Summary: A trip to Gringotts

Chapter 4

They appeared in front of Gringotts the next morning. Severus headed up the stairs and directly to the Goblin in the back.

"I need to access my vault," he said as Hermine drew up behind him.

"Your wand."

Severus relinquished it. The Goblin inspected it and handed it back to him.

"Saldry will take you back, Mr. Snape," he said as he pointed at the other Goblin standing next to him.

The Goblin turned, expecting them to follow, which they did. They were whisked to the Prince vault and Severus worked with the Goblin to unlock it. Hermione waited in the cart, giving him privacy.

Severus went into the vault, going up to where the necklace was located. Opening the box, his mouth dropped open before he whirled about.

"Would you join me in here?" he called out to Hermione.

She got out of the cart and followed him in, noticing a decent amount of Galleons.

"May I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"You told me that you grew up in poverty. Why is there so much money in here?"

He turned to her. "How do you know about my youth?"

Hermione huffed. "Severus, I told you already how all of this happened."

He glared at her for a full minute before reluctantly answering. "My mother was disowned. She has never had access to this vault. When I turned eighteen, I was given access, so I'm new to actually having some money. I am the last of the Prince line. My grandparents died ten years ago. They left this to me."

She looked around. "I'm glad, Severus. At least you'll be able to support yourself after Hogwarts."

"Yes, can we get on with it?"

He moved next to the box that held the necklace.

"Open it," he demanded.

She did so. The same necklace that was around her neck sat in the box. She looked back at Severus.

"I told you so."

He removed his wand and cast some detection spells on the necklace in the box, and then the one that was around Hermione's neck. His brow furrowed.

"Neither of these is a copy. How is this possible."

"I already told you how it's possible."

"That cannot be. It's… it's impossible."

She stepped up closer to him. "Obviously not. I am wearing that very necklace. I told you it appeared to me and brought me here to the past."

"I still don't believe you. You came across it some other way. My older, painted self would not give this to you."

She stiffened. "We were friends. I told you that. Close friends. Why do you think he wouldn't give it to me?"

"Because he cannot love you. I cannot love you! I love another."

"Lily Evans…"

"How do you know that?"

"Just suffice it to say I know your history."

"So you understand how I could not trust your version of the story."

"Merlin, Severus, why can't you just take this at face value?"

"I know too many people who are only out for themselves."

She straightened and glared at him haughtily. "Well, I'm not like that. I know what you can do to convince yourself, but you must promise not to root through my memories of anything else."

"You're speaking of Legilimency. That's not how it works, you know. It can be directed, but not fully controlled."

"Don't lie to me, Severus Snape. I know you are accomplished at Legilimency. You of all people can direct it where you want it to go."

He seemed shocked that she knew that about him.

"Fine, I will concentrate only on the scene you claim happened. Do you want to return to Hogwarts to perform this magic?"

"I think it would be prudent. Let's go."

Hermione stalked out of the vault, closely followed by Severus. They didn't say a word to one another until they had reached Hogwarts and had sequestered themselves in an unused classroom. Hermione faced Severus.

"I'm ready when you are."

"You're sure you want to do this?"

"It's the only way to convince you."

"All right. We'll soon see what the truth is. Don't think you can hide it from me."

"Just do it!"

He cast the spell and was soon delving into her memory of what caused her to hurtle back in time. He reviewed everything he wanted to and withdrew from her mind.

"How can this be?" he whispered.

"I don't know, Severus. It all happened so quickly, I don't know what your painting was thinking or why he did what he did."

Severus turned from her.

"The only reason to give you that necklace would be if I… loved you."

"I don't think…"

He wheeled around. "I know myself! I know what that necklace means! If I wanted to send you back via touching an object, there are a thousand things I could have chosen, yet I chose this family heirloom that signifies betrothal."

He was quiet for a moment before meeting her gaze.

"Do you think I was trying to tell myself something?"

Hermione relaxed. Her hand came up to her chin and she tapped it with her finger.

"That's possible. Actually, it makes a lot of sense. He knew you would know the significance of this."

Her hand drew down to the necklace, covering it.

"I need some time to sort this out," Severus said tersely.

Turning from her, he left her alone. She bit her bottom lip. Hopefully, he would think on all he had learned. She needed to tell him a lot about his future, and he needed to be open to believing it.

oooOOOooo

There was a knock on Hermione's classroom door. She had open hours currently, so expected to see a student in need. She looked up, surprised to see Severus standing there.

"May I speak with you privately?" he asked.

Hermione waved her wand, closing the door behind Severus. With another flick, there was a note on the door saying that open hours were canceled, and she would meet with anyone the next night. Lastly, she placed a Muffliato and locked the door to avoid being interrupted.

She pointed to the chair in front of her desk.

"Have a seat."

Severus made his way to the chair and settled in. He looked down at the floor, not saying anything. Hermione let him gather his thoughts. Finally, he lifted his head and spoke.

"I apologize for not believing you."

She gave him a crisp nod. "I know it sounds outlandish, but I had hoped you would believe me right off."

"It is so out of character for me to do what I did. I couldn't believe that I would have given you that necklace."

"I can see how you would feel that way. Do you think we can get past our initial issues?"

"I would like to start again if you're okay with that."

"I think that would be a good thing to do."

"I was harsh with you about my portrait possibly falling for you. I would like to explain myself. I have always had a secret hope that things would turn out with Lily Evans. I can't help myself."

Hermione gave him a commiserating look. "I'm sorry she didn't feel the same way about you. I know you love her, Severus. I won't try to convince you not to. You deserve to feel the way you do about someone who has been so close to you for so long in your past." She swallowed and looked away. "I want you to know that I don't expect anything from you. I didn't even know you had feelings for me in the future."

She studied his face for a bit before continuing. "What did you decide to do about this?"

He shrugged. "I'm intrigued. Why are you so special that I evidently fell in love with you? I would like to know. Are you in love with me too?"

"Like you kept saying over and over again the other day, you were a painting. I wouldn't fall in love with a painting. I did wonder what might have happened had you survived."

"That makes sense. Do you think… would you have accepted my proposal?"

"Where could that have gone, Severus?"

He shrugged. "Absolutely nowhere." His eyes met hers. "Are you amenable to seeing if there is anything between us?"

She bit her lip. "What about Lily?"

"She is involved with Potter and has no interest in me. I don't think she'll ever think of me in the way I want her to. If something can happen between us, I would like to explore that."

Hermione nodded. "I've always admired you. As I said, I wondered if there could have been anything between us had you survived. I am willing to learn more about you and see if we're compatible."

He nodded solemnly. "Where do we start?"

She looked around the room, and finally at the door. "I suppose this is as good a time and place to start. Maybe we can get to know one another better?"

Severus stood, rounded her desk, and leaned in to kiss her. She pulled back abruptly.

"What are you doing?"

"I was going to kiss you."

"Severus, we barely know one another. I don't want you to kiss me unless you find me attractive and want to kiss me."

He pulled back, his cheeks tinged pink. "You are right, of course. I just thought…"

Her hand grasped his. "Severus, I am very flattered that you would attempt to kiss me. When the time is right, I will do so happily."

He returned to his chair, looking slightly mollified by her declaration. He arched his brow at her.

"Come on. Let's brew something together," Hermione offered.

"I actually found something in a book that I wanted to try."

"Show me," Hermione directed.

He pulled the book from his backpack and opened to the right page. Handing the book to her, she looked at the potion.

"Elixir of Remembrance." She looked over at Severus. "Is this something like a liquid Remembrall?"

He nodded. "I think so. I wanted to brew it to see how it works."

"It says it can help people remember innocuous things and past memories."

She looked up at Severus. "I wonder if this could be the base of a memory potion that would help those who have memory loss due to old age or curse damage."

She flipped the book to the cover and read it aloud. "An Expert's Guide to Potions," she read. "Did you find this in the library?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "The book is my mother's. She gave it to me last summer and told me I might find some interesting things within it."

"Indeed." She looked up at him. "Well, it takes two days to brew. We should get started."

Taking the book back, Severus gathered a cauldron and the ingredients he needed. Hermione stepped up to him and took the lion's Mane Mushrooms and began to slice them thinly. They worked together prepping ingredients until everything for that day's brewing was ready. Severus looked up at Hermione.

"Go ahead," she urged. "This is your discovery."

He smirked at her and added the saffron first, stirring quickly ten times. Hermione handed him a vial of Bubotuber pus. He was about to pour it into the potion, but stayed his hand and looked back at the book. He arched a brow as he read.

"Professor Granger, this says to pour in the entire vial, but would it be best to do it in quarter rations? That way it will combine completely and the effect should be a stronger one."

Hermione smiled at him. "You have a knack for knowing how to best combine items, Severus. Go ahead and try it."

He seemed pleased at her remark. He slowly added the pus in four segments, stirring to combine after each. The potion turned a bright yellow. Hermione looked at the recipe and nodded her head.

"It looks perfect so far. You just need to drop in the Dragon Horn powder."

He took the substance and added it, stirring counterclockwise twenty turns. He removed his stirrer and placed a stasis charm over the cauldron.

"We'll add the last two ingredients tomorrow. This needs to sit overnight," he told Hermione.

"Good work, Mr. Snape. I'll see you back here tomorrow night so you can finish this up."

Severus regarded her carefully, then gave her a quick nod.

"Tomorrow, then," he said before leaving the lab.

oooOOOooo

The next day after dinner, Severus added the last two ingredients to the potion: mistletoe berries and powdered unicorn horn. He set a tempus charm and stirred the potion counter-clockwise for five minutes. When he was done, he noted the dark brown color, which was the desired effect. Placing the stirrer to the side of the cauldron, he meandered over to Hermione, who was at her desk.

"It's finished."

She looked up at him. "Let's see."

Rising, she went over to the cauldron and passed a ladle through it. Picking up a small scoop of the liquid, she poured it back into the cauldron.

"Good color and viscosity. It appears to be the correct thickness according to the recipe." She looked over at Severus.

"How do you propose testing it?"

"We would need someone who was trying to remember something. Something simple this first time."

She nodded. "I can do the first trial, then. I need to find out where I put the quiz I wrote for the second-years. I can't seem to find it anywhere."

He chuckled. "You seem so perfect, Professor. I would never imagine you'd misplace something."

"You're usually right, but it's been a bit of a stressful couple of weeks for me."

Smirking at her, he took a vial and decanted some of the potion into it. He handed it to her.

"Hopefully this works."

She took the vial and downed the potion.

"Interesting flavor. It tastes something like toffee." Her eyes lit up as the potion did its job.

"That's right. I stuck it on top of the books on my bookcase because I was getting a refill on my tea. Merlin… I can't believe I did that."

"Seems like dementia is setting in," Severus joked.

She rolled her eyes. "I should expect no less from you, Severus Snape. You enjoy poking fun at me."

"Do I, now?"

"You're constantly calling me a Know-it-All or a worry wart. You make fun of my obsession with being over-prepared for everything."

"Well, sounds like you need to chill."

She laughed. "I don't know if your older self would phrase it like that, but you thought that would be good for me in the future too."

Returning to the potion, Severus nodded. "I'll find some other people who have forgotten something to continue these tests."

"See if you can find people who want to remember past memories, too. I think that will move us forward towards actually curing memory maladies."

"Once we have tested this on remembrances and memories, we can take this base and experiment as to how this can affect more severe memory issues," Severus reiterated for clarification.

"Right. You'll need to do some research as to what can be added to develop the potion. We can experiment during our lab time in the evenings."

Severus agreed. "I'll ask some classmates and teachers if they need to remember something like you did. And any of them can be used to rediscover memories."

"Excellent. I look forward to how this will work out, Severus."