Disclaimer: Harry Potter and friends (or enemies depending on how you look at it) is the sole work of JK Rowling.
sophianwin: I'll try to clear my summary up. Part of the challenge was that Hermione is sent back into the past where the Marauders and Severus were in school. While Hermione is there she teachers them, and because of the fact that she is close in age to the older students, she adopts a teaching style to remain distant from the students. Her style is supposed to be similar to Snapes, so in essence she teaches Snape how to teach like Snape. Hopefully it becomes clear as I write; this is one of my first attempts at fan fic and my first one at Harry Potter in particular.
Chapter Two: Potions and Lesson Plans
In his laboratory, Professor Snape stirred the potion he'd been working on for most of the summer. Miss Granger had delivered the thymus nectar to him and left. It was probably only because of his former student and her ability to acquire some of these rare ingredients that his research had been able to progress this far. He supposed he should be thankful for this but he was irritated that his desired position had been filled yet again, and by someone younger than himself none the less. Sighing he scribbled a few notes down.
Hermione returned to her own rooms. She approached the bookshelf and removed a few books and took them to her desk. She looked thoughtfully at the rough outline she had for what to cover. "Seventh years course load is the most flexible, despite being a NEWT class, and I should focus on self protection and dueling to prepare them for the dark times they might face." She said to herself, thinking that she'd slip in some of the dueling in the other years' curriculum as well.
After several hours of working, Hermione was startled when the orange blob that was her cat landed on her lap. "Crookshanks." She said fondly as she ruffled his fur. "Let me guess its dinner time." The pat kneazle rumbled a reply and hopped down, heading over to the food dish. Hermione chuckled and got up and poured some cat food into the bowl. She ruffled the cat's fur once more before heading to the Great Hall for her own meal.
Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall and Vector were the only ones at the table at the time Hermione arrived. The two witches were in a lively debate at the moment. She greeted them all before taking a seat near the Headmaster. "Where are all the other professors?" Hermione asked curiously.
The Headmaster nodded towards her. "They come to eat when ever they want to during the summer holidays, frequently they dine in their own quarters anyway." He said. "So what did you do this afternoon and how did Severus react to your intruding on his domain?"
"He didn't bite my head off." She said and he nodded. "After I gave him the nectar I worked on the lesson plans. I wanted to ask your permission to include dueling as part of the curriculum for all students and focus on it for the seventh years."
The Headmaster nodded, the familiar twinkle in his eye much more pronounced that usual. "That sounds like an excellent idea. I assume that you will review other things with the seventh years occasionally to make sure they are prepared for their newts?" He asked.
Hermione nodded. "Of course; however since it is the seventh years last year, teaching them self defense and dueling techniques might be smart."
Professor Snape had arrived in the middle of the discussion and interrupted it with his silky voice. "If the dunderheads actually learn anything, which I doubt, it would just encourage them to fight in the corridors." He said as he sat down.
Hermione was about to respond when Professor Dumbledore chuckled. "How nice of you to join us Severus. Your concerns are appreciated but I am certain that those 'dunderheads' will do fine." He said. "How are your experiments coming along?"
The Potion Master nodded to the Headmaster. "They are coming along fairly well." He said as he served himself some beef. "I'll be going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get some Kneazle fur." He said.
The headmaster nodded however Hermione looked interested. "Why do you need Kneazle fur?" She asked.
He glared at her as if the answer was obviously but answered her anyway. "Some of the magical properties of the fur will bring out some of the dormant properties of the other ingredients as well as give the potion longer life shelf, although I still think part Kneazle fur would be better suited but I can't get a hold of any." He explained.
Hermione looked thoughtful. "Crookshanks is part Kneazle." She said. Although I doubt he'd be willing to donate some fur to your cause, he doesn't like getting his nails trimmed, what would he do if he saw a pair of scissors approach his fur. She thought to herself.
Professor Snape looked at her. "Really?" He asked one eyebrow rising in surprise, after all Kneazles were fairly rare and therefore part knealzes were even rarer. "Do you think you could bring him to my lab on Friday afternoon so I can gather some fur? I'd prefer it fresh." He said.
Hermione nodded. "Alright." She said figuring that it wouldn't do any harm and might actually make the year more bearable, after all if Professor Snape snapped at her she could always refuse to help him.
The Headmaster smiled to himself at this exchange. Several of the other teachers had expressed concern about Snape's behavior towards the DADA teachers and worried that it might be unbearable for the former 'know-it-all' Gryffindor student who had managed to get under Snape's skin by being a friend of Harry Potter. Snape, after all, did hold grudges for the longest time.
After eating, Hermione excused herself from the table and returned to her rooms to continue to work on her lesson plans. She also looked took note of the students who would be in the class and made a mental note to read their records, so she would get to know them better and be more prepared to teach them.
Friday soon arrived and after an hour spent tracking down Crookshanks who had decided to wander the grounds after breakfast, Hermione was almost ready for the visit to the dungeons. She took her wand and muttered a charm, causing her hair to braid itself, a hairstyle that kept her bushy mane out of the way. She slipped her wand back up her sleeve and holding Crookshanks (and some cat treats) made her way to the dungeons.
Reaching the door, she kicked at it with the ball of her foot, not wanting to loosen her grip on Crookshanks. "Enter!" Snape called. Hermione nudged the handled with her elbow and managed to twist it so it opened and slipped in. She closed it behind her. Crookshanks squirmed as the smell of the potion hit his sensitive nose. "Crooks, calm down." She said soothingly as she approached the Potions Master.
Professor Snape looked at her. "Hold the beast still and I'll trim some fur off." He said calmly knowing from prior experience with animals, if he used his normal techniques to talk it would scare the cat making it even harder to get the fur.
Hermione huffed indigently for her cat. "He's not a beast." She said as she adjusted her grip on the cat.
Snape said nothing but grabbed a pair of scissors and a vial from his table. "Just hold him still."
Hermione nodded and held the cat out so her former professor could clip some fur off. As the silver scissors snipped, the ginger fur fell into the vial he held in his other hand. When the vial was full he put it back on the table and clipped another piece of fur and took it to the scale and weighed it, made a note and put it in the potion. He turned to her. "That will be adequate, you may go." He said in the closest to a thank you the former student had heard.
As she turned to leave, the professor dropped the fur into the potion. A white smoke formed and Crookshanks was struggling in Hermione's arms. He scratched her and she dropped his by reflex. The half kneazle leapt towards the potion ingredients and Hermione followed the cat. "Crookshanks no!" She yelped as he knocked over a few vials when he landed. One of vials rolled away and into the potion. Before either she or Snape could react it fell in. Hermione scooped up the cat and turned away from the potion as it exploded.