Chapter 3 – Breathing without air
After two days of reading books, mostly Muggle literature, Severus – although he would never admit it – looked forward to teaching. Even the Granger girl. Nine o'clock sharp, she was present in the library, carrying a stack of parchment with a quill and inkwell balancing rather dangerously on top, a cauldron dangling at her side. She put her load on a table, settled behind it and looked at him expectantly.
"As I said, I will oversee you brewing the Invisibility Infusion and Concealment Concoction. Usually, I don't let students make those, because of the obvious abuse of samples that happen to disappear in pockets. Now, however, I consider abuse quite useless. If your research has been sufficient, you should be able to make the potions by yourself. But first, hand in your essay." She did as he requested, then took a sheet of notes and started to prepare her cauldron. He settled in a chair and started to read her essay, which was significantly beyond the six feet he had mentioned – while six feet usually caused some dark looks among the students.
He actually had to give her credit for thinking – as opposed to merely copying from books. Her essay contained a lot of information of sensible nature, of which he couldn't recall reading anything in the textbooks he had seen in the library catalogue. Her comparison of the Invisibility Infusion to wearing an Invisibility Cloak was nothing new, of course; most students managed to come to that point. But the association of the Concealment Concoction with the Disillusionment Charm was more than most students could boast on. Of course, that could have something to do with that particular charm not being taught at Hogwarts – for the same reasons he didn't usually teach these potions. He stole a look at her work. As the Invisibility Infusion now had to simmer and thicken for an hour, she had taken to preparing the ingredients of the other potion. He stood up and hung another cauldron above a fireplace, so she did not have to wait for the Infusion to be finished and bottled to continue.
Then, in a split second, he realised he would now have time for something he had wanted to do for a long time: research. He had wondered for a while now whether he could adapt the Polyjuice Potion in order to use it to change to animals. Not that it would be a very useful discovery, but except for a cure to death there wouldn't be such a discovery to make. But by lack of test subjects, he had to make some potion to cure tail growths and excess fur first.
He started to clean out one of the greater cauldrons and hung it above a fireplace. He lit a fire, allowing the cauldron to heat up, and started to gather the ingredients from the stocks. He knew these recipes quite well, for Poppy Pomfrey always wanted to have something in store and it had a relatively short period of safe use. That and the long periods it needed to simmer made he was tending to these potions almost once a week. He started dicing a large piece of mandrake root, then weighed the proper amount and put it in the cauldron. While cleaning a bezoar – you never knew what else was in a goat's stomach – he sensed someone eyeing his movements. He decided to play nice.
"Miss Granger, are you finished?" Of course, he knew as well as he hoped she did that both potions now had to rest for a while in order to gain stability.
"No, sir. The potions now have to rest and I wondered what you were doing." She managed to state and ask it at the same time.
"I am preparing a potion to cure tail growths now. I believe you have some first-hand experience with that?" he sneered. She blushed a nice, dark scarlet and turned away, then her curiosity gained the overhand.
"How… how did you know that, sir?"
"There were ingredients missing from my private stores right after an incident with Swelling Solution. You ended up in the hospital wing about a month later covered in black fur. Don't you think I could do the math?" He answered shortly. The girl headed back to her own cauldron, checking something that needn't to be checked for another quarter of an hour.
When his own potion was in a stage that didn't need his presence, he decided to check on her potions. He knew he didn't have to monitor her as closely as most of his moronic students. The Concealment Concoction had the right colour, odour and thickness. He summoned a phial and filled it with her Invisibility Infusion: it contained now a thick liquid, at the same time colourless and all colours of the rainbow. He did something that was out of character for him:
"Perfect, Miss Granger, as usual. At N.E.W.T.-level, I would say an 'O'." Again, she flushed scarlet, from pleasure he suspected. Then, a feeling in his stomach reminded him it was lunchtime.
-^-^-
For about two weeks, they barely spoke to each other, each maintaining the usual student-teacher relationship. During mealtimes, they would sometimes discuss household matters, but with an active house elf, there was barely anything left to do. Occasionally, there would be news from Dumbledore. During the usual hours he would teach her, as he would have taught the whole class. She seemed to enjoy making homework for him and did extensive research. In his free time, he made the antidotes he would need for his research. She still eyed his cauldrons curiously, obviously wanting to know what he made the potions for but not daring to ask.
Then, after one of her lessons, she stopped gathering her belongings. He was reading the essay she had written, about uses of dragon blood.
"Professor?" she asked tentatively. He grunted something, which she took as an encouragement to continue.
"May I ask to what purpose you are making those potions? Are you going to send them to Madam Pomfrey?" she asked. He hesitated, and then decided to answer the truth.
"Actually, Miss Granger, I make them for a purpose of my own. I am going to do some research, and if that goes wrong, I will need those potions." Her eyes lit up at the word research, but he saw her restraining her emotions. She thought for a while, then asked:
"Do you want to make a potion to turn into an animal?" He tried to hide his surprise at her guessing correctly, but failed. She shrugged her shoulders and said:
"I know such a potion does not exist yet, and if you make antidotes for turning back human…" Right, he thought, so you can do the math as well. He then voiced a thought he had had since he thought of doing research.
"Miss Granger, would you like to do research on Potions?" Her face flashed in a strange expression, as if it could not choose between surprise and happiness.
"Oh, yes, Professor, I would love that!" she exclaimed; then, more subdued: "Are you serious, sir?"
No, I'm Severus, he thought, and a smirk got to his lips. She saw it and misunderstood. Her expression went from happiness to downcast in a moment and she turned to leave. When she had reached the door, Severus called her back.
"Miss Granger," he said softly. She turned around. "I was indeed serious. I have seen your work the last six years and you are miles ahead of your peers. As we are locked up here together, we had better put our time to good use. This potion will be finished by tomorrow. I suggest you read a little on the subject, so we can start practical research here tomorrow." It seemed he couldn't have chosen his words better. For a second, she looked as though she could run to him and embrace him. He was relieved to see that change into a more solemn happiness and a determination not to disappoint him.
-^-^-
Author's Note: Please review! I will really try to get your suggestions in!