AN: Here we are again. In this chapter: the potion is of course my own invention but the ingredients are all from the world of Harry Potter, so hopefully you'll find the magic I've written to be authentic - let me know in your reviews. Hope you like this chapter as much as I do - it's quite a significant one. Happy reading...
Hermione wiped the perspiration off her forehead and looked closer at the potion instructions in front of her. She was sat cross-legged on the black and white tiles of the second-floor girls' lavatory, hunched over a small pewter cauldron that contained a simmering potion of lagoon blue. The heat from the potion had been filling the room with a scented steam for an hour or so now and Hermione was soon feeling hot and sticky beneath her woollen school jumper. She dared not stop concentrating to remove it however; after a week of brewing, the potion was nearly done and she couldn't afford to make any mistakes at this critical point.
The term had only been going four days and already Hermione was feeling stressed. Harry had managed to piss Snape off so much that he had cancelled the Occlumency lessons, Hermione was struggling to find time to fit in potion brewing whilst also doing exam revision, and as if that didn't cause her enough worry, Snape was glaring at her at every opportunity. She'd been terrified all week that he would interrogate her about her presence in Knockturn Alley. Fortunately, in the two lessons they'd had this week he had not managed to keep her back. After the first lesson, Hermione had sent her work up with Ron and had been out the door before Snape had time to register it, and in the second she had only been saved by the impromptu ending of class due to Neville melting a cauldron containing a particularly toxic substance. Still, Hermione knew her good luck couldn't last much longer and was dreading her next potions lesson when she was sure to get the third degree. The sole thought that was keeping her sane, was that she would at least know her parentage for certain the next time she and Severus Snape came face to face.
The potion was at last ready for the final and crucial ingredient. Placing her stirring rod on the cold bathroom tiles, Hermione used her wand to gently levitate the purple-black moonseed berries into the filled cauldron. There was an instant reaction, the potion glowing brightly as soon as the moonseed touched the surface. Hermione reclaimed her stirring rod and carried out the required motions: two stirs clockwise and half a stir anti-clockwise for a full minute. She watched as the shimmering liquid transformed from aqua blue to a deep and consistent mulberry colour.
As soon as the minute was up and the colour was just as it should be, Hermione knew the potion was perfect. Turning off the heat, Hermione took a deep breath; she was now, quite literally, approaching the moment of truth. She riffled through her school bag and pulled out a sheet of blank parchment. Taking a ladle, Hermione scooped up a spoonful of the purple liquid and carefully poured the substance over the parchment which was now laid flat on the floor tiles. The potion was instantly absorbed into the parchment. Inspecting it closely, Hermione noted that despite the liberal amount she had poured on, there was no sign of the potion at all and the parchment appeared to be bone dry. Again, she laid the parchment on the floor in front of her; turning to her potions equipment she picked up a small silver chopping knife with a shaking hand.
All knowledge comes at a price, Hermione thought bitterly. In this case, the potion would require her blood in order to show her where she came from. Trembling hands rose and the edge of the silver blade was pushed against the pulsing skin of her left forefinger. Hermione hissed as the incision was made and deep red droplets pooled instantly on her finger tip. Without hesitation, Hermione moved her index finger and dragged it down the parchment in one single, glistening line. The bloody mark remained only for a moment or two, before disappearing into the parchment just as the potion had done before it.
Knowing that this had been done correctly, Hermione paused to mutter a quick spell that would clean the wound and stem the blood flow from her finger. Taking a small plaster from her pocket, she pulled the tabs off clumsily and wrapped it securely around her finger tip.
Hermione felt her breath quicken as she drew closer to the unveiling and her hands trembled once more. Closing her eyes she tried to calm her body, telling herself that the results didn't really matter, that they wouldn't change who she was anyway.
Opening her eyes, Hermione picked up her wand once more. She touched the tip to the apparently bare piece of parchment and said clearly, but quietly, the required words. "Prosapia renuntio."
Instantly, the parchment glowed so brightly that Hermione had to shield her eyes. The air around her seemed to hum with energy and Hermione shuddered violently at the feel of such magic pulsing around her. The glow abated and Hermione looked at the parchment once more. Words began to form on the page. 'Hermione Granger' was written in an elegant script in crimson colour, and Hermione grimaced as, not for the first time, her blood was used as ink.
Hermione's name only appeared in print long enough for her to read it before dissolving back into the parchment and there was just a second's pause before new words were forming.
'Mother: Jean Sarah Granger nee Robinson.'
Hermione gave a small sigh of contentment as she saw the words. She had always been sure that her mum was her mother in every sense of the word anyway, but seeing her mother's name reassured her that she would always be loved no matter what the next words said, and shaking though she was, Hermione felt a new sense of courage as the previous words made room for their replacement.
But Hermione couldn't help it. As soon as she saw the words, she wept. Tears poured from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks and finally dropping from her chin to splash on the parchment below. Her worst fears had been confirmed and her heart felt twisted in her chest as she stared at the crimson words.
'Father: Severus Tobias Snape.'
From his armchair, Severus reached over to the coffee table and brought his brandy glass to his lips. He sighed as his body was warmed by the amber liquid. It soothed and relaxed his muscles as the alcohol travelled through his veins. Putting his glass back down, Severus turned back to his book.
He'd desperately needed this time alone to relax. Things were heating up in this formally cold war and both of his masters were becoming more demanding as a result. Honestly, Severus found it hard to decide which one was worse. I mean, sure, one was a scheming, manipulative and extremely powerful wizard with considerable mental health issues, but then the other was the Dark Lord. And as if spying for Albus Dumbledore wasn't enough, the old coot also had him watching over hormonal teenagers, who were determined to make his life as difficult as humanly possible.
Severus took another sip of brandy and rested his head against the back of the armchair. He closed his eyes as he allowed the alcohol to take effect.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
'Just ignore it.' Severus thought. 'It'll go away.'
Knock, Knock, Knock. The rapping became louder and more insistent.
Severus groaned. "Can I not get a moment's peace in this Godforsaken place?" He grumbled as he heaved himself out of his armchair and sauntered over to the entrance of his quarters.
Swinging the door open, Snape glared at a rather flustered looking McGonagall. "This had better be important, Minerva."
"Severus, he's gone!" Was her only reply as she pushed her way into his sitting room.
"What do you mean 'he's gone'? Who's gone?"
"Albus, of course! Albus is gone!" Severus noted with mild interest how Minerva's Scottish accent only got thicker and more incomprehensible the more distressed she was, but he turned to the matter at hand.
"Gone where?"
"Into hiding!" The usually composed Minerva babbled. "Potter and…and Umbridge…and then the Ministry…Fudge…Smoke…Albus…Gone!"
"Minerva, calm down and stop shrieking like a banshee." Severus said sternly. "Have some brandy, sit down and tell me what exactly has happened. From the beginning."
A few minutes and an equal number of brandy sips later, McGonagall was back to her usual imperturbable state.
"You know Umbridge was trying to find that group of Potter's?" Severus scowled at the mention of Potter but nodded his understanding. "Well I don't know exactly what happened but she got them. So of course she tries to get him expelled, only they've gone and called themselves 'Dumbledore's Army' and the crazy old bat thinks Albus is planning some kind of revolution using troops of schoolchildren."
Severus scoffed. "Potter and his little friends can barely cast a body-binder, let alone stage a coup."
"Quite." Said Minerva. "Well anyway the stupid cow summoned Fudge and he tried to arrest Albus. He, of course, wasn't having any of it and fled the scene, quite literally, in a puff of smoke."
"I see." Severus said, thoughtfully. "Do you know where he's hiding?"
"He told me that if something like this were to ever happen he would go to headquarters. I imagine he will contact one of us in due course."
Severus nodded.
With nothing else to say the teachers lapsed into silence.
After a few minutes of sitting thoughtfully and sipping brandy, Severus heard Minerva's quiet voice again.
"What do we do, Severus? How are we supposed to protect these children with that bitch in charge? How do we protect them from war?"
Severus stayed quiet for a moment before looking his colleague in the eye and replying seriously, "We do what we're paid to do, Minerva. We teach." He leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees, his onyx eyes burning with intensity. "We teach them everything we know. Because no matter how much you try, Minerva, you can't protect them from this war. All you can do is teach them something useful and hope to God they remember it when it is inevitably needed."
"Time's up. Bottle your abysmal potion attempts and put them on the side on your way out. Miss Granger, stay behind."
Hermione sighed, resigned to her fate. 'God I hope this doesn't take long.' Hermione thought. 'I'm too tired to argue with him anymore.'
"What does Snape want with you now?" Harry asked as he filled a vial with his rather mediocre potion attempt.
"I don't know, Harry." She lied smoothly. "He's been on my back all year. I've stopped second guessing what Snape's problem is."
"You want us to wait for you, 'Mione?" Ron asked kindly.
"No thanks, Ron. He'll probably be whining at me for a while, you might as well go off to lunch."
"Alright. Well, we'll see you in a bit." He said sympathetically, throwing Snape a nasty glare before he deposited his potion and left with Harry.
Severus waited until the last students had exited the classroom. It didn't take long. Most students left his lessons with the same speed one would flee a murder scene. Hermione approached his desk slowly, wringing her hands nervously. Severus appraised her carefully as she drew closer. The girl looked tired and drawn, her eyes dull and her hair frizzy with apparent agitation.
"Come." He said sternly. "You and I need to have a little chat." He turned sharply and walked into his office, leaving the door open for her to follow.
Hermione closed the door quietly behind her as she entered Snape's office, before calmly sitting in the chair opposite him. They looked seriously at one another from either side of the ornate mahogany desk, Snape's brow furrowed and Hermione nervously chewing her lip.
"Miss Granger," Snape began calmly. "Tell me, truthfully, what you were doing in Knockturn Alley."
Hermione sighed, but decided to humour him by telling the truth. "I was buying potion ingredients, Professor."
Snape almost growled in annoyance. "I am fully aware that you were buying potion ingredients, Miss Granger. What I want to know is, what exactly you needed to buy, that required you to step foot in an unlicensed apothecary down Knockturn Alley?"
Hermione raised her eyes upward, searching for any appropriate answer that might be written on the ceiling. She resolved her intention to speak truthfully and looked steadily into the black eyes before her.
"You know as well as I do, Professor, that there are certain advantages to shopping in a place like Ratchet and Reed's."
"Oh yes, there are a number of benefits, I know. – And which specific skill of theirs did you so desire?" Severus raised his dark eyebrow questioningly.
"Confidentiality." Hermione specified with a slight smile.
"Of course." Snape sneered, his tone laced with displeasure. "You are aware, Miss Granger, that Hogwarts expressly forbids any unsupervised brewing."
Hermione struggled to suppress a scoff. "Yeah, well up until recently it expressly forbade the use of corporal punishment on students too, but I guess things change." She replied flippantly, flashing briefly her clumsily bandaged hand.
Snape rose instantly and was soon rummaging in a cupboard in the corner of the small room. "I had forgotten." Snape muttered. "How long were you all detained?" He asked in a disinterested tone as he came back with a bowl of Murtlap Essence and some cotton wool.
"Maybe four hours or so." Hermione replied casually, extending her hand to him across the smooth wooden surface of the desk.
Severus scowled slightly but made no comment as he unravelled the bandage on her hand and revealed the sore words beneath. 'I will not defy the ministry.'
Hermione continued. "Truth is, it really wasn't as bad with all of us from the DA there. Maybe there's something to be said for solidarity." She shrugged her shoulders.
"The DA? Oh yes, Dumbledore's Army." Snape mocked unkindly.
Hermione just rolled her eyes. "You know, that was supposed to be ironic. We never actually considered ourselves to be some kind of revolutionary army; we were just a study group really. We were originally the 'Defence Association' anyway. Harry preferred that."
Snape's thin lips twisted slightly. "Please, I bet Potter loved the chance to lead a group of dedicated followers blindly in his shining light." He drawled nastily.
Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes again. "Are you blind?" She asked rhetorically. "Harry hates the limelight. Always has. And he's very self-deprecating of his own abilities. It took me nearly six weeks to convince him to teach us!"
Snape failed to mask his surprise. "This was your idea?"
Hermione nodded, wincing slightly as the ointment stung her hand.
"How could you be so foolish?" Snape hissed angrily at her.
"It wasn't foolish. Risky, maybe, but not foolish. Besides, we took certain measures to reduce the chances of being caught. They worked for most of the year." Hermione said casually.
Snape snarled. "The whole scheme was completely idiotic!"
Hermione huffed in annoyance. "Maybe, it was. But that doesn't mean it wasn't necessary."
"Necessary!" For once Snape was actually raising his voice slightly, and though her hand was still in his, he had long forgotten that he was supposed to be treating her cuts. "What possible need could there be for a secret club – which everyone knows about I might add – full of idiotic teenagers."
Hermione scowled and snatched her hand back angrily. "God, you sound just like Umbridge! 'Why would you need to know how to use defence spells? There's nothing dangerous out there.'" Hermione imitated the woman's silly high-pitched tone. "You, Dumbledore, Umbridge; you're all the same." She finished in a disgusted tone.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Snape drawled dangerously.
Hermione huffed. "It means we might be young but we're not stupid. We know what's going on, we can see it happening, and you're not protecting us by keeping us in the dark." Severus watched as she expressed herself passionately. "You know that we're going to need to be able to defend ourselves. And not in some distant, remote future, but soon, really soon. And yet no one was teaching us! So we did it ourselves, because we knew it was necessary. And screw you if you think you're going to make me feel guilty for creating something that will protect us when we're fighting them, because despite what the so-called 'adults' appear to want, I will not let my friends go out there unprepared."
Severus' face was grave. "Your hand." He instructed softly, holding out his own palm in invitation.
Hermione complied and they were quiet for a moment as Snape reached for clean bandages to wrap around her hand.
"You're blaming us for trying to keep you safe? For not involving you in a war that wasn't even yours in the first place?"
Hermione looked straight into Severus' eyes, her own wide and fiery. "Can't you see? We're already involved."
They held each other's gaze for a long moment; two generations, both trying to understand and be understood. Hermione was almost lost in the depths of his black pools and Severus felt anchored to the amber of her irises.
Finally, Severus gave a small nod and tore his eyes from hers, looking back down to her bandaged hand that was still held in his own. He flipped it over to ensure the bandage was secure and frowned.
"You've cut your finger."
Hermione pulled her hand back sharply. "It's fine."
"Miss Granger, look at me. How did you cut your finger?"
Severus watched her peek upwards between her curled locks, her eyes shining slightly with unshed tears.
"I don't remember." She whispered almost inaudibly.
"Miss Granger, potions that require your own blood are incredibly powerful and can be very dangerous to the brewer." He said seriously, his voice laced with the unfamiliar tint of concern.
"Yeah, well clearly I'm fine, so there was no need for you to worry." Hermione replied flippantly.
Snape's eyes widened in surprise. "You've already brewed it?"
"Brewed it, used it, disposed of it. So it's over, alright? I'm fine." She looked away as her eyes began to well. "Everything's hunky bloody dory." She muttered bitterly.
"Why won't you tell me what's upsetting you?"
"Trust me." Hermione looked up at Snape and he saw the tears spilling over her cheeks. "You really don't want to know."
"Hermione," Her first name rolled unconsciously off his tongue. "If you ever need help, you can come to me."
Hermione averted her eyes. "I – I should go…" She stood up shakily, picking up her school bag and refusing to make eye contact. "Harry and Ron will be waiting for me." She hurried to the door, throwing it open and ignoring the Professor's voice behind her.
"Hermione, wait." She didn't hesitate as she fled out through the potions classroom. "…Hermione!" But she was already gone.
"Shit." Severus cursed. That girl had never been afraid to stand up for what she believed in, he had seen her face escaped prisoners and werewolves without batting an eyelid, and even now, in the face of imminent, life-threatening war, she demonstrated a courage and maturity that was far beyond her years. And yet something was going on with her this year that always made her run away. Snape hated to admit it but he had become really concerned for the girl, and he knew now that whatever he did next, he desperately didn't want Hermione Granger to run away from him again.
AN: N'aww, this chapter actually makes me feel quite sad :'( When will those two come to their senses, eh? Well, actually, I know when they will, because I get to choose :) Ah the joys of being a writer - I feel so powerful ;D
Anyway, in reference to the aforementioned revelations, you're going to want to read the next chapter. Hint, hint, wink, wink.
Also, you may remember I said previously that the story was aiming to be 18 chapters long. I have now decided that it will need to be 19 chapters - which essentially means you get another day of me filling your lives with ATBLU drama :) Now I would have loved to have finished uploading everything by the end of this week but I'm going to London on Wednesday until Sunday so I need to decide whether I can push everything out in the next 3 days or if I will have to take a 4 day hiatus before the last chapters are out.
So, please review this chapter as I really want to know what you thought of the potion making and also what you thought of the last SS/HG scene. Did it make you sad too, or am I just being soft?
Let me know, thanks guys. x