A/N: This fic is rated R. Also it is a Hermione/Snape (and Hermione/Draco) so there's some underage stuff… although to my knowledge the age of consent is 16 in Britain. So Hermione is past that, this is the seventh year. Snape is not a traitor, Lucius is not in jail, and Sirius is not dead either (I just put that in, I'm not sure if Sirius is even going to play a part in this fic) so basically it is Seventh year, minus HBP and OotP.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I am not JK Rowling. I am not making any money whatsoever for this piece of fiction. This is purely fan fiction.
Hermione had been watching him for days now. She watched him as he haughtily lectured the class on potions. She watched him as he artfully demonstrated brewing an amazingly difficult potion, and she watched him smirk while watching the class struggle with the same potion. She watched him, and she didn't understand why she was feeling the way she felt about him. Five days ago she would have been disgusted if anyone had told her she would feel even remotely akin to want for the horrid man, but that was five days ago. That was before the incident.
Maybe calling it an incident is a little dramatic, but it changed her whole opinion on him in an instant. She was coming in from a visit with Hagrid after curfew, and she was sneaking around the school hoping that she wouldn't encounter any teachers, or Filch. Peering around a corner she saw Snape striding toward her down the hall. She quickly ducked back around the corner, but couldn't find anywhere to hide. Resignedly she accepted her fate and waited for him to come around the corner. However he seemed to be taking a little longer than he should've been with his long stride, so she peeked her head back around the corner. Snape was still there, but he was reading a crumpled piece of parchment and looking like he was going to explode in excitement. He looked so transformed from the snarling potions master, into someone more human, someone fun to be around. Not expecting to see that, Hermione let out a little gasp of surprise. Which brought Snape's attention to her.
"See something interesting, Miss Granger?" Snape asked raising one eyebrow, excitement still shining in his eyes, even though he was guarding his face.
"No, but I dare say you have?" Hermione asked, startling herself with her boldness.
Snape looked like he was contemplating either subtracting fifty points, or sharing what seemed to be so exciting to him. After some thought he decided on the latter, "For your information Miss Granger, I was just accepted as a High Master in the Society for the Mastery of Potions." Snape's mouth twitched in the corners, and he looked like he could hardly contain himself, but he didn't dare lose it in front of a student. However Hermione gave him what he was looking for. She knew exactly what it meant to be a High Master in the Society for the Mastery of Potions; it was a high honor. There were only five High Masters at a time, and they were in it for life. For Snape to be chosen it meant that out of all the potions masters in the world, he was in the top five, not to mention that he was probably the youngest High Master in the last four centuries.
"Professor that's wonderful! But I bet you were a shoo in, I doubt that there is anyone in the world who could brew potions better than you can."
Snape gave her a startled look. Alright, maybe the flattery was a little too much, while she was actually very impressed what she really wanted was to get out of this detention-less and with Gryffindor having the same amount of points than when she left, so she changed tactics.
"Wow, If I were you I would be celebrating with everyone I knew," Hermione said, excitement for him still in her voice. 'Come on Snape, go, go celebrate, go and let me be. You know you want to.' But her inner pleading must've shown on her eyes because Snape raised his eyebrow again and checked his watch.
"My, my Miss Granger, you're out quite late. After curfew I see."
Hermione immediately turned red. Impossibly Snape's eyebrow rose higher, and she knew what was coming next. But then instead of the detention she had been waiting for, his face widened into a grin, and he just kept walking towards her and around the corner. It was only after he had passed her that he threw out 'Go to bed Hermione before someone else catches you.' And then he was gone.
Hermione. He had called her Hermione. And he had grinned. It was almost too impossible to comprehend, but after that Hermione just couldn't stop watching him. She knew that somewhere under that cold demeanor, and snarling mouth there was a real person. A real person who could get excited, and who could be generous. A real person that she wanted to get to know. But she couldn't, because he was her teacher, and where and when it really counted he was that man with the cold demeanor, and snarling mouth. She probably would never see the excited man ever again.
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"Hermione, what's the difference between a Snarwaggle and a Snarwiggle?" Ron asked looking up at her from his position on the floor where he was doing his homework.
"One wigs and the other wags?" Harry offered from his spot on the floor behind the couch Hermione was sitting on.
Hermione herself was sprawled out on the couch in the Gryffindor common room reading Memoirs of a Geisha because unlike everyone else, she had finished her homework days earlier. "The Snarwaggle produces magical dust from its tail, and the Snarwiggle produces it from its long snout." She answered.
"Honestly? That seems rather simple though doesn't it? A little too simple," Ron said, stretching out on the floor.
"Well it's definitely not going to get you full marks, you also have to outline the magical properties of the magical dust, and the similarities and differences in the dust from the Snarwaggle and the Snarwiggle. Which I'm not going to help you with by the way." Hermione said looking over her book at Ron sprawled out on the floor. She caught the rolled up ball of paper that was coming towards her head from the other side of the couch without even looking.
Harry's head popped up from the other side of the couch, "Aw man Hermione, I didn't get you?"
"You're just too predictable Harry," Hermione grinned and winked at him.
Ron sighed loudly and sat up and started to gather all his notes up, "Well then we might as well go to the library then." He turned to see Hermione and Harry's eyes widened with shock. Ron rolled his eyes, "Well I don't have any notes on the magical dust properties for Snarwaggles and Snarwiggles, do you Harry?" Harry shook his head. "Well then what do you propose we do other than going to the library?" They looked at Hermione and her pile of notes expectantly.
"Well we better leave now if we're going to the library," Hermione smiled and caught the sock that came flying at her head.
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They were walking towards the library when they heard the words 'muggle' and 'deatheater' drawled out from around the corner. Knowing exactly who it was speaking they quietly sidled up to the corner and peered around. Just as they were expecting, Draco Malfoy was there speaking to Blaise, Pansy and his two cronies Goyle and Crabbe.
"So my father said to me "If you don't become a deatheater and uphold the family name I will kill you," of course he said it in a much more descriptive way, you know my father's way with words." Draco was gesturing towards his attentive audience.
"So what did you say then Draco?" Pansy said in an awed voice.
"Well I said to him "Listen Father, this family ends with me. Mother is barren, and I'm your only child, if you kill me the Malfoy family ends," Well, you know what came next." All four of the nodded knowingly. "So after I got up off the floor and said 'you know Father, I've read somewhere that the crucio sterilizes men if it has been cast on them on a regular basis. Perhaps Mother isn't the barren one, you are.' Cause you know Voldemort right, he casts crucio like he casts the tooth cleaning spell in the mornings, doesn't even think about it. Of course, by the look of his teeth I doubt he even knows how to use the cleaning spell."
Pansy stifled a giggle, and Blaise nodded grinning and then added, "So what happened next? Get thrown in the dungeon?"
"Only for a few days, but you know what it's like down there." Draco said nonchalantly.
"Yah it's more like an S&M fantasy than a dungeon, my mother rents it out from Lucius every so often for one of her Domme sex parties." Goyle said as the rest laughed.
"Yes but I was locked down there with some house elves, and they hardly inspire a man do they. Well, except maybe Potter, did you know he has his own personal house elf here? And get this, the house elf was one of my father's 'special' elves, if you know what I mean?" The whole group of them were laughing so hard they were falling over themselves.
Harry pulled his head around looking queasy, "I think I've heard enough," he whispered.
Ron was trying hard not to die laughing, and Hermione was just surprised.
"Yes I'm sure that was very interesting for the three of you." The three of them almost jumped out of their skin, and Hermione let out a shriek when they turned to find Snape leaning against the wall behind them. The laughter immediately cut off from around the corner, and now Ron and Hermione were looking queasy along with Harry. Snape just stood there watching them as they got whiter and whiter, and then he added, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for eaves dropping. And stop looking petrified, I'm not a dementor." Then he strode off around the corner.
"Who was that Professor?" They heard Pansy ask Snape from around the corner.
"Oh, just some nosy first-years," Snape said.
They didn't wait to hear what else was going to be said, they ran as fast as they could to the library, and then hid themselves in a corner at the back.
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"I don't believe it, I just don't. There's no way that Malfoy is not a deatheater. It must've been staged." Ron was shaking his head.
"So what, they knew we were going to go to the library at that exact time?" Hermione came around the corner carrying textbooks on magical creatures for Harry and Ron with a skeptical look on her face.
"What did Malfoy mean by Dobby being one of his father's 'special' house elves?" Harry asked still looking queasy.
"Well from the description of their dungeon…" Hermione trailed off when she noticed Harry's glare at her.
"How could we have been so wrong!" Ron was banging his head against the table.
"Well look at it this way, Malfoy is still an insufferable prat to us, his father is still a deatheater, and at least Pansy, Blaise, and Malfoy have all seen Voldemort if not also Crabbe and Goyle." Hermione said reasonably
"AND WHAT WAS WITH GOYLE?" Harry almost screamed.
"Yes he sounded almost reasonably intelligent," Ron whispered out the last word as if it were blasphemy.
"Look this all changes nothing, well other than we now know that Lucius Malfoy is a sexual deviant and he uses crucio on Malfoy on a regular basis, and is not averse to sending his son to a dungeon for a few days. Malfoy is still going to be awful to us, he may not be a deatheater, but he still is a bully to everyone. This does mean that you can no longer taunt him about being a deatheater, and in fact you shouldn't taunt him anyways! You're just playing right into his hands, plus it sounds like he has just as awful a time at home as Harry does." Hermione said.
"Well I'm not going to be any nicer to Malfoy, that's for sure." Ron folded his arms over his chest.
"Yes, awful home life that he may have, that doesn't change who he is here. Where and when it matters Malfoy is still a bully and an awful person." Harry said opening the text that Hermione brought back from the shelves.
"You know Harry, that's exactly what I thought about Professor Snape the other day," Hermione said.
"Yes that's also something I wanted to bring up. What is going on with you and Snape? You've been watching him for the last few days, and it is starting to creep me out. Not to mention that during the incident in the hall you're pretty much the only one he looked at the whole time, and then he even lied for you!" Ron said actually looking rather creeped out. Hermione and Harry just stared at him in shock. "What you don't think I'm able to observe things? What is this?" Ron was starting to look annoyed.
"Well to be honest Ron, you haven't really been all that observant in the past," Harry said reasonably.
"Oh and you have?" Ron snarled.
"Touché," Harry grinned.
"I'm sorry Ron, we are being a little unfair to you." Hermione put her hand on Ron's.
"It's ok you guys, I know I have a certain image around here, just try to look past that." Ron turned his hand to hold Hermione's and smiled.
"We will," Hermione squeezed Ron's hand, "now get your homework done." Hermione got her Memoirs of a Geisha back out and settled down in her chair to read. "Oh and Harry, don't even think about throwing that quill at me."
"The thought didn't even come to my mind," Harry said as he lowered the quill and then diligently got started on is work.
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Hermione loved her boys. She enjoyed hanging out with them, and they were the best friends she could ever have. However they were boys, and sometimes they just didn't get her. They wouldn't understand why Hermione was so interested in Snape. Alright that was being a little unfair, no one would get why she was so interested in Snape. The thing was that while most girls her age were more interested in men older than themselves, no one would go as far as someone as old as Snape. He was probably just around her father's age! Not only that, but Snape isn't what you might call attractive, well physically. However Hermione was a firm believer in loving the personality, rather than the outside. And Snape, well Snape had a personality. Sure he said awful things to his students, but when you analyzed what he said, it was all amazingly witty, and showed that Snape was beyond intelligent. And while just looking at him didn't inspire any sexual fantasies, when you added in the fluid grace of his walk, and the masterful way he uses his hands to produce potions, well the idea of him stalking towards her in order to use those oh-so-deft hands on her caused shivers to run up and down her spine. And Hermione had a vivid imagination.
Hermione had had experience with boys, and while she had never had sex, she had done a fair bit. Not with anyone in the school, she couldn't imagine that, what with the tight knit community that Hogwarts was. No her experiences had been with muggle boys over the summer. They weren't particularly skilled in any way, so Hermione spent a fair amount of time pleasing them than the other way around. And while she did get quite a thrill at being able to make boys lose it, she thought that there could be more. More than what the boys she was with could do for her, and she wouldn't get this more unless she looked higher than her age group. To more experienced men.
The problem with this was that teenage boys were easy to get. If you're reasonably pretty and a girl, well you're a shoo in. But men, she thought that men would need more than just a face and a body. They had meaningless unskilled sex galore as teenagers and young men, but at their age now they wanted a woman who could master them, or at least give what they got. Both intellectually and sexually. Hermione was reasonably intelligent, but sexually, well making boys come probably isn't very hard. And to tell the truth, Hermione wasn't into meaningless sex, she was looking for commitment. What man would commit to someone her age? It just didn't seem reasonable.
More specifically Snape, well he was her teacher. And that was wrong. Not to mention that now as a High Master in the Society for the Mastery of Potions, if he had a record of having a relationship with a student, he would be expelled from his position. Plus Snape was Snape; she wouldn't even know how to go about getting his attention. She could try and seduce him, but she doesn't know how to do that. It was an impossible situation. It would be better to just forget him.
Which apparently wasn't going to happen because the next day she got an owl at breakfast instructing her to meet Snape down in his classroom at noon.
"What does he want I wonder," Harry asked, reading the note.
"Well seeing as Hermione is the best potions student in the school, he probably just needs help with something," Ron said reasonably.
Harry and Ron had given up their antagonism towards Snape last year when he had saved them both from a group of deatheaters and almost dying himself in the process. Harry and Ron had unfortunately stumbled upon a deatheater meeting in Hogsmeade when they were skipping school one afternoon, and Snape had been there as a spy. He had given up his position as a spy in order to save their lives. Sure he wasn't their favorite guy nowadays, and he still antagonized the boys, but not any more than he did any of the other Gryffindors. It seemed that the days when Snape would pick on Harry just because he was famous were over. Now he just picked on him for being incompetent in potions. Not that he or Ron were, but Snape held really high standards, unreasonably high the boys would mutter when Hermione brought up this point.
"You know Malfoy isn't too bad at potions," Hermione pointed out.
"I refuse to believe that, he is just favored by Snape because he is Slytherin," Ron shook his head over his porridge.
"He's second to me in marks, in most classes, not just potions," Hermione countered.
"Unfortunately," Harry snarled.
Hermione licked her pointer finger and drew a line in the air. "That's another one for me boys. And don't you dare throw anything at me Harry."
"Wouldn't even think of it," Harry said, then he reached over and messed up her carefully made up hair.
"Harry! It took ten minutes to get my hair like that!" Hermione gasped and then jabbed Harry in the side.
"Wow it takes me a whole ten minutes in order to get ready in the morning," Harry grinned holding his side.
"Yah well you can tell," Hermione mumbled holding bobby pins in her mouth that she took out of her hair. She finally got them all out and just let her hair fall down, a mass of curls down her back.
Ron raised his eyebrows, "Actually Hermione it looks better that way."
"Yah right," Hermione said sarcastically.
"No he's right, wait just a second," Harry said, and then he went rooting through his bag and then pulled out a paper clip. He got out his wand and transfigured it into a dainty little hair clip and then pushed one side of Hermione's hair back and clipped it there. "There, now you look even better."
Ron and Hermione just stared at Harry for a second, and then Hermione said "Harry, that might've been the most random and nicest thing you've ever done for me."
"And the most gayest," Ron added.
"Yes well I live to please," Harry said wiggling his eyebrows at Ron and giving him a suggestive wink.
"Hermione jab him in the side for me," Ron rolled his eyes.
"Here Harry, this is from Ron," then she threw her arms around Harry and kissed his cheek. Harry laughed and put an arm around Hermione's shoulder.
"Thanks Ron," Harry laughed.
"Well I'm glad you're on my side Hermione," Ron said sarcastically, folding his arms across his chest.
"Oh we both live to please," Hermione grinned at him and kept wiggling her eyebrows until Ron burst out laughing. "I'm so glad I have both of you as my best friends." Hermione reached across the table so Ron could take her hand.
"You know, this is probably the cheesiest scene I've ever had to gag my way through," Ginny who was sitting beside Ron rolled her eyes.
"Aw we love you too Gin," Ron said as he put his other arm around Ginny. They all burst out laughing, and Hermione contemplated what she must've done in a life before to deserve friends like hers.
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"You two are by far the most competent of all my potions students. And as such I am offering you the chance to gain extra credit as well as aid me in the brewing of a highly challenging potion. Being able to brew this potion is a pre-requisite for anybody wishing to become a Potions Master in the Society for the Mastery of Potions, and should you ever wish to become one you will already have had the experience. This is an opportunity not given to most students, and I hope that you two are wise enough to accept." Snape said from across the desk.
Hermione had arrived at the potions classroom and entered to see that Professor Snape was already there along with Malfoy. Malfoy snarled her way, but rather than rise to the bait Hermione just gave him a smile and a wink. 'That ought to confuse the hell out of him.' She then settled down on top of a desk, something that she would normally never dare to do, but for some reason today she was just feeling daring. Malfoy who was sitting in the desk beside her stood up, as did Snape. They stared expectantly at her, Snape with one eyebrow raised, and Malfoy with a slight snarl, so Hermione smiled nicely got off the desk and settled down into the chair behind the desk. Both Malfoy and Snape then took their respective places. Snape in the chair behind his desk, and Malfoy back down into his chair. When they both weren't looking Hermione rolled her eyes, 'what is this? A Jane Austen novel?' Obviously not as they were both supposed to stand when she entered the room. Damn she was played right down into her seat! Snape then continued with his little speech and then looked at the two of them expectantly.
"I think I speak for both of us when I say that we would be interested in pursuing this opportunity." Malfoy said to Snape.
"Speaking for Miss Granger now, are you Mister Malfoy?" Snape raised one eyebrow.
"Well it's not like either of us expect her to say no," Draco said, and then looked at her as if daring her to say no. Hermione just smiled sweetly.
"Well then we shall start on Saturday, and we will work on weekends for the next five weeks." Snape informed them, then waiting for them to disagree and refuse to give up their weekend time.
"With this be an all day endeavor, or will we be meeting at a certain time?" Hermione asked.
"We will meet at nine in the morning, and continue on till around 2 o'clock" Snape said and then dismissed them with a gesture.
Hermione and Malfoy left the room and started towards the same direction. Not meaning to walk beside each other, but still doing it, Hermione asked aloud, "I wonder if he is doing this because he is now a High Master in the SFTMP."
"He's a High Master?" Draco raised his eyebrows looking deeply impressed.
"What, didn't you know? Hermione asked smirking that she knew something that Malfoy didn't. Malfoy then realizing whom he was walking by and talking to huffed and sped off deserting her in the hall.
'Good riddance,' Hermione thought to herself.
It was interesting though, just when she wanted an opportunity to spend more time with Snape, it was handed to her. Sure she had to spend time with Malfoy now, but she also knew that he wasn't really who she thought he was either. Perhaps, just perhaps they could learn to get along, not that she really wanted to, but Hermione wasn't one to hate anyone either. And Snape, well if nothing happened with Snape well at least she'd get to interact with one of the top five potion masters in the world, not to mention the experience she would have that could help her become a potions master if she so wanted to. Overall this situation seemed positive all the way around.
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A/N: I like writing the Hermione, Ron and Harry scenes they seem so cute together. If they seem too cute, well… I'm not sure I care. Hahaha. Sorry. I like them this way. Anyways if you liked it, or have a problem with something, review!