Disclaimer: This is all for fun, I do not claim ownership of the characters or anything recognized from the work of JK Rowling. I am only borrowing them.
Warning: Mature themes, subject to change: mild violence, strong language, substance use or abuse, scenes of a sexual nature as well as general innuendo smattered throughout, adult themes including but not limited to death and disease both mental and physical.
[A/N] I wanted to clarify that DMB 4.6 would be stated as "D M B Four Six". The "point" would not be stated aloud. I thought of adding a homage to Star Trek and having it stated as four of six but decided against it in the end.
I want to apologize for the time (months) between chapters. Real life has a tendency to get in the way during the holidays and such. I don't have anything else written ahead of time but I do not plan on abandoning this story. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions, let me know!
Playlist: Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtracks | Lorde - Yellow Flicker Beat
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2005 | 6:45 am | The Lodge, Loch Lomond
Severus quietly waited for the teakettle on the stove to come to a rolling boil, glaring at the stove fiercely enough that his gaze may have helped to heat the water. The sound of the birds praising another day floated in gently from the open window that faced the Loch. Just before the kettle could scream he plucked it swiftly from the stovetop and poured it into the waiting teapot. Outside on the balcony a few rooms away Draco and Hermione were wrapped in wool jumpers and arguing amicably over who ate the last orange biscuit.
"You are obsessive and preposterous. It's a biscuit," Draco said, the bark certainly missing from his bite.
"They're the only biscuits worth having."
Draco shuddered, "I wouldn't have eaten it as I find citrus cookies disgusting."
Hermione smirked. She was well aware of his aversion to citrus but it had been too long since she last goaded him and it was one of her favorite pastimes. Burrowing further into the cowl of the sweater she was borrowing of Draco's she was able to hide the little smile. Thankfully his slight build made it easy for her to steal his clothes without the necessity of transfiguration even if she was several inches shorter.
"I haven't been to the Lodge since you earned your Potions Mastery," Hermione mused over her mug of tea, her gaze drawn to the loch below the balcony and the mountains surrounding it. "Are you living here full time with Astoria now?"
"Yes. Mother and father still have the cottage at the Manor."
Severus walked out the open doors to bring the second pot of tea for the three of them at the breakfast table, his presence a cloud over the conversation eclipsing what was previously comfortable.
Hermione and her former Potions Master had had limited contact since the final battle. Apart from the occasional glimpse of each other on the Malfoy properties or St. Mungo's and at commemorative events for Voldemort's defeat here and there, they hadn't communicated for more than a few words. Their extended contact the past weeks hadn't fared well. Hermione wouldn't voice it aloud but she was still sore over the fact that he breached her wards those weeks ago when she was incapacitated in her backyard. Chalking it up to distraction, she felt a reluctant twinge of interest at his curse breaking skills. That only served to annoy her further. When it came to Snape, Hermione felt as though everything she did incited his ire.
"Thank you, Severus," Draco said, breaking the silence.
Severus hummed quietly in acknowledgement, bringing the Daily Prophet up in front of his face, effectively blocking the two of them out. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Before we head to the lab or even think about beginning research," said Draco as he sat up from his reclining position in his plush dining chair, "do you want me to cast the diagnostic charms or can I trust you to be honest with me?"
The blank stare on Hermione's face as she read the back of Severus's Prophet morphed into a scowl; her upper lip curled. Her eyes didn't leave the paper as she hissed, "Watch it, Malfoy."
"So it'll be me then."
It was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes. "Do whatever you need to do to get me into that damn lab."
"Hold still," he admonished gently, moving around the table to kneel next to her. Draco rubbed his hands together quickly to warm them up enough to not shock Hermione when he placed his left thumb in the middle of her forehead. The rest of the fingers on his non-dominant hand splayed over her skull evenly. His right thumb pressed gently into the inside of her left wrist.
The interaction was silent. A few small movements of Draco's fingers were the only disturbances to the odd tableau they created. Severus finished the paper all the way to the finance section before Draco stood from his kneeling position. Joints cracked audibly in his back and knees as Draco stretched his arms and shook the tension that had built up in his legs before a charlie horse could form.
He started speaking as he opened a fresh notebook page. "Much better than I expected. You still show signs of extreme magical depletion and physical exhaustion but compared to other cases you're healing about four times faster. I suspect that the DMB dose you took most recently is helping with the regenerative properties."
"Echinachea was included with the most recent recipe, right?"
Draco nodded to Hermione's question. "Correct. The plant is powerful enough for even Muggles to be able to harness it in their non-magical potions -"
"Medicine."
"-so unlocking its magical potential was one of the biggest changes in DMB 4.6. I still don't want you in the lab until the end of the week. There are other things that are not going to be so easy to correct with potions since it will react poorly with what you've already taken. And don't tell me that you know that already."
The last part was said sharply even as Hermione opened her mouth to protest her own Arithmancy equations. She did her best to hide the motion by taking a bite out of a grilled tomato.
"You're a fucking phenomenal Arithmancer who is even better at ignoring her equations when they apply to her than creating them in the first place."
"And you're pants at bedside manner, as I've said before."
"Draco stop flirting with Granger and get to the fucking point."
The two in question glared solidly at the obscured face of their former professor, but at a motion from Draco, Hermione abstained from reacting. But only just. Hermione grabbed another bite of tomato to cover the gnashing of her teeth.
"You'll be ready to help brew by the weekend, at that point we will be able to judge if your disappearance has thrown the reporters into a frothing frenzy or if there's been something else to distract them enough."
Snape finally set the Prophet down to the table next to him. His drawling voice reminded Hermione uncomfortably of her first potions lesson when he had chastised Harry vehemently. "It is unlikely they will forget their golden girl publicly collapsing and it being indelicately revealed that she has a so far incurable disease. Not even Potter can keep something like that away from speculation for long, they'll be waxing eloquent on her for some time."
"Then what do you suggest, Severus?" Draco retorted, meeting his godfather's gaze squarely for the first time that morning.
Silence was his response. If Hermione hadn't known Draco as well as she did, she would have missed the miniscule muscle twitch in his eye, perhaps mistaking it for a blink. As it was she tensed, waiting for Draco's imminent explosion.
"No," Draco said through clenched teeth.
More silence from the wool clad Potions Master at the end of the balcony.
He slammed his self-inking quill down. "Abso-fucking-lutely not!"
Hermione's impatience got the better of her. "Could you pretend there is another person here, please?"
It took another full minute for Draco to look at her instead of his godfather. She suspected it was the exact amount of time that it had taken him to compose himself back behind layers of Occlumency. The set of his mouth was deceptively emotionless, his eyes matching.
"He wants us to use the labs at the Manor."
Hermione, whose back had been turned towards Snape the entire time, turned in her chair sharply without a word. Standing slowly, one fist shaking slightly at her side, she walked deliberately closer to the dark haired man with his long legs crossed in a 4-figure before him.
Hermione studied him silently, arms crossed over her chest. He knew her history with the Manor. He knew Draco's history with the Manor. He knew that the Malfoy patriarch and matriarch had left the main house years previously and the reason they had. With her head cocked slightly to the side, resembling the form she had inadvertently taken in her second year, she regarded him with a harshness in her gaze meant to strip away each layer of a person's composure until they were left with naught but the marrow in their bones.
Expectedly, Snape did not cower before her but steepled his fingers before his lips and matched her stare without blinking. Hermione lowered the most superficial layer of her Occlumency shields. Without it, the softest whisper of her tension, suspicion and exhaustion were available to him, coloring her voice.
"Have the blasted Muggleborn wards been taken down yet?"
The edges of his eyes tensed in the ghost of a smile. She'd never seen a person smile with just his eyes as effectively.
"I'm sure it could be arranged."
"Bloody hell." Draco knew when he'd been outvoted, and gracelessly swept from the balcony to make the necessary Floo calls.