A/N

If I told you every weird thing about the last fortnight you really would think I'd gone crazy. (Am I already? I'm not sure) anyway here is part eleven. It's dedicated to ginnyfan200 at ffnet for giving me a kick up the ass with uploading and sev at Ashwinder, just for being sweet. :) I can't apologise enough for the lateness of this. Breaks really run away with you, huh?

Also, never did I say they were stuck there for four months!

Chapter Eleven – The Counter Curse

Over the next month as everyone's spirits degenerated, tempers flared further. Snape, although fairly tame in the first week due to Hermione's presence, had become moody and fed up even with Scarlet. The Head Girl could see that no one was benefiting from a situation like this, comical as it undoubtedly was for a while.

With every counter spell they tried that failed, she became more annoyed. It became a problem she had to solve. Failing didn't suit her at all.

They came closer all the time to the cure – they had even managed to increase the space they were trapped in a little bit, and make the spell wall glow a fluorescent colour so no one would walk into them, but the headway they were making was too small. Hermione had a horrible feeling that they were simply trying altogether the wrong thing.

Away from the immediate problem at hand, Snape really was getting on brilliantly with Scarlet. The child had grown quite considerably over the last few weeks, and learnt at the speed of light too. She was, to all appearances, an exact female replica of the Potions Master.

At this precise moment in time, the child was being spoon-fed cauliflower by the Head Girl while sat on her uncle's lap. Hermione had fed her the vegetables since day one – and she would hardly eat them any other way now. Snape hadn't gotten the hang of how to make her eat them, either.

Ron, who was dozing once more against the diamond walls of their room, suddenly jerked awake.

"Hermione!" he said, a metaphorical light bulb filling the space above his head, "I think I've got it!"

The subject of his speech turned her away from her previous occupation and she looked up at him.

"Sorry, Ron?" she was sceptical that her red-headed friend could have any light to shed on the matter – it was generally accepted that he was good at chess but next to useless in anything else.

You could see his eyes light up and his eyes widen as he anticipated his own response.

"I've got it!" he repeated, then, seeing no one was paying much attention, added, "Can't you hear me or something? I really think I have!" Hermione, so as to be kind, listened in silence as he recounted his idea.

"You see," he began, "I was having a dream about Harry and being an Auror and everything, and I thought of a big mansion that he had to break into, and he needed to bring down the wards. So he had this potion which you could spray in the air to see where they were. When the potion hit the magic, it made it evaporate into steam. The wards just floated off the house! So I thought: 'what if we found that potion and put it on our forcefield!'"

As the redhead finished his idea and gasped for breath, Snape sat transfixed. He was staring into space, eyes glassed over. Suddenly, he jumped up, unseating Scarlet from his lap.

"Come on!" he hissed to everyone, "Don't just sit around! Or don't you want to get out of this infernal cage?!"

Hermione got to her feet and picked up the child, grinning. Since when had Ron had a useable idea? It was a miracle – and she seemed to remember reading something about changing the state of magic elements somewhere. It was sketchy magic which no one was able to say they knew worked.

In the library, with the Creevey brothers, Hannah Abbott and Millicent Bulstrode told to sit quietly, they began looking through the Restricted Section.

Snape, like Hermione, said he had heard of the magic but never really put much stock in it before.

Hermione was reminded of times before when she had been stuck in that very room for endless evenings, looking for a mention of Nicolas Flamel, or something to make Harry breathe underwater. Honestly, one really could get nostalgic in a library!

She settled down at their table with an armful of books, prepared to sit there all night in search of their quarry.

In the early hours of the morning, eyes clouded with familiar tiredness, The Head Girl read a recipe and let out a squeak of delight.

Snape looked at the ecstatic teenager. Her eyes were sparkling as she mixed the potion, just the way they did when she got something perfect in his class.

She was standing, mouth half open, with her full attention on her work. The potion only required another five stirs and then to simmer for twelve minutes before it was ready. everyone was on the edge of their seats (well, they would have been anyway as the bounds of the forcefield still wasn't huge) with anticipation.

The Potions Master nearly dropped Scarlet when the potion began emitting red sparks, signalling its completion. Hermione carefully bottled it before running after everyone out of the door, through the corridors, up the dungeon steps and out of the Entrance Hall into the moonlight outside.

She uncorked the vial and used a charm to spread the contents over the highlighted forcefield.

They waited...

...And waited...

...Somebody coughed...

...Scarlet asked Snape what was happening...

...They waited some more...

...And then it happened.

Sparks, purple ones this time, exploded outwards from the walls of their prison.

Even Snape could be said to be smiling as a huge cloud of vapour swirled above their heads.

That was, until the vapour hit the cold air and condensed, sending showers of freezing water all over them.

Hermione ran faster than she could ever remember running before. She just felt so free now. Snape could just be heard uttering swear words behind her as the water hit him.

Inadvertently flexing her muscles and jumping up and down a bit, she calmed and ran back to the group.

"Ron!" she yelled, jumping on top of the boy and squashing him practically flat, "You are the best friend ever! I will never call you stupid ever again!!"

The boy looked at Snape and shrugged minutely, silently asking for some assistance or advice in dealing with emotional females such as the one currently on top of him.

The Potions Master coughed loudly, and the aforementioned emotional female turned her attention to him. She started to laugh hysterically and launched herself at Scarlet and Snape without thinking.

He hugged her back and Scarlet clutched onto them both, while everyone else stared on in shock.

A/N

Is anyone still bothering to read? I don't blame you if you're not really. slaps self Bad author! To make it up to you, the next chapter is coming RIGHT NOW!

ss13 xx