Hello everyone,
Thank you so much for reading and commenting so frequently. You can't believe just howwww happy I am about it!
I am afraid that I am quite unhappy with chapter 9. I feel like the writing doesn't flow as well as in previous chapter. Let me know what you think and if it is noticeable!
However, I hope you still enjoy reading it.
XXX
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TRUE COLOURS - TOM ODELL
"Muggle dental products are designed to be used consistently. You would have to magically alter some of the effects. Otherwise a single use won't do much good", Jane Granger explained to Clemency and Armita.
Clemency nodded and wrote down some notes. She had taken on the project of dental care and would be working on the products together with Hermione's parents.
They were all sat on the Granger's patio and Hermione was listening in curiously.
"Things like Toothflossing Stringmints are great, if they weren't sweets. Wizards could use them regularly and with magical adjustments, it would enormously increase dental health", George said.
"Wizarding dental hygiene is overall very similar to muggle dental hygiene", Armita explained. "I think that is also where to problem is. We do make toothpaste. It is nearly identical to muggle toothpaste and we use it just like muggles do. The problem is really, that not only are witches and wizards exposed to magical food and sweets, but we also live much longer. Our teeth need to serve us twice as long on average."
Hermione explained to her parents, that in fact wizards were not completely clueless about dental health. They discussed more ideas and the Nancy's decided to stay for dinner later.
"I will start working on some of these ideas, and maybe we can meet up again soon, whilst you are still in France", Clemency proposed.
"That would be lovely. I am sure Hermione can take some of those wards down, so you can just come straight here again?", Jane proposed. "I am afraid I will take advantage of your ability to apparate. It would take us too long to get to Arraxy."
Hermione felt extremely uncomfortable.
"I don't think we should take the wards down, mum. Why don't you meet somewhere in Grasse or Cannes?"
"And talk about dental care potions in the middle of a muggle café?", Jane asked.
Hermione's dad came back outside with a jug of lemonade.
"How about one of those portkeys?", he proposed. "That could take us to Arraxy."
Hermione loved her dad for knowing his way around magical things. "That isn't a bad idea, daddy."
"Unregistered portkeys don't arrive in Arraxy", Armita informed them.
George looked questioningly.
"I can't register one", Hermione explained. "Muggles are not meant to travel via portkey." Her dad nodded, understanding the problem.
"I completely understand that you don't want to lift the wards", Clemency exclaimed. "Why don't you just stay another two weeks?"
"I really have to go back home, I have a lot of things to do before my new job begins." Hermione pinched her nose in frustration.
"I am not a charms master", Armita said. "But if you like I will put up the strongest wards I can manage every time we leave."
Hermione's parents looked at her expectantly. She really didn't want to leave them without all the security in place, but she also knew that something could happen anytime they left the house. She was happy that they had such an easy relationship with magic, and the project with the Nancy's was such a great opportunity for them. Maybe there was another way to make sure her parents were as safe as possible.
"That would not be a bad idea", she replied to Armita.
She got up from the table. "I just remembered, I wanted to get something in Arraxy. If you don't mind, I'd go there now. You keep on talking about your dentist things, and when I am back we think about some of the charms?"
Armita agreed and Hermione kissed her parents goodbye. "I'll be back soon. Do you want pastries?"
"Yes, please!", her dad said excitedly. She laughed and waved at them as she walked towards the apparition point and disappeared a moment later.
Hermione knocked on the pharmacy's backdoor. Severus opened up and the terrifyingly dark expression on his face gave way to mild surprise.
"I thought Armita and Clemency were at your place today?"
"They are", she sighed and walked inside. Severus had been sorting some ingredients into little boxes and he continued where he had left from. Hermione leaned on his work bench and crossed her arms in front of her chest and started to watch him, but he stopped soon again.
"What's the matter?"
She looked at his grumpy face and immediately felt the need to explain herself. He looked like he might go and kill a werewolf somewhere.
"Oh, it's nothing. Everything is fine, really!"
"Coffee?" Severus nodded towards the staircase. She grabbed her bag and followed him upstairs.
"It's about the wards I put on my parent's house", she started. Severus boiled some water with a flick of his wand and prepared them some hot drinks.
"My parents and the Nancy's get along really well, which is great!" She gratefully took the cup of coffee and they went onto the balcony. "They want to meet more often, and obviously mum and dad can't come here."
Severus nodded and indicated that he understood the problem. "And the Nancy's can't go there as long as the wards are up", he finished her sentence.
"Armita offered to put them up every time they are there."
Hermione looked at Severus. She didn't want to actually voice her concerns.
"But you are not happy with anybody else's charm work but yours."
She nodded.
"It is not that I don't think Armita is capable, I am sure she is", Hermione tried to explain.
"I understand." Severus looked at her, seemingly expressionless, but Hermione thought she could see the glint of something in his dark eyes. She sighed.
"Would you be willing to check on them every now and then?", she asked him and was surprised to see his face fall in shock.
"What?"
His voice was cold, and Hermione suddenly felt like she might have asked to much of him.
"You really don't have to!", she exclaimed. "I just thought, you're the most capable wizard I know, and if I'd trust anybody with my parent's safety, it is you."
She looked at him timidly.
His face grew dark, and darker, and darker.
"You don't have to, it's fine. I guess I am just being paranoid and…"
"I am a Death Eater", he barked. "You wouldn't want to leave your parents' safety in my hands."
She couldn't believe what he had just said.
"Don't say that. That's not true."
"You are naïve and foolish, if you think it's not true."
Every word was dripping with venom and pain. Hermione sat down on a chair and looked at him in disbelief.
"I don't think I am the foolish one here", she replied calmly.
"You might as well go to Azkaban and ask Dolohov to keep an eye on your parents."
He turned around to go inside, and although Hermione was shocked by what he had said, she was quicker than him and got up to stand in his way.
"Stop it, Severus", she demanded. She tried to subdue the anger that the name Dolohov had evoked in her.
He looked at her full of hatred, for himself or for her, she didn't know.
"Get out of my way."
"I don't think so. You sit down right there…", she pointed at the chair, "… right now."
"I think you're forgetting who you're speaking to." Severus clenched his jaw and his nostrils flared in anger.
Hermione couldn't care less. She kept her calm, it wouldn't do any good if both of them exploded now.
"I am much aware of who I am speaking to, thank you very much. Sit. Down."
He didn't move and towered over her, trying to be intimidating. She took a step towards him, lifted her chin and looked him in the eye, being calm and soft, but firm at the same time.
"You are nothing like any of them", she intensified her gaze, "Nothing at all. And don't think me disillusioned. I am aware that I don't even know a fraction of all the things you had to do, but it does not matter to me. Everyone does good things and bad things. What matters is that we don't let the bad things define us, you need to learn that. Your intentions are what define you."
He took a breath before he spoke.
"I don't agree with you, Hermione." He looked less hostile now and spoke calmly. "No matter what your intentions are, it is never acceptable to stand by and watch evil happen. It is never acceptable to torture, it is never acceptable to kill."
"I didn't argue that these things are acceptable. But doing inacceptable things does not necessarily make you an evil person."
"What defines an evil person?", he asked her quietly.
"Defining an evil person, is like defining evil itself. If I would have an answer to that, Merlin would rise from the dead and bow in front of me", she said with smile on her lips but no less serious.
"I trust you, Severus", she said again. "And if you wouldn't mind taking it upon you, it would greatly relief my worries to know my parents are in capable hands."
"That sounds like you're leaving two toddlers behind."
She couldn't ignore the smile that was tucking on the corner of his lips and started laughing heartily. She didn't notice Severus's eyes resting on her affectionately.
"It is natural, that at some point in life, the roles between parents and their children get reversed."
He shrugged his shoulders and said: "I wouldn't know. I assume no one can know about my involvement in this matter?"
She gave him an endearing glance. Severus looked sober, but she noticed something undefinable in his eyes.
"The fewer people that know, the smaller the potential danger", she said. "Thank you."
He simply nodded in reply.
She looked at him, considering for a moment to tell him that she would miss him, but she decided against it. She was never quite sure about how well he'd take such statements, and she had probably taunted him enough for one day.
"I shall write to you as soon as I am back in England." She made to leave the building, but he called her back.
"Hermione?", he said quietly. She looked at him, tilting her head in question.
"When you're back in England…", he paused for a moment. "Nobody can know about this." He gestured around and she understood.
"Your secret is safe with me, Severus", she said firmly. "I promise."
Hermione picked up some pastries at the bakery before she apparated back to Grasse. Clemency and Armita greatly enjoyed dinner with the Granger's and Hermione was incredibly happy that her mother finally found an area of magic that she was interested in as well.
They worked out some charms that would be based on the residents of the house, meaning Hermione would not be affected once she apparated into the property and the Nancy's could easily enter via the front door. They didn't keep the apparition point, or at least they thought they didn't. Hermione would make sure Severus could apparate into the garden without trouble. The spot was well hidden, so her parents wouldn't get a fright when they suddenly spotted a dark wizard. She knew, it was not fair towards them but she wanted to be absolutely sure the highest security standards were guaranteed.
Armita placed the wards on the building after dinner and Hermione was overall pleased and approved. She also was not so worried anymore, now that she knew Severus would keep an eye on it as well.
The Nancy's left and Hermione spent the rest of the evening with her family. They asked her to look after a few things in their house once she was in London and she also offered to do some of the dentistry's paperwork.
It was late at night when she apparated to England and the streets of Earlsfield were quiet. She left the park and made her way home. To her surprise she saw Susan, the woman living in the house with her, coming down the road with someone by her side.
"Hermione! Good to see you", she said when they were both close to their gate. "How was France?"
"It was great, lovely weather and loads of wine and food."
Susan laughed. "I don't know how you always manage to go on holidays without any luggage."
"My parents own a house in Grasse, I keep a lot of things there", she fibbed, clutching her beaded handbag.
Susan noticed Hermione's glance at the stranger by her side.
"This is David", she introduced him taking his hand and Hermione understood. "We've just come back from dinner."
"Nice to meet you", the young man said.
They entered the house and Hermione wished them a good night before she went upstairs. In was quiet in her flat, and very hot. They clearly had had a few warm days in England too, and Hermione cast a cooling spell before she went into her bedroom to unpack the robes she had bought in Paris. She took the stationary and books downstairs into her office and went to make herself a cup of tea, before she went to bed in the early morning hours.
She couldn't sleep for quite a while. She knew she had a lot to sort out in the coming weeks and she had to come back to get everything done in time, but she was sad about not being in France anymore nonetheless.
Hermione went to see Ginny the next day to pick up Crookshanks, but also to catch up with her best friend.
"Where are the babies today?", Hermione asked when they walked into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. She called the Potter's three children 'the babies' even though two of them were technically not babies anymore. It was just a habit.
She was also their eldest son's godmother. James Sirius adored her and she spoiled him in ways that she would probably not even spoil her own children, if she had any.
"They're with mum. I have a lot of editing work to do and Harry is working too this weekend, so I thought I'll try and get it all done by Monday."
Ginny had recently been appointed Chief Sports Editor for the Daily Prophet.
"Well, I will be off very soon then, I don't want to interrupt you", Hermine said.
"No, you won't!" Ginny put a cup of hot butterbeer in front of her. "I have been waiting for a girly chat for weeks, you won't leave me now!" She sat down opposite of Hermione.
"Tell me about France."
Hermione understood what Ginny meant and sighed.
"Gin, it's quite complicated."
"You know I will not force you to tell me anything, but you also know that sharing something with your best friend can be beneficial at times."
Hermine knew that Ginny was right. She wanted to tell her, but she felt bad for Severus.
"See, I've met someone, but they don't want anybody to know about their whereabouts."
"You met Professor Snape, am I right?", said Ginny and Hermione nearly chocked on her butterbeer. She gave Ginny a shocked glance.
"How…?"
"I suspected it when you asked Harry to look into Snape's file. I've looked at some of the articles the prophet had published on him and managed to get onto information that the writers used. Everybody thinks him dead, but as you know yourself, there is no real evidence. No body, no witnesses except you, Harry and Ron." She tried to catch Hermione's eyes. "I can put one and one together. Although, I was mainly guessing it."
Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes. "You can't tell anybody, Ginny."
"No worries, I didn't plan on mentioning it during Sunday lunch at my mum's. And I am not stupid enough to tell Harry." She looked a little bit worried. "I don't think it would go down too well with anyone."
Hermione smiled, but then looked frustrated.
"I don't know what to do."
"Do nothing", Ginny said simply.
"What?"
Her friend shrugged her shoulders.
"I have given this a bit of thought", she started to explain. "Snape was a spy. If he didn't want anybody to find him, he'd have been more than capable to achieve that."
Hermione looked quizzically, and Ginny continued: "He probably wanted to be found. I don't believe he'd be careless enough to just risk having one of his former students run into him."
"I am not sure, Gin…", Hermione said. "It was a coincidence after all. And he has been very… I don't know, sensitive about it."
"So you have talked to him and he hasn't cursed you or anything?"
Hermione laughed.
"No. We already talked in February and although he was positively furious, he didn't curse me then. He tried to curse me on one occasion though, last week. We actually spent a lot of time together whilst I was in France."
Ginny's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? What have you been doing?"
"We started working on a project together. A combination of the wolfsbane potion and the Homorphus charm."
"So, you just walked up to him and asked him to work on a project together?"
"Well, no", Hermione said and explained to Ginny how he had invited her to the symposium and how they came to work together.
"And then you were just hanging out with him on his balcony?", Ginny said and her eyes were nearly falling out of her head by that stage.
"Well… yes."
"How did he survive?", Ginny asked quietly.
Hermione was caught by surprise.
"I don't know …"
Of all the things they had talked about, this had never come up.
"Ok, I tell you what this sounds like to me", Ginny sat up straight and she reminded Hermione oddly of Mrs Weasley.
"Firstly, I believe he is extremely bored."
Hermione looked sceptical.
"Think of it", Ginny said. "He had been a spy for half of his life, whilst being a teacher at the same time and as far as I am aware, he was a renowned potions master, far beyond the work he has done at Hogwarts." She gave Hermione an expectant look. "Now he only brews potions for a pharmacy. He has done that here in England for St Mungo's too, whilst doing all of the other things."
"You're right", Hermione said apprehensively. She hadn't thought about it like that.
"Next thing, you turn up in his new life. He might have been annoyed and scared at first, but according to what you've told me, that didn't last long."
"He still lashes out at me at times", Hermione explained.
"Of course he does", Ginny said. "But more importantly he doesn't send you away, he doesn't mind you being around." She looked determined. "And I believe there must be a reason for this." She grinned at Hermione who looked slightly suspicious now. "As much as I like you, I don't think Snape likes you enough to risk his exposure. I wonder if he realises he is bored."
"You think he needs me to cure his boredom? That is ridiculous Ginny!" Hermione sounded annoyed.
"No, that's not what I think", Ginny replied. "I am not sure exactly, but I wonder if he sees you as an opportunity. To maybe come back?"
She looked less certain now. "I just don't believe Snape does anything without thinking carefully about it and weighing the pros and cons."
"I don't know, Gin", Hermione couldn't hide her scepticism.
"Well, I don't know either", Ginny got up and put their cup away. "That is just what it seems like to me."
The next few weeks went by quickly. Hermione had a lot of paperwork to do regarding the contracts she needed to cancel for her research funding, muggle and magical alike. She would still be doing her independent research, that was the benefit of her profession in the first place, but she didn't need the funding any longer, and would only do external research if she wanted to.
She spent one weekend finishing the paperwork at her parent's dentistry and once her mother was back they started going to yoga classes again. Even Ginny joined them a couple of times.
She always got excited when George brought a letter from Severus. They exchanged some of the research work they had done, but also checked in on one another's general well-being.
Hermione didn't want to admit it, but she missed having someone in the room to discuss her thoughts with. Her parents were very much like her, but couldn't really keep up with her magical studies, and her friends were not as invested in it as she was. Penny was very good to talk to about research, but lately she seemed to have reduced her independent work and was focusing more on the Hogwarts syllabus and how to improve it. Hermione didn't blame her, she could see that it was just as important. She would probably be the same once she started teaching.
However, she seriously lacked some intellectual discussion at the moment. It was frustrating not having an external source to give her food for thought. An external source being Severus. She had gotten used to it very quickly over the two weeks in France.
I wonder if I could brush up my Arithmancy. It could help to calculate the possible outcomes of several combinations of potions and charms. I will think about some equations and attach the charts to my next letter. I doubt my calculations are good enough to work, but they might be sufficient to determine if equations in general could support the experiments.
Maybe your Arithmancy skills are more promising?
Minerva sent me a letter yesterday. I will be moving to Hogwarts by the middle of August, so probably next week, and work on the Charms and DADA combined syllabus. This year is the first year to have students specialising in DADA with Charms. Most of them chose this combination, there are a good few on the DADA Transfiguration course, and only a handful on the DADA Potions course. But I presume if it were up to you, nobody would have made it into the advanced potions and DADAP classes. Anyway, I am looking forward to teaching my very first DADAC class. I was thinking about covering advanced shielding charms and wards, as well as teaching the ability to use defensive and offensive charms effectively. Anything you would recommend?
Clemency is planning on visiting my parents' dentistry before the new term. I am so glad to see that they can combine magical and muggle professions so seamlessly. I wish we could just sit together like we did two months ago and discuss our work.
Hermione
P.S.: I hope you are feeding George well, he won't eat any of the fruit I give to him!
Hermione,
I am afraid I have to acknowledge my own sin of never really caring very much about Arithmancy. I know it is extremely useful for potion experiments, and luckily I've always had skilled Arithmancy Masters around me. At Hogwarts there was Septima Vector and here in France I have Jerome. He is not as good as Septima, but still an exceptional arithmancer, that is why he is working at the pharmacy mainly, he supports some of the research projects with probability charts.
If you decide to improve your skills, I would recommend talking to Septima at Hogwarts, I believe she has been teaching you during your time as a student and I am certain she wouldn't mind supporting someone who can appreciate her art.
The new DADA syllabus sounds very interesting, I think I have mentioned that before. How do students decide what they want to specialise in and how do you determine who is suitable for which specialisation?
Before anything else, I would recommend insisting on nonverbal spells. Not just using them, but refining them, so that they are as efficient as verbal spells. As you probably know, it is a keen advantage in any precarious situation. I would also teach them to watch and analyse. They should learn to predict their opponent's next move.
Generally speaking, if the student can achieve to cast a variety of nonverbal binding spells and stunning spells, as well as a nonverbal Expelliarmus and Protego and other disarming and shielding charms, they are more than fit for their N.E.W.T.s. It is not on the syllabus as far as I am aware, but you could teach your better students a non-corporal Patronus charm and encourage them to produce a corporal once. I would not insist on it, as some witches and wizards are simply not capable of doing so.
Clemency is obsessed with all those dental health potions, she talks about nothing else these days. I shall be starting to teach her the wolfsbane potion soon, to get her back onto the right track.
You are welcome to visit at any time and discuss your ideas with me.
I have never stocked more nectarines.
S.
Hermione smiled when she read Severus's letter. She remembered what Ginny had said, but it still didn't make sense to her. It was also none of her business, she thought. If he wanted to come to England he would say so, and if not that was fine too. There was no need to dwell on it for now. If anything, she should think about when she could go to France next.