Chapter One
Severus hurriedly gulped his strong black tea, scalded his mouth, swallowed quickly, scalded his throat, slammed his mug down on the desk angrily and sloshed scalding tea on his hand and a stack of papers. Biting back a yell of frustration, he barked a cooling charm with his wand pointing in his open mouth. Sighing, he took a last bite of his soft-boiled egg and dried the papers with a wave of his wand. Damn house elves! Should have made the tea myself! However, since he awoke ten minutes before he needed to give the first exam of the day, he had no time to make his own tea. When he did wake up, the house elf that had left his breakfast tray on the desk in the living room was gone, so he had no one to take his anger out on. (If the elves noticed he was not at breakfast in the Great Hall, which was often, they would bring his meal to him.)
When the dawn light crept through the narrow windows near the ceiling of his dungeon bedroom somewhere between six and seven that morning, Severus, being a light sleeper, immediately woke up just enough to wave his wand at the curtains. They thickened so no light entered the room. He fell back asleep only to be awoken at eight by his alarm clock. The annoying object was a Christmas gift from Headmaster Dumbledore some years back, so no matter how much Severus hated it (and he did) he couldn't exactly get rid of it. It was a hula dancer about a hand span tall and could be set by pushing buttons on the bottom of the base, which was shaped like a coconut. The time was displayed in red numbers across her belly. When the time came for the alarm to go off, she swayed her hips so her grass skirt swung and danced to "Aloha Oi." Each morning after he woke up and silenced the thing, Severus transfigured it into a cube of shining black hematite, but after classes each afternoon it would be back to a hula dancer. Much as he admired Albus Dumbledore, Severus thought the man insane.
However this morning after he transfigured it, he fell back asleep instead of getting up. Twenty minutes later he was awoken by the sound of students in the corridors rushing to their first exam. Glancing sleepily at the clock on the wall opposite his bed, he leapt up, suddenly completely awake. Still wearing the rumpled trousers he fell asleep in last night, he grabbed the first robe he found from his closet and didn't bother putting a button-down shirt on under it. He knew he'd be freezing in an half an hour, since the dungeons were always so frigid, especially in December, but he had no time. Storming into the living room he found his usual breakfast—two five-minute eggs, a piece of buttered toast and a mug of tea—on his desk. He ate the toast as he brushed through his oily hair, twice as bad as usual today since he hadn't had time for a shower before breakfast. After that came the unfortunate tea incident. Then he put on his boots, stuffed his wand in his pocket, and stomped through the wall behind his desk. It was the doorway to a hidden corridor that led to his office adjacent to the Potions classroom. This had the pleasant and rather amusing effect of causing the students to think he lived in his office, since that was where they left him in the afternoon after classes, and that's where he appeared from every morning.
Entering his office, he took a deep breath, made sure the wall behind him was sealed, and strode through the door to his classroom. "Good morning," he sneered. The first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs trembled. He sniffed the air with his prominent nose. He could almost smell their fear. The corners of his thin lips lifted ever so slightly. The morning was perhaps improving.
Hermione sipped her pumpkin juice as she reviewed her Astronomy flashcards one more time. She was interrupted in the middle of Jupiter's moons by Ron, who was sitting across the Gryffindor table from her. "Hermione, give it a rest! You're going to ace all your exams and you know it!"
"My good grades are due to the amount of work I put in. I'm just looking over these once more. I won't get a chance between now and the exam."
"Want me to quiz you?" Harry offered from his seat to her left. He yawned widely.
"No," she sighed. "I suppose I should put them away. Thanks though." She stowed the cards back in her bag and started on her scrambled eggs. "You look tired, Harry, have you been sleeping all right?"
"Oh, yeah, pretty much," he said. "Just… up studying a bit late."
"Me too. So what exams do you two have today?"
"Well," Ron mumbled with his mouth full of toast, "It's Herbology first, then Divination. After lunch is…"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry finished for him.
"Oh, right. I knew that." Having no more to say, Ron finally swallowed his mouthful of food.
"Why must you always talk with your mouth full?" Hermione asked, irritated.
"What?" Ron responded after taking a bite of pancakes.
"Never mind," she sighed. "Well I know you'll do excellent in D.A.D.A. Harry."
"Well…" he muttered, hanging his head.
"No, you know you will. You're great at it."
"Good thing, too," Ron added, his mouth, empty for once. "After last June with You-Know-Who and all." The trio nodded grimly, remembering how very near death Harry had been after his last encounter with Voldemort. "I mean, if Dumbledore hadn't gotten there in time…"
"I know," Harry said rather more loudly than he meant to. He obviously didn't want to discuss it any further.
"Well, good luck on your exams, boys," Hermione said after a short, awkward silence. "I'm sure you'll both do well. Although, why are you taking Herbology for your N.E.W.T.s if you've got your hearts set on being aurors?"
"We wanted a couple easy classes, you know, so we could concentrate on the important ones, like Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ron said.
"That's why I'm taking Astronomy. I wanted one easy class so I could focus on Advanced Potions, Advanced Transfiguration, Ad—"
"Advanced Arithmancy, Advanced everything," Harry continued. "What are you going to do after Hogwarts that you need all these advanced classes for?"
"I want to go to university, but I'm still not sure what for. Being a witch from a Muggle family, it's interesting to compare the two worlds. I'd like to study how magic and Muggle science could be used together, maybe."
"That's rubbish," Ron said. "It'll never work. After thousands of years of wizards and Muggles being separated, fighting, even, you think suddenly they'll all want to work together in peace and ruddy harmony?"
"No, of course not, Ron. I just think wizards and witches should be more accepting of Muggles and how they live. Wizards could make use of electricity, and… oh, I don't know about how Muggles would react to magic, but that's why I want to study it, see?"
"Not really, but whatever floats your boat."
Hermione hmmfed and finished her scrambled eggs. Harry observed his empty plate for a moment and rubbed his reddened eyes. "All right, well, I guess we'd better get going," Harry said as he stood up.
"Yeah, I guess so." Ron and Hermione stood also and the three Gryffindors strode out of the Great Hall to their exams.
The morning had passed rather slowly for Severus. After the first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, he had to deal with the fourth year Slytherins and Gryffindors. What a headache. During lunch he returned to his rooms to put on a shirt. His hands were so frozen by then he could hardly handle the buttons, but after putting on his robes he performed a warming charm over them and felt slightly more comfortable.
Returning to his classroom by way of the hidden corridor, he sighed contentedly at the thought of the next exam: Seventh year Advanced Potions. Only a few students from each house had done well enough in his class the past six years to be accepted into his advanced class, so there would only be twelve students taking this exam. Finally, a break from the mind-numbing futility his day had been so far. These students knew how to take care of themselves. For the most part they earned top marks as well. It was a welcome relief from the bunch of dunderheads he usually had to teach.
With a wave of his wand, all but a dozen of the desks disappeared. With another flick and muttered phrase, foot-high dividers appeared around the edges of all the desks, shielding whatever would take place on them from the view of others. He didn't trust students not to cheat; not even the cream of the crop in his advanced class.
Severus had just turned to enter his office, there to await the arrival of the students, when the classroom door opened and shut quietly. He whirled around, wand gripped tightly at his side. He relaxed when he saw it was only a student, but tensed again when he saw who it was; that despicable know-it-all Granger. Though she was at the top of her class, polite, helpful and always earning high marks, the only reason he could stand her now was because she wasn't trailing along on Harry Potter's coattails, constantly defended by that red-headed Weasley boy. "Oh, P-professor," she stuttered. "I didn't see—I mean I didn't think you'd be here yet. I just wanted to, um, get my things set up, get in a bit of last-minute studying." She stood by the door, bag halfway off her shoulder, bushy brown hair frizzing every which way about her face. Severus sneered at her. "So, um, I'll just…" she trailed off, cowering beneath his gaze, and walked slowly to a desk at the back, keeping her eyes on the ground. Saying nothing, Severus continued to the door to his office, swinging it shut so it banged loudly. He repressed a snicker imagining how she jumped.
Hermione swung her bag up onto a desk at the back of the classroom, berating herself for her mouse-like behavior in front of Professor Snape. She sat in the front row of nearly all her classes, but stayed to the back in Potions out of habit. After five years of staying in the rear of the room with Ron and Harry, she couldn't get used to the idea of sitting up front, even after a year in the Advanced class without her friends. She reserved that special position for Snape's beloved Slytherins. Not surprisingly there were five Slytherins in the advanced class, but only three Ravenclaws, three Gryffindors including herself, and one Hufflepuff. Among the Slytherins were Draco Malfoy and his leech Pansy Parkinson. That's what she was, really. She couldn't go for more than two minutes without direct physical contact with Draco. It was sickening.
Hermione knew she was never that revolting with Viktor her fourth year, and certainly not with Ron last year. She was glad they both decided they were better off as friends. After the Halloween feast their sixth year, Ron nervously invited her outside for a walk. It was freezing cold and they were both shivering. Trying to be nonchalant, Ron put his arm around her. A moment later he pulled her to him for an awkward, stumbling kiss. They looked at each other for a long time, and then cracked up. It had felt like she was kissing her brother. It seemed like they'd always been friends, and she knew they always would be.
Sighing, she steered her mind towards Potions. She walked to the back wall and tapped the empty shelf there with her wand while clearly stating her name. Her cauldron, inscribed with the initials H.J.G., appeared on it. She grabbed her cauldron and brought it back to her desk, dodging the other students that had come in and were now retrieving their own cauldrons. Then she removed her quill and inkpot from her bag and filled her quill with ink using a spell she'd recently learned in Charms. This way she wouldn't need to dip it over and over. After she returned the inkwell to her bag, she sat up straight and took a few deep breaths. It made exam-taking slightly more pleasant and less stressful by clearing her mind and calming her body. Calm, calm, calm, she chanted to herself like a mantra. It helped. She felt calm.
That is, she did until Snape stormed back into the room, black robes billowing behind him. "Clear your desks of everything but cauldrons, quills and wands." Snape paused and waited for the shuffling of books and bags to cease. "You have an hour and a half in which to finish both the written and practical portions of this exam. In a moment I will pass out the written part. When you are finished, leave the paper on my desk and gather the ingredients you will need to make a burn-healing paste." He waved his wand and several empty glass jars appeared on each desk. "Put only what you need in the jars and return the ingredients to the shelves. If I notice any wandering eyes, the student they belong to will be asked to leave this classroom and not return. Am I understood?" The class nodded silently. "Begin." A stack of papers flew off his desk and distributed themselves throughout the room. Hermione wrote her name across the top of it and began.
Next to each ingredient, write three potions said ingredient is used in, she read. The first one was frozen ashwinder eggs. Love potion, she wrote, then nibbled her fingernails as she thought of two others. In a moment she had finished with number one and moved on. Numbers two and three were fluxweed and knotgrass. That's easy, she thought. I've known that since my second year! She wrote down Polyjuice Potion next to each, and then came up with two more potions they were used in. Number four was dragon's blood. She knew it could be used alone as a very effective oven cleaner, but it was also an ingredient in many potions.
Thirty minutes later she filled in Draught of Peace on the third line next to powdered moonstone, checked her answers, and went to place it on Professor Snape's desk. He was seated, looking through his grade book. She smiled at him as she put her parchment on the stack near his elbow, but he just glared up at her. The smile slid off her face and she turned to the potions cabinet to the left of his desk. After gathering what ingredients she needed, she left them on her desk, and then went to the cupboard on the rear wall, behind Hannah Abbot's desk, to get the last few ingredients. Just as she closed the cupboard door with her elbow, her arms full of bottles and jars, the potion in Hannah's cauldron exploded. Hermione was so startled she dropped every single item she was carrying. Day-glow green smoke filled the air along with bits of shattered glass. Everyone in the classroom froze.
Severus stood up slowly, jaw clenched, and swept down the aisle to the back of the room, his black robes making the smoke in the air swirl madly.
"Miss Granger!" he barked, black eyes flashing. "Do you have any idea how expensive bezoar stones are?" He gestured to the glass fragments mixed with cracked and broken bezoar stones, dried lacewings and reddish goo that was once frog brains.
"I'm sorry, sir," Hermione said, hanging her head. "I was startled—"
"It's my fault, Professor," Hannah cut in. "I added the dragon scales before the—"
"Before the frog brains, yes, and the resulting explosion caused Miss Granger to destroy scores of galleons of school property. Thirty points each from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." Hannah fought back tears while Hermione clenched her teeth in anger.
"I'll clean it up, sir," Hermione offered.
"Yes you most certainly will. You will also pay for the ruined ingredients." He turned his back on Hermione. "Miss Abbot, I suggest you either attempt to correct your potion, or throw it out and start over. Both of you keep in mind, however, that there are forty-five minutes of class time remaining."
Hannah took her cauldron to the sinks at the side of the room to rinse the ruined potion down the drain, tears flowing down her cheeks. Hermione bent to clean up the glass-and-goo mess. She murmured "Reparo" at the bottles, which reassembled themselves immediately, but the ingredients were too ruined to save so she scooped them into a dustbin.
Suddenly, Severus had an idea. "Miss Granger, for your ineptitude, I will see you here at eight o'clock Friday night for a detention." She stood and glared at him, the dustbin in her hand full of the mess she had made, her face red with rage, Severus noted, as well as shame.
"Yes, sir," she responded, her anger barely in check. Pleased with himself, Severus strode back to his desk amid snickering Slytherins.
"I can't believe it!" Ron shouted over the din of the Great Hall at supper that evening. "A Friday night detention! That's the last day of exams! You'll miss the celebrations and everything!"
"He did it on purpose," Harry said, "just to ruin your fun."
"I know he did, the greasy git," muttered Hermione. Ron and Harry laughed.
"So I might as well enjoy what time I have with you two until then. Ron, you and Ginny are leaving on the train Saturday to go home for Christmas, right?"
"Yep. The whole family's coming this year. Bill's got a new girlfriend, Julie or Julia, something like that." Ron began ticking his siblings off on his fingers. "Charlie's taking a break from the dragons. Percy'll be there, though mum had to guilt-trip him something awful to get him to actually leave the Ministry for more than five minutes. And Fred and George are closing up the joke shop for a whole week, though I'm not sure they'll actually be able to stay away that long."
"That'll be fun, I'm sure." Hermione smiled at the thought of all nine Weasleys in one house once again. "Haven't had the lot of you together for a long time."
"And I'm staying here, of course," Harry said reaching for another helping of Yorkshire pudding. "Unless I want to watch Dudley open about a million presents, get attacked by Ripper and put up with Aunt Marge's constant complaining about my hair, my height, my clothes, and my existence in general."
"Lucky I'm staying here to keep you company then, eh?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. Thanks a lot, Hermione; I don't know what I'd do here without you."
"Well, you could study. Our N.E.W.T.s are just five months away."
"Um, yeah, I could… But why on earth would I? It's the holidays!"
"My sentiments exactly," Ron said. "Why don't we open our presents from each other after Hermione's detention on Friday? Since we can't all do it on Christmas."
"Good idea, Ron," Hermione said.
They laughed and talked through the rest of their supper so that Hermione almost forgot about her detention in four days. Glancing up at the head table, however, she caught a glimpse of Snape, and her spirits plummeted. She sighed, but cheered herself up slightly by thinking, How bad can it really be? I'll be scrubbing cauldrons or restocking the storage shelves. It'll be fine. Except for the whole putting-up-with-Snape thing. Ugh. Oh well. I'll survive. I hope…
Author's Note: Hooray for Chapter One! Chapter Two should go up on Friday night, Sunday evening at the very latest. Drop me a note if you liked this/didn't like this/hated this/have questions/have corrections/ate ice cream/whatever. I love hearing from new people!