Disclaimer: Neither the world or the characters are mine, I merely borrowed the to have a bit of fun. When I am finished, I will return them slightly used.
Hermione spent her free period after lunch in the library. Harry and Ron had a flying lesson, and she was somewhat relived that they had to leave. She loved her friends, and they did everything in their power to cheer her up, but there was only so much Snape-bashing she could listen to, especially when she knew that the potions master had a point. Also, she desperately wanted to not think about what just happened in his class. The story seemed to be spreading through the castle faster than wildfire, she saw more than one student sending pitying looks in her direction.
She busied herself with what she did best: research. She pulled half a dozen of book on defensive charms and spells, and got to work. They did agree with her friends that everyone would learn new defensive and offensive magic, and she wanted to start with a good shielding charm. Not the simple one they learned in defence class though. She wanted something that provided more all around protection, not just in front of her, something that could stop any kind of magic, not just curses and could keep out physical objects too. It also had to be something one could activate extremely fast. That was quite a tall order, but she was ready to sink a lot of work into this one. A really good shield could save lives, could change the flow of the war.
When it was time to head to the great hall for dinner, she checked out six books with a bored looking madam Pince. Probably she did not have much to do this early in the school year. Folding her treasure under her arm she joined the flow of students trickling towards dinner. When she entered the great hall, she could immediately see her friends – a very wet patch of Gryffindors sitting at their table. It must have been raining hard during the flying lesson. She went to sit next to Harry, careful to keep her books dry.
"Hey, Hermione" they greeted her with a wide grin. Apparently they enjoyed flying even if the weather conditions were despicable. "I see after seven years you found where the library is" he joked. Ron snorted into his pumpkin juice.
"Would be more of a surprise if she realised there were other places in the castle" he piled some more potatoes on his plate. Hermione knew her friends were just teasing her with no intention to hurt her feelings. She looked at them seriously and drew up an eyebrow like the potions master would.
"Is that so, Mr Weasley?" she asked and had to laugh when her friends shuddered, droplets of water falling from the tips of his soggy hair.
"Please don't do that" Ron whispered. "I am trying to eat here."
"I thought you would not want to, you know, think of the dungeon bat after the way you… after the last lesson" Harry muttered. She suddenly regretted the reference, she did not want to think about what went down in potions class, nor worry about her upcoming detention. A heavy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, her appetite gone.
"Well, professor Snape" she put extra emphasis on the honorific "has an image and cover to maintain. He can hardly be seen being anything less than cruel to us. There are a number of Death Eater kids in the class, reporting home to daddy" she explained, drawing her wand. She pointed it at Harry first, casting a nonverbal spell to dry his clothes, then hair.
"Wow, thanks Hermione" he said with a grin and proceeded to wipe his glasses in his now steaming warm robes, while she continued to help Ron. "I was starting to get worried I would not have time to change before I had to go see Filch" Harry added. Ron pulled a face, trying to say something, but seeing the warning glance Hermione sent his way, he decided to chew his food first and swallow before doing so.
"If you are told to polish all those awards in the trophy room, you will be busy till midnight mate" he said eventually. "I think I will never forget what Special Award for Services to the School award looks like, I had to shine it like a dozen times, while you were helping Lockhart answer his fan mail."
"Well, I would have loved to trade places" Harry retorted.
"You'll get the chance now" Ron sniggered.
"Actually, that reminds me.. that Special Award for Services to the School was given to Voldemort right? Because the headmaster at that time had hay for brains and believed that it was Hagrid who opened the Chamber of Secrets."
"Do not use the name" Ron shuddered again. "But essentially, yes" he said suddenly deep in thought. "I wonder why no one thought of taking it back from him, after all, now we know the truth."
"Exactly what I was about to ask" Harry nodded.
"I guess with the students getting petrified everyone was focused on more important things" Hermione remarked.
"Probably. I think it would be time to have it taken back" Harry mused. "I will mention it to professor Dumbledore the next time I see him, that would be a statement from the school about where they stand in this war. If anything, you would have deserved one too, Hermione. You were the one who figured out it was a basilisk and it used the pipes." Her friends suggestion filled her with warmth.
"Thank you Harry, but the two of you risked so much more, you knowingly walked into the danger, I did very little compared to that. Besides, those two awards were enough to win the house cup."
"Well, if you are sure" he dropped the topic. "I cannot believe it is only the second day of the term, and I already have this many detentions lined up. I don't even have a weekend to look forward to" he whined. "It feels like as if Umbridge was back."
"Luckily professor Zhuang looks a lot more competent" Hermione mused.
"And way hotter too. Wonder what she would look like in a bikini" Ron added enthusiastically. She only rolled her eyes, but Harry made a grimace.
"Eww, do not make me imagine Umbridge in a bikini. Or without."
Ron turned green. "Now that is an image that makes my balls want to crawl back up in my stomach and ruin my appetite." Hermione sniggered and finished the last of her apple pie.
"We better get going" Harry announced dejectedly. "I do not want to know what would be the consequences to being late to detention." She had to agree. Grabbing her pile of defence books, she stood, wished a good evening to her fellow Gryffindors, and started walking towards the dungeons.
She was nervous, and did not know what to expect. The feeling of a terrible punishment hanging over her head again returned, and she kept chewing her lover lip. She kept telling herself that it would all be OK, but the closer she drew to the professors study, the less she believed herself. Her feet were sweating and she had not mere butterflies in her stomach, it was a hornets nest by the time she reached her destination. With a trembling hand, she knocked on the door.
"Enter" came in the cold voice of the potions professor. She pushed the door open and stepped into the room. He was sitting behind his desk, marking student's essays.
"Good evening, professor Snape. I am here for my detention" she announced.
"Miss Granger, stating the obvious, as always" he sneered placing his quill back into a pot of red ink. She stood in her spot, wringing her hands nervously, her stomach making somersaults.
"You may put your things down there" He indicated at an empty table. She placed her pile of books on top of it and put her school bag onto the floor. He stood from his chair adjusting the buttons on his cuffs. Hermione bit her lower lip, considering carefully what she should do.
"I... I am very sorry professor" she blurted it out. She was holding onto the edge of her robe as it was some kind of lifeline that kept her from drowning, her fingers turning white. "About the class. I meant no disrespect. I am very sorry if... if I gave the impression that I knew more than you sir." Her eyes were stating to fill with unshed tears again. He looked up at her from his button as if he saw her for the first time. His eyes lingered on her face while she continued to try to apologise to him, though she did not know if she had all the right words to express everything she felt. "I will try to do my best in the future to be less of an annoyance and..." She felt one of the tears roll down her cheek, embarrassed that he would see her cry again. He pinched the bridge of his nose with a pained expression on his face and a deep sigh.
"Miss Granger" he said in a tone usually reserved for the slowest of his students, when he was trying to point out the painfully obvious. "I was under the impression that you understood that what happened in class was an act." He rubbed his face, looking tired.
"But... you were correct about me, sir" she admitted, her voice high pitched and breaking. "I do not have enough experience, I am all just books and texts and... and..." she said looking at her toes. With a deep sigh, he stepped closer to her, and with his left hand gently lifted her chin to look at him.
"Miss Granger, there may have been a little bit of truth in what I said about you helping Weasley and Potter all the time. However, you should not doubt that you are an intelligent, smart, resourceful, reliable witch. You are quick to follow any new topic, learn fast and you understand the implications nearly immediately. You have scientific curiosity and appreciate the excitement of discovery, you are a fierce but open-minded debater. Yes, you are still relative young and yes, you still need to obtain more experience, but you know far more than any of your peers, or even people a decade older than you. At such a young age you have already outsmarted Salazar Slytherin when you figured out that there was a basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, uncovered a deatheater who had been hiding from the law, helped Potter get through the Triwizard tournament, faced death-eaters both in the Ministry of Magic and in the school last year, helped us get rid of that toad the ministry sent here two year ago, and came up with a brilliant plan to destroy horcruxes, which will change the course of this war. This is more than what most Order member have done. You even managed to help Longbottom pass potions for five years, which is beyond impressive" he added with a smirk, letting her chin go. "Yes, you should stop helping Potter and Weasley that much, and yes, you should not let others see all you can do, but we have already discussed that. This display will serve as an excellent excuse for you to start keeping knowledge to yourself and raise your hand less often in class."
Hermione was reeling from what she was hearing. Intelligent... resourceful, her head was spinning with it. Something tight in her chest had broken open, and relief flooded her. She could not explain why, but she started crying, sobs tearing free from her. She tried to dab at her eyes with the back of her hand, she tried to calm her breathing, but there was no stopping the waterworks. The potions master watched her looking completely lost. She could relate, she did not understand her own reaction either. His words had filled her with a kind of warmth she had not felt in a long time, gave her immense pride. It felt as if she was a helium balloon, light, oh so light and ready to float away. If she wanted to be honest the world seemed and felt a bit unreal around her, soft and fuzzy at the edges, as if she was in a strange dream.
"There, there" he said, patting her back gently, looking more than a bit confused. She grabbed onto the front of his robes. She noted absently that his clothes smelled like cinnamon, grapefruit and sandalwood, warm, earthy, spicy. She allowed her tears to flow, while he just stood there awkwardly. His praise has meant the world to her, she was more proud of it than her innumerable outstanding OWLs, it made her happier than all the gifts she got last Christmas, so why was she crying? Knowing that Severus Snape did not hate her, that he thought she was smart and intelligent... it gave her the feeling that the world was tilting around its corner, moving, spinning and it suddenly righted itself. She felt that everything had been out of balance, as if she had been looking at reality through a lens of distortion, and now it righted itself. Professor Snape was angry with her for being a know-it-all, but Severus Snape though she had brilliant ideas. Professor Snape thought she was just regurgitating text books, Severus Snape thought she had scientific curiosity. Professor Snape thought she was a naive, obnoxious little girl, Severus Snape said she was more accomplished and experienced than most other Order members. Severus Snape liked his coffee with three sugars, cream and cinnamon, professor Snape took it black. But that was all right, Severus Snape was real, and professor Snape was just the mask he had to wear, one she got to take a peek behind.
"There, there" he patted her back again uncomfortably, standing over her in a rigid posture. He was a master of many arts, but apparently comforting sobbing young witches was not one of his numerous talents. The idea made her giggle, and it helped her to dry her tears. She stepped back, her last hiccing sobs dying away, smiling a board smile at her teacher.
"Thank you, professor. It... it means the world to me to hear that" she admitted. "I.. I am very sorry for this" she explained gesturing at her own face, washed in tears and snot dripping from her nose. She drew a handkerchief from her pocket. "I... I honestly do not know what got into me" she added blowing her nose. She saw there was a dark, wet patch on his robes where her tears have soak the fabric.
"That is fine, Miss Granger" he answered still looking bewildered but relived. "If you managed to compose yourself, please put on the robes I gave you, and we can begin with brewing, we have quite a bit of work to do."
She finished blowing her nose, and went to retrieve the special 'dunderhead proof' robes she got. She shrugged into the heavy fabric, and waved her wand wordlessly to button the millions of buttons on it. Secretly she enjoyed how alike they looked in it, she could have gotten used to the dramatics of the billowing cloak.
"We will be working in my private lab" he announced turning away. He walked to a door behind his desk, and motioned for Hermione to follow him. She hurried across the study with the faded black fabric flapping around her, and stepped into a room that reminded her a lot of the lab at Grimmauld place. She realised it must have been professor Snape who designed the layout of said workplace, and he probably wanted to create something similar to what he was already used to. There were several worktables in the room, a door that probably led to a supply cabinet, shelves and cupboards that held knives, cauldrons, stirring rods, mortars, cutting boards and other supplies. One of the work benches held piles of ingredients, and another had a cauldron on it with some sort of potion that let out a loud popping noise intermittently, like someone blowing bubbles from gum. Probably the Essence of void.
"We have reached a state of this potion here that needs what is called tandem brewing" he explained. "This is not the same as two students working together in class. This means that ingredients need to be added that have to be prepared fresh on the spot, and the two potioneers need to do the preparing and the adding together. There will be quite a few instances that we need to do this in the upcoming weeks. Tonight, it will be first fire crab shells" he gestured to a bucket sitting on the floor "which I will be preparing, and humming walnut extract." He pushed a bowl in front of her.
For the next few minutes they kept working together in silence. Hermione stole a few glances at him, watching the expert moves as he handled the ingredients with surety and speed. He chose to take on the more finicky task, yet he was progressing at a lot greater speed. When they were finished, they both had to stand over the cauldron, and drop ingredients at the same time. One crab shall, one humming walnut, one dandelion leaf, one camomile flower. The position of where the ingredients had to hit the surface mattered too. They had to repeat the process precisely nine times, the position of the ingredients moving around in a clockwise manner. It required a very careful cooperation, their arms moving nearly like a dance, without hitting each other or getting in each other's way. The first few drops were somewhat awkward, not enough room to move, bumping into each other a few times, having to stand very close to each other so that they could both reach all the ingredients when it was their turn to drop them in the brew. Hermione realised that she became hyper-aware of his presence while they were working, and begun to be able to anticipate his next moves better and better. It was a complex dance of their hands, stirring, reaching, counting, dropping, perfectly timed like a Swiss watch.
They had to repeat the tandem brewing stage three times with the potion, using different ingredients, before they were finished with it for the day, and by the time they added the last ingredient, their movements felt well-practiced and in perfect harmony. When the last set of herbs hit the surface of the brew, it turned to a bright bubble-gum-pink colour, as expected. Hermione let out a sigh of relief, and smiled at the potions master over the cauldron. They did it, she was proud of their work. The potion would need to shimmer a few days before it had to be decanted and they could go on with the preparation. The corners of his mouth pulled up a touch too.
"I think we earned a coffee break" she announced, lacing her fingers together, and stretching her arms above her head.
"Very well, we can take a refreshment in my office before we continue with the preparation of the Prison of magic." They returned to his study. He sat in his usual green leather chair behind his desk, while Hermione sank gratefully into a chair meant for visitors. Driven by a sudden idea, she called out.
"Dobby!" the house elf appeared in the study with a loud pop. This time he was wearing two different socks on his feet, one orange and one rainbow coloured, a pair of khaki shorts, a light-reflecting vest in an eye-searing green colour, a blue tie with yellow rubber duckies on it, and a baseball cap with Mickey Mouse ears on it. His clothes were mismatched, but immaculately clean.
"How can Dobby help the friend of Harry Potter?" he asked with an enthusiastic smile, bowing to Hermione. She noticed that he also sported a black eye.
"Thank you Dobby" she greeted him. "We would like some coffee, please. Can you please prepare one for me with a bit of cinnamon, three sugars and cream and a black one for professor Snape?"
"Dobby will make the best coffee young Miss ever had!" he answered enthusiastically. "Can Dobby do anything else?"
"Thank you. It is very important that no one knows that I am here working with Professor Snape" she said seriously. "I am sure you know that the wizarding world is at war, and what we are doing here will help Harry, but it must remain a secret. Can you promise not to tell anyone, not even by accident?"
"Dobby is a good house elf" he repeated. "Dobby will keep the secrets of Miss Harry Potter's friend!" he exclaimed. "Dobby will rather iron his own hands than say anything" he gave her another bow and disappeared with a pop.
"Miss Harry Potter's friend?" Snape asked with an arched brow.
"I think Harry is Dobby's most favourite person in the world, he means that as a compliment" she explained. "Dobby was abused terribly by his former owners, and Harry tricked them to free the elf."
"Ah, I did think he seemed rather familiar. Was he the elf of Lucius?" he asked. It did not occur to Hermione that the potions master may have had a causal relationship with Malfoy senior, but it made sense. They were fellow Slytherins, Death Eaters and he was the teacher and head of house of Draco, not to mention he had saved the young man's life last year.
"Yes, he..." before she could have finished her sentence, Dobby has reappeared with a pop, balancing a huge tray. He set it down on the desk between them. There were two cups, one Gryffindor red with gold edges and a lion, the other Slytherin green with a silver round and a snake for a handle. The first held a light coloured creamy substance, the second black coffee. There was also a coffee pot, a cream jug, sugar, and a plate of different cookies on the tray.
"Thank you, Dobby, that looks great!" she beamed.
"Dobby is happy to help, Miss" he insisted enthusiastically.
"Can you please tell me what happened to you eye?" she asked concerned. The ears of the little elf drooped sadly.
"Winky is not well, Miss. Winky drinks a lot of butterbeer, and when she does... she is not a very good elf. Dobby tries to help. Dobby understands that Winky is just sad, but Winky often hurts Dobby." Hermione's heart twisted painfully at the sad expression of the elf. She decided that she would try to help the poor little elf, but this was not the right time for that.
"Thank you, Dobby. Can I talk to you later? I want to help you to make Winky feel better."
"Dobby doesn't think that Miss friend of Harry Potter can help, but Dobby is happy to talk" he said giving them a bow, and disappeared with a pop. Hermione returned her attention to the tray on the table. The red cup was closer to her. She turned the tray around, until the Slytherin mug was on her side, and picked it up. The potions master took the offending red cup, taking a sip. Hermione grinned into her own drink, trying to commit the image to her memory.
"I hear you have found yourself another project to work on" he drawled, setting down the china with a chink. "The year only begun two days ago, and you are already buried in projects" he motioned towards the pile of library books sitting on the side table. "What is so urgent that you had to start researching it this soon?" he asked, his tone lacking the usual mockery.
"Ah. Have you met professor Zhuang yet, sir?" she asked. If the seemingly off-topic question surprised him, he did not show it.
"Only in passing" he replied picking up one of the chocolate chip cookies Dobby left for them. Why?"
"Have you heard what happened at the train station?" she asked back taking a sip of her black brew.
"Rumours only" he replied, taking a bite. "I take you were there in person?"
"Yes, sir. In short, Logan Davis was trying to cajole his girlfriend, Vicky into some kissing and... something more" she added blushing slightly. She was not going to give him the details on what he wanted. "It was obvious she was not willing under the circumstances, and I decided to intervene when professor Zhuang appeared."
"Yes, she was tasked to chaperone the students this year" he explained.
"Well, Logan was rather self-assured and wanted to play the situation off as if I was trying to interrupt a mutually wanted snogging session. The professor did not buy it, and after expressing that she disliked being lied to, she has hit him with something. I think it was a bolt of raw magic, I have never seen anything like that in my life. She did not do anything I could see. Not a movement, not an incantation not a casting... it just simply jumped out of her, and hit Logan right in his privates." Hermione noticed that Severus Snape crossed his legs discreetly, but she decided not to mention it. Men and their family jewels. "Logan collapsed to his knees, whining and crying, clearly in a lot of pain. The magic left a kind of burning scent on the air, and when it passed by me, it felt like a swarm of angry bees. I know I am not an expert on scary things, but the professor absolutely terrifies me" she admitted.
"Miss Granger, by now you have faced head on a basilisk, a werewolf, devil's snare, a heard of angry centaurs, a giant, several groups of death-eaters, dementors, a three headed monster dog and who knows what else on the hay-brained adventures Potter dragged you along on. If you say that you found something unsettling about our new defence against the dark arts teacher, I am inclined to believe you. The ability to command raw magic is very unusual but by itself not that frightening. Being magikinetic is one of the rarer inborn abilities, like being a parselmouth, a natural legilimens, being telekinetic or a metamorphmagus" he added lifting his cup to his lips. "There must have been something more that made you feel so anxious."
"It is hard to put it into words" she explained. "But there was something cold and nonchalant about the professor, like she truly did not care about what was happening. Like it did not matter to her if he, or even we all were hurt seriously. I mean, Logan deserved every second of inconvenience" he grimaced at her choice of words "he got to experience, no questions there. But when she was done, she just gave all Gryffindor boys detention to attend a seminar on consent and left. She never asked how Vicky was doing, and the poor girl was scared out of her mind that next is her turn. She did not understand why Logan was in trouble, I had to explain it to her. While I think he is a pile of nincompoop, he is a student of this institute and it is supposed to be her responsibility to make sure that all of us made it to the castle safely, even him. But she just walked away. I told Harry and Ron to take care of that idiot, and walked Vicky to the carriages. The scary thing wasn't just what the professor could do, but that she would, and she would feel nothing about it, not any more than stepping on a bug."
"She probably assumed you as a head girl would take care of it" he suggested.
"Yes, but you know how it is about assume. It makes an ass of u and me" he answered cheekily. He snorted into his coffee. "She should have made sure it would happen. And while I personally feel that Logan deserved what he got shooting the privates of a student with raw magic is hardly an appropriate punishment."
"That is an intriguing insight, I admit" he uncrossed his legs. "But I fail to see what it has to do with half of the defence section of the library sitting on that table." The corners of his lips tugged up into a half-smile.
"Ah, yes" she blushed about having forgotten why she started with the story. "I am genuinely scared of her and what she could and would do. I do not think she would do serious or permanent damage to us on purpose, but I also believe she could kind of forget that it could happen or underestimate the danger. And if it did happen, I doubt it would bother her much. I want to find a good shielding spell that can give me protection from her raw magic bolts, among other things. Preferably something that has a large spatial coverage, spherical would be best, but it needs to be something that can be cast in a split of a second. I will not have time to do complex wand-waving when that thing is coming for us."
"And have you found what you were looking for?" he asked downing the last of his coffee.
"Not yet, sir. Some of the things are promising, but either not robust or not fast enough."
"Stay here" he said setting down his cup with a chink. He strode to a plain section of wall and waved his hand. A ward glowed green and a piece of the wall revealed itself to be a secret door that opened into another room. She could only see a small section of it from where she was sitting, but it must have been part of his private quarters. She could see the edge of an armchair, a piece of a wooden floor and a corner of a bookcase before the door closed behind him. Intrigued, she set down her own empty cup waiting for his return. He must have known exactly what he was looking for because it only took him a minute or two to return with a leather-bound book in his hand.
"You will probably find this spell very useful" he said setting it down in front of her. She immediately recognised the book as being part of the famous Hamilton series. The book collection contained nine volumes on different topics, and there were only a few dozen in circulation of each, even incomplete, bad copies were priceless. If he kept such a book on a shelf in his own selection, she would be dying to be able to brows though his library.
"Is this..." she said with a gasp. He smirked.
"Yes. Volume five on defence." He studied her face, and she felt herself blush with excitement to get to see such a rare treasure. As if reading her mind, he added "And yes, I do own more than one book from the series. No not all of them, and no, you may not invade my private quarters to ransack my library." She felt her cheeks turn a deep red at how easily he guessed what she was thinking. He only reacted to that with a self-assured smirk. Slytherins.
The book was open at a page showing a complex diagram and magic chart. "This is extremely complex defensive magic" he warned. "It can do what you requested, and it seems easy and fast to cast, but it isn't. The only way to get it to work in a timely manner is practice until you develop muscle memory. Hundreds and hundreds of times to make it become second nature." She was already impressed with his library, but anyone with money could own rare books. He was apparently also very familiar with what they contained, not that she expected any less of him.
"Thank you, sir. This is exactly what I was looking for" she said delighted. Carefully she lifted the book, studying the page.
"You may borrow it to study the spell, but make sure no one sees you with it. I am not in the habit of lending my books to anyone, let alone a student." She was absolutely giddy with the notion that she could take the book with her, that he would trust her with such a valuable possession. This is what Ron may have felt if one of the Cannons took him for a round of flying.
"Thank you, professor" she said gratefully, holding the book against her chest with a brilliant smile.
"I will expect it back next time you are coming to detention. I do not think I have to warn you to take good care of it."
"Of course not, sir" she said slightly offended. "That goes without saying."
"In that case I think it is time continue our work" he suggested. Hermione carefully hid the book in her bag, making sure no one would see it and nothing would happen to it. Before walking back to the lab she took her time to turn the tray around once more, so the Gryffindor cup would be closer to where she sat and the Slytherin cup would be at the potions master's end of the table. Just in case.