Author's Notes: So this story has been going for over six weeks now and so I think fifteen chapters is pretty good going. Anyway, there may only be one chapter a week from now on depending on how much time I have to do them. Some weeks I may have more time than others so I may get two chapters out some weeks but we shall see! I am so grateful to everyone that has reviewed and so happy that it's been popular :D
Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing and make no money!
Chapter Fifteen
Severus watched from his position at his desk in amusement at the sheer concentration on his apprentice's face. She bit her lip intently as she first sprinkled the ground dragon's liver into the cauldron, before adding the silverweed as a potential neutraliser.
Hermione had already attempted potential neutralisers for a whole day, before spending the entire following day writing up her notes and then more potential ingredients. Today she was attempting another round of neutralisers and so far it had resulted in one crusted over cauldron with a useless lumpy contents and another that resembled soup but was again useless.
Finally she added the honeywater and horse hair at the same time to test her third potential, for a moment nothing happened, which was slightly unnerving, she glanced into the cauldron and saw the contents bulge up and bubble in the centre. She stepped back as the bubble popped.
"Move!"
Before she had time to do much more than glance towards the sound of her Professor's voice, the cauldron began to vibrate and shake on its stand. She quickly backed away from the potion as fast as possible, as a rush of heat and a bang told her that her neutraliser had failed. Bits of stray potion hit her fortunately thick clothing and she felt a burning on her cheek that told her, that there was potion on her skin that needed to be removed very quickly.
"Off!" she heard the older wizard bark at her, tugging at her sleeve. "Quickly woman, if you still want your skin." She fumbled dazedly with her buttons and pulled off her jacket that was quickly tossed aside.
"Well...looks like I lost that bet pretty quickly." She muttered, reaching for her wand.
"Stop." He snapped, grabbing her wrist to stop her from casting a cleansing charm. "Until you know how magic reacts with an unstable potion you do not cast it, you should know that after years of being in a class with Longbottom."
"Sorry...I guess I wasn't thinking." She frowned. She glanced around the room and noted that thankfully the only damage was to the cauldron she had blown up and to a couple of empty glass vials nearby.
She felt cold on her face and realised that Professor Snape had grabbed her chin and had used a damp cloth to wipe the potion from her cheek.
"Once we have cleaned up you should put some burn salve on that so that it does not leave a mark." He told her. "I'll call in my bet at a later date, for now we will worry about the mess."
He had her put on clean gloves and pick up all of the pieces of cauldron and dump them into a large metal tub in the corner of the room, before standing at a safe distance to run a diagnostic charm on the potion residue. After finding it stable enough to use magic on, the rest of the cleaning was done by magic. She removed her gloves and went to dump them with her ruined robes when she froze, feeling her Professor's eyes on her.
How had he never seen that before? Severus stared intently at his apprentice's left forearm; more importantly the jagged red letters that stood out from her white skin. That was what Bellatrix had done to her at the Malfoy mansion...no wonder the girl hadn't wanted to tell him about it. He knew that she had seen him staring when she froze mid-motion.
"Does anyone know?" he asked.
"Draco does and his parents...obviously," Hermione replied. "And Madam Pomfrey, but by the time I was in a position to ask her to look over it, there wasn't anything she could do."
"And where were Potter and Weasley?" he asked bitterly, stalking up to her.
"They were locked in the Malfoy's dungeon, Sir." She said through gritted teeth. "And then they were a bit pre-occupied with helping us all to escape."
"You were alone when she did this?" he asked, reaching out to her scarred arm. She flinched away automatically, no one had touched it. She didn't want people looking at it.
"How did you know who did it?" she asked suspiciously. She had to wonder if he had actually known what had happened all along but not let on that he already knew.
"Because I know that Bellatrix has a fondness for enchanted blades." He replied. She shuddered at the use of that name and grasped her wand to transfigure her t-shirt into a long sleeved one to hide her arm. She instantly felt more comfortable and he took it as a clear sign that the conversation was now closed. "A conversation for another day perhaps."
"I guess I'll go write up today's attempts in my room and come back tomorrow to try again." She nodded. She quickly made some rough notes on her failed attempts by looking into each cauldron to get a description for the mixture within, before cleaning them all and heading back to her rooms.
Hermione dropped onto her sofa and sighed, Professor Snape had known she would blow up a cauldron and she had been convinced she was better than that. Experimental potions really were a whole different ball game. She tugged her hair loose from its tight bun and decided a quick shower was in order, then she bit her lip thoughtfully; since it was now summer holidays and not all of the staff were here, perhaps it would be her best chance to try out the staff bathrooms.
There were two main staff bathrooms, one up on the fifth floor and another at the very bottom of the main staircases. The one at the bottom of the staircases was closest; she could get there through the dungeon corridors which she hadn't actually tried before, through fear of getting lost but with nothing else to do for a while she had the time to waste if she did lose her way. She did have her own bathroom in her room of course but it was more of a shower room and she imagined that most of the staff had the same, hence the two apparently rather luxurious staff bathrooms.
It took her a while to get to the bathroom but it was instantly worth it, much like the prefect's bathroom there was a large tub in the centre of the room. There were steps that led up to it and pillars surrounding it, as well as a water feature at one end...it was just as beautiful as Professor McGonagall had made it sound. She carefully warded the door and disrobed at the edge of the room hanging her clothing on the hooks on the wall.
She stepped carefully up the steps, grateful that for whatever reason the stone floor was unusually warm. She flicked her wand at the numerous taps lining the side of the tub opposite the door to turn on the water and multicoloured bubbles and sat on the edge of the tub waiting for it to fill. Once it was full enough she flicked the taps off and carefully placed her wand on the steps outside of the tub before sliding into the warm water.
Much like in the prefect's bathroom, she instantly felt the troubles of the day easing away and her body go weightless and limp. She could certainly get used to relaxing like this. She grinned; perhaps Professor Snape should use this bathroom more often, then maybe he wouldn't be so irritable.
Severus placed the last essay onto the pile and leant back in his chair. Hermione's work so far was practically faultless; a little dry for reading material of course but it was all technically correct and would be more than enough to pass her degree. Her ideas for potion experiments were interesting, not perfect and not all of them were likely to work but some could and she really only needed to attempt three different experiments and to be successful in one.
His thoughts drifted to the scar that he'd seen earlier that day. Many had paid a price for the temporary peace that they were now able to enjoy; he knew that better than most...he hadn't expected such a cost for the little Gryffindor. He had known that none of the trio would come out completely unscathed, after all they were three teenagers against adults and monsters. In fact he had been surprised that they were all still alive today. It was just surprising to see a scar that summed up the war so well. She was a symbol for all of the muggleborns out there; powerful, intelligent and standing up against those that threatened them. She gave them all hope and would forever carry the label of that dirty word on her arm for all to see for the rest of her life.
He couldn't help but wonder what other scars she had suffered. He knew that she probably wouldn't open up to him about her injuries if he didn't also. He wondered if he could convince her that she owed him an explanation based on the fact that she already knew of two of his...although he doubted that that Slytherin logic would work with her, she knew him better than that.
A knock at his office door broke his thoughts and he called for the visitor to enter. He was somewhat surprised to see the Head Mistress in his doorway. She swept in and didn't hesitate in pulling a handkerchief from her pocket to transfigure into a cushioned chair in front of his desk.
"To what do I owe the surprise visit Minerva?" he asked curiously, it was not often that she came to his office to see him; usually she preferred to speak with him in her office.
"I have just received a most distressing letter." She frowned. "Professor Gilwing will not be joining us for a second year."
"I see." He nodded. He saw Minerva's problem but if he was honest he was glad that the moron had seen enough sense to not return.
"I have no Dark Arts Professor." She sighed. "And with only five weeks until the start of term I am not convinced I shall find one in time."
"That is indeed a problem." He nodded.
"When I made you my Deputy Severus I was hoping for at least some of the intelligence that I know you to possess to be helpful." She snapped.
"Considering that you are speaking to someone that has also handed in their resignation Minerva I am not entirely sure what you expect me to do." He replied. "Besides I cannot say that I will be sorry to see that buffoon gone."
"You must take the position Severus, there is no one else." She told him matter-of-factly.
"Now there is an offer that is hard to refuse." He snorted. "And if I were to consider taking the position that you previously offered...how do you propose that I might teach both potions and defence against the dark arts next year, while supervising an apprentice and managing my other tasks?"
"That is what I was hoping we could talk about." The headmistress replied. "I was hoping that you may be able to think of a solution."
"Miss Granger is ahead in her apprenticeship at the moment." He relented. "She does not know this but if she continues as predicted she will more than likely finish at some time in the Spring term, or before the beginning of term should she work through the winter holidays but obviously that is not something that we can enforce upon her."
"And you doubted my decision." She smirked at him.
"I never said I doubted it, I just was not fond of the idea." He countered. "This will mean that after the Christmas holiday, both my own and Miss Granger's workloads will be significantly reduced and she would technically be qualified."
"But she won't have had time to build lesson plans or prepare, and that doesn't solve the problem of us being a Professor short immediately." Minerva frowned.
"Miss Granger has been attending and assisting with lessons for years four and below since she began her apprenticeship in January." He told her. "I believe that she could handle at least first through third years alone. If we could fix the timetable so that the fifth through seventh years of defence coincide with those lessons then I can teach the older year of both potions and defence until such a time as Miss Granger can take over the Potions position officially."
"And the younger years defence? Surely you don't mean for her to also teach that considering that she is using most of her other time on her apprenticeship or your extra responsibilities?"
"No, perhaps she could take the first years but I was actually leaning towards a rota." He smirked. "Perhaps Miss Granger for first years and then perhaps find volunteer members of staff to take on a year each?"
"They will want bonuses for this Severus." Minerva sighed. "Filius will probably agree on grounds that I allow him retirement the following year and then I will be short one charms Professor next year!"
"You asked for an idea, I have given you one. You can but ask them." He shrugged. "I cannot physically be in two places at once without some serious violations being made and neither can Miss Granger." He looked at the older witch pointedly and she nodded.
"I wondered how long it would take you to figure it out should she use it this year." She sighed. "I hope she has taken more caution than last time?"
"I believe so." He nodded.
"Good." She agreed. "I am glad that you are looking out for her Severus, I worry about her. You know sometimes I still worry about you too." Seeing his face she let out a laugh. "Don't give me that look young man, you know I've always worried about you."
Author's Notes: So that answers some questions about Gideon. He has handed in his notice and not returning to Hogwarts. He will be mentioned again a few times in the future but he will not be returning to Hogwarts as a Professor. Also remember the bet, it will come back into play later on also