A/N: Wow, another chapter! I'm on fire! Appreciation would be gratuitously accepted in the form of reviews.
Anyway, thanks for reading and especially for leaving reviews. I genuinely appreciate reviews.
Enjoy!
Chapter 39: Layer By Layer
Hermione returned to Hogwarts via a very turbulent Floo travel, following after Professor Dumbledore and Snape. Had it not been for Harry's firm grip on the holders of her Chair, Hermione would have fallen face down on the Headmaster's office floor when the fireplace rudely expelled her.
Ron, Remus and Professor McGonagall followed them through the Floo. Hermione curtly looked away when Ron appeared. Though she felt childish doing that, it did provide satisfaction.
"It had been an efficient meeting, wouldn't you agree?" The Headmaster looked pleased.
"Indeed," Professor McGonagall replied.
"Albus, I would like to volunteer to be a part of the confrontation," Remus said earnestly.
"I shall prepare a list in a day," the Headmaster replied. "You may be placed on stand-by. The Order members who would be initially attacked in the safe-house have to be the ones with no other residence to live. But you, Remus, are already living at the castle, it might spark suspicion to find you there."
"Severus," Professor McGonagall said, "Do you have something to add?"
"Expect no less than five to seven Death Eaters," he informed. "I will inform of the exact number to you."
"How?" Remus asked. "I believe a Patronus cannot be cast by a-"
"A Death Eater?" Professor Snape raised a brow in challenge.
"That is not what I was implying, Severus..." Remus said with politeness.
"How I inform the Order is upto me. You may keep your snout out of it, Lupin."
The cold altercation left all occupants in the room uncomfortable. Hermione felt completely out of place, like a meddlesome intruder. Thus, she was the one to speak first. "May we take our leave, Professors?"
"Of course," Professor Dumbledore granted. "And, Miss Granger, you had been immensely helpful today."
Hermione offered a small smile. "Thank you, Sir." Ron and Harry, too, excused themselves along with her. She turned her Chair and followed the boys out, making sure to still give Ron a cold shoulder.
After such a long, hectic day, all she craved for was her bed and her familiar to cuddle who unfortunately could not come to the Hospital Wing with her.
UUUUUUU
"Can Miss feels this?" Karly looked up at Hermione with her curios, big eyes.
"I can," Hermione grinned.
Karly tickled another spot on her right leg. "Can Miss feels this?"
"Yes, I have complete sensation in my legs, I think," Hermione declared, grinning widely.
"Medi-witch Pomfrey says Miss feels is good news," Karly added.
"Yes, it is good news. Thanks to you, Karly for being such an amazing Physiotherapist to me."
If house-elves could blush, the tiny house-elf would have been crimson by now. "Can Miss moves her leg up?"
Hermione focused on the said appendix. She clenched her jaw and winced in her efforts to move her leg. Beyond a negligible twitch, she found she could still not move.
Sensing Hermione's disappointment, Karly jumped to stand beside Hermione on her bed. "Miss should not be sad. Miss is good."
Hermione let on a smile. "Thank you, Karly. I'm not sad. I know it will take more time."
Hermione checked her watch. "I think I better go for breakfast now."
Suddenly, with a pop, another house-elf popped before her, the one she recognised to be Timmer. "Oh, hello."
Timmer bowed and extended a folded parchment towards her. Hermione took it and unfolded the note.
Granger,
As you must have noticed the change in my teaching time-table, I am afraid we have to set our meeting time for Thursdays rather than Wednesdays. I do understand your schedule must be packed with shifts at the Hospital Wing, thus I have discussed with Madam Pomfrey to let me guide you with Potion brewing on Thursdays. I believe we did plan on the similar lines before the debacle with Slughorn took place but I never got a chance to.
I will see you in my office at the same time your shift at the Infirmary usually starts on Thursdays.
Do send me a note confirming the appointment with my house-elf.
-S. S.
Hermione let out a chuckle on reading the note at its formal style of writing. She wondered if that was how he even wrote to the closest of his friends. But wait. They weren't...friends, were they?
Wishful thinking.
Hermione penned a short reply in affirmation on a piece of parchment. She handed the parchment to Timmer with polite thank you. He bowed and popped away.
Karly helped her into her Chair. Hermione collected her bag from the table and said a goodbye to her tiny friend.
Hermione found herself exceptionally excited at the prospect of learning from a highly qualified Potions Master that he was. There was so much he could train her in—from deftly slicing Flobberworms to brewing complicated potions like the Wolfsbane Potion. Farfetched ideas of pursuing a Mastery in Potions after becoming a certified Healer danced in her head.
When she met her friends at the Great Hall, nobody could guess her enthusiasm to have been caused by their dour Potions Master.
UUUUUUU
"That was bloody brilliant!" For a moment, Ron completely forgot that he was still angry with Hermione. But on her part, Hermione still ignored him. He sensed his folly and looked away.
"You were really good, Hermione," Neville smiled.
"Yeah? Ask me," Harry was still rubbing his shoulder where her hex had caught him.
She chuckled. "You want me to heal that, Harry?"
"No, thank you. I'll take it as a battle scar. It'll prod me to work harder if I want to take Voldemort down one day," he said sarcastically. Neville and Ron flinched at the name. "But really, I never thought you would go against a Professor. Until it was not Umbitch."
Hermione had no intentions to reprimand Harry for his language that one time. "Remus was being ridiculous. I had to show him what I was capable of. I had expected him to deduct points for disobedience."
"That would have been even more ridiculous," Neville said. "But anyway, he will never ask you to remain out of lessons anymore."
"Yes," she smiled in triumph.
Today, in DADA, when Remus had again barred her from practising the Non-verbal hexes, owing to her 'condition', and rather asked her to practise a Non-verbal Lumos and Nox, Hermione had snapped.
She had completely disregarded him and paired up with Harry. Within the following five minutes, Remus had realised his fault and did not bother her again.
She had Occluded the sheer defiance from her face and instead offered a polite apology to him, which he had accepted.
UUUUUUU
"Is there a particular reason why you are constantly grinning, showing off each one of your teeth?" Professor Snape said with slow sarcasm.
She truly could not help it. "Well, I'm just too excited to learn."
"Imagine my surprise," he said dryly.
Hermione looked around his office. "So should we go to the Potions classroom?"
"No, in fact. I will show you my Private Lab," he informed. "We will be brewing there."
Hermione gasped, "Really? That's great! Where is it?"
"Believe me, it is nothing too grand," he said dryly.
Hermione glanced at the shelves of jarred potion ingredients that covered the walls of his office. "I beg to differ."
"You have never seen an actual Potions Laboratory with its deserving grandeur," he said. "The Master under whom I had apprenticed owned an exquisite Lab, in Salem."
"You once told me that you want to do private research, why don't you build a Lab of that standard when you start your research?" She suggested. "I am quite sure you won't return to teach after the war."
He hesitated to reply and Hermione wondered why. Finally, he simply switched the topic. "Come, let me show you my Lab."
As she had expected, he retrieved his wand and pointed towards the only bare wall in his office. He muttered something in Latin that she could not catch. As a result, the bricks on the wall shifted to reveal another bare wall behind. There, he placed the tip of his wand on six different spots in a pattern. The dots were soon joined by green lines. The pattern emerged out to be an 'S'. The lines glowed before disappearing. The wall parted to open into a Lab.
"I do believe you understand the secrecy that I practise with my dwellings," he said.
"Of course."
Hermione followed him through the doorway. The Lab was similar to their classroom in many aspects, she noted. It was obviously not made to fit a batch of students, but other than that it seemed very much alike. Several counters stood at safe distance from one another. She started looking around the counters but found them empty except for some cauldrons put on stasis. A sink had its place in a corner which was again clean and empty. She looked around to spot another door—the ingredients-cupboard, she understood. Looking through the open door, she found the cupboard to be no less than a proper room filled with shelves of bottled ingredients and potion vials. Hermione moved her Chair closer, lost in awe. Sone closed cabinets, too, among the shelves housed the paraphernalia.
"This is lovely," she whispered. "To work here alone, in peace. Wow."
"You shall set a separate counter for your use," he suggested.
Hermione glanced around to spot another door. "Where does that lead?"
"That door opens into my living room," he told her.
"So, this Lab is basically into your quarters," she assessed.
"Yes."
The polished wooden counters gave a limpid impression of deft hygiene the Potions Master practised. She looked at one cauldron closer to realise it was gold. Now that she looked at the other cauldron again, two were silver among other cast iron ones.
"You may choose an apt cauldron from these," he said. "You will find ladles here," he opened a drawer to reveal a set of ladles of varying materials. Two gold ladles shone brilliantly, catching her eye.
Hermione went into the ingredients-cupboard to analyse the plethora of rare ingredients that he had collected. He had stored each item with great delicacy in spotless glass jars. The slew of vials were arranged in alphabetical order, and she was certain there were hundreds of sealed vials kept around.
From her experience in his house, Hermione had not expected that level of cleanliness, considering the dust that the windows of his living room were layered in. But in his Lab, she could not put a finger on a speck of dust particle. The room reflected his passion for brewing.
"If you have sated your amazement, Granger, you might like to set a counter for yourself in order for us to begin," he said.
"Sure," she couldn't help smiling. Hermione chose a counter directly under the source of light. She summoned one of the cast iron cauldron and burner to set up her workplace.
"What will I brew today?"
"The Wiggenweld Potion," he answered.
"The Wiggenweld Potion is a powerful healing potion that can be used to heal injuries, or to reverse effects of a Sleeping Draught," Hermione recalled aloud. "It was also one of the potions chiefly administered to me after my fall."
"You do realise I have absolutely no inclination to award points to Gryffindor, don't you?" He snorted.
"And I have no inclination to lose any, either," she smirked. She began with collecting the relevant ingredients from the cupboard and placing all required items neatly on her work counter.
"You will find the knives and chopping boards in the fourth drawer from the right," he instructed. "When the potion starts simmering, I will guide you through adding the Fluxweeb, which is the most convoluted, yet essential part of the brewing."
"Alright." Hermione noted he, himself was setting up a silver cauldron on another counter. Observing the ingredients that he had on his counter, she assumed it to be Wolfsbane for Remus.
"Will you teach me to brew Wolfsbane someday?" She asked hopefully.
"Perhaps," he replied, paying only half a mind to her, for the other half was concentrated upon setting the right flame.
Hermione began slicing the beetles that were supposed to be used in the potion. The quality of his knives were far superior than any she had ever used from her potions kit. She enjoyed the smooth movements with which the knife sliced through the fleshy part of the beetles, ending with hitting the wooden chopping board with a muffled tut.
They worked in companionable silence for the most part, entirely attentive of their potions. Hermione could smell the slightly pungent smell of the wolfsbane permeating the Lab. Other than sounds of bubbling liquid and knives working on the chopping board, the Lab was peacefully quiet.
Hermione glanced at the Professor and an involuntary smile graced her face. While his adroit hands worked on chopping the Adder's Fork, his attention was on the slowing boiling liquid which was subtly changing hue. His face was relaxed, almost mesmerisingly so. She had never seem that satisfaction on his otherwise serious features. If she looked closely, she could even find the corners of his lips slightly twitching upwards to form a ghost of a smile. Far from his persona of a dour Potions Professor, he looked like...Severus, the real person behind the garb. The man who adored his work. The calmness on his face made him look like the man he would have been, had it not been for a few wrong choices and a Dark Wizard. He would have been Severus, just Severus, a Potions Master who was passionate about his brewing and renowned for his skills. A free man.
Hermione wished she could see 'Severus' more often...
"Is there a particular reason why you are staring at me, having abandoned your own potion, or are you simply trying to learn two potion at once-" he turned to her, "-to keep your title of a Know-It-All intact?"
Hermione bit her cheek to keep from blushing. "I was just...curious..."
"I understand, but before you brew a potion as complex as the Wolfsbane, you must brew less complicated potions like the Polyjyice," he said.
"I have already brewed the Polyjuice in my Second year," Hermione shrugged.
"Excuse me?"
She winced at her own foolishness. "Um... It was...long back..."
"You brewed Polyjuice in your Second year?" He stepped towards her with a frown. "A successful brew?"
"Yes..." She mumbled, bitting her lip.
"Where would you have conducted these extracurricular activities?" He raised a brow.
Hermione could hardly help the blush covering her face and making her feel oddly foolish. "The second floor girls' lavatory..."
The look that he passed her was somewhere between condescending and utter disbelief. "And where, may I ask, did you procure the key ingredients from?" He raised an eyebrow, looking every bit the man his students feared.
"We took the Boomslang Skin and Bicorn Horn from your cupboard..." She said in a small voice.
"We? I take it your two friends were very much involved," he said. "My assumption was correct, Potter is indeed a thief-"
"Actually," she interrupted him, "I...stole the ingredients..."
"You? In all honesty, Miss Granger, I did not expect you to have such a preposterous conduct as to take the liberty of stealing from the school supplies," he said sharply.
Hermione averted her gaze down in apprehension. What a absurd turn for the meeting to take. She felt properly embarrassed. But when she looked up, she found his fingers hiding his lips again. He was...smirking? Smiling? Mocking her?
"Very funny," she huffed, folding her arms.
"Indeed," he said silkily. "Now, why did you brew it in the first place and who was it tested upon?"
"Well... I'll tell you if you promise not to repeat it again," she stated.
"Ah, a bargain after being caught red-handed."
"If you want to hear this thrilling story, you have to agree," she smirked.
"Then this better be as thrilling as you pronounce it to be," he relented. "Alright, go on."
Hermione, feeling triumphant, began, "In our Second year, if you remember, Harry was rumoured to be the heir of Slytherin. But we wanted to prove everyone wrong and assumed Malfoy to be the heir, instead. So Ron, Harry and I decided to sneak into the Slytherin common room disguised as his friends, Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode, to try to get him to reveal the truth."
"A very puerile assumption, but never mind. Continue," he muttered.
"Harry and Ron were successfully disguised as Crabbe and Goyle, but I could not, because instead of Bulstrode, I mixed her cat's hair in my potion and...well, ended up in the Hospital Wing..." She ended with a low note, blushing.
"What happened to you exactly?" He frowned.
"I...I can show you..." She offered.
"If you are certain."
Hermione looked straight into his eyes and built the
Legilimency connection. Through that she let him see when she had acquired the face of a furry cat and tail with her human body intact.
He broke the connection with a jerk, startling her.
"What happened?" She asked with a slight frown, staring at him.
But she was even more startled when the man in front of her started...laughing. Severus Snape never laughed! He was dissolved in helpless gales of laughter in his hard voice, which was so unexpected that Hermione could only gawk at him for a long moment.
The crinkles at the corner of his eyes that were usually very light when he smiled, were quite prominent. Hermione noted how his eyes closed and a dimple formed near the corner of his lips as he laughed. She decided she liked the fresh sound that she had never heard before and couldn't help smiling widely herself. Even the fact that he was laughing at her didn't annoy her.
She could associate him all the more with 'Severus'.
The fit lasted hardly several seconds, that was all the liberty he granted himself, it seemed. But even with his composure restored, Hermione could see the shadow of that dimple on his face.
"You never cease to appal me, Granger," he finally managed.
And you, me. "Uh, well… I was otherwise very accurate with my potion."
"Of that, I have no doubt or your friends, too, would have possessed a bed beside you in the Infirmary," he sounded relaxed.
"So when are you teaching me to brew the Wolfsbane?" She tried.
"And what makes you think I am even inclined to teach you?" He raised a brow in challenge.
"Because you are impressed knowing I brewed a successful Polyjuice in my Second year," she stated.
"Let us make a deal then," he offered. "If you brew twenty potions upto my standard of perfection, consecutively, I shall think over your request."
And when was Hermione ever afraid of academic challenges? "Deal," she agreed. He flexed his brow and accepted.
Throughout the next hour, Hermione's potion gained its required hue and smell. He helped her with the Fluxweed and she earned some advanced knowledge from his reservoir of erudition.
When she was about to pour a dose in a vial, he spoke, "Even a single particle of dust can taint your concoction, Granger."
Hermione registered the warning. She spelled the vial clean before filling it with the potion. "Shall I test it now?"
"Go ahead."
Hermione picked up a knife that was laying on the counter and chose the blunt side to make a tiny incision on the pad of her forefinger. She suppressed a hiss when the knife sliced her skin and a rivulet of blood emerged.
With her other hand, Hermione tossed the potion into her mouth. No sooner than the potion reached her stomach, the cut on her finger stitched itself back, leaving no evidence of a wound.
She looked up at the Professor with a smile.
"Adequate," he granted.
Hermione grinned. "One down, nineteen more to go!"
"We shall see."
UUUUUUU
When Hermione exited the Lab through the Professor's office, he remained behind seeing to the Wolfsbane potion. Hermione felt a little amazed that he willingly let her pass through his vacant office, alone. For a man like him, it said volumes about trust.
As Hermione left the Lab through the doorway, the wall closed of its own accord. Hermione made a beeline for the door. Suddenly, her eyes fell on a parchment dropped under his table. Thinking it to be of importance, she summoned it Non-verbally to keep it on his table. It was then that she noticed what it was.
The parchment was folded in complicated creases, taking no definitive shape. She recognised the attempt very well.
She burst into a fit of laughter. Who would have ever imagined Professor Snape to pass his time making origami?!
But no, it was not the Professor who liked origami, it was Severus. In the last few months, she had come to see the true person who took pride in intimidating others with his sneer and black, billowing cloak, under which he preferred to conceal himself. She had come to know a man who was a voracious reader of both fiction and non-fiction, who was probably a good cook and played piano, who had a good sense of humour, who loved to brew and wanted to involve in research, and who liked to make origami after she showed him how to. This man liked to joke and when he laughed, he was almost mesmerising. This man liked to hide his smiles and stayed behind rigid walls that granted entry to no one. Severus was extremely loyal to the cause, dutiful of his precarious position, compassionate but liked to portray otherwise, brave enough to stand before Voldemort undaunted and highly intelligent to trick the darkest wizard of their age, but self-critical at the same time. He was uncomfortable when appreciated, angry when shown concern, vulnerable to comfort or offering comfort to another person yet he tried his best to.
Hermione felt like she had had to tear his personality layer by layer to assess him. Yet, she was sure there was a plethora of details she did not have a clue about.
Hermione kept the parchment back on the table and smiled to herself. Perhaps someday, she would truly know who Severus was.
UUUUUUU
When Granger left his Lab, Severus returned to his potion. The Warewolf that was his colleague would soon need to drink it before he could wreck a havoc in the school.
He glanced at Granger's counter. She had left it tidy. She was, indeed, meticulous in her work, gifted even, now that he was cognizant to her having brewed one of the most complex potions at the mere age of Thirteen. Severus, himself, had first brewed it at Sixteen. Lucius had to take a sample of Severus' potion to the Dark Lord. Of course, the potion had been more than outstanding.
That reminded him of the image Granger had shown him. He could still feel laughter building in his gut on recalling her ludicrous state. He realised it had been a long while since he had actually laughed so openly. There had been no reasons to, before. But Granger's company usually elicited a smile out of him.
At her age, he was indulged into either the Dark Arts or his grief and anger over Lily's reluctance to forgive him. But Granger was clear about her goals in life. She was ambitious and more than that, she was deserving.
Sometimes, he forgot their age gap and the capacities they were working in. At times, she seemed to be almost a peer. She was far mature than her age, far superior in her intellect than a witch her age usually is. Severus found her to be a good listener and an even better advisor.
Vaguely, Severus wondered how it would have been had he met Granger twenty years ago? He quickly shook himself out of the wayward thoughts and brought his focus back to the potion at hand.
Some things were just not possible, even with magic.