A/N – Hi, sorry this has been quite late. I hope everyone who is reading it is enjoying it, still my first HP fanfic so please be gentle with it! Thanks to those who have reviewed.

Disclaimer – This all belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Elements

Hermione's next two days were just as busy as the first had been. She was taking the maximum possible number of NEWTs – seven – and so she had no free periods to catch up on her work. She spent almost all her free time trying to finish the assignments set by the professors, much to Ron's chagrin. Wednesday saw her eating dinner with a potions book on the table, frantically trying to read about the Wolfsbane. Although she knew that today's tutorial was being taken by Professor Dante and not Snape, she wanted to make sure that she had done as much preparation as possible.

As soon as dinner ended she gathered everything up and headed towards Dante's office. She knocked gently, entering as a voice called from within.

Professor Dante was sitting at her desk marking papers, the remnants of her dinner sat on a small silver tray that had been pushed to one side. Her red hair was tied back into a loose ponytail, only one wavy strand framing her face. She smiled as Hermione entered, and gestured for her to sit on one of two chairs place near a table in the centre of the room. All of the other desks had been moved aside for their tutorial session.

Hermione sat nervously, she still wasn't sure what to make of the new transfiguration teacher and wanted to make a good impression. Of course, she wanted to make a good impression with all the teachers but most had taught her for years and knew that she was the top of every class. A new professor meant a new person to try to impress, and something about this particular professor made her try especially hard. The professor in question elegantly walked over and pulled the other chair closer to Hermione, so that they were sat across the corner of the table from each other.

"You won't need any of those," Dante informed her, indicating all the books she was busy unpacking. "You will just need a wand."

Hermione pulled out her wand and sat waiting for the professor to begin, The older witch scrutinised her young protégée for a moment, before leaning forwards towards her. "What do you know of elemental magic?"

Hermione was thrown, this was not the topic she was expecting to discuss. "I…I know that it is a very old form of magic that no one practices anymore, and many believe it is a sham magic. At best, it was probably a very weak form of magic compared to what we study nowadays."

Dante considered her words, pressing her fingers into a steeple shape. "I am impressed you have heard of it at all. Most do not know about elemental magic now, as you said it has been deemed a sham magic. Of course, its lack of favour could also be related to the fact that an ability in elemental magic depends on the individual witch or wizard, and does not necessarily run in families. For this reason, the pureblood elites have very little regard for it."

This made sense to Hermione, until very recently old pureblood families such as the Malfoys had basically controlled the ministry, and had done for a very long time. That had all changed now of course, since the fall of Voldemort, but it would take time to recover from the century-long elitism.

Dante smiled at Hermione as she processed this. "The truth is, Hermione, elemental magic does exist, and can be very powerful."

Hermione nodded slowly. "I'm sorry professor, but how does this relate to healing?"

A wide grin split the older witch's face. "I'm very pleased you asked. As you know, Professor Snape will be tutoring you on how to use potions in healing. He is one of the few people that regularly invent new potions, and it is this understanding of the subtleties of the art that we are hoping he can pass on to you. Strictly speaking you do not need to be able to do it, but it could help you save lives in the future and so is worth exploring."

Hermione nodded again, although some of this information was new. She hadn't realised that Snape actually created new potions; it took a very skilled potions master to do that. Her respect for the dour man increased with this knowledge.

"I will not be teaching you potions," Dante continued. "I am going to focus on a different aspect of healing. This is where the elemental magic I discussed is relevant."

Hermione leant forwards, eager to understand how the near-mythical elemental magic fit into her healing tutorials. Dante noted her enthusiasm and the corner of her mouth twitched into a half smile. "It so happens that not all elemental magic is lost. However, in order to be able to learn and perform elemental magic the witch or wizard has to be naturally very powerful in the given element. I am an elemental witch, and can therefore pass on my knowledge provided the recipient is strong enough." Hermione had been excited by the prospect of learning this elemental magic, she had heard of it before and never quite dismissed it out of hand. But the fact that it required a naturally strong witch or wizard to perform deflated her enthusiasm. It wasn't that she wasn't a good witch, but she knew she wasn't naturally powerful. She relied on hard work to achieve her goals, coupled with intelligence.

Dante saw her dejected look and smiled gently. "Luckily for you, Miss Granger, you have a strong element within you." Hermione's eyes flew up to this, as though daring her teacher to tell her it was a lie. Dante held her gaze with her own. "Your element is fire, which is in itself rare. Also, for your benefit, it allows me to teach you a form of healing that is also very rare as it relies on elemental magic."

Hermione was nearly bouncing out of her seat with excitement on hearing this. Dante smiled at her reaction and placed her hand on the table between them. "I would like you to place your hand in mine, Miss Granger. The first step to using your power is to identify that it is there." When Hermione complied, and their hands were resting together, the professor continued. "I need you to try to feel inside your hand. You may find this easier with your eyes closed. You need to try to identify the fire that runs through you, and your hand is a good place to start. You will need to concentrate, and you should be able to feel a warmth inside."

Hermione closed her eyes as requested, and concentrated on her hand. She couldn't feel anything other than the usual – she could feel the cool air of the room in her palm, her professor's hand holding the back. But nothing else.

"Try to feel within your hand, Hermione, not at what is outside it. I'm going to give you some help finding what you are looking for."

Hermione concentrated again on her hand. For a moment she couldn't feel anything different, but then a warmth spread through her hand and she felt a flickering pulse that spread from her palm into her fingers. She gasped and lost the connection, but it had been there. She looked up at her professor with wonder in her eyes.

Dante smiled at her. "You felt it then. Now you have to concentrate on finding it without my help, and holding it for longer." She withdrew her hand, leaving Hermione's resting palm-up on the table. "Now try again."

Once she knew what she was looking for, it was much easier for Hermione to find it. This time she managed without the other witch's help, and followed the heat into all of her fingers, feeling it separate into delicate and graceful streams. She dropped it soon, the concentration required to hold on to the fire too much to sustain for long. She gathered herself and tried again.

"It will be easier the more you practise." Dante explained, after Hermione lost it again later during the session. "You are tired now, and so your concentration is waning. I have a few questions for you before you leave though. Why do you think I am teaching you this?"

Hermione thought for a while before answering. "I don't know professor. Does everybody have that inside of them? Is it because my element is fire?"

"It is because your element is fire that you can feel it like that, but yes everyone has it inside of them. It is necessary."

A few things fell into place in Hermione's brain – the delicate, interwoven strands, the pulsing nature of the heat. "It's blood!"

Dante smiled happily at Hermione. "Well done! I can't give house points for tutoring sessions but that normally would have earned them. You perceived that very quickly!"

"So I can 'feel' blood? Can I do it to everyone or just myself?"

"That we will discuss tomorrow, but yes you can 'feel' blood. Blood is the fire of the body, in a way, and you can sense it using your elemental power. I think it is time to call it a night, but we will continue this tomorrow with Professor Snape."

Hermione clamped her mouth back shut, struggling to hold back the myriad of questions that were circulating in her mind. Dante stood and moved back over to her desk, which Hermione took as a sign that she was dismissed. She slipped from the classroom, but not before receiving an encouraging smile from the professor as she went.

She was back much earlier than after her previous tutorial, and found Ron, Harry and Ginny sat around a small table in the common room doing their transfiguration essay for the next day. She sat down on a cushion next to them, pulling her potions book from her bag again to read about the wolfsbane. She wasn't left to read in peace for long though, she soon realised that all three of her friends had stopped writing and were staring at her.

"Well?" Ron demanded, pushing his transfiguration to one side.

"Well what?"

"How was your first tutorial with Dante?"

"Professor Dante, Ron. And it was really good, I learnt some new things."

"Did she get you stitching skin together? Or something like that?" Harry asked, leaning forwards over the table towards her.

Hermione considered how to reply. She cast a silent muffliato to avoid being overheard by the rest of the room. "What do you know about elemental magic?"

The reactions of her friends was varied. Harry just looked confused, Ginny surprised and Ron sceptical.

"Elemental magic?" He scoffed. "That's just a story they tell children about, it doesn't exist."

Hermione huffed and glared at him. "Many of the things I was told about as children, such as unicorns and giants, do exist. Why can't this as well?" Ron was slightly taken aback for a moment, and it gave Hermione the space to continue. "The professor taught me a few basics about elemental magic, and then said I should be able to use it to heal. Apparently my element is fire. That is what we concentrated on."

Ron snorted loudly, and it took a lot of Hermione's willpower not to glare at him again. Why can't he just believe me for once? Instead she looked at Harry, whose face was still a mask of confusion.

"Um…what is elemental magic?" Harry was looking between Hermione and Ron, rather apprehensively. He knew what disagreements between the pair could be like.

To his surprise it was Ginny that answered. "Elemental magic is rumoured to be a very old type of magic that is innate to witches and wizards. The strength depends solely on the individual, which is unusual. It was always thought that the strength of a witch or wizard is passed down through families, hence the fixation on the purity of blood, but with elemental magic it is always random. Also, with elemental magic each individual has a dominant element, and if what Hermione says is correct and hers is fire it makes her very rare. Air and earth are far more common, water rarer and fire nearly non-existent."

Hermione gaped at Ginny, vaguely recognising that Ron was as well. The younger girl just shrugged and returned to her essay. "I never thought they were just children's stories, so I read up on it when I was younger."

Ron went red and muttered something about needing to get the essay done as well, ending that conversation. Harry still looked interestedly at Hermione. "So how can you tell what element you are?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Professor Dante just told me. She was showing me how to find the power inside me today."

"Could you find the power inside me?"

Hermione frowned, she hadn't thought of that. "I could give it a go. Can I have your hand?"

The two redheads looked up again with interest, Ron trying to disguise it but Ginny openly watching as Hermione took Harry's hand in the same way that Dante has taken hers earlier. She closed her eyes and this time tried to feel inside Harry's hand instead of her own. For a while she couldn't get anything, and heard a slight snort that she suspected had come from Ron. This gave her the determination to go further, and she concentrated more until eventually she found a slight flicker. It wasn't the same as hers, it felt cooler and calmer, but she didn't have long to look at it before Harry jerked his hand away.

In surprise Hermione pulled hers away too, looking up at Harry's green eyes as he waved his hand in the air. "What's the matter?"

"It's hot!" Hermione's mouth opened slightly in surprise and alarm, watching Harry blowing on his palm now to cool it.

"I'm really sorry Harry, I had no idea it would hurt you."

"It's not too bad, Hermione. It just surprised me more than anything."

Ginny looked from one to the other with interest. "If you're fire and Harry isn't, it makes sense that it would be hot. Did you see what Harry was?"

"I didn't look long enough to be sure, and I don't know what the other elements feel like, but it felt cooler, more moist, greener. If I had to guess I'd say…earth. But for all I know it could be water. It's definitely not fire and it didn't feel like I'd expect air to."

Harry, once he had stopped cooling his hand down, looked impressed. "That's pretty cool Hermione. What will you be doing with it?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "We got as far as realising that I could see it. It takes a lot of concentration."

"Well you'll learn more tomorrow."

"Yes, but Professor Snape will be there too. I doubt we'll be doing anymore elemental magic."

Harry shrugged at that and also returned to his essay, leaving Hermione to continue reading up on the Wolfsbane and wondering how on earth she could try to improve it.

-x-x-

The next evening Hermione entered the transfiguration classroom to find both Snape and Dante talking softly near one of the desks. They both looked up with she came in, Dante with a wide smile and Snape looking more annoyed than usual. Dante stood up from where she had been perched on the desk, and with a wave of her wand caused a table and three chairs to arrange themselves in the middle of the room in a similar manner to the evening before. Dante immediately sat on one of them, while Snape took the seat furthest from her, a scowl still on his face. Hermione sat in the seat between them, feeling some trepidation about getting between them. It was clear to her that the surly defence teacher really didn't like the bubbly transfiguration one, and she wondered whose idea it was for the two of them to work together to teach her healing.

"Today we're going to try using your power to sense other people, in this case me," Dante began, eliciting a further scowl from Snape and concern from Hermione.

"Um, professor, I tried that yesterday with Harry and I hurt him."

Dante looked mildly impressed. "Did you? Well you won't hurt me, but to stop the heat of your element building up too much you need to very gently feel them… if you take my hand you can try it on me. But as I said, you won't hurt me so you don't need to worry about trying too hard."

Hermione took the older woman's hand, trying to concentrate on her palm as she had with Harry, but not as fiercely this time. Almost immediately she picked up the elemental magic running through the hand, and realised with a start that Dante's element was also fire based on the flickering, energetic flow. It seemed much, much stronger than Hermione's and she found it easy to find and follow it, allowing her to listen to what her professor was telling her at the same time.

"You've managed to find my power, but now you need to filter out the magic until you're left with the blood underneath."

Hermione concentrated hard on her task, it was difficult as the teacher possessed so much fire in her system, but eventually she felt the low pulse underneath the fire. She tried to strip away all the fire from the pulse, eventually leaving just a small flicker that ran along the blood vessel. No sooner had she managed it than her concentration broke and she lost everything completely, finding herself back in the transfiguration classroom with sweat running down her face from her exertions.

"Well done," Dante said approvingly. "The more you do it, the easier it will become. Now, take a break." She whisked three glasses over to the table, each containing pumpkin juice. Dante selected one and drank it quickly, before indicating that the others should help themselves. Once Hermione had sat back and relaxed with the drink, Dante explained the purpose of the task.

"If you can feel a person's blood you can do many things easily that would take a normal healer much longer, hence why being a strong elemental witch is so advantageous. You will be able to heal cuts, stem blood loss, find the source of internal bleeding – all by feeling the blood flow around the body and having a good grasp of anatomy. On that note, there are some muggle books on my desk that you may want to read up on so that you do learn anatomy."

Hermione nodded as she looked over to the desk and saw a stack of four thick books. Her eyes lit up at the sight, before she turned back to Dante.

The first thing she noticed was that Dante was very pale, and had become increasingly so throughout her small speech. Hermione felt a stab of alarm. "Are you ok Professor?"

Dante smiled at the girl. "This brings us nicely to another use of your power. Professor Snape has provided a poison that I have just drunk with my juice. I want you to look at me again, and see if you can detect any of the poison ingredients in my system."

Hermione's eyes opened wide in shock, and she grabbed at the professor's hand to try to find the poison before it could do any serious damage. She found the fire more easily this time, and stripped the magic away quickly. Looking at the blood flow in the hand, she could soon see something that didn't look quite right. Something that looked like…

"Nightshade! Nightshade is the main ingredient!"

She looked at her defence professor, and was surprised to see he was scowling, but he nodded slightly in her direction and passed a small vial to Dante who drank it eagerly, making a face at the taste of it.

"So now you see why it's so advantageous. As you learn to control your power and gain familiarity with potions and their ingredients you'll be able to detect the ingredients for increasingly complicated potions and poisons, and also be able to devise antidotes and cures. You will also be able to feel the effect of curses, something we will work on in due course."

Hermione was amazed at the possibilities that her new power gave her. She would be able to help so many people! And perhaps she may even be able to begin to heal herself too.

She was startled from her reverie by Dante standing and stretching. She looked at a large clock on the wall – wait, a muggle clock? But electricity doesn't work in Hogwarts! – and smiled as she stifled a yawn. "Time to leave I think, it's just gone curfew and we've covered a lot tonight. Hermione, I'll see you in class on Monday. Professor Snape, could I have a word?"

"Goodnight," Hermione called as she left the room, trotting down the corridor until she found herself in front of the Fat Lady. Muttering an apology for waking her up, she slipped into the Gryffindor common room and up into her bed. Before sleeping, she tried to find her power again, but this time focussed on her chest. She gasped when she found her power there – her heart almost looked as though it was a star placed in her centre. Drawing back she smiled to herself, it had become easier and easier to find her elemental magic and she had only found out about it yesterday! This rate, she would be able to harness its full potential soon. With that thought she fell happily into a dreamless sleep, the only noise in the dormitory the gently snoring of one of her roommates.

-x-x-

Snape watched Hermione leave the classroom before turning back to Dante, a scowl on his face. He shifted slightly to relieve some of the discomfort he felt in his side – the snake bites had mostly healed but still ached, particularly after a long day of teaching. He thought back briefly to that night in the shrieking shack. He was dying, he knew he was, but then instead of dying he found himself in a hospital bed. It had taken time for him to heal as the snake's venom stopped most conventional medical treatment working. He was amazed that he had survived at all, but then to top it all off he had gone on trial and somehow been aquitted. McGonagall and Potter and testified for him, and he had been given a probation period of two years where he was to remain as a teacher under McGonagall's gaze, following which he would get a full pardon dependent on her reports. In all honestly he was thankful for it – he had never really expected to survive past the end of the war and he didn't know what to do now. For the time being he focussed on teaching and recovering. The one infuriating thing was that, having shown Potter all his memories, the boy had insisted on writing to him. He had sent some very short messages back to try to deter the boy, but it seemed to make him friendlier than ever. Maybe he should try a stronger hint next time.

This thought brought him to the slender, younger woman walking around her office in front of him. This was the other thing he was less than happy about. He also felt as though her cheerfulness was in bad taste, after everything that had happened in Hogwarts the spring previously. He had tried to avoid her as much as possible since she first arrived, with a large smile on her face and blue eyes that seemed to look right through him. He had failed spectacularly, she had tried to seek him out and didn't seem to take his less-than-subtle hints, so maybe he would have to be more unpleasant until she left him alone. But then they'd been paired together to teach the know-it-all Granger (though he had to admit, when in individual sessions he had appreciated her intelligence, it made a nice change from his usual classes) and now he couldn't avoid the transfiguration professor.

He watched her red curls swing around as she grabbed a book from her desk and was so distracted that for a moment he didn't react to the fact that she was holding the book out to him. Focussing he snatched it off her with a snarl. Why does she have to be so infuriating?

"That's a book on the use of elemental magic in potion brewing. You may find it useful as we're going to be teaching Hermione together, as it's been a very long time since it has been widely used. You can keep it, I don't need it anymore."

Snape looked at the book he was holding. It was very old, and he guessed very rare. He would also guess that for both these reasons it was very valuable. For the woman to be giving him this… it was more that he had been given for a while. He looked up at her in surprise, probably the first time he had ever looked at her without guarding his expression, and found himself staring straight into the blue eyes he tried so hard to avoid. He was lost in those eyes for a second, before Dante straightened and raised an eyebrow in a look she could only have copied from himself. He stammered his thanks, grabbed the book and swept regally from the room, all the while hoping that she hadn't noticed his reaction.

As he stalked back to his room, he realised where he had seen those eyes before and stopped in shock. Dumbledore! He must have something to do with this… he thought angrily as he resumed stomping, he always is involved somehow.