Author's Notes: I am so grateful for all of the reviews guys! It really makes me happy :D I hope you enjoy

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the books, films, characters and places, not anything else recognisable. I do not make any money from writing this story.

Chapter Eighteen

She stared up at him; his eyes looked darker than ever. His scorching hands pinning hers, offset the chill of the dungeon wall. Her heart felt like it she had been running laps of the castle grounds, as she continued to gaze up at him like a trapped rabbit.

"Please..." she breathed, and then his lips were on hers. His body pressed her against the wall, hot and demanding as his drove his tongue into her mouth. She moaned at the feeling, the sound echoed off of the stone walls around them.

"Hermione." He purred, his mouth dropping to her neck, as he released her arms to wrap his around her frame and draw her hips against his. A thrill shot through her at the feeling of his bulge against her abdomen, causing her to writhe her body against him. He drew his lips back from her to gaze down at her panting against him.

"Don't stop, don't go." She pleaded, her hands clutching at the front of his robes. His arms dropped from her waist and he stepped backwards. She could feel the disappointment rising in her throat as he backed away from her completely. "Please..."

Hermione sat bolt upright gasping in her bed, gripping the covers in her fists. She could feel her insides still clenching with the desire she had felt in her dream. She let out a frustrated groan and rolled onto her front to growl into her pillow.

"I'm getting really fed up of this." She groaned. She rolled back onto her back and let out a huff of air. Her dreams were putting ideas in her head. It was getting harder and harder to stop them from taking over her mind when she was around him. Knowing that he was a master legimens though, she made a rather large effort to keep all of her inappropriate thoughts out of her head while she was around him, lest he see them.

He had made it perfectly clear that he wasn't interested in her that way when he had driven her away before. There was also the fact that he considered her a foolish young girl rather than an available witch. She resigned herself to getting no more sleep in the state she was in, realising it was two in the morning she slipped out of the bed to find her robe. A bath would relax her.

Severus sighed as he placed his mail to one side, so they had finally made a decision...it had taken them long enough. He glared at the open piece of parchment from the Potion Master's Guild for a moment longer, before picking up his quill to pen a message to Hermione.

'Miss Granger

Please meet me in my office following lunch

Professor S Snape'

"What was that bloody house elf called?" he muttered to himself. "Milly!" The small elf appeared in front of him in seconds and he handed her the note. "Deliver this to Miss Granger, as soon as possible. Thank you."

"Yes Sir, Milly does it right away!" the elf fawned before disappearing again with a 'pop'.

He then picked up his research notes and added a few sentences to the parchment. It had turned out that Molly had been a virgin until after she had turned seventeen; this gave him a good point to research with Hermione. Both had been "pure" adults and both had reacted badly to nightshade. What other potential differences would they have to magical situations? Which ones were specific to Hermione because she was still pure, rather than to both because it was a power issue. He found it hard to believe that there could be many huge problems, since Molly hadn't come across many in her lifetime so far. He drafted up a note to send back to Molly asking for a few more details, apologising for the personal nature of the questions but making clear that it was relevant to his research. He wanted to know what age she was and if Mr Weasley was her partner and whether he was affected. He also wanted to know if she had noticed any other changes that happened to her around that time and also if she had noticed anything else unusual about herself over the years.

A knock at his office door interrupted his train of thought.

"Enter." He spoke aloud, surprised when none other than one of the witches in question slipped through his office door. "Miss Granger, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I got your note; I wasn't busy, so I thought I'd see if you were in your office now." She shrugged. He found it unusual to see the girl so quiet and assumed that she must be worried about something... "What's the problem?"

"No problem." He replied, finishing his sentence on his notes and then putting down his quill and focusing back on the young witch in front of him. Since she wasn't brewing and it was still the summer holidays, she wore muggle clothes, dark jeans that clung to her hips and legs and a black sweater with her hair tied into a loose ponytail over one shoulder. He couldn't help but notice that her hair still appeared damp and smell of soap still clung to her. Hermione didn't hesitate to transfigure herself a seat from a loose piece of parchment on the desk and he forced himself to focus on the reason he asked to speak to her. "I have a reply from Molly, it turns out that your thoughts were correct."

"Wow, so what does this mean for your research?" she asked.

"That would be telling Hermione." He replied smugly, "When I have worked through some plans, I may feel generous enough to share my thoughts with you, if you've not driven me mad by then that is."

"Charming as always." She grinned, not taking notice of his insults. He wondered exactly when it was that she had become so comfortable in his company, when had she stopped being afraid of him altogether? "I'm guessing that wasn't what you wanted to talk to me about then?"

"No," he agreed. "The Potion Master's Guild have concluded their hearing of your case and come to a decision."

"Oh!" she gasped, suddenly feeling nervous for the news. All of her hard work could be over now...what would she do if they said tough luck? Would she be able to give up her virginity just for her degree or would she kiss goodbye to her potion's degree? She didn't think she could give up such a thing for her education, even if she was seeing someone she would require at least some kind of emotional attachment to the person she would be giving it to and as it happened she wasn't see anyone. She flushed slightly eying the wizard opposite her, if only he could see her as an adult now...although it was probably wrong on many levels to get her potion's master to take her virginity to enable her to complete her potions apprenticeship. "And?" She twisted her hands together in her lap anxiously.

"They will allow you not to complete the Mater Optans potion and still finish your degree," he told her. "However, they want you to brew another fertility potion in place of it."

"Well that shouldn't be too hard, there are lots of them." She said letting out a sigh of relief.

"It isn't quite as easy as that. They have listed three that are not acceptable as they are too simple and also a further two that you will not be able to brew due to your unique situation, much like the Mater Optans potion." He explained.

"Oh..." she huffed. "So we find another one?"

"They have...suggested one for you to do." He said, clearing his throat awkwardly and handing her a piece of parchment with the ingredients list and brewing instructions. He wondered how long it would take her to notice one of the ingredients on the list.

"I've never heard of this potion." She said, still glancing over the instructions. The brewing process only appeared to take six hours but it required two hours of concentrated brewing and stirring at one point.

"It isn't often used, it is one of the most powerful fertility potions that can be made and almost guarantees conception on the first try. It would be brewed for a bride to take on her wedding day, particularly in arranged marriages to ensure an heir as quickly as possible. It causes the witch of ovulate within hours of taking it and the only recorded failures of this potion have been when the wizard was not fertile." He told her.

"Why don't people just use this...um...oh!" she trailed off feeling her face flame.

"I believe you now understand why it is rather uncommonly made, there is an ingredient that many potioneers would not be able to easily acquire. Back in the days when potions were more commonly made by everyone in the home rather than in apothecaries, they would usually involve the bride in the brewing process therefore the ingredient would be available. As you can imagine most potion masters do not have access to this ingredient so it is not a potion made any more. I don't believe I have actually met anyone who has brewed it in my lifetime." He commented. "They seemed most keen for you to replace the mater optans potion with this one, due to the fact that you do have access to that particular ingredient without paying a rather hefty price tag for it. Most of them probably haven't ever seen it brewed, so they are very academically curious. You still have a choice of finding another potion to replace it with though; they did not say it absolutely had to be this one."

"Yes, well...I'll keep my eyes peeled for another in the meantime because if I end up brewing this one, I may have to die of embarrassment." She said quietly.

"No one has to witness the ingredient being harvested, as it were." He smirked, noting how uncomfortable she looked.

"They don't have to, they'll still know." She retorted, sounding quite prudish as she did. "Not to mention you'll know!"

"You'd hardly be the first witch in the world to-"

"I don't care." She said cutting him off. "It's not something I do...I'm not entirely certain I'd be able to "harvest" this particular ingredient anyway...they don't tend to have books on the subject in the Hogwarts library."

Uncomfortable silence followed this admission until her Professor's loud bark of laughter made her jump in her seat.

"Please allow me to send that explanation to the Potion Master's Guild." He chuckled. "I can just picture it now – Miss Granger is regretfully unable to complete the requested potion, not due to lack of brewing skills but because the Hogwarts library does not carry the reading materials for her to gain adequate skills in-"

"Don't finish that sentence! No you may not write to them about this." She muttered. "I'll be leaving now then."

She stood and left his office with as much dignity as she could manage, she could still hear his laughter from the corridor.

Hermione made her way back to her rooms and threw the parchment onto her sofa before leaving again. She made her way up the spiral staircase to the viaduct entrance of the castle before making her way through the corridors to the transfiguration courtyard. She allowed herself to slow as she crossed the grass to enjoy the sun a little before heading back into the castle and upstairs to the second floor.

She felt a wash of sentimental warmth as she made her way into the library. It was empty but she expected no different during the summer. She had a few hours to research before lunch and she was determined. The Gryffindor made quick work of scanning and eliminating most of the books in the potions section of the library and moved onto the healing and medi-witch section. Finding only one potentially helpful book, she moved to the restricted section. This was one of those moments when she was grateful to be granted access to the restricted section.

Three hours later Hermione had checked out two books from the restricted section and made her way straight to the Great Hall for lunch. It was one of those days when everyone was very quiet. She exchanged a bit of small talk with Minerva as usual and quickly excused herself back to her room to continue her reading.

An hour later and she had to admit temporary defeat; there wasn't enough in the books to help her complete a different fertility potion. She thought back to the occasions when she had been inside Professor Snape's rooms, if anyone in this castle had a book that could help her it would be him.

So she took one last glare at the parchment from the Potion Master's guild before heading in search of Severus with it in hand. The words 'magically infused vaginal secretion from a pure witch' stood out as if taunting her.

Author's Notes: So Hermione has another hurdle in the way of her apprenticeship now. I'm sorry that this didn't involve much in the way of developing their relationship but it will come I promise! This chapter is just another piece of a larger puzzle and also a bit of fun.