Chapter 7

Almost two and a half years later, Hermione stood in her very own kitchen. She was approaching her twenty first birthday and planned on a quiet celebration with Harry, Ron and whomever the two of them were involved with at the present time.

Hermione loved her life.

She woke early everyday in order to gain maximum work time. At exactly 6:30 a.m., she was showered and dressed, sipping her coffee and reviewing the notes from the day before. She was finishing her research on the line of children's products she had begun the year she left Hogwarts. Her first spell was a simple, yet effective one. One spell cast over a pair of shoes, sold by her employer's company of course, grew with the child's feet from age one year to age eighteen. They were indestructible and came in a variety of colors. Her main goal was to keep the cost of the shoes low, so that families with a limited budget were able to afford them.

The shoes, Walk-N-Grow, were released almost a year ago. They were accepted remarkably well by the public and Hermione was enjoying the fruits of her labors. She had her own office, laboratory and library; all courtesy of her employer, MagiCall. It was a fledgling company when Hermione signed on, but it had grown to gigantic proportions since she came aboard. Her other creations were smaller, but made her money none the less. Hermione had an apartment inside of MagiCall. She never wanted for anything

She had developed an anti-love potion, provided in candy form. That was inspired by poor Ron and Harry falling victim to too many love sick girls over the years. She had had real problems in the developmental stage of the candy. She had to make it strong, but not so strong that she completely depressed the person eating it. So the anti-love potion, No-Luv, only dulls the effects of Love Potions. It has been a great seller as well.

Her next project started out to be an enchanted mirror. It was supposed to compliment the reflection of the owner and give helpful advice on beauty and spa treatments. However what she created was a brutally honest mirror that sassed her at every turn. She named him Elmer, and he now hung in her bathroom. She had, on many occasions, wanted to throw it in the rubbish and be done with it. But it always talked her out of it. Elmer, was a sounding board for Hermione's ideas and thoughts. She couldn't ask for a better friend. He was honest and to the point, never sugar coating anything. He always told her like it really was. Someone in her position needed that.

Her days were pretty much the same everyday, except Sunday. That was when she returned to her parents house every afternoon for lunch and dinner. The mornings she reviewed her notes, and began the days work She took a short lunch at 12:30 and then returned to whatever the task at hand was. She had supper at 6:30 sharp and took an hour break. Then, her real work started.

Hermione had been devoting an entire portion of her labs to the "secret" project. She was indeed the only person, with the exception of her former Professor, who had any idea as to what her vision was. She had acquired plants of all shapes and sizes and planted them in pots, marking each one by a number. She also had three aquariums that housed snakes, her chosen prey. Beside that, cages of every bug imaginable. Also marked with a number magically infused on the bug's back.

Her goal was to be able to test her spell on the snakes and bugs come winter. However, she first needed a way to shield the lab from the Ministry's magic detectors for Unforgivable curses. She wasn't sure, and Harry had hinted it to her, that the Ministry was able to now detect the use of an Unforgivable Curse within a three block radius. Hermione wanted no part of the Ministry, so she had been working tirelessly on creating her containment spell.

That was an easy prelude to her work. She mixed a locator spell with a disillusionment charm. She tested the charm in her lab and was able to verify that it did contain all traces of magic, but only for closed spaces. Hermione had set all her pieces in place. Now it was time to work.

She sat in her office reading about the effects of the Imperious Curse. She had seen the effects of it first hand in the Final Battle. Many people succumbed to the curse cast by Death Eaters and those who followed the dark side. Hermione remembered her Professor, Alastor Moody, who taught Defense Against The Dark Arts her fourth year at Hogwarts. What a year that was. Hogwarts….the memories she had from that school. She had Ron, Harry and Ginny on her life still. But she always felt that something was missing. She missed her long time Mentor, Minerva McGonagall. They hadn't spoken since the day she left Hogwarts. Then there was Professor Snape…

She spent many evenings alone, wondering what he was doing. Wondering if he ever thought of her. It was silly to wonder. Of course he didn't think of her.

She stood in front of the mirror and saw that her once bushy brown hair had tamed itself, with the help of her newest invention, and now lay in controlled waves of chestnut brown. Her face had filled out and her once buckteeth were perfectly straight.

"You're not getting any younger you know." Elmer the mirror, said.

"What?"

"You're not getting any younger. Time has been good to you…so far."

"Well thank you…I think."

"Perhaps you need a man?" Elmer's voice had become silky and sarcastic.

"Perhaps you need to be put in the closet." Hermione spat.

"I'm just saying that that last one you brought back here was a total bore…"

"Yes, thank you Elmer. I don't think I need love advice from a mirror." Hermione walked away from the wall.

"What about the…Professor?" Hermione stopped and stepped back into view.

"What are talking about?'

"You know…the one you dream about...the one you call to in your sleep. Professor! Professor!" Elmer's voice became high pitched, mocking her.

Hermione stared into her confused reflection and shook her head. How had Elmer known that? Hermione sneered at Elmer and left the room.

Elmer was right about one thing. The last guy, Alan, she had dated was a complete and utter bore. She went on two dates with him after meeting him at one of Ginny's wild parties. He was nice but she couldn't discuss anything past politics and Quidditch with him without him getting a glazed look on his face. He bored her. It was as simple as that. There were plenty of men that she met that she was attracted to. But it seemed that once they opened their mouths, she was repulsed and quickly retreated. Why was she so hard on them? None of them could engage her mind, as well as her hormones. That was over a year ago when she stopped taking Alan's calls and retreated back into her world. Only occasionally stepping out at her friends insistence.

She longed for someone to discuss her plans, hopes and dreams with. She had told no one, except Professor Snape, about her research. And it had crossed her mind, many times, to owl him and attempt to strike up a correspondence. But she always found a reason not to. Mostly because she felt foolish for her behavior as a love sick puppy. Secondly because when it came to him, she couldn't think of anything but his long black hair and his baritone voice.

He even haunted her dreams. Elmer was right about that too.

She dreamed of a snake. Black as onyx and shinning in the moonlight It was large, larger than any snake Hermione had ever seen. It slithered around her feet and wrapped it's cold writhing scales around her body. In her dreams, she stood still, allowing it to happen. Loving the feel of the cool scales on her skin. The snake would coil itself around her and it's tongue would flick in her hair. Moments later, the pale, firm arms of her former Potions Professor were wrapped around her. She enjoyed his touch, more than the snakes. Just before anything was said, she always woke.

It was such a vivid dream. A dream that haunted her sleep frequently.

A/N: I will be posting this story daily. 1 - 2 chapters a day.(For I have finished writing it. So...yeah! No waiting for you guys!) Please review and let me know what you think!