AN: I see lots of you are starting to read this story, thank you! Reviews would be nice too, suggestions always welcome.
Thank you to 'Patata and The dragon and the rose' for your lovely reviews, and suggestions... good ideas.
CHAPTER 5
Harry, Ginny and Hermione were sitting in the first floor drawing room at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place enjoying a brunch spread of pastries, biscuits, fresh fruit and small sandwiches. The house had undergone many changes since the end of the war, now that it was no longer the head of the Order of Phoenix with people coming and going constantly, and since Ginny and Molly had finally had the time to brighten it up into a proper home.
The rooms had been purged, scrubbed, disinfected, painted, and decorated. Thankfully the new décor was much more neutral than Hermione had expected from the Weasley women. She figured Harry must have finally put his foot down around using too many bright colours and awful prints.
The new colour palette was bright whites, creams, light grays and blues, even the upholstery and carpets had been updated with fresh tan leathers, and muted floral prints. The lighter ceilings even exposed beautifully rich and solid wood beams that she had never even noticed before.
Over the last two years Harry and Ginny had been spending vacations in the Normandy region of France and the house was really starting to show the influence. She had noticed the difference in her friends as well, becoming more mature and elegant in their dress and mannerisms.
They had been talking of wedding plans and it was clear to Hermione that Ginny would rather have done a small ceremony here at their house rather than the Burrow, but the Weasley matriarch wouldn't hear of it.
"It would just be nice to have something here, the back garden is the last project to get done around here and this would really get us to just finish it" Ginny said wishfully.
"Yeah well Gin, Molly didn't hear us the first few times we suggested it. I doubt she will hear you if you say it again" Harry shrugged.
"If it's what you both really want, I'm sure she would understand," Hermione offered.
"She would be devastated, she's determined to marry us all off at the Burrow" Ginny sighed. "Oh well" and picked up a sandwich from the small table between them.
"So Mione', you get anything out of that code I sent you?" Harry asked, while picking up his third pasty from the spread.
Hermione eyed the plates of delicious looking food that had been put out by Kreacher earlier. It seemed Harry and the old grouchy house elf had finally come to somewhat of an understanding, likely due to the house being put back to some kind of glory. The other part was probably due to the elfs age, and the silencing wards they had finally figured out how to apply over old Walburga Blacks screaming portrait.
"Sorry Harry, I haven't had the time to really look into it," Hermione answered, her friend worried about disappointing him. "It's complicated, there are runes I don't know off the top of my head, roman numerals and letters. It's likely going to take some time to translate and an arithmancy equation to make sense of." She poked a few bits of of fresh pineapple around her small plate as she spoke.
"No worries Mion, I know your busy. Would have been nice to get answers sooner but dont go worrying about it for me." Harry reassured her.
"How are things with Professor Snape?" Ginny asked.
"I havent started lessons with him yet." Hermione answered and bit her lip. "He is going to assess my progress later today when I get back to the school"
"Ah right, you did mention that. I can't believe McGonagall managed to convince him to help." Harry said between bites of sandwich. "I know she can be scary when she wants to but this is Snape"
"Professor Snape, Harry." Hermione corrected and Ginny giggled, some things would never change between them all. "And I have no idea what she said to him, I wasn't there" she continued.
"Oh to be a fly on that wall" Ginny laughed.
"Ug never an insect like that awful Skeeter woman" Harry said and made a puke face at the girls making them laugh.
"Quite right, love," Ginny said, moving a little closer to her Wizard on their couch. "Well than an Extendible Ear through the crack in the door" she added, naming an original WWW product.
"How is Ron?" Hermione asked at the reminder of their friend's store.
"Fine, busy. Too busy for us anymore" Ginny answered, frustration evident in her voice.
"The boys are busy with the store and developing stuff, you gotta give them a break. Plus, I think he might be seeing someone new." Harry said throwing that last little bit of information in there like it was nothing.
Ginny's eyes widened "That would make sense! He has been acting shady lately and is never around when I go to visit"
Hermione was glad to notice that she didn't feel even a bit of jealousy over the new information. After years of on again off again with Ron it had become quite clear that they were a terrible match for each other. He was only interested in fun, games and sex, while she wanted candle light dinners, long intelligent conversations and quiet evenings to study.
The joy of winning the war and the heat of first love dulled quickly although it took them longer to admit to themselves. Ron still tried to rekindle their relationship here and there when he found himself single, as if she was just his default setting. Once Hermione had finally slept with a properly proficient lover she had realized that even the sex with Ron wasn't worth it.
Ginny looked at Hermione with a bit of a pained look on her face.
"Oh don't worry about me. I've been over him for years." Hermione reassured the other Witch who didn't look completely convinced. "Honestly, he can do as he likes. We were terrible together"
"Yeah you say that now and then Christmas dinner at the Burrow will happen and I'll find you the next morning sneaking out of his room like last year" she accused with a smirk on her face.
Harry stayed silent, still not wanting to think about his two best friends in bed together, but his eyes flicked between the girls through their exchange about the absent red head.
"I didn't know you saw that it was like four in the morning!" Hermione blushed with her admission of guilt.
"Well thank you for at least not forgetting to silence the room during the event" Ginny retorted and shrugged, "It must have worn off by the time you made your escape and I had to use the loo."
"Sorry" Hermione said with a scrunched up face still red.
"Hey don't apologize to me for getting your itch scratched, I get it" Ginny leaned into Harry giving him a kiss on the cheek and stroked the other side of his face once. "I just wish you two would make up your minds instead of putting us all through the ringer trying to figure it out" she added and looked away from her Fiancé.
"I swear to you both that it is over. It won't happen again. I'm moving on" Hermione stated matter of factly and truly meant it.
"Does that mean you're seeing someone too?" Ginny asked, eyes brightening up at her friend.
"No, I just know for certain that Ronald and I are not meant for each other. I have my Mastery to worry about and teaching, I don't have the time to date anyone," She picked up the pot and poured herself a cup of tea.
The rest of the morning passed with idle chatter of garden designs, Harry's work at the ministry and Ginny's upcoming Quidditch games. Hermione envied them for their ease with each other, how they moved almost as one and thought along the same lines. She was happy for them, of course, but she felt a sting of hurt in her heart that was like a small something she was missing in her life.
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Hermione paced in her sitting room glaring at the clock on her mantle, lunch would be over in ten minutes and she was expected to meet Professor Snape in his office for her evaluation.
She had eaten so much at Harry and Ginny's that she skipped the official lunch time at the school and came straight to her room. Her plan had been to cram a bit more information on the fourth year potions that she had yet to brew just to be able to prove her knowledge of them to the strict wizard.
That plan had failed miserably as her nerves took over, being alone in a room with Professor Snape was not something she was looking forward to, especially since she knew she was so ill prepared to be there. So much for her knowing it all status, he was about to see the truth.
She looked at herself in the mirror near the entrance way to her rooms and re-tied her braids around her head and back into their usual bun at the nape of her neck. She smoothed out her Apprentice robes with a quick charm and buttoned her black teaching robes over them.
"Fuck it" she said, doing her best to pull up her Occlumency shield and bring her face back to a neutral expression. She looked away from the mirror satisfied enough, grabbed her bag and notes about her progress and headed out into the dungeon corridor.
Before she knew it she had knocked on the door of his office full of determination to not allow this wizard to turn her back into a simpering first year.
"Come in," the baritone voice answered.
She stepped into the room for the second time in the last week unsure of what was coming next. She noticed another desk had been added to the space with some papers on it, ink and quill. Her former Professor was sitting in his usual place at his desk and looked up at her from a parchment, quill still in hand.
"Good Evening, Sir" Hermione greeted standing in front of his desk, she glanced at the chalkboard behind him and noticed a complex equation but couldn't immediately tell what it was for.
The man in front of her cleared his throat to get her attention. "Miss Granger. You will sit at that desk and complete the written assessment I have laid out for you." He gestured towards the desk she had walked by. "Then you will write a list of every potion you have completed successfully thus far in your apprenticeship."
"Yes, Sir" she responded automatically and turned for the desk.
The written test was thorough, and long. He had seen fit to test her not only on her fifth year studies she was currently completing but all the way back to the first year apprentice knowledge as well. She flew through the questions and settled into a comfortable ease of allowing the information to flow from her like water.
Even on some of the simple answer questions she found herself adding extra notes in the margins just to make sure she got her point across. She chewed the end of the quill as she got into a bit of fifth year theory on dragon blood and its balancers that made her stop to think for a moment.
She sucked in a sharp breath when she remembered this was not her quill she was using and glanced up at the quills owner. He looked up at her at the same time, his dark eyes narrowing slightly at seeing her looking at him. She immediately looked back to her parchment and scribbled down another thought.
The rest of the written test was easy except for the final question.
'How would you propose to develop a potion to assist you in controlling one's behavior completely?'
Hermione only knew of one way that anyone could control a person completely and that was the Imperius Curse. She had never heard of or read about a potion that could accomplish such a thing. There were potions that controlled some behavior such as love potions, even the Felix Felicis did that to some extent.
Why would Professor Snape be asking her to speculate on a potion that if it existed would most definitely be very illegal? She looked up again thankful that he was busy with his own work and didn't notice her.
She looked back down at the question, shrugged it off and wrote down some ideas, using parts from a few of the more potent suggestive type potions she was familiar with. She also speculated about a few other ingredients that could be used to enhance the effectiveness of the originals. She finished off the questions with a few balancing equations that would most likely be helpful and left it at that.
Done with her first task she took a chance and looked up again. This time he was scratching something out and looked frustrated.
The chalkboard behind him caught her attention again and she studied the equations and notes. It was a balancing equation for a potion, that much she could tell within the first minute. It was complicated, with at least six stages and a full lunar cycle included. She could see the shorthand for a few ingredients that were common in healing potions and the base equation looked similar to an invigorating draught.
Completely forgetting her own work she pulled a scrap piece of paper from her bag to run the third equation herself that added in the moon cycle, there was something about it. Even the chalkboard had rub marks as though that area of the problem was giving him trouble.
Her mouth dropped open as she finished running through the problem the second time to confirm, and she quickly shut it. He had made an error. Whatever this potion was, it was going to need a blue moon and not just a regular full moon in its cycle to be balanced properly.
As if on cue Professor Snape let out a huge breath glaring at the parchment he had been scribbling on. He swiveled in his seat to look at the board running his hand back through his hair to pull it out of his face.
He must have completely forgotten Hermione was sitting at her little desk as he stood, shrugged off his teaching robes and outer coat, and stared at his board. His hand was back in his hair holding it out of the way as he considered the equations on the board.
Hermione had rarely seen him without his billowing black robes to hide most of his figure, and she had never seen him without his overcoat. Without them his frame was hugged by his high waisted black trousers, a fitted high collar shirt and vest. She could see the outline of a man in his prime who took care of himself.
She immediately felt uneasy watching him in such a relaxed state with his hands in his silky black hair at the back of his head. She felt her cheeks redden and looked away as she realized she had been one hundred percent checking out her old teacher.
A touch of panic hit her for a split second as she remembered the man was also a skilled Legilimens. She was happy to notice that her Occlumencey shields must be decent enough to have not allowed any of her inappropriate thoughts to slip out and re-alert him of her presence.
Hermione quickly set herself back to her second task to list all the potions she had successfully completed as part of her apprenticeship thus far. He had made an obvious effort to stress the 'successfully' part when he had given her the instructions.
She rolled her eyes at the implication and quickly listed off all potions, pulling her notebook out of her bag to cross check that she had not missed anything. Since she had already confessed to being behind she also added a list of potions that she had yet to complete, as embarrassing as that was, it was why she was sitting in his office alone with him after all.
The sound of her rummaging through her bag must have alerted Professor Snape to her presence in his office again. His posture went stiff and he put back on his outer robe before turning back around to face her.
"You must be finished by now, Miss Granger" he said and sat back down at the desk.
"Yes, Sir. Just finished now" she replied and collected the parchments and test together for him. She decided to slip her calculation for his problem into the pile as well.
He did not even look up at her as she walked up to his desk and set down her parchments for him.
"You may come back on Wednesday at seven to discuss the results, Good Evening." he said and dismissed her with a wave to the door.
She shifted slightly and decided to press on with her findings, his reaction be damned.
"Um, Sir?" she said, and this time he looked up at her with a blank expression
"What it that your working on?" she asked, gesturing to the chalkboard.
"A potion" he answered bluntly.
"I figured that" she said slightly rolling her eyes at him. She was starting to get irritated with his coldness.
One of his eyebrows twitched slightly at her response.
"Well I think you've made a mistake" She stated and his eyebrow fully rose at her in response.
She decided to go on "It looks like you're working on some kind of healing potion. Or a cure for something? It looks like there's almost a complete Invigorating Draught in here, but you've swapped something."
She walked to the side of the desk to take a better look at the board and since he didn't stop her she kept talking.
"It's complicated with what six steps? And you are basing it on a regular lunar cycle, which is the part that looked off" she pointed to the smudged area on the board.
He had watched her move to the side of his desk half in shock at what she was doing and equally as interested now in what she was saying.
"It's the regular lunar cycle which is where the error is, a blue moon works to balance this part much better. I left you a copy of the calculations in the pile on your desk if you want to look at it. So what is it? Have you started the brewing tests yet? I'd love to see it." She finished talking and turned to look at him.
It was the most words he had ever let flow out of that mouth without cutting it off, and she had gone on like he was one of her best friends in the whole damned world. As if realizing the same thing at the same time Hermione closed her mouth and was silent.
She looked up at him now standing beside her both facing the board. He was a head taller than her and she noticed there was definitely something warmer about his eyes than the black pits she had always seen them as.
He looked at the equation in question and turned to the desk to find the parchment with her alternative on it, and examined that.
It took all of Hermione's self control to keep from saying anything else while she watched him take in the information. He hadn't thrown her out of his office, or screamed at her yet so she was not going to try her luck and push him any further.
"Your observation had merit" he finally said after a few moments.
He waved his hand and the board erased the part in question and the chalk started re scribbling in the space using the blue moon phase.
"What is it?" Hermione asked again.
His black eyes found her again and he must have decided she deserved an answer for her observation, a reward for good behavior.
"It is an attempt to bring relief to those suffering the long term effects of the Cruciatus Curse, a cure perhaps for their nervous system" he answered.
She looked back at the board taking in the information again now that she knew the desired outcome. It was starting to make sense when he interrupted her thoughts with a clearing of his throat.
"Now Miss Granger. I have work to do" he said and resumed his place at his desk.
"Of course, Sir" she said, picking up her bag where she had left it in front of his desk.
"Enjoy the rest of your evening, see you at breakfast" Hermione said.
"Good Evening, Miss Granger" Professor Snape said with a nod of his head to her.
Hermione left his office feeling odd, like she didn't know exactly what to feel, so she was feeling a bit of everything. She was happy about her answers on his test, angry that he didn't give her more information about his own project, overjoyed to have been able to help him, frustrated that he still treated her like an annoying student and overall content that she might be able to put up with him for the next year to be able to pass her Mastery.
She had lost herself for a few minutes in his presence as she had been explaining her suggestion to his problem. She had been completely engulfed in the equation and completely forgot it was Severus Snape standing right beside her instead of Harry or Minerva.
On top of it he had listened to her with almost interest ,and then even took her suggestions. He may have not thanked her per say, but the interaction had been pleasant.
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AN: Do we need some more Severus POV ? Review please, they really do mean a lot. I will start to jump into the Harry side of this story soon as well.