Hours after her strange altercation with Professor Snape, Hermione swapped her cartoon pajama shorts for a plain black pair of lounge pants. She felt no need to further embarrass herself this morning. The rest of the Weasleys and Harry joined Hermione in the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was chatting companionably with the group while cooking what Hermione could only call a vat of scrambled eggs. Bacon and toast were preparing themselves with Molly glancing over every few minutes. 'Many years and seven children must do wonders for one's multitasking skills'Hermione thought.
As Ginny and Hermione assisted Mrs. Weasley with distributing the breakfast plates, Professor Snape brushed into the room in a cloud of dark robes. He was the only one dressed for the day with the rest of the lot still in their sleepwear with bedraggled hair. He stalked over to the coffee pot without saying a word to anyone, possibly hoping to avoid notice from the cheerful group.
"Oh, Severus! How lovely to see you!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.
"Good morning, Molly" he replied dryly.
"Hermione dear, make Severus a plate! Sit down, sit down" the matriarch ordered in a maternal tone that only a mother of seven would dare employ with the surly potions master.
Severus interrupted "That really isn't necessar- "
Molly didn't even let him finish.
"Severus Snape, you will sit down and eat breakfast! You've skipped too many meals this week!"
Professor Snape resigned himself to his fate as there really was nothing that could be done when Molly Weasley had her mind set on something. Ginny returned to the table and sat in the seat that Hermione had been occupying. Hermione brought a plate and set it down in front of Professor Snape and looked confused that Ginny had switched seats with her, choosing to move her plate and teacup rather than…Hermione gave Ginny a wide eyed look as she sat down. The redhead had moved seats, so Hermione had to sit next to the professor.
For how much protest he had put up in his initial refusal to accept breakfast from Mrs. Weasley, Hermione noted that he seemed to have no issue digging in once he had been served. Hermione smiled internally. There was something so humanizing about seeing the potions master do something so mundane as eating breakfast at a table full of Weasleys. Hermione realized that she may have focused a little too much attention on Professor Snape when he turned towards her and made eye contact. Which really wasn't surprising as she was sitting directly next to him, gawking. He raised an eyebrow and turned back to eating his breakfast silently. He didn't enjoy peace for long, though.
"Oh, Severus! I received an owl from Minerva this morning. She's sent for potions to restock the infirmary at Hogwarts." Molly interjected.
Professor Snape reached out a hand to her, accepting the scrap of parchment. He read it silently, his face not betraying any particular feeling towards the contents. He folded it neatly and tucked it in the front pocket of his robes. He lifted his head and spoke to the group.
"It would seem that I shall be rather occupied all day in the lab. Would anyone wish to assist me?"
Fred and George, who had been suspiciously silent the whole morning, both stood up, raising their hands.
"Not you two" Professor Snape said evenly. Before the twins could protest, he continued "Miss Granger, would you like to feed your ever-growing hunger for knowledge?"
Hermione hesitated. He had been pretty angry with her this morning. She didn't know if it was a good idea to spend any amount of time alone with him just hours after she had insulted his teaching methods.
"Oh? Pity. You are usually refreshingly eager to learn the subtle art of potions making. Perhaps one of your peers would like to assist me?"
Hermione exclaimed "I'll do it!"
Professor Snape's mouth almost twitched into a smirk.
"Excellent. Come down to the cellar when you finish helping Molly."
Hermione turned to gather the plates to bring to the basin. Professor Snape stopped in the door, and without turning around said, "Oh, and Miss Granger?"
Hermione looked up.
"Please make sure to don appropriate footwear for a potions lab."
Hermione looked down and realized, to her dismay, that she was still wearing her pink bunny slippers. After Professor Snape was out of view, Ginny and the twins started snickering. Hermione flicked all three on the foreheads before she hurried to finish up the dishes. Despite the smiles that everyone in the room donned, Ron seemed unamused. He walked over to Hermione by the basin.
"Do you really think it's right to spend so much time alone with him, Hermione?"
Hermione continued diligently with her work and responded without giving him much attention.
"I think it's right to dedicate my time to the war effort."
Ron's face turned red. He harshly whispered, "I'm not trying to say you shouldn't spend time on the war effort, but spending time with the dungeon bat can't be pleasant for you."
Hermione finally looked up.
"Well, I have enjoyed the time spent brewing with him these last few weeks more than listening to you prattle on about quidditch. At least, he listens when I speak about something other than food or broomsticks."
Ron huffed, "You're already turning into him." He returned to the table, grabbed one more piece of toast, and stomped out of the kitchen, back up to his and Harry's room.
Hermione looked over to Harry and the rest of the Weasleys who had all obviously been listening but had the grace to pretend to be doing anything else. Molly walked over and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder.
"Why don't I finish up and you go get dressed for brewing with Professor Snape, dear?"
Hermione smiled. Molly always knew exactly what to say. Maybe that's something else you learn after raising seven children. Hermione smiled sheepishly at everyone and walked out of the kitchen and upstairs to her room. She opened her bedroom door and hurriedly sorted through her closet. She wanted to get down to the cellar as soon as possible. She told herself it was because she was eager to start brewing, but she knew that she really desired to spend time alone with Professor Snape. He was never snide or mean when they were brewing for Order business. Potions class was a different story, but Hermione had learned that he had a certain persona he had to keep up. As she shuffled through her clothes, she settled on a pair of jeans that weren't too tight and a navy scoop neck jumper that hopefully accentuated the curve of her bust. She pulled on a white pair of trainers. She had rarely worn them outside of designated exercise times since she started at Hogwarts, but she had recently started wearing them when brewing. Some potions required hours of standing over a cauldron with no break, and practical shoes were a necessity.
After smoothing her hair and spending entirely too much time scrutinizing her appearance in the mirror, she opened her bedroom door and descended the stairs, bypassing the kitchen door and heading straight down to the cellar. Professor Snape had already started setting up cauldrons when she got downstairs. He was pushing the last one into place, and Hermione had to wonder how many potions the infirmary needed. He had eight workstations set up! Hermione cleared her throat. Professor Snape looked up and gestured her over to one of the workstations. He gestured to the ingredients laid out on the table.
"What potion are we brewing here, Miss Granger?"
Hermione analyzed the contents of the table. She had just finished her sixth-year potions class and could have recognized this specific combination of ingredients in her sleep.
"Veritaserum, sir."
Professor Snape almost smiled.
"Well done, Miss Granger. You have not allowed an entire year's worth of lessons to go in one ear and out the other…unlike some of your peers."
Hermione frowned at that. He really did take the opportunity to take a jab at Harry and Ron every change he got. Before she could comment on the backhanded compliment, he continued.
"We will be brewing Veritaserum today, eight cauldrons of it."
He must have lost his mind. Veritaserum only required a few drops for each dosage. One cauldron worth would have been enough to last the Department of Magical Law Enforcement a year.
"But sir, what could we be doing with eight cauldrons of Veritaserum? That can't be right. Mrs. Weasley said that these potions were for the infirmary."
Severus replied, "Correspondences between Minerva and me are spelled to only show the true content to the intended recipient. It wouldn't do if the other side knew that we were stockpiling Veritaserum."
Hermione asked, "What are we using this for then?"
Snape replied, "These are for you. You will need to learn occlumency, and we will use Veritaserum as a tool of sorts in our lessons."