Ch.
1
Independent Study Project with Snape
Professor
Snape strode about the classroom, overseeing the sixth year
Gryffindor and Slytherin potions class. He was in an especially bad
mood and was barking at everyone, including his precious Slytherins.
Hermione couldn't help but assume it was due to today's brew,
memory mist. If the right ingredients were added together at an
extremely high temperature, a mist would rise from the cauldron
causing anyone exposed to it for long periods of time to become
nostalgic. Though she knew little of her ill-tempered professor's
past, she doubted it was something he would want to dwell on.
'Longbottom," he hissed. Neville swiveled around to face
Professor Snape, who continued to speak. "I'm curious to hear
your explanation as to why your mist is PURPLE." he said his
voice rising with each word.
"I -erm-well," Neville
started pitifully.
"I see; you have just earned yourself
a failing grade on this assignment Mr. Longbottom. And I want six
inches of parchment on what went wrong in your potion and how you
might have endangered your classmates. You will then follow up with
an additional four inches on how you will try harder not to be such a
bungling idiot!" Snape snapped, his voice rising on each
word.
Neville bit his lip and nodded.
The majority of
the Gryffindors looked highly offended by Snape's comments, but no
one dared to test his patience on a day such as this. The Slytherins,
especially Draco and his cronies, laughed raucously.
Hermione
gritted her teeth. It hadn't been entirely Neville's fault that his
potion had resulted in a purple mist; she had seen Draco dump
something into Neville's cauldron a few seconds earlier. Of course,
before the purple coloring had resulted the mist had been an
interesting shade of green. So she couldn't say Malfoy had been too
terrible. After all, it was a very pretty shade of purple.
Finally,
after he was through taking grades, Professor Snape assigned a
surplus of homework and barked that class was dismissed.
There
was a scraping of chairs as all the students tried to be the first to
the door. Snape slumped into a chair near his desk, looking almost as
if he had a severe migraine.
Only one audacious student
remained in the empty classroom, Hermione Granger, the Gryffindor
overachiever.
'Professor, sorry to trouble you, but I was
wondering when you wished to meet for my extracurricular assignment,"
she asked hurriedly.
Snape looked up from the floor to sneer
at the 'impertinent brat' standing before him. She had really
startled him, he had thought they were all gone. It was a good thing
he never allowed himself to let down his guard. He really wanted to
be left alone right now. Every year, he loathed the making of memory
mist. He had been trying for years to have it removed from the
curriculum, but Dumbledore would only give him a look of sympathy and
shake his head.
But
back to the Granger girl and her silly project. Actually, he had to
admit her project was quite brilliant. She was working with the
spectrum of time and a potion that was almost like a time turner
except it had been left uncompleted when its founder had died. The
Granger girl was hoping to complete it, not a small feat especially
for someone of her age. Despite her intellect and a few other
admirable qualities, she could be quite annoying at times, like now
for instance.
"Come back later tonight," he snapped
in irritation.
Hermione simply nodded her head and exited. She
was quite surprised when she ran into somebody outside the door. She
blushed and apologized, taking a step back. In front of her stood a
tall boy with bright red hair and huge grin plastered on his face.
"Hello to you too," the boy, Ron Weasley, said
still grinning.
She rolled her eyes. "You guys didn't
have to wait on me."
"Yeah, but we wanted to,"
Harry said.
"Well, thank you."
"Oh sure,
thank Harry. I'm the one who broke your fall," Ron joked.
Their
laughter was interrupted by Harry's growling stomach.
"Great
Hall anyone?" he asked.
"Yeah mate, I'm starving!"
Ron responded adamantly.
****At Dinner****
"So
Neville has so much work to do, he decided not to come to dinner.
He's in the common room working right now." Harry
finished.
"Poor guy, Snape really is an insufferable
bastard. I mean he was worse than usual today. Maybe if he'd stop
barking for a few minutes, Neville could concentrate," Ron
mumbled through a mouth full of potatoes.
Hermione snorted.
Like concentration would really help Neville. She had been his lab
partner for many years. No amount of concentration was going to help
him, and that was for sure.
"What is so funny," Ron
said in irritation.
"Nothing….Well, maybe Neville
will learn something from his paper," she said hopefully.
"Like
what that Snape is an ass? He probably already knows that,
Hermione."
"That isn't funny Ron. Snape has been
through a lot in his life. He probably just wants to forget it all,
but memory mist doesn't exactly help the situation does it?"
"Why
do you always have to stick up for him?"
"Yeah, if
he has bad memories as a death eater, then I say let him suffer them.
Enough people have suffered from those same memories," Harry
added in irritation.
"I can't believe you guys are so
narrow-minded! You've had it easy, but you are too prejudiced to see
it!"
There was silence for a moment as they both stared
at Hermione. Then, their rebuttal hit her like a tidal wave.
"Oh,
I've had it easy have I, Hermione? I'm an orphan. I was raised by
people who hate me. Voldemort is out to kill me, even if it means
hurting the people I care about. For him, that makes it all the more
fun. I've lost the only real father I've ever known. You're right.
What an easy life!" Harry burst out.
Hermione hadn't
heard him so wound up since the summer after fourth year when he had
come to Grimmauld Place. She bit her lip slightly. She hadn't meant
it that way. She really hadn't!
"Yeah, what a hard life
Snape must have had. He was bloody rich! He probably sat around all
day while others served him. He never had six siblings to compete
with. He had everything he could ever want. He chose to become a
death eater, let him suffer the consequences!" Ron said, his
face turning redder as he spoke.
Hermione mouthed wordlessly
like a fish out of water.
Harry stood to leave and Ron
followed him, leaving without a backward glance at her. She could
only hope this would all blow over. She would give them time to be
blow off some steam and then apologize later.
She waited
until they were out of the Great Hall before snatching a muffin and
leaving the Great Hall. She headed downstairs to the dungeons. She
stuffed the muffin into her satchel; she'd give it to Neville later.
Right now, she had work to do.
She knocked tentatively on
Professor Snape's classroom door.
"Enter," he
called.
She did so. The room was still a bit hazy with the
after effects of the memory mist. She hoped she didn't start
reminiscing. She really didn't have time for that now.
"Good
evening Professor Snape," she greeted the surly man in the
corner.
"You may begin where you left off," he said
curtly.
"Yes Sir."
She went to the back to
retrieve her cauldron and levitated it to a desk. She set to work,
reading carefully and adding her own notes to the side of the page.
Occasionally, she would look up to stir for a few minutes.
The
problem with the text was that it cut off half way through the
potion. If the potion was brewed as written, it would be volatile but
not very long-lasting. This meant that the person could be thrown
back any number of years into the future or past. You couldn't
control it. However, the effects would be short lived. Assuming the
person survived, they would be returned home within a few hours or at
most a few days.
Hermione hoped that one day this potion
could be controlled through the quantity of ingredient usage. Then,
the user could determine what year they went to. To return, all they
would have to do would be brew another potion, or perhaps, a sort of
boomerang effect could be added that would pull you home. Just maybe,
it could be used to escape Voldemort. She took a moment to consider
all the possibilities.
Now that she had finished the first
half of the potion, she would have to improv from here on out. Dragon
scales would definitely make the effects of the potion last longer,
but with what side effects? With his permission, she borrowed some
from Snape's stores. Then, she hurried back to her cauldron. In the
mist, Hermione had some trouble seeing, and to her misfortune, she
slipped. She reached out for something to steady herself, and her
cauldron came tumbling down, spilling its contents all over her.
Everything turned dark, and she had a horrible feeling of
vertigo. She opened her eyes slowly. The disaster was nowhere to be
seen and neither was Snape. It was just like him to leave without
seeing if she was injured.
Hermione walked out the door,
trying not to cry. She was about to be sick from the horrible
vertigo. She was bruised. And her perfect potion was ruined. All her
work was down the drain.
She walked straight into something
solid and warm. She backed up and mumbled her apologies. Then, she
looked up and saw it was only Harry.
"Harry! Listen, I'm
really sorry about what I said earlier," she started tears still
streaming down her face.
The boy raised his eyebrows in
confusion.
"I'm not Harry. My name is James." the
boy said, looking confused.
Hermione took a better look at the
boy. He had square framed glasses not round and probably had a good
inch or two on Harry.
"James Potter?" she asked her
eyes widening in shock.
"Yeah. Are you okay?" he
said uneasily.
"Yeah, I-I'm fine. Just tell me what year
it is."
"1977, of course."
"Oh my
God," she whispered slowly.
AN: Let me know if you see
any errors, so that I can fix them. I was too impatient to find a
beta reader, and I'd like to post at fiction alley as well. I know
it's pretty cliche right now, but I hope to fix that in chapters to
come. Thanks for reading!
