Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Many thanks to lyn_f, without whom this chapter would not be beta'd.

Abnormality, by definition, is the state or quality of being abnormal, or a variation or irregularity.

The lab was humid and hot, both contributing to the continual shedding of layers by the two people currently occupying the room.

For his part, Snape had already stripped down to just his trousers and white shirtsleeves, which he had already rolled up to his elbows, and loosened the collar. Granger was wearing shorts once more, with a tee shirt bearing a vaguely familiar cartoon mouse which was totally inappropriate for a woman of her age. They were tired from working all day and sweating like pigs, but they had two steps left before their potion needed to simmer overnight, and they needed to complete those before cleaning up for the day.

Snape looked up from his work briefly to behold the woman across the bend from him. She had wisely showed up with her curly hair pulled back in a plait that day, keeping it out of her face for the most part and preventing it from contaminating their potion. Her bottom lip was pulled between her teeth as she pounded away on the horn of bicorn in the mortar and pestle, grinding it carefully into a fine powder.

Snape wanted to reach out and pluck that plumped lower lip from between her teeth and soothe the bite with his tongue, but was immediately disgusted with himself for having those thoughts. They had important work to do. It was no time for ogling his assistant while she worked. Focussing on the task at hand, he pulled the valerian root towards him and began to carefully cut it into cubes. They would need it for the next stage of the potion, and Granger was busy working hard – he should have been equally focussed.

Once he was finished with his task, Snape looked up and saw that Granger was also finished with her powdered horn of bicorn. She was carefully weighing the powder on his silver scales, making sure that they did not add too much – any ingredient produced from the bicorn was certain to produce volatile results if one was not careful. He was proud of her, if he was honest with himself. She was one of the best students he had ever taught, and he was silently pleased that she was attempting to make a name for herself in academics rather than riding on the coattails of other's success.

She was, in essence, everything he wished he could have been when he was her age and more.

'Let me do that,' Snape said as he watched her move to dust the bicorn on the top of the potion.

She raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, but handed the measured powder over to him anyway. 'Did I do something incorrectly?' she asked.

He shook his head. 'Not at all,' he replied in a slightly clipped tone as he moved to stand before the potion and lightly coat the top of the simmering potion with the dust. 'If our calculations are incorrect, I would prefer that you were not injured. You are, by far, the more visually appealing of the two of us, and it would be a shame if you were to receive injury to your appearance due to a mistake on our part.'

She gaped at him in surprise, but closed her mouth quickly and responded with a slight nod. 'Thank you for being so considerate,' she murmured softly. 'Although, I'm hardly pretty, so it wouldn't really make that much of a difference.'

'You are pretty,' Snape said, the words spilling out of his mouth before his brain kicked in to stop him.

'Oh,' she said quietly, her face clearly displaying her shock at his comment.

'Close your mouth, Granger. You look like a fish,' he said with a dark chuckle, trying to cover up his last little indiscretion.

Her mouth snapped shut, and she wordlessly passed him his silver stirring rod when he completed the process of adding the bicorn horn. He concentrated on stirring the brew consistently, pleased that their calculations had indeed been correct. He would not have to worry about his unlovely face being melted from his skull that day. He continued to stir for the next ten minutes before finally withdrawing the rod and passing it back to Granger so she could clean it.

'Well, once we have added the valerian root, we shall place the potion in stasis and continue with our work tomorrow,' he announced. 'I think we are coming closer to the end with this one. There is the question of getting our hands on some Phoenix tears; however, I believe that if we go to Hogwarts, Minerva might allow us to collect some from Fawkes if he is willing.'

Hermione nodded. 'If you'd like, we can go there on Friday,' she replied. 'I was planning to catch up with Luna sometime this week, and I do believe she is doing research there this week. You'd be welcome to come to lunch with us too, Professor.'

'I think, perhaps, it might be time for you to start calling me Severus,' he said, looking down at the stained wood of the bench.

'Perhaps you should be calling me Hermione then.'

'Fair point, well made,' he said with a smirk, looking back up at her face and the triumphant grin lighting her features. 'I shall consider your invitation to lunch; however, I will contact Minerva myself tonight and ask if we might visit with her that afternoon also.'

Hermione nodded. Yes, she was Hermione to him now. He had permission to call her by her given name. Surely he would be allowed to think of her familiarly by now. He felt a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth, but he resisted it and instead turned his focus back to the potion before them. He placed the sliced root on the top of the potion and watched as the pieces slowly sank into the brew. The liquid was shimmering purple, still dark and not quite perfect, but very close to the colour and consistency that they had predicted.

After Hermione had finished stirring it until all of the bits of root had dissolved into the potion, they put it on stasis and began their cleaning. Hermione put away all of the ingredients and the potion itself in the storeroom for safekeeping, and Snape focussed his attention on cleaning the chopping board, knives and the mortar and pestle. When they were done, Snape watched as Hermione put on her robes over her ridiculous Muggle clothing and followed her up the stairs with his robes and jacket.

'I guess I will see you in the morning,' Hermione said when they had reached the top of the stairs.

Snape felt a tightening in his chest when she said that, loathe to watch her leave so soon. Before he was even aware of what he was doing, he had put and hand on her shoulder gently, and she turned up to look at his face, her eyes alight with curiosity.

'You could stay for dinner,' he murmured quietly. 'We barely ate today, and you look too tired and hungry to be Apparating anywhere. I wouldn't want you to splinch yourself because I deprived you of nutrients all day.'

She paused to consider his offer for a moment before nodding. 'I suppose I am a little tired and decidedly peckish,' she admitted.

The two of them made their way to the kitchen, and Hermione immediately put on the kettle and got out the tea things. She put together the makings of a pot of Earl Grey tea while Snape went to the refrigerator to see what he had in there to cook. He watched as she carefully measured the tea leaves, meticulous in that as she was with everything else she did. He returned his focus to the task at hand and pulled out the defrosted beef mince that was sitting in the fridge along with an onion, some tomatoes and cloves of garlic.

He put a large pot of water on to boil, throwing in a dash of salt, before moving to the bench and crushing the garlic with the side of a knife and mincing it swiftly. He chopped the onion finely and placed both into another saucepan, adding some olive oil and waiting for them to begin to cook on a medium heat. While this was happening, he occupied himself with chopping the tomatoes roughly. Hermione brought a mug of tea over to him and stood beside him, watching him as he worked. It made him a little nervous if he was honest.

'Can I help you with anything?' she offered.

'You can get me a small jar of tomato paste and a container of beef stock from the cupboard,' he replied, turning back to the saucepan to add the mince to the translucent onion mixture.

She complied and brought the ingredients over to him, and he gestured silently for her to place them on the bench beside his tomatoes. When the meat was browned, he added the tomato and wilted it into the mixture before adding the liquid stock. Hermione held her mug of tea in both hands, warming her palms with the heat of the drink. He was very aware of her presence, and it was highly distracting. He needed to give her something to do.

'The water for the pasta is boiling. You will find dried spaghetti in the cupboard also. Top shelf,' he instructed, sounding just like a teacher.

He cursed inwardly. The last thing he wanted was to sound more and more like the teacher she knew than the man he was now – even if he didn't intend to pursue the girl. She smiled at him, however, and complied without complaint. He allowed himself a small sigh of relief before continuing with his cooking, adding the tomato paste to the mixture along with some ground black pepper and a pinch of sugar. When all of the ingredients were combined, he turned the temperature down so that it was low and simmering and stepped back to watch it as it cooked.

'So… now we wait?' she asked, touching his arm lightly.

He smirked. 'Yes,' he answered. 'The pasta will be cooked shortly, and in a little while, the meat will be tender and we can eat.'

'I love spaghetti bolognese,' Hermione commented idly, taking a sip of her tea.

'So do I,' Snape said, picking up his own tea and taking a sip. 'This is a good brew.'

'I've learned from the best,' she said, a hint of teasing in her tone.

They lapsed into silence, waiting and listening to the sound of the water boiling in the pot. Snape glanced over to see that while she was tired, Hermione still managed to be quite pretty. He long brown hair was still pulled back in a ponytail from their day of work, and while he thought it was ridiculous, he still liked the way her shirt looked on her. Shaking his head for his wayward thoughts, he took another sip of his tea to distract himself when she finally piped up out of nowhere.

'It's strange, you know,' she said softly.

'What, pray tell, is strange, Hermione?' he asked, her name rolling off his tongue as if he had been saying her name his whole life.

'Working with you, eating at your house all of the time, relying on you to keep me sane,' she said, gesturing between them vaguely.

'I'm not certain whether you think that is bad or good,' he remarked with a smirk, pleased at his ability to remain almost aloof.

'It's a good thing, I think,' she replied. 'I enjoy this. I actually look forward to working here during the week after a weekend at home alone. I never thought it would be like this. If anyone had asked me a couple of years ago if I could imagine myself doing this now, I would have thought they'd gone 'round the bend. Now, the idea of it doesn't seem so abnormal.'

Snape felt warmth spread through him at her innocent admission. He would be foolish to read into it too much, but part of him wished that she had some sort of feelings for him in return. He gave himself a mental shake: unrealistic.

'I enjoy working together also,' he found himself admitting before he could stop himself. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about her compelled him to be honest. 'I am pleased with our progress.'

Ten minutes later, as the pair sat down to eat, they shared a small smile with one another, and Snape felt content.

To be continued.