A/N- Alright, so here's an extra long chapter for you all. The scene at the end was actually from an earlier chapter, but my friend kindly pointed out that it had seemed out of place, and fit in this one much nicer. I am actually really self-conscious about this chapter, and I would really, really appreciate a word or two telling me if you enjoyed it! 60 reviews already, I absolutely adore you guys. Thank you for reviewing, and alerting! Enjoy!

WARNING - Slightly graphic descriptions of explicit content. Don't like, don't read the last few paragraphs.

Hermione stretched, groaning at how stiff her muscles felt. She had spent the past four hours reading, engrossed in trying to find something, anything that was relevant to her search. Leaning forward, she glanced at the calendar. December 10th. Only fifteen days until Christmas, she thought with astonishment. Briefly she wondered what she would do, seeing as she was no longer with Ron. She quickly reassured herself, though. She would spend Christmas Eve with her parents in Sydney, Australia – they had liked it so much there that they decided to settle down after Hermione had come with Harry to restore their memories – and then go to the Burrow for Christmas Eve with her second family. She smiled, thinking of the Weasleys. Fred and George would most certainly be there, and Bill with his wife Fleur and their two children, Victoire and Dominique. She grinned, recalling how cute the two part Veela girls were. Percy would most likely be there too, and everyone had long forgiven him and the tall, pompous redhead was once again a part of the family. She couldn't wait to see the family again, and she wouldn't let Ron bother her, she decided. They had agreed to break up, and it had been done civilly. Looking back, she had no idea how she managed not to explode at Ron, but she was thankful for how level headed they had both been. Even though the guy had cheated on her, she felt almost no resentment towards him.

Focusing back on her book, she started to read again, quickly becoming engrossed in the pages that described various lesser-known potions ingredients. Turning the page, a word caught her eye, and she read the paragraph.

"As it would seem, moondew has been known to affect the subconscious greatly. It is a main ingredient in the potion that induces a sleep so deep it resembles death. In order to achieve that level of unconsciousness, one needs to delve deeper than just shutting down the active mind. Subduing the subconscious is a act one should not undertake lightly. It requires a great deal of accuracy, the subconscious is a volatile part of the mind, as the person themselves can't control it..."

Hermione stared at the paragraph. Moondew? How had she not come across that before? Of course moondew would have something to do with the subconscious. The Draught of Living Death was a potion that not only affected the conscious mind and the physical body, but also the subconscious. It made perfect sense, and it was finally a legitimate start. Excitedly she marked the page. Walking to the door, she was almost out of her quarters when she looked down and realize she was still in her pajamas. Sheepishly, she put the book down and went to shower. After making herself presentable, she sped down to the dungeons. Even though moondew was essential in putting a victim to sleep, or basically shutting the mind down, it was still a very real base, and from there it would be much easier to uncover more of what they needed. Excitedly, she turned down the corridor that led to Severus's office. It seemed strange how well she knew the path, but she had spent multitudes of evenings down here, going over the ideas and books and anything else they could get their hands on. It was elating to finally have a solid start.

She reached the dragon portrait that marked the entrance to Severus's quarters. Knocking loudly, she stepped back and waiting for him to open it, bouncing from one foot to the other in her excitement.

"I don't appreciate being slammed on with your fist," a voice said irately.

Startled, she turned to look for whomever had spoken. "Er, excuse me?"

"Here, you nitwit," the dragon said and flapped its wings. "The colored piece of magically enchanted canvas that had the bad luck to be plastered on the door to a certain bad tempered potions professor."

Hermione stared. She knew portraits could talk, but she had thought only paintings of people had the power of speech. "You can talk?" she said stupidly.

The dragon eyed her. "No, no I can't talk, don't know what gave you that idea," it said dryly.

Hermione had to quickly bite down a giggle. The dragon reminded her terribly of Severus, and she found it a certain irony that the dragon was the door to the dour man's rooms. "I'm sorry, I didn't know portraits of animals could talk."

"Well, I'm happy to have corrected that," it said, still looking at her in annoyance. Its fiery eye roved up and down her, focusing particularly on her unmanageable hair. "You're that Granger girl, aren't you?"

"Er, yes," Hermione said, looking at the dragon in curiousity. "I believe we haven't met, have we?"

"No, we did not. The only time I have seen you was when you rushed down here all helter-skelter, and you looked as though you were ready to pound on me with you fists," at those words the dragon eyed Hermione disapprovingly. "And then our dear professor opened the door and you fell into his arms. It didn't leave much room for pleasantries."

Hermione laughed outright at that, the dragon's irately sarcastic tones were very Snape-esque. "How would you know my name if we never introduced ourselves?" Hermione asked lightly, wondering who had mentioned her to the dragon.

The dragon heaved a sigh, and a puff of smoke was blown out of its nostrils and floated lazily around its head. "Granger, us portraits aren't dumb, and we like to talk. I can name anyone in the school, if I had a mind to," the dragon said with the air of someone mentioning a common fact. "And besides, I can hear the potions master talking about you to himself often. I think his brain has been addled, honestly," it added conversationally.

Hermione paused. Snape talked about her to himself? Briefly, she wondered if the dragon would tell her what Severus said in more detail, but then thought better of it. It was probably nothing but insults that he was too professional to say to her face, since they were working so closely on this project together. Shaking her head, she forgot about it. "That's nice, but I don't suppose it would be too much trouble to get Professor Snape, would it?" she asked impatiently.

"Well, you see, I would," the dragon said in a bored tone, "but he isn't in at the moment. I hope you understand."

"Well do you know when he will return?"

"Professor Snape doesn't deign to tell anyone of his many excursions, I don't expect him to tell a mere painting," the dragon said curtly. "Please leave now, I was enjoying my nap."

Sighing, Hermione walked away, wondering where Snape had gone. It was barely noon, on a Sunday. Disappointed that she not could share her findings right away, she trudged back to her rooms. She spent all day reading the rest of the book, combing it for any other mention of moondew or substances like it. At dinner time, she finally closed the book and headed to the Great Hall. Taking a seat at the staff table, she noted that Severus wasn't there. But then again, he usually wasn't, so she wasn't terribly surprised.

Shoveling her food down quickly, she was anxious to get back to reading. As she stood to leave, she caught a glimpse of black robes that could only belong to one person at the entrance to the Great Hall. Hermione sprinted at top speed towards the corridor, hoping to catch him before he disappeared. Nearly tripping over herself, she slid to a stop in front of Severus, and doubled over trying to catch her breath.

"I – found – something," she managed to choke out, as she gulped down air frantically.

Severus grabbed her arm, hauling her up, and started to stiffly steer her towards the dungeons. "You can tell me when we get to my rooms," he said briskly. Leading her down the corridors they arrived at the dragon portrait.

"Ah! You've returned!" the dragon said, with the air of observing a butterfly passing by. "Good, enter and leave me alone, I've had enough pestering today." The door swung open.

Severus wondered what the dragon meant, but didn't question it. Thrusting Hermione unceremoniously on the couch, he sat down next to her. "Well? What did you find?"

"Moondew!" Hermione said brightly.

"You...found moondew," he repeated. "You nearly ran into a wall because you found moondew?"

"No, moondew is where we need to start!" she said excitedly. "There was a mention of it in Various Magical Substances," she said, and processed to repeat what the book had said, and looked at him expectantly.

Severus nodded, looking thoughtful, his usually dour countenance gone. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense," he mused. "It is a fairly easy ingredient to get, as well," Severus said, as he turned to face Hermione. "It's only one small thing, and it will probably be a dead end, but it's a start!"

Hermione looked at Severus with amusement. She had never seen him act this excited before. He didn't even look excited, but his tone belayed his expression. Hermione grinned, taking that as a compliment. "It is! We should get started right away, Severus!" she said hurriedly. Standing up she started to pace. "We'll need to get several jars of it for testing, and it probably wouldn't hurt to make a batch of the Draught of Living Death," she said. "There has to be other ingredients in that potion that affect the subconscious! Oh!" she said as she stopped. "I'm going to need more parchment, I've used all my stock up on notes!"

Severus raised an eyebrow. She must have written dozens of notes, he thought. Hermione Granger never ran out of something as important as parchment. "I'm sure there will be plenty of time to replenish your stock, Hermione."

Hermione stopped pacing suddenly, and turned to look at Severus, and smiled. "Yes, I suppose there will be. Oh, Severus, I can't believe we found something!"

"You found something, Granger. It's annoyingly Gryffindorish to undermine ones accomplishments," Severus said contemptuously.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and didn't comment. Instead, she continued to debate the uses of moondew, and the Draught of Living Death. They conversed for another hour, but then Hermione arose, saying she needed to sleep. Severus watched Hermione leave, and felt elated at their progress. They had a base substance to work with now. They were on the right track, he thought to himself, and it was exciting to know that their research hadn't been in vain. He would still continue to search through the ancient spellbooks Lucius had lent him. They still needed to figure out the origins of the curse.

Severus sat down, thinking of when he had despised Hermione, especially whilst she was a student. He vividly recalled how she used to bounce on the edge of her seat, and wave her hand in the air, begging him to call on her. She definitely wasn't as annoying, he thought with a start. Even though she still attacked each problem with a ferocity that often left him wondering where she got the energy from. Yes, he was quite glad she had grown up. One of the things he noticed, and was reminded of severely whenever they stood up or walked together, was that she hadn't grown any taller since her fourth year. She remained at a solid five foot four, which meant that Severus towered over her at all times with his six-foot-two frame. She was very petite, he thought. Another thing he couldn't help but notice tonight was how well Hermione had filled out. Having not seen her without her thick teaching robes, she had only been wearing a blue jumper and a pair of trousers tonight. Severus had been slightly surprised to see how womanly her figure had become.

Severus was interrupted from his thoughts by a tapping on the window. He groused at himself, it was good he was interrupted, as his thoughts had been heading down a path he didn't think he would like. Getting up, he strode to the window and opened it, letting in the cause of the noise. A large bird with purple and gold feathers hopped in, and looked at Severus with a curious expression.

He frowned, wondering why Hermione's Fwooper was in his living space. The bird leaned forward and pecked him on the hand, and stuck its foot out expectantly. He grabbed the note on the birds leg, and it unfurled in his hand. Looking down, he read what it said.

Severus,
I just recalled that moondew is also a
key ingredient in Wiggenweld, the potion
that wakes up the drinker, especially from Dreamless Sleep.
Any relevance?
Yours,
Hermione.

He thought about it a moment. Merlin the witch was quick. Not even an hour since she left and she was already telling him about another discovery. Yes, Wiggenweld was extremely relevant, possibly more so, seeing as they'd need the potion to 'awaken' the victim from the effects of the curse. Summoning a piece of parchment and a Self-Inking Quill, he penned a reply.

Yes, quite relevant. More so, even, considering we
have to effectively 'wake up' the victim from the curse.
Yours,
SS.

He gave the note to the bird, and it flew out the window. He left the window opened, no doubt Hermione would have a reply back to him within minutes. She really was overly eager. Severus found himself smirking at that. If anything, they would finish the potion within months simply because Granger didn't rest. He supposed he was glad she was picked to work with him. She got things done efficiently, and she completed most of the reading that would have taken him weeks to go through. She wasn't a dunderhead, he'd give her that. No wonder Draco enjoyed her company, he thought to himself. His godson generally only surrounded himself with people he could hold a conversation with nowadays. Draco, as he had told his godfather, didn't want another pair of buffoons like Crabbe and Goyle for companions. Severus wasn't too sure if Draco had succeeded in that regard or not, he was dating a Weasley, after all.

The purple and gold bird alighted on the armrest of the couch, and stuck out its leg. Severus untied the note, feeding the bird an owl treat he had found in his pockets.

Precisely! Perhaps we should skip
Dreamless sleep entirely, and focus on Wiggenweld
and its ingredients?

H.

Severus found himself silently agreeing with Hermione. Dreamless Sleep had been a good idea, and to be sure they should still brew some and record anything they saw, but focusing on the Wiggenweld Potion would prove more fruitful in the end, he decided.

Wiggenweld would provide more information.
We'll start there tomorrow

SS

Severus sent the bird off, and closed the window. He was tired, and needed sleep. Undressing, he tossed his black robes on the back of the chair in his bedroom, and pulled his black pajama bottoms on. Climbing into bed, he sighed, and tried to get comfortable. He was tense for some reason, and decided to let his mind wander while his body relaxed. Lily. A sudden image of her smiling face surrounded by her fiery red hair appeared in his mind. He sighed again as he let the memories flood his mind. Her laughing at a joke he told her. Lily's beautiful green eyes as she grabbed his hand, and placed it on her waist. Her smile as she looked up at him while they slow danced in the falling snow besides the Black Lake.

Severus's lip twitched, remembering how special that night had been. It was first time he had been with her in that way, and the memory stuck with him as vividly as if it had happened yesterday.

The feel of her soft skin under his fingertips as he slid his hand down her thigh, cupping behind her knee as he drew her leg up and over him. Her soft sighs as he placed gentle kisses along her jawline, tracing a path down to the valley between her breats

Severus groaned, feeling his growing member straining against the fabric of his pants.

Lily's moans as his hand moved under her breast, cupping it as his thumb swirled over the fabric that covered her nipple. How she arched her back to his touch, begged him for more in a breathless voice.

He groaned again. This was as good a way to make him tired as any, he reasoned, and moved his hand down to cup himself over the fabric, squeezing himself gently.

The feeling of her responsive body beneath his, her kissing his neck as his hands explored her body,

Thrusting up, he quickly pulled down his pants, his cock springing free. Grabbing himself firmly, he began to stroke himself, moving his hand up and down his length languorously, enjoying the feel of his palm brushing against the back his tip. Exhaling softly, he gripped himself tightly.

Lily, staring into his eyes as she moved down his body, pausing to kiss his stomach, moving her hand up to cup him gently through the fabric of his jeans. Her eyes staring up at him as the tip of her tongue darted out and licked the head, causing him to shudder. His hands running through her hair, holding her head in place as she wrapped her warm, pink lips around him, her hand working up and down his hard length.

Severus panted, his handed moving faster, his hips thrusting up, keeping with the rhythm of his hand. Hissing softly as his thumb ran over the head, he squeezed tighter and let out a harsh moan. He could feel his release building up, and moved his hand faster still, the pleasurable sensations traveling up his spine, causing him to tremble as he enjoyed the feel his hand, and the images flashing across his minds eye.

Her tightness surrounded his cock as he buried himself in her wet heat, and he stilled, feeling Lily's tight walls pulse around him as she slid her hand down to rub her clit. Groaning, he he began to thrust slowly, drawing himself out and sliding back in, reveling in the feel of her clamping around him, her harsh breathing as she orgasmed, the waves traveling down her body as she whimpered and clawed at his back. "Come for me," she whispered in his ear, arching up into his body as he quickened his pace.

Stiffening, he shouted out as he climaxed so hard it left him lightheaded and trembling. Slumping back into the pillows, he panted and tried to control his breathing. It had been a while since he had done anything like that, and he felt exhausted. Grabbing his wand, he quickly performed a quiet cleaning spell, and laid back down, his body still spasmodically twitching from his climax. Turning over, he closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep almost instantly.

Lily...