Hello readers! Perky-Thief here, bringing you tons of delicious story-goodness from my imagination. Well, somewhat of my imagination, because sadly, I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. But that's not the point!

I know this chapter isn't particularly long, but I was crunched for time. I hope you like it anyway. The next chapter for A Marriage of Convenience will be arriving shortly, but remember, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update. I really want to hear everyone's advice on how to improve my story. If anyone contributes a really good idea, it might just end up in later chapters.

Oh, and I'd like to add a comment to notwritten – your comments are really funny, they make me smile :)

So, for now readers, enjoy Chapter Eleven.

Title: A Marriage of Convenience

Chapter: Detention

Oh, by the way, I've recently added a silly little poll onto my profile. If you have any extra time, feel free to vote and contribute your opinions. At the end of the poll, I'll post the most popular choice on the next uploaded chapter. I will also be coming out with more polls as time progresses. Have fun!

Snape sat at his desk in his classroom. He sat up straight with his back rigid and his hands folded neatly before him as he fought the urge to twiddle his thumbs. He felt anxious and nervous, although he was unsure of why.

The peeling black clock on the wall read five minutes to 7:00. 'Good,' he thought with a small smirk, 'she should be arriving shortly.'

Since Hermione had been late to his class, he'd spent the remainder of his free time thinking up an appropriate way for her to serve detention. At first, he had considered her cleaning out all the cauldrons by hand, but later changed his mind, as it was not a suitable task. Reorganizing his potion stores had been another potential idea. Yet it seemed somewhat unfitting for the little know-it-all, and truthfully the last thing he needed was to have some of his more important potions go missing at crucial times. Snape's smile was thin and rigid as he considered his options. He wanted to give the little witch a challenge which proved to be laborious and difficult to manage. Something in which could test and trial her in multiple areas of intelligence.

A timid knock on his door snapped his attention back to normal.

"Enter," he barked loudly, knowing only too well who the knock belonged to.

A small bushy head poked its way through the doorframe. Hermione stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She walked up to his desk, but remained silent, keeping her eyes directed to the floor.

Snape remained seated and continued to observe the girl, watching to see if she would speak first. But no sound came from her lips, not even a word. He felt surprised by her lack of talking, for he had been sure that she would've had dozens of questions and arguments to present. Thoroughly convinced that she wasn't going to say anything, he stood up from his chair and approached the girl. "At least you have arrived on time," Snape said with a sneer. He walked up to Hermione and made a small circled around her. "Do you have any idea what your task is for tonight?" he asked.

"No, sir," Hermione replied, still keeping her gaze directed to the floor.

"No? Not all at?" he spoke haughtily. "Would you like to make a guess, then?" His words sounded cruel and mocking, as he felt internal glee by making his student anxious. After he heard no reply from Hermione, he continued on with his taunt. "In that case, follow me," he demanded crisply. With a sweep of his robes, Snape strode towards a door near the back of his classroom and entered into his private office.

Hermione obediently followed her professor into his office, still awaiting her punishment. When she entered the room, she noticed Snape standing near a table completely set up with a cauldron and burner. A collection of ingredients and a few scrolls of parchment lay beside the cauldron. Knives and other strange cutting and chopping devices were not far away from the ingredients. Not wanting to invoke the Potion Master's wrath, Hermione continued to be silent and await her instruction.

"Tonight," Snape continued, in less of a taunting manner. "You will be brewing me a very complex potion. It is imperative that follow the brewing process as directly instructed. Failure to do so could corrupt the potion entirely and have fatal reactions." He stood directly in front of her, forcing her gaze to be focused on him.

"A potion, sir?" she asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.

Snape frowned and placed his arms over his chest. "I believe that's what I said, Miss Granger." His words were curt and clipped.

"Oh," Hermione frowned. "That's it? I thought I would be cleaning cauldrons or scraping tubeworms off of the desks…" She had been more than prepared to handle any dirty or messy task laid out for her by Snape. Brewing him personal potions had not been one of the things she considered. In fact, it seemed like more of a blessing than a punishment by any standards. Give her intelligent thinking or miniscule and pointless tasks any day.

Snape sighed in utter annoyance, "yes, Granger, that is what I said. Now get to work on it. You haven't got all night." He made his way over to his desk and sat down, opening up a copy of some text written in Latin.

Hermione made her way over to the table. She observed all of the items spread out for her and recognized them to be wormwood, asphodel, valerian roots, and one sopophorous bean. Glancing over the parchment scrolls, Hermione noticed that based on the ingredients, brewing time, and amount of stirring involved, she would be brewing a Draught of Living Death, though no where on the scrolls did it say what potion she was creating.

Realizing that Snape had no further instruction left for her, Hermione set forth to work on the potion. She worked diligently, following the instructions directly as stated, until the potion began to emit blue steam while being brewed. Around the halfway point, she noticed that the potion seemed to be a deep purple in color. Double-checking the parchments, Hermione observed that she was exactly where she needed to be in the brewing process. She stirred the potion seven times counter-clockwise and once clockwise, which made the potion a light lilac in color. Upon another cycle of stirring, the liquid became as clear as crystal and resembled nothing more than a cauldron full of water. It was odorless and colorless, exactly as it should be.

When the potion was completed, nearly an hour had passed since she arrived. Hermione took a vial from the shelves and bottled a small amount of it up. She brought it up to her professor to see his response.

Snape had to look at the clock twice when she placed the potion on his desk, as it would have taken any other student nearly twice the time to brew that specific potion. The Potion Master observed the vial closely, checking for any abnormalities. When it appeared that he could find none, he put the vial down and looked up at Hermione.

"Do you know what you have just brewed," he asked the girl.

"Yes, sir," she replied. "A Draught of Living Death."

"Precisely. And do you know what its effects are?"

"Yes, sir. It causes the drinker to fall into a deep sleep, almost death-like in a way. The effects of the potion somewhat mimic the state of death." Hermione smiled at her correct response. She knew all about the Draught of Living Death; she had read up on it when she was in her third-year.

Snape smirked at Hermione's response. "Well done, Miss Granger. You have successfully brewed a potion that many seventh-years continue to have difficulties with. Consider yourself very knowledgeable and advanced in this particular subject."

"I already do, sir," she replied, returning her professor's smirk.

"Well then," Snape stood up from his desk once again, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Consider this a prize for displaying the correct skills necessary to successfully brew it." He handed her the vial she had originally given to him. "Hold on to that potion." His tone was serious as he looked her directly in the eye. "You never know when it will come in handy."

"Yes, sir," Hermione said respectfully, pocketing her potion.

"Then you are dismissed," said the man, before returning back to his desk.

Hermione looked at her watch, excited that she would still be able to salvage the rest of her night. Since she had been in detention for no more than an hour and a half, she still had plenty of time to revise some of her essays. She turned to head towards the door, but stopped as she had another thought. "Sir?" she questioned.

Snape looked up from his work and quirked an eyebrow. "What is it now, Miss Granger?" He sounded thoroughly irritated that she was still in his presence.

"Um," Hermione swallowed, building up the nerve to ask her question. Looking at the man before her, she felt as if his eyes bore holes directly into her body. "I was just wondering what time you wanted to meet tomorrow…for our date, I mean."

Severus now looked up completely from his work, interesting in what she had to say, but in no way prepared to deliver a response. "Well," he replied slowly, "I hadn't given it much thought, really. Whatever time would be best for you I suppose." He sounded unsure of himself; as if he had forgotten all about the arranged date.

"Shall we say 7:00, then?"

"Yes," he said softly. He seemed to be agreeing for the sheer sake of agreeing with her. "7 o'clock sounds fine to me."

"Alright then," Hermione said with a smile, while gathering her belongings. She turned around and headed for the door connecting with the classroom. When her hand had just reached the handle, she heard a voice behind her.

"Miss Granger, wait," Snape suddenly shouted.

As she turned around, Hermione eyed her professor with curiosity. "What is it, Professor," she asked respectfully.

"Miss Granger," Snape repeated himself, though somewhat quietly. "I have to be honest with you. I hadn't really given much thought to our…date. For some reason, it appeared to have slipped my mind."

Hermione's smiled faded slightly as she heard these words, "oh." What was he saying? What exactly did he mean by telling her this? She wondered if he even wanted to go out. "Have you changed your mind about the whole thing entirely?" She felt hurt, in a way. A feeling as if she had been thrown aside and forgotten about.

Snape noticed her down fallen look and immediately regretted his words. He truly hadn't meant to make her look sad or get upset about it. "No, not at all," he replied quickly. "I just felt that it would only be fair to you if I warned you that I hadn't planned out much."

Hermione's smiled half-returned to her face at this statement, much to his relief. "It's alright, Professor," she said with a sympathetic smile. "It doesn't matter if you didn't plan any big, spectacular event out for me. I wouldn't even expect such a thing from you."

"Really?" Snape asked. He genuinely felt as if she expected him to keep her occupied for the entire duration of the night. Not that he would mind that much, anyway.

"No, not at all. I don't expect anything from you. It's completely alright if you want to go out tomorrow and wing it. We can take it one minute at a time, just to see what happens. Besides, it supposed to be a first date, isn't it? We're allowed to be babbling idiots and make fools of ourselves." She laughed at her own words and how true she felt them to be. In truth, she hadn't expected much out of Snape; she hadn't expected much of anything, really.

His lips curled into a subtle smirk at her words. "Well, Miss Granger," he spoke in a silky voice, "since it is our first date, I will make it a point not to be babbling idiot or fool. I am supposed to be wooing you, after all, aren't I?" Severus smirked at Hermione as a stray strand of hair fell across his face. He watched her as face slowly became a pinkish shade in color. "And I can't impress you if I make a fool of myself, now can I?"

Hermione giggled at his little speech, still blushing slightly. "No, sir," she said with a small smile. "You can not."

Leaning back further in his chair, Snape's smirk grew even wider. "Good," he said matter-of-factly. "Then in that case, you better make it 6:00 instead of 7:00."

"No problem, Professor," Hermione replied, her smile increasing as she spoke. "I'll see you tomorrow." She turned around and continued to head back to the classroom.

"It's Severus," the Potion Master said suddenly.

Hermione whirled around to face him, a smile still tugging at her lips.

"Just so you don't forget," he added to her. Instead of sitting this time, Snape had been fully erect, standing to his full height and looking down on the girl before him. And instead of a sneer or glare, his face appeared to be slightly relaxed.

Smiling full force, Hermione laughed a little at his statement. "Don't worry," she responded. "I haven't forgotten, and I don't intend to."

"Very well, then," her professor said, returning to his usual stance and uptight manner. "Until tomorrow…Hermione."

She gave him a quick wink before finally exiting the room and making her way towards her own.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

A dark shadow slid out from the corners of Hermione's room. The lights were dim and the candles had long since been extinguished. Faint glimmers of moonlight were the only available source of light throughout the room. The shadow pulled the curtains closed tightly, eliminating all forms of external light from entering the room. The figure moved quickly and quietly over to Hermione's bed, making not even a sound while creeping along.

Pulling out a thin wand, the cloaked shadow cast a lumos spell over the nightstand next to the bed. A soft incantation was muttered as the light illuminating from the wand grew brighter.

The ring resting on the bed-stand table began to glow a faint bluish color. As the color increased in brightness, the ring began to shake violently with vibrations. After a moment or two, the vibrating stopped and the glowing hue around the ring began to dissipate.

The dark figure let out a deep chuckle before retreating to the fireplace in the far corner of the room. Surveying the scene once more, the silhouette pulled out a pouch from inside his cloak. Tossing some green powder into the almost extinguished fireplace, the flames rose up in a threatening manner, releasing heat and bright light into the bed room. Moving swiftly, the shadow stepped into the flames before vanished from the Head Girls bedroom.

Okay guys, I hoped you like this one. Don't forget to R&R!