Chapter 4
Lucious Malfoy's House Elf
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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the other character's in this story with the exception of Star. Aren't I the lucky one.
A.N. Please keep in mind that this chapter was originally part of chapter three so there aren't really any huge revelations. However, there is some important stuff, and besides I didn't have the heart to cut it out completely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They made it back up to the castle without incident, and with time enough to spare. Once they made it back into Snape's office both of them plopped into the nearest available chair, completely exhausted.
'I'll make us some tea,' Snape said lifting up his head and then sinking back into his chair. 'In a minute or so.'
'Oh, honestly professor!' Hermione exclaimed, somehow finding the energy to jump out of her chair. 'You really need to learn how to take advantage of the full attributes this castle has to offer.'
Hermione walked over to the fireplace. 'Do you have any floo powder?' She asked.
'It's in a jar on the desk,' Snape said, looking at her in interest.
Hermione found the jar and threw floo powder into the fire. She got down on her hands and knees and, sticking her head into the fire, she said, 'The kitchen.'
Snape found himself overhearing one end of a conversation.
'Is Doby there?' Hermione asked. 'Can you bring tea for two down to professor Snape's office.' There was another pause and then, 'Thank you.' Hermione rose and then sat back down, smiling smugly.
Snape only looked at her appraisingly over folded hands, and did not say anything.
They had only waited about five minutes when Doby came in carrying a tea tray in shaking hands. He kept averting his eyes from Snape. He set the tea tray down on the table next to Hermione, gave her e feeble smile, and practically ran out of the room.
Snape was staring at the doorway, perplexed. 'Was that Lucious Malfoy's house elf?' He asked, almost disgustedly.
'Yes.' Hermione began to laugh at the look on Snape's face.
'He's an odd little fellow, isn't he?'
'You can hardly blame him. Working for Dark Wizards tends to have that effect on them. I mean, look at Kreecher. Given, he kind of went the other way on that one, but look at what mistreatment does to house elves.'
Snape smiled. 'Just an observation, I'm not interested in joining S.P.E.W. or anything. I'm much more interested in the caffeine content of that tea; it's not that herbal crap is it?'
Hermione sighed and handed him a cup of tea, 'No I don't think so.'
'Great,' Snape gulped down the entire cup of tea, and then grimaced as it burnt his throat. 'Well that's better then.'
Hermione let out a bit of strangled laughter.
'What?' Snape asked, looking at Hermione as though she were about to die.'
Through gasps of stifled laughter Hermione managed, 'You drink tea the same way you drink brandy.'
Now Snape looked at Hermione as though he was about to make her die. 'We have work to do,' he growled, and then stomped off into his potion stores.
Hermione shook her head and after a moment followed him into the storeroom. She stood in the doorway, looking at him skeptically as he dug through the shelves and drawers that were filled with potion ingredients. He shoved a handful of various ingredients into Hermione's arms with instructions to put them on the desk and wait for him.
Snape came back from the stores wit a few more jars of ingredients. 'I can't find my manticore hair,' Snape said setting down the jars. 'We need it tonight and we can't do anything without it. I'll have to go to my house and get some from there. It will only take me a moment. Can you prepare some more dragon scales? We need to add them in next after the manticore hair.'
'I suppose,' Hermione groaned. Grinding up dragon scales with a marble pestle is not an easy thing to do, drudgerous work at best.
'Excellent,' Snape smiled. 'See you in a bit poppet.' He grabbed a pinch of floo powder, and with a cry of, 'Snape Manor,' disappeared into the fireplace.
Hermione, who was not looking forward to grinding up the dragon scales, made an excuse to procrastinate about getting started by putting the floo powder away in Snape's desk. When she put the jar into the drawer she must have hit some kind of switch because the bottom of the drawer popped up to reveal a secret compartment.
Hermione looked uneasily back to the fireplace and then stuck her hand into the compartment. She closed her hand around something cold and metallic, but before she could pull it and look at it she heard the flames in the fireplace roar up. 'Shit!' She slammed the compartment closed and slid the drawer closed behind her back.
Snape appeared out of the flames, holding up a jar of red hairs and smiling. 'Found them!'
Hermione smiled innocently, 'Great.'
They went back into Snape's office and Hermione added the manticore hair to the potion while Snape easily ground up the dragon scales in mere seconds.
Hermione looked at Snape incredulously, 'It would have taken me half an hour to grind those up.'
'I've had quite a bit of practice. I am, after all, twice your age.' Snape smiled and handed her the scales to add to the potion.
'What exactly is this potion supposed to do?' Hermione asked as she added the dragon scales.
Snape frowned, 'I'm not really supposed to tell you anything.' Snape frowned again, 'I don't really see how big a difference it makes though, you'll just figure it out for yourself eventually anyway.'
Hermione smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear.
'You haven't figured it out already have you?' Snape asked staring at her fervently.
Hermione blushed, 'Well, I have a pretty good idea; or at least I though I did until this.' Hermione set the stone that snape had told her to take with her from the cave on the desk. The stone radiated green light across the table top.
Snape breathed in very slowly, picked up the stone, and held it up to his face. The stone suddenly turned bright red and then returned to green again when Snape set it back down on the desk. Snape turned away, hiding his face, which had become flushed with embarrassment.
Hermione watched him skeptically, was he blushing? 'Are you going to tell me what this potion does or not?' Hermione asked as she stirred the potion.
Snape handed her the sand that he'd gathered from the clearing. 'Not right now, but soon. Add in all of that.'
Hermione emptied the entire glass bottle into the potion, marveling at Snape's precise measurements.
After another half hour of diligent potion making, during which Hermione placed all of the stones into a layer at the bottom of the cauldron with a giant pair of tongs, Snape sighed and said they could call it a night.
Hermione finished putting everything back in it's proper place and asked 'Are you going to need me again tomorrow?'
'Not until Friday,' Snape said, after putting an anti-spill charm on the cauldron
'Alright, good night then professor.'
'I'll see you tomorrow in class Hermione,' Snape said bidding her farewell.
Hermione waved and walked back up to Gryffindor tower for what she expected would be another sleepless night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A.N. Alright! I'm on spring break, so I'll be able to update again tomorrow. You might just find out what the potion is for, and what the thing is between Sevi and Hermione too. Then again you might not. Oh, and for anyone who's wondering where the title Benevolent Butterflies came from.... Star's name was originally going to be Butterfly, but I decided to change it to star I still liked the chapter name though so I decided to leave it the same. If anyone can come up with something I like better I'll change it.
Thanks: Parody-of-an-Angel, Sarahamanda, CaptaiCrash, and Amara Tsu (your review made me smile :) Thanks a whole bunch, you know we author's feed on review like fish feed on algae.
I had some problems saving, so if the format is messed up, let me know.
Lucious Malfoy's House Elf
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the other character's in this story with the exception of Star. Aren't I the lucky one.
A.N. Please keep in mind that this chapter was originally part of chapter three so there aren't really any huge revelations. However, there is some important stuff, and besides I didn't have the heart to cut it out completely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They made it back up to the castle without incident, and with time enough to spare. Once they made it back into Snape's office both of them plopped into the nearest available chair, completely exhausted.
'I'll make us some tea,' Snape said lifting up his head and then sinking back into his chair. 'In a minute or so.'
'Oh, honestly professor!' Hermione exclaimed, somehow finding the energy to jump out of her chair. 'You really need to learn how to take advantage of the full attributes this castle has to offer.'
Hermione walked over to the fireplace. 'Do you have any floo powder?' She asked.
'It's in a jar on the desk,' Snape said, looking at her in interest.
Hermione found the jar and threw floo powder into the fire. She got down on her hands and knees and, sticking her head into the fire, she said, 'The kitchen.'
Snape found himself overhearing one end of a conversation.
'Is Doby there?' Hermione asked. 'Can you bring tea for two down to professor Snape's office.' There was another pause and then, 'Thank you.' Hermione rose and then sat back down, smiling smugly.
Snape only looked at her appraisingly over folded hands, and did not say anything.
They had only waited about five minutes when Doby came in carrying a tea tray in shaking hands. He kept averting his eyes from Snape. He set the tea tray down on the table next to Hermione, gave her e feeble smile, and practically ran out of the room.
Snape was staring at the doorway, perplexed. 'Was that Lucious Malfoy's house elf?' He asked, almost disgustedly.
'Yes.' Hermione began to laugh at the look on Snape's face.
'He's an odd little fellow, isn't he?'
'You can hardly blame him. Working for Dark Wizards tends to have that effect on them. I mean, look at Kreecher. Given, he kind of went the other way on that one, but look at what mistreatment does to house elves.'
Snape smiled. 'Just an observation, I'm not interested in joining S.P.E.W. or anything. I'm much more interested in the caffeine content of that tea; it's not that herbal crap is it?'
Hermione sighed and handed him a cup of tea, 'No I don't think so.'
'Great,' Snape gulped down the entire cup of tea, and then grimaced as it burnt his throat. 'Well that's better then.'
Hermione let out a bit of strangled laughter.
'What?' Snape asked, looking at Hermione as though she were about to die.'
Through gasps of stifled laughter Hermione managed, 'You drink tea the same way you drink brandy.'
Now Snape looked at Hermione as though he was about to make her die. 'We have work to do,' he growled, and then stomped off into his potion stores.
Hermione shook her head and after a moment followed him into the storeroom. She stood in the doorway, looking at him skeptically as he dug through the shelves and drawers that were filled with potion ingredients. He shoved a handful of various ingredients into Hermione's arms with instructions to put them on the desk and wait for him.
Snape came back from the stores wit a few more jars of ingredients. 'I can't find my manticore hair,' Snape said setting down the jars. 'We need it tonight and we can't do anything without it. I'll have to go to my house and get some from there. It will only take me a moment. Can you prepare some more dragon scales? We need to add them in next after the manticore hair.'
'I suppose,' Hermione groaned. Grinding up dragon scales with a marble pestle is not an easy thing to do, drudgerous work at best.
'Excellent,' Snape smiled. 'See you in a bit poppet.' He grabbed a pinch of floo powder, and with a cry of, 'Snape Manor,' disappeared into the fireplace.
Hermione, who was not looking forward to grinding up the dragon scales, made an excuse to procrastinate about getting started by putting the floo powder away in Snape's desk. When she put the jar into the drawer she must have hit some kind of switch because the bottom of the drawer popped up to reveal a secret compartment.
Hermione looked uneasily back to the fireplace and then stuck her hand into the compartment. She closed her hand around something cold and metallic, but before she could pull it and look at it she heard the flames in the fireplace roar up. 'Shit!' She slammed the compartment closed and slid the drawer closed behind her back.
Snape appeared out of the flames, holding up a jar of red hairs and smiling. 'Found them!'
Hermione smiled innocently, 'Great.'
They went back into Snape's office and Hermione added the manticore hair to the potion while Snape easily ground up the dragon scales in mere seconds.
Hermione looked at Snape incredulously, 'It would have taken me half an hour to grind those up.'
'I've had quite a bit of practice. I am, after all, twice your age.' Snape smiled and handed her the scales to add to the potion.
'What exactly is this potion supposed to do?' Hermione asked as she added the dragon scales.
Snape frowned, 'I'm not really supposed to tell you anything.' Snape frowned again, 'I don't really see how big a difference it makes though, you'll just figure it out for yourself eventually anyway.'
Hermione smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear.
'You haven't figured it out already have you?' Snape asked staring at her fervently.
Hermione blushed, 'Well, I have a pretty good idea; or at least I though I did until this.' Hermione set the stone that snape had told her to take with her from the cave on the desk. The stone radiated green light across the table top.
Snape breathed in very slowly, picked up the stone, and held it up to his face. The stone suddenly turned bright red and then returned to green again when Snape set it back down on the desk. Snape turned away, hiding his face, which had become flushed with embarrassment.
Hermione watched him skeptically, was he blushing? 'Are you going to tell me what this potion does or not?' Hermione asked as she stirred the potion.
Snape handed her the sand that he'd gathered from the clearing. 'Not right now, but soon. Add in all of that.'
Hermione emptied the entire glass bottle into the potion, marveling at Snape's precise measurements.
After another half hour of diligent potion making, during which Hermione placed all of the stones into a layer at the bottom of the cauldron with a giant pair of tongs, Snape sighed and said they could call it a night.
Hermione finished putting everything back in it's proper place and asked 'Are you going to need me again tomorrow?'
'Not until Friday,' Snape said, after putting an anti-spill charm on the cauldron
'Alright, good night then professor.'
'I'll see you tomorrow in class Hermione,' Snape said bidding her farewell.
Hermione waved and walked back up to Gryffindor tower for what she expected would be another sleepless night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A.N. Alright! I'm on spring break, so I'll be able to update again tomorrow. You might just find out what the potion is for, and what the thing is between Sevi and Hermione too. Then again you might not. Oh, and for anyone who's wondering where the title Benevolent Butterflies came from.... Star's name was originally going to be Butterfly, but I decided to change it to star I still liked the chapter name though so I decided to leave it the same. If anyone can come up with something I like better I'll change it.
Thanks: Parody-of-an-Angel, Sarahamanda, CaptaiCrash, and Amara Tsu (your review made me smile :) Thanks a whole bunch, you know we author's feed on review like fish feed on algae.
I had some problems saving, so if the format is messed up, let me know.