Chapter 5

As Hermione entered the classroom, Snape was sitting at his desk wearing his trademark sneer as well as his infamous red pen in hand which could only mean one thing. He was grading students' homework.

"Nice of you to be on time for once Granger" said Snape, not looking up from the essay he was furiously scribbling notes into.

"I apologize again for this morning professor, I— "

"I don't require a novel length explanation Granger, just be sure not to do it again" Snape said finally looking up from his paperwork. After he finished putting his things away, Snape leaned back as he crossed his arm and took a moment before continuing.

"Now, let us discuss the details of what it would mean for you to be my apprentice Miss Granger, as I said this morning this will be hard work and possibly even life threatening. We shall be travelling to remote and dangerous locations trying to locate ingredients. The brewing we will be doing will also be challenging and again, possibly life threatening. Believe it or not, I have coddled you lot during your time in this classroom."

At his last remark, Hermione raised her eyebrows and made to smirk but caught herself, not without the potion master catching the hint of a smile in her expression.

Snape rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, I will concede that there have been instances of explosions, poisonings, and students turning into a cat, but never any fatalities miss Granger, not even close."

Hermione turned bright red at the mention of her Polyjuice incident in her second year of school. Snape smirked before continuing.

"As my apprentice it will also be your job to prepare and to brew with any ingredient I see fit to use in my potions, I will be providing you with the tools necessary to perform any task I require. You will need to spend time familiarizing yourself with said tools, many will be new to you, and some may even be cursed to a certain degree. Many potions require the use of the Dark Arts which require Dark instruments. How do you feel so far Miss Granger?"

"Fine so far sir, nothing I wasn't expecting. As you can imagine, I've done a fair amount of reading on what it means to become an apprentice." Replied Hermione.

Snape scoffed "Yes I imagine you have; in that case you know that the proper title to address me going forward is 'Master Snape' and not 'professor' I will allow 'sir' as well. Once your apprenticeship starts you will move to a bedroom near the laboratory for quicker access as well as for convenience's sake. We will be embarking on a few missions, some are near the school with some being on site, others we'll have to portkey or fly to. I do hope you have a strong stomach Miss Granger, I hear you're not too fond of flying... is that correct?" Questioned Snape, raising his eyebrow.

Hermione blushed slightly, a tad embarrassed at the public knowledge about one of her greatest fears "No sir I can't say I am, but I found that once you ride bareback on a deranged dragon that's been kept in Gringotts for centuries, flying on just a simple broom doesn't terrify me quite so much" At the memory, Hermione turned slightly pale and nervously shifted in her seat.

At Hermione's response, Snape made a grunt of agreement. "I will have to test your theory one day Miss Granger. I'm assuming you have your apparition license?

Hermione squirmed at the question "Umm...I do not but I have been trained and do it quite frequently" Hermione replied, unsure about Snape's reaction to her apparating illegally.

Snape stared at her for a few moments before scoffing, then proceeded to say "You mean to tell me that the Gryffindor Princess, the residential goody two-shoes is apparating illegally 'frequently' as you put it Granger? My, my, you are full of surprises girl. Explain." Replied Snape, surprised the girl trusted him enough to divulge her secret to him as well as the fact that she held no qualms in breaking ministry rules. This new development would do well in harvesting in less than legal locations.

"First, I will ask you not use that nickname with me, I've always hated it, makes me seem uppity and quite frankly I think we can all agree I'm no princess. Secondly yes, I do apparate illegally, when He Who Shall Not Be Named put his lackeys in the ministry, I thought it best to have an alternative mode of transportation that couldn't be tracked." Spat out Hermione, clearly disgusted with the ministry. "Only the boys and a few order members know, I hope I can count on your discretion professor Snape."

Snape took a deep breath, annoyed that this slip of a girl was trying to put him in his place. However, he was no stranger to unwanted school nicknames. He could frankly do without being called "The bat of the dungeons".

"Fine Granger, consider the nickname forgotten. As for illegally apparating, I admit that it would be of great use to me to have you apparate us to secret locations. I too, would rather not have the ministry know my every move." Snape paused as he uncrossed his arms and moved in closer on his desk, placing his arms in front of him with his hands interlaced. "You have my word Granger, I will not divulge your secret, quite frankly I'm not too sure many would believe me anyway" Replied Snape sarcastically.

"Hmm" hummed Hermione in agreement. "There are benefits of having the 'goody two-shoes' reputation as you so put it professor. Mind you, I'm not too sure where that notion comes from, I've broken almost every rule in Hogwarts, not to mention a few laws over the years. But I digress, is there anything else you wanted to add about my apprenticeship professor? If not, where do I sign to begin?"

Snape cocked his usual eyebrow, as he reached into his desk drawer, conjuring an ink pot as well as a couple documents. "Nothing else to add Miss Granger, I believe you've been properly warned of the dangers to your well-being. Your...shall I say lack of qualms about breaking the rules makes me believe you're better suited than I originally thought. As you may have guessed by now I do not always do things 'above board' as they say."

Snape stood and took the documents in hand, indicating the end of their meeting. Hermione stood as well, her hand reaching for the documents but before she could take them, Snape pulled them away and raised them slightly out of her reach. "Here are the official documents, I expect you to have read and understood the clauses before returning them to me. No later than tomorrow night Granger, these are the only ones I have, if you lose them, I will take is as you refusing the position." At his final warning, Snape lowered the documents into Hermione's hand.

"Thank you sir, if I am to complete these before tomorrow where shall I put them?" Hermione asked.

"My office will be open, I will change the wards to allow you should you have those documents in hand. Now off you go." Replied Snape.

As Hermione made her way back to her room, she couldn't help but feel absolutely giddy. Hearing professor Snape mention the Dark Art's, especially the cursed instruments had her itching to go to the restricted section to read about the supposed 'dark instruments' she would be using. Alas, Harry had kept his invisible cloak with him for his missions. Thinking about Harry made her realize she would have to tell Ginny about the impending move to the dungeons.

The two girls had grown quite close, Ginny being one of the only Weasley's to openly criticize Ron for his behavior towards her. She would miss their late-night talks, their exchange of treats, and the occasional bottle of wine they would sneak upstairs in the Burrow.

By the time Hermione got back to her dormitory, everyone was fast asleep. She took the opportunity to crack a window and read the contract as she had her final smoke of the day. As she signed and read over the different clauses, a sense of excitement filled her at the thought of this new opportunity. The possibility of her becoming an apprentice was the reason she decided to come back. It gave her purpose; she had the liberty to explore academic pursuits and finally gave her a worthy opponent. No one challenged her like professor Snape, that was for sure. As she closed the window and got into bed, her last thoughts before falling asleep was how pleased he looked when she had told him she had broken Ministry law.