For what it's worth : Chapter 3 : Conversations

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or related…. JK Rowling owns…

A/N: This chapter is all Snape and Hermione. Just potion brewing and chatting…

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! I've sort of gotten ahead of myself, and before I knew it, I'm currently writing four WIPs. Sorry! Please read and review though. =)

***

Hermione walked slowly to Snape's office. She had nothing to do, as even her Head Girl duties in patrolling the corridors were given to the Prefects after dinner.

Knock. Knock.

Snape opened the door, already expecting her, and only a few minutes later, they were back in his quarters, the cauldron in front of them, hissing and spitting.

"We leave it for seventeen minutes before the next step."

"And what do we do 'til then?"

"I'll find the rest of the ingredients and…" Snape looked around, and spotted a manila folder. He picked it up and handed it to Hermione. "You mark this."

Hermione was just about to protest that she had offered to help make the Potion, not mark student's homework. But when she flipped it open, it was only a small stack of third year papers.

"Oh well," she murmured, walking over to the closest table.

Snape himself, had disappeared into his storeroom, and Hermione was alone in the dark room. Flicking on the desk light, she opened the first drawer in search for red ink. Inside were more folders, most likely, more student homework. The second drawer contained something more mysterious, a black case. She was about to open the final drawer when Snape returned.

"What do you think you're doing?" He set down the jars he had been holding, and was almost instantly at her side, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Professor! I… I was looking for red ink."

Snape calmed down about three inches, but at least the menacing tone was gone. "Last drawer."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to –"

"Quite alright, Miss Granger. And we'll give it fifteen minutes for the Rogue stone to melt."

He was talking about the Potion again. "Mmhmm."

Hermione dipped a quill into the blood red ink. She remembered this paper. Forgetfulness Potions. Correct. Incorrect. Correct. Correct. Incorrect. Zero. Correct. Suddenly, she burst out laughing.

Severus Snape's head snapped up. "What?"

"Look at this."

Snape strolled over and Hermione showed him the parchment. He allowed a small smile. "Happens all the time."

It seemed that one poor student had handed in her Transfiguration homework instead of the asked Potion's one by mistake.

"What do I give her?"

"An F."

"But the Transfiguration paper is completely correct."

"It was a Potion's Assignment, Miss Granger."

"Oh alright." Hermione finally said. "You're so stingy." She muttered, not necessarily so that the Potion's Master could hear her.

"Excuse me?"

Hermione blinked, surprised, then shrugged. I've come this far already. "I said you were stingy Professor. About marks. Many teachers would've given the student a chance."

"And I guess many teachers are just like you then," Snape sneered.

Rather offended, Hermione frowned. "At least they're not like you."

He glared at her, but she didn't even notice it.

"Ahh… Miss Granger?"

"Yes?" Hermione was chewing on the end of the quill, trying to remember whether a Bezoar's properties were acidic or basic.

"Must I remind you that I am still your teacher and that I can take as many points from Gryffindor as I like?"

"And expel me too? Within reason, Professor. Yes, I know."

"But?"

"But you won't."

Snape glared at her again. "Miss Granger, since when were you no longer afraid of me?"

Hermione looked up and laughed at the expression on his face: disappointment. "Since last year, I guess. You've become less… intimidating."

Snape was about to say something, before: "Will you stop chewing on my quill, child! It's distracting."

"Yes sir. But it's not your quill."

Hermione laughed again, and Snape noted the sound was… pleasant. It felt nice to hear happiness even in a time like this. There wasn't much left for everyone now. Everywhere, everyone was fearful, sad and in waiting for something horrible to happen. It was nice to know that even now, there was joy somewhere. And it was even nicer to know this girl, Granger, could stand to hold a conversation like this with him in the first place. Not just a civilized conversation. An almost friendly one.

He strode silently back into the storeroom. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Yes, sir."

Hermione sighed again, and tapped the dripping red quill in the edge of the ink bottle. Was a Beetle's Spine needed in the process of Forgetfulness Potions? Yes, of course.

Then an abrupt hiss from the Wolfsbane Potion brought her back from thoughts. Snape was still in the storeroom.

"Professor?"

"What?" His voice drifted from inside.

"The Potions bubbling. You'll need to – Oh here… I'll do it." Hermione jumped up, walked to the cauldron, and threw in the crushed Dragon Teeth. The liquid inside turned a light blue.

Snape swooped back into the room, two flasks in his hands. "Thank you. I'll need your help properly in five minutes, while I prepare the Dragonfly Wings. Would you mind…"

"Marking? No, of course not."

But in actual fact, Hermione thought marking was extremely tiresome. It was like learning already learnt material. Five minutes passed painfully slowly, and then Hermione found herself measuring, slicing and stirring ingredients for even longer, some of them she'd never even seen before.

"What's this Professor?"

"Crystallized Wolf Blood."

Snape found it amazing the girl didn't squeal or look at all queasy, something the majority of his female students usually did when presented with items such as this.

"It's pretty." It was. It was a pale pink, speckled with red.

"It's the main ingredient needed, Miss Granger."

"But we don't need it until the end, am I right?"

Once again, Severus Snape was surprised at her knowledge. Her recognized that many of the students who had taken the NEWTs last year didn't even know the components of the Wolfsbane, let alone the method in making it.

"Right."

"I'm finished."

"The Boomslang Skin is the last one we need today. I can finish the rest of it and you can leave whenever you feel like, Miss Granger." He disappeared back into his storeroom.

"Yeah. Just let me finish this paper. Last page." Hermione yawned and sat back down.

Picking up the quill, she dipped it into the red ink again. Correct. Incorrect. Correct. Correct. Cor –

"Professor?" She called. "Is Dragon's Scale also known as Reskan?"

"Yes." A voice replied from the next room.

"Thanks." She muttered.

Correct. Correct. Incorrect. Hermione yawned again and noticed the clock on the wall said nine-ten. It was only just past curfew, but Hermione was too tired even to get up. Besides, she was almost finished. Correct. Incorrect. The parchment started to get blurry, and Hermione closed her eyes.

*

Hermione awoke and lifted her head off the table. Then she remembered where she was.

Suddenly feeling apprehensive, she sat up and looked around. The room was empty, though lighted by a partly closed window. A silver and green blanket hung loosely on her shoulders.

"That's sweet." She mumbled to herself.

Getting up and wrapping herself tightly with the blanket, the clock said 6:45 and Hermione had decided Snape probably wouldn't mind if she made herself some tea. Taking out her wand, she muttered an object location spell. "Tea leaves." The wand turned to point to a lower cupboard. "Accio." The cupboard opened and a small jar flew into her waiting hand.

"I think having a wand is making me lazy."

"Not just you."

Hermione turned around to see a just-awoken Snape walk in. He pulled his own wand from his sleeve and two mugs flew from a higher shelf. They settled themselves on the bench.

"Thank you." He said, almost inaudibly, and shuffled into the bathroom.

Despite herself, Hermione laughed aloud.

*

"So what ingredients are you missing?"

"Anorak Bone and Beetle Eyes. Both are easy to find but we don't need them for a while. I'll go Diagon Alley in a few days."

There was a pause, and Hermione lifted her cup to her lips.

"Miss Granger. Whatever happened to hating the Potion's Professor?"

"Whatever happened to thinking I'm an 'insufferable know-it-all' Professor?"

Snape sneered, barely. "I still think that Miss Granger."

"That's nice to know."

There was a pause. "So whatever happened to hating the Potion's Professor?" Snape repeated.

Hermione almost spit out the tea in her mouth. Did this topic really matter? "I don't hate you."

"Which, I'm sure, is like all my other students."

"I can't say much to that."

"No I guess you can't. But have you any idea what brought this sudden change in, let's say, Weasley's and Potter's attitude towards me?"

Hermione almost laughed again. It was almost true. Though Harry was a little less… spiteful towards Snape, Ron's perspective now wasn't much different to his first year's. "I can't say much about that either, except that Ron's attitude towards you hasn't really changed. Harry… well, I don't really know."

Snape didn't answer, instead, he looked thoughtful. Hermione took a chance.

"Okay, my turn. I've got a question. Why do you think your students hate you?"

"Cause I'm a bastard towards them, Miss Granger. I thought you'd be clever enough to figure that one out."

Hermione almost cracked a smile. "Right. Well then, why are you a bastard to your students?"

"It's…"

"Yes?"

"It's amusing, Miss Granger." He took a sip of tea, and she saw that only his eyes belied that there was more than just 'amusement' involved. His face relayed an expression of mischief.

"Excuse me? You mean you treat your students like crap because it's fun?"

"Exactly."

"Then why don't you treat me like that?"

"Don't I?"

"Now, Professor. Here. Talking. You and me. There's no hate."

Snape smiled sadly, but the expression was gone as soon as it had come. "Because you're helping me Miss Granger. This is to my advantage, so why would I ruin that?"

"Ah… but I have control here. So… could this be considered a truce? Or will you treat me differently in class?"

"It's a truce, Miss Granger. Dare I say, I actually slept last night."

Hermione laughed again. He has a sense of humour. Strange, no doubt, but a sense of humour nonetheless. Then she bit her lip. This was Snape. SNAPE. Only second to Draco Malfoy, according to Ron. Since when did she laugh with him? Since when did she have pleasant conversations with him? Since when did she have ANY conversation with him?

Since never, she realized. But she also had to admit that talking to Snape wasn't that bad. Not really.

***

Please, please, please review!

Haha.. It was really funny because I was reading a parody on Severus/Hermione stories, and I couldn't help notice that this story is going exactly in that cliqued direction. Oh well. This is a WIP, so we'll see how we go.