Chapter Two

All day I contemplated the words that Professor Snape had uttered to me. Since when have I ever in the history of history have I appeared cute to that man?

What did it mean, exactly? Was it true? Was he kidding? Surely he must have been kidding...

The clock chimed 9 times as I turned the Potions corridor. I arrived at the classroom door and put my hand unto the handle, but the knots in my stomach made me pause before pushing the door open. I shouldn't be feeling so uneasy, but I felt it nonetheless.

It was alright, after this term, I only had one more miserable year with Professor Severus Snape and that was the thought that kept me sane.

I drew in a deep breath and pried open the door, poking my head in.

I exhaled quietly upon seeing him slumped over his desk, snoring ever so slightly. The bloke was sleeping. I walked in, holding the door as I did so. Then I paused and swiftly, slammed the door shut.

He jumped and sat up straight in surprise, looking around. Then he saw me. "Miss Granger..I apologize, I must of dozed off.." He spoke through a yawn.

"The door just.." I paused, trying to wipe a smirk from my face. "Slipped."

He nodded. "Right..Right then." He stood and stretched out as he examined the classroom, trying to find a chore for me to complete. "Hm.." He murmered thoughtfully. "Its odd, I've actually kept the room quite tidy for a while, and there really isn't any sense in dirtying something up just for you to clean it.."

Would I get out of this one?

"I suppose I could have you..no..thats been done.." He sighed and took a seat on his desktop. "Maybe...no..Potter and Weasley are on that.." He let out a dry chuckle. "Well, Miss Granger...Either there is nothing for you to do.."

Or?

"Or I'm not thinking quite hard enough" He stated. "Actually." He said, profound in a sense. "There has been a shortage of potions in the infirmary and Madam Pomphrey has asked for my assistance..I could use a bit of help with mixing to get the task completed more swiftly..And though I wouldn't admit this anywhere else, in front of anyone else, you do have a superb handle on potion making." He ran a hand back through his hair.

Potion mixing with Professor Snape was like recess for me. The detention I expected was an evening of cleaning out greasy, gunky jars that once held eye balls or fingers, or some other disgusting organism. "I don't mind helping." I even managed to smile.

I don't think I'd ever felt such a sense of shock than the moment I saw him smile to me as well.

It took an hour to make the very complex solution for an awakening serum that consisted of nearly 40 different ingredients, mixed and measured a certain way. Professor Snape held my hand steady as I dropped in the last mixture. There was a satisfying pop fizz and the potion in the cauldron turned into a bubbly transparent liquid.

Truth be told, he was being very polite to me. He had been giving me directions like the professional he was, treating me almost as an equal, as a coworker in getting a job done. I liked him much better when we worked together professionally. He was a smart man. Though usually the only thing I recognized him for was his rudeness, tonight, I was recognizing his intelligence.

"Professor, I'm sorry about earlier.." I began softly, looking up at him. "I didn't mean to call you a bastard. It was very wrong for me to say that. Immature, disrespectful..."

He nodded. "I accept your apology Miss Granger. I should be.." He stopped and looked at the potion. I saw a frown appear on his face instantly. "Fuck."

"What's the matter?" I asked, concerned. Something apparently was very wrong. Professor Snape didn't use the words liberally, at least not in front of a student.

He slumped into a chair that resided near him, running his hands down his face in frustration. "Dip your finger in Miss Granger."

I hesitated at first, but reluctantly, I dipped my finger in and took a taste. I snorted. "..Its alcohol."

"Yeah.." He said with an exhasperated laugh. "Vodka. We made enough fucking vodka to get the whole school pissed."

I didn't know what to say, who was at fault, or what to do, so I just looked into the potion at my reflection and wondered who would be the first to speak.

"Well I suppose you know what this means then, Miss Granger." He stated.

I peeked over my shoulder at him.

He stood up and made his way to the cauldron. "Bottom's up."

So that was that.

There we sat in two of the chairs around the cauldron of 'potion' we had prepared. It didn't take long for me to feel comfortable talking to him one on one after a little vodka. I was trying to make sure not to drink too much, but either way, I was still feeling a little tipsy, being as my tolerance for alcohol of any sort was very, very low.

It was odd, sipping vodka and having an intelligent conversation with a man you swore you hated over and again. He was rather smart when it came to a lot of things. I didn't not expect him to be though. I was always sure there had to be an intellectual.

We talked about everything from politics to candy bars. He won many of the debates we found ourselves in that night and maybe I was mistaken, hopefully I was mistaken, for I thought I was warming to him.

"You know.." He said staring down into the bottom of his empty cup. "You're alright, Miss.." He stopped himself and looked up to me. "Hermione." He finished, nodding once and re-filling his cup.

"Hermione?" I asked dumfounded. Oh right, that was my name...Wait. He called me my proper name. Professor Snape called me Hermione. Since I met him, he had called me by my surname, as it was proper. Though we were both considerably buzzed on alcohol, it still took me very much by surprise. "Why did you call me that?"

"Well, as strange as it sounds, it is your name.." He let out a chuckle. "And..I suppose it couldn't hurt to be a bit nicer to you..." He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know.."He sighed heavily.

I set my cup down softly on the desktop and laced my fingers together. I looked to see taking another shot. It would be a good time to confront him about what he'd said earlier, especially if he was even close to being drunk. "Why'd you say what you said earlier?"

He looked at me over the top of his glass and then set it down. He met my eyes, then looked away. I caught him chewing the inside of his lip. "Well..." He turned to me and laced his hands together also. "You see, its complicated...I..Well.. I see two paths, the right and the wrong...The wrong would make me happier...but..Well, its complicated.." He sighed. "You're dismissed Hermione, I expect you back at the same time tomorrow night.."

He stood, closing his hand around his cup. He paused and looked at me. "You know what that means right?" Then he turned and walked off, disappearing into his office.

I just sat there for a moment, staring at the closed door. Then I picked up my cup and tossed it angrily at the door.

Why did he have to be so difficult? Why did I even care?

I stood and left down the corridor, consumed in thought. The wrong choice..? Then it hit me. Once a death eater, always a death eater. He felt compelled to go back to the way he used to be.. I put my hand over my mouth and started up the stairs to the Gryffindor common.

I figured I'd talk to him tomorrow about it. Maybe I could talk some sense into him.

"Truffledrum." I murmured before the portrait and stood back as it slowly swung open to the side. I, tiredly, walked in and flopped onto the sofa before a dying fire.

Almost instantly, Tiredness overcame me and I, not even bothering to climb the staircase to the girls dormitories, snuggled into the velvety soft couch pillows of the common room couch before the fire place. There was no point in dragging myself up any more staircases, I just wasn't up to it now.

I soon fell victim to sleep. A dreamless sleep, but I didn't mind in the morning. I was afraid of what kind of dream would have turned up if I had had one anyway.

I deduced that I'd either woken up very early or very late, for I saw no one around when I woke up.

Early. I realized. The sun was barely risen.

I sat up and tried to smooth out some of the frizzes in my hair, and being awake so early gave me abundant time to wash up, change, and get myself together.

For the rest of the day, I was going over what I'd say to Professor Snape. I didn't dread detention like I should of, I was actually anticipating talking to him about his past as a death eater and why he felt like he had to return to Lord Voldemort.

I showed up that night a few minutes early and knocked before entering the classroom.

"Enter..." I heard him say, muffled by the closed door.

I walked in and set my bag down beside the door, tucking my hair behind my ears and sighing. The words were all in my head, but I wasn't sure how to go about saying them aloud. "Professor, I think we need to...talk."

From where he sat writing behind his desk, he nodded and offered me a seat in front of his desk. I took it and looked at him. "I understand you're in a complicated position..."

He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "Go on."

"I mean I can see where you're coming from, Old habits die hard and all.." I stopped to gather my thoughts. What could I even say to convince an ex-death eater from doing what he wanted to do? "But you see, if you chose that path, the wrong path, I can see you winding up in Azkaban.."

"That is all too true.." He nodded slowly. "I'm so sorry for even making you think-"

"Dumbledore has built up so much trust for you since you came back to our side..There's no need for you to feel like you have to return to You-Know-Who just because of a stupid mark on your arm..I mean, You've been one of our greatest allies..I know you were involved in that stuff before..but...the righteous path will prove more rewarding in the end when the dark side is finally defeated and.."

I heard him begin to laugh. Laughing. Why in the hell was he laughing?

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's so funny?"

He shook his head."Nothing, Hermione. Nothing."

"I know I can't say much to stop you from going back to all that.." I was speaking almost nervously now. I'd just confronted him, put him on the spot and he laughed about it. What was there to say now? Apparently nothing I could say would make much of a difference. I only had so much material to use in this situation, not knowing exactly how he felt about what I was telling him. "But..."

"You think I want to go back to being a Death Eater?" He asked, amused.

"Well you mentioned two paths, a good and a bad, one could lead to Azkaban.." I went over it all again in my head and nothing else came to my mind. "I can't think of anything else you would say that about...I don't know your background, I don't know what you have and haven't done in your life...What you.."

I was then cut off by Professor Snape putting a hand to the side of my face and stroking it gently with his thumb. Chills ran down my spine. "What are you.."

He then promptly pressed his lips to mine.