Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating. Life just happens you know, it seems you have one thing figured out and then another one just pops up. I don't know how often I will be able to update now that my classes have started and the college semester is hitting me hard, but I will try to keep posting.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, except Wolf, cause I made him up, lol. Isn't Wolf a great name?

The second day of school, proceeded much better for Hermione, she now had a schedule worked out, that wouldn't kill her, and she had strengthened her awakening charm, so that sleeping through it was no longer an option. Every night she would make her way down to the dungeons to check on her potions. She was tired and moody, as Harry and Ron told her every day, but there was no way that she was going to let Snape win.

Wolf Johnson could not sleep. Memories from the war, and his dead fiancé kept him awake long into the night. What he needed to do was brew some dreamless sleep potion. He had used the last of the previous batch he had brewed before he came to claim his teaching position. He knew that he could go to the infirmary, but he really didn't want to talk to anyone about his problems. It would be so much easier to brew it himself. He decided then to go down to the dungeons and get some ingredients, he was sure that the Potions Master wouldn't care, the sleep potion required ingredients that were very

common, even if he did care, he probably wouldn't miss them.

It was about a week into the school year, he had thought that it would take a little more time for him to become comfortable enough at Hogwarts for the nightmares to return. He threw on his old black robe, that looked a lot like his teaching uniform, in case he ran into any of his students on the way down to the dungeons. He quietly slipped out of the room and made his way down to the dungeons. The hallways were silent, no students were about, and for that he was profoundly grateful. He hadn't yet taken any points from his students, and he was not sure if he ever wanted to, except perhaps in extreme circumstances. He liked teaching, he liked that now he was surrounded by life, as opposed to the death that he experienced throughout most of his life. The door to the potion's lab rose in front of him, there was a light on under the crack of the door. Obviously someone was having a late night. He rose his fist to knock on the door.

Hermione was humming. The caldron full of dreamless sleep potion that she had brewed as part of the Pomfrey batch was finished. The potion itself wasn't that hard or time consuming, but when she had to make a batch for a hundred people, it took a little longer to brew. But she was halfway done with her list, the easiest potions being completed. A couple of the potions took a month to brew, but other than that the constant running around was going to be able to be stopped. All she could think was, Thank God!

She was pouring the last of the silvery-blue liquid from the caldron into the tiny glass vials, when someone knocked on the door.

Hermione froze, as Snape's apprentice she was allowed to be down in the Potion's lab whenever she felt that she needed to be. So far though no other people had been down here. There was only one person, that would have any reason to be down here, and that was Snape. Hermione was not sure she was prepared for Snape when in walked....not Snape. This man was a little taller than her, he had sandy blond hair, and grayish blue eyes. He was wearing blue robes that accented his eyes. It was Professor Johnson, the new DADA professor. Hermione had only been in his class four times, she only had DADA three times a week. He was a pretty good professor, of course, it didn't really matter as much she thought, now that Voldemort was gone, the threat is lessened and extreme competency in that class was not required, but it was still nice.

"Hello, Professor Johnson. What brings you down to the dungeons?"

"Hello, Miss Granger. I was looking for some supplies to brew a dose of Dreamless Sleep Potion."

"Oh, well, I just happen to have brewed a batch, would you like a vial?"

Snape felt annoyed. Not guilty, just annoyed, after having a meeting with the other teachers about their apprentices and the programs they intended to do, he realized that he was not doing his job. If there was one thing that Snape prided himself on it was doing what he was supposed to do, in the line of duty and in the line of his life, and it annoyed him to be reminded of the fact that he was not doing his job. Even though he hated Granger and her little team, and he hated the fact that he had to do this anyway, he knew that he'd better get down there and do something about it. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was nearing midnight, knowing Miss Granger, she would probably be down in the potions lab, even at the late hour. Granger is nothing if not dedicated. She probably even knew what he had been trying to do. Hmm, he thought, it might be fun to try to throw her a little off balance. With that thought, he stood up, off the plush Slytherin green chair he had been sitting on, pulled on his long black robe, that whipped around him, like velvet liquid, and swept into his office that was nestled between the potion classroom and his rooms.

"...Would you like a vial?" Snape heard as he entered the room. Miss Granger was there, but then he hadn't expected any less, but the other man was a surprise. Professor Johnson, what was he doing in the portions lab, with a student late at night? This information could be very useful, Snape thought. He decided to wait in the shadows, and listen. Knowing very confidential information had saved his life more than once during his spy days, and while those days were over, he was not about to pass up the opportunity to know more than he should.

Granger was looking quite happy today, he thought. He wondered if it had anything to do with this obvious secret meeting between Johnson and herself. A teacher/student affair? He needed more evidence. So he waited and listened.

"Miss Granger, I couldn't take any of that, you have obviously worked very hard on this batch. What are you making it for anyway? Do you have nightmares, too?"

"No, well yes, I suppose that everyone has nightmares after the final battle, but that's not why I am brewing this potion. You see," she looked at him a moment her eyes shining bright with mischief, "I want to do an experiment, I want to see how much of this I can drink and what effect it will have on my body."

Johnson looked startled for a moment, "You really shouldn't do that, you could kill yourself." He looked so earnest as he said it, that she relented.

"I was only joking. No, alas, I am Professor Snape's apprentice, I have to make a list of potions before I can get to the really good stuff."

"Ah yes, the Apprentice program, I have yet to choose an Apprentice, Dumbledore said that I could wait a couple weeks until I found just the right person for the position. He said because I was new and didn't know any of the students here. Do you have any suggestions?"

Snape, even as romantically incompetent as he knew he was, could hear the flirty tone that seemed to underlay those words, Up until this point he had respected Johnson, but obviously he had been wrong about a person. It wasn't like it was the first time, but Snape just hated to be wrong. He decided that it was very important to keep an eye on those two.