A/N: wooooot another chapter!! Enjoy!

A leap in the dark

Chapter six

Over the holidays

Severus worked all through the night. First he had to find out what component Lupin had formed immunity from. At least it was holiday now so he could work quietly without having to teach classes or having to grade too much.

He had madam Pomfrey take some blood samples from Lupin. In order to determine which component it was he had to alter or replace he first had make several wolfsbane potions. The annoying part of it all was that wolfsbane stayed useable for maybe only four days, if brewed nearly perfect. The brewing of wolfsbane is a long and tiresome process. It never bothered Severus that he used to make it for Lupin twice a week once a month. He even enjoyed it, for the potions he normally had to brew didn't bring the challenge and satisfaction that the wolfsbane brought. He liked putting his mind and concentration into such potions. It was why he chose to continue studying the craft.

Only now he didn't have the time or the energy to go around making the potion every four days. He made a mental note to discuss it with Albus next time they met.

Early in the morning Severus escaped his personal lab for a few hours to get something to eat from the kitchen and have a little bit of sleep. He had produced two small cauldrons of wolfsbane and was both annoyed as relieved. He was annoyed it took so much time making the damn potion, but also relieved that it still had taken less time then he had expected.

Many days continued much the same way with Severus eating less and less; sleeping less and less; and unfortunately progressing less and less.

It seemed the more detailed his theories became about the cause the less his observations met with his expectations. With the hands in his hair he sat down at his desk in the living room. He had the theory on the wolfsbane potion in front of him. Next to it was laying a list of ingredients that the potion included. He had scribbled the effects next to them.

Severus was staring at it for almost half an hour, scribbling down new theories and possibilities in alteration when suddenly his hearth lit up in green flames and an old man in purple robes strolled out.

"Hello old friend." He said friendly, "Busy studying, I guess? Can't say I'm surprised." He smiled knowingly and looked Severus square in the eye, his half-moon spectacles sitting dangerously close to the edge of his nose.

"What are you doing here, Albus?" he had no time for small talk, not that he felt inclined to it any other day.

"Have you forgotten what day it is, dear boy? Why it's Christmas, a day that must be celebrated within the close range of beloved." Albus smiled broadly and handled Severus, who had moved from his desk to the middle of the room, a pretty wrapped gift. The paper was a dark blue and had sparkling stars all over it. on top was a note attached, but Severus put the gift down on the table near him.

"Really Albus, I need continue my work. I haven't got any time to spare." Said Severus harsh.

"I know you don't have that luxury at the moment, but let me be honest with you, you look like hell. I've seen you exhausted before but this beats everything." Severus just waved his worries away.

"It's nothing, I've felt far worse before and lived to tell the tale, a little bit less sleep and a firmer diet has never hurt anyone."

"Maybe not, but what you're doing to yourself goes far beyond what is healthy." Albus blue eyes bore into Severus' own dark ones and he sat down rubbing his face.

"Let's just enjoy a small Christmas meal, the elves have truly outdone themselves this year." A;bus said as he sat down across the exhausted man and waved his wand.

"You say that every year, old man." Food instantly appeared at the whip of the wand and Albus handled him his plate, which he took with gratitude – without showing it of course.

"I know we haven't talked for a while, since I had business elsewhere that I had to attend, but how's your work progressing?" the elder wizard asked while filled his plate with a delicious variety of meat and vegetables.

"Not so well; even horrible if I have to be honest." Said Severus as he cut a piece from his turkey.

"How so?" Albus inquired. Severus told him all about the perishable wolfsbane potion. Making new potions every four days was just unthinkable, especially with classes and much more grading on their way. He also told Albus about the troubles he had run into when he had been trying to determine which component Lupin had become immune from.

An hour later they were all done eating and Albus finally waved the mess of leftover away as a sign that he would be leaving soon. They had talked a long while about the troubles with the wolfsbane and Albus would try to find some other way of getting the wolfsbane potions. Severus had refused to get it somewhere illegal, not only would it cost a fortune, but also it would most likely not be made as perfectly like he did. Albus suggested getting someone who could take care of his grading and making the other potions the school was in need of. He wasn't very keen on the idea of someone else, someone probably far less strict – some would prefer harsh – like he is, grading his students' papers. If he suddenly started handing out A's, people would start wondering whether sending him to St Mungo's wouldn't be an option to consider seriously.

Yet, at this moment his life was actually depending on a breakthrough with the wolfsbane and he didn't saw that happening any time soon, so he could really use the time that he would save with leaving his grading to be done by someone else.

Albus left and Severus went to shower, something he hadn't bothered with for some time now either. He turned the hot water on the bathroom filled with steam and he undressed quickly. Careful not to look into the mirror, which hadn't been completely covered with condense yet. He needn't be reminded how poorly his body looked, he felt the aches all too good.

Hermione had spent her holiday at her parents home. After all the arguments she and Ron were having, both had absolutely no desire to be each other's company more than was necessary. Her vacation had been great even without the company of Harry, who went to the Burrow with Ron.

Her parents had taken her along to go buy a Christmas tree. It had been like when she was young again. they away used to go buy a tree just before Chrismas, that always meant there where no nice trees left, only the small ones with dead branches and which had lost loads of needles. They would buy three little ones and because of their conditions they always got big discounts. At home she and her dad would pick the prettiest one and cut the other two up. with ropes they would tie the nicest branches from the other two to the uncut one and that's how that created their own Christmas tree.

Hermione almost grabbed her wand to tie the branches to the little tree, but quickly joined her dad and used her bare hands. It probably would've been easier using her wand; she could've even turned the poor little tree into a large amazing decorated pine tree, but it would take all the fun out. She didn't want that perfect tree; she wanted to sit in the cold with her dad, tying branches to a half-dead tree.

Her mum had made a truly divine Christmas dinner and talked late into the night.

The next day she unpacked her gifts. As usual Mrs Weasley had sent her a yellow sweater, this year wearing a great sparkly wand on the front. It also included a letter telling Hermione she was missed at the burrow, ending with Mrs Weasley sending her a big hug and many kisses from all.

Harry had also sent his best regards, a merry Christmas and happy new year. His gift included two books he knew she would like. One was a novel she'd been passively searching for for some time, the other was a book on additional charms that, as she glanced through got very excited about.

She went through her other gifts and though she hadn't really expected it, Ron hadn't sent one. She hadn't sent him a gift either, but at least bothered to send him a cart.

At breakfast her parents gave her the most beautiful necklace. It was a simple thin silver chain, but it was the pendant that was so special: a small cross with on little letters gracing the backside saying, 'our ever so bright witch'. In all the time Hermione had gone to Hogwarts her parents had been nothing but supportive. Only they still held on to the illusion that when she was done with school, she would return to the muggle world and begin her career there. They had never called her a witch before, not even jokingly. With this pendant that hope of her returning had been given up. They finally understood how well she fitted in the wizarding world and how badly she wanted to continue living there.

Mr Granger shoved another gift towards her, "Dad that's too much, really. I'm already spoiled for life by now."

"Don't worry, it's not exactly a gift for you, but since he can't open it." Mr Granger looked at the happily spinning kneazle lying lazily on her lap.

Hermione smiled and unpacked the gift. It held a pretty black collar with a silver bell, perfect for the red fuzziness on her lap.

"Here you go Crookshanks, aren't you beautiful now?" she put on the collar and Crookshanks meowed indignantly. He jumped off her lap, walked around the kitchen to see whether someone would get the ridiculous thing off and walked out towards the living room when everyone just looked at him and laughed.

"Haha, just my luck, of all the animals in the shop I got to pick the one with an attitude." Hermione laughed heartily and her parents joined in.

Hermione gave the gifts she had bought for her parents and they finished breakfast. The rest of the week went by peacefully. Hermione spent a lot of time on her homework and even more on reading ahead in her schoolbooks. She had also indulged in both of Harry's books and found them far too interesting to put away. Her parents joked about it, but made no attempt at making her stop. They knew how much she loved reading and they were glad to see their daughter so happy and relaxed.

At the end of the week, a few days after New Year's Day, Hermione packed up all the belongings she wanted to take back to Hogwarts. Early in the morning, after a long goodbye to her mother and father, Hermione grabbed some Floo powder and disappeared in the green flames that roared from the hearth.

In cloud of ashes she walked from the hearth in what appeared to be professor McGonagall's office and with a sweep of her wand everything was clean again.

By now the holidays were over and soon Severus had to go back to teaching those annoying dunderhead's again. Now it seemed like a bigger waste of time then ever.

Progress hadn't still presented itself and after a week of almost non-stop thinking, he was beginning to get a little desperate.

The only option he was beginning to see were muggle ways, not that there was anything wrong with it, but it would only slow his progress further. How can it be slowed down when there isn't any progress in the first place? There was just one little problem; there was no electricity possible within Hogwarts. He couldn't make microscopes run on magic either for it could alter the outcome of the effects of the wolfsbane. Altering the potion itself was already dangerous enough, if the potion wouldn't be precise enough the test subject could die. Another thing that was on his mind was that he had only three weeks before he would become a werewolf himself. He was hoping fiercely that the Dark Lord hadn't planned anything that would include him on that evening. Normally his presence was only required when there was a prisoner who needed to be questioned, or sometime just a meeting of how things were going. The Dark Lord had never included him into full moon rituals were werewolves got to hunt innocent muggles. Nowadays he barely had to dirty his hands for his Master. That used to be very different when he was younger. In order to prove his loyalty to Voldemort he had to kill many and never once was proud of it. He saw it more of a 'downside to the job', something that had to be done, but it wasn't something he had ever enjoyed. Slowly he got riddled with guilt over the ones that died at his hands and that's when he turned to Albus for forgiveness.

Severus tiredly cleaned up his lab and desk. He showered, put on some clean clothes and made his way to the great hall were dinner would be served soon. Albus had told the other professors he had gone on a research trip trough Belgium, seeing as Severus hadn't made an appearance at the dining table once that whole week. Who of the staff actually believed the silly story was a completely different thing. The point was, for all they knew he had been gone and in truth no one had missed his presence, he knew.

The dinner had been as horrible as ever, maybe even more. He heard his colleagues whisper behind his back about his ghastly appearance. Some children had pointed and talked whenever they thought he wasn't looking. He looked like hell and he knew it, but there was no way he could disguise it, without turning to make-up. That was one of the things he wasn't prepared to undergo even for the sake of his own life.

Hermione quietly made her way to dinner that evening. Harry, Ron and Ginny hadn't returned yet to school so she sat near Dean, Seamus and Neville. Professor Dumbledore wished them a fine meal and food appeared out of thin air like it always did. It still amazed her. She was having a comfortable conversation with Neville about Herbology and what he wanted to do after school when the chubby boy noticed Snape entering.

"Hermione, Snape just entered, look at him! It looks like he hasn't slept the whole week we were gone." Neville hissed. The poor kid was still terrified out of his wits by the dark clad man. Hermione looked at the man in question and noticed the dark blue-ish rings deep under his eyes. His skin was as white as a ghost and wrapped tight around the bones in his face. He looked starved, half-dead almost.

It shocked her, knowing what had happened to him and worried a little what he had did over the holidays. It was sure he hadn't gone sunbathing in Spain.

Over the whole dinner Hermione had watched him several times and was alarmed at the small amount of food he ate before he returned to whatever hellhole he had crawled out from.

Later that evening Harry told her of the conversation between Snape and Malfoy he had overheard at Slughorn's party. She didn't tell him about Snape's horrific appearance at dinner, she had no idea why not, it just seemed wrong knowing what she knew.

The first day after a holiday had never before been pleasant, recalled Severus, but this was definitely one of the worst ever. He had been smart enough to go to bed early yesterday and felt slightly better than he had been. Still he ignored his image in the mirror as much as possible. Without a glance he showered, combed his hair and got dressed, only while shaving he had look into the mirror. After breakfast he took a few energy pills he had taken from the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey disagreed completely, but there was little she could do to stop him.

The kids had been hell, after a week of vacation everyone had tales to tell about what they'd done and where they'd gone. Even the classes that were usually rather quiet had been restless. It had been a day of explosions, of both the cauldrons as his patience.

Eventually the last of his classes ended and he was looking at a huge pile of homework to be graded. Better start now, I may get a quarter done before dinner. And so Severus sat down and graded, not so very merciful, until had to go.

Dinner was as boring as ever and he put his body on automatic thinking about homework, the Wolfsbane potion and a few other things that needed his attention. For example next week there would be another quidditch match, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw, which he undoubtedly had to be present for.

He needed to think of a good excuse out of it. He was busy enough as it was. Though it might be good to have his mind set on other things for a few hours. He would hate to miss how Slytherin would win this match. He always enjoyed watching quidditch matches. He wasn't very good at it though; flying a broom he was good at, but hitting those annoying balls while flying was something completely different.

As dinner ended and students slowly stared going back to their common rooms Severus also stood and headed for his quarters. He decided to do one last experiment on the wolfsbane for today and go to bed.

The experiment was another failure and a big one at that. For the first time experimenting with the potion it had exploded and he his lab was covered in a nasty smelling green ooze of the potion. Luckily he had foreseen the explosion just in time to bolt behind some of the workbenches and remained clean.

It took him a good half hour to clean his lab, even with the help of his wand. He sat down tiredly in one of the armchairs in his living room when suddenly green flames burst from his hearth and Albus stepped out.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you this late, old friend." He said and Severus sighed deep. He had already given up the idea of getting in early when his cauldron exploded, but with Albus over there was no possibility of sleep whatsoever.

"Whatever you have to say, can't it wait till tomorrow?" tried Severus, although he knew in vain.

"It can, but I prefer to discuss it now." said Albus seriously. Severus sighed again rubbed his face and pointed the old wizard to another armchair.

"So what are you here for?"

"I had an appointment with Harry this evening – oh don't look like that Severus – and he brought it to my notice that he had overheard a certain conversation you had had with young mr Malfoy just before the holidays."

"Albus–"

"First off I want to warn you about people overhearing these sorts of conversations," Albus' blue eyes looked disappointed into Severus' dark ones, "secondly I would like to know when you have them and what is spoken of."

"That Potter ought to keep his prying eyes and ears elsewhere, he's like his stupid father."

"Harry might be a little too obsessive to know what both Malfoy and you are doing, but that doesn't change the fact that you did not report to me that you had spoken to the boy."

"I know, I know, I forgot. The cursed boy doesn't want to share what he's planning with me. You do believe that don't you?"

"Yes, I do. Harry would've said so had he heard what Malfoy was planning."

"There you go again with Golden-boy! He's really nothing special."

"He is, you know that Severus, you heard the prophecy as well as I did."

Severus looked tired and defeated, a way he didn't look often and even then he put up an appearance for others. Albus was the only man who truly saw the drained man that was sitting in front of him now.

"What do you want more from me?" said Severus eventually, after a long pause.

"I want to trust you without having to seek the support of your Vow. That's what I want."

"You know you can, I just forgot, alright." said Severus agitated and Albus sighed and stood.

"You'd do well not to go to bed too late my dear friend." He walked over to the hearth, grabbed some floo powder from a small box sitting on to of it and disappeared within the green flames.

Severus rubbed his face once more, stood as well and finally went to bed.

A/N: hello there! Got another one done, this one went fast yaay

Well, not much to say, except please keep reading and don't be shy to let some of your desires about this story be known.

I really want to write this story not just for me but for everyone who's crazy about snape/hermione pairings so let me know what you'd like to see.

Now on to the reviews for chapter 5:

katgirl13605: yeah I really don't like Slughorn so I just tried to make him as creepy and bleh-ish as possible. I know bleh-ish isn't a word but he just makes me 'bleh'. Also, I'm keeping score about the amount of text I copy; when I read other fanfics I don't like reading stuff over again, so reading HP 6 over again in a fanfic doesn't sound so appealing to me either. I'm trying to keep the amount I copy as low as possible. Don't worry

goldnote: I had kind of a writers block, so no, I didn't enjoy it as much as usual, but no matter I loved to write this one, and I'm sure I'll love chapter 7 too wink.

lilnicky21: haha alright not many read the first bit of text ;P and yes we will see a little more 'communication' between our two lovely characters.

Half-elf: thanks, but the stupid brat was actually referring to Draco being an ass towards Snape. But no matter, great you think thing through anyway!

Also thanks to notwritten for his/hers unmistakable simple yet lovely comments on both chap four and five, I love your consistency.