A/N- Have I mentioned lately how much your reviews inspire me? Ah, I can't believe the count is nearing 300! I can't thank all of you enough. :) Enjoy!

Severus stood in front of the row of cauldrons, glaring at them intently.

Hermione noted his look of frustration, and said, "Is everything alright, Severus?"

"The sliced bloodroot did not dissolve the way I had hoped. I have yet to test the other methods, but this is not a promising start."

"Well, test the others then, and we'll see for sure whether or not it was a dead end," Hermione said encouragingly. Severus nodded tersely, and moved in front of a new cauldron, waving his wand bath and forth over it whilst muttering under his breath.

Hermione watched him anxiously, willing for the plant to have the properties it was known for. If Severus were correct, the plant would be the last catalyst they needed for the potion; after that it was simply a matter of aesthetics. Biting her lip, she peered worriedly the counter and into the cauldron.

Severus looked up, and noticed how Hermione was chewing on her lip. "I don't think you quite realize how incredibly distracting it is to watch you do that, Miss Granger, I suggest you stop."

Hermione jerked up in surprise. "Do what?"

"That," Severus replied irritably as Hermione did it again. "Biting your lip."

Hermione grinned. "Oh. You don't like that?" she asked innocently, a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes. Severus glared at Hermione as coldly as he could manage, and went back to carefully running diagnostic spells over the cauldron. Hermione smirked, and filed that little tidbit away for future reference. It could come in handy for a few things, she reasoned to herself.

"Bloody hell," Severus swore loudly. "This actually created a poison. The additional clockwise stir completely erased any healing potential, and made it the opposite. Write that down for me. Ground bloodroot requires only 6 clockwise stirs when dissolving in two measures of water."

Hermione nodded quickly, and did as he said. Her small, cramped writing looked rather out of place besides his long, spidery scrawl. Placing the parchment down, she looked at him hopefully. "Any luck with diced?"

Severus' scowled deepened. "No. It is as useless as water, in this case."

Hermione sighed. "There are two more; shredded and crushed. It doesn't always work the first try," she added gently.

Severus rolled his eyes, and remained silent. Focusing on his work, he ran the spell for the third time over the crushed bloodroot. He could feel the fatigue from casting the challenging spell again creeping up on him, and he felt irritated. By the time he was done, he would have to spend the rest of the evening sleeping. Muttering the incantation under his breath, he willed it to work, to show something. When the results appeared negative, he groaned in frustration. "Nothing again."

Hermione felt herself becoming chagrined at the lack of success. Unknowingly, she bite her lip in annoyance again. Severus looked up, and felt something stir in his groin as he watched the bushy haired witch bite on her lower lip. Briefly, Severus considered how adorable she looked, with her slight frown and her hair a mess. Shaking his head clear of the thoughts, he finished the spell, waiting for the results.

The potion shimmered, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "It works. Its properties release the hold of negative magics in the body and mind. It works," he repeated, feeling slightly dazed at the discovery. Vaguely, he registered that after all this was done with, he would be writing quite a few articles on the subject. Before the thought could go any further, he was shoved to the side by someone ramming into him. Looking down in surprise, he nearly choked on the mass of mushy hair that was suddenly under his nose.

Grinning, Hermione looked up at him. "Congratulations on your second revolutionizing potions discovery of the year, Professor," she said with amusement.

Severus smirked, and quickly leaned down, covering her lips with his. Hermione was surprised briefly, but it quickly passed as she let herself melt into the kiss, and closed her eyes. Swiping her tongue along his lower lip, Severus readily granted her access. Taking the opportunity, she started to explore his mouth as his hands moved from her hips to her lower back, splaying his hand across it possessively.

Grinning slightly as Severus pulled her closer, Hermione broke the kiss and tried to catch her breath. "I'm finding more and more that I particularly enjoy your method of celebrating success."

Severus smirked slightly as he looked down at her, the amusement at her words dancing in his eyes. "The true celebration will come with the potion being successful. It does not do to count your chickens before they hatch."

Hermione felt her breath hitch at the underlying promise to his words, despite the tone being innocent. There was a flash of something indescribable in his eyes, and Hermione realized quickly that to him, this was definitely something more. The thought made her smile brightly, and she leaned up, kissing him lightly. Severus returned the rather chaste kiss, and released his hold on her.

"What's left to be done?"

"The potion as it is now, is stable and completely effective according to my diagnostic spells. The only issues would be the side-effects. Nausea, headaches, residual nightmares. The residual nightmares couldn't be helped, as the subconscious will need to essentially work the fear out of their system. But the headaches and nausea have cures. Just a simple addition of essence of daisy root for the nausea and–"

"Some star-thistle for headaches. A drop of peppermint extract as well, as that will give the much a palatable flavour and help the starthistle and daisy-root work better together," Hermione interrupted thoughtfully.

Severus looked at Hermione in mild surprise. "The peppermint would be a nice touch, yes. Run the testing spell, Hermione, and see how much of each ingredient we would need to add."

Hermione nodded, and quickly complied, weaving her wand in intricate looking circles in the air above the cauldron. Muttering under her breath, she studied the various signals the spell was giving her. "Three...no, two and a half drops of peppermint, one measure of daisy root essence, and half a measure of sliced star thistle." She turned to look at Severus. "I'm pretty sure, but you should run the test as well just to be positive. We can't afford any mistakes, especially as the first human trial will have to be one of the victims."

Severus nodded, and quickly completed the testing spells. "It all seems in order, but you will have to add three clockwise stirs for every counterclockwise when you add the star-thistle. Otherwise it will counteract badly with the moondew. It will need to simmer for 24 hours before it will be ready to take to St. Mungo's."

Hermione nodded, and started to slice the star-thistle. Severus measured out the peppermint and daisy root essence, and quickly added them to the potion. Hermione scooped up the sliced root, and gently slid it into the cauldron. Frowning in concentration, she started to stir. Severus watched her with amusement; she was biting her lip again. He instantly felt a surge of jealousy, he wanted to be the one biting her lip.

Shaking his head at his thoughts, he waited until she was done stirring. "All done," said Hermione brightly. "Now it just has to simmer. Shall we eat?"

After making sure the flame was at the right temperature, they left the lab and headed towards the kitchen, where Frannel was already setting the table with a rather exorbitant spread. After eating, they retired to the sitting room. Severus sat at his corner of the couch, and Hermione quickly sat at his side, grinning slightly when he place his arm around her shoulders. Summoning a book about the theory behind becoming and animagus, she began to read.

Severus twirled his finger around one of her curls absently as he read about the results of muggle psychology. After discovering the tip in the muggle alchemy book that led him to the dittany discovery, he had decided to educate himself on muggle psychology methods. It was interesting, and he was soon lost in the pages.

"Aminagus magic has its roots in elemental magic, correct?"

"Yes, it does. I own a book on the lore associated with becoming an animagus," Severus replied, entirely nonplussed by Hermione's sudden question. He had quickly become used to the fact that Hermione was apt to simply blurt out whatever questions came to her mind the second they appeared.

"Really? You should let me read it. I've been meditating often, but I feel like I'm missing some vital aspect to the mental training," Hermione replied thoughtfully.

"The meditating doesn't help with the actual transformation, Hermione. It's a tool you can use to gain a more full and rounded idea of who you are, and the events and people that helped shape you. If I had to compare the moment of transformation, it would be like diving down to the bottom of a wide, deep pool, and finding a single pearl; a pearl that you knew was there but had to find."

"So basically, what you're saying, is that sifting through my memories and such really only serves to make the 'pool' wider and deeper?"

Severus nodded, once again feeling pleased that she could catch on so quickly. "Precisely, when you feel as though you know yourself enough, that is the point when you 'dive' into your psyche."

"Well, I've been meditating for weeks now. I think in a couple more days I'll be able to, although I won't try until after we've tested the potion. I've heard the process can leave you feeling magically drained for a couple days."

"It can; I felt only slightly fatigued after my first transformation. After the first time, though, it becomes as easy as casting a spell."

Hermione nodded decisively. "I'll try for it in a few days, after the potion has been completed."

The two returned to silence, both caught up in their respective books. Severus found quickly that he couldn't concentrate. A thought that had struck him a few days earlier had grown into a niggling fear that he knew wouldn't die down unless he got reassurance. "Hermione."

She turned to look at him, wondering at the odd sound in his voice. "Yes?"

"The potion is almost finished," he said quietly, his arm still around her.

"Yes, it is," she replied slowly, wondering what he was getting at.

"What are your plans for after it is completed?"

Hermione didn't respond for a moment as she thought about it. She had never really thought about it. The potion had quickly become the main focus of her existence, and returning to teaching was about as far as she had gotten. "Return to teaching, I think. Why do you ask?"

"I want to continue our...relationship," he said. "I would rather it not end with the potion."

Hermione smiled to herself, and she leaned into Severus. She knew what they had was real, and Severus had feelings towards her, but it was beyond nice to hear the stiff, distant man say he wanted them to continue being together. "I don't want it to end either."

"Then it will not."

"Well? Vat do you have to tell me?" Vegar looked at the wizard in front of him with irritation. Lestrange was back, when he was supposed to still be performing the curse on people. "There had better be an excellent reason why you are back."

"Someone's working on a cure for the curse."

"There is no cure."

"The Ministry thinks differently. It's the magical world, Vegar," Lestrange replied wearily. "If someone has the capability, a counter spell or jinx could be created."

"No. I made my own modifications to the curse. It cannot be rectified. You are mistaken."

"Well, I figured I'd warn you, especially if it works. You can never be to careful," Lestrange said. In his eyes, Vegar was shaping up to be almost exactly like the Dark Lord. Powerful, prideful, arrogant. The only things that were missing were Voldemort's reckless love for causing pain and anguish. Vegar was certainly not merciful, but to him, causing pain was a means to an end. For the Dark Lord, it had been pure joy.

Lestrange suppressed a slight shudder as he recalled the maniacal gleam that had entered the Dark Lords mind whenever he tortured someone, or forced someone else to torture the unfortunate victim. He had delighted in the actions himself at the time, but since being in Azkaban, his views on causing needless pain had changed some. However, cursing people for Vegar was different. It was for the greater good.

"And of Potter?"

"I got his girl. His other friends seem to enjoy the low life. I can't seem to find or get close to the Granger girl, or the Weasley boy. Too protected, I'm thinking. The wizarding world can't have their Golden Trio getting hurt," he said with a sneer.

Vegar leaned back in his seat and remained silent. Lestrange wondered at what the strange man was thinking, but didn't comment on the sudden silence. Instead, he continued to drink, and plan in his head who he would attack next.

"Did you get any hints as to who was vorking on the cure?"

"No. Only that it was a collaboration with someone else, and the Ministry is extremely hopeful. Whoever it is, they're good, apparently."

Suddenly, an idea struck Vegar. "The curse cannot be rectified with another spell. But a potion may be able to. If the Ministry needed a potion created, who vould they go to?"

Lestrange's eyes widened as he realised what Vegar was saying. "You think the cure will come in the form of a potion?"

"It is the only vay. Only a person of unheard of magical talents vould be able to create a counter spell. A potion, however...a potion vorks in a different vay than a spell. It could vork. It vould vork, if the right potion were to be created."

"Granger is known for her potion skills, I think. Everyone worships her as the brightest witch of her age, though, so there's no surprise there. They said it was a collaboration...I can't –" he paused, and looked up, an expression of dawning comprehension on his face. "There's a bit of irony for you, but I think the other person working on the potion could be Severus Snape."

There we go, Severus.

Ah...we're getting close now!