A/N:

Hey Guys if you have already read this chapter you dont need to read this new version of it i simply went through it to edit it a bit

Read/Review!

Chapter 2: Dynol-Eiddo Plant

Hermione didn't know what to say all the different scenarios were going through her mind at that moment. None of which could ended in Snape being an innocent man. For a moment they just stared at each other not saying anything. Eventually she heard people approaching and Mrs. Weasley's shocked voice saying "Severus we heard a commotion coming from your room is everyone oka-". As Mrs. Weasley came into view of the scene she gasped. "Severus what on earth happened here! Is that Jarvis!"

And finally he spoke "I think someone better floo Dumbledore and tell him his presence is required." He said not really looking at anyone. Hermione heard the retreating steps of Mrs. Weasley. She could now feel the presence of Ginny and Ron by her side but did not turn around to confirm that they were in fact there. She was just standing there staring at the scene that she still couldn't process.

"Professor what happened?" Hermione said in a timid voice.

"It is no concern of yours Miss Granger go back to sleep. Don't worry I wont harm your precious Jarvis anymore than I already have." He spat with malice.

"So you admit it! You did do this to him!" Ron said protectively beside her.

"Weasley! DO NOT PRETEND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!" He yelled this time. "Now get out of my sight. All of you." He whispered barley audible.

They all went into Hermione's bedroom. As soon as the door was closed they both turned to Hermione. "Well…?" Ginny said expectantly. "What happened!" Ron said finishing the thought for her.

"I really cant say, I woke up to the same crashes and yells you guys must have woken up to and by the time I got there I only saw the same scene as everybody else."

"But you must have heard something that we didn't." Said Ginny.

"No it was all muffled, I think Snape has set privacy spells so you cant hear what people are saying. I'm not sure, I have never heard of a spell like that."

Ginny yawned suddenly. "Well I think I'll go back to bed I didn't go to bed until 2 this morning. Night guys." She said as she started to get up. "We wont be able to learn anything until later today anyways not until Dumbledore has been here and talked to Snape and Jarvis anyways."

"Yeah Hermione I think I'm going to go back to sleep as well." He said through a yawn as he followed Ginny out of the room.

There was no way Hermione would be able to get back to sleep after what she had just seen. There was too much to think about. She decided to go down to the library to clear her thoughts and catch up on some reading. When she was right in front of the door she heard muffled voices and figuring that it was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley she just walked right in. It was not the Weasley's however, it was Snape and Dumbledore and they had quickly stopped talking when they heard Hermione enter.

"Oh hello Professors so sorry to interrupt I hadn't realized you were in here!" Snape just glared at her while Dumbledore smiled with his usual twinkle at her.

"No, no Miss Granger please come in! I suppose you would like to know what you witnessed this morning?"

"Well I was quite confused about the whole situation." She said stepping into the room and walking over to where the two men were standing. For some reason Snape refused to meet her gaze.

"Well…" Dumbledore started with a sigh. "This morning Severus was woken up by his wards going off in his lab when he went to investigate he saw Mr. Whitley stealing his notebooks. Notebooks may I add with very important potions instructions in them. It was then that I believe you were woken up to the sound of Mr. Whitley trying to escape and Severus preventing him from doing so. Sadly we had no other choice. We had to remove his memories. He is now at St. Mungo's recuperating, he will be fine except for the six-month gap in his brain. From what we could tell he was trying to sell the potions on the black market. It seems that Mr. Whitley had a gambling problem and owed some very dangerous people some money."

"Yes I thought it had to be something like that", Hermione said deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" Snape said scathingly.

"Oh well I mean I knew that he must have done something pretty bad for you to attack him like that. I know that you wouldn't have attacked him if there hadn't been a just reason for it. That's all I meant by it."

"You mean to tell me that you didn't even for one moment doubt my actions?" he said incredulously.

"No." Hermione said surprised. "You have proven time and time again that you are a trustworthy person I had faith that you had a good reason for what you did. And I was right wasn't I?"

"Yes but…" It seemed that Snape was deep in thought and couldn't figure out exactly what he wanted to say.

"The thing is Miss Granger Severus has some very important work that he and Mr. Whitley were about to begin. And there is no way that Severus can do it all on his own."

"So does that mean you are going to be looking for a new assistant?" she looked back and fourth between the two of them.

"The thing is Miss Granger we realized that it is very hard to find someone you can trust. We trusted Mr. Whitley and look how that turned out. We don't have time to waste looking for someone we cant even be sure we can trust."

"So what are you saying Professor?"

"Well" Dumbledore gave a side-glance to Snape and then looked back at Hermione.

"Well what would you say to becoming Professor Snape's assistant? You could start immediately and work with him throughout the school year. I can guarantee that you will learn more about potions from Severus here than anyone else."

Hermione was speechless she couldn't believe that Snape would ever agree to have a Gryffindor, and the best friend of Harry Potter as his assistant. It just couldn't be true!

"Umm sir while I am very honored that you thought of me as a first choice I could never accept the position knowing that it was against Professor Snape's wishes."

"Though you are right in thinking that you would not be my first choice as an assistant I would have to agree with Dumbledore that I don't have time to look for another assistant. And because you are still a student we will not have to hide you like I would have had to with Mr. Whitley it will be significantly easier having an assistant that already has an excuse to be at Hogwarts." Said Snape still not completely convincing her but she decided that it would have to do. Its not as if she could expect much more from the bat of the dungeons.

"Well if you agree that this is the best solution for the moment then I accept!" She said smiling up at him.

She couldn't believe it! She had just accepted a position working for Snape! To be honest it was a very easy decision Dumbledore was right, she would learn more about potions with him than she would with anyone else. Also she knew that if she could last a year working for Snape then she could work anywhere. And anyone who saw that she had worked for the formidable Severus Snape would know instantly that she was good at her job. She also secretly wanted to know what the real Snape was like. When she had heard Jarvis talking about him she realized that she barely knew the man and that it seemed that he did not have many friends besides Jarvis. And now it seemed like he had none. At least if she was his assistant she would know that he was socializing a little with someone other than Voldemort.

This sadly meant that she could not take the job that Kingsley had offered her while she was sad, she knew that she had made the right decision. Also there was no way that Ron would ever be jealous of this job!

"Well that is splendid news! Thanks you so much Miss Granger. Well now that that is settled I must be off!" He said as he walked over to the door. "Goodbye Severus, Goodbye Miss Granger." And he was gone.

Hermione turned to see Professor Snape staring at her. "Well it looks like we now have quite a lot to do today. Please meet me upstairs after you have finished getting ready for the day. It is six thirty I assume it should take you no longer than twenty minutes to get ready. I expect to see you in my lab by six fifty sharp." He said coldly and with that he turned and walked out of the room.

After a moment of getting over the shock of it all she realized that she only had twenty minutes to get ready. Not that she needed much more time than that anyways but she wasn't going to be late for her first day of work!

As she stood in front of his door she realized what she had just signed up for and was starting to regret it slightly. But then remembered the way that Jarvis had talked about him and her curiosity flared once again giving her the nerve to knock on his door.

Seconds later the door swung open to reveal the foreboding potions master.

"Hello Professor" She said timidly.

He didn't answer he only looked down and sneered at her. He then stood aside to let her enter. As she walked in she tried to memorize her surroundings the last time she had seen the room she was a bit more focused on the people inside of it. This time however all of her attention was on the room. Her mouth dropped. This had to be one of the nicest labs in London, if not all of England! The room was huge. Taking up most of the space were two long stainless steel tables with space to heat cauldrons and space for prep. There were two desks up against the wall to the far left and straight ahead were two doors. On the right side of the wall were tons of books! Quickly looking at the titles it seemed that they all had to do with potions. She secretly wondered how many books he had that didn't have to do with potions.

Suddenly she was brought back to reality when Snape started talking.

"The desk to the left will be yours. Do whatever you want with it; it is your own personal space. I do ask that you do not go through my things you have already witnessed what the consequences of doing that are. This table will also be yours many times we will be working on different projects it is infinitely easier when we have our own spaces to work on." He said gesturing to the table closest to the door. "The door to the left is the storeroom where we keep all of the potions already finished. The door to the right is where we keep all of the ingredients. And the door behind my desk leads to my private quarters."

Hermione was startled to realize that she hadn't even noticed the door behind his desk.

"I start my day at eight every morning and take lunch around noon unless a potion requires me to stay here, I try to end somewhere around eight at night. If I know that I will have to stay up later I usually end up taking a break around five, you of course will have to adopt the same schedule."

Hermione's eyes widened at hearing what her average workday was going to be like.

"Miss Granger no one is forcing you to be here if this is too hard for the resident know-it-all I'm sure I can have someone else come and help."

"No that schedule sounds fine to me." She said as bravely as she could.

"We will take Sundays off but there will be many times when I might need you to do some research so we don't fall behind on Mondays." He said with a sly smirk. Hermione knew he was trying to scare her off to prove that she was not up for the job. "You will also be responsible for the inventory which of course entails making sure we have enough of everything and buying everything that we might need in enough time so that we never run out. There will be many potions where we will be dealing with class five ingredients that only a potions master can purchase. On these times I will accompany you of course. I will however need at least a weeks advanced notice. Obviously this entire schedule will have to change once we are at Hogwarts. We will have another meeting at the start of term to discuss the new schedule and your new list of responsibilities."

Suddenly it hit Hermione that she would still be assisting Snape during the school year she instantly worried about how she was going to have enough time to do everything. She thought to herself there was really no point in worrying about it now as he had said the entire schedule would change once they were at Hogwarts.

As she was thinking about this Snape had made his way over to his desk where he opened one of the large bottom drawers and pulled out a massive notebook and preceded to hand it to her. "These are all the notes and ideas that I have compiled on what our next project is going to be. Read it. All. By this evening. We have a lot of work to do I will come out to check on your progress around seven." With that he turned around and disappeared behind the door leading to his private quarters.

Hermione was in shock how was she supposed to read all of this be this evening it was bound to be extremely complicated and would probably require reading other texts to understand what he was talking about. She went over to her desk sat down and started to read.

SPOV

He was being overly cruel and he knew it. It was nearly impossible to comprehend all of that in one day. He knew however that she would understand a good portion of it and that he would only have to explain a few things to her. It had taken nearly a week to explain all the details to Jarvis on their last project. Suddenly Severus' anger was at a boiling point. How could he have trusted him Severus never trusted anyone it was just part of his job description and somehow that boy had gained his trust.

Now he was stuck with Hermione Granger for the next year. He knew that Hermione could be trusted that she would never steal or end up being a spy for Voldemort she was however still Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor, best friend to Harry Potter, and extremely annoying. However she did trust him. He had been shocked to hear how easily she had trusted him over Jarvis. Especially when he had seen them getting on so well just yesterday! He had been shocked to his core when she admitted to having complete trust in him. That at least would make his life a lot easier. He wouldn't have to worry that his every move was being watched. The Weasley Family was very good at making him feel like this. He knew that would only get worse now with what they had witnessed this morning. If only he had been more quiet! He had just been so angry to be betrayed by someone that he had hired, someone that he had almost liked even.

Around one in the afternoon he decided to go make some lunch. When he walked into his lab he saw Hermione completely absorbed in his notes she had a couple of books surrounding her. He walked right through the room without her even looking up. As he neared the kitchen door he heard people talking. Great exactly what he needed a group of people looking at him like he was a murderer. When he walked in everyone looked over to see who had come in.

"Hey Snape!" It was Ron and he looked quite angry for some reason. He couldn't be that upset about Jarvis could he?

"What have you done with Hermione nobody else has seen her and the last person to see her was you apparently."

"Well if you must know she is in my lab at the moment reading." Snape would have laughed if not for his reputation at seeing the Weasley boys' face at his answer.

"Whatdaya mean she's reading in your lab! Why would she be in there?" he said mildly outraged. "You can ask her that yourself." He said curtly.

"Fine I will!" Ron said as he made his way to the stairs.

"Mr. Weasley you are not allowed anywhere near my lab! Do not even think of going up there the door will not let you in. You can speak to Miss Granger this evening." He said as he went to the fridge to make a sandwich.

Ron looked furious but looked like he had accepted what Snape said and went off in a huff. Snape pretended to ignore everyone else in the room and pretend that nobody was staring at him like he was some sort of freak show. When he got back to his lab with his sandwich (there was no way he was going to eat down there with a group of people staring at him) he saw Hermione in the same state. He looked down at his plate and then over at Hermione rolling his eyes he reluctantly walked over to the girl and placed the plate down in front of her. With a start she looked up at him. She had obviously not known he was standing there. Without saying anything to her he took a blank piece of parchment and transfigured it into a plate then he took half of his sandwich and put it on the newly transfigured one. Making eye contact with her one last time he strode out of the room before she could say anything.

HPOV

She had finished. She wasn't sure how she had done it but somehow she had. There were obviously a few things that she didn't understand but for the most part she understood what they were going to be attempting to do. And if she was right it was going to be nearly impossible to finish in a year. She decided to give her eyes a break and leaned back in her chair. She hadn't stopped reading all day she had only given herself five minutes to eat. That thought brought her back to Snape of course. She had been thoroughly surprised this afternoon when Snape had given her half of his sandwich. From what she knew of him he completely despised her. Suddenly she heard a door opening to her left. She quickly opened her eyes and sat up to see Snape coming through the door to his quarters.

"Ah I see you have finished. Were you just going to sit there until I came out?"

"I have been reading all day and only just finished I was merely giving them a five minute rest." She said with a tone of annoyance.

"So let me ask you. Do you understand what we will be attempting to do in the next year?" Snape said as he sat down in front of her.

"Yes I do. And in all honesty I don't see how it can be done in such a short amount of time."

"Well ideally I would like to have this finished up in less than a year." He said with a smirk.

Hermione's jaw dropped. "You mean to tell me that you want to create an antidote for Nagini's venom in less than a year! I'm sorry Professor but I don't see how that is possible." She said almost yelling at him.

"Come Miss Granger where is your sense of adventure? You should see this as a challenge. Don't tell me you are going to quit on your very first day." He said with a smirk. He had known that this would be her reaction all along.

Hermione knew that he was just trying to scare her off well if he thought that she was going to quit he had another thing coming. "Okay fine then. I just have a few questions on your theories and how they work. I tried to look up as much as I could so I wouldn't need you to explain." She said gesturing to the pile of books on her desk.

"Yes I assumed that you would have a few questions."

"Well my first is how on earth will you get the venom in the first place to test this antidote?"

Snape smiled he wasn't sure if that question would occur to her and he was happy to see that she was thinking ahead to the test phases already. "Voldemort has me make all of his potions for him one of which calls for venom from Nagini. I have been taking an extra amount every time I extract some from its fangs so we should have enough for the amount of tests that we will need to do. What is your next question?"

"What will we be testing this potion on? Its not as if we can test it on a live subject and I certainly won't test it on animals!"

"We will be using the Dynol-Eiddo Plant it roughly translates into plant with human properties. This plant is quite rare but I have been growing them for years to test out my experiments. They react to everything like a human accept you don't feel as guilty when your test potion isn't working how you want it to."

Hermione was truly fascinated. "I have never heard of such a plant that's brilliant!" she said in awe.

"Yes well I am a potions master after all the title does require having some brains." He said sarcastically." Do you have anymore questions?"

"No not at the moment sir."

"Well you best be off then. The Weasley boy is going crazy wondering why on earth you would be in my labs just after I attempted to kill someone." He said mockingly.

"He doesn't think that you tried to kill Jarvis."

"While he never actually said it I am positive that he does."

"Yes I guess I better be going I still have to write that letter to Kingsley." She said more to herself than to Snape. "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" she said almost hopefully.

"Eight sharp."

"Okay bye then." And she was gone.