The Emotions of Potions Rein Elanor

Chapter Five: A few half-hearted arguments

Disclaimer: Hi! My name isn't J.K Rowling! I'm so glad to meet you!

A/N: Hello, dear readers! Have fun with the story!

Chapter 5: A few Half-hearted arguments

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The next day at breakfast, Hermione quietly told her friends about her decision to go into Potions and her lessons with Snape three times a week. They took it pretty well, she thought. Ron choked on his pumpkin juice and accidently knocked his plate of sausages off the table and into his lap. Harry's green eyes widened a bit, and then he smiled knowingly.

"I kinda thought you were headed in that direction, Hermione," he said, patting her on the back. "I'm glad you made your decision. It would have been fun to be Aurors together, but I know you know what you're doing."

"Personal lessons. . . with Snape?!" Ron managed to splutter. Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance, then set to work soothing and explaining to Ron.

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Hermione's lessons with Snape progressed well. They went over a good many complex potions, and they even set to work on his latest idea- a potion that would allow the drinker to speak any language, after hearing only one sentence of it.

Snape had come to respect Hermione's intelligence and tenacity in potion-making, and although he did not often express approval, she understood that his lack of disapproval was encouraging. Hermione had begun to understand that the intimidating and sometimes terrifying Professor Snape was a brilliant Potions Master and was possessed of one of the keenest investigating minds she had ever come across. She found that they were able to communicate on the subject at hand with an understanding that was close to intuition. Their minds consistently made the same leaps between steps, and they rarely had to explain their ideas.

He still commented on her know-it-all behavior and her supposed arrogance and various attention-seeking issues, but she understood that he was doing it mostly out of habit. However, his snide comments about her friends, insulting their intelligence, among other things, never failed in angering her. Whenever he indulged in insulting her "family" at Hogwarts, she would turn stony and grate out her return comments to him.

Snape did not understand her ire at his insults to Potter and Weasley. Surely she must know that they were far below her in intelligence? When he added this to his observations and commentary on the Gryffindor boys, she turned an angry red and replied that they were her friends and she loved them for who they were. Snape felt his lip curl at the girl's romantic notions. He thought he understood the situation: Potter and Weasley were just using her intelligence and duping her into believing that they were truly friends. He could not understand their honest loyalty and friendship, could not understand that Harry and Ron gave Hermione as much as she gave them.

Hermione had a few other annoying quirks, Snape had discovered. (These were apart from the crime of being foolishly, in his opinion anyway, devoted to Potter and Weasley.) She had a most irritating habit of humming odd snatches of Muggle songs while she was working, and she seemed not to notice that she was doing it until he would make an annoyed comment about it. She would stop, looking half-amused at his insistence upon her silence, and half-surprised to learn that she had been humming at all.

Severus had also discovered that when Hermione Granger was in a particularly good mood, she would sing anything that come to her mind in a not-very good, not-very-quiet voice. She would usually stop at a growled out comment from him, but she would continue smiling afterwards, and he could often hear her begin singing again as soon as the door was closed behind her. She seemed to enjoy irritating him in that way.

However, despite these hiccups in their lessons, they began to form a sort of wary shared understanding of each other that could not be called friendship, but that might be called a bond of shared interest and respect.

Harry and Ron had noticed the change in Hermione's relationship with the "greasy bat" of Slytherin house. She defended Snape when the boys criticized his work for the Order and his work in teaching their Potions class.

One day in late December, the three friends got into a full-fledged argument.

"He has to favor the Slytherins, don't you see?" Hermione had asked them impatiently after hearing the two of them discussing Snape's "bastardly" ways. "Think of how many of the Slytherin's parents are Death Eaters!"

Ron turned red, then said, "Yeah, that git Malfoy, don't know why Dumbledore"

But Hermione cut him off. "Dumbledore believes that each person has the capacity for redemption, as do I."

Harry nodded and said quietly, "Me too."

Hermione continued, "Professor Snape can't very well get by as a . . . well, in his position with Voldemort, if Voldemort hears from Lucius Malfoy that Snape is handing out points to Gryffindors. He has to be favoring the Slytherins to maintain his position as . . . as a spy," she finished, her voice quivering a bit.

"Hermione!" Ron practically hooted in alarm. "You sound as though you actually care about the git!"

Hermione grew almost angry at him. He really was a bit thick sometimes. "Of course I care about him, Ron! Do you have any idea of the things he puts himself through for the Order? I respect his bravery and his intelligence," she snapped.

Harry nodded again. "I respect the work he does for the Order, too, and I also feel a bit sorry for him. He really is a sad case."

Ron looked angry. It seemed to him like his two best friends were siding with his worst enemy. "C'mon, Hermione, Harry," he said loudly. "You're talking about Snape! Snape the ugly, greasy, batty bastard! We hate him!"

A few of their fellow Gryffindors turned their heads and some grinned. Snape was well-hated amongst the Gryffindors.

"Really, Ron,"Hermione hissed. "You're being childish."

Ron started looking frustrated. "Hermione, you've been acting really strange for the past few months. You haven't been having any fun for awhile; I guess you were spending all your time with dear old Snape." He looked at her, suddenly playful. "Wanna snog?"

Hermione resisted the urge to scream. She rolled her eyes instead. Harry was looking at her worriedly. He could sense how close she was to blowing up.

"C'mon, 'Mione," Ron said teasingly. "We haven't done anything for a long time, and I'm going home for Christmas. You've been spending all your time with"

"Ron," Harry whispered urgently. "Shut up, mate! She's going to kill you!"

But it was too late. Hermione's face colored angrily, and her bushy hair seemed to crackle with electricity. Ron looked a bit frightened, as did a few of the younger Gryffindors who saw her. They scampered.

"How can you be so thick, Ronald Weasley?!"she shrilled. Ron, red to the ears, sunk into his armchair. "You insist on hating a man who deserves respect, you refuse to acknowledge my choices, let alone respect them . . . why do you insist on pretending to care about what I care for?" Her eyes blazed angrily at him.

Ron looked shocked. Hermione felt a bit sorry for him. He honestly was a very good person, he was just a bit thoughtless.

"Hermione...you're right," Ron breathed, sitting up in his seat, his face going from red to gray. "I'm sorry. I don't deserve you, I just don't understand you. C-Could we maybe still be friends?" He looked at her, pleading.

Some of the electricity seemed to go out of Hermione's hair, and her shoulders relaxed. Ron held out his hands to her, and she put her hands into them.

"Do you hate me, Hermione?" Ron asked. "I would deserve it."

Hermione rolled her eyes again. "Stop being melodramatic, Ron. I love you, you're one of my best friends. I couldn't hate you."

Ron jumped up and Harry grinned. All three of them hugged. Somehow, without any of them saying anything, they all accepted each other as friends again.

The next day at breakfast, everyone seemed to know that Ron and Hermione had split up. The students from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin seemed surprised to see Ron, Hermione, and Harry still amicable- apparently even closer than ever. The three of them spent most of the morning laughing together at inside jokes.

But by lunchtime, Hermione wasn't feeling nearly as happy. She had begun to remember the reason she had been going out with Ron in the first place. She had needs, after all. And she began to realize that she actually missed having Ron as a boyfriend. As the day wore on, Hermione grew steadily more irritable.

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By the time her lesson with Snape rolled around, the last one before Christmas break, Hermione was in a seriously depressed state. She walked into his dungeons and immediately collided with a desk.

"Dammination," she muttered.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, for your unsavory language," Snape's silky voice came from behind her. "Your romantic entanglements, or the end thereof, do not give you the privilege to use those words."

Hermione gritted her teeth. So Snape had heard. 'The bastard,' she thought furiously. 'How dare he comment on my personal life!'

She turned around slowly, her anger mounting over her depression. He was standing close behind her, towering over her with his arms crossed over his chest, and staring down his hooked nose at her with a calculating look in his eyes. "I fail to comprehend your feelings about all this. Why should you work yourself up like this over the loss of a half-wit like Weasley? I had thought that you were semi-intelligent, and therefore find this out-of-character."

Hermione's eyes flashed. "Sir, I fail to comprehend your apparent interest in this matter. My personal life is none of your concern."

"It is my concern if you are not thinking straight as a result of your emotional state. I refuse to be blown up when you make a mistake because you're upset that Weasley dumped you." Snape was practically purring, enjoying her anger.

Hermione saw that he was enjoying it, and her voice grew immediately cold. "Sir, I respect your concern in my mental state, but I can assure you that I have no intention of letting my emotions interfere with my customary care and caution in making the potion." She looked at him challengingly.

A glint of amusement showed itself in his obsidian eyes. "I'm not sure you can help it, Miss Granger. Your mind is occupied elsewhere. I just witnessed your attempt to walk through a desk. How can I be sure that you won't accidently tip dragon's blood into the Tongues Elixir?" He fingered his wand. "Perhaps I could obliterate Weasley from your memory..." he glanced at her.

Hermione grew angry again. "Some of us would like to have fond memories, even if they hurt," she snarled.

"At the cost of being distracted by them? Tut, tut, Granger, I should have thought better of you," Snape was honestly enjoying this.

"Some of us want to live, sir, and loving is a necessary part of life. I want to live, and I won't let you take away my memories to stop 'distractions' that would not have happened anyway." Hermione looked straight into his gaze.

"Then I am afraid, Miss Granger, that this will be our last lesson," he paused, looking at her. "Until after the Christmas holiday."

She had clenched her teeth in indignation at his words. When he finished his sentence, she looked at him in disbelief.

She stuttered, "But, sir, that's such a long time, don't you think? What about over the"

"Miss Granger," Snape interjected cooly. "I'm afraid I must ask you to leave you." He nodded at her, telling her to go.

When she continued standing there, he sighed. "Goodbye, Miss Granger," he said quietly, putting his hand between her shoulder blades and gently maneuvering her out of his dungeons. "I'll see you after the holiday."

Once she was outside, he moved to shut the door. He just heard her saying, "But sir, I'm staying over the" before the door slammed in her face.

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Author's Note: Ok, you guys...I'm really really sorry about my pathetically long delays. I've had this chapter typed up and without a title for about...two months? Sorry! I really am! But I do want to say thank you to all my reviewers. You guys are awesome. And if I continue to be slow, just yell at me. I've got tons of this story written out, I just have to type it. I also apologise for the odd chapter. It was the bit of boring-ness between exciting parts. There's some better action coming up, including....A Christmas dinner incident? Ooooo...