"Do you have it?" Hermione asked eagerly in a whisper, once the infirmary doors closed behind her.
Snape gave her a single nod, barely looking her in the eye.
"So now we go back?" she inquired, her heart racing with anticipation.
"Aha." Snape pointed his head towards the empty classroom again. They needed a private space to disappear into time without being interrupted. Once they were sure there was no one near, Snape took out the red velvet bag Minerva had given them. He turned it around over his palm, and the time-turner rolled out with a soft metallic sound. He stared at it for a second, suddenly realizing he wasn't entirely sure of the method, for he had never used one before. Should he just turn it…?
"We need to place it around our necks." Hermione intervened, noticing the confusion in his face. "Here, let me." she took the golden chain from his hands and placed it over his head as a necklace. Then, watching it, she hesitated. Though the metallic string was long, for it to go over her head as well she needed to get really close to him. "I'm going to need to..." she cleared her throat, trying to remain professional. She placed herself in front of the Professor, and pulled from the chain to place it on herself, but she was still too far so it got stuck on her hair.
Snape let out a low grunt of frustration, and took a step forward, his body coming in full contact with hers, while his skillful hands worked elegantly to release the chain from her brown curls in what felt like an eternity. "There." he said at last, lowering his face to look at her. He was so close that even in the darkness of the night, she could discern his pupils at the center of his black eyes. Her brain began spinning as if she was suddenly drunk. "Miss Granger." he called her, impatient.
"Yes." she shook her head, lowering her gaze to the small hourglass. "Now we turn it once to go back one hour." she informed, proceeding carefully.
Unlike the space-traveling methods such as apparition or floo powder, time-traveling was much more comfortable, since you didn't feel any movement at all. Instead, all space revolved around you as you remained still in one point. However, since that classroom had been empty for weeks, all the difference they could tell was the change of position in the moon, that had receded in its movement through the night sky.
"Are you sure it worked?" Snape said, hesitant.
"Positive." Hermione affirmed convinced. "Let's go, we need to add that last bit to the potion immediately."
They descended the stairs in silence, both of them pondering their own thoughts, and trying to calm their own racing hearts. Being so close during the several seconds it had taken to journey to the past had caused a rebound effect, and now they were walking at a further distance than usual. Severus was having a hard time focusing his thoughts on the next brewing step… He had trained himself for years to endure unbelievable amounts of pain that would make any other crumble down and beg for mercy, without losing his mental clarity… and yet the thrilling sensation of having her so close during that interminable minute had completely destabilized him. Maybe he shouldn't have discarded so quickly the power of temptation over pain when it came to threatening his iron will. Luckily for him, the young woman didn't seem to have enjoyed it, given the safety distance she had been keeping since they left the classroom… which meant she wouldn't pose a tempting threat. However, when they got to the hallway that led to Snape's office in the dungeons, Hermione grabbed his sleeve. "Wait! We have a problem!" she said, her eyes suddenly filled with horror. "We are inside right now too! We can't see ourselves or we might go mad!" she was biting her lip with frustration at herself for not having thought of this stupid, but crucial detail before.
However, to her surprise, Snape threw her a crooked smile and releasing his sleeve from her grip, he entered the office right away. Hermione gasped, fearing an imminent catastrophe, but she heard nothing so she dared to take a look inside. The office was empty. But how…?
Snape pointed his head towards the narrow door in the right wall, where they had been hiding before… Well, of course! Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes filled with admiration. She watched as the man carefully placed the liquid from the first vial and the dead bit of skin on the small cauldron on the desk, that emitted a bubbling sound as its color changed from pink to purple. He then rushed back to the door, gesturing her to follow him down the hall, until they reached a corner and were out of sight.
"How did you know?" Hermione asked, amazed.
"I knew because I had already known it before." Snape replied simply, though his smug grin revealed how proud of himself he was.
She gave him a genuine bright smile that made him forget all about his plan again. Damn it! What was she doing to him? He needed to get a grip on himself immediately.
Seconds later, they heard the office door opening, and their own past footsteps walking away towards the stairs.
"We're gone." Snape revealed, taking a careful look. "Come on."
They entered the office their former selves had just left, and locked the door. Snape walked over to the cauldron, checking it once again with the tip of his wand.
"Now we have to wait the whole hour again… until we can add the first bit of skin, right?"
Snape nodded absently. Truth was he wasn't particularly eager about spending another whole hour alone with her. She was too much of a temptation to his willpower. And he suspected she was aware of that fact. All the double meaning on her biology lesson about bats hadn't gone unnoticed to him… She wasn't just defending the night creatures… she was sending a message, and though he would never acknowledge it out loud, they both knew he had received it. He sat on the couch by the fire, rubbing his hands together, as the cold once again took over his bones. Now, that nasty sting on his scar seemed to have added itself to the list of mysterious symptoms. He obviously had more urgent matters to think about than stupid feelings.
"Are you alright, Sir?" Hermione asked, sitting in front of him. "You look pale. Do you need anything?"
"Miss Granger, I am a grown man. I don't need you to babysit me. I'm sure you have much more interesting things to do with your time than bothering me with your incessant questions."
Hermione leaned back on her chair, surprised and hurt. Why was he acting like this again? For an instant, she had thought they had shared a moment, back at the empty classroom… She had thought her metaphorical speech about bats had finally gotten to him, making him realize that he needn't be so defensive all the time, that she saw him for who he truly was… But apparently, an unpredictable git was also who he truly was. What had she done now to provoke him?
"You know… there's no need to be so harsh. I can understand if you don't like people very much, but I'm just being kind. You could choose to be kind too, you know? You don't have the monopoly on pain." she pointed out, trying hard to keep a steady voice, though her lower lip was starting to tremble with anger and hurt.
"Do you really want to play that game, Miss Granger? See who's got the saddest story?" he mocked her, though his tone was menacing, as if he was daring her to compare her life to his.
"I'm just saying my life hasn't been easy either. I've also been bullied and isolated for as long as I can remember, but I still try to be a nice person."
"Is that so? Tell me, Miss Granger, how hard was it for you, growing up with two devoted loving parents?" he said, his tone raising involuntarily with repressed rage.
Hermione felt as if a knife had just gone through her heart, and she inhaled sharply. "You're an asshole." she spat, getting up from the couch and walking towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Snape got up too, ready to intercept her. "You can't leave! You can't risk running into yourself or anyone seeing you!"
She threw him a furious glance, but to her dismay, she realized he was right. They needed to stay in that room, together, for the next hour. She blew with exasperation and went to sit at the window's inner ledge, allowing her gaze to get lost into the nocturnal view of Hogwart's grounds. Snape returned to his place by the fire, though throwing her side glances every once in a while. He had no clue of why she had reacted in such a way at the mention of her parents. As far as he knew, his information was accurate. He knew they were muggles, dentists and that they lived in a good house in a pleasant neighborhood in Hampstead. He also knew they had been extremely supportive of her daughter's magical and academical life, thanks to some comments Albus had let out during the past years. So what was there to complain so much about? Maybe the girl was just being dramatic. He briefly thought of apologizing, but then he recalled she had been the one insulting him and not the other way around… so he decided to keep his mouth shut.
This hour seemed to pass much more slowly than the previous one. When finally the time came to add the last ingredient, Severus wasn't sure if Hermione had fallen asleep, for her eyes were closed and her head laying against the wall. But he saw her brown hazel eyes opening the moment he got up from the couch.
"Is it time?" she asked coldly.
"Yes." Snape approached the cauldron, taking out the third glass vial from his pocket. He removed the stasis charm he had placed on the healthy bit of skin and added it to the potion, followed by the asphodel powder to seal it. Hermione came closer too, curious to see what would happen next.
First, the potion lighted up with a bright blue color. Then, it returned to its original pink one. And next, it began swirling on its own, counterclockwise, shifting between one color and the other.
"It's swirling by itself!" Hermione said, amazed, and momentarily forgetting all about her resentment.
"Reverse factor." Snape replied simply. "Only one final comprobation left." he said, taking out an empty clean bottle where he introduced a good portion of the potion. It continued to swirl inside the bottle, creating a blue and pink whirl.
"How will I distract Madame Pomfrey a third time?" Hermione asked, concerned. She was running out of excuses and she was pretty sure that soon, the mediwitch would begin to suspect there was something strange going on.
"You won't need to. Your work is done for tonight, Miss Granger. You can return to your dormitory."
"What!?" she practically yelled at him, though he barely reacted to her outburst. "What do you mean my work is done? Are you bringing the potion by yourself? It was my idea! And besides, Madame Pomfrey..."
"Madame Pomfrey will only know that I'm bringing her an experimental potion to try to help Miss Silvermoon. The risk was in her knowing the method we used for said potion, not the existence of the potion itself. Therefore, there's no distraction necessary this time. About your fair recognition, worry not. If the potion works I will make sure that you get acclaimed as the new Hogwarts brilliant hero with the corresponding polished trophy."
"That's not what I meant!" Hermione protested again, on the verge of tears.
"Goodnight, Miss Granger."
"Wait!" she intercepted him on his way to the door. "If it works… won't we need to prepare more soon? I am going away for the weekend… should I stay and help?"
"I've been brewing for years without your indispensable help. I dare to believe I will manage." Snape remarked, ordering her to step aside with a head gesture. "Enjoy Potter's parade." he added with an enigmatic tone. She stared at him surprised, wondering how he had known that. Though, given the importance of Harry's date of birth in the prophecy, it probably hadn't been hard for Snape to remember such fateful event, and his sharp logic and intuition had probably figured the rest out.
Hermione watched with impotence as he left towards the stairs, the magical potion she had practically invented secured on his pocket. And yet, the horrible empty feeling on the center of her chest revealed that the potion was not the most important thing he had unexpectedly taken from her that night.
A/N: Hi all! How cool that you all like bats, I do too obviously ;) Always thought it was a good metaphor for his character, though maybe it wasn't too clear and it seemed too long, sorry about that! haha
As always thank you for your honest and encouraging reviews, they are what keep me motivated to write and update the story! I'm always eager to hear your thoughts :) Take care and enjoy! ^^