Disclaimer: Just playing.
Severus watched the young Gryffindor enter his office hesitantly, noticing her nervous habit of chewing on her lower lip. Leaning up against his desk, his arms crossed over his chest, he stared down at the girl as she sat down with a grace that defied her age. "Well Miss Granger, the anticipation is positively killing me." He voice was the perfected art of cool sarcasm
"I was hoping to speak with you about my final year project, Professor…" Her voice trailed off slightly, her youth obvious in the questioning lilt with which she said the phrase.
"Obviously Miss Granger, tell me something I don't know." He now sneered down at the girl, she was wasting what precious free time he had. Time that wasn't filled with giggling school girls, posturing cavaliers and shaky dunderheads who were downright determined to blow him up one day.
This subtle insult to her intelligence however, had the girl's shoulders squaring. Ah, Severus smiled inwardly, the legendary courage of a Gryffindor. "Sir, Professor McGonagall suggested I come down here to…"
He waved his hand impatiently. "Try again Miss Granger, I know that as well." He was faintly disturbed by the smallest feelings of guilt about the slight look of hurt on her face. She was of course only trying to be polite in introducing the topic, but he refused to coddle the girl as Minerva would. The know-it-all had grown into an intelligent young woman, and he would be damned if he allowed her Gryffindor rashness and emotionality to inhibit her in her future career goals.
"Sir, I …" Her look of genuine puzzlement had him sighing impatiently, wondering if Slytherin common sense would ever rub off on any of the students of other houses he would teach. However, he would grudgingly admit that the girl was perhaps one of the least irritating of her lot and would most likely become more in control of her emotions as she grew older. It was true that she no longer ran from the room when he made inconsequential criticisms of her person. Upset about her teeth, unbelievable. He in those days was not one to criticize he supposed, however Pompey had somehow snuck in a few spells to fix his crooked teeth during one of his many stays in the infirmary.
"Miss Granger, please do concentrate. Although those of the likes of Professor McGonagall seem determined to coddle you, you shall not find the world handing opportunities to you on a silver platter." The girl looked indignant at the suggestion, but thankfully held her tongue. "Now, what is this brilliant idea you seem so eager not to share?" His voice was still cold, but the sharpest edge of it was dulled, so he almost sounded as if he could possibly be teasing.
Granger lowered her lashes, apparently his behavior was not forgiven, but there had been a suspicious crinkling at the corner of her mouth. Apparently the girl could understand the subtleties of Slytherin humor, so if her idea was at all interesting, it wouldn't be a total disaster for the two of them to work together.
"Sir, as I am sure you are familiar with my muggle heritage," her slight emphasis on her phrasing almost had him smiling at the sarcasm of her statement. "I have decided to try to incorporate both worlds into my project. As being friends with H-… that is, circumstances of my life have allowed me to see the disastrous toll the Werewolf curse can take on a person as well as those around them." It would involve the bloody Marauders in some form, wouldn't it, he sighed at his seemingly inability to escape all things Potter. "From my initial research into the area, I came to believe that the transformation of man to werewolf occurred because of certain genetic mutations activated by the full moon." She paused and Severus realized she was unsure whether to presume he knew about Muggle genetics or potentially insult him by asking him if he understood. Being quite familiar with the ideas of muggle science, having used them in his own research from time to time, he motioned for her to continue. "I believe that the moon, as I said, activates these mutations, some how creating changes in the expression of the genes which had been changed during that first werewolf bite. For those first bitten, I propose to create a potion that will some how block the curse of the bite to make that initial mutations of genes. I theorize that these mutations are only permanent after the first transformation occurs, therefore the potion would stop any long term effects from the bite. For those who have undergone their first transformation, there seems to be certain enhancements that occur, for example better eyesight, sensitive smell and the like. I do not believe that these mutations could ever be corrected, however, since they are not negative I see no problem with this. I also want to research creating a potion, which in the best of scenarios, would block the moon's initiation of the mutations, and therefore the transformation would not take place."
He was actually quite impressed with her, the bushy haired know-it-all had actually surprised him with an intelligent idea. "I see your time spent with those two idiotic dimwits hasn't completely diminished your potential." Her eyes flashed with anger, turning her usually pale cheeks a soft rose. He noticed however, that the passion suited her quite prettily. Shaking his head at such an unusual thought, about a student, he raised his hand irritably to stop the girl from speaking. "Spare me your ramblings on the virtues of your friends," he sneered at the word, "I have heard them before. For once, understand what I am saying before you react to it…" The girl's full lips formed a perfect 'o' in surprise when the comment finally registered. "Your idea does have some promise Miss Granger, although have you thought of the possible ethical concerns your last mentioned potion might cause?"
The girl looked at him, unfeigned confusion written on her face. He suddenly felt old and jaded when faced with such unfathomable innocence. He had the uncomfortable desire to protect the young girl in front of him, which was ridiculous. She had survived the war and remained unstained, and she certainly would not accept his protection. Unable to continue the conversation, he waved away her questions. "We can talk about that matter later. I shall send in your proposal and my comments to the Headmaster as soon as possible." He allowed himself the one small weakness of rubbing the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve his sudden headache. The look of blatant concern on the girl's face however, went unnoticed by him.
"Are you alright sir?" This produced the same affect as her look would have and he immediately straightened. But even as he opened his mouth to automatically berate her for such a presumption of familiarity, he found he couldn't yell while concern radiated towards him from warm brown eyes. Instead of answering, he just nodded, tired of playing the cruel taskmaster.
"As I said Miss Granger, I will notify the Headmaster of your plans. When you return to your rooms, draw up a schedule for your free time and give that to me during your next Potions class. I will then see where I can fit in time to advise your project." The girl's eyes were still watching him with their strange warmth. "Now if that is all, Miss Granger, I have papers to grade." He turned his back on her and fostered the appearance of shuffling through his papers, only to stop when he heard her leave. Moving around his desk, he sat down, even his sudden headache not diminishing his grace. Placing his elbows on his desk, he rubbed his temples while closing his eyes against the pain, unaware of the girl that stood worriedly outside his classroom, once again staring at its thick wooden door.
AN: I'm sorry for disappointing those of you who were so excited to see them in the same room, alone together. But I am desperately trying to keep Snape at least in some semblance of character, although I think I am making him to, dare I say it, emotional. For those of you who were hoping for a more 'romantic' scene, there are subtle beginnings of romantic feelings on his part. He is a Slytherin as well as her teacher, so I am trying to be realistic (although who am I kidding, I love the romance scenes in the potions classroom as much as anyone). Please read and review (last chance of pairings as well).
Also, I have decided to keep an update schedule in my profile, so you can link there to find when the next chapter should be available (as well as a short summary of the chapter, maybe when I have time I'll post a teaser for each upcoming chapter).