Hi all, I am so sorry. I was going to post this yesterday, but I got food poisoning instead. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Harry Potter it is all owned by the goddess JKR. Atilla is still mine though. I'm a Believer is owned or sung by a variety of people. Most recently it was Smash Mouth in Shrek, but it was also sung by the Monkees and it was written by Neil Diamond. That should hopefully clarify any issues anyone has with it. Again if you see something that is yours that needs recognized, please let me know.
a/n: please review! If you like it, if you don't like it, please let me know, especially send any advice you have. I am going to try to get another chapter up soon, but I have Midterms this week and so I need to study.
Also, a special thanks to my beta Supermoth, I don't know what I would do without you.
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"Ah, Miss Granger, I should have guessed." Hermione noticed that Snape's trademark sneer was back. Had she not been so startled to see him she would have laughed at his look of utter astonishment.
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Hermione queried harshly, deciding that since she was no longer a student he had no right to treat her as one.
"Merely that as a student you always thought yourself better than anyone else, and obviously that has not changed. Do you let no one help you with your experiments? Do you still see yourself as too good to need assistance? The state of your rooms answers my questions, it would not be so organized if someone else was helping you." At this point the Ministry official who had brought Snape down decided it was time for him to leave, he snuck out quietly.
Hermione flushed with anger, she would not let him know how close to the truth he was. She had not been able to keep an assistant for the last 3 months, they all became fed up with her requirement that everything be done perfectly. She bit back the retort that was trying to force its way from her mouth, it would probably not be a good idea to upset the Ministry's inspector even if he was the horrid, greasy, bat from her nightmares at Hogwarts.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she replied, "Well, now that we know what you think of my organization ability, I would appreciate it if you would look over my current potions and let me know what you think of them."
Snape nodded, "that would probably be a good idea, I'd hate to see you poison anyone from an inability to brew a potion correctly."
Hermione remained silent but led him over to the far wall where she brewed her potions. Once there she pointed to her first cauldron, "this is a simple…"
"Nerve relaxing potion, commonly used to ease the pain of the Cruciatus Curse, yes I know what it is from experience Miss Granger." She blushed of course he knew what it was after his years as a spy against the Dark Lord. "Surely, you are brewing something more complex than this; any third year student could brew it in their sleep." He sneered.
"Yes sir, I am working on a potion that can counter the affects of the Imperius Curse, making it possible to ignore or throw off the curse when it is cast." Where did the Sir come from Hermione wondered, she was not a student anymore, it was just so hard not to slip back into student mode when he spoke with that voice.
"And have you had any positive results yet?"
"No, I just can't seem to get the right mixture of ingredients. I will not give up though."
"I do not doubt that Miss Granger, years of teaching you taught me that if nothing else you always give 100% to anything you do. How else would you have been able to put up with Potter and Weasley? Now, show me what else you're working on." Hermione blinked, she wasn't quite certain but she thought that maybe Snape had just complimented her.
The rest of the inspection went smoothly, well as smoothly as it could with Snape baiting her every time he spoke. It was almost like he wanted to see her snap and get angry at him. He threw in comments about how she could have mixed a potion differently, or how low level some of her potions were. Mixed in were comments about her friends, Harry and Ron figured in quite often, but Neville Longbottom was mentioned too. She was really beginning to get fed up with it. She didn't mind his critiquing of her potions, she wanted that, but when he kept bad mouthing her friends she began to get very angry, the worst part was Snape seemed to know it.
Severus was enjoying himself. He was very impressed with the work that Granger was doing, not that he would tell her that, oh no. He had let that one complement slip out accidentally and had to cover his tracks quickly. He had noticed she always paid close attention to what he was saying about her potions, nothing bad that he said about them seemed to faze her, but he also watched with amusement as she got angrier and angrier with him as he made comments about her friends. Finally when they were examining the last cauldron in the second room he made a comment that must have been the last straw. "Ah, a Shrinking Solution Miss Granger, how amusing. I recall this exact same potion in your third year, if I recall correctly I took points from Gryffindor because you helped that idiot Longbottom brew it correctly."
"Neville is not an idiot, he did great things during the war, you can't deny it, and you were going to poison his toad. You still think that's funny don't you (Severus could feel his lips twitching actually), Trevor could have died and you probably would have laughed. I thought you were a horrid, cruel man then, and I see you still haven't changed." Hermione was breathing hard and glaring at him. Severus found himself trying to decide if he was amused or astonished. No one had ever spoken to him like that before, yet it was quite amusing to see how worked up she got over her friends. All the same the glare was a bit unnerving, if looks could kill he'd probably be 6 feet under.
Snape pulled himself together and snapped, "Be that as it may Miss Granger, you still should not have helped him. I was fully in my right to take away points. Now are we going to stand here and reminisce, because as enjoyable as I am sure it would be I have things to do. I will write up my report on your work and owl it in, you will get it by the end of the week. If there is nothing else, I will bid you good night."
"That is everything Professor," she practically spat the word out, "good evening." With that she turned on her heel and went back to examine one of the cauldrons further up the row.
Severus turned and strode out of the room, he almost didn't hear her comment as he left. "Thank you for the advice on my work Professor." He wasn't quite sure if the comment was meant for his ears or not. "You're welcome," he said quietly, before he could stop himself. He grimaced, sincerely hoping she had not heard him.
Hermione looked at the cauldron she was working on; she just couldn't get her mind to focus. 'Oh he makes me so mad,' Hermione thought. Grabbing some powdered Monkshood she dropped three pinches into the potion she was brewing, it turned a sickly yellow. "Argh, that's it. I'm going home." She gathered up her things, mumbling all the time about rude, greasy haired, gits.
Arriving at home Hermione undid the wards she had around her flat and went in. She reset the wards, kicked off her shoes and went into the kitchen. In the kitchen Hermione opened a cabinet, grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass. Walking into the living room she sat on the sofa; Atilla jumped on her lap and started purring. "Oh, Atilla," Hermione sighed pouring herself a glass of wine. "It was such a long day." She then proceeded to pour out her woes to the cat.
Severus had spent a nice calming hour looking through stacks of books at his favourite used book store, though he could have sworn someone had been following him as he walked from the Ministry to the store. Each time he turned to look there was no one there, he couldn't decide if he was getting paranoid in his old age or if there really was someone following him. Severus was inclined to believe the latter.
Now that he was back and Hogwarts, all he wanted to do was go down to his dungeon rooms and relax, unfortunately he had to report to Dumbledore. Sighing he muttered the password to the gargoyle (liquorice) and entered the headmaster's office.
"Severus, wonderful, how did it go?" Dumbledore queried cheerfully as Snape walked into the office.
"Why couldn't you have told me who was the new potions master? Surely it wouldn't have hurt anything." Dumbledore just smiled. Severus sighed, "She is doing a fine job, and will be an asset to the Ministry. I gave her some advice on her potions, made some suggestions and left." He thought about telling the headmaster that he was followed while in Diagon Alley, but decided against it.
"Good, Good," the headmaster replied. "And how is the journal I gave you working out?"
"Albus, it's a match making company. I'm perfectly happy how I am now, I really don't need to be set up with anyone. Since you asked however, it is not going well."
"Yes, well, I am sure it will be better soon. Just keep trying, you did promise a month you know. But if you really don't want to continue, I know a wonderful woman that I am sure you would get along with spectacularly."
Snape blanched, "No, that's alright headmaster, I'll just stick with the journal."
Dumbledore twinkled, "I thought you might."
Shortly thereafter Severus was able to escape the headmaster's office making his way down to the calm and peace of his rooms. Skipping out on eating dinner in the Great Hall he had a small dinner by himself. After dinner he sat in a chair by the fire, drinking a shot of bourbon, slowly he began to relax.
Having eaten dinner and fed Atilla, Hermione was not quite sure what to do for the rest of the evening. She'd recently bought a copy of the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe and thought of rereading some of her more favourite pieces by the poet, but the journal was calling to her. "Maybe I'll give it one more try, just to say I did. It can't hurt anything." Picking up the journal and a quill she wrote: Hello?
Severus stared moodily at the journal, he really was half tempted to toss it in the fire, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it; Albus' threat of a friend still fresh in his mind. He picked up the journal and opened it to the first page; Hello? was staring out at him. He wondered how long the word had been there, as he sat thinking about it more words appeared. Is anybody there? Should he write back? Why not, it wasn't going to bite him. He grabbed a quill.
Yes, I'm here.
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Okay, I promised they would write to each other in this chapter and they have, I just didn't say how much. Don't worry though, they will write more in the next chapter. It will in fact be mostly them writing, but Harry and Ron are going to feature in the chapter too.
I want to say thank you so much to all the wonderful people who have reviewed my work. You are all wonderful, I was never expecting people to review so much. I don't have room to thank everyone, so this is a general thank you to all of you. A few special notes are needed though;
To everyone who mentioned the likeness to You've Got Mail I actually never thought of that until you pointed it out. I haven't seen that movie for about 4 years, I don't think I am going to watch it again anytime soon just because I don't want to follow a storyline that is already written. Hopefully you will still find it enjoyable even if it drifts away from the movie plot.
Mary_blak: I would recommend posting your work, it is quite an invigorating experience.
Severely Snaped: Wow, thanks!!
Miracle: Thank you so much. Your comments and critiques are great!! Please keep them up. Seriously, they help a lot.
God of Fire: I hope you like this chap. too.