{Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe was created by J.K. Rowling and rights are owned by, but not limited to Warner Brothers and Scholastic Books. I, therefore, own no parts of this.}
Chapter 4
Adapting to Change
The room was bright and rather cheery in contrast to what she had seen of the rest of Snape Manor. Instead of the normal Slytherin silvers and greens, the walls were done in a pale, springtime pink paired with white curtains printed with colorful Gerber daisies. The bed was a large four poster like those at Hogwarts except instead of being decorated in the house colors, it was covered in the bright hues of the flowers. The whole room was resplendent in magentas, oranges, and yellows with slight hints of azure and cherry red thrown in for added effect. It would have been too vibrant if the decorator hadn't been careful, but fortunately for her, it worked perfectly.
Hermione saw none of her belongings apparent in her new room. Opening the doors on a honey maple armoire, she found all her robes. Shoes and other clothing were located in the drawers below. Further exploration discovered her other belongings neatly placed in another set of drawers and on a tall book shelf. Her appliances were no where to be found and she guessed they had been sold off with her apartment.
She obviously didn't have too much of a say in what she wanted to keep, not that there was much she wanted other than her clothing, books, pictures, and the small amount of memorabilia she had collected over the years. The appliances and furniture had come with the apartment anyway, so they were not necessarily hers. The only thing that was missing was the one chair she had bought on a whim at a thrift store. The house elves had some how read her mind as it appeared suddenly in a corner.
"Wow," she said to herself, collapsing on the plush bed. It was just how she liked it, soft enough to cuddle into, but not too soft that it was uncomfortable. The elves had even brought her pillows though they were cased in new linens. Her eyes slowly closed and she let herself have a moment of peace.
"Miss?" a shrill voice shattered any peaceful thoughts she was having. The moment of rest had lasted longer than expected. "Miss?"
Hermione grumbled something incomprehensible in response.
"Miss needs to wake up. The Master said to have Miss ready for dinner by 6."
Hermione sat up, realizing the voice belonged to a frazzled looking house elf wearing a tea cozy. "What time is it?"
"Is half past five, Miss."
She calculated that there was a half hour before she was to have dinner with one of the scariest men in existence. "Wonderful," she glanced around the room, noticing more closed doors than she needed to see. "Could you show me to the loo?"
"Nolly would be honored. Is right over here, Miss," the little creature opened one of the doors. The bathroom was almost more than Hermione had bargained for. It reminded her of the prefect's one at Hogwarts: a huge tub, at least six taps with wonderful smelling bubbles and soaps, a separate stall for showers, and an ornate commode.
"Thank you, Nolly. If you don't mind, I would like to get cleaned up."
"Is fine, Miss. Nolly will find you fresh robes to wear. Master is specific about the dress in his house."
Hermione disregarded the house elf as she washed her face. She ran damp fingers through her hair in attempt to tame the mess though it did little to calm the frizz. She returned to her room to see what the elf had laid out for her.
"Master said for Miss to look nice. Nolly found pretty robes for Miss."
Hermione saw the garments and gasped audibly. A silvery blue dress robe hung suspended in the air by the little elf. "That's not mine," she stuttered, "I don't have any robes that look like that."
"Nolly fixed up an old robe found in Miss's closet. Is perfect for dinner," the creature explained proudly.
"Fine. It will have to do for now." She stripped of her everyday robes and into the lovely dress. The material was soft and slippery; reminding her of the pale blue gown she had for the ball in her fourth year. Maybe that was what the house elf had altered for her. She looked in the large mirror adorning one wall.
"It suits you, dear," the mirror spoke in a melodious tone. "Much better than those shapeless things you had on earlier. A woman with a body like yours should show it off."
Hermione's eyes widened at her reflection. The dress clung to her curves showing them off more than anything she had ever worn before. "The neck's a bit low, isn't it?" The collar was cut just low enough to show the very tops her breasts. "And it's a bit tight."
"Not at all, dear. That's nonsense. What ever man you are out to impress will enjoy it and it's not too low or too tight to show everything, like some of those dresses the girls are wearing nowadays. You're fine. Now only if we could do something about that hair of yours, we'd be all set."
"Nolly can fix Miss's hair!" the house elf screeched excitedly. It waved a hand at her Hermione's head before she could protest. The strands wove themselves into a complex nest of curls piled near the top of her head. A few were left loose to dangle behind her ears.
"Wonderful!" the mirror exclaimed. "You look stunning, dear. Now go join that lucky man of yours."
"He's not mine; we're just colleagues," Hermione explained.
"It will still impress him. Now off with you!"
Nolly jumped up and down happily. "This way, Miss! The Master will be waiting for you!"
Snape sat at the small table set out for the two of them in a smaller salon. He refused to eat in the large hall with so few people residing in the house. It made no sense to do so, she he chose to eat in a smaller, more comfortable room.
He looked at the clock, wondering where Miss Granger, no, Hermione, had gotten to. She was no longer his student; there was no need to address her as such. They were to work as equals from now until the end of the project as hard as it would be to do so. Knowing what kind of person she was, he wouldn't have been surprised if she had gotten sidetracked with something while exploring the house. Before he could ponder her whereabouts further, someone knocked at the door. "Enter."
The door opened to reveal something Severus did not expect. He had told the house elf to make sure she looked decent for dinner, but the transformation was so amazing, he almost could not believe it. She looked absolutely gorgeous. He nearly could not comprehend that this woman was the same obnoxious brat that terrorized him only five years before.
"Hello," she greeting him shyly.
Automatically, he stood up and pulled out a chair for her to sit in. She took it willingly, her calm demeanor only betrayed by a slight shocked look in her eyes. "Good evening, Hermione. I hope you found your accommodations to be acceptable?"
"Yes, they're wonderful," she admitted.
"And the house elves brought everything you needed, I assume."
"I believe so. I did a relatively thorough check and located most of my belongings. The appliances are being sold with my apartment then?"
"Yes. We decided that would be the most beneficial course of action."
"Good. They came with the apartment anyway."
Silver platters appeared on the table filled with various delicacies. Hermione chose to try a simple pasta dish with chicken, which turned out to be very good. "This is delicious!"
"It should be. The house elves here have been fully trained in cooking anything and everything. They rival even those at Hogwarts."
The pair lapsed into silence, not feeling totally comfortable with the other's presence yet. Hermione broke it after a few moments, bursting with questions about their up coming task. "So when will we start the potion?"
Snape suppressed a groan. He had figured she would be asking about it by now. "We first have to gather ingredients before we can begin the brewing process, Hermione." She blushed and he continued, "I will spend tomorrow morning seeing what I have in my stores that can still be used. We will then take a trip to Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley to locate what I do not have. Depending on how successful we are there, we may have to find other sources for what we need."
"Alright. Would you mind if I stopped by my father's house tomorrow to tell him that I won't be in contact for a while? It won't take very long."
"I should be busy for most of the morning. Do as you wish."
Dinner finished up with silence as Snape retired to his study and Hermione to her room. She knew she had to tell her father about the project and that she would be out of reach for the next few months. She really didn't mind too much; it wasn't like she and her father were incredibly close to begin with. Their relationship had gone to ruins after her mother died. Her father blamed her even though she had nothing to do with the incident. Morning came too soon for its own good and Hermione apparated to her childhood home.
"Why?" She asked herself as she approached the front door. She knew it was the correct thing to do, to visit her father before she got involved in the major research project and probably wouldn't see him for months. She still felt bad for the schedule she kept. She never had time for him anymore and without her mother alive, she guessed he was most likely lonely.
Her mother had been murdered during one of Voldemort's Muggle killing sprees. Somehow her father had only been knocked unconscious and survived, but her mother had been killed with a simple, yet powerful curse. She hadn't witnessed the event herself, thankfully. She had been working on a strong healing potion with Flamel that would guarantee successful recovery from nearly any wound or illness. It had been too late for it to be effective to save her mother.
Hermione knocked at the door, waiting for her father to answer. He said that he would be home today. Maybe he had gone out. That would make her life much easier. Just leave a note at the door saying that she had stopped by and she wouldn't have to say a word to him. The door unfortunately opened and her father gave her a large smile. "Hello, sweet pea. I wasn't expecting you this early." He ushered her inside, taking her coat. He was always a civil gentleman when she first arrived. It just got worse the longer the visit became.
"Hi, Dad," she spoke softly. "I wanted to stop by as soon as possible. I've got a new project coming up and we're going to get every settled for it this afternoon." So what if it was a slight lie. She would probably talk with Severus later about what exactly they needed to do, so there was some truth behind it.
"Well, good for you. Would you like anything? Coffee? Tea? Soda? A snack?"
"No, thanks, I just had breakfast." Another lie, but food would make her stay longer than she had to. She had a mug of tea before she came.
They sat down together in the living room, Hermione on the couch and her father in his favorite armchair.
"So what have you been up to lately?" she asked to start a simple conversation.
"Oh, the usual. The practice has been thriving. We have a few new interns who show a lot of promise. They're about your age too and good-looking," he shot her a meaningful look.
"Don't start again, please, Dad. I don't need a Muggle boyfriend. He wouldn't understand my life." Ever since her mother passed away, her father had been attempting to hook her up with any eligible man he could find.
"Then why don't you come back to us normal folk, find a decent man, get married, and join the family practice?"
"You know as well as I do that I can't do that. My education is completely magical. I know close to nothing about the sciences and history. I wouldn't be able to fit in here."
"I could teach you dentistry."
"I don't want to be a dentist. I know that is what you want for me, but it's not what I want for myself."
"Then what do you want for yourself?" Mr. Granger snapped back angrily. He never understood his only daughter any more. They had been close when she was younger, but now she couldn't be farther away. He understood nothing of her education; only that she graduated top of her class. He was very proud of her for that, but had hoped that she would get over this magic fantasy and come back to the real world. He knew in his heart that it wouldn't happen, but he would do his best to get her back.
"I want to research my potions; that's what I want to do."
"You can do research here too."
"It's not the same."
"It can be if you make it so."
"I know nothing of your sciences."
"They're my sciences now? Let me remind you that you are human too. So no, they are not just my sciences. They are your sciences and everyone else's sciences as well. Get it through your head that you are one of us. Your magic is just a hoax, Hermione Granger."
Hermione's eyes narrowed. She knew her father would never fully believe in what she did. Unconsciously, she pulled her wand from her sleeve, ready to hex him. "It is not a hoax. It is perfectly real. Why else would I have spent the past ten years away from here?"
"A conned scheme?"
"No. You know very well that it exists. Don't think I never realized that you went through my book and my stuff. I know you read most of my textbooks, if not all of them. That should prove something to you."
"It only proves that I was foolish to let you go through with this when I should have known better to keep you here at a normal school and then sent you to a medical school so that you could join the practice."
Hermione stood up, wand aimed as her father. "You let me go willingly."
"Your mother talked me into it."
"Don't bring Mother into this."
"Why not?" Mr. Granger rose from his chair.
"You don't have to blame me for what I could not fix. Magic cannot revive someone who is already dead. There is no cure for death."
"There should be."
"Well, there isn't. I can't bring Mom back. Neither can anyone else. It's not my fault!"
"If you weren't a witch, she would still be alive."
"You blame it all on me. How dare you?" Her wand was held steady, level with his chest.
"You think your little stick will solve everything, don't you? You think that with a wave of your magic wand everything will be alright? That's not how it is, Hermione," he mocked her. Leaping forward, Mr. Granger made a grab at her wand. She pulled it back but his other hand wrestled it from her grip. She stared dumbfounded as he threw it into the fire place.
"NO!" she lunged forward to grab it from the flames. Her father held her wrists tightly so she could not get away to rescue her precious wand. Tears streamed in rivulets down her checks as she sobbed. Loosing a wand was like loosing a piece of her soul. As it caught fire and burned to ash, Mr. Granger finally let her go.
"There. That took care of that problem. No more magic, young lady. You are enrolling in a normal school next week and are going to live you life as a normal person, do you understand me?"
"Perfectly," Hermione snapped back, brimming with fury. "Except that nothing can take magic away. Nothing at all. Never. Destroying my wand may only hinder some things, but I am still fully capable of magic."
"Go! Leave this house right now, you little bitch! Out of my sight! I never want to see you again!"
"Fine, have it your way." Hermione sauntered to the fire place, removing the charred remains of her wand. She held the ashes in her fist. "Good-bye, Father." She apparated out of the house, leaving no trace of her visit.
{Author's Note: Wow, I like you guys! You give me lots of reviews! Yay! I will warn you that the last part of this chapter was written before the first part, but I got it to fit together, so if it is kind of choppy, that's why. Just to let anyone who is interested know, if you leave your e-mail address in a review or log in and your e-mail is posted on ff.net, I will contact you when I post for this fic.
BlueLemons: Thank you very much for your lovely review. I went back and fixed some of the grammatical errors. I don't have a beta so me and my cats are the only ones to proof read any of this. The cats don't help much, unfortunately. I'm glad you like Snape. I try to keep him in character.
Angel2707: I don't get what you are saying. The reason I chose Snape was because he is a Potions Master and can save Hogwarts with what I have planned. You may hate him, but there is a good amount of us who happen to like him and think otherwise. Thanks for liking my fic anyway, despite that you don't like the main character.
PhoenixFlight: Thanks!
Dragon's Dreams: Exactly how much HGSS do you want? I was planning on leaving it up to my reviewers as to how in depth it goes.
RebelRikki: It's not a small house. It's a very large house, just not a castle. What I figured is that the Snapes are a rich, Pureblood family and therefore own many houses. So he currently resides in one of the smaller houses, though it is not very small and his parents live in the larger, more elaborate castle, which they will visit at some point.
Toreen: Yeah, I know about the errors. I don't have a beta, so I don't catch them sometimes. I fixed a few in the past couple of chapters and reposted them. I'm glad you like it.
Chibidaima: Thanks! I hope the rest of the story will be as equally good.
Peace, Love, and Tea, Nataly Ravenlock}