The Potions Master and the Know-It-All
Hermione Granger sat against a tree next to the black lake in the early hours of the morning. Her N.E.W.T.S were coming up and she needed to study twice as hard as she had been which is why she found herself sitting outside three hours before breakfast in the solitude of the morning. The brisk morning air made her felt refreshed as she surrounded herself with various Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration books. Hermione felt quite confident about Charms and Transfiguration, but it was Potions she really wanted to focus on. She sighed to herself. The boys wanted her to join them at the Ministry as an Auror or researcher so the Golden Trio could stay together. She had no desire to do that. She wanted to apprentice in Potions and become a Potions Mistress. The war was over, and she had enough fighting for a lifetime. While research was a passion of hers, Hermione didn't agree with the way the Ministry ran things and wanted no part of it. The thought of standing over a cauldron day after day was way more appealing than sitting at the Ministry. She opened a large book about complex potions and began to read. She was just absorbing herself in a chapter on complicated healing potions when a voice startled her.
"I don't think you will find those potions on your NEWT exam." Severus Snape, the feared Potions Professor was standing next to the tree with a slight smirk on his face. The little know-it-all never stopped reading and learning. IT was a quality that was both annoying but endearing.
Hermione blushed. "I know that, Sir. But I do so love to go above and beyond. Know-it-all and whatnot."
Snape chuckled. "Indeed. When are you going to tell your two companions that you won't be following them to the Ministry?" Snape knew what was going on. His spying days may be over, but that didn't mean he wasn't still good at overhearing conversations. Especially when it came to a certain group of Gryffindors that couldn't keep quiet to save their lives. He had heard the overly enthusiastic conversations about the famed Golden Trio going to the Ministry together. He also heard the less than enthusiastic tone that a certain know-it-all took that was overlooked by the two dunderhead boys. Snape knew Hermione was quite proficient when it came to Potions despite the way he used to teach and criticize. She would make an excellent Potions Mistress if she could pull herself away from those two morons. He saw unbridled potential in her. He saw the look on her face and knew he had struck a cord, but she suddenly looked very angry.
"You don't know what you are talking about! I never said anything about that! You don't know anything about me or what I want to do!" Hermione argued. She wouldn't look him in the eye because she knew he was on to something.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Let me tell you what I know. You wish to become a Potions Mistress but haven't told your little friends about it. I have observed the behavior of you and your companions over the last seven years and it gives me quite a good idea of the mannerisms and inner workings of your minds. Potter and Weasley aspire to be Aurors—" He sighed. "—Merlin help us all—and they want you to join the Ministry as well. To them it would be a crime to break up the Golden Trio. You want to do something else with your life but are afraid of disappointing by telling them you don't want to do it. You will follow them, and the famed Golden Trio will stand strong while you live in disappointment of what you could have achieved but never went for. Tell me, Miss Granger, is my assessment correct?"
Hermione was stunned. He was about 85% correct but she wouldn't let him know that. "Okay, Sherlock Holmes." She said sarcastically, bringing a smirk to his face. "You think you know everything, but that is not the reason I am not pursuing Potions! There are completely different reasons!" He snorted. "And what are these reasons, Miss Granger?"
Hermione huffed in annoyance. "First, none of the Masters I applied to have accepted me so don't even try to make a comment about the Golden Trio fame giving me any job I want. Second, I would need employment while pursuing my Masters in Potions and the Ministry would not be conducive to an apprenticeship. At least if I go to the Ministry, I have guaranteed employment. Now, if you don't mind," Hermione stood and grabbed her books. "I'm going to breakfast with my companions. I will see you in class, Professor." She walked off towards the castle, leaving the Potions Professor lost in thought. She walked quickly in the direction of the castle. Snape had called her bluff and it made her angry. Snape hardly said a word and already had her questioning why she was so attached to her friends. Of course, she had been the brains of their little trio, but she shouldn't be tied down to them forever. She and Ron had tried dating after the war but felt too much like siblings to continue. He had moved on with Lavender Brown and they were happy. Harry had Ginny and the entire Weasley clan. They would be fine without her, so why was she so afraid to move on? She knew part of it of course. She had nowhere else to go or anyone else to turn to. Her parents were in Australia unaware that they even had a daughter. She could still contact her friends and meet up on weekends but other than that she would be alone. She arrived at the Great Hall and sat across from Harry and Ron. She could think about her future later. For now, she would enjoy time with her friends.
Severus Snape watched the young Gryffindor walk away. She had so much potential she was about to waste on being a Ministry lackey. A much as he had been loathe to admit it, she was the brightest witch of her age. To follow Potter and Weasley would be a waste of her brilliant mind. Despite how he acted in her previous years at Hogwarts, he did not hate her. Quite the contrary actually. He respected her and her brilliance. Many of his comments before the end of the war had been to keep up pretenses as a spy. She was intelligent and keen to learn anything. She would be an outstanding Potions Mistress and all the masters that turned her away were fools and would come to regret their decision. He wondered what it would take to get her to leave the boys and pursue her passion. An idea struck him, and he ran straight to the headmaster's office. He gave the password to the gargoyle and entered the office. Dumbledore looked up from his book when Severus walked in.
"Ah, Severus, what brings you to my office on this lovely morning?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"Albus, I want to take on an apprentice for starting at the end of this term. Just one apprentice and I require lodging to be allowed on the premises and employment is a must for this particular person. Would this meet with your approval?" Snape asked, cutting to the chase.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled annoyingly. "Of course, Severus, but may I ask why you suddenly want to take on an apprentice? That's normally something you want nothing to do with. I don't think you've ever accepted one."
Snape rolled his eyes. "Oh I don't know, Albus, maybe because I have so much time on my hands since I'm not spying on two sides of a war on a daily basis anymore. Call it a hobby if you want to. Don't normal people have those?"
Dumbledore chuckled and Snape was getting annoyed with that damned twinkle. "Who is this lucky individual that you have chosen to begin this, as you say, hobby with? They must be quite skilled if the great Severus Snape is going to train them. One of your Slytherins perhaps?"
Snape scoffed. "As if any of the dunderheads in my house have any outstanding skills in potions. They spend more time terrorizing Gryffindors than paying attention. The Gryffindor's would be a more likely guess, Albus, and that hurts me to say believe me."
"Ah, so it's a Gryffindor then? I'm honestly surprised, Severus. Who is it?" He smiled as Severus mumbled a name and turned slightly red. "I'm sorry, Severus, I didn't catch that."
Snape groaned. "Its Hermione Granger. Happy now? Look, Albus, if I have your approval then I'm going to go now." He turned to leave but was stopped by Dumbledore's next words.
"Why her, Severus? You've always been quite cruel to Miss. Granger. Did she ask you?"
Severus sighed and sat himself across of the headmaster. "No, she didn't. Albus, doesn't it bother you that she's following Potter and Weasley just to make them happy? Even you have to see that she has so much potential that would be better used elsewhere."
"But, Severus, those three saved the wizarding world together. That is a bond not easily broken. They need each other." Dumbledore said. "Maybe its for the best they stay together."
"Albus, that's utter nonsense! For once in your life would you stop manipulating things for your own selfish purposes! Can't you see that they use her for her intelligence and give her no appreciation whatsoever? You would wish that on her forever? Her skill in potions is flawless! I would go so far as to say she rivals my skills! I will not allow you to convince her to stay with them! I will not let you create another person like me! If you won't let me take her as an apprentice, then I will resign my position here and train her on my own! I will not let her life be ruined!"
Albus leaned back in his chair. "Tell me, Severus, why do you care so much about what becomes of Miss Granger?"
"Because I know first hand what it feels like to be manipulated and feel like you don't have the choice to back away." Snape said accusingly. "I don't want to see it happen to someone else."
"I approve of your apprenticeship, but I must ask if there are stronger feelings involved in your decision making." That damned twinkle was back in the headmaster's eyes.
"No, Albus, there are no stronger feelings involved." Snape said.
"No harm in asking. It wouldn't be an awful thing if there were feelings. She will be graduated and an adult. Just a thought for you." Dumbledore said slyly.
"Moving on, Albus. I will provide the apprentice chambers down in the dungeons for her. What employment will she be provided?"
"Well with Slughorn retiring and you returning to the potions professor position I will be in need of a defense against the dark arts professor. I'm sure Miss Granger can handle teaching OWL levels. I you wish you may teach the NEWT level. She will of course have free lodging her as long as needed. Will that arrangement be agreeable to you?"
"Yes, Albus. Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an apprenticeship offer to extend." Snape swiftly left the room in a swish of robes.
A cat jumped down from a bookshelf in Albus's office. She transfigured back into Minerva Mcgonagall. "Albus, do you really think this is a wise decision?"
"Minerva, this is the best decision I think I've ever made. Severus deserves to be happy, very much like Hermione Granger does. They both lost so much. I think they will be perfect for each other. Perhaps by spending so much time together something will blossom."
Little did the headmaster know that there was more than just time spent together that would bring these two together.