{Disclaimer:  The Harry Potter Universe was created by J.K. Rowling and rights are owned by, but not limited to Warner Brothers and Scholastic Books.  I, therefore, own no parts of this.}

This chapter goes to my Beta, Toreen, for being awesome and proofing this in a very short amount of time.  Thanks!

Chapter 7

Grand Tour

It was half past four by the time they returned to Snape Manor.  Severus looked at his watch, confirmed the time and then turned to Hermione.  "Take care of you packages.  We still have time tonight to start outlining how we are going to create this potion.  I will return shortly to bring you to my laboratory."

 "Will I eventually get a complete tour of the house?" she asked before he could turn away.  "It would make life a bit easier and you wouldn't have to escort me everywhere."

Snape glared at her as if she hadn't thought before she opened her mouth.  "There are places in this house that are dangerous for you to be around."

"If you pointed them out, I would be able to avoid them."

"Or your insatiable curiosity would be much too tempted by knowing you were not supposed to be in certain places."

The Slytherin was too stubborn for his own good, but Hermione's mind was working quickly.  "What if I wanted a snack from the kitchen and got lost trying to find it?  I couldn't just open doors to find where I am without knowing if anything would jump out at me or wander around for hours until I get back to a place I know."

Snape almost wished she was still a student and he could take points away from her for asking too many questions, but he couldn't.  She was right in one aspect that the knowledge would be better for her to have than not.  "Very well.  You will get a brief," he emphasized the word heavily, "tour before we consider how we solve our puzzle.  I will meet you at your room in a few minutes."   He swooped away in his familiar swish of black, leaving Hermione shaking her head at his retreating form.

She would never understand him, no matter how hard she tried.  One moment, he could be perfectly civil and the next, he could be as prickly as a saguaro cactus.  She knew she would have to deal with him, if only to save Hogwarts from its predicted doom.  It would be a challenge, but she knew men well enough to know that there were ways of showing them who is boss.  Perenelle Flamel had advised her at a great length how to deal with difficult men.  After all, she had been with her husband for more centuries than even she could remember.

Hermione smiled to herself fondly as she remembered the ancient couple who had taken her in as an apprentice.  They had both been sweet, yet brilliant people, with Perenelle teaching her as much as Nicholas did, if not just about alchemy and potions.  She knew that was one of the few reasons she was asked to work with Snape on the project.  Flamel had instilled more important knowledge in her than anyone else could and she knew more about potions than anyone else her age.

Closing the door to her room, Hermione quickly hung up her new robes.  Glancing around at her rather sparse amount of clothing, she selected a simple pair of blue jeans with a tank top and an oxford styled shirt pulled over it.  It was comfortable, but classy and easy to work in if the need be.  She had enough time to only wash her face and run a quick detangling charm through her hair before a knock sounded at the door.

Severus stood outside the closed door, wondering why she wasn't already waiting for him.  "It's open," he heard her voice call out to him.  Against his better judgment, he turned the knob to enter the room and found Hermione quickly plaiting her hair into a thick braid down her back.  At least she was being practical, he decided to himself.  There were too many females that he had met who took to impractical hair that could get caught in the fires underneath the cauldron or easily get tangled in the ingredients.  She wrapped a small band around the end and looked up at him with a small smile.  "Okay, where to first?"

"This way," he stepped out the room, not without noticing that she had changed out of her robes and into what was obviously Muggle styled clothing.  He would have to warn her not to bring any of that with them when they had to travel.  It was inappropriate for the places they would have to visit.

He led her to the main entrance hall first.  "This the most common entrance to the house, though it is not used other than for formal occasions.  Usually it is easier to Apparate or Floo.  I have already reconfigured the wards to accept you through them in either case."

She nodded thoughtfully.  "Thank you."  It made sense that an ex-Death Eater would thoroughly ward his house against unknown entrances.  From the front door, she was taken to the main dining room, which was used the same amount of the time as the front entrance.  The formal room was connected to the smaller dining room they had eaten in the night before, which was attached to a rather elaborate kitchen.

"I do have a few house elves to care for the buildings when I am gone.  I believe you have already met Nolly," Snape gestured to the elf in the paisley tea cozy as she gave a deep curtsy.  "And the other one is Binky."  The second elf wore an oversized striped pillow case that clashed horribly with Nolly's tea cozy.  He gave a bow that touched his knobby head to the floor towards the two humans.  Snape addressed the elves directly, making sure that they knew Hermione's place in the house.  "Both of you are to treat Hermione with respect at all times.  She is my guest and will be staying with us for the next few months.  It will be good of you to remember your manners."

"Yes, Master!" both elves squeaked in unison.  "We is good house elves!"

"Good.  We will be having a later dinner, most likely in my lab.  I will call you when we are ready."

"Thank you, Master!" the elves looked overjoyed at being able to prepare food for their beloved human.

Snape noticed Hermione looking slightly green at his elves and vaguely remembered the time when she attempted to free the house elves at Hogwarts.  It had been a stupid idea, but the girl obviously still did not feel completely comfortable with the creatures yet.  "Come along, Hermione," he went out another door in the kitchen to a small sitting room, obviously unused.  The couches were untouched and the fireplace looked like it had not been lit in years.  "This room is rarely used any more ever since the closet was cursed by my great-uncle."

"What's wrong with the closet now?" she asked concern evident in her voice.

Severus looked at her seriously.  "It turned carnivorous.  My great-uncle found it hysterically amusing when he lured one of his enemies into hanging a cloak up in it and needless to say, the man became no more.  It was a quite a pity when he accidentally opened it while looking for his winter boots one day.  We haven't been able to lift curse since he passed away."

"Oh."  Her face looked a little pale at the thought of opening that door in the middle of the night.  "I see why you didn't want me exploring.  I wouldn't want to stumble into that accidentally."

"Exactly."  Outside the sitting room was a hallway, actually the same one they had started in except at the opposite end.  "I think you will enjoy this room," Severus said smoothly, not liking how white her face had become at the people-eating closet.  He opened the large doors, revealing something that Hermione would appreciate to no end.

"My family has a large collection of books so my father found it necessary to create a room large enough to house them all.  This is the Snape family library.  If there is anything you are interested in, one of the elves should be able to help you locate it.  I will warn you that many of these books are dangerous.  Most of those are on the second level, but there are most likely a few that escaped to these shelves."

"Wow," Hermione gasped in awe.  Certainly, it was not as grand as the one at Hogwarts or many of the other libraries she had visited, but the prospect of having shelves of books at her fingertips was breath-taking.  "I'm allowed in here?" she asked, unsure if he would take it all away from her.

"We will have to do some research on this and the library does hold a large amount of knowledge to research from.  Naturally, yes, I will allow you free reign of the library.  I have a feeling I would not be able to keep you out of it otherwise," Severus was unable to hide the smirk on his face.  At least he knew she wouldn't completely hate him now that she had access to a room of books.

She grinned widely, knowing what he had said was absolutely true.  "It would be difficult to resist.  Thank you."

He nodded once in acceptance of her gratitude.  "At the far end of this room, is my father's old office.  It is heavily warded and I would not suggest attempting to go inside it.  He is the only who can break through the wards at the moment.  They tend to singe anyone else who attempts to open the door."

"I'll be careful," she promised.

Snape took her up a small staircase in the farthest corner of the library.  "There are a total of three staircases in the house: this one, one leading up from the kitchens, and a main one in the center of the house.  This one will take you up to the second level of the library.  I would prefer if you did not explore this area in too much depth; most of the books up here are from many centuries worth of Dark Arts collecting."

"I will try not to."

"Very well," he walked through an open door into a mahogany wood paneled room.  "This is my private office, though I seldom use it.  It is the only way to get into the upper library level and usually is kept warded."

Outside the door to the office was the fireplace that Hermione recognized as the one they had Floo-ed from.  "This is the only Floo access in the house?" she asked curiously.

"Yes.  At the moment, the fireplace will allow any member of the Snape family through, as well as Albus Dumbledore, and yourself.  Any one else is automatically sent to a holding cell in the dungeon."

Hermione's eyes widened and she hoped he was jesting.  "You're not joking about that, are you?"

"No.  We Snapes prefer our privacy.  The fireplace is spelled to alert me if anyone enters who is not on the list of those who can.  It is simply easier to remove the people to a place where they cannot do any harm instead of letting them have free roam of the house."

The next door opened to reveal a darkly painted bedroom with accents of green, navy, and silver.  "This is the master bedroom.  As far as I know, there are no major spells attached to this area, but one can never be certain."  He gestured to a far door only partially open.  "Over there is the nursery.  It can only be accessed through this room or through the stairway up from the kitchen."

They then moved to another bedroom done in shades of green and an herb motif.  "This was my mother's sitting room, but it was changed into an extra bedroom when they moved to the other house," he explained briefly.

Hermione recognized the next door as the one leading to her room.  "And that one is the room I am staying in?"

"Correct.  I apologize about the pink, but it is the only room I know is completely safe from curses.  Mother's plants in the last room tend to get a little wild every so often."

"What do you mean?"

"They came alive once when I was a young boy and strangled an aunt my mother did not particularly like."

She paled again at the thought of staying in the house where people were known to die from inanimate objects.  "My room is completely safe, then?  The daisies won't attack me in the middle of the night?"

"Don't worry about it.  I had Albus check the room over.  He said it was perfectly safe."

"Good," she was a little more relieved about her living arrangement.  "What's behind the last door?"

"It's an additional bedroom."  He opened the door to reveal a room of pale, sky blue with wispy clouds moving across the ceiling.  "I was going to let you have this room, but sometimes the environment can turn temperamental.  I remember when it would not stop raining in here for weeks after my sister left.  Somehow the room became very attached to her.  I wasn't sure how it would react to a new inhabitant."

Hermione knew better than to pry.  She figured that if Severus wanted to tell her about his family, he would but she would not force him to do so.  "I see," she paused.  "So all we have left is the laboratory?"

"Correct.  We'll go down through the main stairs."  He brought her to an ornate wooden staircase with serpents heads carved at the ends of the banisters.  After descending past the first floor and down another, they reached the bottom floor.  "This is the lowest level of the house.  My laboratory is through this door.  The other rooms down here include a set of holding cells for any prisoners, a torture chamber, and a room full items pertaining to the Dark Arts.  All those rooms are heavily guarded, so be careful about going near them."  He led her inside his laboratory.  "The password to get inside is 'atropa belladonna.'  I suggest you remember it well."

"I will," she promised, eager to see inside.

Severus spoke the password in a soft voice and the door swung open.  "This is where we will be doing the majority of the work on the potion."  He allowed her to take in the vastness of the area.

The laboratory was extremely impressive from Hermione's point of view.  It had everything she had imagined to find in a potion's lab and more.  Everything was meticulously clean and set up.  Over on one table, a cauldron sat over a fire with a thick purple liquid bubbly furiously in it.  On another a table, a distilling set was hard at work with a pale, watery red substance.  Two doors stood guard further down the wall.

"The far door is my personal ingredient storage space and the closer one will bring you a room I set up for you in case we needed to stay up all night with the potion."  The interior of that room turned out to be another mahogany paneled room with an overstuffed black leather couch and matching wingback arm chairs.  A fireplace stood nobly on the opposite wall and next to it yet another doorway.  A low table in front of the couch and a small desk in the corner completed the decorations.  "Through the remaining doorway are my personal quarters.  Is that sufficient enough of a tour for you?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied politely.  "So I suppose we should see what we can figure out tonight?"

"Yes, that was my plan.  I have a copy of the recipe here.  I have decided the best course of action would be to translate the writings into something easier to read before we begin."

"That's what I was thinking as well," Hermione replied as she sat down on one end of the couch, pulling a small notebook and Muggle fountain pen out of her pocket.  She had found that it was easier to write with simpler devices than quills, even though the wizarding world seemed stuck on the feathery writing tools.  "I take it we are working in here?"

"Yes."  Snape pulled a roll of parchment off his desk and took a seat next to her on the couch.  It would be easiest if they could both see the parchment at once.  "Here is what Albus supplied me with."  He handed her one of the copies and she reread it.

"Well, at least they give us an ingredients list, even if it is rather specific, but the instructions are a bit confusing."

"Which is why we have some work to do, Miss Granger."

"It's Hermione," she reminded him.

Severus took no notice.  He knew she had requested that he call her by her given name, but at the moment, he felt more like a professor than anything else to her.  He didn't quite know how much she knew about the subject they would be working on, though he suspected it was more than he realized.  To him, having taught her for seven years, she would always be his student until she managed to prove him otherwise.

{Author's Note:  Alright, I apologize for the delay, but life has been hellish lately.  I had an AP Literature and Comprehension test on Thursday, May 6 and an AP European History Test on Friday, May 7 and I had to study beyond all belief for them.  On top of those, the production date of the spring drama production was May 7 and 8, right after the tests.  Of course, this also happened to be the week where everything came into bloom, making my allergies hate me to no end.  But somehow I managed to write this chapter and part of the next one, which was originally all of one chapter, but it got over 3,000 words and I decided to split it before it got way too long.  So read and enjoy this one and the next one will come soon!

Angel2707:  Thanks!  I plan to keep it going.

Azulkan2:  Thanks!  I know it was sad, but I wanted a way to push Hermione away from her parents and into Sev's arms, so it worked.

Gemz:  That was my point, actually.  By having Hermione's father disown her, she would be forced to have Sev to rely on.

Little One:  Yes, I am in marching band.  I play clarinet and have been in the band for three years.  I will beg to differ though, love at first sight does work once in a while, but it wouldn't work with these characters.  Thanks for the long review.  It made me happy.

Chibidaima:  Thank you!  That's the first time this story has been called beautiful.

RebelRikki:  You might have to steal them from her, but if you ask nicely, she might even let you borrow the crimson day robes some time.  Yes, Severus will give more hugs in the future.

Peace, Love, and Lots of Tea, Nataly Ravenlock}