Disclaimer: Oh come on. Go figure.
Hello my pretties! I'm back! And I'm just a little bit high, so any... oddness in the fic I will attribute to that! Anyhoo, on with the chapter!
Chapter Four
Severus woke up in a strange room. Instantly alert, he sprang to his feet, scrabbling around on the top of one a nearby table for his wand. It was nowhere to be found. Taking slow, deep breaths, the man tried to calm himself and remember where exactly he was.
"Oh bugger."
He remembered. Fumbling around the dark room, the ex-spy finally found some matches (a useful muggle thing that Hermione had just randomly 'thought of', no doubt) and lit a few candles.
Looking around, memories of the previous night came flooding back to him. Every tiny, awful detail.
"Oh bugger."
Dumbledore had always told him this would happen. He had offered to let him stop, said that he had done more than enough and could have a rest now. Hell, he had even said that he would arrange somewhere that he could hide in safety until the war was over. Yet he had refused, said that he would carry on what he was doing. He was such a fool.
On a beautiful mahogany desk to one side of the room was a pile of parchments. Severus remembered looking frantically through the books that had appeared when he thought of them, searching for the potions that would prolong whatever time he had left.
Why? He thought to himself. Why am I even doing this? I should just refuse to teach her, let her kill me...
But he knew that he would not, could not do it. Whether it was self preservation presiding over the knowledge of what was right, or simply the hope that maybe there was some trace of the old Hermione Granger in the woman in the nearby room, but he could not just give up and accept death.
On top of the parchments lay a blank sheet of paper. Cautiously, Severus picked it up and turned it over. There was nothing on it. But the parchment was certainly not his. Who would leave him a blank piece of parchment? Suddenly, words appeared on it, printed in a neat, precise hand.
You are to wash yourself, then dress in the spare robes that have been left in the wardrobe. That means that all of that revolting grease will be removed from your hair. After that, the door will open. You will select the potion we shall be working on today, and come into the laboratory immediately.
Control freak, thought Severus, absently running his hand through his hair. He strode into the bathroom, and looked at it in the mirror. Was it really that greasy? He hadn't thought so, but then it appeared that what he thought mattered little now. He supposed that the new, more powerful Hermione would have had no problem with telling him exactly what she thought of him. After all, why should she care if she offended him?
Half an hour later (Severus had taken a quick shower, changed and then found that the door was still locked, so had had to wash his hair and repeat the whole process again), he found himself standing by the door of the laboratory, watching Hermione moving around inside it.
As he watched the woman set up her potions ingredients in neat rows, alphabetically ordered, on the desk, Severus thought about how much that she had changed. She still had her old eagerness to learn- why else would she have spared him? What was new was the air of confidence, even arrogance, that surrounded her like a cloak. Watching her move around was strangely hypnotic, and his eyes followed her around the room. No longer did she glance nervously around for her friends to check that all was well. She was independent. A woman without fear.
A beautiful woman without fear, Severus added to himself. At the beginning of her seventh year, he had begun to notice this pleasant change to the appearence of the girl. All in all, not a bad person to have in his class. Much as he had taken pleasure from taunting her, and loath as he was to admit it, he had grown to respect her.
And that had certainly reflected in his treatment of Misters Potter and Weasley, he recalled. Severus had been furious at them, Weasley in particular, angry at the treasure that their clumsy hands had held but not appreciated. They had not deserved her. And the angrier he had been at them, the more Hermione had hated him on their behalf. Life was just too cruel.
"I suggest that you stop staring, Severus. You are here to teach me, not to watch me, thrilling as I am sure that it must be."
Damn.
"I was merely noting how you set up your potions. Useful as alphabetical order is, you have just put very dangerous potions down directly next to each other. Look there, if just a dribble had escaped from both of these bottles, both you and this laboratory would no longer be in existence."
"So what would you suggest that I do instead?" asked Hermione almost petulantly. "And you have no right to talk to me like that." She added as an afterthought.
"You leave gaps between bottles." Said Severus slowly, showing clearly how painfully obvious he thought that this fact was. No matter how he felt about the woman before him, it was imperative that he was not lenient. Some degree over control must be shown somehow, no matter how small it was.
Hermione had turned to glare at him. A moment later, her gaze returned to the row of bottles in question. There was a quiet scraping noise as they separated themselves on the table, each bottle now exactly an inch awway from the next.
Wandless magic, thought Severus. What that could do for the Order of the Phoenix... or, more likely, to it.
The woman was watching him again, waiting for his judgement.
"Don't use magic to move ingredients. If a lid had been loose, anything could have happened. This is not the place for showing off, as impressive as you may believe it to be."
Hermione's eyes flashed black with anger, and Severus immediately worried that he had overdone it.
"You are here to teach me. You have no right to insult me, and are clearly forgetting the debt you owe to me at this moment in time, and indeed for as long as you live. I saved your life. I can take it from you whenever I choose. Why did you even think for a moment that you had the right to address me like that?"
Severus was silent for a moment, then spoke to her quickly and quietly.
"Because what I told you was right. Because it may save your life one day. Because I taught you potions for almost seven years, and know how to talk to you to make you listen. Here is the potion you shall be working on today. You may get to work." He waved a piece of parchment at her, then took a seat by the table and watched her next actions.
Hermione looked at the man that had dared to answer her back for the first time in shock. She could not remember the last time somebody had dared to do that. What stung her was that he was right, as well. He did know how to make her listen. He probably knew now just how much she wanted to prove to him that she was capable, make him praise her, not greet every action with a correction.
Hermione's pride cried out to her to hurt Severus, to do something to prove him wrong, and make him see that she did not care about his opinion.
Her traitor hands, however, grabbed eagerly for the instructions he had just put on the table. She knew that her eyes were lighting up with the prospect of knowledge. She would prove him wrong some other time.
A few hours later found a pale green potion simmering quietly in its couldron on the desk. Hermione straightened triumphantly. Her excitant at having brewed the potion perfectly was infantile, she knew, but she did not really care. She turned to look at the man sitting on a chair beside her.
He was staring at her face, apparently lost in thought.
Just like he was earlier, she thought. Although she was not sure how comfortable she was at being the subject of such deep thinking, it was certainly something different. Most of the people she met did not really think for themselves much- she ordered them to do something, and they obeyed. Although at first that power had been exhilarating, it soon grew dull. It was rather refreshing to find somebody that could think and speak for themself.
What made her feel a little uncomfortable was the way that he was looking at her. He seemed to be doing quite well at hiding his feelings (after all, he was a spy, so should be able to do that pretty well), but that did not stop her having at least an idea of what he was feeling. After all, she knew how dangerous it was to show her feelings, so was an expert in only showing what she wanted others to see. The advantage of this was that she had become able to spot what they in turn wanted to hide.
Severus seemed to be trying to hide sadness. And she was very clearly what he was sad about. But if he felt anything about her, it should only be fear! After all, he did not know anything about her, apart from how powerful she was. Because he had not been her teacher, no matter what he tried to tell her. He was just trying to confuse her.
But still....
Severus finally managed to jerk himself out of his reverie.
"Have you finished?"
"Yes. What a stupid question."
He stood and looked at her potion. It was, of course, perfect.
"It will do, I suppose. You brewed it too slowly."
Hermione glared at him. Severus scowled back.
Thanks to all my lovely reviewers! HINT: there is a little purple button that you can all press to become one of them! Make my day!
Proofreader7777- as I said last chap, Snape did not give himself away on purpose- he was under a spell that he did not detect, and was not in complete control of himself. Leave the reason that Voldemort chose Hermione to me- I (or rather he) know what he is doing! Hermione is a Princess because she is not as high a rank as Voldie, but I don't know a step down from Lord. So I was thinking more King and Princess type thing.. Hope that cleared everything up for you!
Elnora- reading in class? Tut tut... lol! I hate losing stories- it's a pain. Interesting comparison, although I'm not completely sure if I understand it.
Stargazer starluver- I think Snape was feeling a little daze last chapter. However, the snark is back! (I feel like I'm talking about Star Wars, for some reason. Episode Whateveer: The Snark Strikes back. Or maybe Return of the Snark. Oooh, Lord of The Rings. Ramble ramble....)
Xmaverickf14x- Italy! Wow, that is a COOL place to study! Enjoy!
Squashes- sorry I forgot you! I honestly thought I had written your bit! I'm soooooooooorry! Forgive me!
Sophianwin- sorry about the errors- I have no beta, so there are bound to be a fair few!
MagicalGirl- thanks! However, I am sad to say that the storyline isn't mine- it's a plot bunny from ArienAstera that I borrowed.
Don't Tell Harry- ha ha! Return of the twinkle! Thanks for... Lord knows how many reviews! 8?
Mourn-today, Sarahamanda, Xx-Psycho-xX, BunnieDevil, Jewlz, Winter Blaze, Christieanna-anna, Goth Princess, Artemis MoonClaw, Miss3y, Angelfish2, Lover Not a Fighter.
Toodles!
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