Chapter 10
Severus woke the next day the same as the last few. Tangled in his sheets not able to remember his dreams. He sat up in bed and tried hard to search his mind for a fraction of the dream he had the night before. It was all a blur. He grumbled and got out of bed and headed for the shower.
He made his way to the great hall and sat down to eat his breakfast.
"Good morning Severus." Lupin sat down next to him smiling.
"Good morning Lupin." Severus took a bite of his toast.
"You know that you can call me Remus, right Severus?" Lupin was cutting his sausage into smaller pieces.
"I am aware of your first name, yes." Severus continued eating without looking up.
"I thought maybe you could try using my first name instead of my last name. We aren't in school anymore." Lupin sipped his pumpkin juice.
Severus stopped eating to glare at him. "I am quite aware that we are no longer in school Lupin."
"I just thought it might help us get along better." Lupin smiled hopefully.
"Why do you care so much about this?" Severus was perplexed.
"I told you. I want to mend the rift between us. I want to repair the damage I caused in my youth." Lupin frowned.
"And I told you that I will not be your pet project to find redemption!" He hissed.
Lupin sighed. "I am sorry Severus. I did not mean for it to come across that way. I have done a lot of things I am not proud of. I will just have to accept that you and I may never be friends."
Severus glanced up at the owls swooping in overhead.
"I like you considerably more than Black."
Lupin broke out into a wide grin. "Then there is hope yet." He downed his pumpkin juice, got out of his chair and clapped him on the back. "I will see you later Severus." And off he went.
"Did he just touch me?" Severus was appalled. He shrugged and made to get up from his chair when he saw Miss Granger making her way into the great hall. On the pretense of re-adjusting in his seat he stayed and watched her for a moment.
Potter and Weasley had followed her into the great hall and had sat next to her. She had started up a conversation with the Weasley girl and they began giggling animatedly.
Severus got up from his chair and made his way out of the great hall. Luckily, his classes would be light today.
He made it to his classroom and shut the door behind him. His 5th years would be arriving soon and they would be going over the Draught of Peace. This was a fairly complex potion and he was interested to see how well they would do.
He sat down at his desk and began going over his lesson plan. "I have a lesson with Miss Granger this evening."
He heard students chatting away as they made their way down the corridor to his classroom. Students began filing into their usual seats and throwing their things onto their workstations. Potter, Weasley and Granger sat at their usual table in the back of the room. They unpacked their bags and pulled out their books. Miss Granger pulled out a notebook and quill and waited.
Severus got up from his desk and stood in front of the class. "Today I will be teaching you how to brew the Draught of Peace." He waved his wand and the name of the potion appeared on the board.
"Can anyone tell me what the Draught of Peace is for?" He asked looking around the room. A hand had been raised in the back of the class.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" He looked in her direction and saw that she had a faint smile on her lips.
"The Draught of Peace is a potion which relieves anxiety and agitation." She finished.
"That is correct Miss Granger." He flicked his wand and her words appeared on the board below the potion name.
"Can anyone tell me the ingredients for the potion?" He looked around the room. "She knows." His gaze came to rest on her again, hand in the air.
"Miss Granger?" He nodded slightly.
"The ingredients are powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore, powdered porcupine quills and powdered unicorn horn." She was still smiling.
"Correct again, Miss Granger." He walked over to the board and flicked his wand and the list of ingredients appeared.
"It is very important that you follow the brewing instructions very carefully for this potion. If you don't it could have drastic consequences. Adding too much of an ingredient, for instance, could put the drinker of the potion into a deep - and possibly irreversible - sleep." He watched as quills scratched on parchment, all the students taking notes.
Once all the students were done taking notes he waved his wand at the board and the brewing instructions appeared.
Add powdered moonstone until the potion turns green. Stir until the potion turns blue. Add powdered moonstone until the potion turns purple. Allow to simmer until the potion turns pink. Add syrup of hellebore until the potion turns turquoise. Allow to simmer until the potion turns purple. Add powdered porcupine quills until the potion turns red. Stir until the potion turns orange. Add more porcupine quills until the potion turns turquoise. Allow to simmer until the potion turns purple. Add powdered unicorn horn until the potion turns pink. Stir until the potion turns red. Allow to simmer until the potion turns purple. Add more powdered moonstone until the potion turns grey. Allow the potion to simmer until it turns orange. Add more powdered porcupine quills until the potion turns white. Simmer and lower heat then add 7 drops syrup of hellebore.
Severus turned to face the class. "I suggest you copy all of this down as I may just see fit to wipe the board halfway through class." He smirked.
He heard a muffled "Lousy git." and a hushed "Ronald!" from the back of the room. He ignored it and began to speak again.
"The ingredients are in the store room cupboard. Make sure you have all of the ingredients necessary for this potion. Once everyone has collected their ingredients begin brewing. I will be checking on your progress throughout the lesson. Begin!"
The students clambered for the store room cupboard and began pulling ingredients out in handfuls. He saw Miss Granger waiting patiently on her stool checking her notes against the ones on the board. "I think I copied the instructions exactly." She smiled to herself. Once the other students had left the cupboard, she made her way over and picked out her ingredients. She went back to her workstation and set up her cauldron.
"Alright Hermione. What first?" Weasley was watching her and mirroring her movements.
"Follow Professor Snape's instructions Ron." Miss Granger's eyes were not leaving her notebook. She began to add powdered moonstone to her cauldron little bits at a time.
"Why would I listen to anything that greasy old bat has to say?" Weasley looked smug.
"That is very disrespectful Ron. You shouldn't speak about your teachers that way." Miss Granger stopped adding powdered moonstone as her potion turned green.
"Oh I don't. I just talk about him that way." Weasley was adding too much powdered moonstone and his potion went from green to blue. "Shit." He muttered under his breath.
Potter and Miss Granger were on the fourth step allowing their potions to simmer.
"Hermione, can you hand me the syrup of hellebore?" Potter was glancing down at his notes.
"Sure Harry." Miss Granger handed him the bottle of hellebore.
Severus was walking around the room checking on the students progress. So far, everything was coming along as expected. Malfoy had been paying more attention than normal to his notes and his potion was not as bad as had been expected.
"I can't understand how anyone could actually enjoy potions. Stupid subject." Weasley had just made it onto step 9 and was throwing powdered porcupine quills by the handful into his potion.
"Ron, you need to add the ingredients in small doses." Miss Granger glanced at his potion. "Your potion is a dark blue now, it's supposed to be turquoise."
Weasley glanced at her potion. "Ah who cares Hermione?"
"I do." She stated.
Potter was on step 12 and was stirring his potion slowly. "Is this the right color you think?" He asked indicating his potion.
Miss Granger peaked into his cauldron. "I would say so. The instructions say 'red' and that is red."
Potter stopped stirring and moved on to the next step. Severus had made his way around the room a few times now and not one snide comment had escaped his lips.
He had just reached the back table again when he saw Weasley stirring his potion vigorously. It had gone from red to a dark, almost purple color and was emitting orange smoke.
"Weasley," Severus began. "I would suggest you stop stirring and move onto the next step before you burn this whole classroom down."
Severus glanced at Potter's potion and then moved on to Miss Granger's. She glanced up at his face briefly and he nodded slightly before moving away.
He was almost to the other side of the room when he heard the whispers.
"Why that nasty vile git." Weasley's ears had turned pink.
"Calm down mate." Potter was gripping Weasley's shoulder.
"Just finish your potion Ron." Miss Granger was looking between the two boys standing next to her.
Weasley turned his attention back to his potion and began tossing in powdered moonstone carelessly.
Miss Granger and Potter were on the final step and were adding in the syrup of hellebore. They were the first students done in the class.
Severus glanced at the clock. "You have 15 minutes until the end of class. Once you finish bring up your phials for testing and grading."
Potter and Miss Granger were siphoning their potions from their cauldrons and putting them into phials. Weasley was having difficulty with his potion.
"Hey, Hermione. Little help huh?" Weasley was prodding his potion with his stirring rod.
"Oh no! What happened?" Miss Granger whispered.
"Hell if I know. It just sort of sludged up like that when I added the hellebore." Weasley shrugged.
"I'm not sure I can really help you Ron. I don't think you followed the directions properly."
"Great." Weasley plopped onto his stool. "Well, you could lend me some of yours Hermione. While Snape isn't looking."
"Professor Snape Ron. And no, I am not letting cheat off my potion." She was gathering her phials and set them away from his reach.
"Harry?" Weasley was grinning hopefully at Potter.
"Sorry Ron but I am pretty sure Snape would know. I can't risk getting detention. You know, Quidditch."
"Yeah yeah." Weasley slumped back against the desk.
Potter took his phials to the front of the class and set them on Severus' desk. Severus made his way over to his desk and began inspecting the potions. The other students brought up their phials and left them on his desk as well. Everyone except her. She had been studying her notes and her potions book, examining her phials as she did so.
"You coming or what Hermione?" Weasley had slung his bag onto his shoulder and was standing, ready to go.
"Once class is dismissed." She was still staring at her potions book.
Severus stood up. "We will be going over your potions in the next class. If you received low marks or didn't turn anything in." At this he saw Weasley sneer in his direction. "You will be given homework on the proper brewing instructions and the origins of the ingredients. Class dismissed." He sat down at his desk and began grading the potion phials.
"I'm outta here!" Weasley made a beeline for the door and Potter grabbed his bag to follow.
"Coming Hermione?" Potter looked at her.
"Yes Harry. I am going to turn in my phials and I will be right behind you." She was putting her book and notes neatly in her bag.
"I'm gonna catch up to Ron then." And he made his way out the door.
Miss Granger gathered her phials and made her way to his desk and set them down neatly. She hadn't turned to leave.
"I wonder if he remembers we have a lesson this evening. Should I ask him?"
Severus stopped grading the potions to look up at her. She was biting her bottom lip.
"I will see you this evening Miss Granger."
She smiled. "Thank you Professor Snape." And she turned and left the classroom, leaving Severus to grade their potions.