Disclaimer: I DO NOT own these characters, nor do I claim to. They are the property of JKR. I'm just using them for my own hysterical fantasy world.
Hermione arrived in the dungeons promptly at 8:00. She saw Snape duck out of the Great Hall early, during the evening meal, so she assumed he would already be in the classroom waiting for her to arrive.
She was wrong...the classroom was empty.
Uneasiness seemed to filter through her body faster than she would have liked, even though she knew it was just anxiety. She didn't like being alone in the dungeons so late at night for obvious reasons and, in her nervous state, every sound was magnified. She could hear water trickling down the damp walls, the steady swoop of the giant pedulum swinging in the massive marble clock down the hall, and loudest of all, her own rapidly increasing heartbeat in her chest. Where is he?
She checked her watch: 8:02. She worried her bottom lip and began pacing behind his desk. If anyone came in to get her, she could just hide under it...or at least that's what she told herself. Some bloody bodyguard...he can't even seem to show up for his own lessons on time. Desperate to find something to occupy her anxious mind, Hermione began wandering through the various books scattered across Snape's desk. "Perfectly Proper Potions for Students", "Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions", "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi", "The Oxford Anthology of Poetry", "Moste Potente Potions"...wait a minute...
She reached over and nabbed the poetry book. It was rather thick with burgundy binding. She trailed her fingers across the deepset gold lettering marking the title. Thumbing through it, she realized the pages were quite worn, and that the book had been poured through many times. She quietly wondered if Snape was the original owner of the book or if he had simply nicked it from an unfortunate student who may have been reading it during class. A small part of her really wanted to believe the former. She gently pushed the book back to its original spot, hoping he wouldn't notice she had moved anything.
Checking her watch once again she saw that it was 8:07 and let out a deep sigh. Has he forgotten? Hermione plopped into Snape's deskchair, laid her headback and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't nearly as entertaining as the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall, but at least she could count the cracks in it to pass the time. She had reached 44 cracks when she heard a loud SLAM in the hallway. Before a sane thought had the chance to enter her mind, she jumped up from the chair and dove under the large slate desk, trembling. She could hear footsteps...someone was coming in the room. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as the person drew closer.
Please be Professor Snape, Pleeaase be Professor Snape, she chanted under her breath as she drew her knees up to her chin.
She wondered what or who could have possibly caused the loud noise. The footsteps sounded right next to the desk and then stopped. She heard a male voice growl in disgust and knew immediately that it was Snape's. She poked her head gingerly out from under the desk just to make sure, and spotted the edge of Snape's robes. Sliding out feet first, she pushed herself foward with her palms. This proved to be a big mistake. Mere inches from freedom she heard Snape shout "STUPEFY!", and she saw a red jet of light shoot from the tip of his wand and then...blackness.
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Hermione felt like she was at the bottom of a well. All the sounds around her echoed loudly in her ears and she felt very cold. When she looked up, she could see a faint amount of light, but couldn't seem to focus on anything past it. She sincerely hoped that the light she was seeing wasn't the white light that would take her to the other side.
"Miss Granger...Miss Granger...can you hear me?" The familiar voice reverberated eerily in her head.
Hermione tried to speak, but found that her lips weren't mobile.
"Miss Granger...try to sit up."
I am trying to sit up! She protested, but no sound escaped her mouth.
"Hermione! Sit up!" The voice grew more demanding. "You need to sit foward!"
She blinked her eyes several times. My eyelids work! I can move my eyelids! That was progress enough for her. Sitting up was just going to have to wait.
"Hermione Granger I demand that you sit-up this instant!"
Recognition clicked in her head finally. She knew that voice. It was Snape's. She rolled her head lethargically to once side and tried to talk again, but the only sound that came out sounded more like an obnoxious yawn. She was too tired to try again. Just five more minutes, Mum. I just want to sleep for five more minutes. Her eyes slid shut, not that it really mattered, she couldn't focus on anything when they were open.
"MISS GRANGER! HERMIONE!" Snape's voice became even more insistant. She felt like smacking him, but her arms woudn't work. Instead, she just decided to stay where she was...this was much more comfortable anyway.
Suddenly, she felt two strong hands grab her shoulders and force her to a sitting position. A cold bottle was being pushed against her lips and after a moment she felt liquid in her mouth. It didn't taste terrible, but it didn't taste good either. Her mouth was full of liquid, but she couldn't quite think of what to do with it.
"Swallow...you have to swallow it." He sounded a lot more gentle this time. It was almost as if he was reading her thoughts.
She concentrated with all of her being and swallowed the strange potion. Immediately, she felt her body tingle, like she had just swallowed a bottle of pure liquid electricity. She saw bright blue and purple lights for a brief second and then her vision finally came in to focus. The first thing she saw was a very concerned looking Severus Snape on his knees, kneeling in front of her.
"Nice of you to finally join me." A slight smile appeared on his face, but the concerned look never left his eyes. He reached for her hand and pulled her to a standing position, albeit a wobbly one. Here head lolled a bit, but she was definitely getting her bearings back.
"This seems to be coming quite a trend..." she whispered, still trying to find her voice.
"I'm sorry?"
"Me, getting knocked flat in the dungeons." Hermione rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand and propped herself against the desk. This was simply unbelievable. Snape had obviously mistaken her as the enemy. She could hardly blame him, really. If she had witnessed someone sneaking out from under her desk, she really didn't doubt that she would have done the same thing.
"Are...are you all right?" Snape asked timidly. The deep lines in his brow illustrated to Hermione how sorry he was. She nodded. Even though she was certainly shaken up, she really wasn't in any severe pain. "You must understand...I was...well you...you startled me, and with what has recently happened, I felt I needed to protect myself." He offered her his desk chair and eased her into it. "What were you doing under my desk, anyway?"
"Same as you, I guess. I was protecting myself. I heard a loud noise in the hall, and before I had a chance to process anything, I dove under it. I kind of feel like an idiot now." Hermione didn't want to look at him. To hide her embarassment, she picked at her cuticles with her thumb, although the distraction only served to prove how embarassed she really was.
"No, you did the right thing. I'm sorry I wasn't in here at the proper time. I'm sorry if you were frightened." Much like the other night, Snape removed his outer cloak and placed it on her shoulders. This time, however, he had a very hard time convincing himself that it was for her benefit. Part of him knew quite well that it may have actually been more for his own. All the same, she did look a bit chilled. Hermione drew the cloak in around herself, thankful for the gesture.
"Why were you so late? I was beginning to think that you had forgotten." She said, not masking the evident hurt in her tone.
"I honestly hadn't realized that so much time had passed. I've been in the storeroom looking for the ingredients to make tonight's potion, and it seems as if I am missing something that I only aquired today. I'm afraid to say, that loud noise you must be speaking of, was me slamming the storeroom cabinet shut. I tend to have a slight bit of an anger management problem..." His last words brought a sly smile to his face.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Hermione smirked slightly. She liked that she could tease him. The boys would never understand or even believe that Snape could actually be playful. "So what are we going to work on tonight if you don't have all the ingredients?"
"I'm not quite sure, actually. Poppy really needs the Expergefacio potion soon. Quidditch season is fast approaching, and what with all those idiots getting smacked in the head with bludgers, she's going to need all she can get." He quirked an eyebrow and then said, "of course, we could just prevent the Gryffindor team members from using any, and then we would have no worries." Hermione just rolled her eyes. In class it would have lost her house points and gained her a detention...here it just quickened the smile that was already forming on Snape's face.
"What exactly is the Expergefacio potion, anyway?"
"Why, Hermione Granger, I've actually mentioned something that you don't already know? Please mark this one down for the record books." He reached over her and took a small bottle off the shelf behind the chair she was sitting in. "The Expergefacio potion is "the awaking" drought. It's best used to rouse those who are semi-conscious...or those who have been maimed by bludgers."
"How quickly does it take effect?" She asked, taking the bottle from him.
"Why don't you tell me?" He crossed his arms and leaned back awaiting her response. When she didn't answer, he nodded to the spot on the floor where she was, only moments ago, knocked out. She scrunched her face and look back at him.
"You mean...that's what you just gave me?" The brown bottle in her hand was three-quarters of the way empty and unstoppered. She held it to the light and swirled the remaining contents, scrutinizing it.
"Yes. Lucky for you, I just happened to have some on me as an example for tonight's lesson." He took the bottle back from her.
"You mean, lucky for you. You're the one who stupefied me." She said through pursed lips.
"Either way, Miss Granger, we were both fortunate. Now our only problem is, we can't make anymore, because it seems I am missing on of the main ingredients." He walked over to the store shelf in the back of the classroom, checking it one final time. He turned back and started to say something, then stopped, seemingly debating something with himself. He walked over to his desk and rumaged through the two side drawers...sighed loudly, then quickly looked back to Hermione.
"How would you like to take an unscheduled field trip to Hogsmeade? Prior's Potions Shoppe is open until 9:00, and if we apparate from outside the gates, we could be there and back in less than 25 minutes. I trust you have your apparating license?"
"Yes...I do, but..." Hermione began hesitantly.
"I promise you will never leave my sight and that I will protect you at all costs, Miss Granger."
"Okay...but what will the other students think?"
"The other students, Miss Granger, do not need to know." He sat on his desk, facing her. "Besides, I think it would be quite beneficial for you to see the inside of a genuine potions shop. Accompanied by me, you will be granted access to store rooms not available to the public. Consider it educational." He waited for her rebuttle, but when she said nothing, he stood and crossed in front of the desk. She stood to follow him, and started to take off his cloak to hand it back to him. "No, it's damp outside from the rain earlier today. I suggest you wear it for our journey."
Shrugging her shoulders, she refastened the cloak and followed him out of the dungeons. They made there way out of the castle and down the grounds to the gates in silence. It wasn't that they didn't want to talk to one another...it's just that they had nothing to really talk about. That is, nothing to talk about that wasn't horribly depressing. Sure, Hermione could bring up the fact that she was terrified to be alone, and that she couldn't even confide the entire truth about everything to her two best friends. Sure, Snape could tell Hermione about his awful dreams and how he suspected they had some connection to her brutal attack. Yet, those things were best left unsaid, for the moment...both just seemed to revel in the stillness that surrounded the Hogwarts grounds. For just this once, things seemed right in the world.
This of course, brought less depressing thoughts to mind. However, Hermione couldn't possibly tell Snape how she had made a mental list of his good qualities during Arithmancy class, or how after Harry accused her of committing "extra credit" with Snape, that she didn't find it all that horrible sounding. In the same light, Snape didn't dare tell Hermione how high he had recently reguarded her as a person (not just a student), or how he became ridiculously intoxicated with her light scent on his cloak...enough that he wanted her to wear it again tonight. No...no these were things that were best left alone. And so they were, as the two walked on in the moonlight.
Once they reached the gates, Severus pushed them open and allowed Hermione to pass through first. It was a small gesture, but Hermione took note of it. She also took note of how he took her hand and led her down the steep hill, so she wouldn't lose her balance. With every minute, there was a new surprise in this misunderstood man. The silence was finally broken when Snape gave her instructions on where to arrive.
"We'll apparate outside the Three Broomsticks, since it's a spot we will both be able to focus on that's near people...just in case. Neither of us is quite sure what you are up against and when or where they might strike next. It's best to arrive safely. Prior's Potions Shoppe is two roads over and down the alley." He then reached for her hand and laced his fingers between hers. As much as it confused her to think about it, Hermione liked the way his warm hand felt intertwined with her own. It was a welcomed feeling...one of safety and security, that she so desperately needed right now. "I think it's best that we hold on to each other so that we apparate instantaneously. I wouldn't want to risk a split second of leaving you alone, either here or there. Now on the count of three...one...two...thr..." and with a pop, they both vanished.
expergefacio - Latin- to awaken , rouse, excite.
Hope everyone is having a good Holiday...I know mine has been exciting...(especially when the washing maching broke and the husband and I were standing ankle deep in water on Christmas Eve!) Haha, but it seems as though Snape and Hermione are getting on quite well, don't you think? Perhaps he should take her for a drink in Hogsmeade...I dunno...you guys tell me if he should or not! I await your responses! (Seriously guys, you gotta help me! Haha! I get SO bored at work, it's such a nice ray of sunshine when I get a message saying I've gotten a new review! Yay for sunshine!) Tell me what you want to see happen if you aren't getting enough satisfaction. I aim to please :) Okay, until next time, I remain, your ever diligent TelevisionDiva. (Oh one last thing, I'm working on another fic that is completely different from this one. As soon as it's ready to go, I'll let you know!)