Chapter VIII
After such a relaxing weekend, Hermione felt she could deal with anything, even Snape. So confident was she, the first time Hermione saw him she approached him. She was not going to lose any more time. Time was too precious, and the possible results of her project were too important for her to waste time on petty school grudges.
He was sitting in one of the more obscure chairs in the back of the lounge when she found him.
'Professor Snape' Hermione addressed the potions teacher, 'I'm sorry I haven't spoken with you earlier, but with the...'
'With your birthday, and head of house duties, and all. Yes, I understand, Professor Granger. No need for stuttered apologies.' He said cuttingly.
'Oh, you knew about my birthday' Hermione found herself saying, surprised.
'Yes, my apologies for not being able to be there. Albus did invite me of course, I simply could not make it.' Snape was trying not to grit his teeth as he answered.
At this Hermione's jaw was somewhere on the floor, possibly left there for Filch to pick it up.
'Though I would have enjoyed the looks on your friends' faces, I was in no mood to socialize, and that wouldn't have made too good a present.' Snape added caustically. He got up, walked past her, and out into the hall.
'I'm free tonight Ms. Granger. If you could grace me with your presence, we could continue our research.' He added sarcastically from the door way.
~*~*~*
It was already mid-October and the atmosphere was getting animated in the school, with the first Hogsmead weekend, Halloween party and the year's first Quidditch match, all approaching soon.
House rivalries were just starting to blossom, and fights in the corridors were more and more often. Teachers were dealing out detentions like candy.
By now, there wasn't a night when Hermione did not have to patrol the corridors in search of potential midnight duels. And it was quite often she would cross paths with Snape on these turns through the castle.
It seemed, to Hermione at least, they had reached sort of a compromise; Snape seemed a bit more civil. Their work was slowly progressing, though there was no real sign of a breakthrough in their experiments.
One day, as Hermione was preparing for class, she heard a familiar, albeit annoying, voice behind her. 'I hope you don't mind if I assist in your teaching again, but I really can't make up my mind about you, Professor Granger.' It was Draco Malfoy.
That really made her day. She was irritable from then on. It seemed nothing would go well for her that day.
That day, the sun wouldn't shine.
That day, everything went dark.
That day, she would lay down beside herself,
In a feeling of nothingness within.
The seventh year Slytherins had been fussing since class began, and one of them, Ville Styx, was on the verge of duelling with his desk mate. Obviously, this meant Hermione no longer had control over her class; Malfoy was probably beside himself with glee with the whole situation.
'Mr. Styx, would you be so kind as to tell me what would happen if you get the accent wrong in a Bubble Head Charm?'
'...' came the response.
'I thought so. Ten points from Slytherin, and you will be serving detention for one week, beginning every night at eight o'clock.' Hermione reprimanded.
'I can't. I have Quidditch practice.' replied Ville in a defiant tone.
'I couldn't care less if you had saving-the-world practice. You will learn to pay attention when I'm teaching.' She sounded somewhat like Snape, she realized, when the words came out of her mouth.
Still, Ville was very displeased with the sentence.
'And why the hell should I listen to a stupid little mudblood nut?' he spat out, just barely under his breath.
Her head snapped back at the boy and she hexed him. His mouth filled with soap bubbles. The more he tried to speak, the more foam he produced.
'This is what us MUDBLOODS do when children talk back like that. 100 points from Slytherin, for your callous attitude and thoughtless comment. Class dismissed.'
Hermione was so angry she barely recognized her own voice. She glanced up through her anger and saw Malfoy patting the boy on the back. She could barely contain herself from cursing all Slytherins into next week.
'Mr. Styx, where do you think you're going?' she said, her voice dangerously low.
'Lunch' the boy said, turning to glare at her.
'You seem to be under the impression we are finished.' She added tensely. 'I'm sorry to inform you, but this is a serious offence and has to be told to your head of house.'
'I believe that is all, Granger. As High Inquisitor, I have decided that this is more than enough.' Malfoy stepped in.
'As High Inquisitor, you cannot decide what a head of house should do.' Hermione bit back, feeling her anger rise, despite all intentions to the contrary.
'Oh I believe I can.' Draco drawled,
'I thought you would be familiar with every educational decree, Malfoy. Decree Thirty-Seven clearly states that Heads of House have ultimate power, and, that the High Inquisitor may only intervene if his assistance is requested by a Head of House.' Hermione rattled off, her eyes closed, picturing the decree in her mind.
When her eyes again opened, if she was not mistaken, Malfoy had paled considerably. His eyes narrowed.
'Now, Mr. Styx, I shall ask you to follow me to your head of house's office.' She said brusquely. 'If you wish to ensure that school rules are followed, you may come as well, Professor Malfoy.' She added in a falsely sweet tone.
She marched into Snape's office, followed closely by Malfoy and Styx. She most definitely couldn't care less about the angry glare Snape cast her as she entered.
After a few moments of silence, in which Snape's cold black eyes had traveled over each of his guests, he asked, with his eyes narrowed, ' All right, Professor Granger, I give up. Why are you here?'
As his cold tone and words swept through the room, Hermione realized Snape had not lost any control over her. She still felt like a student, called before him for a prank in potions class. However, Hermione reassured herself, this time she was not.
'Mr. Styx has committed an act of serious insubordination.' She told him.
'And you are not capable of appointing the appropriate punishments?' he asked sarcastically.
'I have deducted 110 points from Slytherin because of his behaviour and I have also appointed Mr. Styx a week's worth of detention. However, calling a professor names is not something students should be allowed to do, and I wish to make sure he understands this.'
'Calling a professor names?' Snape pondered loudly. 'May I inquire as to what you called the professor, Styx?'
'I called her a......muggleborn,' Styx replied to his head of house, 'only used slightly different term.'
'You called her a mudblood. I see.' Snape had adopted his low, menacing tone.
'But, sir, she gave me a week of detention, and I have Quidditch practice.' The boy added whined, 'I mean, she cursed me, sir.' There was still evidence of this, as a thin dribble of soap was leaking from his mouth as he said this. He immediately wiped it away.
Snape turned his gaze to Hermione. 'I would have thought the Headmaster would have explained, Professor, that we do not administer spells as punishment. I would have thought your schooling under Moody would have been an adequate demonstration of that. Perhaps I was wrong.' He sneered.
'I was merely demonstrating the spell he did not know. I asked Mr. Styx what could happen if one mispoke he bubble-head charm. Mr. Styx did not know. I showed him.' She answered, challenging Snape to say something to this. Though, in her head, she knew she was not above reproach for her reaction.
Snape raised an eyebrow, a sneer playing on his lips. 'So, you have landed yourself a week of detention and lost your house one hundred and ten points, Ville. I do not think there is need of any further punishment. Does your opinion differ, Professor Granger.' Snape said softly, watching her closely.
'But, sir, what about Quidditch practice? I have to practice at least twice a week. We have to prepare for the match.' The boy pleaded desperately.
'No longer. From now on, you are banned from Quidditch, Mr. Styx. This should be enough to teach you how to act in class and towards your professors.' Snape told him in a low, dangerous voice. 'Now get back to your classes.'
Once the boy had left the office, Snape turned towards Malfoy. 'Well, Mr. Malfoy, you may inform your niece she has just been accepted into the Quidditch team after all.'
Hermione was stunned. She had, momentarily been feeling sort of guilty. Thinking she had overreacted, she was beginning to feel sorry for the boy being thrown off the Quidditch team. However, this was not the case. Snape had just used this opportunity to get another spoiled Malfoy brat on the Quidditch team. She could not believe the nerve he had to do these sort of 'trades'.
Hermione looked straight at him and said, 'Instead of demonstrating your famous favouritism and selling the Quidditch posts to the most influential family, maybe you should control your sodding house more so they would know not to call other teachers mudbloods!'
'I couldn't stop them from telling the truth to one's face' he shot out.
In response, all the vials and jars on the shelves to the left of them started to shatter, one by one. Hermione had been so angry, she was performing wandless magic. It left Snape speechless. Malfoy was standing there, his mouth gaping open.
'Fine.' She said, after there was broken glass and mixed potions littering the shelves and floor.
She was about to leave with as much dignity as she could still muster, when Snape called to her.
'Don't forget to show up tonight, Granger.' he said, somehow schooling his voice to sound bored.
She turned on her heel and swept out of the room just as she had left, leaving Snape and Malfoy with the impression a tornado had recently passed through the room.
At about ten o'clock Hermione finally dismissed the annoying Slytherin. She hadn't even made him do something dreadful for his first detention. The punishment had been to write lines; after he had covered about half a parchment, she had let him do his homework.
Hermione was determined he wouldn't be this lucky tomorrow, as she had transferred the rest of his detentions to Filch, who was just as eager as ever to see students scrubbing the trophy room, or cleaning bed pans in the hospital wing.
Making sure everything in her office was in order, she made her way to the dungeons, to meet Snape. Now that she thought about it, she could not believe she had neglected her project to this extent. In the past there had been not one day when she wouldn't at least try to find a flaw in her previous days' work.
Since she had arrived here, she seemed to completely forget about it. Trifling things, like how many points her house gained had suddenly become more important than something that could be a potential cure for the one, or all, of the Unforgivables. She sighed as she reached the door to Snape's office.
There was a feeling of dread forming in her chest. She knew she wouldn't get off easily after the incident today. Snape had not changed one bit since she had first seen him on her first day at Hogwarts.
She didn't even bother to knock. Hoisting up her courage, she practically stormed in. If he was determined to be nasty, she was going to be just as bad . However, her blustery entrance didn't have any effect, as he wasn't in the room.
Hermione knew he wasn't likely to be anywhere else, as he was expecting her, so the only other place he could be was in his lab. Fortunately, she was headed there as well.
She stepped in the flickering flames in the fireplace and uttered the password 'Trecere'. Hermione reflected, as she tunneled along, that she always hated traveling by floo. It's only purpose, from what she could discern was to ruff and her already messy hair, which always tended to look as though she had cast a static electric charm on herself after traveling like this.
Snape's rooms were dark as always. However, this time she did catch a glimpse of the room. It was all very strange. It looked ravaged. Again, what she could see of the furniture was quite luxurious, but the appearance of the room was quite disturbing.
While he wasn't here Hermione decided to explore a bit of his surroundings. This time, she was careful enough to look where she stepped. The expanse of the place was impressive, and striking, in a mysterious manner. It looked to have been abandoned years ago, layers of dust accumulating on the furniture and floor.
'Ms. Granger, remind me why you are here?'
'To work on the potion against the Unforgivables.' She said, turning to his voice, cutting from the corner.
'That would be an appropriate explanation, were you present in my lab. However, you in my rooms without my approval. Why?'
'I thought I had your approval.'
'Not unless I'm around.' He threatened. 'Now, get in the laboratory.' he ordered.
She passed him unfazed by his piercing eyes. Or so she hoped she had. Staring ahead, the stairway didn't seem frightening now she was sure it led somewhere.
'The potion has been simmering for some time now. But it still does not seem to have the right consistency.' He informed her.
'I told you there was no need for the newt's eye.' She told him flatly. 'Sir' she added, when she saw his jaw beginning to twitch.
And so went the entire evening, them bickering about which ingredients were safe to add and which were better not to be tampered with. They had yet to come to a consensus. Slowly, the potion turned into a very fowl smelling, murky looking, substance.
They were about to admit defeat on this one, and throw it away when a brilliant idea hit Snape. Not so brilliant, in Hermione's opinion.
'Professor, I must insist against it; it's not recommended to put the woodworm before the flobberworm mucus.' Hermione argued.
'Miss Granger, who is the potion's teacher? Me or you? I can assure you it is perfectly safe, and if we don't add it now, its effects will be counteracted by the mandrake.'
'But, sir, you said yourself during our lesson about Shrinking Potions, that it's dangerous to reverse the order of these compounds after Neville melted his I-don't-know-which cauldron.'
'Miss Granger, I hope you are not comparing me to Mister Longbottom. And as much as I appreciate the amount of attention you were paying to my classes, I insist I know what I'm doing. There's nothing dangerous to putting them in this order, as they will be reacting with the other elements, and simply not between themselves.' Snape said.
'Professor, a reaction might be caused by the addition of the boomslang skin, which might lead to a potion with transfigurating effects. The mixture that will result will be similar to many forms of the Polyjuice Potions.'
'While I am sure you know all about the effects of a spoiled polyjuice potion, this is nothing like that.' he said maliciously.
She flinched at his remark. What did he know about her little experiment during her second year, or about its results.
'If you insist, sir,' said, through gritted teeth, 'but please give me time to get out of the way.' Saying this, she got behind his desk, and crouched down for safety.
'If you insist on being childish.' Hermione forced herself not to react to his remark; she just tried to be as far away from the now rapidly boiling potion as possible.
Snape fixed his glance back to the boiling cauldron, then carefully added the woodworm to the mix. There was no reaction at first. Then, it started boiling very hard and the cauldron melted quickly. Even with his attempt to get as far possible from the potion, that was by now spilling all over the room, he couldn't avoid touching some of the potion. The potion started showing its effects immediately.
Hermione had peaked out from the desk by this point, and say Snape begin to shrink, quickly getting smaller and smaller.
This wasn't the result Hermione thought Snape had had in mind.
Hermione got out from under his desk. She took out her wand, and with a vanishing spell, cleaned the area carefully avoiding actually touching the substance. In the middle of the puddle there was a very Angry......frog.
'What do we have here? A greasy toad. More and more similarities to Neville, Professor, don't you think? Now what do we do with you? It's hardly an option to leave you here to be found by a princess, as you are not really a prince charming.' she said, picking up the toad.
It looked at her with its immense green eyes. It didn't look like her ex- professor-turned-colleague at all. She walked over to the shelves and selected a vial. The frog started twitching.
'Professor, trust me on this. After all, we both saw what happened when we follow your advice.' She forced the liquid down the toad's throat. In a couple of seconds it started changing back to its human form.
Hermione couldn't contain fits of laughter. She was in hysterics, once she saw the face of the potion master restored. When she had finally settled down, she couldn't stop the comment falling from her mouth.
'I liked you more as a frog.' She said, tears of mirth brightening her eyes.
A.N.: the word "trecere" has nothing to do with the word treachery, it is a Romanian word and it means passing. So obvious my choice of it, to illustrate a passing way from Snape's office to Snape's chambers. ]
Oh and the last ting with Snape turned into a frog. I know it's silly, and not all that original. However I just had no inspiration of what else to put. This thing I had written lodes earlier and though at first I was going to put it as a separate story I just mixed it up in here. This story was after all supposed to be a humorous one.
After such a relaxing weekend, Hermione felt she could deal with anything, even Snape. So confident was she, the first time Hermione saw him she approached him. She was not going to lose any more time. Time was too precious, and the possible results of her project were too important for her to waste time on petty school grudges.
He was sitting in one of the more obscure chairs in the back of the lounge when she found him.
'Professor Snape' Hermione addressed the potions teacher, 'I'm sorry I haven't spoken with you earlier, but with the...'
'With your birthday, and head of house duties, and all. Yes, I understand, Professor Granger. No need for stuttered apologies.' He said cuttingly.
'Oh, you knew about my birthday' Hermione found herself saying, surprised.
'Yes, my apologies for not being able to be there. Albus did invite me of course, I simply could not make it.' Snape was trying not to grit his teeth as he answered.
At this Hermione's jaw was somewhere on the floor, possibly left there for Filch to pick it up.
'Though I would have enjoyed the looks on your friends' faces, I was in no mood to socialize, and that wouldn't have made too good a present.' Snape added caustically. He got up, walked past her, and out into the hall.
'I'm free tonight Ms. Granger. If you could grace me with your presence, we could continue our research.' He added sarcastically from the door way.
~*~*~*
It was already mid-October and the atmosphere was getting animated in the school, with the first Hogsmead weekend, Halloween party and the year's first Quidditch match, all approaching soon.
House rivalries were just starting to blossom, and fights in the corridors were more and more often. Teachers were dealing out detentions like candy.
By now, there wasn't a night when Hermione did not have to patrol the corridors in search of potential midnight duels. And it was quite often she would cross paths with Snape on these turns through the castle.
It seemed, to Hermione at least, they had reached sort of a compromise; Snape seemed a bit more civil. Their work was slowly progressing, though there was no real sign of a breakthrough in their experiments.
One day, as Hermione was preparing for class, she heard a familiar, albeit annoying, voice behind her. 'I hope you don't mind if I assist in your teaching again, but I really can't make up my mind about you, Professor Granger.' It was Draco Malfoy.
That really made her day. She was irritable from then on. It seemed nothing would go well for her that day.
That day, the sun wouldn't shine.
That day, everything went dark.
That day, she would lay down beside herself,
In a feeling of nothingness within.
The seventh year Slytherins had been fussing since class began, and one of them, Ville Styx, was on the verge of duelling with his desk mate. Obviously, this meant Hermione no longer had control over her class; Malfoy was probably beside himself with glee with the whole situation.
'Mr. Styx, would you be so kind as to tell me what would happen if you get the accent wrong in a Bubble Head Charm?'
'...' came the response.
'I thought so. Ten points from Slytherin, and you will be serving detention for one week, beginning every night at eight o'clock.' Hermione reprimanded.
'I can't. I have Quidditch practice.' replied Ville in a defiant tone.
'I couldn't care less if you had saving-the-world practice. You will learn to pay attention when I'm teaching.' She sounded somewhat like Snape, she realized, when the words came out of her mouth.
Still, Ville was very displeased with the sentence.
'And why the hell should I listen to a stupid little mudblood nut?' he spat out, just barely under his breath.
Her head snapped back at the boy and she hexed him. His mouth filled with soap bubbles. The more he tried to speak, the more foam he produced.
'This is what us MUDBLOODS do when children talk back like that. 100 points from Slytherin, for your callous attitude and thoughtless comment. Class dismissed.'
Hermione was so angry she barely recognized her own voice. She glanced up through her anger and saw Malfoy patting the boy on the back. She could barely contain herself from cursing all Slytherins into next week.
'Mr. Styx, where do you think you're going?' she said, her voice dangerously low.
'Lunch' the boy said, turning to glare at her.
'You seem to be under the impression we are finished.' She added tensely. 'I'm sorry to inform you, but this is a serious offence and has to be told to your head of house.'
'I believe that is all, Granger. As High Inquisitor, I have decided that this is more than enough.' Malfoy stepped in.
'As High Inquisitor, you cannot decide what a head of house should do.' Hermione bit back, feeling her anger rise, despite all intentions to the contrary.
'Oh I believe I can.' Draco drawled,
'I thought you would be familiar with every educational decree, Malfoy. Decree Thirty-Seven clearly states that Heads of House have ultimate power, and, that the High Inquisitor may only intervene if his assistance is requested by a Head of House.' Hermione rattled off, her eyes closed, picturing the decree in her mind.
When her eyes again opened, if she was not mistaken, Malfoy had paled considerably. His eyes narrowed.
'Now, Mr. Styx, I shall ask you to follow me to your head of house's office.' She said brusquely. 'If you wish to ensure that school rules are followed, you may come as well, Professor Malfoy.' She added in a falsely sweet tone.
She marched into Snape's office, followed closely by Malfoy and Styx. She most definitely couldn't care less about the angry glare Snape cast her as she entered.
After a few moments of silence, in which Snape's cold black eyes had traveled over each of his guests, he asked, with his eyes narrowed, ' All right, Professor Granger, I give up. Why are you here?'
As his cold tone and words swept through the room, Hermione realized Snape had not lost any control over her. She still felt like a student, called before him for a prank in potions class. However, Hermione reassured herself, this time she was not.
'Mr. Styx has committed an act of serious insubordination.' She told him.
'And you are not capable of appointing the appropriate punishments?' he asked sarcastically.
'I have deducted 110 points from Slytherin because of his behaviour and I have also appointed Mr. Styx a week's worth of detention. However, calling a professor names is not something students should be allowed to do, and I wish to make sure he understands this.'
'Calling a professor names?' Snape pondered loudly. 'May I inquire as to what you called the professor, Styx?'
'I called her a......muggleborn,' Styx replied to his head of house, 'only used slightly different term.'
'You called her a mudblood. I see.' Snape had adopted his low, menacing tone.
'But, sir, she gave me a week of detention, and I have Quidditch practice.' The boy added whined, 'I mean, she cursed me, sir.' There was still evidence of this, as a thin dribble of soap was leaking from his mouth as he said this. He immediately wiped it away.
Snape turned his gaze to Hermione. 'I would have thought the Headmaster would have explained, Professor, that we do not administer spells as punishment. I would have thought your schooling under Moody would have been an adequate demonstration of that. Perhaps I was wrong.' He sneered.
'I was merely demonstrating the spell he did not know. I asked Mr. Styx what could happen if one mispoke he bubble-head charm. Mr. Styx did not know. I showed him.' She answered, challenging Snape to say something to this. Though, in her head, she knew she was not above reproach for her reaction.
Snape raised an eyebrow, a sneer playing on his lips. 'So, you have landed yourself a week of detention and lost your house one hundred and ten points, Ville. I do not think there is need of any further punishment. Does your opinion differ, Professor Granger.' Snape said softly, watching her closely.
'But, sir, what about Quidditch practice? I have to practice at least twice a week. We have to prepare for the match.' The boy pleaded desperately.
'No longer. From now on, you are banned from Quidditch, Mr. Styx. This should be enough to teach you how to act in class and towards your professors.' Snape told him in a low, dangerous voice. 'Now get back to your classes.'
Once the boy had left the office, Snape turned towards Malfoy. 'Well, Mr. Malfoy, you may inform your niece she has just been accepted into the Quidditch team after all.'
Hermione was stunned. She had, momentarily been feeling sort of guilty. Thinking she had overreacted, she was beginning to feel sorry for the boy being thrown off the Quidditch team. However, this was not the case. Snape had just used this opportunity to get another spoiled Malfoy brat on the Quidditch team. She could not believe the nerve he had to do these sort of 'trades'.
Hermione looked straight at him and said, 'Instead of demonstrating your famous favouritism and selling the Quidditch posts to the most influential family, maybe you should control your sodding house more so they would know not to call other teachers mudbloods!'
'I couldn't stop them from telling the truth to one's face' he shot out.
In response, all the vials and jars on the shelves to the left of them started to shatter, one by one. Hermione had been so angry, she was performing wandless magic. It left Snape speechless. Malfoy was standing there, his mouth gaping open.
'Fine.' She said, after there was broken glass and mixed potions littering the shelves and floor.
She was about to leave with as much dignity as she could still muster, when Snape called to her.
'Don't forget to show up tonight, Granger.' he said, somehow schooling his voice to sound bored.
She turned on her heel and swept out of the room just as she had left, leaving Snape and Malfoy with the impression a tornado had recently passed through the room.
At about ten o'clock Hermione finally dismissed the annoying Slytherin. She hadn't even made him do something dreadful for his first detention. The punishment had been to write lines; after he had covered about half a parchment, she had let him do his homework.
Hermione was determined he wouldn't be this lucky tomorrow, as she had transferred the rest of his detentions to Filch, who was just as eager as ever to see students scrubbing the trophy room, or cleaning bed pans in the hospital wing.
Making sure everything in her office was in order, she made her way to the dungeons, to meet Snape. Now that she thought about it, she could not believe she had neglected her project to this extent. In the past there had been not one day when she wouldn't at least try to find a flaw in her previous days' work.
Since she had arrived here, she seemed to completely forget about it. Trifling things, like how many points her house gained had suddenly become more important than something that could be a potential cure for the one, or all, of the Unforgivables. She sighed as she reached the door to Snape's office.
There was a feeling of dread forming in her chest. She knew she wouldn't get off easily after the incident today. Snape had not changed one bit since she had first seen him on her first day at Hogwarts.
She didn't even bother to knock. Hoisting up her courage, she practically stormed in. If he was determined to be nasty, she was going to be just as bad . However, her blustery entrance didn't have any effect, as he wasn't in the room.
Hermione knew he wasn't likely to be anywhere else, as he was expecting her, so the only other place he could be was in his lab. Fortunately, she was headed there as well.
She stepped in the flickering flames in the fireplace and uttered the password 'Trecere'. Hermione reflected, as she tunneled along, that she always hated traveling by floo. It's only purpose, from what she could discern was to ruff and her already messy hair, which always tended to look as though she had cast a static electric charm on herself after traveling like this.
Snape's rooms were dark as always. However, this time she did catch a glimpse of the room. It was all very strange. It looked ravaged. Again, what she could see of the furniture was quite luxurious, but the appearance of the room was quite disturbing.
While he wasn't here Hermione decided to explore a bit of his surroundings. This time, she was careful enough to look where she stepped. The expanse of the place was impressive, and striking, in a mysterious manner. It looked to have been abandoned years ago, layers of dust accumulating on the furniture and floor.
'Ms. Granger, remind me why you are here?'
'To work on the potion against the Unforgivables.' She said, turning to his voice, cutting from the corner.
'That would be an appropriate explanation, were you present in my lab. However, you in my rooms without my approval. Why?'
'I thought I had your approval.'
'Not unless I'm around.' He threatened. 'Now, get in the laboratory.' he ordered.
She passed him unfazed by his piercing eyes. Or so she hoped she had. Staring ahead, the stairway didn't seem frightening now she was sure it led somewhere.
'The potion has been simmering for some time now. But it still does not seem to have the right consistency.' He informed her.
'I told you there was no need for the newt's eye.' She told him flatly. 'Sir' she added, when she saw his jaw beginning to twitch.
And so went the entire evening, them bickering about which ingredients were safe to add and which were better not to be tampered with. They had yet to come to a consensus. Slowly, the potion turned into a very fowl smelling, murky looking, substance.
They were about to admit defeat on this one, and throw it away when a brilliant idea hit Snape. Not so brilliant, in Hermione's opinion.
'Professor, I must insist against it; it's not recommended to put the woodworm before the flobberworm mucus.' Hermione argued.
'Miss Granger, who is the potion's teacher? Me or you? I can assure you it is perfectly safe, and if we don't add it now, its effects will be counteracted by the mandrake.'
'But, sir, you said yourself during our lesson about Shrinking Potions, that it's dangerous to reverse the order of these compounds after Neville melted his I-don't-know-which cauldron.'
'Miss Granger, I hope you are not comparing me to Mister Longbottom. And as much as I appreciate the amount of attention you were paying to my classes, I insist I know what I'm doing. There's nothing dangerous to putting them in this order, as they will be reacting with the other elements, and simply not between themselves.' Snape said.
'Professor, a reaction might be caused by the addition of the boomslang skin, which might lead to a potion with transfigurating effects. The mixture that will result will be similar to many forms of the Polyjuice Potions.'
'While I am sure you know all about the effects of a spoiled polyjuice potion, this is nothing like that.' he said maliciously.
She flinched at his remark. What did he know about her little experiment during her second year, or about its results.
'If you insist, sir,' said, through gritted teeth, 'but please give me time to get out of the way.' Saying this, she got behind his desk, and crouched down for safety.
'If you insist on being childish.' Hermione forced herself not to react to his remark; she just tried to be as far away from the now rapidly boiling potion as possible.
Snape fixed his glance back to the boiling cauldron, then carefully added the woodworm to the mix. There was no reaction at first. Then, it started boiling very hard and the cauldron melted quickly. Even with his attempt to get as far possible from the potion, that was by now spilling all over the room, he couldn't avoid touching some of the potion. The potion started showing its effects immediately.
Hermione had peaked out from the desk by this point, and say Snape begin to shrink, quickly getting smaller and smaller.
This wasn't the result Hermione thought Snape had had in mind.
Hermione got out from under his desk. She took out her wand, and with a vanishing spell, cleaned the area carefully avoiding actually touching the substance. In the middle of the puddle there was a very Angry......frog.
'What do we have here? A greasy toad. More and more similarities to Neville, Professor, don't you think? Now what do we do with you? It's hardly an option to leave you here to be found by a princess, as you are not really a prince charming.' she said, picking up the toad.
It looked at her with its immense green eyes. It didn't look like her ex- professor-turned-colleague at all. She walked over to the shelves and selected a vial. The frog started twitching.
'Professor, trust me on this. After all, we both saw what happened when we follow your advice.' She forced the liquid down the toad's throat. In a couple of seconds it started changing back to its human form.
Hermione couldn't contain fits of laughter. She was in hysterics, once she saw the face of the potion master restored. When she had finally settled down, she couldn't stop the comment falling from her mouth.
'I liked you more as a frog.' She said, tears of mirth brightening her eyes.
A.N.: the word "trecere" has nothing to do with the word treachery, it is a Romanian word and it means passing. So obvious my choice of it, to illustrate a passing way from Snape's office to Snape's chambers. ]
Oh and the last ting with Snape turned into a frog. I know it's silly, and not all that original. However I just had no inspiration of what else to put. This thing I had written lodes earlier and though at first I was going to put it as a separate story I just mixed it up in here. This story was after all supposed to be a humorous one.