"Hermione."

"Hermione!"

A sudden thwack to the back of her head got her attention.

"Minerva?"

The elderly witch was frowning fiercely at her. "You are sprouting ears."

Hermione reached up and grabbed the offending appendages. "Sweet Merlin on a stick."

As Hermione concentrated, the ears melted back into her head. She patted her curls, making sure they were gone.

Minerva nodded toward the pile of parchment in front of the girl. "Well, it seems you animagus training is moving quicker than that grading." She gave her apprentice an arch look "Whatever has you so distracted?"

Hermione couldn't help notice that her mentor seemed more interested than was strictly necessary.

"Minerva McGonagall, are you fishing for gossip?"

The headmistress was totally unrepentant.

"Gossip? Never. Information? Perhaps."

Hermione picked up her quill and gave the headmistress a smile that would do the Mona Lisa proud.

Eventually Minerva sighed. "Your keeping company with Severus has done wonders for your ability to look inscrutable my dear, but I would point out it isn't the man's most admirable trait."

When Hermione just smirked, Minerva tried teasing. "Does this sudden distraction have anything to do with a tall, dark, snarky wizard?"

Hermione flinched. "It's not Severus…or not in the way you think."

Minerva frowned. "I thought the two of you were getting along well."

Hermione flushed. "We are."

"Then whatever is the matter?"

Hermione sighed. "I've just been thinking….I need to wean myself off of whatever anti-depression potion he's been slipping me since last year."

Minerva smirked. "It is tailored to you, I'm sure."

Hermione allowed herself a little smile. He was the most thoughtful man she'd ever met, but he hated getting caught at it…which was the entire problem.

"I don't know how to approach him about it. He is still dosing me on the sly…"

Minerva coughed. "Such a Slytherin."

"He's the textbook example of one." Hermione grinned "We should put his picture next to the definition in Hogwarts, a history."

Minerva grinned back at the younger witch. "Why is this problem…it seems simple enough to me."

"I'm happy." She looked a little disturbed. "I need to know that it's not because of a potion."

"Are you a Gryffindor or not?"

Hermione looked slightly abashed.

"The hat tried to put me in Ravenclaw."

Minerva wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders in mock-surprise. "You tell me this after you help defeat Voldemort?" Minerva laughed. "I'll tell you a secret. I was a hat-stall. The hat spent nearly five minutes arguing between the houses when I was sorted. I think it made the right choice for both of us."

Perhaps the fierce hug that Hermione gave her mentor proved that.

SSHG

"Severus?"

He beckoned her into his lab.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"You are being unusually formal."

She picked up a knife and started dicing the hellebore root for the next stage of the potion.

"You had something to discuss?"

She looked up at him, obviously unwilling to speak. "I'm not sure how to start."

Severus felt a constriction around his heart. He knew his face was an ashy shade of pale. This was it then…

"It's about the potion."

Severus looked up, confused.

"What potion?"

"The antidepressant potion."

He felt his chest loosen and a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Finally. It took you long enough to figure out what it was."

"I've known what it was since I took the blood sample, the yeti uvula took time and effort."

"How did you figure out that part?"

"I used Arithmancy to narrow down the possibilities…then I offered to sort last year's purchasing receipts for Minerva."

"Impressive."

She gifted him with a small smirk. "Well, it is the sort of task an apprentice should do."

"I suppose, since you did go to all that time and effort…not to mention fairly subtle effort…what did you want to know about it?"

"First, I wanted to thank you for it. I can't imagine anyone else caring enough about me to do that."

Severus squirmed uncomfortably but joked "It kept my mind occupied with an interesting problem, and it had the happy side effect of keeping you from bringing the castle down around our ears because someone coughed in your direction."

Even with Hermione, he wasn't comfortable with praise. It was true that other people seemed unaccountably dense when it came to seeing what needed to be done and simply doing it. But that didn't mean that he was doing anything special…it simply meant the rest of the world was unbearably dull.

"Secondly, I want to wean myself off of it."

He looked at her, shoulders straight, chin out.

"Why now?"

She took a deep breath and gave him a little smile. "I'm happy. It's time to see if I can stand on my own two feet and continue on without the aid of a potion….why are you laughing?"

Severus couldn't help himself. He pulled the witch close and kissed her soundly.

"Hermione, I started weaning you off of the potion before graduation. You haven't had a dose since I started courting you."

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

He lifted a brow. "Of course…it was the proper thing to do." He wrapped his long arms around her. "I am happy that you are happy. Did you really think that I was still slipping it to you?"

She kissed him lightly. "You are a Slytherin."

"I am indeed."

AN: I'll update Wednesday!