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Chapter 2

Professor Snape's torture began on Hermione's first day as his apprentice.

"Today is the first day to the start of everything" thought Hermione visions of the potions she would brew in her mind, but little did she know that she wouldn't brew a single potion that day. Hermione wore black teaching robes equal to that of any professor the first time she knocked on his door. She wore a neutral expression because she knew anything else would only earn her the professors distain. His voice called for her to come in and Hermione did with hurried footsteps only to find he had already started the days work without her. Professor Snape was dressed in his usual black teaching robes, he stood behind his desk a cauldron before him along with several small glass vials, and he was filling each vial by hand one at a time.

"You didn't get here soon enough for my liking, Miss. Granger. I was forced to start without you" said Professor Snape in his usual drawl as her eyes ran over the classroom and all the cauldrons that sat on each desk each filled with a separate potion that he had brewed before even the crack of dawn; it awed Hermione even as if frustrated her. As he said it, the professor didn't even look at her. He didn't spare her a glance and standing before him, Hermione didn't know what to say as she watched him in his work. He was so precise in each action, she found she could appreciate it even as she wanted to scream in frustration at the man doing it.

"Professor?" said Hermione receiving no answer in response.

"Go make yourself useful" said Professor Snape pointing with a flick of his head as the cauldron next to him lifted itself, floating to the sink as another left one of the desks going to the spot the previous one left.

"Clean that cauldron" said Professor Snape simply beginning to fill more vials as the ones previously filled levitated onto a shelf in the next room.

"Sir?" exclaimed Hermione looking between the cauldron and Snape until he dared to look at her his eyes already forming the beginnings of that glare, she had feared for seven years. That look still make her cringe to the very depths of her stomach. It made her want to vomit and it made her turn of her own will going to the sink to do as he said. She scrubbed the cauldron in silence while always watching the man out of the corner of her eye always hoping he would give her something for challenging.

"Scrub faster, Miss. Granger, the cauldrons are piling up on you" snapped Professor Snape after awhile not saying another word but returning to his routine of filling each vial by hand one by one before sending her another cauldron to clean.

Once he nearly hit her in the head, but Hermione said nothing. She was determined that she wouldn't let him beat her. After what felt like days, Hermione snuck a peak behind her to find he was on the final cauldron, and sighing, she felt relieved. It was almost over, for now, at least. Hermione hoped then that he might have her do some real potions work, but again she was disappointed. Instead, Snape merely sent her home, and when Hermione returned the next day, she found herself doing the same thing as the day before. On the second day, he had two cauldrons on every desk, and Hermione was told once again to make herself useful. On the third, he had three on every desk, and Hermione didn't get a single word from him. He only pointed to the sink. It went on like this for over a week, everyday Hermione arrived to find two, sometimes three cauldrons filled with potion already made, and soon she found herself walking in only to go straight to the sink. Hermione would arrive to find Snape had done all the brewing without her and all she could do was clean cauldrons.

Finally, Hermione could take no more, and after one of these days when Snape told her in his cold tone to leave, Hermione simply came to stand in front of his desk and stared him down.

"I believe I told you to leave, Miss. Granger" snapped Professor Snape his back to her for a moment before he turned still not looking at her.

"Yes sir, you did, but I need to speak with you. I don't think you are teaching me as you should be. I didn't want to be your apprentice, sir, for you to treat me this way. I am capable of more then what you have allowed me to demonstrate. You are supposed to be teaching me, preparing me for my future, but instead you are having me do useless tasks" exclaimed Hermione her voice rising the more she spoke until the professor was staring her down now. The look in his eyes scared her even as it didn't. Hermione was tempted to turn and walk away, to never come back, but when she thought of what she wanted her future to be, she stopped. She gathered all the courage that the war had given her, and she stared him down.

"It was not my choice to make you my apprentice, Miss. Granger. That choice was taken away from me by you and the headmaster and Minerva McGonagall. If work…real work is what you want, then it is what I will give you. Tomorrow, show up here prepared to work as hard as you've ever worked before, and I don't expect to hear one word of protest. If you truly want me to teach you then teach you is exactly what I'll do" said Professor Snape putting an emphasis on every word as they left his lips eyeing her dangerously. A silence fell then as they stared each other down neither ever breaking eye contact. Hermione could feel her very nerves shaking, but she didn't dare look away. She would not let him intimidate her, she would prove to him she was stronger then that.

"Now leave" growled Professor Snape glaring still as she simply turned without even a flinch to leave.

As Hermione closed the door then walked down the hall, she smiled. She wasn't afraid of anything the professor challenged her with. She was more then ready for whatever it was.