The Conference

And now she was here, at the beautiful hotel where the conference would start the next morning, and everything was completely magical. The Portkey to Prague had gone off without problems and she easily found the Czech Ministry's Floo stations to make her way to the hotel. The Alchymist Grand Hotel was both a Muggle and a magical hotel, but for the conference the organising committee had leased the whole building to better maintain the Statute of Secrecy. The conference would last for three days, starting Thursday morning and ending on Saturday evening, with most people staying until Sunday before leaving.

She tumbled out of the fireplace onto a beautiful Persian rug and gasped in awe as she saw the rest of the lobby. The area was decorated beautifully with white marble columns and statues, rich red velvet drapes and elegant baroque style furniture with lots of gold. The magical section of the hotel was reached through a fresco in the lobby and apparently all the staff were Squibs so they were well versed in the magical world. The organising committee had apparently helped hire more staff and house-elves for the event since the hotel was almost bursting in its seams with the hundreds of conference participants staying there.

A staff member waved her towards the check-in counter as the Floo flared to life again to allow the next guest through, and shortly thereafter she was settled in a small but beautifully furnished room with a four-poster queen size bed, an elegant mahogany desk and a lavish bathroom located in the Muggle part of the hotel since she had admitted to knowing how to manage taps and electric lights. She giggled when she noticed the Gryffindor colour scheme, with gilded bedposts, a red velvet headboard and striped red and gold curtains and bedspread. The effect was very tasteful against the golden wallpaper. After unpacking her luggage and notes she decided to slip into Muggle Prague for a walk before finding some place to eat, and after getting some directions and a map from the check-in staff she soon set off into the city.

Prague a Wednesday afternoon in mid-February was cold with a light layer of snow covering the ground, but she had brought sturdy boots and heavy robes that she Transfigured to a Muggle-style coat. She wandered around the Old Town, checking out the buildings and the people bustling around on their way home from work. The friendly front desk staff at the hotel had recommended a few places for dinner, and so she found herself in a local, very rustic, restaurant with a beer and a bowl of steaming hot goulash stew in front of her. She briefly wished she had someone to share the experience with but quickly squashed that thought. Who would that be, exactly?

That thought brought her back to another subject she preferred to avoid thinking about. The topic of her talk, or the reason behind her research, rather. She'd brought her speech notes along and reviewed them again as she finished her stew.

After finishing her NEWTs she had joined St Mungo's with one purpose in mind, having recommendations from both Madam Pomfrey and Professor Flitwick to seek out Healer Trout. Luckily he'd taken one quick look at her NEWT results, asked her a few completely unrelated questions (her favourite was probably Which animal would make the best Minister for Magic?)before simply asking her when she would start, and that was that.

Her parents were still in Australia. She'd sought them out as soon as she could during the summer after Voldemort had been defeated but neither she nor her travelling companion Bill Weasley were able to fully restore their memories. Hermione had managed to undo enough so that they remembered they had a daughter, once, but not enough to bring their feelings back. They'd been angry and confused, and hurt, literally, as recalling the suppressed memories brought along a vicious headache. Apparently they were able to vaguely recall her early childhood but nothing from her Hogwarts years, not that she had seen them much then anyway, she thought guiltily, having been too busy with Harry, Weasleys and Grimmauld Place to spend much time with her family. And now it was likely too late, they were lost to her in Australia unless she could improve the memory restoration procedure.

The first step had been to research Memory Restoration Charms. She'd spent the first two years of her Apprenticeship working on the problem and had finally reached a promising point last summer. She'd scoured the libraries for information but in the end the best source of knowledge had been the Unspeakables where Healer Trout had helped her find someone to talk to. She'd interviewed the Obliviators used by the Aurors but many of them weren't exactly careful, and didn't know much about the actual functions of the charms they used. The Unspeakables had, after a lengthy vetting process, allowed her to see a bit of their own research and she'd in turn promised to let them have review what she came up with. Adding Arithmancy and improving the Memory Potion would be the next step in order to perfect the solution, which would undoubtedly require even more tea and late nights.

After a bath in the luxurious tub she gratefully crawled up in the large bed, sprawling in the middle like a starfish. For once, sleep came quickly.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Luckily, or unfortunately depending on how she looked at it, her presentation was held already the first day of the conference in one of the smaller rooms just before the break for lunch. The main room had a talk on Charms In Translation by the French scholar Philemon Éluard, one of the leaders in the field and a wildly popular speaker, so there weren't too many people listening to her. She'd barely managed to listen to the first three speakers in her session, nerves causing her stomach to feel heavy and jittery at the same time.

Finally she was called up to present her research. Taking a deep breath she smoothed down her new robes, a rather professional-looking set in a lovely navy blue with white and gold trimmings, and stepped forward. As she walked onto the podium she thought she saw a familiar figure, a tall dark-haired wizard clad in black, standing by the back wall. Was he here? Of course he would be, he was after all a master in his field. Surprisingly enough she found that she was comforted by the thought of having him there, and as she drew breath to begin her presentation she addressed it all to him, forgetting about the other people in the room.

When she finished she was distracted by questions and people wanting to talk to her about her work, and she didn't see him when she finally managed to extricate herself from the room. Had she just imagined seeing Professor Snape? No, she was quite certain it had been him. She tried to look for him as she went down to the large ballroom where they served a light lunch, suddenly quite ravenous. She hadn't been able to eat anything for breakfast due to nerves, so she eagerly filled up a plate with various delicacies and found a quiet table off to the side where she could observe the other attendees. Round tables were scattered around the large room, with food served on a banquet table in the middle. Several magical chandeliers lit up the room which had a light wood half-panelling and gilded mirrors along one of the long walls.

Her thoughts circled back to her former Professor whom she hadn't seen in several years. During that awful day of the Final Battle she'd poured the last of her Dittany over his throat and had somehow managed to get him to swallow a Blood-Replenishing potion before dashing off with Ron and Harry, barely sparing him a second thought until afterwards when Harry had made it clear that the wizard had been on their side all along. She'd alerted Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall who had gone to fetch him from the Shack where he lay in a huge pool of blood, barely hanging onto life. Somehow they'd managed to save him. Hermione knew he'd been in hospital for at least three months before he was released, and then he'd been in house arrest for a few months while Hermione and Harry assisted Kingsley to clear him of all charges. She had visited him a few times at St Mungo's and twice in his old home before he was acquitted, bringing books and Potions journals. He hadn't exactly been glad to see her, and she'd lost track of him after the trial when he immediately left the country for a while.

After she left Hogwarts she'd stayed in touch with a few of the teachers, including Minerva, who had informed her that Professor Snape would return to teach Potions again the following autumn since Horace Slughorn wanted to go back to retirement. At first she'd been surprised to hear that he'd return but it seemed that he had mellowed slightly and was no longer quite as acerbic in the classroom, if Minerva was to be believed. Hermione had considered writing to him with some questions related to her project for Healer Trout, but the moment had passed without her doing anything about it.

A stray thought had her dig out the conference programme from her trusted bag. With a muttered spell she searched for his name, and soon found it. He was apparently going to present something on improvements to common potions in the main session on Saturday evening, she noted with mounting excitement. He seemed to be a guest of honour, specially invited by the organising committee to talk. She made a note in her planner to make sure she wouldn't miss it.

The afternoon was filled with interesting research topics. Hermione drifted from session to session, taking in everything from how to cure snow blindness with a potion brewed from eucalyptus leaves and cobra venin, to the latest updates on diagnostic charms for Healing and a very interesting talk on Curse-breaking in Minoan ruins.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Hermione was glad to go back to her room for a few hours after the last session, feeling exhausted by the sheer amount of people and information. She kicked off her pumps, removed her robes and flopped ungracefully onto the bed. Now that it was over, she was very grateful that her talk had been scheduled so early. It allowed her to enjoy the rest of the conference without nerves taking over too much, and she intended to make the best of it. Her head was already buzzing with new ideas from the afternoon's sessions, and that was only the start of it.

Later that evening there was a reception in the ballroom where attendees would be able to mingle over some cocktails and canapés. After a quick shower she chose a dark bronze short-sleeved cocktail dress for the evening, one of Luna's selections, and went down to join the others. Tall round tables were now scattered along the perimeter of the room, and several elves could be seen popping in and out with trays of refreshments.

She was resting by one of the tables with a glass of champagne, looking out over the assembled crowd of wizards and witches from all over the world, when he found her.

"Miss Granger."

He raised his champagne flute a couple of inches and inclined his head slightly in greeting. He looked well, clad in elegantly cut black dress robes with a swirling silver pattern along the lapels that looked almost like potions fumes from a cauldron. An emerald green cravat and a crisp white shirt completed the picture. His hair was tied back with a black ribbon, accentuating his dark eyes and sharp facial features, but he looked more relaxed and healthier than she'd ever seen him. Apparently not being under the thumb of two megalomaniac wizards agreed with him.

"Professor…"

He shook his head slightly, a tiny smile at the corner of his lips. "Not yours anymore, luckily. I heard your presentation, Miss Granger, you seem to have managed to stop regurgitating textbooks and started to think for yourself. "

She ignored the oddly backwards compliment, too flustered to think about it. "What should I call you then, sir?"

His dark intense gaze held her frozen in place. "Severus will do. It is, after all, my name, Miss Granger."

She shook her head. "Hermione, please. It is, after all, my name, Severus." She almost managed not to stumble on his name.

He smirked and raised his flute in another toast which oddly enough caused her breath to catch in her chest. Had she caught a cold somewhere?

"Did you enjoy the afternoon's sessions?" he asked, his dark gaze fixed on her eyes.

"Yes, did you go to the one on the Minoan ruins? I didn't know they used Egyptian Hieroglyphs and cuneiform together."

He raised an eyebrow at her but soon they were off, discussing the sessions and speakers. He was scathingly sarcastic whenever someone had said something that displeased him — Why in Merlin's name would you use eucalyptus for snow blindness? That's ridiculous, the solution to a problem should be native to the environment where the problem is found, and myrtle leaves, pine needles or allspice would give the same effect — but he also managed to introduce her to several interesting persons in various fields of research.

It was interesting to see him like that, as if in his natural habitat, at ease among the other Masters that were also at the top of their fields. He appeared to be respected and valued for his knowledge in this community, although clearly a few of the attendees seemed wary around him. They were probably dunderheads, she thought, which he confirmed with a chuckle when she asked.

"Would you accompany me to the conference dinner tomorrow?" he suddenly asked, looking straight at her, eyebrow lifted slightly. "I fear to be saddled with one of those vapid witches who has bought their degree off the Prophet's ad pages, or one who either thinks me a Death Eater or — even worse — a hero."

"And you would prefer to be saddled with an insufferable know-it-all?"

He smirked at her. "I happen to find you rather more sufferable nowadays. I fear you're still a know-it-all, however, but one cannot have everything, of course."

"I'll gladly go with you then," she replied, suddenly breathless again.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The next day was even better than the first. For one, she wasn't a nervous wreck at breakfast and actually managed to savour the many choices offered by the hotel. Secondly, thanks in part to a certain Professor, she now recognised several of the other attendees and was able to strike up several interesting conversations already over the buffet choices. One or two of them also commented on her own presentation and asked relevant questions about her research.

"Are these seats free?" a young blonde witch asked, gesturing vaguely at Hermione's table. She appeared to be waiting for some friends too but Hermione didn't mind the company.

"Sure, go ahead."

Three young witches joined her, and soon Hermione had learned that they were from Norway but currently doing Apprenticeships in the Netherlands. Lise-Mari was studying under a well known Healer while Marit and Sofia were studying Potions in Nijmegen. It was nice to talk to others also doing Apprenticeships, who wouldn't find her study habits or odd research issues to be any stranger than their own, and they quickly exchanged contact details for later.

"We're going to the session on Ancient Potions this morning, what about you?" Marit said.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, that sounds interesting, could we sit together?"

"Sure, meet outside the room at five to? I need to go brush my teeth and so on."

"Perfect!"

She enjoyed the sessions even more in the company of the others, and tagged along to the sessions they wanted to attend. They listened to talks on Sumerian potions and the latest research into ancient Norse potions, which the three Norwegians enjoyed a lot. The following session was on how to set up wards created to protect very specific items, information or against specific targets. Hermione winced a little as the memories of her half-year camping trip surfaced, and the wards the presenters described were also very similar to what she had already used that year on the run. The memories still hurt, of the pervading fear, the misery of carrying the locket, the ever-present hunger and cold, Ron's betrayal.

At the end of that session she excused herself while the others went to eat lunch, needing a few minutes to calm down, and when she entered the ballroom she was immediately distracted by one of the researchers who had presented during the same session as her own and who wanted to discuss their respective research.

Severus' presentation was to be held in the largest room right after the lunch break. The room was already nearly full when Hermione made it there, but she snagged a seat quite close to the podium if a bit off to the side. Finally the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the room as he swooped in from the side entrance, robes fluttering behind him as impressively as ever at Hogwarts.

"I would expect all of you present here today to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. A few of you might even understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…*" he began, his rich deep voice easily reaching the whole room seemingly without effort. "However, the teaching of potions is often fraught with inconsistencies and inefficiencies. Today I wish to show you improvements to several standard potions, both for household use and for teaching, and how to make them either more efficient for use or easier to brew."

A wave of his pale hand lit the fire under a cauldron which had been set up at a demo station close to the podium.

"Pepperup Potion is ubiquitous, simple and useful, a staple in most apothecaries and school infirmaries. However, the potion requires both Mandrake root and Bicorn horn, both of which are rather expensive ingredients for the use of merely curing a common cold. I will instead demonstrate a new approach to the potion, improving both the result and the recipe."

With a wave of his hand a new recipe started writing itself on the large board set up on stage, while the ingredients materialised next to the cauldron where a chopping board was already set up.

"As you can see, in this instance we need to alter quite a lot of the potion. It is important at this stage to remember what we are trying to achieve, rather than just trying to substitute individual ingredients. The aim of the Pepperup Potion is to cure the common cold, which as we all know is characterised by a sore throat, runny nose, coughing and a general sense of discomfort. If we want to remove both the Bicorn horn and the Mandrake root but retain similar properties of the potion, the Jewelweed needs to be balanced by something else instead. After much experimentation I have concluded that an infusion of Shrake spines and Doxy eggs can replace the Bicorn horn. Removing the Mandrake root requires us to look elsewhere for its healing properties. Looking into the nightshade family makes sense, and so we find a replacement in henbane and cayenne pepper extract. I also added magical ginger and a dash of honey for their well-known healing properties. The resulting brew is both cheaper to brew and more efficient at curing colds, flus and other respiratory illnesses, does not cause steam to emanate from your ears and nostrils, and has been properly registered with the Ministry and tested at St Mungo's."

He moved to another demo station already set up in the room. "Here we see another example of a way too complex potion that we are supposed to teach the children. The Elixir to Induce Euphoria is a rather silly potion with not too many legitimate uses, but it is still a good brewing exercise. Now, the standard way to brew this is ornery, wastes a lot of ingredients, and results in a substandard potion. Instead, we shall follow these steps…"

He gestured to the board where another updated potions recipe wrote itself, outlining how to add a sprig of peppermint and where to change the recipe to make better use of the efficacy of the ingredients.

The audience — and Hermione — were completely spellbound by his performance as he kept floating from one to the other while he outlined how to improve the brewing or efficacy of several important potions. The dark room was illuminated mainly by the flames of the cauldrons, casting the speaker's face in an eerie glow with ever shifting shadows as he moved around the room. The fumes from the potions and his deep velvety voice filled the room, commanding the attention of everyone.

"I am currently writing a new set of textbooks which will include these updated recipes and more. My aim is to improve the education of the next generation of potioneers but the books may also be used as a point of reference for anyone who sets foot near a cauldron. However, at least in Britain the contents of O. and N.E. are standardised by the Ministry, and as such it is necessary to change the testing standards to match the more up-to-date curriculum. This is not yet complete, so I fear we shall have to start by doubling the time teaching Potions, once with the better method and once with the substandard method for the tests."

A subdued laughter filled the room. He did have them hooked. He went on to show them more tricks of the trade, little things that improved yield or which would make the potions more efficient, such as what to look for when counting stirs, how to slice roots and reeds properly, how to de-bone a frog.

When he finally rounded off his lecture with a flourish of his wand, dousing the fires under the cauldrons and turning up the room's lights, Hermione felt as if she was coming out of a trance. She couldn't tell how long he had talked, if it had been twenty minutes or three hours. He bowed slightly to the rousing applause from the audience and appeared to look straight at her, raising an eyebrow while the corner of his lips quirked upwards slightly. She flushed, beaming a smile at him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: I've unfortunately never been to Prague but when searching for suitable locations I stumbled across The Alchymist Grand Hotel and Spa which just has to be a Wizarding hotel, right? It looks completely magical in the pictures, too! Go on, Google it. I'll wait.

* this quote taken from Philosopher's Stone, which I'm sure you recognised

Sooo… we're turning up the heat a bit in the next chapter. Just sayin'. *shifty eyes*. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a little as I want to write a bit more before posting so that I have time to edit the chapters a bit first. Aiming for next weekend!

/AA