done reading before everyone else and they all paused to look at her.
"Hermione, darling, what's wrong?" Asked Ron.
"Draco Malfoy and I are more compatible than Harry." She kept laughing, and Joined in when he read his names.
"Me and Pansy are more compatible."
The two were in hysterics and the rest of the table went back to reading their letters. Ginny kissed Harry fiercely, but there were no tears, suggesting that they were at least matched. Ron was as whit as a sheet.
"Hermione, you're not on my list." He whispered as if he was going to die.
"I know." I whispered back.
He kissed me on the lips before running up the stairs. I stared in shock at my names. I was most compatible with Severus Snape.
After a minute, Ron came back downstairs, his eyes red and puffy. He never liked crying in front of people. They sat around the table and Mrs. Weasley suggested they read off their most compatible person. Harry got Ginny and Ginny got Harry. Charlie got a girl named Rebecca, apparently someone that was in his year, but a Ravenclaw. George was smiling, he had been matched with Angelina. Ron gulped then told everyone he got Luna Lovegood. Hermione sat there for a second. She could picture Ron and Luna together. They would make an excellent couple. Then she realized it was her turn. She focused herself to make the three syllables, but it felt like it took all of her strength.
"Severus Snape." She whispered.
Ron burst into nervous laughter, as if she had to be joking, but when she didn't smile or say anything else, Ron grabbed Hermione's letter and ran down the list of names. He paled and started blushing an angry purple.
"There's no way that HIM of all people is more compatible than me. I love you, I don't even know if he is capable of loving anything, or even feeling. No, something is very, very wrong here. He's twice your age."
"Mum," Hermione whispered in a watery voice.
Mrs. Weasley walked over, helped Hermione up and took her to the living room. Hermione felt like she was hyperventilating and she felt nauseated. They sat on the worn couches and Mrs. Weasley held Hermione and just let her cry. It was her first real cry since right before the final battle. It was messy and loud, it was the healing type of crying. After a good fifteen minutes, she was done and looked up at the wonderful woman before her. She handed the crying girl a handkerchief. Hermione wiped her face.
"I guess I should send these men letters." Hermione said.
"There's no rush dear, take as much time as you want."
"But there is a rush, I need to decide in just less than two months and meet with all five of them at least twice."
"What are they doing to you kids?" The older woman asked to herself.
Hermione went upstairs and started writing letters to all five of the men. It took a while, for half of the time, she was shaking but she finally got them out. Now all she had to do was wait.
The dark man collapsed into a chair and let out a grunt, though he had just woken up. He was exhausted. When a house elf popped to him and handed him the letter from the ministry, he knew the day would only get longer and longer. He opened the letter and scanned for the names. There were only two. The first was Emily Vanile. She was a Slytherin and was about twenty five years old and while she was intelligent, He remembered her being rather invasive and annoying. Definitely, someone he would not want to be stuck with for long periods. Then, there was his most compatible person. Hermione Granger. The know-it-all that he could not wait to get out of his classroom. She was so insufferable, but he had to pick between bad, worse and giving up magic, the last thing he had left. He dropped his head into his hands and tried to rub the headache away. Then, a house elf popped in with yet another letter. He recognized the tiny scrawling handwriting from the many perfect potions essays he had read over the years.
Dear Professor Snape,
It seems as if we are most compatible for each other, and we are required to meet at least once. I am free for the next two months, so if you would like to request a time and a place, I will be there.
Yours,
Hermione Granger
He grabbed a piece of parchment from his desk and started to write a reply.
Dear Miss Granger,
It is my displeasure to say that we are the most compatible out of the meager pool of people in the pool from the law. I would like to invite you to my rooms for a drink tonight. We might as well get this over with. Be here at seven sharp. Don't bother dressing up.
SS
He sent it of to be mailed; though after he sent it, he wondered if he was being too brash. He shook his head, remembering whom he was and what he was supposed to act like. He put on his outer cloak and went to the far side of the dungeon. They were working on rebuilding the school so it could open next term. He had a lot on his plate and he spent the rest of the day doing 'foolish wand waving' to help restore what was broken in the Slytherin commons.
Once Hermione got the letter and opened it, she glared down it. It was just so like him. Hermione showed the letter to Mrs. Weasley who smiled.
"He must be rather displeased with his other choice to have invited you over to his rooms so early on. And look, you've got two hours to get ready. I'll get Ginny."
Ginny insisted that Hermione look good, even though Professor Snape said not to dress up. She took a quick shower. Ginny dried and styled her hair. It was still the same unmanageable bush, but Ginny managed to wrestle it up into a halfway decent looking bun. Next was clothes. Hermione really didn't own anything nice, she hadn't been shopping since the end of the war, it just didn't seem that important. Ginny said she had the perfect thing. She ran to her room and Hermione was left in Ron's room. She looked down at the engagement ring on her finger. She put it in the pocket of her skinny jeans.
Ginny came back to the room with a black V-neck shirt that was tight all around and an emerald green scarf that complimented Hermione's hazel eyes perfectly. She put both on, then sat perfectly still while Ginny applied makeup. It was subtle, but nice.
Hermione grabbed her winter cloak before hugging Mrs. Weasley, leaving the apparation field around the Burrow and apparating to Hogsmade. It was cold near the castle and Hermione hurried up the long path. She wanted to get into the dungeons as soon as possible, as to not be seen and questioned by anyone. She made it to the potions classroom, but it was locked. Hermione stood there, frustrated in the dark and glared at the solid door keeping her from her impending meeting with the dark potions professor and warmth.
She started to shiver. It was damp down in the dungeons and it was going through her winter cloak fast. She heard footsteps in the corridor and turned around. There was Professor Snape, just as she remembered him, dressed in all black and with a bitter expression on his face. He stood close to her and towered over her, for a second, she felt scared, but the professor, seeing this, backed off a bit.
"Do you assume I live in a place I hate so much? I thought you were supposed to be smart Miss Granger. Have Potter and Weasley finally dumbed you down?" He looked at his watch, "At least you're on time. Follow me." He whirled around and his cloak did a turn with him.
Hermione seethed at his words. He had no right to talk to her like that, but the meeting must happen, so she followed. He led her to a different part of the dungeon. He stood at a painting of a battleground and whispered his password so Hermione could not hear. The painting turned into a door that Professor Snape stepped through and so, yet again, Hermione followed.
His rooms were neat and tidy, like everything. He had a black leather chair, a black leather sofa, an ebony coffee table and white carpet. All around his living room were bookshelves filled with books. She scanned some of the titles. Some were extremely rare and others were even out of print. Professor Snape had s=disappeared, so Hermione dared to peak at a book. She slipped it off the shelf and started to read.
"I'm glad to see your making yourself at home." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Hermione quickly closed the book and put it exactly where it was. Then she turned to Professor Snape. He was holding two wine glasses. He offered one out to her and she took it.
"How has your summer been, Professor?"
"Dismal. I am forever trying to fix up the dungeons so we can open next September. I rarely have any time to research, but I do get the odd potion done. How was your summer? Have you progressed in your academics?"
"Well I studied for my NEWTs right after the battle and received Os on all of them. But after that Harry and Ron just wanted to hang out. Truthfully, I have been going a little stir crazy for the last month or so. I haven't even been able to sit down and read."
"And Mr. Weasley, are you and he an item?"
She was shocked at the question, but answered anyways, "We aren't on each other's lists, so no, not anymore."
"Oh."
There was an awkward silence. Hermione observed the professor intently. He looked tired, like he had not been sleeping well. He still had those dark obsidian eyes that felt like they could slice right through your soul. His hair hung around his face like a dark curtain and his hands were folded together on his lap.
In turn, Professor Snape watched the young woman. She had filled out since he had last seen her, but then again, the last time he saw her was right before the battle. He knew they had been living in the woods and barely scraping by, but when he saw the trio in the great hall on that fateful day, he never knew his student could look like they did. Haunted and emaciated. Now, the Miss. Granger had a full face, bright intelligent eyes and small lips, making her look like an angel. Her hair was a mess, just as he remembered it. Though she had put it into a bun, it was starting to escape. His eyes traveled down to her scarf, Slytherin green. He smiled involuntarily, but his it quickly.
Hermione took a gulp of wine, cleared her throat and asked "What have you been working on lately?"
The awkward silence was broken. "I've been working on a cure for the Angel's Trumpet Draught."
"But that's extremely poisonous. And fast acting."
"Yes Miss Granger, thank you for pointing out the obvious. The Bezoar cannot cure this poison, which is what makes it so dangerous,"
"What have you done so far?"
"Well, I have a base of Phoenix tears, of course, for their healing properties. But, of course, they usually don't work when you drink them. Then there's adder's fork for the absorbency and Scarab beetle to make it fast acting. That's where I run into problems."
"Yes, the adder's fork would make it to acidic to drink; it would only burn through the drinker's stomach."
"Yes, I have run into that problem. I tried adding an eel eye to balance the solution out, but it only cancelled out the Scarab beetle, so the Angel's trumpet would kill you before the cure would have time to take effect."
"Yes." Hermione scrunched up her face in concentration. "But what if you added a Jobberknoll feather instead of the adder's fork? And stirred it sixteen times," She paused, "counter clockwise in a minute, evenly spaced in a heated salt water solution?"
"That could work. It would keep the potion at a normal PH balance, but what about its other effects?"
"True, you would have to make the potion in a silver cauldron, because the Jobberknoll feather would absorb the lead from the pewter cauldron."
"Would you like some more wine, Miss Granger."
"Please."
They talked for hours, jumping from one topic to the next. It was midnight, then two in the morning, then four. They started doing real research, pulling books off of the shelves and reading them, examining potion ingredients, at one point, Professor Snape led her into his private lab so she could see the Angel Trumpet's Draught Cure, which was under a stasis charm. It was six in the morning when Hermione yawned for the third time in the last minute.
"Perhaps you should return to your home Miss Granger, it has been nearly twelve hours."
"Has it?"
He nodded and brought her cloak from the rack by his door. She stood up and he helped her put her cloak on. He stepped back quickly, obviously uncomfortable with being so close to her. The dark man insisted in walking her out of the dungeons, so she wouldn't get lost and catch her death. When they got up to the ground floor, he stopped.
"I can truly tell why they call you the smartest witch of your age. Thank you for the stimulating discussion"
Hermione was shocked at his praise, but managed to stutter a response.
"N-no it was an honor to talk potions with the best potions master in Brittan. Thank you sir."
He bowed to her, "Until next time, Mrs. Granger."
"Yes, Professor Snape."
She tried to sneak into the Burrow, but sitting at the table fast asleep was Ginny Weasley and as soon as Hermione stepped inside, the floorboards creaked and Ginny snapped to attention.
"Hermione! I was starting to get worried about you. I thought maybe Snape had killed you."
"Professor Snape Ginny. And no, he didn't kill me, though I feel like I got hit by a bus."
"Yes, so how was the greasy bat of the dungeons? Still as scornful as ever? Did he try to make a move on you? I always thought he was kinda sexy, in an older man kind of way."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Said Harry as he rounded the corner into the kitchen.
"How was Severus? Did you have fun?"
"Yeah, I did. It was really awkward at first, but then we started talking about potions. He has so many books; we started working on a cure for Angel's Trumpet, trying to make it non-acidic, but still effective."
"Hermione, you must have been in heaven." Harry nudged her side.
"Was it terribly romantic?" asked Ginny.
"No, not really, but he did call me the smartest witch of my age."
Harry choked on the tea he had reheated from the night before.
"He actually gave you a complement? He must like you."
"No, Harry, he more or less agreed with everyone else."
Just then, an owl flew through the window and dropped a package and a letter on the table. Hermione opened the letter first.
Dear Miss Granger,
To keep you entertained during you time with the dunderheads Weasley and Potter. Enjoy.
SS
Hermione frowned and opened the package. It was a black leather bound book. On the front of the cover in the middle, there was the word 'research' embossed in gold and on the corner, the initials SS. She opened it. The book was full of tiny scrawl, papers jammed between the pages of the book.
"He gave you one of his research books? He must trust you." Harry said, awe in his voice.
"Either that, or he's trying to win her over." Ginny put in.
Hermione just sat there, a small smile on her face, staring down at the old black book.
A/N: Please review, it would make my day. The next chapter will probably be about Hermione's meeting with the rest of her suitors. Thank you.
