Hugs and thank you's to Darkness-Lightness, Dizi 85, Angelic Bladez, rowenarave565, crazedreader, An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin, XIII Welcome To My Nightmare, IluvSEVERUS, harmswife, Pretty Lily Potter, HappeeGoLuckee, ProperT and notwritten for reviewing!

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter it wouldn't be called Harry Potter, it would be called Draco Malfoy and insert title here. Therefore I own nothing!

Chapter 13: Potions, Questions and Catching Up

Now that the New Year had begun it meant the return of classes too and, had she been in the future, Hermione would have been ecstatic. This was not the case now that she was in the past because as the classes had restarted it meant that she could spend less time just hanging around with Severus, Lucius, Lily and Remus. But at least this gave her a proper excuse to finish homework as soon as she received it; it meant that she could spend time with her friends as she had become accustomed to.

Not that she didn't like spending time with Harry and Ron but, being in the past, meant that she couldn't stay forever, and Dumbledore had hinted that he was growing closer to finding away to send her back. She knew that she should be happy about this and she was, but a part of her wanted to stay in the past right where she was. She knew what was to happen and she knew that when she left that would be the last time that she would see Lily and some others who she was on friendly terms with. She would even miss James slightly, even though she couldn't fathom why with how he treated her.

'It must be his resemblance to Harry or rather, Harry's resemblance to James,' Hermione thought. 'But thank Circe that they don't have the same eyes!'

Hermione didn't know what she would do if she saw Harry again if he had his fathers eyes; she may even hit him forgetting that he was not James, not matter how much he looked like him. And speaking of James, this would be the first time that Remus would stand up to his friends should the need arise. She knew that he would be able to do it if he tried, but Hermione was still worried that the need for their friendship would, once again, over rule what was right. Hermione remembered that Remus had said that as long as she was there, he would have almost no trouble in keeping his friends in check.

The first chance to check his resolve was in the first class of the term; potions. As Professor Slughorn expected a lot from his students, even at a fifth year level, he set them potions that they would normally attempt just before sixth year. He was a lot like Snape in this sense at demanded perfect potions, which he generally received, though everyone was in a far more relaxed atmosphere than the one of tension and fear that Snape built up.

Today they were to brew a Honiteserum, a weaker version of the Veritaserum, which was used to bring out an honest answer, rather then the direct and complete truth that Veritaserum brought out. To brew it, it requires two people to make the potion as some parts needed to be added at the same time, but separately and not mixed in with the other. Magic could be used to assist but the result was much weaker then the full strength version they were trying to create. As always, Hermione and Severus were quick to move towards the other, Hermione gathering the ingredients while Severus prepared the cauldron and the tools needed to cut, dice and crush the ingredients. They both worked flawlessly together, each seeming to know what the other was going to do before they could do so. Most would think that this was due to the both of them knowing the procedure of the potion word for word but it was the fact that they worked in almost exact sync with the other meant they knew what was to be done at that exact time; it was almost a sixth sense that the two shared.

As most neared the completion of the Honiteserum, Slughorn reminded them that to check to see if the potion was correctly concocted, they were required to test it out on each other. This was perfect for both Hermione and Severus, both whom still had questions that they were unsure would receive perfectly honest answers. They both knew that the other had insecurities about certain subjects and they knew that the other would use this opportunity too, to gather information they would otherwise not ask about.

When their potion was complete they poured equal amounts into separate glasses and stared at them. Severus looked up at Hermione and nodded to her glass.

"Aren't you going to take yours, Hermione?"

"No, not unless you have yours at the same time."

Severus smirked slightly.

"Fine then. Seeing as you insist that it must be at the same time," he said as he raised the glass to his lips.

Hermione, who missed his slight smirk, lifted the small glass and closed her eyes as she drunk the foul tasting potion. When she opened her eyes she saw that Severus still had a fully glass of potion; he hadn't drunk any of it!

"Sev! Why didn't you take the potion? You said that you would when I did!"

"Slytherin. Just think, when I'm done questioning you, you get a full go at me," Severus replied, smirking at her indignant expression.

"Now then Mione, I've been thinking about this since you first got here after our conversation. Why did you leave your friends so suddenly, when you obviously had no desire to? I know that you would have rather said goodbye at least," Severus asked curiously.

Hermione was so surprised at his question she almost forgot that she was annoyed at him. But then, the honesty potion helped with that.

"Well Sevvie, I never really had a choice of when I left. I really didn't want to leave like I did, so suddenly, but something just happened I guess and then I was here. I didn't even know that I had left until I saw where I was."

'There, not the whole truth but it is in the essentials.'

Severus looked at Hermione with a sad look in his eyes. He didn't know why that answer was so important to him, well he didn't before. Under the effects of Honiteserum he knew exactly why that answer mattered to him; he was afraid that she left without a 'goodbye' to her friends purposely, and he was afraid that she would do the same to him. Now for the other part of his question, he had to word it carefully; this was his last question before the serum lost its affect.

"I would also like to know if there is a chance, any chance, that you may leave and, if you did, would you say goodbye?" Severus asked softly, a desperate air in his voice that only she could hear.

Looking down, unable to meet his eyes, she answered, "Yes, there is a chance that I may have to leave. It was never a solid decision that I would stay here and it may only be temporary," not lying as she truly didn't know if she would ever return. She began to tear up, the potion, while losing its affect on her, was still in her system and was still influencing how she acted.

Severus quickly looked over to where Slughorn sat and slowly nodded his head towards Hermione and, just as slowly, Slughorn returned the nod and told the rest that class was finished. Their were a few moans from those who never got to ask their questions but they knew what could happen if, in the unlikely chance, that Slughorn got angry there would be a lot more worries then unasked questions.

As Hermione was helped out of the room by Severus who, at the moment, couldn't care less if anyone saw them being so close or not, two voices carried out behind them.

"What did you do Snivelly? Ask her why she chose you and her reply was to see if you really had a heart?" Sirius' voice rang out over their heads.

Hearing what he said made the tears fall down Hermione's face faster as she began thinking that Ron had said that same thing though only jokingly. Severus turned around to face the Sirius and James, both were laughing as if Sirius had just said the funniest thing ever said. Hermione turned around as well and looked over to where Remus stood looking torn. She looked at him, pleading clear in her eyes and slowly, he nodded.

Turning to face his friends Remus said, "Look you two. She's upset, leave them alone."

"What? Moony, mate, think of what he is. He's–" James began.

"He's done nothing wrong. Lay off him James, even if it's just for now, stop," Remus had a firm touch to his voice now.

James still looked disappointed but nodded in defeat. Hermione looked over to where Remus stood and smiled gratefully at her lupine friend. He gave her a small wink and gestured over to the stairs, telling her that it was best if she left. Severus also saw this and gave a short nod to where Remus stood and carefully escorted Hermione out of the dungeons, softly apologising along the way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lily looked her friend over as if checking for injures as Hermione explained what had happened during potions. Hermione smiled lightly as her friend checked her over to make sure she was fine. Her friend had been both furious at the two boys' behaviour and extremely happy that Remus had finally done something, even if he did need a little prompting to do it.

As the girls sat down to discuss anything that didn't relate to her potions class, Hermione grinned slightly as Lily talked about a new guy that she liked. She had missed this, just sitting and talking about girlish things that boys could never understand. While Hermione enjoyed Severus' and Lucius' company immensely, they just didn't understand her need to talk about things that girls did; random subjects with no real meaning behind them other then a good conversation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I'm getting near the end of this story; I've got the timeline worked out and this will end up being twenty chapters long if all goes to plan. Please tell me what you think by, you got it, reviewing!

Lady of Elysion