Chapter Sixteen

Hermione was flipping through Moste Potente Potions, trying to find an appropriate potion to try. She was having little luck. Several of the potions were quite complicated, but all required ingredients were very hard to come by, and none of them seemed interested in unicorn's hair. With a sigh, Hermione set the book down. She probably ought to return it to Snape, she thought, and decided to do so.

When Snape answered her knock, he seemed quite surprised to see her.

"I hope I didn't interrupt you," Hermione said breathlessly. "I came to return this." She held out the book.

"Did you find one to try?" Snape inquired, taking it from her and running his fingers over the cover.

"No," Hermione sighed, sounding disappointed. Snape looked at her for a moment.

"Come in," he ordered, opening the door wider. Hermione hesitated, and then did as he asked. Snape moved across the room to his bookshelf. He ran his fingers over the relief on the side of the case and pressed a particular spot. To Hermione's amazement, a compartment opened, revealing an ancient-looking book preserved inside. Snape removed it gently from the bookcase and carried it to his table.

"This," he told her, laying it down, "Is my most prized possession." Hermione stared in awe as he opened the cover.

"It has no title," Hermione observed. Then she noticed the signature on the front page and gasped. "There are only four copies of this in the world!" she exclaimed, eyes as large as galleons.

"Five," Snape corrected her. "This is copy number five. I found it in a crumbling library outside of Kent. They let me have it in return for a few pest-deterring potions. I was unbelievably fortunate."

Hermione continued to stare. "Turn the page," she begged. Snape hesitated, and then stepped away from the book.

"You may," he offered. Hermione gaped at him, and hurried to take Snape's place before he could change his mind. Reverently, she turned the pages, eyes growing even wider with delight. She scanned the table of contents.

"I don't believe it," she murmured. "Veritaserum…" she turned several more pages, opening the book to the truth-saying potion. "I don't suppose I could make this one," she sighed, looking wistfully down at the page. Snape's face was momentarily softened by a sort of smile, but was schooled quickly back to blankness.

"Indeed you may," Snape told her. "I will oversee it, if you like."

Hermione stared at him. "The Ministry of Magic strictly controls the brewing of Veritaserum. One of their Acts actually prohibits common knowledge of the recipe…"

"And they don't know I have this one," Snape informed her. He smiled coldly. "And what they don't know…" he trailed away. Hermione's mouth opened in bewilderment.

"The Ministry-" she began.

"Can't do anything about it," Snape cut her off, sliding the book across the table towards himself. "Let me see," he murmured, reading the page before him. "It takes forty-two days to complete, and one must begin on a full moon."

"Last night was four days past new," Hermione supplied. "The full moon isn't for another ten days."

"Which gives us plenty of time to gather ingredients. Tell me, Miss Granger, what do you do on your afternoons?"

"Nothing sir," Hermione answered, "Unless Harry and Ron and I go to Hagrid's for tea. After that I do homework."

"Excellent," Snape said thoughtfully. Hermione was astonished she hadn't ever seen him this excited, excepting the time he thought he'd caught Sirius Black. She nearly smiled at the memory but bit back the reaction. "Beginning Monday, Granger, I want you in my classroom after your lessons are over."

"Yes, sir," Hermione agreed.

"This is in addition to time spent with me for Occlumency," he reminded her severely.

"Yes, sir," Hermione said again.

"And inform Potter that we will not be using wands after this weekend."

"Yes, Sir."

"You may go," Snape said finally, looking back down at his book.

…………

"It was supposedly written by Merlin," Hermione was explaining to Harry excitedly. "Or at least a wizard who called himself that. Snape has the fifth copy known to the wizarding world! Except," she paused, "Apparently the Ministry doesn't know he's got it. He's agreed to help me make Veritaserum!" Hermione rushed on, flapping her hands about in elation.

"What's in it for him?" Harry wondered aloud, watching Hermione dancing in place.

"Don't be such a spoilsport," Hermione moaned, cocking her head to the side. "Just because you don't like him…"

"I'm just saying," Harry told her seriously, "It's a bit odd, Snape just sort of deciding out of nowhere to show you this book and helping you with this potion."

"I think he just likes making potions," Hermione insisted. "It's silly, arguing over this anyway. Have you practiced your Occlumency yet?"

"No," Harry said dully. "I'm sick of practice."

"Harry," groaned Hermione, "Snape says we aren't using wands after this weekend. You have to practice or he'll maul you."

"They need to come up with more interesting yoga positions," Harry remarked. "I mean, who really wants to pretend to be a bow? Why not the bouncing ferret pose?"

Hermione giggled. "You can invent it, if you like."

"How's this?" Harry made a horrible fake sneer at her and then began to hop up and down. "Any good?"

"Highly amusing, but not very relaxing," Hermione mused. "Maybe if you lay on your stomach."

"Then I'd just look like I drank too much firewhisky," Harry laughed.

"I'm serious, Harry," Hermione persisted. "Come on, just half an hour. I'll toss golf balls for you to catch later, if you like." Harry reluctantly agreed, and they settled down to practice.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Why had he done that? Snape fought the urge to pound his head against the wall. Why? All he had to do was look at her and he was falling all over himself to help her out, and now, he'd promised to help Hermione make illegal Veritaserum. Maybe it was just the look of excitement and disbelief on her face as she studied his aged copy of Merlin's legendary book. He'd have to find a new hiding place for it after this was over, he decided. It needed to be safer. Perhaps he ought even to place it in Gringotts for a while.

It could be he'd decided to help her because she'd looked so forlorn standing before his door, book in hand. Maybe it was because she reminded him of himself, always looking for something new and exciting to brew, testing her limits bit by bit. That had to be it. There weren't many explanations he could fathom for his extremely uncharacteristic behaviour. It simply wasn't like him to open himself this much to anyone, especially not a Gryffindor sixth year girl whom he'd made miserable for the past five years. Was he trying subconsciously to apologise? And why would he do that anyway?

Snape was exasperated. The genuine anger he'd felt with himself after making Hermione cry just a day ago had frightened him. What scared him even more was his desire to be forgiven and his relief at her soft voice, unmarred by anger or hurt the night before. He wasn't supposed to feel that way about anyone. For one thing, it opened him to hurt. It offered a soft spot to his enemies and even, he admitted, to himself. Dumbledore would never allow him to maintain a relationship with a student anyway, Snape was sure. Why had that even crossed his mind? Snape shook himself hard. He needed to get away.

…………

Hermione stayed in high spirits all weekend. She cheerfully threw golf balls for Harry to catch three hours straight on Saturday afternoon without once sighing or rolling her eyes. Even Crookshanks had noticed her good mood and took advantage of the opportunity by clawing the furniture. She hadn't seen Snape since Friday, but Hermione was sure that when she did, she'd smile at him. Maybe he'd stop scowling all the time if someone just tried to be nice for once. On the other hand, it was possible that he'd just push that person away. He had never seemed very open to niceness.

On Sunday afternoon, Hermione and Harry sat cross-legged on the floor, facing each other. They had agreed to try wandless Occlumency as described to them by Hermione's book.

"Are you ready, Harry?" Hermione asked, opening her eyes. Harry nodded and opened his own eyes, meeting hers straight on. "All right, here I go…" Hermione concentrated on Harry's eyes, trying to focus on whatever was behind them. She felt a strong sense of amusement, radiating from Harry's direction, but that was all. "Nothing, really," Hermione told him after a moment, sounding disappointed. "All I got was that you think this is funny."

"Not this," Harry told her with a grin. "You! You've got your face all screwed up in concentration and your tongue pressed between your lips…" he mimicked her.

Hermione sighed. "You try then."

Harry straightened and looked into Hermione's eyes. Hermione tried to clear her mind, staring back at Harry.

"All you're thinking about is that damned potion," Harry told her, leaning backwards. "Give it a rest!" Hermione flushed. She had been thinking about it.

"You're doing well, Harry," she said encouragingly. "Snape is going to be surprised." Harry looked smug.

"I didn't really pick up on much from you," Harry told her, eyes dancing. "I just guessed." Hermione swatted him.

"Not fair! What did you really get?"

"Self-satisfaction," Harry told her. "That's all, I swear. How long does it take before I can tell if you're lying or not?"

"Ages," Hermione answered dully. She brightened. "But at this rate, we'll be finished pretty quickly. You'll be able to hold your own against Voldemort, and I can go back to studying."

"Oh goody!" Harry mocked her, clasping his hands together. Hermione giggled.

"I like studying, Harry. It's important to me. Like Quidditch is for you. You can't live without your broomstick, and I can't live without my books. Fair?"
"I understand," Harry said, smiling. "But it's still fun to make fun of you for it. I could never find studying as much fun as a Wronksi Feint."

"Of course not," Hermione said snippily, "Which is what makes the difference between a bookworm and a dumb jock!"

............

A/N: Here you go... some nice hero/heroine interaction. Odd though their relationship is, you will shortly see them opening up to each other and having a couple of less explainable moments. :-) I like those rather a lot. As Harry catches on, we get to see his relationship with Snape change, too, ironing out a kink that I have never liked about HP. If you find typos, please make a note of them in your review. Thanks to my ultra-fab betas Aindel S. Druida and Kerichi as usual!

Have an abfab day!