A/N- Here we are! This turned out to be a rather long chapter. I am writing the story without any breaks, as its easier for me to see how the flow of the writing is progressing, but it also ends up with extremely varied chapter lengths, so I apologise. Anyways, enjoy, and thank you all for the reviews from last chapter, they were very encouraging!

Severus stared at the bushy haired witch curled up on the couch in front of him. It was the third evening they had spent together, and most of the time was spent reading, with occasional conversations which generally revolved around the curse, and the potion. The Wiggenweld potion was brewing in Severus's laboratory at Hogwarts, as it needed to be left alone for two weeks before they added the moondew. But that didn't stop Hermione from perusing many of Severus's old tomes in a frantic rush to discover something new to help them create the potion. The two had developed a quiet companionship, and Severus found himself growing to appreciate the witch's company more and more each day.

Hermione glanced up from the dusty book she was engrossed in, and eyed Severus. "Yes?" she hummed, wondering why he was staring at her.

"I was merely thinking about how quiet you've been, it's rather unlike you," Severus drawled, as he turned back to the older edition of Potions Weekly he was reading.

Hermione scoffed. After two days of being in his constant company, she had learned to not take everything the man said quite so seriously. "Your company must be having some adverse effect on me," she retorted with a glimmer of amusement in her amber eyes.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "If that is the case, I would hope the effects are permanent."

"Oh, ha ha," she replied dryly. "If you couldn't have borne my company, I don't think I would be sitting her tonight," she said laughingly.

"Don't think the thought to hex your ridiculously wild hair off hasn't crossed my mind," Severus said haughtily, turning back to his book. Truth be told, having her around had eased some of the gloom of being in the large, empty mansion. It was satisfying to have someone with whom he could easily converse, and they had accomplished much in the short time she had spent with him, reviewing old spellbooks and potion books. It wasn't as terrible to be around the girl as he had once thought.

Hermione glanced at him. "I really don't think you could do anything to my hair, trust me, I've tried."

"You may be right, your lions mane might just be impervious to magical spells."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione got up and stretched, reaching her hands back to itch between her shoulder blades.

Severus glanced at Hermione, and found himself slightly surprised at how womanly Hermione's figure was. Never having bothered to imagine what was under her teaching robes, he admired the view for a minute. The pale pink jumper she was wearing accentuated her soft curves, and Severus had a fleeting image of his hands gripping her flared hips. Inwardly growling at himself, he tore his gaze away from Hermione and focused on the magazine he held instead. He had no business eying his partner as if she were a piece of meat.

"Have you seen that cat recently?" Hermione asked suddenly as she settled back down into the couch. She had spent a few hours searching for it, but to no avail. Remembering how secure she had felt with the fluffy black creature laying beside her, she wondered where it had gone to.

"I haven't seen anything," Severus responded nonchalantly. He had hoped the chit would forget about the cat, but she apparently didn't want to let it go. "Don't go searching through my house looking for a damned feline, Miss Granger."

"Too late," Hermione replied churlishly. She had already examined most of the unlocked rooms in the mansion for traces of the thing, and she spent hours walking through the grounds trying to catch sight of it.

Severus rolled his eyes. "I invite you in my home, and all you do to repay me is ransack my home in a mad hunt for a phantom cat," he groused to himself as he glared at Hermione. "Pray tell, did you ever stop to think that perhaps I didn't want you wandering throughout my dwelling?"

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, it never really crossed my mind," she said distractedly as she turned back to the book she held in her hands.

"You would do well to remember from now on," Severus said witheringly. Standing up, he looked around. Finished with the magazine he was previously reading, Severus glanced around for a new tome to start perusing. Settling on an ancient muggle book on the study of Alchemy, he started to read. Turning the pages as quickly as his eyes could devour the words, he was a quarter of the way through it when he came across a chapter entitled "The Emerald Tablet." Interested, he scanned the page. The Emerald Tablet was an ancient text written by Hermes Trismegistus, in which it claimed to hold the secret of the primordial substance. The substance, whatever it was, was rumored to be that which the Greek gods were made of.

Severus didn't put much stock in muggle alchemy, as a lot of it tended to be superstitious nonsense. As such, he found much of the information in the tome to be useless. But in reading the chapter, he came across a line that drew his interest.

"...whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Through this, the marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected."

Severus stared at that line, reading it over and mulling over the words. Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Similar, but not quite identical. Raising his head slowly, he looked at Hermione, an idea blooming in his mind. Standing abruptly, Severus strode to where she was sitting. "Hermione, I think I may have something. Get dressed quickly, and warmly, and meet me in the foyer," he said briskly as he swept from the room.

Hermione didn't bother questioning his words, instead she threw the book she was reading down, and rushed upstairs to grab a thicker jumper and her heavy traveling clock. Making sure her wand was on her, she hurried downstairs to see Severus in a pair of black trousers, a thickly knitted dark green jumper, and his customary black cloak. Glancing up at her, Severus gestured for her to walk out.

"Take my arm."

Hermione did as he asked, wondering briefly where they were headed so suddenly. With the usual loud CRACK, they landed on something springy. Looking down, Hermione realized they were standing on a forest floor. "Severus, where are we?"

"The island of Crete, in the middle of the Dasos Rouva forest."

"What are we doing here?"

"Looking for a dittany plant."

Hermione turned to look at Severus, barely making out his outline in the dark forest. "I thought we had already gathered what we needed," she said warily, wondering about the dark haired mans strange actions. "Why are we gathering more? The potion only requires a small amount, and we gathered more than enough before the holidays."

Severus didn't respond, choosing instead to start his search for the shimmery plant. Bending low under a bush, he peered around for the elusive plant. Hermione stood behind him, taking in the surroundings. The trees were taller and darker than they were on Montecristo, and the brush was much thicker. The ground was softer too, holding enough moisture to make it springy.

"Severus, what are you doing? If you need dittany that much, can't you just summon a few leaves, instead of going hunting for it yourself?"

Severus stood up quickly, and whipped around to face Hermione. "The first lesson of excellence in potions is handpicked or gathered ingredients. You of all people should know that," he snapped, bristling. He bent back down, continuing his search.

Hermione sighed. "I'll help you then," she said as she knelt beside Severus. They prodded their way through the brush for an hour before they finally found the plant. Hermione looked expectantly at Severus, waiting for him to do something.

Severus stared at the plant, wondering which way to proceed. He muttered to himself, lifting up the sticky leaves, and looking at the base of the stem. Glancing up at Hermione, he smiled brilliantly, something Hermione didn't think she had ever seen before. It made his face look ten years younger, and Hermione felt something odd in her gut, a strange urge that she couldn't put a name to. She ignored it as best she could, and focused on Severus's words.

"I think we need to start from the roots."

"So you're basing this off a haunch? From a muggle alchemy book?" Hermione said incredulously. "Has anyone ever bothered to see what root of dittany does? For all we know it could be a poison of the worst kind!" She shrilled, looking across the lab counter at Severus. Once he had uprooted the plant they had apparated directly back to Spinner's End, where Severus had his personal, if mostly unused, laboratory in the basement.

"Hermione, surprising it may be, but muggle alchemy did have some strong points," Severus replied, as he placed the dittany plant in a pot. He snipped a bit of the root off, but re-potted the rest of the limp looking plant. "Besides, you of all people know the importance of never skipping on a haunch."

"The Emerald Tablet doesn't even talk about anything specific, how could you possible get the root of dittany from that? That isn't even a haunch, that's an ill hazarded guess!"

"Whatever is below is similar to that which is above," Severus calmly repeated, for the third time. His excitement at the possible discovery was too high to be dampened by Hermione's doubts. "Regardless of what the tablet is referring to, the words remain the same. It's an idea, Hermione, and if it comes of nothing, then we shall look elsewhere. But I have a strong feeling about this."

"So that meant the root. Of dittany. An idea it may be, but I'm still absolutely flummoxed that you, of all people, took stock in a muggle alchemy book."

Severus raised his eyes to the heavens. "Think about it, Granger. The leaves heal the skin, so it makes sense that the roots would still have healing properties, but just of a different kind," he said in an exasperated tone as he busied himself with gathering what he would need to dissolve the dittany root.

Hermione huffed, and folded her arms across her chest. What Severus said made a little sense, but it was ludicrous to think that no one had previously discovered the supposed healing powers of dittany root. Figuring it was pointless to continue to argue with the man, she turned instead to look piece of parchment on the counter. It was a list of the possible ingredients they had found thus far; moondew, dittany, chizpurfle wings – Hermione had come across that particular ingredient whilst reading a more modern potions book. The chizpurfle is a small parasite that feeds on magical items, and as such its wings serve to effectively beat down a lot of magical resistances, hence its used in waking up a person from a magically induced sleep. Severus had thought it worth a shot, if they could somehow figure out a coupling ingredient to make the wings also attack the active magic. So they had added it to the list. It was pitifully small, but a start nonetheless.

Hermione bit back a small smile as she read through the list of symptoms. Severus's excitement was hard to ignore, and Hermione knew what he was proposing, if it were true, would be the big break through they would need to start on a base for the potion. A few hours ago, they had been kneeling on the slightly wet, springy turf of a forest on an island in the midst of the Mediterranean sea, and Severus had smiled at Hermione for the first time in her memory. His smile was brilliant, and though she could barely see it due to the low light they had held the Lumos spells at, it had still given her the biggest urge to smile back, regardless of how confusing his antics had been.

Watching Severus carefully crush the root, Hermione studied his features. With his sallow complexion, lank looking black hair, and his rather large nose, he wasn't what most people would consider attractive. But Hermione didn't think he was ugly, by any means. For her, personality and intelligence counted above looks, and Severus had both, in excess. His personality took some time to warm up to, but after living in close proximity to him for a few days, she had indeed warmed up to him. Severus was mostly bark, if anything, and his snide comments were something Hermione had finally accepted as just part of him. Startled from her reverie, she glanced up at the sound of Severus plopping the cauldron down.

"I have crushed the root, and added a base measure of water," he said as he aimed his wand under the cauldron, and started a low magical fire. "Tomorrow we can see what happens after it stews over night, and if nothing comes of it, we shall try other methods," he said with finality, as he stood to walk out. Severus gestured for Hermione to join him, and they left together, after he used his wand to dim the lights in the laboratory.

"Well, seeing as you've seen fit to drag me half way cross the globe and back, I think I'm going to retire now," Hermione said with a slight yawn when they reached the stairs.

"Miss Granger, complaining about the work involved in the research and creation of a magical potion?" Severus said with a slight smirk, as he looked down at the bushy haired witch in front of him. "What ever happened to you?"

Hermione batted at his arm, and didn't respond, instead bade him a goodnight and headed up the stairs. Severus stared up at her as she walked upstairs, wondering what had gotten into her. When did his temper stop being the cause of fear in her? Ever since the hug she had given him after the hospital visit, it was as if something so subtle yet so fundamental had changed in their relationship. She had ceased to be swayed by his snides tones, and he had, little by little, changed his own views on her.

Sitting down in his armchair, Severus stared at the orange and yellow flames, musing over his relationship with his coworker. He still didn't know what had possessed him to invite Hermione into his home for the holidays, but whatever it was, he was inwardly satisfied with how things had turned out. Severus found he quite enjoyed a Hermione who didn't let his bad tempers get to her, even though that didn't stop him from being as crotchety as ever.

Yes, he could admit to himself that he was beginning to appreciate her company. Closing his eyes, he thought of Hermione and the way she had stretched earlier that evening. He had been mesmerized by how the jumper she was wearing had set off her curves. Knowing perfectly well the thoughts he was having were inappropriate, Severus couldn't stop them.

Grumbling to himself about inappropriate thoughts and witches with ridiculous amounts of bushy hair, he decided to transform into his animagus, as curling in front of the fire in the shape of the black cat never failed to ease whatever troubles he was having. He lightly hopped onto the coffee table, reveling in the agility of his feline form. Settling down in a comfortably warm spot in front of the fire, he started to doze off, flicking his ear occasionally.

Hermione tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. Her Patronus still bounded across the room, the silvery otter leaping and twirling around happily. Hermione smiled as she watched it, but figured she just wasn't tired yet. Standing up, she picked up her silk robe from the back of the chair it previously hung on, and wrapped it around herself, and called to her Patronus, watching as the otter bounded towards her. Hermione whispered a word, and the shimmery otter faded away. Padding on bare feet out of her room, she made her way downstairs to the sitting room, where she knew Frannel kept a fire going all night. She silently entered, and was surprised to see the black cat that was curled up in front of the fireplace. Smiling to herself, she went and sat by it, reaching a hand out to tickle behind its ears. "Hello kitty," she said softly, as the cat turned to look at her, it's yellow eyes seeming to glare at her. Hermione chuckled, and picked the cat up by its scruff, placing it on her lap.

Sitting on the floor, Hermione watched the fire glow. Frannel kept it at a halfway point, so the embers flickered and glowed erratically. She sat, distractedly petting the cat, who was purring loudly in her lap. Severus hated how he couldn't stop himself from enjoying Hermione's gentle ministrations, and had decided to give up resisting them. Arching his head into her hand, he settled down in her lap, purring contentedly as she rubbed that spot right below his left ear.

"I think I'm beginning to become friends with Severus Snape," Hermione said musingly, outwardly voicing her thoughts, as she knew Severus was probably fast asleep in his rooms. "Isn't that odd?" she asked the cat, looking down at it as its yellow eyes stared unblinkingly at hers. "And...I like it. A lot, which is strange, considering how he treats people, and me. Although I have noticed he's become nicer of late. But still... it is very odd, and I can't quite understand why I am so pleased at the idea of becoming close with him, but I like it."

Severus had stopped purring from the shock of Hermione's ramble. She considered him and her friends? While he had admitted to himself that he was beginning to enjoy her company; fine, he did enjoy her company, but he had never considered what to call it. Severus hadn't had an actual friend since he was a teenager, in school. Lily was the only one to have called him a friend. And while Minerva considered him a friend, and he did enjoy her company, Severus didn't think of her as a true friend. Musing inwardly as Hermione continued to stroke his fur, Severus sighed contentedly to himself. He could become friends with Hermione; especially if she kept doing what she was doing. Niggling her way into his home, never taking no for an answer. It was certainly odd, having someone around who didn't pay any heed to his attitude, but something he found himself appreciating nonetheless.

Hermione laid down on the plush carpet, trying to find a more comfortable position. She settled on her side, pulling the cat to her chest. Starting to slowly brush the cats shoulder, Hermione found herself nodding off, and summoned a pillow from the couch, placing it under her head. The cat continued to purr, and Hermione slowly started to drift off to sleep.

Severus laid his head on the crook of Hermione's arm, and flicked his tail, closing his eyes slowly as Hermione pet him, smoothing down his fur. He found himself nodding off, and gave in, falling into an easy sleep next to the unknowing witch.