Chapter 9: In the Heat of the Night

After her discussion last night with Severus something had changed between them. While nothing had significantly changed there was something different between them. Perhaps it was that they now understood each other a bit more. Hermione couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was she only knew that last night had in some way brought them closer together.

She was happy to know that at least their friendship was making progress because their anti-venom potion was not. It had been a week since they had made any real strides. Normally that would not be a lot of time but with this deadline that Severus had given them it was not good news at all. Hermione could see that with everyday that they made no progress the professor became more and more discouraged. She knew that every moment they spent apart he was either serving one of his two masters or researching in hopes of finding something to move their potions progress along.

Earlier today was only proof of how much it was starting to get to him. It was now eight at night Severus had let her go early for the day when it became obvious that they were getting nowhere. Hermione thought back to this afternoon they had been slaving over a hot cauldron all day and everything they tried just seemed to make it even worse.

"What is the use!" BANG! Severus yelled as he threw the cauldron to the ground along with everything else on the table.

"Severus calm down! You are going to hurt yourself!"

"It is no use Hermione we are getting nowhere with this! We are going to have to start from scratch!"

"What do you mean start from scratch! If we do that now there is no way we could finish by the end of the school year!"

"Well I don't think we have any other choice. The past few days have made that quite clear to me!"

"You must just give it more time! You expect too much of yourself! It takes time to work out something this complex! You are giving up too easily!"

"You think I come to this decision lightly?" he said in an angry tone.

"No of course not! I just think that you have a lot of pressure on yourself and it is blinding your judgment!"

"If we do not make advances soon we must do something it is imperative that we get this done on time!"

Hermione could see how much pain he was in. She wanted so badly to do something but she knew that there was nothing she could do. So she decided to agree with him. She had been so tired from working so hard that day she had an early dinner and was now in bed. As she fell asleep that night she thought about the look she had seen on Severus face as he talked to her about the antidote.

zzzzzzzz

"Hermione! Hermione! Wake up!" Hermione woke up to an urgent Severus who was now shaking her in an effort to wake her. "Severus what time is it?" She said groggily. Her eyes widened when she saw the clock it said 3:17am! "Severus what on earth! It is quarter past three in the morning!" she said sitting up now to look at him. He looked terrible there were bags under his eyes and he obviously had been standing over a cauldron all night. "Hermione I have discovered what was wrong with the potion. You must come quick! We have work to do!" He gave her his hand to help her out of bed. She gasped when their hands touched. "Severus you are boiling up! She went to feel his forehead but he only pushed her hand away.

"I am not ill woman! Come, you will see!" Hermione was thankful that she had worn appropriate bedclothes this evening and promised herself that she would never again do otherwise. He was in such a rush he didn't even let her change.

When she and Severus entered the lab she was hit by a huge gust of extremely warm air.

"Good Lord Severus! It's got to be 37 degrees in here!"

"38 actually."

"What? Why on earth would you do that?"

"Because that was the part we were missing! In order for the antidote to move onto the next step it has to be extremely hot. And the only way to do that is to keep the entire room the same temperature as the potion!"

"That makes sense actually. It would explain the de-colorization on the top of each spoiled batch!"

"Precisely!"

"Severus you've done it! I can't believe that you figured it out!"

"Get me the wormwood. I will need to add it in five minutes!"

Hermione ran to the supply room handing him the wormwood as quickly as possible. They worked like this for hours. Hermione was thankful that she had gone to sleep early that night otherwise it would have been almost unbearable to work straight through breakfast without stopping. It was now noon and although Hermione didn't want to admit it she was ravenous! She looked over at Snape it was quite obvious that he hadn't slept since the night before. If they had not been in the middle of such important work she would have scolded him and ordered him to take a nap, but she knew that there was no way that he would stop now.

Suddenly she was brought out of her reverie when she heard a knock at the door. "Hermione it's me, Harry. Can I come in?" Hermione, who couldn't leave her potion unattended even for a moment looked at Severus pleadingly. "Severus can you open the door I can't leave the potion at the moment." Snape rolled his eyes as he walked over to the door. "Potter." She heard him say in his most fearsome Potions Master voice.

"Mrs. Weasley wanted me to bring you and Hermione some food. She said that you both hadn't come down for breakfast this morning and –"

"Come in if you must Potter." He said with a snarl.

"Hey Hermio-" Hermione looked up to see Harry with wide eyes. She gave him a questioning look. "Hermione! Why are you in your bedclothes!"

Hermione blushed at this. She had completely forgotten in the excitement of things what she must look like. "Oh well Professor Snape woke me up at three this morning. He had had a breakthrough you see. There was no time to get properly dressed."

"You've been here since three this morning!"

And you haven't had anything to eat! Hermione! How can you work like this?"

"What are you talking about Harry? Days like these are the best! Professor Snape has made a huge discovery! We have made it farther in this potion today then we have in weeks!"

Harry suddenly looking around said, "Why is it so bloody hot in here?"

"It's a long story but there is a reason for it!"

"Well I guess if you aren't unhappy-"

"Of course she isn't unhappy Potter now put down the food and go we have already wasted too much time!"

Hermione gave him a scolding look when Harry wasn't looking.

"Thanks for bringing the food Harry! I really appreciate it I'm starving!"

"Yeah anytime. Hey will you be at dinner?"

"Yes I think I should be able to make it!"

Harry's face lit up at that. "Great see you tonight then! Bye!"

When the door closed Snape walked over to where she stood. "So you are going to dinner tonight? Don't you think that we should keep working on the potion?"

"Normally I would say yes, but there is no way that I could work on this without you here and there is no way I will let you work that long without any sleep."

"Oh there is no way you will let me?" he said with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes! There is no way I will let you stay up that long! Considering you slept what? Four hours the last time you slept! That is dangerous Severus you could hurt yourself!"

"Stop mothering me woman!"

"I'm not mothering you! I am just alerting you of your stupidity! Would you let me work on such little sleep? No you wouldn't! So I am only doing the same."

"Fine, fine have it your way! Besides if I died in a freak accident what would you do for intelligent conversation? Hmmm?" He said chuckling to himself.

"That's simple! I would go to Harry you two are very alike." She said with a teasing smile, while he gave her a warning glare.

"I'm only joking don't get your knickers in a twist!"

"I do not have my knickers in a twist."

When the word knickers left his mouth Hermione couldn't help but roll her head back and laugh. "I'm sorry Severus I just never thought I would hear you utter a sentence like that!" she said wiping the tears from her eyes.

"When will you be able to break for lunch?" Hermione counted the steps left until she could put a stasis charm on it.

"I will need you to put a stasis charm on this for me in fifteen minutes!"

Snape nodded and went back to his potions journal.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hermione and Snape had just finished their lunch. Now that she had some energy back she decided that it was time to make Snape take a nap.

"Okay Severus I'm going to clear everything up while you go to your room and sleep!"

"You must be joking I thought that we would just finish around eight! I do not need to sleep that long! Maybe four hours at best."

"That would mean that you get up at five. There will still be plenty of time to do some work before we go down to dinner."

"Why do I have to go to dinner?"

"I just thought you might want to talk about what happened today in the lab with Mr. Weasley or Kingsley perhaps?"

"I don't want to talk to anyone about the potion! You know we can't talk about it! You haven't been telling people about it have you?"

"No! Of course not! I just meant you might want to socialize a bit that's all."

"You know I hate to socialize! Why can't we just work through dinner tonight."

"Because I am not like you I can't work with no sleep I have been up since three this morning I know that by ten tonight I will want to go to sleep."

"I suppose we can finish at nine then if we must. But I will not be going down to dinner!"

"Fine. That's fine. Promise me that you won't be working in here all alone until the wee hours of the morning."

"I will promise no such thing! I am a grown man I can do what I like!"

Hermione thought to herself that she had never heard a more childish phrase come out of his mouth before.

"Before you go to bed take this tea I made you."

"When did you make this?"

"Just before lunch when you were clearing your desk and then went to put your books away in your study. You will have to put a warming charm on it of course but it should still be good."

Snape brought it up to his nose. "You have poisoned this." He said with an accusatory glare.

"Oh stop being so dramatic I have put things in it yes. But I have not poisoned it! I am not your enemy Severus! Now drink up!"

Severus only kept staring at her.

"Aren't you going to drink it? You trust me don't you Severus?"

He nodded yes.

"Well if you trust me then there is no harm in drinking the tea!" Hermione held her breath as she waited to see what he would do. Slowly he raised the teacup to his lips and drank. Hermione let out a sigh. She couldn't believe it! He drank it! That only showed her just how much he trusted her! She smiled at him brightly, and then shoed him to his private quarters. "You might want to hurry the tea should take effect soon!"

"Yes dear." He said in a sarcastic voice. She just smiled triumphantly and turned around to go to her room.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

At five she went back to the lab expecting to see Snape hard at work. But when she walked in Snape was nowhere to be seen. It had after all only just gone five so she decided that she would wait a little until he came out. She picked up a book and started reading. After an hour she realized that he still must be asleep. She smiled to herself. That tea must have really worked for him. She decided to leave him a note telling him that he could just come and get her downstairs when he woke up. She left it on his desk and went downstairs to join Harry, Ron and Ginny in a game of exploding snaps.

When Hermione had finished her dessert and she had still had had no angry Snape yelling at her for letting him sleep so late she started to get worried. What if he had been summoned and had never even been to bed? She decided that if he didn't come down in the next hour she would go check on him. At quarter to twelve Hermione made her way upstairs to go see if Professor Snape was all right. When she opened the lab door there was still no sign that he had woken up. She quietly opened the door to his study and tiptoed across the room to the door leading to his bedroom. She stood outside it for a moment debating weather or not this was a good idea. After a moment she gathered all her courage and silently opened the door.

She quietly peaked her head around the door to try and see if he was still in there. The sight that met her eyes made her smile. There lying in bed was the formidable potions master. Except he didn't look like the formidable potions master, he just looked like Severus. He had almost slept eleven hours! Hermione was sure that he hadn't done that in a long time. And from what she could tell it was a peaceful sleep free of nightmares and bad memories. As quietly as she could she backed out of his bedroom and quietly tiptoed back across his study and back into the lab. Even though Hermione knew that tomorrow he would yell at her she didn't really care because for the first time in a very long time she knew that he had had a peaceful sleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzz

Much to Hermione's disappointment the rest of the summer went all too fast. Before she knew it they only had three days left until the welcoming feast.

"You may go if you please I know that you must want to see your precious Potter and Weasley!" Snape said in a snide voice.

In the past week or so Severus' mood was decidedly getting worse. Hermione decided not to take it personally and knew that he was only upset that the summer was coming to an end. So Hermione just simply rolled her eyes and let the comment go.

"I can't believe that tomorrow is our last day! Which reminds me, would it be all right if we started later than usual? I wanted to pack everything tomorrow morning so I won't be rushing around tomorrow night. And you must have a few things to pack yourself!"

"Yes, I suppose that would be fine. We wont be doing much tomorrow. Actually there isn't really a point since I will have to transport all of our work over to Hogwarts. Why don't we meet here after dinner?"

"Okay great that should give me enough time to pack everything! Thanks Severus! Well I guess I will see you tomorrow. You said you weren't coming down for dinner correct?"

Snape just nodded.

"Okay then I will see you tomorrow!"

And just like that she was gone.

As Hermione walked down the stairs she heard someone calling her name. When she turned around it was to see Ginny standing in the doorway to her bedroom, waving her to come in. "Hey Ginny!" She said as she walked past her into the bedroom. "What's going on?" She said as Ginny closed the door behind them.

"Oh Hermione I don't know how you can stand it!" she said as she collapsed on her bed, her hands covering her face.

"What do you mean? How can I stand what?" Hermione said sitting down beside her.

"I mean how can you stand being around someone that you are head over heals about! I thought I was over Harry. I had gotten myself a boyfriend and I was happy. But being in this house with him all the time… it's just made my feelings for him stronger!" She said with a frustrated grunt. "And I have only been around him this past month how have you dealt being around Ron all the time!"

"Well… Ginny I have to tell you something."

Ginny's eyes widened suddenly. "Did something happen between you two?"

"NO! No! I just came to a realization recently."

"And what would that realization be?" Ginny asked

"Well….. I realized that I am not in love with Ron. I do love him but only as a friend. I'm not sure why I thought it could be more. I think perhaps it was just a crush. A crush which I have gotten over."

"I have to be honest I'm not that surprised. I never really saw you two as a good fit anyways but I thought that was just because he was my brother and I wasn't able to see him any other way, you know? So how long have you known?"

"I'm not sure really it just came to me one day that I should feel more for him if I was in love with him. And can you imagine if we did date and then broke up? It would be third year all over again! And I do not want that to ever happen again. I would hate for anything to come between us again."

Ginny nodded her head in understanding. "Well we better get downstairs or Ron and Harry will accuse me of keeping you all to myself!"

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The next morning Hermione woke up around eight and quickly got started on all the packing she needed to do. At around three she had finished packing her room up. It had only taken that long in the first place because she had stopped so many times to talk to Ginny or one of the boys. The only thing she had left were the books that she had left in the library down stairs. She hadn't realized how many she had until she was carrying a huge stack up the stairs so high in fact that she couldn't even see in front of her. Luckily she was on the last flight and didn't have much farther to go.

When suddenly Hermione ran into someone, she gasped as she started to fall backwards. Then suddenly she realized that she wasn't falling anymore she opened her eyes (which she hadn't even remembered closing) to see Severus' face only a foot away and he was holding her. He quickly let her go when she had righted herself and then said sarcastically, "Planning to bring back the whole library are we?"

"It's not that many."

"It's enough that you can't see where you're going." He said with a wry smile on his face.

"Yes. Thank you by the way… for catching me I mean." She said biting her lip.

"Of course." He said bowing his head slightly. "I was coming to find you actually."

"Oh? What about?"

At that Snape looked around and said, "Why don't we go to my lab."

"Okay." Hermione went to pick up her books and before she could even reach for the first one they all flew over to Severus and stacked themselves in a neat pile and then he flicked his wand and they flew in the direction of Hermione's room.

"Oh! Thanks, they were actually quite heavy!" She said as they walked into the lab. When they were both in she shut the door behind them. "So what was this top secret thing that you wanted to talk about?"

"I just wanted to say goodbye actually. I'm about to leave for Hogwarts-"

"Why are you leaving so early? I thought you were leaving the same time as the rest of us!"

"Yes well plans have changed and I am now needed a bit sooner. I also wanted to set up a time that we could meet in my office. I was thinking right after the leaving feast."

"Well I wont be able to do it right after the leaving feast" At this Snape gave her a questioning look. "I am a prefect remember I have to show the first years where to go."

"Right yes I forgot you were a prefect. Why don't we say an hour after the feast. That should give you enough time to get down to the dungeons. I don't think you will have to worry about being seen everyone will be getting settled into their dormitories."

"Okay an hour should be fine."

"Hermione remember not to act differently around me that could be very dangerous. The dark lord had spies everywhere and at Hogwarts gossip travels fast."

"Yes I understand." They were quiet for a moment. "Oh I almost forgot! What should I do with all the stuff in my desk?"

"You don't need to worry about that I will be bringing everything from this lab over to the lab I have at Hogwarts."

"Oh okay well that will certainly make things easier." She said cheerily. "I just can't believe that the summer is over."

"I know what you mean it has gone especially fast this year." Severus said quietly.

"Severus I…. I just want you to know that this summer has been the best of my life and it is all because of you. I am genuinely lucky to have you as a friend." She said as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Oh hush woman! You are making it sound as if we are never going to work together again! We will be working together as soon as next week! Now stop all that blubbering I will be seeing you at the welcome feast and then afterwards as well."

Hermione smiled at him. She loved it when he called her woman. Over the summer it had become a term of endearment for her. "You're right Severus. As you always are I know I'm being silly. Do you have to go right now or would you care to have a chat for a bit in front of the fire?" She said looking at him hopefully.

'I believe I have a few minutes to spare." He said with a small smile.