Disclaimer: No, Harry Potter does not belong to me. But Draco Malfoy does.........wait, no he doesn't. I was hoping this time it would be true! Guess I have to keep wishing. Author curses the stars
A/N: Happy New Year's Eve! To those of you partying tonight (like I myself will be), please be careful. Have fun and I'll see you again next year!
Ch.8 The Detention of Hermione Granger
Harry walked Hermione down to the dungeons after dinner, desparately trying to cheer his friend up. This was Hermione Granger's second detention ever, and she was down right pissed off at the 'greasy haired vampire wanna be' as she now referred Professor Snape as. At dinner, she had had a steady stream of foul curses for him, but she seemed to favor the greasy haired one, since she was now threatening to shave his head. Harry gave off a shudder at the mental image of Professor Snape looking like Mr. Clean with a severe vampire complex.
Professor Snape was leaned against the stone wall of the corridor, waiting outside his classroom for Hermione, with his head upwards and his eyes closed. He was wrapped up in gathering his courage to face his nasty tempered daughter, that he didn't even hear the footsteps that approached or Harry trying to hush Hermione's voice from Snape's hearing. Harry whispered in her ear before he left her at the mercy of the man known as Severus Snape. Hermione took afew cautious steps towards the unsuspecting Professor.
"Professor?" He opened his eyes, rolling his head in her direction. "Blue?"
"Excuse me, Miss Granger? Blue what?" he asked, surprised that she noticed.
"Your eyes, Professor. They're blue."
"Yes, Miss Granger. I know." He said before walking into the classroom, with Hermione following close behind.
Several sized cauldrons were placed inside, waiting for the detention that Snape had planned. It was his first chance to privately observe and speak to his daughter. He knew that she was very gifted with potion making, along with every other magical subject that she ever tried, as far as he knew of. He remembered once that Minerva had said that Hermione was the most gifted student that came from a muggle family, even better than Lily Evans. If only she knew the truth, Snape amused to himself.
"So what do you have planned for my detention, sir?" Hermione asked.
"Well Miss Granger, I thought that maybe you would enjoy helping me make some potions to help St. Mungo's. It seems that the war has taken a toll on their potion supply. They are having to use potions instead of charms on alot of people who have suffered from the battle. Charms are not strong enough to help anymore."
Hermione smiled. The thought of helping St. Mungo's was indeed an honor to her. She, herself, had been taken to St. Mungo's after fighting in battle along with Lupin, Charlie Weasley, Ron, Ginny, and Harry. She knew that the staff was being swarmed with new patients everyday that had become victims of war, loads of them suffering with delayed curses, hexes, and reactions.
Severus noticed her smile. "Miss Granger, this is a very serious task. Are you sure that you are up to such a job?"
"Absolutely, sir!"
"Very well then, those cauldrons in the corner are for pepper up potion. The one's on the other side of the room are for healing moral flesh wounds, and these right here are for Veristserum."
After two hours of bulk potion making, Severus decided that he was ready to start a conversation that was not about potions. Now his problem was that he needed a way to learn information about her discreetly. He snuck a peek at her and noticed her sheer determination to make the potion she was working with perfectly. An idea popped in his head. I'm bloody brilliant!
"Miss Granger?"
"Yes, Professor?"
"May I call you Hermione?"
Hermione hesitated. "Umm.....Sure, that would be alright if you did, Professor Snape."
"Hermione," he tested out her name. "Please call me Severus."
Hermione's eyes widened. "Sir, I don't think that would be apporiate. You know, maybe I better go."
Snape laughed. "You can't go, you silly girl. You are in detention! I was only suggesting that you call me Severus since I think that it would be a good idea if we were working together."
"Working together?"
"Yes. I was thinking, how would you like to work with me while I restock St. Mungo's potion supply? Hold on, you thought I was about to come on to you?" Snape laughed.
"Yes sir, I did. But now I would ask how often you would like for me to visit the dungeons.......Severus?" Hermione giggled.
"As often as you like, Hermione. As often as you like." Snape smiled. Things aren't going so bad.
Hermione smiled at her potion, which she started working on again. After another hour, she began to bite at her bottom lip again. Her potion had turned out perfect, but her heart was wearing down. Tears were forming in her eyes, tears she thought were hidden from her newest potions partner. But had he not been keeping an observant eye on her, those tears would have gone unnoticed.
"Hermione? Are you okay?" Severus had never seen her cry, and it was a heartbreaking sight to behold.
"Yes, it's just.....I was thinking of my parents." she said quietly. "Maybe if they hadn't been hit with the Killing Curse, then just maybe I could be making some potion that would fix them."
I'm right here baby!, he wanted to scream. Daddy's here. Daddy? It had a nice ring to it, he decided. "Would you like some tea? It will help soothe your nerves."
"No. May I go now, Severus?" she asked, wiping her tears away.
"Go ahead. Umm.....Hermione, I hope you feel better."
"Okay. Thank you, for everything, Severus." Hermione grabbed her bag and headed for the door, but stopped at the door. She stood there for a moment thinking of her night with the most evilest man at Hogwart's. Tonight he had seemed distracted and nice, but it seemed that he too had something the plaqued his heart and mind as well. But he had put aside his own grief to see to her problems. She dropped her bag and walked back to Snape, who was leaned over with his head inhis hands. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. Snape straightened in shock, but after a full minute of her squeezing, he hugged her back. Finally he pried himself out of her grip. She backed away to retrieve her bag from the floor.
"What was that for?"
"You looked like you needed a hug just as much as I did. Good night, Severus." she said before closing the door behind her.
Hermione climbed the stairs that leading the Gryffindor Tower. Inside the Common Room, most of the Gryffindor's had already gone to their dorms. With the exception of afew others, Harry sat alone in front of the fire. He looked so lost by himself. Hermione walked over to him, when he didn't look up, she laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey." he said without even looking up at her. Then he turned around and smiled. "It's about time. I was wondering how much longer before I had to go get my map and sneak into your dorm."
"Has it been that bad without me?"
Harry jumped up and grabbed her hand. They ran up stairs that led to the boy's dorms, sneaking inside the door like a pair of teen lovers trying not to get caught. They made it to Harry's bed, Hermione crawling in and pulling closed the hangings while Harry went to his trunk to get Hermione something to sleep in. He did his best not to peek while she changed into a pair of his boxers and one of his favorite shirts. When she was done changing, she curled up onto Harry's bare chest, giving him a peck on the cheek. Harry laid next to her, lightly stroking her hair as he felt both their bodies relax at the comfort of each other's body. They talked about Hermione's detention, about anything they could think of before falling asleep in each other's arms. Both were unaware that seven people had snuck into the dorm while they were talking.
Ron and Pravati had seen Harry and Hermione run up the stairs and went to get Ginny, who got Dean, and Neville, who got Seamus and Lavendar. They gave the two alittle while before the snuck into the dorm and crawled into Ron's bed, peering through the hangings of his bed. Lavendar tiptoed over to Harry's bed, peering through the hangings at the foot of the bed just in time to see Harry kiss a sleeping Hermione's forehead and whispering that he loved her before falling asleep himself. Lavendar shot up and let out a soft 'aww' before crawling back over to the others. The group placed a silencing spell around the bed that they occupied and began forming plans and plots to drive the two unsuspecting teens together forever.
Ron, in the midsts of plotting for the sake of his friends, forgot about the bet that Harry had made with Malfoy. If Malfoy won the bet,no amount of planning could ever bring Harry and Hermione together.
HalfBloodPrince15: Ok, why does everyone always guess Krum or Wood? Don't get me wrong, Wood is hot! Hummmm.....I haven't decided on a character yet, but I do have an idea.
Stella Blu: Glad you're back, babe! Missed you. Did eating too many cherries get you a tummy ache? (who puts dirty thoughts into whose heads?) You know I'm just kidding with you.
Etcies: If you are still hanging in, I hope you are liking this! It is coming along now, don't ya think?
FiReFaIrY14: Hey Melissa, good to have you on board! Go Dunkin Donuts, it really blows that I no longer have a DD anywhere around where I live. I have to go to the next town. Hope you feel better.
Thanks to Dream-sorcerous11, anglesbreez, lilyqueen777,HalfBloodPrince15, Stella Blu, HogwartsHeadGirl1, Sparkling-Ruby Gem, etcies, Bland Taste, FiReFaIrY14, Michelle Felton, and Yami Shizu-Kira.
A/N: Oh so sorry, he didn't tell her. Malfoy/Hermione interaction up next. But first I am making ONE MORE TRAGEDY a short story, instead of a one shot. And I'll be updating GRYFFINDOR'S PRINCESS, before updating this story again. That is unless I get a huge amount of reviews pleading for more.
Hugs from a fruit,
Cherry