Hey guys! I realize that was a nasty cliffhanger back there- my bad- I hate reading those myself, I'll try to tone the endings down a bit… enjoy.
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She could barely hold herself upright in the chair- her mind was working too hard; she couldn't force her body to obey her weakening will. She finally gave up and slid so far down the chair that she was almost on the floor. Snape never took his hands off of her. She was in a position where she no longer had to use any muscles; she could concentrate fully on her mind. But his hands, wow, she would never have guessed they were capable of anything but violence, and as this thought crept into her head, she lost her strongest wall of defense. No longer capable of thinking of nothing, she began to think lies. She fed Snape a false memory of Harry and Voldemort- why not have a little fun with Snape, let him think he's in control when he's not. Harry was in the chamber of secrets, Quirril was unwrapping his head, and Harry jumped from his place on the stairs with an impossibly skilled flying front kick and landed one on Voldemort's face.
Snape was a bit surprised at Harry's actions and took his hands from Hermione's shoulders and folded his arms across his chest. He continued to search her thoughts, satisfied that he was getting what he wanted. Hermione gave a silent sigh of relief at this, but did not set herself upright in her chair. Let Snape keep thinking he's winning for the time being, she thought. He'll find out eventually anyway.
She was able to strengthen her lies now. She thought of bumping into Malfoy in the corridor at night, and, unprovoked, threw a punch at him, causing him to run toward his common room, whimpering slightly. Snape snorted behind her. Vain little pureblood brat, he thought. He had it coming.
Then Hermione imagined herself walking to the potions classroom with Harry and Ron, the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins scattered around them. They took their seats, and immediately Snape asked, "can anyone tell me the difference between silver gillbottox and a concentrated gillbottox drought? Of course Hermione raised her hand, and got the question right. Snape looked down at her from his desk and said simply, "Very good, 10 points to Gryffindor."
The real Snape behind Hermione was silent for a moment, for the life of him he could not remember ever giving points to a Gryffindor, but then he gasped in surprise. She was feeding him false thoughts! He stood unmoving, pondering this impossibility. Hermione felt him leave her mind, and after a minute of his silence, began to worry. What if I made him mad? Smart move, Hermione. Now you're in for it. He'll give you detentions for a month! She sat up in her chair and waited nervously for his reaction.
When he finally spoke, his words shocked her back into a slouch. "Very good, 10 points to Gryffindor."
"S- sir?"
He muttered a spell and the lights came on. Hermione slapped her hands to her eyes and blinked. By the time she had adjusted, Snape was standing at the other side of his desk, across from her. His face was devoid of all emotion.
"Now for the original purpose of your detention- explain to me your occlumency bane." His voice had regained its malice and she made sure to look at anything but him. She really, really did not want to talk to him right now. Especially if she would have to do all the talking. A wave of nervousness engulfed her, and she briefly noted that this must have been how Neville felt when facing his boggart. Snape pulled her glass block from a shelf behind him and sat it on his desk where she could reach it.
She grabbed it, not particularly because she needed it but more because she needed something to do with her hands. Her hand shook as she brought the block to her lap, and Snape noticed and gave her an icy smirk. She narrowed her eyes in anger and began to talk.
"Very simply put, if I drank this I would not be able to think lies. It's essentially the same potion as the original occlumency bane, except you need to… add an extra ingredient." Please, please don't ask me to explain further.
"Elaborate."
Oh Merlin, no. "Eh… you need…professor, I can't…"
"Spit it out, Granger!"
"Unicorn tears." Dear Merlin, spare me the wrath…
"Unicorn tears. Miss Granger, the only unicorn tears in the wizarding world at the moment are those which the unicorns have not yet shed, and those in my private stores." He stared daggers at her and waited for an explanation. Merlin, if looks could kill.
She didn't speak, didn't move, didn't blink. There was no way she was going to live through this. "Did you steal from me?" Still nothing. He growled through his teeth and looked into her mind. This time, she was too scared to resist. Snape immediately found what he was looking for. Although, he had to admit, it wasn't exactly stealing- she had used only half of her ingredients in class one day, and produced half the amount of potion that she should have, and walked out with more than enough unicorn tears remaining for her occlumency bane. What a sneaky little genius she was.
Snape looked at her quivering eyes and laughed coldly. "Fifty points from Gryffindor," he said, his sadistic, child-hating tendencies beginning to resurface. "How many detentions would you like, Miss Granger?"
She knew she had better not go skimpy on her answer, and said, pale-faced, "A week?"
"You will come to detention every day for three weeks." She let her head fall to his desk with a thud. "Now let's test your potion." She perked up a little at this, after all, this was what she had gotten herself a detention for in the first place: to prove Snape wrong. But now she also had a couple galleons riding on it, thank you Harry and Ron, and she put her dismay aside for the moment.
"All you need to do is add water, and it turns to liquid. The block is dehydrated- it's a thing that muggles do to save space and keep things fresh."
"I know what dehydration is, Miss Granger." Hermione looked down, red faced, as Snape took the block from her hands and placed it in a bowl of water. Did he have to be so nasty all the time? Her confidence was slowly melting into nothing and for a minute doubted that her potion would work, and wondered how she could ever have been so stupid. But when the block became the black steaming liquid that she had tested on herself only a few days ago, she was immediately reassured.
"Drink." She did. It tasted like minty water, as it should. She smiled at her own brilliance but fear crossed her face when she looked up at Snape. He was looking down at her and she saw his lips twitch into an evil grin. Oh bloody Merlin, I just drank the potion that will let Snape see my darkest secrets… oh bloody hell.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Snape scowled at the unlucky timing. "Enter."
Dumbledore walked in, eyes twinkling as usual, and sat on the desk next to Snape. "Good evening, Severus, good evening Hermione." Snape glared incredulously at him, but Hermione gave him a relieved smile.
"There was quite a ruckus at dinner tonight after you left, Hermione. Apparently there was a little bet about you and Severus." He smiled at them both. They remained expressionless. "Yes, well, I put in ten galleons, so I just stopped by to ask… I was hoping… did you prove the old bat of the dungeons wrong, Hermione?" Hermione laughed and began to speak, but was interrupted by Snape.
"Impeccable timing, Albus. We were just about to find out. Why don't you stay and see for yourself?" He forced a smile but there was anger in his eyes.
"Thank you, my dear boy. I will do just that. Lemon drop?"
"No," answered Snape and Hermione together.
"Than let's begin."
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AN: hope you like it, please review.
