Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own it — I wish! Unfortunately, Harry Potter belongs to JKR and not to me; I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Author's Notes:

» Hermione changes her name during the story. However, to make it easier to understand, I'll continue to refer to Hermione by the name we all know. The only times her new name will be used is when she introduces herself to new people, or when someone is speaking to her and addresses her by name.

» This story is has been written in full and new chapters will be posted approximately twice a week.

» Thank you to atokkota for her support and feedback.

.o.O.o.

CHAPTER 10

Reuben Weasley was absolutely furious that he would be treated like this. 'How dare that git give me detention? Gale shouldn't be in this school anyway; she deserves everything she gets. Stupid Slytherins sticking together!' he thought in anger and went storming off to his Uncle Harry to complain about the punishment levied on him by Severus Snape. Harry, as Reuben's Head of House, queried the punishment in the staffroom that very evening. Reuben had again tried to downplay it and when Harry challenged Severus, he was soon put in his place.

"He pushed Miss Gale down a flight of stairs, Potter. And, no, it wasn't an accident. It was entirely intentional. He has been verbally abusing her since the first day of the school year and he takes every opportunity to push and shove her — usually into something hard and painful."

"Reuben wouldn't do that," Harry protested automatically.

Severus sighed. "Just like Ronald Weasley wouldn't beat up his girlfriend? Reuben Weasley is his father's son: lazy, ignorant, prejudiced and with a more violent version of Molly Weasley's temper. You're doing it again, Potter. You're absolving Weasley without even investigating to ascertain what actually happened."

"How do we know that she's not lying? It's his word against hers in this instance?" Harry demanded.

"Once I found out about today's incident, I did some asking around. As a result, I've received several witness accounts, and not solely from my Slytherins, regarding Mr Weasley's abysmal treatment of Miss Gale. Let me tell you that Miss Weasley and Mr Lupin were among the students making the strongest complaints," Severus replied.

"Harry," said Ginny wearily. "You don't believe any more than I do that Reuben is innocent."

"No," agreed Harry sadly. "But as his Head of House, I should at least check on the evidence before tacitly approving such a harsh punishment."

"Harsh? Quite frankly, if the school rules and the Board of Governors would allow it, I would give him an infinitely harsher punishment than mere detention and points loss!" exclaimed Severus incredulously.

Harry regarded Severus steadily. "Severus, if you had awarded him detention for six months, I wouldn't have said a word. But such a severe loss of points is harsh because you've punished the entire House and not just the one boy who is guilty."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "The entire purpose of awarding or deducting points is so that the House will bring pressure to bear in order to bring in line one whose behaviour is unacceptable. I will not rescind the points forfeited by Mr Weasley, however, should his attitude not improve, I will make sure to punish only him."

"Should we perhaps inform his parents?" suggested Pomona Sprout. "Had this been Ronald or his brothers, Molly would never have stood for it. We would have been drowning in Howlers by now! Perhaps they can rein in their son?"

"I'm afraid that Ronald is raising his son to be as reprehensible a reprobate as he is. Even Mundungus Fletcher is a more admirable and upstanding citizen than Ronald Weasley," said Minerva, her disapproval clear. "Other than Peter Pettigrew, I've never been so disappointed in one of my cubs. I know that Ronald Weasley's siblings and their spouses all despise him, even Ginevra and Harry here. Molly and Arthur are at their wits' end with him."

"Weasley…" scorn and disdain were dripping from Severus' voice, "is a pathetic excuse for a father and I never cease to be surprised that he is the son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, who were admirable parents to each and every one of their children. He's an amoral, feckless, irresponsible, selfish, lazy, lout who has three children — that he knows about, anyway; it wouldn't surprise me if he's fathered more, given his promiscuity — but who sees nothing wrong with ignoring two of them completely.

"Their mother hasn't received so much as a single knut in support from him. Not only that, but when Mr George Weasley decided to help support his nieces, Ronald tried to stop George from giving Miss Parkinson a job. Ronald told George, in the middle of Diagon Alley no less, that if Miss Parkinson needed a job, and I quote, then she should get one at a brothel in Knockturn Alley, like the slut she is. And this despite the fact that he is the only person she has ever had sexual relations with — and that solely because he drugged her. He has admitted as much. He's even quite proud of it.

"In the Muggle world, Ronald Weasley would have been arrested for rape and for not supporting his children. He's hardly a prime exemplar of decent and admirable behaviour and he's raising his son to be a petty thug, just like himself. Most of the pupils barely tolerate young Mr Weasley. Miss Gale, on the other hand, is bright, popular and intelligent. She has developed a potion — a first year with one month's magical schooling, no less! — that I have been trying to create for years and have failed miserably in my endeavours."

There was a stunned silence. "That's highly impressive," said Filius Flitwick in awe.

"She truly is her mother's daughter, just without all the incessant hand-waving." Severus sat back to await the inevitable reaction and it was not long in coming.

"Her mother? You've spoken to Miss Gale? She's Hermione's daughter?" piped up Harry, predictably honing in on the comments about her mother rather than the extraordinary achievement of developing at the age of eleven a potion that had baffled the Potions Master himself, and ignoring all the rest.

"Yes, I have spoken to her and I have no doubt that her mother is Hermione Granger. However, Miss Gale is unaware of this fact. She knows her mother by no name other than Nonie Gale, so please don't interrogate her about her mother. Don't write to Miss Granger either — I already sent her a letter informing her about today's incident. I also informed her about the punishment that has been levied upon the boy but, despite that, I rather doubt she will be too interested in receiving a letter from you right now, given the circumstances."

"Harry, I agree. Wait until we receive a reply from Hermione before you contact her and don't tell anyone else that we seem to have found her. She's not going to want to be overwhelmed by Weasleys when one of them has just attacked her daughter," interjected Minerva, looking apologetically at Ginny, who needed in acknowledgement.

"Are you sure it's really her?" Harry asked plaintively, his green eyes shining with hope.

Severus relented. "Her mother was a Gryffindor. Her mannerisms are pure Granger. She also told me the story about her mother storming out of Divination and not going back, and the story of the Polyjuice accident. She even showed me a picture of herself with her mother. It is quite remarkable just how much like her mother she is."

"That's Hermione," Harry breathed excitedly.

"Severus, what are you going to do with the potion Miss Gale created?" asked Minerva curiously.

"I'm going to patent it in her name and then I'm going to brew large quantities of it, because I can guarantee that there will be a market for it. I even have use for it myself," he replied, although he would use Epsom Salts which he would purchase in bulk, instead of the small box of commercial bath salts that Aimée had used.

"What is the potion?" asked Pomona curiously.

"Madam Gale suffers from muscle spasms and occasional joint pains as a result of being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse during the war — something that many people who have suffered the curse experience. I have not yet managed to created a cure or even simply a magical means of alleviating the symptoms. Apparently Madam Gale has been using a variety of Muggle methods, none of which are completely successful on their own but which, when combined, are apparently more so than any magical method currently available. Miss Gale has created a new potion that blends elements of the various Muggle methods Madam Gale has been using together with elements of certain existing magical potions. The potion is quick and straightforward to make — anyone who can brew a Pepperup or basic pain relief potion can brew this — and I have absolutely no doubt that it will be effective. It's not a cure but it will treat the symptoms and bring relief. The potion is topical and is applied by simply adding it to your bath and soaking in it. It will also aid with the symptoms of arthritis and can even be used as a simple feel-good relaxant in your bath, as it won't cause any harm by using it even if you have no medical need of it."

Neville Longbottom whistled. He had taken over the Herbology position from Pomona, who was semi-retired. She still lived in the castle and continued her Head of House duties, as there were currently no other Hufflepuffs on staff apart from Madam Pomfrey¹¹, but she no longer taught any classes. Instead, Neville taught Herbology in her place but he actually lived outside the castle. His wife, Hannah Abbott, was the new proprietress of the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, and the couple lived on the premises, with Neville flooing to Hogwarts every day. "That is utterly brilliant," he said.

Neville was another one who had suffered from the torture curse during the war. He had led the resistance against the Carrow twins, who were running the school for Voldemort during the last year of the war, along with Ginny Potter, then Weasley, and their friend, Luna Lovegood. The students had regularly been tortured and Neville had often taken on the punishments of younger pupils in addition to his own, in order to protect them as best he could. He had therefore experienced the curse very many times over the course of that year. Luna and Ginny had luckily escaped any after-effects but Neville had not been as fortunate. However, unlike his parents who had been tortured into insanity, the Cruciatus had affected him physically rather than mentally.

Severus had spent years suffering the Cruciatus. It was the Dark Lord's favoured form of reprimand when one of his Death Eaters failed or displeased him. The Dark Lord had tortured him innumerable times and had also made other Death Eaters torture him on occasion. Only his superb Occlumency shields had prevented him from losing his mind to the pain. He had survived but the physical effects lingered.

Hermione Granger had been subjected to the curse on only one occasion, but for an extended period of time. It had been at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange, whose Cruciatus was second to none in its viciousness. Even Voldemort himself had not taken as much enjoyment from casting that curse as the insane witch had. For Bellatrix Lestrange, causing pain to others was pure pleasure. Voldemort may have experienced satisfaction in causing pain but he had completely disconnected himself from even the veriest modicum of a sense of pleasure, and so torture was more a tool to him. Other than Severus, Hermione was the only person who had survived such intense torture by Bellatrix with both her life and her sanity intact. However, even Severus had not been held under Bellatrix Lestrange's Cruciatus for such an intensive, single session as Hermione had.

Severus could see that he was not the only one who was looking forward to testing this potion. It would seem that Neville would be very happy to try it too. Severus had every confidence that Hermione would be thrilled with her daughter's Christmas present for her this year and, as an additional present, she would be bursting with pride over Aimée's achievement. Privately, he was very thankful that Aimée clearly had her mother's brains. 'It would have been such a waste if Miss Gale had her father's intellect rather than her mother's,' he mused. He was also surprised that no one else had yet asked about Aimée's father but realised that they had all assumed that Gale was Hermione's married name, a misapprehension he had chosen to further by referring to Hermione by the ambiguous title of 'Madam' instead of the more precise appellation of 'Mrs' or, in her case, 'Miss.'

'It's a good thing none of them know when young Miss Gale's birthday is, or they'd all be far more interested in the girl's father.' When he looked up her date of birth, Severus had worked out that the timing was right for Aimée to be the daughter of Ronald Weasley. Had Aimée been one of the youngest students in her year instead of one of the oldest, there would have been plenty of time for Hermione to move on from Ronald Weasley and meet someone new prior to her daughter's conception. He was disconcerted by how much this idea disturbed him.

"Have you noticed her wand?" asked Neville. "It's very unusual. It's certainly not an Ollivander creation."

"I presume she got it from a Canadian wandmaker," said Robert Hilliard loftily. Although his was one of the classes in which the use of wands was required, he had not paid any attention to his students' wands. "What's so special about it? It's just a wand, isn't it? How unusual can it be?"

"Yes, I have noticed," replied Filius, as Severus sneered at Robert's ignorance. "I asked her about it and she informed me that it was custom made. It is apparently made of two wand cores and two wand woods. Apparently her mother's is also a custom wand from that same wandmaker and is just as unusual."

Severus sat up with a bang. "She has a Curran wand?"

"What's so special about that?" asked Robert in confusion. "I thought Ollivander was supposed to be the best?"

"Ollivander is the best for ready made wands but Curran wands are custom made and they are works of art. Garrick Ollivander's wands are crude twigs in comparison to Boyce Curran's custom wands," Severus explained. "Did she tell you what her wand is, Filius?"

The diminutive man nodded. "Indeed she did, Severus. Beech and pear wood, with a Caladrius feather and Kitsune whisker core."

Like Neville had done earlier, Severus whistled. "With a wand like that, no wonder she has an affinity for potions. I'm just surprised that she's shown no interest in healing."

"Give her time," replied Filius wisely. "If I remember correctly, the theory aspect of the potions curriculum for the younger years covers ingredients — the different means of preparation and the interactions between them. An interest in healing may be stirred when her potions theory lessons start covering how the potions interact with the body. The Caladrius feather obviously shows an affinity for healing and, given her ability with potions, I would imagine she will be particularly talented at healing potions. I wonder what ability the Kitsune who supplied the whisker had. I don't remember hearing of any Kitsune with an ability for brewing potions, although I suppose it might have had healing abilities," he said dubiously.

"Or perhaps it might have had earth magicks," Pomona Sprout suggested. "Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures are both forms of earth magic and, given the main sources of potion ingredients, that makes potions an earth magic, too."

"That is possible," agreed Severus, nodding at Pomona.

The evening had been full of shocks and the staff disbanded soon after. The next morning, Severus received a letter from Nonie Gale. With one glance at the handwriting, he received another confirmation of her original identity. She thanked him for informing her of what had happened to Aimée and for his assurance that the perpetrator would be suitably punished. The letter also contained a rather scathing condemnation of the fact that inter-House prejudice was apparently still alive and flourishing, with no evidence of lessons having been learned since the war. Hermione had a rich vocabulary and a fine turn of phrase and he had appreciated her diatribe immensely, especially since he agreed with every word.

As his month of detentions continued, Reuben vowed to get his revenge against the girl who he blamed for the trouble he found himself in. His House was furious that he had lost them so many points and, not the most popular of students at the best of times, they took great pleasure in demonstrating that to him. The products from his Uncle George's joke shop played a prominent part in how his fellow Gryffindors expressed their displeasure and Reuben's ire increased exponentially.

Aimée had continued her extra-curricular brewing a couple of nights a week. On those evenings, Reuben's detentions were served with the school caretaker, Argus Filch. Reuben was not sure whose detentions were worse: Snape's or Filch's.

One evening during his third week of detention, Reuben noticed Aimée leaving Snape's classroom and wondered why she was there at that time of night. 'I could get her into trouble for being in the Potions classroom when she's not supposed to be,' he thought gleefully, slipping in after her to see what she had been doing. Seeing a cauldron labelled with her name standing in stasis, he grinned evilly. Rather than merely snitching on her, he decided instead to sabotage the potion.

'If I tell on her, even to Uncle Harry or Filch, Snape will just stand up for her anyway,' he justified it to himself.

Some years previously, Harry had rather fatally introduced George Weasley not only to Muggle fizzy drinks but also to what happened if you put Polo Mints or Mentos into a bottle of Coke¹². George had roared with laughter and had promptly gone off and created magical sweets that would have a similar effect when placed in pumpkin juice or any other wizarding drink. They were an extremely popular item from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and so many kids in Hogwarts had tubes of the innocuous looking sweets that it would be impossible to tell just who had placed one in Aimée Gale's cauldron.

Reuben did not have any of the sweets with him right now but he had plenty of them in his dorm. Later that night, when everyone in Gryffindor was asleep, he sneaked out of the portrait hole and carefully made his way down to the dungeons. One of the first things they had been taught in Potions was to apply and remove stasis spells, for use with potions which would take longer than one lesson to brew. Slipping quietly into the classroom, he drew out a tube of Candy Explosions from his pocket and removed one. As he was about to remove the stasis spell, he hesitated. 'I don't know what's in that cauldron. One might not be enough,' he thought and tipped out half a dozen of the candies. Removing the stasis spell, he dropped the candies in and quickly reapplied the spell. The Candy Explosions would not interact with the liquid in the cauldron until the stasis spell would be removed again.

Reuben managed to get back to the Gryffindor common room without being caught by a member of staff and congratulated himself on a job well done. What he did not realise was that Teddy Lupin had also been out after curfew for his own nefarious purposes and had followed the younger boy from the dungeons back to the common room.

'What has he been doing now?' thought Teddy, resigning himself to the fact that Reuben had probably been up to no good and that when he was caught, as he inevitably would be given Reuben's lack of subtlety and forethought, it would not do Gryffindor any favours.

Two days later, Aimée returned to the dungeons to continue the potion she was working on. This was not a potion she had created but it was far more advanced than first years got to brew in class. She was thrilled that Professor Snape was so agreeable about mentoring her and her knowledge and skill in the subject were advancing by leaps and bounds. She bounced into the classroom, giving her surly professor a cheery greeting. She knew by now that marking papers always made him grumpy but he had a bit of a soft spot for the young girl and gave her exuberance the warm look and slight lip curl that passed for a smile with him, rather than the snarl that anyone else would have received, as she gathered together the ingredients and implements she would need for the next stage of the potion she was brewing.

"Be careful, Miss Gale," he called out in warning. "Make sure the arrowroot is completely dissolved in the potion before you add the next ingredient, or the potion will congeal rather than thicken and will therefore be wasted." Severus' eyes softened as he watched Aimée deftly preparing the ingredients she would be needing for this brewing session. Never before had he mentored a student as bright and precocious as Aimée Gale and he was charmed by the spirited little witch.

"Yes, sir," she replied, as she carefully continued preparing her ingredients, not allowing herself to be distracted. She cancelled the stasis charm and added in the arrowroot, stirring carefully as there seemed to be lumps that she had not expected. Of course, Aimée did not know that these lumps were the Candy Explosions and not clumps of arrowroot. George Weasley had designed the Candy Explosions to have a delayed effect and so Aimée was not yet aware that there was something very badly wrong with her potion.

As she stirred, Aimée noticed that the contents of the cauldron were beginning to bubble in a way that this potion should never do. "Professor, help!" she cried in a panic, backing away from the cauldron as she tried to reapply the stasis charm, not yet knowing how to banish the potion. Unfortunately, her hands were shaking so badly, that the charm failed. Severus sprang up at Aimée's call but before he could come to the rescue, the cauldron exploded. The explosion was worse than any other Severus had seen in all his years of teaching, blasting him off his feet and sending him crashing into the wall behind his desk.

"Miss Gale? Aimée?" Severus croaked, shaking his head blearily to try and clear the ringing from his ears. Pulling himself upright with an effort, he staggered over to his student's workbench. Taking in the extensive damage he carefully levitated the cauldron away from the flame before it could explode again. Aimée had also been blasted halfway across the room by the explosion. She was very still and white, with her leg bent at an unnatural angle. She was also covered in the hot, bubbling potion, which was burning her. He was dismayed to see that the burns were as much from the potion itself as from the heat of the liquid. Dropping to his knees beside her, he first checked her pulse, relieved to feel a faint beat. Banishing the potion from her skin, he ran a diagnostic charm and paled. Quickly conjuring his Patronus, he sent it off to Poppy Pomfrey. Two minutes later the fire in his office flared green and she stepped out of the floo.

"What happened, Severus?" the Mediwitch asked as she came into the classroom. Dropping to her knees beside Severus she began running diagnostics over the girl. "She's got second degree burns, slight internal bleeding, a badly broken leg and several cuts and contusions."

"Her cauldron exploded. Obviously!" he said. 'Can the woman not see that for herself?' he wondered absently, as he concentrated on helping Poppy stabilise the young girl.

"What was she brewing at this time of night?" Poppy demanded.

"It was an extra-curricular project, at her request. Poppy, I was right here in the room with her. I know what potion she was brewing. I was watching as she worked and she did nothing wrong. Even if she had made a mistake, it certainly shouldn't have caused an explosion of this magnitude, nor should it be causing what looks like chemical burns. At worst it should have caused her potion to congeal. Once you're able to move her to the hospital wing, I want to analyse the remnants of her potion and see if I can work out what caused it to explode, unless you still need my help. I'm not sure a generic burn paste will work in this instance. I think it will need to be more directly focused," Severus explained as the Mediwitch worked on the young girl.

"She's stable enough to be moved now and, no, I don't need your assistance yet. Go and get me a counter-agent to that potion before she ends up permanently scarred," the Mediwitch replied, putting Aimée into medical stasis and levitating her onto a conjured stretcher.

Poppy departed for the hospital wing and Severus looked round the room and sighed at the destruction that had been caused. Then he got to work. The cauldron was shattered into pieces, but the bowl of the cauldron had enough liquid remaining in it for analysis. Donning a pair of dragon-skin gloves, he carefully carried it down to his private lab so that he could deconstruct the potion. As he poured it into a clear glass beaker, he noticed some partially dissolved lumps in the potion.

'What in Merlin's name are those? There shouldn't be anything like that in this potion,' he wondered. Grabbing a mini ladle, he scooped one out and placed it into a petri dish. Turning it over with a pair of tweezers, he made out the remnants of the WWW logo on the mushy surface of the item and cursed loudly. Striding over to a cabinet, he unlocked it and withdrew a folder. Even though nearly all the WWW products were banned, the staff was realistic enough to know that contraband would make its way into the school and Severus made sure always to have an up-to-date catalogue of their products available, just in case… although he had been thinking more of an allergic reaction, rather than sabotaged potions. And Severus was certain this was deliberately and maliciously done. Aimée would certainly not have done something like this herself. She took brewing potions far too seriously for that. Looking through the pictures, he identified the contaminant.

With a muttered 'Incendio,' he threw some floo powder into the fireplace. "George Weasley's home!" he shouted and stuck his head into the fireplace.

"Weasley! WEASLEY!" he yelled.

George's wife, Angelina, came bustling over to the fire. "Professor! Whatever is the matter? You'll wake the children."

"Find your husband and tell him I need the ingredients for the Candy Explosions urgently. He should floo them through to my private lab. This is an emergency, Madam Weasley."

Angelina nodded and Severus withdrew his head, pacing up and down his lab while he waited for the information from George. It would be almost impossible for him to identify the components of those candies now that they had been contaminated by their contact with the potion. Fortunately, as Severus was getting very anxious, it was only a couple of minutes before George arrived in person. Severus quickly explained what had happened and George confirmed that the sludge in the petri dish was indeed the remnants of one of his Candy Explosions.

"There's more than one candy in here," George observed, stirring the beaker. "The instructions clearly state not to use more than one candy at a time and only with cold liquids. It should certainly never be used while brewing a potion. Whoever did this could have killed her!"

George Weasley may have only achieved three OWLS and he may not have sat his NEWTs but he was almost as much a genius with potions as Severus — at least when it came to developing pranks and joke items, that is. The pair of them worked together to create a neutraliser for the corrupted potion. Thanking George for his assistance, Severus rushed up to the infirmary with the counter-agent, leaving George to floo back home.

.o.O.o.

¹¹ We don't actually know what House Poppy Pomfrey was in; I've decided that Hufflepuff suits her.

¹² If you don't know, search YouTube for Coke and mints.