Chapter 13

Hermione and Severus walked down the hallway. Despite the announcement at dinner, students passing by would get a wild-eyed, crazed look and hurry by. This caused Severus to smirk outwardly.

"We shouldn't have told them anything," he mused. "I could have snuck around, scaring the children. Imagine two snogging students behind a curtain having me pushing the curtain aside. They'd scream their heads off."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Incorrigible..."

Severus stopped and pulled her to him. "I do love it when you call me that." He placed a passionate kiss on her lips. After a moment, Hermione pulled back with a glazed look in her eyes.

"Completely and utterly incorrigible," she repeated before pulling him back to cover him in kisses.

A gasp from behind Severus had them pulling apart suddenly. The couple turned to see a fifth year student with her hand over her mouth and her eyes wide.

"Miss Hartman, it's almost curfew. Please get to your common room," Hermione commanded.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" the girl stammered as she hurried past the two and nearly broke into a run to get to where she belonged.

Hermione sighed after her. "I guess our secret is out, then." Giving Severus a caustic look, she batted him on his chest. "This is all your fault, you know."

"I didn't see you pushing me away when I kissed you."

"How am I to resist those lips?" she asked plaintively as her fingers circled his lips. "They're just so perfectly kissable."

Severus felt himself redden at her compliment. He cleared his throat before making good use of his lips on Hermione. The woman had the nerve to pull back slightly. He pulled her head closer and continued his onslaught.

"Severus!" Hermione said breathlessly after a few minutes of being thoroughly snogged. "Come on!" she cried as she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Our secret is out; we don't need to scare any more students."

"My dear, I live to scare students. I thought you understood that about me."

Hermione stopped and looked at him. She seemed to be trying to look through him, which made Severus rather uncomfortable.

"What?" he ground out.

"You're different," she said.

Severus arched an eyebrow at her.

"I mean... You're so unreserved. I would have never imagined you to grab me and snog me senseless in the hallway. You just always seemed so..."

"Uptight?"

Hermione gave him a small smile and nodded sheepishly.

"Yes, I would have to agree. Death, however, has given me freedom."

Hermione's smile widened as she tilted her head to gaze at him thoughtfully. "I'm actually glad of that."

"Now, woman, would you please show me to my room?"

Hermione took his hand and led him down the hall to a tapestry that had a dragon on it. When they stood in front of it, the golden dragon turned its head and smoke curled from its nostrils.

"Prothero, this is Severus Snape. He will be occupying the rooms you guard until further notice."

Fire shot from the dragon's nostrils. He looked to Severus with narrowed eyes. "Password?" he asked.

"Ebony."

Hermione smirked at him, which earned her a scowl. "What?"

"Some things, evidently, don't change."

The tapestry disappeared, leaving a doorway visible. Severus opened the door and pulled Hermione into his room. He looked around, noting the wood paneling, the comfortable couch in front of the fireplace, and the desk against the far wall.

"This will do nicely."

"What are you going to do now?" Hermione asked. She gave him a tentative look. "Do you wish to return to Hogwarts as a teacher?"

Severus grimaced. "Heavens, no. The farther away from these dunderheads I am, the happier I'll be."

Guiding Hermione to the sofa, he settled in next to her. "That does leave us with a dilemma. I cannot live here indefinitely."

Hermione looked at him seriously. "You are welcome to stay as long as you'd like. I'm the Headmistress; I have the authority to allow you to stay."

Severus frowned. "I don't mean to sound unappreciative, but I must move on with my life. I've been dead for twenty years. I have nothing." He looked to Hermione as realization hit him. "How am I to live with no money?"

"Actually, Severus, you do have money. All that you had in your Gringott's account was placed into a special account here at Hogwarts. Minerva set it aside to help needy students in buying Potions supplies for classes."

"Then there would be hardly any left," Severus said with a sigh.

"On the contrary, Minerva actually has a great knack for investing. There's more in the fund today than what you left at your death, even though the fund has helped numerous children throughout the years."

"That money belongs to the school in any case."

"It is your money. If you would like to leave a small amount to continue the fund, then you may, but that all belongs to you."

Severus pondered that silently, his hair falling in front of his face as he thought about what he would do now that he was alive again.

Hermione brushed his hair away so she could look at him. "What would you like to do?"

Severus' eyes lit up. "I will create a line of potions to preserve youth. The Dark Lo... Riddle had me research such things when he was alive."

At Hermione's concerned look, he held up his hand. "It's not what you think. Yes, I could probably create some evil, dark elixir to stopper death, but I was thinking more along the lines of revitalizing solutions for both the body and mind." He smirked. "We could call it Dead Man's Secret."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. "We?" she remarked. "And isn't that a bit of a morbid title?"

"Well, I was dead, and it will be my secret."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Incorrigible!"

Severus placed his hand upon hers. "I know you are busy as Headmistress, but would you be interested in being a partner in this venture? I would assume your brewing skills have improved in the twenty or so years since you were in my classroom?"

"I am a competent brewer, thank you very much."

"Perhaps I should see your skills before offering a position," Severus said barely hiding his smirk.

Hermione huffed at him. She stood and glared. "Come on!" she ordered.

Severus stood. "We just got here. Where are we going?"

"To the Potions lab. I will not have you thinking I'm not qualified to work with you."

"Hermione..."

"No. You brought it up. We might as well get this out of the way. I wouldn't want to blow up your lab the moment I stepped into it."

She stalked out with Severus following behind her. "I was only joking," he offered.

"Come."

Severus shut his mouth and followed her, eyeing her all the while. Her normal, relaxed posture was now stiff. She was annoyed with him, of that he was sure. They walked in silence all the way down to the dungeons, and with a flick of her wand, the door to the Potions lab opened. Hermione sauntered over to the stocked shelf and pulled a cauldron and stirrer from it. She placed it on the table nearest her.

"What would you have me brew?" she asked Severus.

"Perhaps an elixir that will help me to keep my mouth shut so as not to put my foot into it?" Severus offered.

Hermione's gaze softened. She looked down at the cauldron and ran her finger along the edge. "I know you were just joking, but in the past it was my knowledge that you always would rail against. I suppose some of that feeling of always being a failure in your eyes made me a bit peevish."

Severus walked over to her. "You were at the wrong place at the wrong time, Hermione. I admit, I wasn't drooling at the mouth about you like your other professors, but I did recognize your brilliant mind. Had the times been different, and I hadn't had to play the role that I did, I would have urged you to pull yourself from your book knowledge in perhaps a more positive way."

She eyed him narrowly. "You thought I was a horrible student."

"You were a Gryffindor, the friend of Harry Potter, and a Muggle-born witch. In my position, I could treat you no better. If word had gotten back to Riddle that I was treating you with respect, I would have had much to answer for."

Hermione stared at him for a bit longer. "Thank you," she said finally.

He tilted his head questioningly.

"For explaining that to me. I wondered if that was the case after everything came out about you, but it was impossible to know what your true motives were."

"If the truth be known, I admired you for not falling to pieces with the way I treated you."

"Except for that time with my teeth."

Severus glanced to her mouth. "It all seemed to work out in the end."

"You couldn't have known, but those teeth were an incredible sore spot throughout my youth."

"Of course I knew. Why else would I have said what I did?"

She gave him a hurt look. "You just said..."

"I said that I had to act that way with you. To do so, I needed to know exactly how to insult you in the worst way."

"Riddle wasn't even back during that incident. You could have..."

"He came back that very year. When he interviewed my colleagues he found that I had been horrible to everyone outside of my house, especially to those of Muggle descent. It proved that I had remained loyal to him and had just been awaiting his return so that he would have a pawn at Hogwarts. Believe me, Hermione, everything I said and did was measured for or against me when he returned. It could have well cost me my life had I shown you any mercy whatsoever."

"I understand," she said hollowly.

"Hermione..."

"No, it's all right. What do you want me to brew?"

Severus eyed the cauldron in front of her. "A burn-healing paste. The creams we will be developing will be similar in creation to that."

She nodded and amassed the ingredients. Quiet fell over them as she chopped the ginger and placed it into the cauldron. She added seven drops of aloe Vera and stirred the mixture for five minutes.

Severus watched her all the while. He studied her intently, making sure she would be a good match with him in the lab. After half an hour, the paste had turned its trademark orange and was ready. Hermione looked up at him.

"Your technique, my lady, is impeccable." He moved to the cauldron and spooned out a bit of the mixture, letting it drop back into the cauldron slowly. "The consistency is as it should be. You have brewed the potion satisfactorily."

Hermione nodded. "Do I get the job?"

Severus met her gaze. "You know I am not quick with compliments, but I will admit that you are well advanced for a non-master. I apologize for all the years I had to degrade your skills. You were truly a fine student who has blossomed into a brilliant woman. I will offer you the position with the understanding that I will not be gushing on about your abilities in the future, but I will never degrade you as I did in your youth."

Hermione finally smiled. "I accept both the job offer and your apology. In my old age, I have learned I don't need to be fawned upon for my skills. A simple thank you now and then will be sufficient for my ego."

"You are not old."

"I'm no child either."

"Thankfully," Severus added as he stepped close to her. "You aren't angry with me any longer?"

"I overreacted, and I'm sorry. I should be encouraging your joking instead of blowing up at it."

Severus smirked. "Perhaps we can find a way to make it up to each other?"

Hermione came closer and drew her finger along his jaw. "What could we possibly do to make it up to one another, my good sir?"

His lips were on hers instantly. She returned his passion and gasped in between his onslaught. "Mmm, yes... I think this... is the perfect way... to... make things better."

"Shut up, and kiss me, woman."