Two days past after the Yule Ball and Hermione begrudgingly headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast this Monday morning. They only had a few days left before the Holiday's, which also meant that she had class with the one she wanted to avoid the most. She slowly dragged her feet through the hallway. She had no desire for this day to start. She dreaded seeing his dark glare. It pierced her soul and made her heart break knowing the pain she caused. Even with her slow walk she made it to the Great Hall earlier than most of the students. She walked into the Great Hall and she couldn't help but find Severus's menacing demeanor at the Head Table. She looked away from him before he saw her staring at him. She instantly felt out of sorts with where she was. Normally she would have found a seat next to Lily and the marauders, but there was no Lily. Even after being back for a few days she still wasn't use to it. She still terribly missed her friends and was hurt by Severus's cold demeanor. Her eyes again landed on Severus who was chatting quietly to Dumbledore. Her stare was broken by Malfoy pushing past her.
He pushed by her and said with a scoff, "Move it Granger."
She shook her head and headed to the Gryffindor table with her head held high. She was so used to giving people fake smiles and saying that she was fine, but she really wasn't. She found a seat sitting next to Ginny who was sitting next to Harry.
Harry greeted her with a smile. "Good morning Hermione."
She looked up from her plate and looked at Harry. "Good morning Harry." She looked at Ron who was sitting across from her and said, "I apologize Ron for overreacting at the Yule Ball. I wasn't feeling well."
After shoving a sausage in his mouth Ron replied, "That's okay 'Mione."
Harry said, "So Hermione are you staying at the castle or are you coming to the burrow with Ron and I?"
Hermione looked down at her half eaten eggs and said, "I don't know Harry."
Harry said, "Please think about it. It won't be the same without you."
She sighed knowing he was right, but she still didn't want to go with them. She slowly pushed around her food around her plate and ate very little. She took a last gulp of her pumpkin juice when she saw everyone heading out of the Great Hall for breakfast. The Golden Trio finally stood up from the Gryffindor table and headed out of the Great Hall.
Harry said with a grimace, "Time for Potions."
"Yeah with that slimy git," Ron said with a groan.
Hermione frowned and chided him, "Ronald. Don't be such a child."
Ron said defensively, "But he is Hermione. Can't you see it?"
"Have you ever wondered why he is the way he is?" Hermione asked with a sigh.
Ron said, "Probably because he has a stick up his arse." Ron laughed and high-fived Harry with an ugly grin on his face.
No it's because of me, her mind reminded her cruelly. Instead she rolled her eyes at his actions and replied "No maybe it's because he has to deal with students like you." That instantly shut them up the remainder of the walk there.
They finally got to his classroom and they walked inside. Harry and Ron normally sat in the back, which Hermione followed them there.
Harry gave her a big grin and said, "You're actually sitting with us this time?"
"Yes I feel that the new placement will make me pay attention better," she lied.
Harry looked at her quizzically and scratched his head in confusion. "Okay Hermione. Whatever you say."
Hermione got her materials ready. She took out her potion making kit and her textbook. She slowly waited. A few minutes passed and they all jumped when they heard a door slam shut. Everyone's eyes watched as Professor Snape walked down the aisle with long strides.
He got to the front of the room and turned his attention instantly to Hermione's table. He snapped, "Today you will be working on a powerful love potion. It is extremely difficult and I do not expect any of you to be able to complete it. Turn to page 300 of your textbook and begin."
Hermione lowered her eyes from him and turned her book to page 300. Seeing the potion they were making made her grimace. It was the potion they were forced to work together on the first day of class in the past. He would make us make this potion. She started to work on her potion. It started off well and Professor Snape stayed away from their table. Half way through class Professor Snape approached their table with a scowl on his face. Hermione held her breath as he stared down into her potion. It was absolutely perfect and she knew there was nothing he can say that was wrong about it. His eyes turned toward her long sleeves. Long sleeves while working on Potions, even though in dress code, were dangerous.
Professor Snape's eyes rose and met hers. He said lowly, "Ms. Granger please roll up your sleeves. It is a hazard. You know this."
Hermione hesitated remembering the ugly mark on her arm. She couldn't help but glare into his eyes. You know this you bastard. I could just cast a charm on my sleeves, but of course there is no silly wand waving in this classroom.
He pretended to look at his wrist as if he wore a wrist watch and his eyes met hers again. "Tick tock Ms. Granger. I don't have all day. Unless you would like to have a zero for the day," he said crossly.
Her eyes lowered and she acquiesced to his request. She quietly rolled up her sleeves baring the scar on her arm. He didn't even react to it. He continued on his way to the next row of tables. Her eyes followed him angrily and she looked down at the word carved into her arm in sadness. Why must he be such a prat about it? She prayed Harry and Ron wouldn't notice it, but of course one of her friends did.
Neville looked over at her and exclaimed loudly, "My gosh Hermione what happen to you?"
She elbowed him hard in response. She glared at him into silence and she tried to get back into her potion, but Harry and Ron heard the outburst and looked at her worriedly.
"Bloody hell Hermione how did that happen?" Ron whispered to her.
"I'll tell you later," she whispered back trying to buy herself time.
After that once incident everyone continued to work on their potion. Time was almost up, but Neville got stuck with his potion. He didn't understand what was wrong with it. He whispered next to her "Hermione I need help." Hermione looked around and saw that Professor Snape wasn't paying attention to them. He was on the other side of the room. She looked inside his potion and saw that instead of the light pink color it should be it was a very dark purple.
She whispered, "Stir the potion three times clockwise." Neville stirred the potion three times.
Neville said anxiously, "Now what?"
She said, "Add the dragon's blood." Neville accidently grabbed the werewolf's blood. Hermione shouted, "No Neville stop!" Hermione grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from the potion just in time. The loud shout brought attention to Professor Snape.
She grimaced as Professor Snape quickly went to their table with a dark scowl on his face. He shouted down at Hermione, "Ms. Granger why are you interrupting the whole class?"
She stuttered out, "I was just…"
Professor Snape interrupted her with a snap, "You are just nothing! 20 points from Gryffindor and detention tonight at 7."
Her eyes lowered to her table and she glared down at her perfect potion. She mumbled, "Yes sir."
When he walked away from their table Neville whispered, "I'm sorry Hermione."
She whispered back, "It's okay Neville." She continued to work on her potion trying to hold back her tears. She finally finished her potion. It was absolutely perfect. She smiled slightly at her accomplishment.
Neville whispered next to her, "You should take up potions and be a potion's mistress. You would be perfect at it."
She looked at him and whispered back, "With the war who knows what's going to happen to any of us and I doubt Professor Snape will take me on as an apprentice. He never takes apprentices."
He mumbled, "His loss."
She quirked a smile at him and whispered back, "Thank you Neville. What do you want to do if the war wasn't upon us?"
"Well my plans are to get into the Herbology field and maybe one day teach it like Professor Sprout. I'm really good at it."
She said, "That's great Neville. I'm happy for you."
His eyes lowered back down to her arm. He whispered, "How did you get that?"
She looked down at it and said, "I don't want to talk about it." She rolled her sleeve back down to hide it, but Neville kept looking at her.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" He said worriedly.
"Yes I am sure. It doesn't bother me so just drop it," she said a little annoyed. Class was finally over. She begrudgingly bottled her potion and grabbed the vial. She walked slowly to his desk. Her eyes met his and she put her potion down. She turned around and then headed out the door to get to the library. Neville tagged along with her.
"Are you worried about the war?" He said next to her as he quickened his step.
She said, "Yes. They can attack at any minute and Harry isn't ready. I'm not even ready. The Order can pretend that they are all ready but I feel that they don't know what they are up against."
"Don't think like that. You got to have hope," he said reassuringly.
"Don't tell anyone else about this but I'm scared. I may hide myself behind books and pretend that I know everything, but I'm scared of the war. I'm scared of the people that might possibly die because of it. I'm scared for Harry. I'm scared that I might not even make it to the end. I don't like thinking of the future because I don't know what it's going to be like. What if in the future there are no muggle borns? You know they are targeting those people and I might be next if I step out of this castle. Harry keeps asking me to go to the Burrow for the holidays but once we are out of that castle we are out in the open. I want to live Neville. I want a world where people don't look at you as scum underneath their boots because of your type of blood. I am worth something," she replied quietly as they walked through the halls.
Neville said, "You are worth something Hermione and I'm scared too, but it's going to be okay. Dumbledore says that we got to be brave and we got to fight."
She smiled at him and said "You're right Neville. Thanks for that."
"I'm sorry that I got you detention," he said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it. Snape is just being an arse like he always is."
"I never heard you refer to him as that before."
"I have tried to understand the way he acts, but sometimes he is more of an arse then he needs to be," she said with a slight waver of anger in her voice.
"Besides the Slytherin's you are the only one that doesn't hate him."
"I try to see the other side of things. I don't condone how he treats people but I also feel that there are reasons as to why he acts the way he does. Potion Making is an art and some people do not need to be anywhere near a cauldron. Any screw up can cause an explosion and cause people to die or get extremely hurt. He needs to act the way he does for that reason, plus there are probably outside forces that cause him to be the mean person he is."
"What do you think he's going to make you do during your detention?"
Hermione said with a grimace, "Probably something tedious and boring like scrubbing cauldrons by hand or rearranging his store room."
Neville said, "He once made me clean out a whole barrel of salamander guts."
She gasped and said appalled, "Oh god that's disgusting."
He muttered, "Yeah well I did blow up a perfectly good potion."