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Potions
Hermione was on her way back to her rooms. The events of the previous night replayed in her mind and the more she thought about them, the stranger they were.
It was most probable that Snape's strange behavior was from his evident lack of sleep. Hadn't he been harsher once he woke up? She felt sorry for any child that had to grow up with Snape as a father, or an uncle as it were. Why would the child's parents never be coming back? Were they...? Oh! How horrible! Now Snape would raise her, probably as his own.
Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. She imagined the child growing up with a sour face and a dark uninviting wardrobe. Impossible! She could not allow that to happen. Someone had to make sure the girl had pretty clothing and someone she felt she could trust. It was then that Hermione had officially decided that this child needed her. She would adopt little Elizabeth as a sister, come in and play with her, take her places, help her figure things out.
It was quite a large commitment, Hermione was well aware, but she was willing to put in the time. Besides, when she left school and Elizabeth was older, she could come and pick her up and take her to spend time on her own. She wouldn't have to see her potions professor all that much.
She smiled. It was there in Elizabeth's eyes last night; she needed Hermione almost as much as Hermione needed her. It was tough on Hermione growing up with muggle parents; sure they supported her, but they never really understood her. It wasn't their fault; they were just...different. Hermione lived in two worlds: one here at Hogwarts with magic and her friends and one at home with her parents and muggles. Two different worlds, of which she preferred the former. It saddened her though because her parents would never really fit in entirely with her new life. She, although she did not know it, needed some one to love, but not like a friend, or companion, but as family. To make up for the one she was slowly yet undoubtedly losing. She had reached the common room, and was not surprised to see that no one was up yet. As brave and bold as Gryffindors were, they did not seem to like trying to conquer the early mornings. Hermione herself did like the early mornings, but she also liked the late nights. What she really liked was a chance to reflect on everything, time to be alone. But she still enjoyed being with her friends more than anything else. Going upstairs, she found what she needed for her shower and left once again. When she returned a little more that forty minutes later, she found some of her housemates up now. Taking a seat by Ron and Harry, she greeted them lightly. "Well, you two look quite cheerful for a Wednesday morning!" "Hallo Mione!" Harry greeted and than addressed the rest of her statement, "Didn't you hear? There's an extra Hogsmeade trip this weekend!" "Of course she has you twit!" Ron said elbowing Harry in the ribs. "She's Head Girl." "Oh, right." Hermione laughed. "To see the looks on your faces, one would never guess you go there almost every weekend."
Harry looked around quickly to see if any one heard. "Do you want to keep it down?"
"Why? Scared some one would turn you in?"
Ron laughed. "No, if any one would turn us in it'd be you!" He laughed again at Hermione's scowl. "We're afraid that if they knew, they'd want to go with us!"
Now Hermione laughed.
"Besides, it's more fun when we're allowed to go," Harry put in.
Hermione eyed the raven-haired boy suspiciously, "And here I was thinking you two would enjoy visiting the town when its not allowed and there's a danger of getting caught."
Both boys seemed to find something very amusing with the composition of the floor at that moment causing Hermione to laugh harder. "What you mean to say is it's more fun when Lavender and Ginny are allowed to go."
At this the two boys turned red and Hermione's laughter grew. She appreciated though, that late night explorations, and 'dangerous' missions were still limited to the three of them. Hermione never felt as if the girlfriends were replacing her.
Ron looked up indignantly. "As if it isn't enough to be able to entirely understand how girls think, but you have to know all about boys too?"
Yet another laugh fell from Hermione's lips. "You were expecting anything less?"
Now all three teens were laughing and Harry added, "Yeah, this is Hermione you're talking about, she could probably even tell you how an Ogre thinks!"
Hermione's laughter was slightly forced now, as she knew her intense intellect was the reason that she had never had a boyfriend. She wasn't about to pretend to be some ditz for the sake of having a boyfriend who would never really appreciate her. She could just imagine herself married to some guy who wanted her for nothing more than a breeding machine and a live in chef.
No sir, that was not the type of life that Hermione Granger would live. She would rather end up alone than like that. The girl sighed; ending up alone was exactly what she was afraid of.
Slightly more than an hour later, Hermione was sitting in front of her cauldron in her potions class wondering about the man that sat up front with his surly head bent over student papers. From the look on his face and the amount of red ink that was flowing out of the quill that was flying over the parchment, Hermione was fairly certain that whoever was going to get that paper back would not be too happy with their grade.
Just the night before, Hermione could have sworn that she saw something in her Professor's eyes that resembled some emotion other than hatred. Yet this morning, he had flung open the door and sauntered aggressively into the room, addressing the class as if they were little more than bacteria and vermin. Every word he spat was like a dagger piercing the dense atmosphere of the dungeon meant to injure every ear it fell upon.
It was quite a contrast from the Snape Hermione had encountered the night before. Had the room not been so deathly silent she might have laughed. She probably would be able to understand and anticipate the movements of an ogre, yet she probably would never be able to even understand the workings of their Potions Master, even if she were to study him for years on end.
But deciding that her work needed to get done, she turned her focus from her Potions Master and back to her cauldron.
Ten minutes before class was to end, Hermione had a beautiful truth potion ready for testing, which was to be done their next class period. Feeling quite good about her accomplishment, she settled down at her desk with a transfiguration book reading up on the day's upcoming lesson.
About five minutes later, Hermione heard the squeak of her professor's chair as he slid it backwards and pulled himself up into his full intimidating frame. Hermione watched curiously as he walked from student to student handing back papers with a murderous glare on his sullen face. When he got to Neville Longbottom his thin hand held the paper before the boy who was obviously nervous.
When Neville held out his own shaking hand to take the paper, Snape pulled the paper out of the boys grasp forcing Neville to look up into the face of the professor. The apprehensive boy audibly gulped. Attaining a desired reaction, the Potion's Master smirked maliciously for a second handing the paper to the frightened boy before turning and spreading dread elsewhere.
Hermione's paper was the last one in the pile. Being as bold as she was, she met the Professor's cold glare showing no fear in her eyes as he approached. Her professor took this as a display of insolence and thrust the paper at the girl trying to make her flinch. Yet Hermione stood as unflinching as ever watching him his whole way back to his desk.
Hermione looked down at her paper and nearly gasped. Written across the top in her Professor's scrawly handwriting was:
"D- I asked for the composition and practical uses of Veritaserum, not the entire history of its development."
The bell rang and Professor Snape unenthusiastically dismissed the class.
Bodies began to move around her, but Hermione continued to stand looking at the paper. A D minus? Hermione had never before in her life received a B let alone a D minus!
"Do you have a class to get to Ms. Granger or were you intending to impersonate a statue in my classroom all day?"
Hermione was brought back to reality by her professor's unkind voice.
"Actually Sir, I wanted to ask you a question."
A wry smile crossed his lips; he knew she would. "What is it then Ms. Granger."
"I wanted to ask you," she began holding out her assignment, "What this was."
Snape glanced at the document for less than a second. "I believe Ms. Granger that it is a homework assignment completed by you receiving the grade of a D minus. Unless there is any thing else, I would advise you go and allow me to continue with my grading."
He turned his attention back to the stack of papers on his desk. "Actually professor," she was persistent wasn't she? "I was hoping you might be able to explain to me why I received such a low grade."
Snape looked at her with annoyance, "Ms. Granger, you did not follow the instructions I gave for the assignment. If you would like to receive a better grade next time, I suggest that you learn to do what is asked of you."
She could hardly believe her ears. Was her professor actually berating her for doing more than what was called for? She opened her mouth to speak but was promptly cut off.
"Good day, Ms. Granger."
Frustrated Hermione did not know what to do. She turned to go but stopped at the sound of her professor's voice.
"Oh, and Ms. Granger, I suggest that you do not mention what you stumbled across last night to anyone, especially if you planned on passing my class this year."
Hermione left the room outraged. Not only had he insulted her integrity, but he had also threatened her! Well at least her homework grade made sense. She couldn't believe it; she hated that old dungeon dwelling bat!
Hermione was sore for the rest of the day. Harry and Ron didn't know exactly what was going on, but they knew better than to ask Hermione about it when she was in that state of outrage. It would do nothing but cause disaster.
Hermione was quite glad when she had to excuse herself to do her nightly rounds. Luckily for the rest of the school, everything was pretty much in order, as Hermione was not in a very forgiving or overlooking mood than night. She was almost done with her rounds when she heard it.
Again she was in the dungeons and there could be no mistaking the noise that was permeating the darkness. It was a baby crying.
Ha! Serves him right! That's what he got for scorning the help that Hermione had so graciously offered him.
She was about to turn around and head up to bed when the though of a small blue-eyed babe passed through her mind.
Could she really leave that poor child there, condemned to spend an uncomfortable night with that insufferable beast?
Sighing, she turned around and entered the room.
Inside, she found her Potions professor sitting on the sofa holding the baby with many object such as bottles, diapers, and tows scattered about him. Hermione walked over to him and took the baby out of his arms, gently enough not to cause the baby discomfort, but forcefully enough to show her authority. "Honestly Professor what on earth did you do?" "I didn't do anything. I swear!" he pointed a finger at Hermione and the baby, "That child hates me!" Hermione snorted, "I wouldn't be surprised." But the look on the professor's face showed that he was indeed surprised by the words that sprang from his student's mouth. Indignantly he puffed out his chest. "I beg your pardon! I do suggest that you watch you tone with me Ms. Granger-" But Hermione cut him off, "And I suggest that you watch your tone with me Professor, unless of course you want to deal with a screaming child all night long!" There was a tense moment, as Hermione and Snape looked each other in the eyes. The only sound in the room was Elizabeth's cries, which were slowly dying down. When her whimpers finally ceased, Snape sat down on the couch, defeated, with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees.
So how was that? Was Snape more in character that time? As I have said before, his being OOC in the first chapter was intentional. What I am doing should become apparent with time. It actually might be now slightly, but its prolly just like that to me b/c I know that I'm doing. Neways. What did you guys think?
I wanted to thank all of my reviewers! You guys are amazing!!! I love you all!! But I must run for now!! Bye!!
And thank you to Jenny for Beta-ing this story!
Atiannala
Potions
Hermione was on her way back to her rooms. The events of the previous night replayed in her mind and the more she thought about them, the stranger they were.
It was most probable that Snape's strange behavior was from his evident lack of sleep. Hadn't he been harsher once he woke up? She felt sorry for any child that had to grow up with Snape as a father, or an uncle as it were. Why would the child's parents never be coming back? Were they...? Oh! How horrible! Now Snape would raise her, probably as his own.
Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. She imagined the child growing up with a sour face and a dark uninviting wardrobe. Impossible! She could not allow that to happen. Someone had to make sure the girl had pretty clothing and someone she felt she could trust. It was then that Hermione had officially decided that this child needed her. She would adopt little Elizabeth as a sister, come in and play with her, take her places, help her figure things out.
It was quite a large commitment, Hermione was well aware, but she was willing to put in the time. Besides, when she left school and Elizabeth was older, she could come and pick her up and take her to spend time on her own. She wouldn't have to see her potions professor all that much.
She smiled. It was there in Elizabeth's eyes last night; she needed Hermione almost as much as Hermione needed her. It was tough on Hermione growing up with muggle parents; sure they supported her, but they never really understood her. It wasn't their fault; they were just...different. Hermione lived in two worlds: one here at Hogwarts with magic and her friends and one at home with her parents and muggles. Two different worlds, of which she preferred the former. It saddened her though because her parents would never really fit in entirely with her new life. She, although she did not know it, needed some one to love, but not like a friend, or companion, but as family. To make up for the one she was slowly yet undoubtedly losing. She had reached the common room, and was not surprised to see that no one was up yet. As brave and bold as Gryffindors were, they did not seem to like trying to conquer the early mornings. Hermione herself did like the early mornings, but she also liked the late nights. What she really liked was a chance to reflect on everything, time to be alone. But she still enjoyed being with her friends more than anything else. Going upstairs, she found what she needed for her shower and left once again. When she returned a little more that forty minutes later, she found some of her housemates up now. Taking a seat by Ron and Harry, she greeted them lightly. "Well, you two look quite cheerful for a Wednesday morning!" "Hallo Mione!" Harry greeted and than addressed the rest of her statement, "Didn't you hear? There's an extra Hogsmeade trip this weekend!" "Of course she has you twit!" Ron said elbowing Harry in the ribs. "She's Head Girl." "Oh, right." Hermione laughed. "To see the looks on your faces, one would never guess you go there almost every weekend."
Harry looked around quickly to see if any one heard. "Do you want to keep it down?"
"Why? Scared some one would turn you in?"
Ron laughed. "No, if any one would turn us in it'd be you!" He laughed again at Hermione's scowl. "We're afraid that if they knew, they'd want to go with us!"
Now Hermione laughed.
"Besides, it's more fun when we're allowed to go," Harry put in.
Hermione eyed the raven-haired boy suspiciously, "And here I was thinking you two would enjoy visiting the town when its not allowed and there's a danger of getting caught."
Both boys seemed to find something very amusing with the composition of the floor at that moment causing Hermione to laugh harder. "What you mean to say is it's more fun when Lavender and Ginny are allowed to go."
At this the two boys turned red and Hermione's laughter grew. She appreciated though, that late night explorations, and 'dangerous' missions were still limited to the three of them. Hermione never felt as if the girlfriends were replacing her.
Ron looked up indignantly. "As if it isn't enough to be able to entirely understand how girls think, but you have to know all about boys too?"
Yet another laugh fell from Hermione's lips. "You were expecting anything less?"
Now all three teens were laughing and Harry added, "Yeah, this is Hermione you're talking about, she could probably even tell you how an Ogre thinks!"
Hermione's laughter was slightly forced now, as she knew her intense intellect was the reason that she had never had a boyfriend. She wasn't about to pretend to be some ditz for the sake of having a boyfriend who would never really appreciate her. She could just imagine herself married to some guy who wanted her for nothing more than a breeding machine and a live in chef.
No sir, that was not the type of life that Hermione Granger would live. She would rather end up alone than like that. The girl sighed; ending up alone was exactly what she was afraid of.
Slightly more than an hour later, Hermione was sitting in front of her cauldron in her potions class wondering about the man that sat up front with his surly head bent over student papers. From the look on his face and the amount of red ink that was flowing out of the quill that was flying over the parchment, Hermione was fairly certain that whoever was going to get that paper back would not be too happy with their grade.
Just the night before, Hermione could have sworn that she saw something in her Professor's eyes that resembled some emotion other than hatred. Yet this morning, he had flung open the door and sauntered aggressively into the room, addressing the class as if they were little more than bacteria and vermin. Every word he spat was like a dagger piercing the dense atmosphere of the dungeon meant to injure every ear it fell upon.
It was quite a contrast from the Snape Hermione had encountered the night before. Had the room not been so deathly silent she might have laughed. She probably would be able to understand and anticipate the movements of an ogre, yet she probably would never be able to even understand the workings of their Potions Master, even if she were to study him for years on end.
But deciding that her work needed to get done, she turned her focus from her Potions Master and back to her cauldron.
Ten minutes before class was to end, Hermione had a beautiful truth potion ready for testing, which was to be done their next class period. Feeling quite good about her accomplishment, she settled down at her desk with a transfiguration book reading up on the day's upcoming lesson.
About five minutes later, Hermione heard the squeak of her professor's chair as he slid it backwards and pulled himself up into his full intimidating frame. Hermione watched curiously as he walked from student to student handing back papers with a murderous glare on his sullen face. When he got to Neville Longbottom his thin hand held the paper before the boy who was obviously nervous.
When Neville held out his own shaking hand to take the paper, Snape pulled the paper out of the boys grasp forcing Neville to look up into the face of the professor. The apprehensive boy audibly gulped. Attaining a desired reaction, the Potion's Master smirked maliciously for a second handing the paper to the frightened boy before turning and spreading dread elsewhere.
Hermione's paper was the last one in the pile. Being as bold as she was, she met the Professor's cold glare showing no fear in her eyes as he approached. Her professor took this as a display of insolence and thrust the paper at the girl trying to make her flinch. Yet Hermione stood as unflinching as ever watching him his whole way back to his desk.
Hermione looked down at her paper and nearly gasped. Written across the top in her Professor's scrawly handwriting was:
"D- I asked for the composition and practical uses of Veritaserum, not the entire history of its development."
The bell rang and Professor Snape unenthusiastically dismissed the class.
Bodies began to move around her, but Hermione continued to stand looking at the paper. A D minus? Hermione had never before in her life received a B let alone a D minus!
"Do you have a class to get to Ms. Granger or were you intending to impersonate a statue in my classroom all day?"
Hermione was brought back to reality by her professor's unkind voice.
"Actually Sir, I wanted to ask you a question."
A wry smile crossed his lips; he knew she would. "What is it then Ms. Granger."
"I wanted to ask you," she began holding out her assignment, "What this was."
Snape glanced at the document for less than a second. "I believe Ms. Granger that it is a homework assignment completed by you receiving the grade of a D minus. Unless there is any thing else, I would advise you go and allow me to continue with my grading."
He turned his attention back to the stack of papers on his desk. "Actually professor," she was persistent wasn't she? "I was hoping you might be able to explain to me why I received such a low grade."
Snape looked at her with annoyance, "Ms. Granger, you did not follow the instructions I gave for the assignment. If you would like to receive a better grade next time, I suggest that you learn to do what is asked of you."
She could hardly believe her ears. Was her professor actually berating her for doing more than what was called for? She opened her mouth to speak but was promptly cut off.
"Good day, Ms. Granger."
Frustrated Hermione did not know what to do. She turned to go but stopped at the sound of her professor's voice.
"Oh, and Ms. Granger, I suggest that you do not mention what you stumbled across last night to anyone, especially if you planned on passing my class this year."
Hermione left the room outraged. Not only had he insulted her integrity, but he had also threatened her! Well at least her homework grade made sense. She couldn't believe it; she hated that old dungeon dwelling bat!
Hermione was sore for the rest of the day. Harry and Ron didn't know exactly what was going on, but they knew better than to ask Hermione about it when she was in that state of outrage. It would do nothing but cause disaster.
Hermione was quite glad when she had to excuse herself to do her nightly rounds. Luckily for the rest of the school, everything was pretty much in order, as Hermione was not in a very forgiving or overlooking mood than night. She was almost done with her rounds when she heard it.
Again she was in the dungeons and there could be no mistaking the noise that was permeating the darkness. It was a baby crying.
Ha! Serves him right! That's what he got for scorning the help that Hermione had so graciously offered him.
She was about to turn around and head up to bed when the though of a small blue-eyed babe passed through her mind.
Could she really leave that poor child there, condemned to spend an uncomfortable night with that insufferable beast?
Sighing, she turned around and entered the room.
Inside, she found her Potions professor sitting on the sofa holding the baby with many object such as bottles, diapers, and tows scattered about him. Hermione walked over to him and took the baby out of his arms, gently enough not to cause the baby discomfort, but forcefully enough to show her authority. "Honestly Professor what on earth did you do?" "I didn't do anything. I swear!" he pointed a finger at Hermione and the baby, "That child hates me!" Hermione snorted, "I wouldn't be surprised." But the look on the professor's face showed that he was indeed surprised by the words that sprang from his student's mouth. Indignantly he puffed out his chest. "I beg your pardon! I do suggest that you watch you tone with me Ms. Granger-" But Hermione cut him off, "And I suggest that you watch your tone with me Professor, unless of course you want to deal with a screaming child all night long!" There was a tense moment, as Hermione and Snape looked each other in the eyes. The only sound in the room was Elizabeth's cries, which were slowly dying down. When her whimpers finally ceased, Snape sat down on the couch, defeated, with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees.
So how was that? Was Snape more in character that time? As I have said before, his being OOC in the first chapter was intentional. What I am doing should become apparent with time. It actually might be now slightly, but its prolly just like that to me b/c I know that I'm doing. Neways. What did you guys think?
I wanted to thank all of my reviewers! You guys are amazing!!! I love you all!! But I must run for now!! Bye!!
And thank you to Jenny for Beta-ing this story!
Atiannala