Disclaimer: All of the characters belong to J. K. Rowling.
Warning: I am not an English native speaker, so I apologize for any grammar or vocabulary mistake you may find.
Chapter 2:
Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, currently Head Girl of Gryffindor and described by many as brave, smart, kind, and every positive adjective available could not bring herself to step out her own bedroom.
The events from the previous night replayed in her head as if they were all being poured into a penseive, the coldness of the dungeons, the difference in his tone, the informality of his approach, the warmness of his hands, the- No, she had to focus, there was no time for fantasies or memories such as those as she was actually about to have the worst possible class for such a matter: potions.
With a few soft slaps to her own face she took a deep breath and proceeded to open the door, completely decided to forget about the incident the moment she crossed that door. The door clicked, it opened, but she could not move; coming up the stairs was Ronald Weasley, her boyfriend, and she paled.
"Mornin', Mione', are you feeling alright? We've been waiting for you in the common room." It took her a big effort to complete the simple action of nodding; trying to communicate him she was just fine. But she was not fine, the boy approached her and leaned down, in a clear attempt of kissing her good morning, but all he got was the girl quickly pulling apart, overwhelmed by the guilt.
"Ron, I am sorry, I-"
"I know, I know, kissing is not allowed in school, jeez, Mione, just one small kiss? We'll be here for a whole semester." He tried to approach her a second time, but she rejected him once again, still trying to suppress the upbringing confession of her cheating. "Fine, that is why I love you anyways."
"U-hum…" nodding and humming was all she could answer.
"This is generally the moment you say you love me too."
"Iloveyouweshouldgetgoing." She burst it all out while taking her satchel and running down the stairs.
"Jeez, Mione, you sure are actin' weird this mornin'" following, Ron could only blame this weirdness of her loved one to the coming potion test; failure could always get the worst of her.
The potion classroom was just as gloomy and cold as ever, with Professor Snape acting just as despicable, a couple of Ravenclaws already sobbing over their clumsiness after having tipped over some ink by accident.
Yet, Hermione couldn't take her eyes from him while the instructions for the potion were given; were his fingers always that long? Was his voice always that smooth? Was his cloak always that-
"Psst." A hiss together with a nudge to her arm brought her attention to Harry, nervously looking at her; oh Dear Lord, was she caught staring at Snape? "Page 416."
"… What?" She tried to whisper as low as she could as Snape was still providing instructions.
"Four-sixteen." The boy almost hissed through his teeth while pointing at her book currently set on page 259. The girl suddenly understood and made an effort to find the appropriate page, completely embarrassed. The problem was while she struggled to find the actual potion to brew; Snape had finally finished explaining and had just set the timer on.
"Begin." It was all it took for her to realize she had actually no idea what they were doing, half her time lost in memories of the past night, and half time in a present full of questions.
The young girl looked both sides and tried her best to follow the books instructions, though they were most of the time different from Snape's, while occasionally looking other cauldrons to check out how they were doing. According to the book it was a simple Sleeping Potion, at least it looked simple as she tried to ignore the half extension of a page full of warnings.
While preparing it she realized that Ron was currently attempting to chop some bouncing bulb, and rolled her eyes since there was none in her recipe, furthermore there were only two explanations: Rather he was completely messing up his potion and about to make his cauldron explode… or Professor Snape had decided out of his vast experience that adding some chopped bouncing bulb was actually for the best. Her own potion continued to brew itself in front of her while she waited for his boyfriend's one to blow up the ceiling.
She was so concentrated in this she did not notice the tall and dark figure standing behind her.
"Miss Granger." The soothing tone of his voice calling her name shot her heart out of her chest, causing her to jump in her place and almost tumble her own work. Snape simply smiled, he enjoyed having this reaction by the only pronunciation of a couple words.
"Y-yes, sir?" the girl turned around to face him, a bit uneasy because of his proximity and aware it could actually mean no good; her potion was most definitely wrong.
"Are you trying, and I would not blame you if you were, to get yourself and your entire house killed?" She knew her potion was not right, but… was it really that bad?
"I-" her eyes drifted to the potion still brewing, though slightly releasing white smoke, it looked absolutely innocuous. "I misheard part of your instructions, professor; maybe you could guide me on what I did wrong?"
The man simply raised his left eyebrow and in a sudden and quick movement his wand was up her head, actually catching half of the class attention and causing Hermione to shut her eyes, fearing for her teacher to actually hit her with it. But he obviously did not, he switched his wand slightly and the book's pages flew from page 460 to 416. Her mouth drew a perfect O… she was preparing a complete different potion.
"Wrong page." Then, he placed his wand on top of her shaking cauldron. "The sleeping potion is not supposed to be prepared in these circumstances, neither the correct cauldron, nor the right environment." With a feeble tap tall the cauldron's content had disappeared. "Start over and I may consider grading you with an Acceptable." A Huflepuff girl gasped near them, Hermione's perfect records were in danger.
"But, sir, it is said in this page that the potion takes at least three hours to be prepared, and there are only two hours of this class left, couldn't I-?" He had already started walking to other tables.
"Then you better pay closer attention next time, we wouldn't like you to have a T among all those Os, would we?" his eyes were already focused on other students' potions, really not caring much for her failure. It could just as fine work as a learning experience for the perfect Gryffindor girl.
Two hours later the class was over, and while harry and Ron bottled their own finished potions Hermione could only behold her frustration in the form of an incomplete skele-gro potion. She patiently waited for all of the students to leave, being only accompanied by Ron and Harry.
"I tried to warn you about the page, Mione."
"I know, I know, I heard you wrong." Her eyes didn't move from her cauldron, aware she had brought this mess to herself.
"But hey, you have really good grades, Mione, I am sure this one won't-"
"Mister Potter, Mister Weasley, despite her poor performance from earlier, I am positive Miss Granger can manage to finish her potion… alone." The boys understood and left the classroom with Ron complaining and grunting. Once both of them were out of his sight, he analyzed the potion with expert eye, leaning down and almost bending over the table, somehow closing their distance… when she started talking.
"I-" the girl cleared her throat, being alone with the man that had given her the best kiss of her life just the night before made her beyond uncomfortable. "I have other classes and… perhaps you should just fail me this time," gulp "sir."
"Acceptable." He cleaned the cauldron with his wand and recovered his tall posture, only to turn to his desk, dismissing her.
"Wait, professor… what do you mean? Are you failing me?" she stood behind her empty cauldron, slowly packing everything up.
"No." Professor Snape didn't look up, his attention on the samples lying on his desk. "Your potion was acceptable."
Hermione seriously considered adding something up, implying she was not done, her job could still fail, but… she decided not to, for the best. Instead, the girl took her satchel and slightly leaned down "Thank you." Then left.
The young witch spent the rest of the day trying to focus her attention on her responsibilities, on her tasks, but she could not. It was impossible, because all of this mess was actually because of one of those; her final transfiguration project. She had, as always, decided to go big, and had planned for something never tried before; emulating a person's image by using only a picture, she was sure that would impress professor McGonagall, she even dreamed about getting her name written in a spell book.
Oh, if only she had known.
She would have tried it anyways, but most definitely not with Harry's mother. It was a difficult decision, it could not be someone in the castle, too many chances to be discovered, and she needed someone to test her new appearance on, someone who she could have a full conversation with and go unnoticed, that would mean her job was fail proof. That is how she had decided for Harry's mother, she had the picture, she had Harry to test her looks on, and more importantly; she had somehow managed to get an old recording of Lily's laugh, that was enough to brew a rather ancient but simple potion that would allow her to sound just like her for about 3 hours, depending on the amount.
She had everything, including a plan. Yet, her plan hadn't included visiting Professor Snape or getting kissed, no, not by any chance, she would have not done it if she had known, she would have not.
But then, why? Why was she currently contemplating the idea of practicing the several spells required to accomplish the same result again? Why was she intently looking to the small bottle containing a purplish liquid that would camouflage her voice as Lily's again? Why?
"This is the most important project of my life…" resolution in her voice "I need to be sure it is one hundred functional and working before presenting it to Professor McGonagall… yes, that is it. Nothing else." Her feet started to walk in circles in the middle of her room, the privilege of being a Head Girl. "And I am going to Professor Snape, because it is too late and Harry is definitely sleeping… then what if Professor Snape is sleeping as well? Oh what matters? He will think it is a dream anyways." Her hands flew to her head, covering also her eyes. "But it will be just fine because we will only have a short conversation, we will talk about his life, I will avoid any question about mine, so as to say, Lily's life and when I am positive he does not suspect a thing I will leave… yes, that is it." Still walking around the room, but with her arms crossed, as if half her body was actually stopping her from going, "I need this. I am not looking forward for anything else to happen, no, just…" she took a deep breath, repeating it for the eleventh time for herself "He will probably wake up, open the door, think he is still asleep, we will have a small conversation, he will not notice a thing, and that will be finally proof enough that my project is perfect, because… because if someone who loves me that much does not notice, then nobody would." As she suddenly realized she was talking in first person, she quickly added "Lily. As someone who loves Lily so deeply… but then Lily will be me."
Clenching her fists, she turned around and held the small bottle containing the potion that would grant her Lily's voice, only to bring it to her lips and drink, while already looking for her wand in her back pocket.