July 27, 2011
I meant to get farther along in this chapter, but I kept adding Severus-Hermione relationship content to make the coming deep philosophical shizz easier to take. I barely touch the surface of what I planned to write. Maybe it is better that way.
Please forgive my errors. I've decided not to Beta this chapter even though it would certainly help. The reason is that I'm just sick of looking at the alchemy-related material and I want to move on to the rest of the story.
I hope that most of this chapter is straightforward and easy to understand. I haven't gotten to the difficult explanations yet, which should be in the following chapter.
Opening the Doors of Perception
Chapter 21
The Potions Master was draped on a settee in his office, his head lolling back and his black hair brushing against a head of frizzy ringlets of auburn hair. Hermione Granger dozed in casual blue jeans and a periwinkle tee shirt, her bare arm entwined around the black-linen-robed arm of her teacher. The professor's legs were sprawled at odd angles and one pressed against her leg.
He shifted, dappling the country rose upholstery, and groaned at the sharp pain of a crick in his neck. His student molded herself to his body, snuggling his arm. He lifted his head and smiled with affection at the sight of the wild, long hair that obscured her face.
Severus sat up slowly, his muscles complaining at his long-held awkward position. He gently rubbed the girl's arm until she uncurled her legs and rubbed her eyes with fisted hands. He stood and walked to the fireplace, leg joints popping. With a flick of his wand he added a new log to the fire to dispel the late afternoon chill of the dungeons.
He watched Hermione's wide-mouthed yawn and luxurious kitten stretch. With a demure voice, she confessed, "I am so relieved to be done with that book."
He rubbed his sore neck. "Would you like to have dinner here while we discuss what happened?"
She stood and straightened the wrinkled creases on her jeans. "Now that you mention it, I am a bit hungry."
Severus tapped his desk with his wand and the papers and potions whisked themselves to a side table. In their place appeared a soup tureen, a bowl of mashed potatoes and a carafe of milk. Two settings of wide, flat bowls, silverware and goblets were arranged side-by-side. With a snap of his fingers, two stools appeared next to the desk.
Hermione shuffled to the desk and lifted the cover off the soup, inhaling deeply. "Hmmm," she grinned. "Lamb stew." She slid onto a stool and sat with her hands on her lap, looking up at Severus.
He lowered himself onto the stool. "You may serve yourself," he said with a nod to the stew and potatoes. She ladled several scoops of meat and barley gravy into her bowl and then handed the long-handled silver scoop to her teacher. As he filled his own bowl, he commented, "Your appetite is good. You must be recovering well."
She smiled, showing her protruding front teeth as she added a spoonful of potatoes to her dish. "This is one of my favorite meals." She waited with her hands in her lap again.
"Is something wrong?" Severus asked as he added a dollop of the creamy, white tatties to his bowl.
The First Year ducked her head and shrugged. "Having dinner with you made me reminisce about dinners at home. You see, since I've arrived at Hogwarts, I've had to eat alone. Sure, at the opening feast I had a pleasant conversation with Percy Weasley but, you know, he doesn't want to spend his time fraternizing with a First Year. To make a long story short, I suppose I was waiting for the blessing, the way Dad always insisted at home," she confessed in one long, rushed breath.
Severus held out his hand to Hermione with an open palm. She lifted her head and stared at him with a perplexed expression until he explained, "My own father insisted upon holding hands when he said grace."
Her eyes widened and she tentatively put her hand in his. "Erm … would you do the honors?"
"Given today's reading," Severus intoned gently as he met her eyes, "a quote from the Proverbs of Hell ought to suffice." He squeezed her hand and recited, "The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship."
She returned the warm embrace with her fingers and then quickly disengaged to grab a linen napkin and to dab her eyes with it. "Thank you," she smiled as a tear escaped down her cheek.
A frown governed the face of the professor. "Drink some milk," he ordered, looking down at his bowl.
Hermione sniffled. "I'm sorry," she whispered then cleared her throat before pouring herself a goblet of warm milk from the decanter.
Severus ate a spoonful of the lamb and commented, "It is quite good. You should try some."
Hermione tasted the gravy and tatties. Her teacher watched her savor the flavor, slowly masticating before swallowing. "Oh, this is better than Mum's. She tends to burn the butter before adding the onions and lamb. And she usually doesn't even bother with mashing tatties if she's already cooked barley."
Severus lowered his spoon and said, "Hogwarts is known to woo homesick students with the food."
Hermione smiled as she toyed with the chunks of meat in her bowl. "It must also know how to provide companionship for the lonely."
Severus experienced warmth in his soul, a feeling that Hermione's spirit had entered his heart to anoint him with affection. He did not dare to look at her eyes for fear that he would betray his physical desires. He was sure that the lonesome child would all too easily succumb to his lusts even if she had no apprehension of erotic passion.
They ate without discussion, their slurping and chewing gradually replaced by the noise of spoons scraping empty bowls. When they were sated, the meal vanished.
A dessert course appeared. The desk served up a gold-rimmed plate of brie and sliced baguette, a lead crystal bowl brimming full of golden raspberries and a spherical, dark bottle of Chambord with its lustrous crown atop. Dainty china plates decorated with red poppy patterns and crystal liqueur glasses with gold leaf stalks of wheat set before them.
Hermione spread brie on a slice of baguette as Severus poured the sanguine raspberry liqueur into his glass. "I should think that you could easily metabolize a spot of Chambord, given our heavy meal. It is a very sweet liqueur with somewhat low alcohol content."
Hermione replied with indifference, "Oh, my parents allow me to drink dessert liqueurs as long as I am with a responsible adult."
"Perhaps I qualify, then," Severus remarked as he filled her glass.
"I should think so."
As she lifted the ruby drink and smelled its bouquet, he advised, "Go easy."
They each took a sip. "It is very sweet," Hermione commented. "It complements the brie perfectly."
"I take no credit for it. The kitchen made the selection," he answered with modesty. They nibbled on the autumn raspberries and the cheese and enjoyed the aperitif.
"Did you gain any benefit from reading The Marriage of Heaven and Earth?" the professor asked as their polite conversation waned.
"Well," she drew out her thoughts, "I was fascinated by one of the Memorable Fancies, Hell's Printing House in particular."
"I see where your fascination with libraries comes from," he smirked.
She laughed and it was musical. "Once a bookworm, always a bookworm. Quite honestly, though, the six chambers were rich with symbolism on many levels. There was his own craft of etching copper plates, then there was Christian symbolism and the work of the alchemists. His familiarity with Paracelsus was evident."
Severus stood. "I want to hear what you understood about it. Come. Let's return to the sofa. Bring your liqueur if you like."
The child wiped her face with the white napkin before folding it and placing it in the exact center of her plate. She brushed crumbs of baguette off her lap and carried the little glass of raspberry liqueur to the transfigured seat.
Severus sat close and draped his arm over her shoulder, wrapping around her like a quilt. She snuggled close, grinning up. Severus savored the still-sweet Chambord on her breath mingled with the cheese. "You're holding me just like Daddy does," she laughed.
Her 'daddy' had surely never had the desire to drink her merry little lips, he protested. "Tell me more about the Memorable Fancy." He brushed his nose against her hair near her ear. Unwashed, her natural odor was intensified. It burned into his memory as his magic wand once again throbbed with lust.
She curled up her legs and hugged them to her body before turning her head to gaze into his eyes. "There were six chambers … one for each stage of acquiring knowledge," she began in reverie. She stared at the far wall of potions ingredients as she talked.
Severus lit a few more candles in the office. "How much of it did you understand?"
She rested her head on his chest and yawned. "All of it."
"Do you care to enlighten me," he prompted her as he withdrew his arm.
"Stay," she whispered, drawing his arm across her shoulders once again. "I'll tell you if you stay right here."
"Are you frightened, Miss Granger?"
"No. Well, yes. Truthfully, I just want to be near a friend."
"I see." He rubbed his thumb on her arm and she sighed in contentment.
"You're so much like Daddy."
"As much as I might find your family life enchanting, please concentrate on the matter at hand," he bit out with a dark scowl.
"Oh. Right. Did you notice that it was only a six-fold process? Not seven? Blake seems to be playing with the inversion of God and Satan. Since it is Hell that gives knowledge, there can only be six chambers."
Severus fingered the wiry hair that cascaded down her arm. "Have you forgotten what happened after the books were bound and made into libraries?"
She lay her chin on her knee to contemplate. "The true life, meaning the experience of the senses, was put in chains by the 'cunning of weak and tamed minds.' I see now why you were not pleased by my joke about Slytherin cunning."
"Let humor be humor, Miss Granger. I have not been offended."
"That's good." She blew bangs off her forehead. "Getting back to the seventh step, though … it's not just enough to read and memorize books, is it?"
"You tell me."
She chewed on her fingernail until Severus swiped her hand away from her mouth. "Stop that."
She hid her fingers under her thighs, fidgeted and then leaned down for the book. Severus picked it up first and handed it to her, relieved that Lucius has spoken the truth. Both of them could handle to the book now that they had read it in its entirety.
"It's a bit easier to concentrate if I just read it. Could you hold my drink? Thanks. So let's see. Ah, here it is.
"I was in a Printing house in Hell & saw the method in which knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation.
"In the first chamber was a Dragon-Man, clearing away the rubbish from a cave's mouth; within, a number of Dragons were hollowing the cave.
"In the second chamber was a Viper folding round the rock & the cave, and others adorning it with gold silver and precious stones.
"In the third chamber was an Eagle with wings and feathers of air: he caused the inside of the cave to be infinite, around were numbers of Eagle like men, who built palaces in the immense cliffs.
"In the fourth chamber were Lions of flaming fire raging around & melting the metals into living fluids.
"In the fifth chamber were Unnam'd forms, which cast the metals into the expanse.
"There they were reciev'd by Men who occupied the sixth chamber, and took the forms of books & were arranged in libraries."
Severus handed back her drink. "Are you quite certain you were able to ascertain the meaning of that?"
Hermione paused and grinned at the stoic expression of the Potions Master. "Did you know that a Muggle rock band named themselves The Doors because of a phrase in that book?"
With a bored tone of voice, Severus answered, "I was your age when Jim Morrison died in Paris. I do believe I'm more familiar with their music than you are, Miss Granger."
With a hand brushing back her untamable hair, she asked, "So did you have a favorite song?"
"I should think 'Whiskey, Mystics & Men' was popular."
She gave him a blank stare in response, clearly not familiar with the music at all. Severus prompted, "Are you quite finished stalling, Miss Granger? Or have you exhausted the depths of your understanding?"
She blushed and took a large gulp of her liqueur. The professor held back a smile at the thought that it would surely loosen her tongue.
"You could say that Blake used vitriol as an acid to etch the copper plates for his book. That wouldn't be quite enough of an explanation because vitriol is the summation of alchemy."
Severus shifted. "Care for more drink?"
She politely declined, much to his disappointment. He summoned the bottle and refilled his own glass. "Very warming, isn't it?"
She drank the rest of her liqueur. "Mmmm. Yes. I suppose a bit more wouldn't hurt."
"That's the spirit." He poured half a glass for her. "Moderation," he explained. "After all, I am supposed to be a responsible adult."
Hermione gave him an odd expression. Her experience with adults who were irresponsible appeared rather limited. "To responsibility," she quipped, offering a toast.
Severus accepted and drank a bit, watching her drink another large sip. "Best to take drink in small amounts," he cautioned.
"Oh, I'm fine," she answered. She was grinning from ear to ear. "It's like juice."
"It is distracting us from our discussion," he observed.
Hermione drank the last of it. "All gone," she giggled and handed him the crystal. "No more distractions."
Severus vanished the drinks. In that moment Hermione had stood and wobbled before falling into his lap. "If we're going to talk about alchemy, we'd best do it properly. Daddy and I read and discussed in his chair every night."
Severus pushed Hermione to the side roughly. "You have mistaken me for someone who cares about your family life. Please concentrate on the matter at hand."
Hermione pouted and tried to reclaim her spot on his lap. His arousal grew as she threw her arms around him in a hug. A sound of polite knocking gave Severus the excuse he needed to extricate himself from the clingy girl. He opened the door to a young woman wearing Ministry of Magic robes and a thick pair of glasses. She greeted him. "Severus Snape?"
"What business does the Ministry have with me?" he growled.
The woman pushed past him into the office. "I deal with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. Today a Muggle-born student in your care experienced a curse placed on a book, isn't that right?" The ministry official sized up the girl on the couch. "I only need a brief word with you, Mr. Snape."
"You can see that I am in the middle of tutoring, Miss …?" He broke off.
"I think it best if you just call me Kitty, Mr. Snape. As for your student, she can stay. I won't be taking much of your time, but I do think a place for private discussion is in order."
Severus glared at the official. "Well, Kitty,why are you meeting with me when protocol requires you to meet with the Headmaster?"
"Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be," the woman said, pursing her lips in a way that reminded Severus of someone else. He couldn't place the resemblance of her red-tinted hair and the ringlets that framed the stern face.
"Shall we take this into the corridor?" he suggested.
"With students milling about?" she scoffed. "You don't want any of the students to know about the incident, do you?" She tossed her head impatiently.
"If you are so eager, I keep a store room below this office," he sneered.
"Perfect," she snapped back. Turning to the girl, the ministry official said, "Have some more bread and cheese, dear." Plates hovered in front of the girl.
Severus opened a hatch on the floor and pointed at the ladder with smirk. "I believe the saying is, 'Ladies first.'"
The ministry official smiled, showing a beautiful set of teeth. "You are the gentleman I've heard so much about."
Severus caught the flirtatious hint in her voice. His curiosity quelled his intention to imprison her under the floor. After watching her gingerly climb down, he descended into the dank storage room and turned to face her.
"Lumos." The ministry official lit the tip of her wand as she loosened her hair.
Admiring her hair falling down her shoulders, he remarked, "Hello," à la Humphrey Bogart and Dorothy Malone in The Big Sleep.
"It's good to see you, Severus." The vixen slipped off her glasses revealing familiar brown eyes with a mischievous sparkle.
"Hermione?" he whispered.
"In the flesh," she answered, pressing a longing kiss into his lips. He returned the passion, wrapping his arms around the vision of his lover as a young woman.
Getting a hold on his desires, he pulled back and muttered with bitterness. "Why did you have pick this moment to visit?"
"To thank you," she whispered, planting a gentle kiss on his lips. "You treated me properly when I was a tipsy child who didn't know what she was doing." She pecked at his cheeks. "For your reward, I will visit your quarters tonight."
He grabbed her waist and pulled her close, burying his lips into her hair. "If you don't show up, I swear I will hunt you down and have my way with you."
She grinned. "I'd like to see you do that."
He smothered his face in her neck and frisked his hands over her robe, memorizing the feel of her firm breasts. Her breath caught when pressed his arousal against hers, creating passion through their confining robes.
"Severus, we can't do this right now."
He pressed her back against the ladder, grinding into her more. "Yes, we can."
"No," she pleaded. "Upstairs I'm getting bored. I'm about to leave because it's taking too long."
He pulled back and chuckled. "How do you know that?"
"Because I was there. How else would I know?"
"What do you mean," he said, becoming serious.
"The ministry official showed up and you disappeared into the floor. I remember thinking that I'd gotten you into a hell of a lot of trouble and wondering who I could find that could fix the whole mess." She put on the glasses, hiding her true appearance. The lips were Hermione's but the face of the beautiful woman he'd just snogged was replaced by that of a frumpy witch glaring at him sternly as she magicked her hair into a bun once again.
"Is your wand lit?" she asked with a knowing smile.
He flicked it and smirked back, "Yes."
"Excellent." She started up the ladder, exposing her bare legs in the robes. Severus wondered if she was even wearing knickers and he quickly climbed after her, holding the light as he tried to spy his prize. She had reached the top far too quickly but there was no doubt about what was lit after that show of flesh.
When Severus climbed out of the hole in the floor, the ministry official admonished, "Your explanation is satisfactory. Let me make this clear. Any word of this event spoken to even a single student will result in dire consequences to both you and your student." She glanced at the child holding a piece of baguette in mid-bite. "If you fail to make her understand the importance of this directive, I will hold you completely accountable. Now, are we in agreement about all of our arrangements?"
Severus ignored her playful intimation. With sarcastic finesse, he replied, "Perfectly. The next time we meet, I hope it will be under more pleasurable circumstances." He led her to the door and felt her quiver at his side.
"It can be arranged," she answered. "Good evening, Mr. Snape."
He slammed the door behind her and turned back to the First Year gawking at him from her perch on the sofa.
"Are we in trouble?" she asked in a timid voice.
"Everything is fine," he replied, drawing on thoughts of annoyance to quench his unsatisfied bodily desires. "Now, before we are interrupted again, I want you to explain precisely what you learned from our reading today."