A/N- Alright you guys, here's a quick update to make up for the fact that I can't update until the weekend. I think you'll all be quite happy with this chapter! Thank you for the reviews, I can't believe it's so close to 200. I love every single one, and hopefully you will all shower me with more for this chappy! Enjoy :)

It was the second week of Hermione living with Severus, and things were going very badly. Nothing they did to start the potion was working. The exact measurements of each ingredient was beyond them, and they had tried countless variations. Three drops of moondew instead of two, only half a measure of dittany root essence, but nothing worked. They had gone through five cauldrons already, and although nothing had exploded yet, Severus was prepared for that inevitable outcome.

Hermione was almost at the end of her tether, she spent every waking moment either calculating different measures for the ingredients they had, or reading up on new ingredients. It was difficult reading; Hermione had received a large chest full of forgotten tomes on the subject of ancient potions making from a friend of Harry's, and they were very large and thick, and a lot of them were written in Latin or Ancient Runes, which meant it took even longer to get through as Hermione had to spend time translating it.

Severus spent most of his time doing the actual testing on the ingredients. It was dangerous work, as no one had ever tested these particular ingredients together. He spent a good portion of time writing down exact measurements, and reading whatever he could find on the ingredients to help him figure out which measurements would work well with the other ingredients. The dittany root extract, moondew, the chizpurfle wings, and of course a plain base of neutral water.

It was exacting work, and neither one experienced any enlightening stroke of brilliance since Severus had discovered the dittany root. Hermione had argued at one point that maybe they should have skipped the potion entirely, and just tried pouring essence of dittany root all over the victims, or making them drink it. Severus had to calmly explain to near-hysterical witch that it didn't work like that, as the mentality of a person wasn't something that could be touched, or felt.

Hermione groaned aloud as she slammed yet another useless book shut. Standing up, she stretched quickly, and decided to clear her head by going for a run. Her muscles were sore, and stiff, and severely underused as she spent a good majority of her time with her nose in a book. Jogging up the stairs, Hermione quickly changed into a pair of tight fitting leggings, and a loose tee.

Tying her hair in a sloppy bun as she walked down the stairs, Hermione hurried down to the laboratory to see if Severus had make any progress. She found him carefully chopping chizpurfle wings, a look of utmost concentration on his face. "Severus?" She asked quietly, not wanting to disturb his work.

Severus raised his eyebrow in response, not taking his eyes off the size of the wings he was cutting.

"I'm going for a run, I won't go past the wards, so you won't be barraged by the warning alarms," Hermione said quickly. "I'll see you later!"

Quickly exiting the mansion, Hermione performed some quick warm up stretches. She had gotten into the habit of running a mile or two every day, and she always told Severus when she was leaving; the first time she had left to go out she hadn't told him, or Frannel, and Severus had forgotten to allow a certain ward to let her past, and Hermione had strayed outside the ward and had been unable to come back in until Severus had stepped outside for a breath of air and seen the frazzled looking witch pacing back and forth outside the boundary of the ward.

Needless to say, Hermione had been more than a little annoyed, and Severus hadn't bother to contain his amusement. Eventually Hermione had calmed down and laughed with Severus, but she was still miffed that Severus had forgotten a ward. Hermione giggled slightly as she remembered Severus's short laugh at her annoyance that day.

Starting off to the left side of the property, Hermione rolled her shoulders and emptied her mind, giving herself in to the feeling of the run, and her feet hitting the frozen ground. Once she had gotten into a rhythm, Hermione started to mull over how far they had progressed on the potion. They had several necessary ingredients, enough to make a base for the potion, but it wasn't working. They were missing something, something crucial to the buildup of the potion. The ingredients could work together, Hermione was sure of it, but they were missing the tie, the bridge that allowed the ingredients to compliment each other, whilst retaining their own magical properties.

The subconscious was a difficult thing to deal with in general, but to release it from some sort of Dark magical hold was even more so. Hermione reckoned that they had the part of the potion that dealt with healing, and helping to wake up the mind down, it was that hard push off that they needed in order to break the hold of the Dark magic.

Hermione mused over the many possibilities as she ran, her breath coming out in short burst of white fog. She smiled as she felt the stress of the day melt off her in waves. Hermione let go of her thoughts, and decided to just enjoy her run. It was rare that she got free time, and that was one of the many reasons why she loved to run around Severus's vast property.

She returned just after the sun set, making it inside before the mansion was shrouded in darkness. Entering, Hermione did a few warm-down stretches, and ran upstairs to change her clothes. Coming back down, she headed towards the laboratory, hoping without truly believing that Severus had made some sort of discovery whilst she was away.

Entering the lab, Hermione saw Severus in the exact same position he was in the last time she entered, except this time he had a small smile on his face. "Did – did you do it?" Hermione asked quietly, willing her voice to hide her excitement. Severus rarely smiled, so he must had discovered something.

Severus looked up at her. "3 and a quart measures dittany, 4 drops of moondew, seven clockwise stirs, half a crushed chizpurfle wing, and the potion is stable," he replied in a slightly dazed voice.

Hermione gaped at him. "Stable?"

"Yes."

"Merlin; you did it!" Hermione whooped excitedly as she rushed forward. Severus stood up quickly and scooped Hermione up, swinging her around once before placing her back down.

"We have a base, Hermione, we have a base!"

Hermione grinned excitedly up at him, his arms still around her, but she didn't care. "Severus, you did it, finally! I knew you would find it, it was only a matter of time."

Severus nodded eagerly, the smile still on his face. "We did it, and with a few more weeks, we'll have done it all," he said excitedly. Letting go on Hermione, he turned and slumped back into his chair. "Merlins saggy pants, it's half-way there. It's actually there. Never in my wildest thoughts did I believe this could happen. Creating a potion takes months, years, never mind discovering a new ingredient in the process."

Hermione let loose a laugh, throwing her head back with the force of it. "I can't believe it!"

Severus nodded, a smug expression creeping over his face. "I can, indeed."

Hermione looked at him excitedly. "I think this calls for a break. I have a place I've been wanting to show you. It has something to do with my childhood, it's one of my favourite places, and I think it will help me on my path to realizing more about myself, plus I really just miss it."

Severus nodded, too elated to be confused. "What are you dithering about for, Granger?"

Hermione shot him a half-hearted glare, and the two walked quickly out of the mansion, Severus grabbing his black scarf from the coat hanger on his way out. Grabbing his arm quickly, Hermione spun on the spot.

They landed in a large field of grass, with a ring of pine trees around it. Hermione looked around, the dull glow of the snow giving her face a luminescent quality. Smiling, she turned to Severus. "This is where my parents and I used to go camping. Every summer, we would come here, and we would pitch the tent right over there," she pointed at an area a few feet away from the dense wall of pines. "And the fire was off to the left. But you could see the stars perfectly from here, and it never rained or got cloudy. We would sit outside and just watch the stars for the whole night."

Severus looked around interestedly. It was a beautiful place, he thought to himself. And looking up, he found Hermione's words to be astonishingly true. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the stars twinkled brilliantly. Severus was slightly surprised at the vast amount of stars there were, he hadn't truly been outside in weeks, and it was refreshing to look up at the stars.

Hermione walked up to him, planting herself in front of him. "This was really it, so if you would like to, we can, er, leave," she offered, moving closer to offer her arm to him.

Severus looked down at the witch, her hair seemingly tamed in the dull light of reflecting snow, her amber eyes sparkling as they looked at him questioningly. At that very moment, Severus felt something deep inside him change infinitesimally. He didn't know what it was, and if at that moment someone had asked him what had happened, he would have been as clueless as them. Severus didn't want to know what it was. He knew most kinds of ancient magic was best left untouched, and he didn't want to know how, or why, or what happened. All he knew was it felt absolutely right, in every way.

He shuddered slightly as a light warmth spread from his chest outwards, and without pausing to think about what he was doing, he reached out, wrapping his arm around her waist, and tugged her closer.

Hermione felt her heart skip a beat as Severus pulled her close, and she watched with an almost perfect clarity as he lowered his head slightly, his dark eyes burning into hers. His scent tickled her nose, and she recognized the smell as sandalwood and something that reminded her vaguely of cinnamon. Inhaling nervously, Hermione didn't stop to think about anything, and she leaned forward on her tiptoes, brushing her lips against Severus's gently.

Severus paused slightly at the contact, marveling at how soft Hermione's lips felt, and perfect she tasted; he tasted faintly of vanilla coffee, and Severus found it irresistible. Heaving a sigh, he moved swiftly, crashing his lips against hers. Hermione moaned softly, returning the kiss as one arm reached to wrap around Severus's neck, and she melded her body to his.

Hermione vaguely realized that if she were capable of thought, she would be rather surprised at this turn of events. But the incredible feel of Severus's lips on hers was too strong, and she found herself quite incapable of any coherent thought.

Severus brushed his tongue against Hermione's lower lip tentatively, and Hermione readily allowed him entrance. Shuddering slightly at Severus's gentle exploration of her mouth, her eyelids fluttered at the taste and feel of him.

Hermione ran her fingers through his long black hair, reveling in how soft it felt to her hands. Grinning slightly, she pulled back, breathless. "What on earth was that for?"

Severus considered Hermione's words, his hands still tentatively placed on her waist. "I can't say for sure, as I don't fully know myself," he said cautiously as reality began to slowly trickle back into his mind. It was a wonder the witch wasn't sprinting to the hills, he mused as he looked down at her. Severus didn't know what exactly possessed him to kiss her, but whatever it was had felt so right at that moment, but now...

Well, now, he was thankful she hadn't slapped him and stormed off.

"Well, I don't know either, but was wonderful, Severus," Hermione breathed, looking up at him. It finally all made sense. The strange urge she felt to just be in Severus's company, the warmth that spread across her chest at the thought of him around her. It made perfect sense, and Hermione loved the feeling of finally knowing the strange, seemingly ridiculous feelings that had been assaulting her in recent weeks.

Severus looked down at the witch in mild shock. "Wonderful?" He repeated, calmly keeping the tinge of hope that suddenly sprang up from nowhere from his voice.

Hermione nodded vigorously, her curls bouncing. "Yes, absolutely wonderful. We did it Severus, we did it!"

Severus nodded slowly, letting the truth of her words flow over him. They had succeeded in the impossible, creating an entirely new ingredient, along with finally putting together the solid base for the potion that would hopefully, hopefully cure all those poor souls suffering from the affects of the curse. "We did the impossible, Hermione. Speaking of which, I must go back and owl Minerva, she will want to know immediately."

Hermione readily agreed, and together they apparated back. Hermione hadn't felt this happy in Merlin knew how long, and she reveled in the feeling. As soon as they landed, Hermione felt a wave of exhaustion hit her, and she bade Severus good night, watching him stride off to call Sarthor, and mail Minerva. Walking up the stairs, she flopped into bed after undressing. Smiling, she cast her Patronus, using the memory of that evening as her fuel. Grinning in a slightly idiotic way, she watched the otter gambol around for a few minutes, before she drifted off to sleep.

Severus watched Sarthor fly off, the black bird quickly melting into the darkness of the night. Smirking softly to himself, he climbed the stairs and headed towards his bedroom. Once undressed, he climbed under the duvet of his bed, and cast his Patronus, and nearly fell off the bed in surprise at the silvery creature in front of him.

His silvery, gracefully dainty doe no longer stood in front of him. In its place, what looked like a medium sized wolfish creature sat there, panting happily, and looking him with two large, serious eyes. The look one the wolf's face was offset slightly by the furiously wagging bottle-brush like tail. The wolf bared its teeth, and hopped lightly on the bed, pausing to tilt its head and give Severus another serious look. It bounded off again, and Severus thought it looked slightly like a red wolf, the scruff around its neck looked rather familiar.

Severus stared at the wolf stupidly. His Patronus had changed. Severus didn't think that would ever happen. The doe had been a part of him as surely as Lily was, the two had made up his very being.

Lily.

Somehow, the name didn't have quite the ring it used to. He loved Lily, he always would, but for some incredibly strange reason, that love felt...faded. As though someone had pushed away to the recesses of his mind. Severus huffed and turned to face the Patronus. Something had changed, some realization had planted itself in his mind that night, and because of it, something he had thought was infallible, felt nearly gone.

It was strange, but the more Severus considered it, the more he found it wasn't unpleasant. Frowning slightly, he studied the corporeal creature.

It had to be a dog of all creatures, he thought to himself with a roll of his eyes. A tail-wagging, tongue-lolling mutt. Flopping back on the bed, he stared up at the ceiling in bemusement. A wolfish mutt, how ridiculous. It was better than the feminine doe, he reasoned irritably.

It certainly had something to do with the strange shift in Severus early that evening, before he had kissed Hermione. That strange feeling of something changing ever so slightly in his person had apparently not been as small a change as he had thought. Smirking slightly, he recalled the kiss they had shared. It had been wonderful, as Hermione had so aptly put it. He didn't know what that meant for his and Hermione's relationship, but he found that he did not care at that moment.

Hermione had already wiggled her way into his good graces, and looking back, Severus was almost entirely unsurprised at the turn of events that evening had taken. It felt right, and he wasn't one to oppose or toy with ancient magics. What happened to change a Patronus had to be very strong, and Severus didn't want to meddle. Besides, he thought with a smirk, Hermione would have more than enough to say the next morning.