Chapter Four
*
*
Hermione's days got better and better as they passed one by one. It was hard sometimes. Many people still spoke with her, but she was a pariah of sorts.
When anyone did speak to her, she got rid of them as quickly as possible. 'They don't really want to talk to me anyway,' she thought. 'They just realize how rude it would be to ignore me after six years of life together. Living closely together as friends. I can't believe they could do it, and clearly they don't want to. But they do!'
Her classes were as easy as ever, but for some reason asked for her answers anymore. Nobody wanted to copy her homework. They asked Harry, or Lavender for the answers, even though Hermione always got 10 out of 10, or more! This didn't bother her though, at least they weren't using her. What bothered her most was a lack of comprehension. This didn't make sense; it was too extreme. She hadn't done anything. Something must be missing, since there was no way Harry just put them up to this.
Meetings with Snape were her highlight of life. Oddly they were his too. It had changed a little over the past month, and they got into the habit of discussing current advancements in their field. Rather, they studied them. Never did Snape ask her opinion on anything, and she never offered it. Maybe not the best arrangement, but it was nonetheless intellectually stimulating for both parties to simply learn what was going on right now.
*
This all changed after nearly a month after it all started. They were studying the acidic nature of certain potions. This was slightly harder for Snape to grasp, considering his lack of background in muggle sciences. It had truly never occurred to him to open such a book. Hermione was explaining the whole thing, when she realized something herself. To reverse the PH, or at least neutralize it, they just had to add unicorn horn. It was terribly obvious when you thought about. Unicorn horn was powerful, but it didn't change the properties of the substance it was added to. Unless you intentionally added it to an infusion involving any sort of natural roots. As soon as she explained this Snape's eyes lit up. It made perfect sense, and there was no reason why her idea wouldn't work in every case! This should be one of the most important advances in potions this decade. How come no one had thought of it before?
"Hermione? How come nobody has thought of this?" He asked, voicing his thoughts.
"I guess I was just more willing to open my mind to many of the.more experienced wizards who have grown used to this as an unsolvable problem. It is really quite simple. Plus I am muggle born." She stopped there, knowing he would understand. Besides she needed a moment to realize that he had called her Hermione. Well it was her name, but she didn't expect him to use it. 'How can he make that kind of mistake; he always calls me by my last name. He must think of me as Hermione,' She concluded and glanced over at him wondering.
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Write to every potions master in England," She said, half joking. Snape didn't catch that half though.
"Yes ma'am!" He said. "There aren't that many anyway," He added after seeing the look on her face.
"Great, we have a solution!
*
A.N. OK now I know that this is the shortest yet, but that's all I had down for this chapter. I know it must suck to have to click all of the buttons every few minutes, but I really feel like breaking it up here. Thank you for reading, and sorry if you didn't get my science/potions talk, I'm not really sure if it made any sense to anyone, but it made sense to me (
*
Hermione's days got better and better as they passed one by one. It was hard sometimes. Many people still spoke with her, but she was a pariah of sorts.
When anyone did speak to her, she got rid of them as quickly as possible. 'They don't really want to talk to me anyway,' she thought. 'They just realize how rude it would be to ignore me after six years of life together. Living closely together as friends. I can't believe they could do it, and clearly they don't want to. But they do!'
Her classes were as easy as ever, but for some reason asked for her answers anymore. Nobody wanted to copy her homework. They asked Harry, or Lavender for the answers, even though Hermione always got 10 out of 10, or more! This didn't bother her though, at least they weren't using her. What bothered her most was a lack of comprehension. This didn't make sense; it was too extreme. She hadn't done anything. Something must be missing, since there was no way Harry just put them up to this.
Meetings with Snape were her highlight of life. Oddly they were his too. It had changed a little over the past month, and they got into the habit of discussing current advancements in their field. Rather, they studied them. Never did Snape ask her opinion on anything, and she never offered it. Maybe not the best arrangement, but it was nonetheless intellectually stimulating for both parties to simply learn what was going on right now.
*
This all changed after nearly a month after it all started. They were studying the acidic nature of certain potions. This was slightly harder for Snape to grasp, considering his lack of background in muggle sciences. It had truly never occurred to him to open such a book. Hermione was explaining the whole thing, when she realized something herself. To reverse the PH, or at least neutralize it, they just had to add unicorn horn. It was terribly obvious when you thought about. Unicorn horn was powerful, but it didn't change the properties of the substance it was added to. Unless you intentionally added it to an infusion involving any sort of natural roots. As soon as she explained this Snape's eyes lit up. It made perfect sense, and there was no reason why her idea wouldn't work in every case! This should be one of the most important advances in potions this decade. How come no one had thought of it before?
"Hermione? How come nobody has thought of this?" He asked, voicing his thoughts.
"I guess I was just more willing to open my mind to many of the.more experienced wizards who have grown used to this as an unsolvable problem. It is really quite simple. Plus I am muggle born." She stopped there, knowing he would understand. Besides she needed a moment to realize that he had called her Hermione. Well it was her name, but she didn't expect him to use it. 'How can he make that kind of mistake; he always calls me by my last name. He must think of me as Hermione,' She concluded and glanced over at him wondering.
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Write to every potions master in England," She said, half joking. Snape didn't catch that half though.
"Yes ma'am!" He said. "There aren't that many anyway," He added after seeing the look on her face.
"Great, we have a solution!
*
A.N. OK now I know that this is the shortest yet, but that's all I had down for this chapter. I know it must suck to have to click all of the buttons every few minutes, but I really feel like breaking it up here. Thank you for reading, and sorry if you didn't get my science/potions talk, I'm not really sure if it made any sense to anyone, but it made sense to me (