Hermione sat hunched over her desk. In keeping with her style, she was distinctively early. Potions class wasn't due to start for another ten minutes yet here she sat, all ready to go.
Almost.
A tight pain clutched at her abdomen, demanding the attention of every fibre of her being.
Damn she hated this time of the month.
This lesson was going to be a struggle, just sitting up straight for an hour and a half was going to be near impossible, let alone actually doing anything else.
She clutched at her abdomen once more, as though doing so would relieve the pain. This had happened enough times for her to know that no amount of doing so would ease the agony.
How she wanted to just let out a howl or a scream.
"What is the matter Miss Granger?" Snape's silky smooth drawl seemed to fill the room, yet he didn't stop as he strode from the doorway, all the way to his desk in front of the class.
Hermione gasped before instinctively sitting up straight in her seat.
"N-nothing." The young witch lied before making a scene of rearranging her school books on the desk before her.
Snape eyed her sceptically as he stood behind his desk,
"Miss Granger, if you are not feeling well, I suggest you go and see Madam Pomphrey."
"I'm fine." Hermione offered the man a smile, yet her pale complexion and tense muscles suggested otherwise.
Snape retained his dubious expression, yet he pressed the young witch no further, instead deciding to withdraw his wand before waving it at the black board behind him.
"I trust you have finished the essay I had set for the class last lesson?" Snape raised an eyebrow, yet the essence of an amused smirk seemed to encroach on the corners of his lips. It seemed he knew the answer already as Hermione wondered why he bothered asking.
"Of course." She nodded before trolling through her bag for the relevant parchment. Within no time she had located the thoroughly inscribed parchment before passing it to the professor.
Snape whisked it open, his eyes darting across the page before offering the young witch a courteous nod.
"I see you have gone into greater detail than what was required." Snape stated as he rolled the parchment back into a cylindrical tube before placing it on his desk.
"I didn't think there was much point leaving out anything." Hermione gritted through slightly clenched teeth. She thought she was doing well to disguise just how much pain was strangling her body.
Snape's eyes narrowed upon the girl before he turned on his heel. Hermione glanced at the professor as he suddenly strode across the classroom before opening a small cupboard. She thought he must be getting ingredients ready for the upcoming class, yet as she gazed into the cupboard, it seemed as though it was full of already completed potions adorned in beautiful, ornate glass bottles.
He stood there, as though searching the collection for one in particular. He whisked a bottle of dark orange liquid before closing the creaking cupboard doors once more. He strode over to Hermione's desk, stalling in front of it before placing the bottle on the desk in front of her.
"This will ease the pain." Snape whispered, his voice adopting a gentler tone, the likes of which were foreign to the witch. She had never witnessed any sort of kindness in his gestures before, in fact she doubted many people had seen this side of the professor either.
"How did you know?" A pink tinge rose in Hermione's cheeks as her eyes darted to the ground.
Did he know though?
Or did he just think she was experiencing some non-menstrual related pain?
"Don't be embarrassed." Snape stated, as though the words were a fact not to be reckoned with.
"It's a natural bodily function." He added as he turned once more on his heel before starting for his desk.
Hermione eyed the bottle carefully, as though trying to decide whether to open it then or at the end of class. Another wave of agony tore through her abdomen, helping her decide as she began unscrewing the lid of the aged bottle.
She took a swig before placing the glass bottle back down on the desk in front of her.
A warmth radiated through her throat before extending down into her stomach and consuming the rest of her body.
Her cramps began to ease almost instantly.
What was this potion?
Had Snape brewed it himself?
"How does one make this potion?" Hermione perked up as her energy seemed to course back through her veins instead of being siphoned by the constant pain.
"How about I show you some time, perhaps, tonight?" Snape offered as the steady, distinctive trot of student's feet began to grow louder outside the classroom.
Hermione nodded before giving it any thought at all.
"Good, shall we say, 8 o'clock?"
*~.~*
Hermione took her seat at the great hall, her eyes ran over the dinner time feast, yet she felt as though she were losing her appetite as an uncomfortable sensation began to grow once more in her abdomen.
Perhaps it was time for another swig of Snape's potion.
She reached into her bag, withdrew the bottle before raising it to her lips.
"What's that your drinking?" Ron screwed up his face as he watched Hermione draw the strange bottle to her lips.
Hermione flinched, she hadn't even seen her two best friends enter the hall. Let alone sit down next to her.
"Hermione, I need your help tonight." Harry interrupted, not waiting for the witch to answer Ron's question, yet nothing in Hermione's expression suggested that she minded the interruption.
"I've got quidditch practice at 7, but after that could you help me with my homework?"
"I can't Harry."
"What? How come?"
"Believe it or not, I have extra lessons tonight."
"Extra lessons?" Ron screwed up his face in disgust.
"What for?"
"It doesn't matter." Hermione stated before sliding her potion bottle back into her bag.
She felt the persistent gaze of her two friends upon her, as though the answer she had given was not at all satisfactory.