James MacDonald walked up to the castle a little skeptically. This would probably be the oddest year for him yet. In the end they'd come up with a compromise for teaching the classes. He'd take the first through fourth years, Snape would take fifth and sixth, and the two apprentices together would teach the seventh years, having just finished the course themselves. In their spare time, MacDonald and Snape would apprentice with both Hermione and Brendon. Hermione and Brendon would also be expected to complete their master's work by the end of the year to be considered for mastership in Potions. Strange indeed.

School didn't start for another few months, but James had agreed to come down and start working with Hermione early – mainly because he didn't have anything else to do. The letters requesting him to come to Hogwarts came at a time when he'd had no research planned, no women around to have flings with, and when he was running out of food in his tiny cabin in the Scottish highlands. He also had heard from Snape how brilliant Hermione was, and he couldn't wait to meet her. After all, hearing about a brilliant student from Snape was much like hearing about delicious lemon drops from McGonagall. It just didn't happen. Then he'd found out there was a second apprentice – a male – and he almost changed his mind. He decided to continue on, though, and decided that if the boy were stupid, he just wouldn't give him the time of day.

MacDonald had no use for other men. He thought most of them dumb as rocks, and none too enjoyable to look at. All of his research partners had always been women; his friends were all women; most importantly, his bed was always warmed by a woman. No, men were of no use at all. He seriously hoped that Hermione was pretty, or it wasn't going to be worth leaving seclusion for a year for this position.

--

Severus sighed when he saw MacDonald walking up to the doors of the castle. The man hadn't changed a bit. Blond, roguish, muscular and arrogant. Fantastic. At least he was taking most of the brats away from him so he wouldn't have to deal with them this year.

"MacDonald," he said solemnly when he was within hearing distance.

"Snape," MacDonald countered. "Let's get me to my rooms, eh? Let Hermione know that we'll be starting this afternoon on the apprenticeship. Can't be too soon, yeh know." Plus, she's got to be better looking than McGonagall, he thought.

Severus bristled at the demands. "You can let Miss Granger know that you'd like to meet this afternoon. I'm sure she'd be much obliged. Miss Granger will be in the Head Girl's rooms until Minerva finishes setting up the apprentice quarters. Ask any of the portraits and they can tell you where to go." He strode off quickly, leaving MacDonald to stumble off behind him. "You'll be in the quarters on the first floor, above the dungeons for now. Talk to Minerva about switching. There you go. I'll see you at dinner." Severus strode off without making sure that MacDonald got into his rooms. He despised the man personally, but knew that he was brilliant with Potions and with Charms. He was irritated that everyone insisted on such informality: it's Miss Granger, not Hermione. How inappropriate. Then again, he assumed that MacDonald would try to seduce the chit. And she'd probably fall prey to his charms as most women did. Ridiculous. I thought this was supposed to be an apprenticeship, not a place for horny professors to find young women...

This was going to be an interesting year.

--

Hermione awoke to an owl tapping on her window. It had a package tied to its foot, and looked as if it had been tapping on the glass for a while, trying to get her attention. Stretching, she let the poor thing inside, and took off the package. It was surprisingly heavy for such a small package. Tossing it a treat, she opened the package to find a note.

Miss Granger,

I am sorry that we didn't get a chance to talk yesterday with the excitement of meeting Mr. Hamilton. Please come to my office this afternoon around two, if you can. I'd like to discuss the aims and goals of this apprenticeship, and put together a syllabus for your year. It would be helpful to have you there, so you can have a say in what we're doing.

James MacDonald will be here this morning and will probably want to meet with you as well. Be on your guard around him, Miss Granger, as he is known to "charm" women freely and quite often.

Yours,

S.S.

Looking at the contents of the package, Hermione saw an old, well-red book with a small note attached.

Donahue's Magick and Theorie in Potions. Old, but still reliable background reading for your research. Enjoy.

-S.S.

Hermione reeled in shock. She'd been looking everywhere for a copy of this! The Hogwarts library didn't have one, and Madam Pince didn't know where she could look for one. None of the new or used bookshops in Hogsmeade had a copy. What luck! It was ten o'clock now; Hermione hoped she'd have finished the book by two so she could return it to Snape.

She thought back to the letter he'd written and the warning about Professor MacDonald. It was odd that Severus would write anything like that, but figured that she'd find out what he meant in due time. Until then, though, Donahue's book was sitting there, just waiting to be read...

--

Promptly at two, Hermione knocked on the door to Snape's office, carrying a pile of parchments and books. Sitting on the top of the pile was the Donahue that Snape had lent her. She'd finished it, taken copious notes, and knew that she was more ready to meet with Snape since she'd read it. It was fascinating. Donahue maintained that magic and potions could be combined under special circumstances, and that their combination enhanced the magic and the potion. He thought that the application or use of such a potion could potentially render the potion more potent than the original spell. He was never able to prove any of his theories because he was an abysmal potions maker, but his theories were interesting and were a good foundation for research. Even if he were proved wrong, his calculations about which potions could not handle magic tampering would be important when Hermione started brewing.

Snape opened the door and ushered her in, seamlessly taking some of the books out of her arms as she staggered in with them.

"Are you, or are you not a witch, Miss Granger? Why not use magic to carry these?" Snape asked with a smirk. The girl was ridiculous.

"I need to get my arm strength up, professor, if I'm going to be brewing and stirring, chopping ingredients and hauling cauldrons all day."

"Indeed. Very good, Miss Granger." Snape was impressed. Not as ridiculous as he thought, then. Maybe she'd stand a chance against MacDonald, the old perv. "Shall we begin?"

"Yes, sir. Here's your copy of Donahue back. Thank you very much for that. I've been looking everywhere for a copy, and no one seemed to have it." Hermione spoke quickly, trying to be nonchalant about reading it, but was flustered that Snape would have thought to let her borrow it.

"Keep it. You'll need theory background for much of what we'll be doing this semester. Think of it as a welcome gift, if you will. Welcome to the year from hell, for you. You have to complete this apprenticeship in half the time that others do. You don't need to thank me. You'll be cursing my name in a few weeks, I'm sure," Snape said dryly. The girl was too easy to please. "Now," he said while Hermione was still speechless, "your syllabus."

--

Sorry that it's taken me so long to get this chapter up! I haven't been in the "writing mood" lately. I'll try to do better from now on...

Please review!