Chapter Seven

Trouble on the Horizon

(A/N -- a MASSIVE thank you goes out to EuruthiadwenGreenleaf, xscarredforlifex, heidi191976, sexii-severus, notwritten, miss evil Ishtar, FallenAngelGirl (especially her, since she reviewed like four times!), latinachikita, Amber-Jade James, and SlytherinSarah for reviewing the 6th chapter! Also, very special thanks to my new beta! She's wonderful (even if she was late, ha-ha)! Any questions you have, put it in a review and I'll get back to you! Now, Onward!

The next day found Hermione in the Great Hall, sipping on her pumpkin juice trying her best to have a normal conversation with Ginny Weasley. This was proving to be near impossible. Ginny, though a normally lovely girl, had developed quite an annoying habit since the previous night when she had been forced to tell Ginny all the "dirty" details of her escapade with Snape.

"Hey Hermione, could you pass me a slice of that 'you made out with Snape' cake?" She would ask, and then mumble the last part, so that Harry and Neville could not hear.

Or, "Hey Hermione, how did you do on your 'you made out with Snape' exam yesterday?"

And by far the one that least made sense, "Hey Hermione, are you coming to visit for the 'you made out with Snape' holidays?"

Hermione lost count of Ginny's 'you made out with Snape' count after thirty slights. She sighed, exasperated. "Ginny could you please give it a rest? I'm sure I'm not the only one to do something like that, and anyways, I'm sure Snape will just ignore me for the rest of the term for my 'accident', which in my opinion, is for the better." Hermione cringed when she looked up at the staff table and saw the man in question violently stabbing a meatball, as if it had done him some great personal wrong.

"Yeah, but Hermione… You made out with Snape!" Ginny said, smiling and stuffing a pumpkin pasty in her mouth.

"Ginny! That's enough!"

"Okay, okay I'm sorry, I'll lay off. I'm just saying…" She looked at her, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

Hermione sighed again, knowing that the redhead would have to eventually lose steam, so for the time being, she would do her best to avoid her until she lost interest in the subject. Hermione gave her one last dire look and took a sip of her pumpkin juice, before grabbing her books and standing up.

"Well, I'm off to class; I'll see you later tonight?" Hermione asked Ginny, glad that she could at least talk to someone now. She glanced at Harry who was looking directly at her, but still, said nothing. She frowned.

"Sure thing Hermione, I'll be by around six or seven tonight, I've got Quidditch practice after my last class." Hermione nodded, smiling slightly, and set off for her third and last class of the day; double Transfiguration. She thought to herself how lucky she was, that today she did not have potions at all. No Potions, no Snape, no problem, as far as she was concerned. Today would be a good day; of that she was sure.

Indeed, the day did go smoothly. In fact, by the time seven 'o' clock rolled around, Hermione found herself humming while editing her own Charms essay for the third time. Even Malfoy could not bring her down. His constant yelling and attempts at aggravation just could not change the fact that she had had a wonderful day. She wondered briefly if the day would get better, or if she were only setting herself up for a downfall and it was suddenly going to take a turn for the worse. Her thoughts were immediately interrupted when she heard a sharp knock on the door. It must be Ginny.

Hermione went over to the portrait and it opened for her, revealing a worried looking redhead on the other side. "Hey Hermione, how are you?" She said uneasily.

"Fine, Ginny what's going on? You look… suspicious," Hermione said, peering around the corner, wondering if someone was following her. Just when she attempted to look around Ginny's thin form, she saw what was making her look so uneasy.

"Hello Hermione," said a familiar voice, equally as awkward.

"Harry… Why don't you both come in," Hermione said, bewildered as to why he was here with her. Harry waited back a ways, letting Hermione and Ginny lead him to wherever they wanted to go in the room. He didn't want to intrude, after all. He was honestly surprised that she didn't make him leave her presence, and not allow him into her dormitory at all.

"You're not mad at me for bringing him, are you Hermione?" Ginny asked pleadingly.

"No Ginny, of course I'm not mad. This just made my day that much better," Hermione breathed in a sign of relief as they all sat down on the couch facing the fireplace and Harry began to apologize profusely for his immature actions. Hermione just smiled.

The next day, Hermione woke up feeling much better than she had felt since the … incident with Ron. She now had two of her best friends in the world back, and there was nothing that could spoil her mood. Not even Snape. Hermione made it all the way to the dungeons and into the classroom before she started to feel nervous about seeing Snape for the first time since she…

'…Made out with Snape!' Her conscious echoed, sounding suspiciously like Ginny.

She found her way to her seat, and after a moment of waiting, Harry showed up right as the bell was ringing. He sat by her today and was, Hermione noticed, being as nice as he could possibly be; almost to the point that he was starting to slightly annoy her. He helped her set up her potions supplies and her cauldron; he even lit it for her, which was of course, completely unnecessary. Hermione let him fawn over her without questioning him, knowing that it would make him feel better if she acted as though she was okay with it.

"Hey Hermione, why is Snape staring at you?" Harry asked, keeping up a fairly annoying, overly nice tone in his voice. He was trying to get back in her good graces after what a prat he had been. He had copiously apologized the night before for hours it seemed like, but he felt like it just wasn't enough.

Hermione looked up instinctively, however a little too quickly to seem natural, seeing that Professor Snape was indeed looking at her. His face changed from a look that she did not recognize, to one of extreme displeasure. That look, she did recognize.

Snape was in a foul mood today alright. He had just had a most unpleasant conversation with Dumbledore about a certain person that he cared not think about. Also, he didn't sleep at all the night before, and sleep was something that Snape held very dear. His list of priorities went as follows; Potions, sleep, antagonizing his students and peers. When one of these three things was disturbed, Snape became disturbed, and when Snape became disturbed, he would find a way to make sure everyone around him was as uncomfortable as he was. And today, Snape was feeling very disturbed.

It wasn't just last night that sleep had evaded him either; the night before that as well, had just as easily ran away from him, leaving him awake and annoyed until the wee hours of the morning. Being a skilled legilimens, his thoughts did not usually run away from him, as he usually kept them fairly in check. But run they did, especially that first night….

Snape stood in this middle of his room, holding Granger in his arms, chuckling to himself at her defeat. He had decided to carry her to her own dormitory, thinking only of the consequences that she should wake up on his cold dungeon floor and 'freak out' so to speak. Or, on the off chance that some idiotic student or teacher would stumble into his lair and find her there, sound asleep in his chambers

As he carried her sleeping form through the dark corridors, he chuckled again, thinking of what McGonagall would say if she stumbled into his room again, unannounced, and saw that Hermione was still in his chambers. The mere thought was laughable. And laugh he did. In fact, he laughed to himself more on the way back to her dormitory than he had laughed in the past five years at least. The portrait opened for him, as he remembered the foolish password that Dumbledore had given her the night that she refused to speak. Oh, how things had seriously changed since that fateful night.

As he walked in, he saw that Draco Malfoy had positioned himself on a lavish armchair by the fire, reading a book of which he could not read the title. He looked up when the portrait had opened, and he did not care to hide the shock that had crept onto his face. Of course, could he blame him? No. Here we was, the most hated professor in the entirety of Hogwarts, carrying the biggest know-it-all bookworm, not to mention the Head girl, who was passed out in his arms. Malfoy probably thought that he had either poisoned her, somehow killed her, slept with her, got her drunk or found her drunk, maybe even all of the above… the list went on. Of course, he could not have Malfoy blabbing a completely skewed story around the castle. Actually, he couldn't have him telling ANY story at all.

"Malfoy, I suggest you forget what you just saw and get back to your studies. I will know if you have opened your mouth, and you will have only me to answer to." He kept it short and sweet, and continued up to her bedroom, opening the door easily, and hoisting her from his arms to her bed. He wondered whether or not he felt even remotely bad for tranquilizing the wench… No; he didn't. In fact, he was glad that he had thought of doing such, rather than just sending her on her way, still under the influence of that horrible potion. Chances are, he would not have slept that night anyways, had he set her free, for he would have been terribly worried that she would find some way into his private chambers again somehow break into his bedroom, and attempt to seduce him again. He shuddered at the thought, and returned to his quarters, thinking along the way.

Being propositioned by students was not a typical occurrence in his career. In fact, this was the first time that he had let anything of this sort get as out of control as he had allowed it to get. Actually, he didn't allow it at all… merely another misfortune of his life that he would have to struggle to forget. He thought of Remus Lupin, who during his teaching career, was propositioned by a female student almost twice a week. Of course, Lupin would never subject himself to such things, but the mere fact that he would laugh (gloat) about it in the staff room was despicable. Even back when Severus had first began his post as Potions Master at Hogwarts, he heard of a small and slightly disturbing tale of Minerva McGonagall getting a rather forward proposal by a male seventh year student who was failing her NEWT Transfiguration class.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Every single teacher, save Horace Slughorn (who was before his time), had been hit on by at least one student who wanted something or rather from them. Except him. Never, before the day that Longbottom, the prat, had flubbed up yet another potion, had any student attempted to come near him in such a physical way. He tried to tell himself that he didn't care, and they were only juvenile idiots with no pride or sense of morals, and what would he want from any of them; especially bushy-haired Granger.

That night he did not sleep.

All he could think of was what a bitter old man he had really become. It wasn't as if anything had changed since he was a small boy really. He had always been a very unhappy child and a very unhappy teenager as well. He had not had a good upbringing at all, as his parents were deeply involved in the dark arts and saw fit to test their expertise on him as much as possible. His "home" was nothing more than a house that he was forced to stay in, until the day that the fateful letter from Hogwarts arrived. His years at Hogwarts had been both good and bad. On one hand, he escaped his family for the time being, reveling in the feeling that if he could just study hard enough, he could get a good job and never have to see them again. Of that, he did not have to worry, for by the time his twelfth birthday rolled around, his mother had been discovered dead, and his father had went missing.

The rest of his Hogwarts career had been littered with being tormented by James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and on occasion Peter Pettigrew. Actually it had been most of his entire class, but he felt it was his right as the oppressed, to blame whomever he saw fit. After Hogwarts, he was swiftly taken in by the Dark Lord, where he served out his days, torturing and killing innocents, burning down buildings and homes, and giving Peter Pettigrew the hell he deserved. After he had come to Dumbledore in favor of joining the side of the light and vowing to be the best spy he could be, he thought his life might change for the better.

He was offered a job at Hogwarts, teaching his favorite subject; potions. Every year he would try to get the Defense against the Dark Arts position, only on the orders of Voldemort, who Snape thought was trying to live vicariously through him. Dumbledore knew Severus did not want the position at all, and went though the act of denying him each and every year, which was a small pittance for being in the dangerous position he was in with the Dark Lord.

Hogwarts did give him a sense of satisfaction, though it was not the way that Dumbledore wished him to have it. Snape got satisfaction in favoring Slytherin over all other house and being in a position of power which he had been constantly denied throughout his entire life. It really was a good thing that Dumbledore tried to keep him in check as often as he could, for he did not know what he would do with his power, except abuse it further.

He did enjoy the art of potion making, of course, however he did not enjoy the idea of teaching snot-nosed little ingrates the proper way to slice Dragon Heartstring, when he knew all they were going to do was screw it up. He had almost entirely lost faith in the students that went through this school when the golden trio arrived, effectively squashing his last remaining hopes. If James Potter was bad, surely his offspring would be worse. Not only that, but Potter Jr. had made friends with yet another Weasley sibling, and Merlin knew he had had his fair share of them. Then there was Granger…

He glanced upwards from his desk, looking at St. Potter helping Granger set up her cauldron. 'So they were on speaking terms again, were they?' he thought menacingly. 'Just what I need…'

He couldn't help but notice how overly friendly Potter was being with Granger; it was as if the last two weeks had not even happened, and they happily chatted under their breath, and out of his hearing range. He stared at her hair; what an overly large bushy hell that must be in the morning, if it looks like that after she has attempted to tame it. The chuckle that was threatening to spill out of his mouth was abruptly stopped in its path when his dark eyes caught Hermione's light ones. He was caught; caught in the act of inadvertently, albeit blatantly, staring at her. He glared at her for effect, hoping she wouldn't get any ideas. Who knew what schoolgirl crush she might harbor for him now, after her embarrassing display of affection two nights ago; but he for one, would put a stop to it.

Hermione looked away when Snape glared at her, determined not to draw any attention to herself, well, more than she already had anyway. When Snape barked orders and put the instructions on the blackboard, she took extra care in making sure that she followed each one precisely. When she got to the third step, Snape began to meander through the tables, waiting for any mistakes to occur so that he could harass the person, take away house points, or just fail them for the day. When he came to Hermione and Harry's table, he deliberately stayed where he was and watched her work, waiting for the slightest mishap in her brewing techniques. When she got through half the class period without making a single mistake, Snape took things into his own hands.

"Miss Granger, you just put thirteen dragon scales into your potion," Snape snarled, "and that is wrong!" Then, with a swish of his wand, he cast 'Evanesco' on her potion, and that was the end of that. He felt his satisfied smirk begin to dissipate when he heard her voice ringing in his ears.

"Professor, I did not make any such mistake. On the board, under step seven, it clearly states to put in twelve to fourteen dragon scales in after one-hundred twenty counterclockwise stirs! I put in thirteen, which is a suitable number, and you've just ruined my perfectly good potion! This is an outrage!" Hermione raised her voice as high as she would dare, causing all the heads in the room to turn towards her direction.

"An outrage it may be, but everyone knows that thirteen is an unlucky number, Miss Granger. You of all people should know that," Snape sneered, "and see me after class for your out-of-control behavior and speech towards an authority figure. Oh, and ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek," Snape smirked widely at her, daring her to utter another word. When she sat down, red in the face and looking close to tears, he walked away and sat as his desk for the remainder of the class period. When the bell rang, he looked up and waited for Hermione to come to his desk so that he could speak with her.

"I'll meet up with you and Ginny later in the library okay? I promise," Hermione soothed Harry, who had been making obscene gestures at Snape for the last half of the period from under their table.

"Okay, if you're really sure," Harry said uneasily, before giving her a quick hug and being the last one out the door.

Hermione took a deep breath and promised herself she would not cry. If he issued her a detention, it would be her very first, and it would be a much undeserved one at that. She took another shuddering breath and approached his desk.

"Professor Snape, I would just like to say that I think you are being completely unfair about giving me a detention and I think my potion would have turned out completely alright and if you think that I will not go to Dumbledore about this then you are sorely –"Hermione's rant was cut off by Snape holding up the palm of his hand to silence her.

"Firstly, you have no right to tell me what I will do in my own classroom. Secondly, I was not going to give you a detention at all, but I merely had some things to discuss with you. Thirdly, because of your impudence, I will have to give you a detention anyway, tonight at eight 'o' clock sharp. Do not bring your wand." Snape smiled at her obviously distressed facial expression.

"You, you, you can't do that! I didn't do anything wrong!" Hermione sputtered.

"Ah, on the contrary Miss Granger, you did do something wrong, I can do that, and I just did do that. Now if you would kindly close that gaping hole in the middle of your face, I have one last thing to discuss with you." He took a deep breath, "Professor Dumbledore would like me to… speak… with… you… about a certain class… if you're interested… an advanced section of potions… which he sees fit to make me offer students. He asked me to specifically ask you in person," he said through gritted teeth, acting as though this was the very last thing he wanted to ask her. "This should take care of your little problem of finding some after-class activities to occupy your time with. That was what your little letter was about after all, wasn't it?" Please say no, please say no, please say no. Save me from this eternal hell!

Hermione paused to think, coming to her conclusion quickly. "Well, I guess that'll will be fine. I'll check it out. When is it again?" Hermione asked; her curiosity and her love for learning overriding her desire to slap him across the face for being such a prat. His hopes for peaceful afternoons in the future were crushed.