Title: Artificium Magum
Author: Calliopeia17
Summary: The Slytherins are trying to murder Harry, Hermione has a Magical Theory book that holds all the answers – if she knows where to look, and Snape seems to be putting himself in more and more danger – for what? There's a plot to make Harry immortal, the trials of being Head Girl, and Hermione hates Snape…doesn't she? A novel-length 7th year SSHG fic.
Rating: Will eventually be R
Pairing: Snape/Hermione
Warnings: Pre-fic character death. Sorry, Draco fans. I don't want to scare anyone away with that, but though this is not yet AU, I'm pretty sure it will be as soon as HBP comes out. There will eventually be teacher/student relationships, obviously non-canon ones, and some violence.
Reviews: Please! Feedback is good!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That honor belongs to JKR and Warner Bros.
A/N: Thanks again to beautifulrain, my lovely beta.
"That bastard!" Ron exploded, the instant they were out of the classroom. Hermione couldn't help but look over her shoulder to make certain Snape hadn't heard; he had unusually good hearing whenever salacious comments and snide remarks were concerned (though he seemed to be rather deaf to protests and complaints directed at him). Luckily, he didn't seem to have heard.
"Technically, it's a fair requirement," Hermione pointed out. "I mean, it was rather nasty of him to make that Head Girl comment, but it's perfectly acceptable for a teacher to request a student come for detention to finish classwork. I've done it for McGonagall before."
"I bet she didn't call it a detention, though," Ron pointed out—accurately, Hermione had to admit.
"But that's not really the important question," Harry said. "Why on earth didn't you finish the potion, Hermione? I swear that was the easiest assignment Snape's ever given. And, for that matter, why was your potion purple?"
"What potion did you make, Harry?" Hermione asked.
Harry looked at her as though she'd run mad. "An Imperishability Potion, Hermione," he answered slowly.
"Think back to the textbook—you did read it, didn't you?—and remember what the primary ingredient is in an Imperishability Potion is, Harry," Hermione replied.
His brow furrowed. "But—there weren't any scarab eyes in the instructions Snape gave," Harry said, puzzled.
"That's because the instructions on the board weren't for an Imperishability Potion," Hermione replied grimly. "What you all made was a Healing Draught. I made an Imperishability Potion. Not a very good one, I'm afraid, but—"
"That bastard!" Ron repeated with great vehemence.
"You mean he gave us instructions to the wrong potion?" Harry asked, sounding outraged.
"I can't tell if he did it on purpose or not," Hermione said. "I think he did, because when I was about to ask about it he told me to be quiet—I think so that I wouldn't give it away."
"Pretty rotten prank, don't you think?" Ron asked, sounding outraged. "Trying to fail all of us just to be spiteful."
"I don't think he was doing it to be spiteful," Hermione said. "It was probably some sort of test—to see who was paying attention, or who'd actually read the text, or who remembered the potions we'd done last year, or something. Though he probably will fail you all for the day. He's like that," she added.
"Damn," commented Ron expressively.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "It isn't the end of the world, you know."
"You're not the one who's probably going to fail," Ron pointed out.
Hermione brushed a wisp of hair off of her face. "I don't know, Ron. Maybe I'm the one who's going to fail—for not following instructions, or something like that. Snape's not the most predictable man there is."
"That's the understatement of the day," Harry said with a dry laugh.
The three were fast approaching the library, and Hermione broke away from the two boys. "I'm going to go look up the Imperishability Potion—it can't hurt, and maybe I can figure out where I went wrong so that I can fix it."
"All right, well, we'll see you at dinner then," Harry replied, and Hermione, already distracted, made a noncommittal sound.
"See you later, Hermione," Ron added. "Um…"
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," he mumbled, and his ears turned pink. Harry shot him an unimpressed look, rolled his eyes towards Hermione, and led Ron off.
She forgot all about Ron's unsubtle behavior in less than a minute as she pulled out her Potions book from her satchel and began flipping pages to the large spread about Imperishability Potions. She scanned the ingredients list first, making certain that she hadn't added anything superfluous, which likely would have made the potion unsalvageable anyway. No, but she'd added far too much crushed bloodroot—it could be balanced out with kelp juice, though; she'd make sure to bring some when she went to the detention.
The detention. Though she had defended Snape's actions to Ron, she had to admit that he'd gotten on her nerves. What right did he have to treat her like that? She'd remembered almost all of a very difficult potion, and made it—almost completely—without instructions. You'd think the man could show the faintest bit of admiration—though Hermione had to admit that his initial reaction had been slightly satisfying.
Hermione looked back down at the textbook. Then looked again. She blinked. The last ingredient of the Imperishability Potion was unicorn's sweat—incredibly rare and certainly not part of any student's Potions kit. She had none, though she didn't doubt that Snape did, in his private stores.
Well, that made for an interesting question, didn't it. Not only had Snape asked for a potion with the wrong instructions, he'd asked for a potion that would be impossible for any student to make without access to his private stores. What on earth was the man getting at? Hermione shook her head. Far be it from her to attempt to puzzle out the mannerisms of Severus Snape. She turned her attention back to the book.
It was five minutes to nine when Hermione arrived outside the door to the Potions classroom that night. Professor Snape was nowhere to be seen, though her potion still sat immobile on a table in the back. She briefly considered casting a Finite Incantatum on it herself, but thought better of it, as Snape hated students casting spells in his classroom.
With a sigh, Hermione sat down to wait.
Unwritten Hogwarts rule stated that if a professor was more than fifteen minutes late for a class, it was acceptable for the students to assume the class was cancelled and leave. Twenty minutes after nine, Hermione was beginning to wonder if the same rule applied for detentions. Snape was nowhere to be found—Hermione had even dared to go into his office, and knock on the door to his personal chambers, but there'd been no answer. She sighed, pulled her transfigurations book out of her satchel, and settled down to read. Snape's disappearance wasn't doing anything to calm her nerves, and she already had to complete a partially misbrewed potion with ingredients she didn't even have.
The engrossing theory chapters in the transfigurations text absorbed Hermione enough that at first she didn't hear the door of the classroom opening. It wasn't until she heard Snape's, "Miss Granger, what the bloody—" that she looked up, startled.
"You asked me to come for detention, Sir." She broke off suddenly. The light in the dungeon was fairly dim, and shadows played across Snape's face, but he looked—odd. Was that—sunburn?—that tinged his face an unhealthy-looking reddish-pink? It looked painful, whatever it was, and Hermione wondered if she should leave.
"Ah, yes. Your bloody Imperishability Potion," Snape sneered, and he seemed even nastier than usual, if that was even possible. "Finite Incantatum." The potion began bubbling again. "I shall be in my office. You may inform me when the potion is finished."
"Sir…is…is everything all right?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Yes, Miss Granger," Snape hissed. "Make the bloody potion and get out of here."
"Sir, I need unicorn sweat to complete the potion."
Snape was silent for a moment. "Miss Granger, unicorn's sweat is a very rare commodity."
"Then why, sir, did you ask me to make a potion that requires it?" Hermione asked, trying to keep her voice from showing any anger.
There was another long silence, during which Snape appeared to be grinding his teeth. "Miss Granger, as you have determined both that the potion for which I gave instructions was not the potion which I requested, and also determined that unicorn's sweat is an ingredient in said potion, you are obviously more intelligent than I gave you credit for. Surely you can use that intelligence to postulate possible reasons why I might have done so?"
"Because you didn't expect anyone to complete the correct potion, sir?" Hermione asked, and couldn't quite keep a sarcastic note from her voice.
"That would indeed be an accurate assumption, Miss Granger."
Hermione now stayed silent for a moment, looking consideringly at Snape. "What would you like me to do? Complete the potion, so that I can receive credit? Or would you prefer to give me credit even though I haven't yet finished?"
Snape's face almost seemed to be twisting. "Miss Granger, what would you like to hear? That you've won? Very well, you have. You may have full credit for the bloody potion." A slow, ugly smile spread on his burnt face. "But I'm taking ten points from Gryffindor for not following the instructions on the board. Head Girl."
Hermione's mouth dropped open. "You—but—you—"
"Good evening, Miss Granger."
The man was infuriating. And rude. And vindictive, and just generally unpleasant. But Hermione was damned if she wasn't going to prove she was a better person than him. "Sir, since I'm here anyway, is there anything you want me to make for a detention? A Sunburn Potion, perhaps?" She smiled sweetly. Well, that hadn't exactly been the most philanthropic comment. But it had most certainly felt good.
Snape's face, if it was possible, went even redder. And redder. And Hermione realized that she might have made a miscalculation somewhere. Snape appeared to be undergoing some intense internal debate. Did he actually need help? Did he think that because she'd been a bit snarky in offering it, he couldn't accept help from her?
"Sir, I didn't mean—I mean, if you need help, I'll be glad to brew something— "
Hermione had the feeling that he'd have almost preferred the verbal sparring than her attempts to be nice. But he gave a curt nod. "An Aether Burn Potion, Miss Granger. It was part of the fifth-year curriculum, if you'll recall. I shall be in my office."
The potion, Hermione recalled as he disappeared into the office and shut the door loudly behind him, was fairly simple, but required a very hot flame that would be no doubt painful on already burnt skin, and finely chopped ingredients that would be difficult to manage when tired. She set up another cauldron as quickly as she could, and set about brewing.
It was nearly midnight before she'd finished. She bottled the potion, labeled it neatly, packed up her cauldron, and went to deliver it to Snape. She only rapped lightly on the office door before opening it, and, when she looked in, she realized that he'd not heard her. He had a stack of third-year essays in front of him, and he was marking them in angry red pen, but his face was twisted and he was clearly in pain.
She cleared her throat, and he jumped. He turned on her with a look of rage on her face, and Hermione held the bottles of potion out before her like a shield.
"Put them on my desk, Miss Granger, and then get out of here."
She obeyed instantly, and darted from the room, deeply disconcerted. She had to admit she was upset at the lack of recognition—she'd worked hard at the potion, and she'd entertained fantasies about Snape admitting his gratitude, lauding her for her talents, telling her of a certain future as a Potions Mistress. Not realistic fantasies, she had to admit, but a simple 'thank you' would have been nice. But worse had been how out of character Snape had been—how badly must he have been hurt to deign to ask her—a Gryffindor, the hated know-it-all—for help?
Hermione sighed. She didn't even want to consider how Snape would have managed to acquire serious Aether burns. She collapsed into bed, exhausted, and decided to think about it in the morning.
Only, as it turned out, there wasn't time in the morning. Hermione slept until Lavender and Parvati left for breakfast, snapped at both of them when they tried to wake her up, and ended up rushing into Defense Against the Dark Arts with the bell, hair uncombed and clothes untidy.
Tonks was at the front of the class already, and she motioned for Hermione to sit down. She quickly grabbed the last empty seat in the room, the farthest to the front, directly in front of Harry.
"Good morning, class. I'm Professor Tonks, and this is your second year of NEWT-level Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm here this year because, as you well know, you've had a long string of largely incompetent Professors—with some notable exceptions, of course—and Professor Dumbledore is concerned that you will not be prepared."
"Prepared for what?" Ernie Macmillan, sitting far to the front, a few seats down from Hermione, asked.
"Your NEWTs," Tonks answered. "Or an attack by Lord Voldemort. Either would be extremely difficult for you to respond to with the staggered and incomplete training you've had."
"Oh," Ernie gulped.
"I'm actually an Auror," Tonks continued, "but I've taken a year of leave to come here and teach, at Professor Dumbledore's request."
She went on to shoot a series of questions at the class, each directed at a different student in a manner that was apparently testing each of their strengths and weaknesses. It was engaging, Hermione supposed, but there didn't seem to be much of a point. She knew all the answers to Tonks's questions, and she knew Harry did, too.
After the round of questions, though, Tonks cleared her throat. "Now, the NEWT exam, like your OWLs, will feature not only a written portion, but also a practical exam. Unlike the OWLs, however, the NEWT for Defense Against the Dark Arts will not test your ability to perform specific spells. Rather, it will test your ability to defend yourself against a series of obstacles, creatures, and spells and hexes cast against you. According to Professor Dumbledore, you've been taught the basic principles of dueling, though, from what I gather, with a notable lack of actual practical experience?" She appeared to be directing the question at Harry, and, though Hermione couldn't see him, she assumed he nodded, for Tonks went on.
"Well, since my first duty as a Professor is to assess how each of you can perform, I'm going to ask each one of you to come forward and duel with me." She held up a hand as the class began to protest. "Not entire duels—just a brief exchange of spells. I won't promise you that I won't cast spells you've never heard of before—I'm testing your ability to adapt to situations as well as your prior knowledge—but I won't cast anything I can't undo here, and I'll go lightly on you." Tonks gave a slightly feral grin. "This time." It was, Hermione noticed, the first slip in her professor's façade, the strange new demeanor Hermione had never seen on Tonks before.
"Herm—Miss Granger, would you come up first?" Well, there'd been another slip—understandable, though, since Tonks had never addressed her as anything but 'Hermione' before, and Hermione didn't doubt that she herself would have a hard time remembering the 'Professor' before 'Tonks.'
Hermione stood up. "Of course." She pulled her wand from the pocket of her robes and walked to the front of the classroom to stand opposite her professor. Tonks saluted with her wand, and Hermione, not knowing what else to do, imitated the move.
"Ready?" Tonks asked, raising her eyebrows, and Hermione nodded. Tonks flicked her wand, muttered a spell Hermione couldn't hear, and pointed her wand. A bolt of blue light shot out, and Hermione dived out of the way, hitting the floor of the classroom and rolling away from the desks to give herself room to stand back up. From her prone position, Hermione pointed her wand at Tonks. "Rictusempra!" she shouted. The spell slammed into Tonks, who began giggling but managed to cast a quick "Locomotor Mortis" on Hermione, who brought her legs up in front of her face, stunning them but leaving the rest of her body free to move.
Using her numb legs as a shield, Hermione aimed at the still-laughing Tonks. "Saxibarrista!" she enunciated, not entirely certain the unfamiliar spell would work. It did, though; a number of small pebbles appeared out of midair and flung themselves in the direction Hermione had pointed.
"Abigo!" Tonks shouted—a Banishing Charm—and the rocks reversed direction and flung themselves towards Hermione. She repeated the Banishment, launching the stones away from her and into the wall, then tried to think up another hex. Tonks was faster, though. While Hermione was banishing the stones, she spoke out clearly, "Incarcerous."
Hermione was instantly wrapped in thick ropes, but she pulled her hand free quickly. "Finite Incantatum!" The ropes flickered and vanished.
"Lovely, Hermione!" Tonks exclaimed, forgetting to address her as teacher to student, though Hermione, panting and sore from hitting the floor, hardly cared. Tonks had barely broken a sweat. "That was excellent! Good, quick thinking; I'm impressed.
"In fact, I want to turn this into a teaching moment. Did everyone see how Hermione just dodged my first hex? That's always a good strategy, though it might have been wiser to roll towards the desks, to get some cover."
"I was trying to get enough room to stand back up," Hermione explained.
"Good reasoning," Tonks agreed. "Now, to continue, Miss Granger's choice of a return hex was an interesting idea. Sometimes it's necessary to go on the offensive in order to defend yourself—now, in the case of those rocks you conjured, that wasn't the best idea, as it was easy for me to turn the spell back on you, giving me more time to react. In fact, it's rarely a good idea to conjure physical objects in a Wizard's Duel, as once they've left your wand, they simply exist, and can be used against you as easily as in your favor. Spells are much easier to control.
"Hermione was also successful in using a very clever trick to avoid being fully Stunned—you can use part of your body to protect another part. In fact, it's often a good idea to protect your wand arm at all costs in battle, as you can keep fighting as long as you're conscious and have a wand and a hand to use it with. Excellent job, Miss Granger!" She helped Hermione to her feet and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before gesturing for her to sit back down. "Now, who's next? Mr. Macmillan?"
As exhausted as Hermione now felt, it was a considerable boost to her ego that no one else managed to even hold his or her own against Tonks. The vast majority of the class ended up Stunned or Bound by Tonks's first spell, and even those few who managed to erect shaky shields or dodge the initial attack were quickly dispatched, even the few Slytherins who attempted semi-Dark hexes against her.
Harry was the last to go before the class, and Hermione had no doubt that this had been Tonks's intention. In fact, Hermione realized, the older woman was looking slightly nervous about dueling him. Hermione didn't blame her, really—the boy was seventeen and had already survived a duel with Voldemort himself, gone into combat against adult Death Eaters, and killed an enemy he was engaging, if by accident.
They stood opposite each other for a moment, before Tonks said, "Ready, Harry?" He nodded, and the duel began.
Tonks began by launching a lightning bolt from her wand, straight at Harry. His eyes widened, and suddenly a glowing shield of shimmering light appeared before him, absorbing the lightning. He began shooting Stunners at Tonks at a rapid pace, and she dodged behind the heavy oaken teacher's desk for cover. She leapt up, and a net of green light suddenly appeared in the air, sweeping towards Harry. He shot a Blocking Spell at it, but the net floated right through, and Harry dived under a nearby desk, which was quickly enveloped by the green light. Harry quickly rolled out from under it, but the net stayed where it was, apparently stuck in the wood. He leapt to his feet and launched a Binding Hex at Tonks, who dodged it and, looking grim, made a strange wiggling motion with her wand.
The room changed. Everything was suddenly where it wasn't, and Hermione's head was spinning, a sentiment obviously echoed by the rest of the class, most of whom cried out when the odd change happened. Through the corner of her left eye, Hermione saw Susan Bones faint and slide limply from her chair. Only that didn't make sense; Susan was sitting to her right.
Hermione looked down at the book in front of her—the letters on the cover were backwards—no, she realized, looking closer, they were the mirror image of the original. Tonks's spell must have visually reversed the room. Hermione saw the realization grow on Harry's face too, and he began shooting spells towards wherever Tonks wasn't, to the opposite of where she appeared to be. The entire operation made Hermione dizzy.
With a sudden fizzle of magic, one of Harry's spells connected, and the room returned to normal with a sickening visual lurch. Tonks lay Stunned on the floor, and Harry cast a shaky Reviving Charm on her as the class burst into applause.
Tonks sat up, looking dizzy, and her face flickered through a few different forms before she got it under control. "That was excellent, Harry!" she exclaimed, a grin spreading on her face. "But then I didn't expect anything less from you." She patted him on the shoulder. "Brilliant job. Class dismissed now, and really, good job, all of you!"
Ron shot Harry a huge smile as they walked out. "That was brilliant, mate! That spell—"
Hermione was more interested in watching the other students—even the Slytherins looked impressed, and Theodore Nott looked suddenly worried. The other Hufflepuff girls had revived Susan Bones, and Tonks had handed her a glass of water and was telling her to go to the Hospital Wing if she felt dizzy at all later.
"Are you coming, Hermione?" Harry asked, but she shook her head.
"I just want to talk to Tonks for a minute," she explained. "I'll see you in the common room later."
She followed Tonks back into her office, where the Metamorphmagus turned to face her. "Wotcher, Hermione?"
Hermione's face was set. "I want to know what's going on."
Enjoyed? Leave a review!
Notes to reviewers:
DuchessofPower: Thanks for reading! I'll let you know when the chapters go up!
AngelApple70x7: Thanks! Updates should be fairly regular and about weekly.
Magic and sparkle: Thanks! You'll see about Ron and Hermione soon enough!
Dafina: Thanks very much, I really apreciate your thoughtful reviews. I love Remus/Sirius too, though I haven't gotten around to writing any yet- it's such a quietly sad pairing, with so much loss and grief all around, that's it's a tough one to write. And obviously, I love Hermione/Severus.
I-LUV-ILC: Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, Hermione has a bit of a temper in the books I think, and I like seeing it brought out in fic.
The Eternal Dreamer: Hope this was soon enough for you! Keep reading!
katharine 1: Thanks very much for a well-thought-out and constructive review. I know what you mean about being "flabby," it's something I'm really trying to work on. This version of the fic is really a rough experiment- when I finish it, I want to put a fully betaed and edited version up on Schnoogle or Ashwinder, and I'll hopefully be able to make it better. Also, because the fic is told from Hermione's point of view, I try and make the narrative a little bit wordy, because it's the way I imagine she sees things--which is probably the cause of at least part of what you described. As for other authors who write well, I suppose it depends on what you like. I don't read much on this website; I prefer Fiction Alley because it has application standards and the moderators edit each story before it's posted. My all-time favorite fanfics are Cassandra Claire's "Draco Trilogy," Cedar's "Symphonie Fantastique," and Casirafic's "In the Turning," all of which you can likely find if you google search for them. Also, if you go to Fiction Alley's masterlist, at "www dot fictionalley dot org / fictionalleypark / forums / showthread dot php ?s &threadid 78934 ", (delete the spaces and replace "dot" with periods) you can find some of the best fics on the internet. And if you want more recs, feel free to email me.
queenie: Well, I hope this was soon enough! I'll probably have weekly updates or so.