A/N: Just one note before you begin, there was a change of title simply because chapter two has nothing to do with Hermione's fortune as I intended so I've decided to leave it out for now.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the nice men in the white jackets.

Chapter 2 (Part 2): Acrimony

Upon entering the common room, she found Ron, Harry, and Ginny in such a quarrel that they didn't even notice her enter.

"And you!" Ron pointed at Harry who was currently sitting on the couch rather red in the face, "You were supposed to be my best friend. How could you…! She's my sister!"

"I am your best friend, Ron!" Harry said, standing abruptly, "This doesn't change anything. Besides, I thought you wanted Ginny to be with me. At least it wasn't some horrible, sleazy Slytherin you walked in on her snogging!"

"Well yes, but-but-but… HARRY!" Ron bellowed, struggling to find a way to express his disgust.

"Harry's right!" Ginny butted in, "Besides, it doesn't matter what you think anyway. You'll never prevent anything from happening between Harry and I because I LOVE HIM!" At this, Ginny swung around, enveloped her arms around Harry's neck, and kissed him hard, pressing her body tight against his.

Ron gaped in horror and shock while Hermione watched with amusement and surprise.

Finally, Ginny broke the kiss and stepped away as many different emotions overwhelmed the both of them.

She smiled and looked down, blushing furiously. "I better go see where Hermione went off to before my brother explodes again. I'll see you tonight, Harry." Then, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried off.

Only then did Hermione emerge from the corner and grab Ginny by the wrist, pulling her through the portrait. Once she felt they both had caught their breath, she bombarded Ginny with questions, forgetting the incident earlier.

"Oh my gosh, Ginny!" That was…that was…OH MY GOSH!" she jumped up and down excitedly, "I can't believe you did that. It was brilliant! You should have seen the look on Ron's face!" The two girls giggled wildly.

"I know! I don't know what came over me. I've wanted to do that for so long!" squealed Ginny.

"Well, you have to tell me all the details! What did you do to make Ron so angry and how long have you been fantasizing over Harry?" Hermione asked, grabbing Ginny by the shoulders, "I mean I know you fancied him before, but I thought you said you were over him! Was there anything going on before this?"

Hermione hardly paused before continuing in a lower, yet eager voice, "You have to tell me how it felt. Is Harry a good kisser?"

Ginny laughed, her face turning as red as her hair once again. "Whoa, slow down Hermione… and yes, he's a wonderful kisser, but it can always use a little improvement. Also, you should know that I was never over him… just lost hope for a little while. I figured dating other guys might make him slightly jealous. And no, nothing was going on before this morning."

"Did you mean it when you said you loved him?" questioned Hermione as they sat down against a nearby wall.

"Of course I did!" Ginny replied, her voice taking a dreamy state, "I will marry him…"

A few moments of silence passed as they sat planning the newfound couple's future before Ginny spoke aloud. "I can't wait until we play spin the bottle at my party tonight," she giggled mischievously, "Maybe I could jinx it a bit."

It was then when Hermione remembered her dramatic encounter just before her arrival and came to the realization that her detention fell at the same time as Ginny's party.

She began to feel a hole in the pit of her stomach as she outwardly expressed her new emotions. "Oh no," Hermione whined, "I can't go."

"Go where?" Ginny asked, now thoroughly confused.

"To your party!" Hermione cried, "I have detention…"

"What are you talking about! You never get detention. Besides, whomever it's with, I'm sure you can get out if it… bargain for another time or something! After all, it's not everyday I get to turn sixteen!"

"It's with Snape." Hermione said solemnly, as if this explained everything.

"Oh…" Ginny shook her head and turned around in despair. "I still don't know understand how this could happen, I mean… Oh gosh, it isn't what I think it is, is it?"

Hermione looked up, pleading her forgiveness, but Ginny's anguish only turned to disgust. "Fine, have fun spending some valuable time with ol' Snapey-poo, cleaning cauldrons and organizing potions because it obviously means more to you than what means everything to me!" At this, Ginny stormed off, leaving Hermione with her own tears of regret and sorrow.

She felt it was horribly unfair for Ginny to blame everything on her when she couldn't possibly control Snape's unforgivable wrath. Ginny hadn't even questioned why she had all of a sudden been placed in this miserable position. She just selfishly scolded Hermione for not being able to be there for herself. Hadn't it crossed her mind that Hermione would've done anything to go to her party if she could?

That afternoon in the dungeons was both more horrible and interesting than what she expected. Firstly, Hermione hadn't planned on looking into the face of the man who often deliberately tried to ruin her life, but decided that it would only have given him unmerited satisfaction. He might have finally found reason to use his cruel ways of revenge and hatred against her, but she would in no way allow him to think it had any effect.

Therefore, she thought it more efficient on her part to stride into his office with all the pride she could muster and act as if she had done nothing more than answer something incorrectly, though that's likely to be close to impossible.

However, Snape appeared to be so enthralled in his work that he didn't even notice her arrival, not that her presence was of any importance to him anyway. Hermione grinned at his attempt to degrade her and sat down, placing her book bag at her feet.

"Don't make yourself too comfortable, Granger," Snape said, his eyes still locked on his papers, his voice monotone.

"I don't see how I could," she muttered more to herself, but her voice echoed off the walls in the large, quiet room.

"Stand up, Miss Granger!" he said, rising suddenly, "I don't see why you brought your book bag for you will most definitely not be needing it."

Snape walked over to the cauldrons that appeared to still be half-full, grabbed the ridges of the one nearest, and knocked all of its contents onto the stone floor. "Clean it!" he growled, narrowing his eyes in satisfaction.

Hermione looked on in slight shock, but recovered quickly, for now she truly felt fear of Snape's new eccentric persona and didn't feel the desire to witness another similar episode.

The next few hours Hermione spent scrubbing every desk and every cauldron, including each crevice in the floor, all except for what lies in the back room. Hermione guessed that it might contain either some of Snape's own mysterious and personal belongings or something very secretive and dangerous for now and then, Snape would slink in and out with some kind of unusual smelling ingredients.

Hermione's curiosity was beginning to be overwhelming and she felt herself wishing to just get at least a glimpse of what Snape might be up to.

He could obviously sense her restlessness and felt it wise to not leave Hermione alone unless it was completely necessary.

'I genuinely think I've spent too much time with Ron and Harry,' she thought, wiping the sweat off her forehead, 'I used to be the one who thought sensibly, but I really want to know what potion he is so eager to brew and why it smells so oddly horrible.' At this, she peered around one of the conjoined tables into the slightly opened door, but Snape's back was blocking her view.

Suddenly, she saw him lean over as if to check that it was correctly done and flinched, throwing his head back violently.

At first, she was afraid he had seen her looking, but he only plugged his nose and poured the mysterious, vile potion into a medium sized, old-looking flask. 'That was close,' she thought, visibly relaxing, 'I have to stop this; it's my curiosity that has gotten me into this mess in the first place.'

Hermione decided that from now on, it would be best to simply continue with her work and hope the detention was nearing an end. It seemed like hours since she first entered the classroom around three o' clock, but she wasn't about to question her professor about the time when he already seemed on edge.

It was in that instant when none other than Remus Lupin decided pay the dungeons a visit. 'That's odd. It must be very important for Professor Lupin to actually have to spend time with Snape during the weekend,' Hermione wondered as he waited, still oblivious to her presence.

Then it dawned on her, Snape's discretion… the room… the smell… the potion… Wolfsbane! Of course, it's full moon tonight! How could she not have thought of this? Surely, she of all people should have remembered.

"Why… Hermione, is that you? What in the world are you doing here on a Saturday!" Lupin questioned, helping her off the floor.

"I-I'm serving a detention, Professor," she said lamely.

Lupin chuckled at the absurdity, "Now, why would Snape have possibly…"

"The little witch thought she could enter the Forbidden Forest unauthorized and then insult me for giving her a well-deserved punishment," explained Snape as he held the steaming flask out to Lupin grudgingly, but Lupin continued to look unsatisfied with his validation.

"Surely Hermione had a perfectly rational excuse for being there," he said defensively.

"There is no excuse for being in the Forbidden Forest at any time of day! You may think her to be one of your exceptional, trustworthy students, but I assure that assumption is wrong and the deceiving little girl she is, thinks she can get away with anything simply because teachers like you play favoritism!"

"Only because rotten teachers like you don't give her a chance at all! Besides, I think whatever insult she might have made towards you was completely true!"

"Watch your tongue, werewolf," Snape growled, gritting his teeth.

Hermione, whom was currently sitting in a nearby desk, watched in awe as her professors were doing everything in their power to restrain themselves from ripping each other apart.

She saw Lupin make a fist and slowly relax as he knew any confrontation especially in the presence of a student would only lead to awful publicity on his part. The last thing he needed was to see Arthur being questioned in the daily profit on whether it was truly safe to allow werewolves such freedom and have to witness the fear in his students' faces once again.

He took a deep breath and looked Snape in the face, "You know, I honestly believe there's some good in everyone and deep inside… way deep down in your feet, is a kind and caring person."

The seriousness in Lupin's tone made Hermione snort, unable to contain her laughter. Snape glared at her, daring her to continue and looked back at Lupin who was smiling at him calmly.

Unable to counter Lupin's humorous retort, he drew out his wand with such ferocity that they both plowed into Hermione's desk, spilling the sweltering hot Wolfsbane potion into her lap.

Hermione shrieked in pain and both men, even Snape, held an expression of deep concern and worry.

"Oh Hermione, I'm so sorry," Lupin yelped frantically, "Don't worry, I have a remedy in my office that will cure your burn in a couple minutes. I am no Madam Pomfrey, but this has happened before and my office is closer than the Hospital Wing!"

Lupin scooped her into his arms and made for the door, but Snape attempted to stop them, "I'm not so sure…"

"Move out of the way, Severus! I know what I'm doing!" he yelled, knocking him to the side and hurrying down the hallway.

Hermione's head was pounding and her skin around her stomach felt as if it was boiling and bubbling like water on a muggle stove. Soon, she began to feel the same effects on her whole body. She tried to focus on Lupin's face, but was finding it to be more blurry by the second.

Lupin noticed her eyes beginning to glaze over and quickened his paces. "You have to stay with me, Hermione. Stay awake. You have to focus!" he told her repeatedly, "I promise you it will be alright…"

A/N: Well, here's your update. Hope you all liked it! I know it's been a while, but since its Spring Break, I've finally found time to finish this chapter. I promise the next update won't take as long since I left you guys hanging… evil me! ; ) I also know I said that in chapter two Hermione would go back in time, but I don't want the chapters to go over six pages so that will definitely be in chapter three!

Now, onto my personal thanks:

Lady Cheese: Yes, I know! How evil of me! But I promise you that this is not the end of McGonagall… only in this time.

Midnight Requiem: Thank you my dear! I heart you and your story! Smutty is good. Hehehe…

Moony's Mate: Here's you update. Thanks again for reviewing! That whole part was fun to write!

Dracula5555: Glad you liked it! I'll update a bit quicker this time.

The TRUE Angel of Music: Hey Dem Dem,don't be sorry! I love your long reviews. Haha. It was kind of a sad way to die, huh? Oh well, nobody else is going to kick the bucket anytime soon. Lots o' lovin'! God Bless!

Domidan: Hahaha… knew you'd like that, Dooby. Here's some more Snape for ya! And I even put "Snapey-poo" in there just for you! Hehe. Luv ya lots!