A whole month went by after Dumbledore told Hermione the good news of being the new apprentice for one Severus Snape. A whole month went by, and she hadn't heard a thing. She was starting to think that this wasn't going to work or that Dumbledore was somehow mistaken but as her mind started to work in overdrive, she heard the floo network activate. She looked at the floo network a bit worriedly. She bit her lower lip. She wasn't expecting a visitor and it was too early for Harry to be returning from work. Ron wasn't expected to be back for another week at least. She gripped her wand in her pants and waited in fear. Once the flames died out, Hermione's eyes stared at the dark wizard in disbelief. Her stomach twisted into knots. "H-how did you get in here?" she stuttered. Her Gryffindor courage was gone as she stared at the fowl man in front of her. A deep scowl was stitched into the man's face, and he gave her a cruel smile.

"You forget, Ms. Granger, that I've been here numerous times for Order meetings," Severus Snape rumpled at her. He stood tall with his arms crossed. His demeanor was very unnerving. His long black hair looked greasy, and his nose was overly large. He was wearing his black wizarding robes with the many buttons that he always wore every single day. He took a step towards her, nearly towering over the young witch. "Now, let's get down to business. I need you to floo with me to my quarters. We have things to discuss." His eyes raked down her form and grimaced. "You expect to brew with those clothes?"

Hermione's anger flared up by his words. She stared down at her muggle clothes and snapped her eyes back to his. "You do realize, Severus, I was not expecting your presence." Her voice had a bit of an edge to it. She'll be damned if he treated her like a child.

"It's Professor Snape to you. We are not friends Ms. Granger and I expect nothing less than respect. Do you understand?" he snarled at her. He glared, and he waited, slowly losing his patience by the young Gryffindor's cheek.

Hermione's eyes lowered by the dark wizard's glare. Even now that she wasn't in school, she still felt afraid of him. "Yes sir," she murmured quietly staring down at her trainers. She slowly followed the dark man back into the floo. She watched carefully as he called out his living quarters to the quiet living room. The sneer on his lips stayed constant and Hermione swallowed thickly. A sense of dread filled her tummy.

The two disappeared from 12 Grimmauld Place and reappeared down in the dungeons of Hogwarts. Hermione stared at the room they were in. The room was small but comforting. There was a black leather couch and an armchair for people to sit in. On the walls were two big bookcases filled to the brim with large tomes. In front of the couch was a brown wooden coffee table. On top of the table were papers, ink bottles, and quills. Next to the couch were two end tables that matched the large coffee table. In the corner of the room was a large desk made of cedar and there were three black doors on the wall that led somewhere else. The room dawned the house colors of Slytherin and Hermione, without thinking, snorted quite unladylike at the sight.

"Does the room not satisfy you Granger?" he questioned. His tone was unyielding. He was angry and he already wanted the chit to return to her house and never return.

She looked at him and felt her cheeks stain with embarrassment. "Sorry Professor, I just was not expecting to see Slytherin house colors all over the room."

He snorted in response and took a seat in his cozy armchair. "You do realize I am the Head of House for Slytherin. I am a Slytherin. Why would I not?"

Hermione chose not to answer and instead she took a cautious seat on the couch. She honestly didn't think she would ever get this far after figuring out what she wanted to do. She didn't imagine herself in his living quarters and the awkwardness of it all unnerved her. The silence continued for another minute, and she couldn't take the silence any longer. "So, what are we going to talk about?"

"Where does a bezoar come from, Ms. Granger?" Snape asked suddenly.

The question surprised her. She wasn't expecting him to ask a question like that, but she recovered quickly. "Um a stomach of a goat sir?" Her response came out shakily. Her uneasiness never ceasing to abate from her stomach.

Professor Snape nodded his head at her response. "Very good, Ms. Granger. Now what does a bezoar do?"

"They are an antidote to common poisons," she responded now starting to feel a bit confused by his questioning. "Sir, we learned this our first year here at Hogwarts. Why are you asking me this?"

He ignored her question and again asked her another. "What are the ingredients of a Pepperup potion?"

Another easy question. We learned this in our second year. What is he playing at? "The three ingredients are bicorn horn, mandrake root, and jewelweed," she said matter-of-factly. "You do realize Professor that I am very competent in my abilities. I received an Outstanding in my OWLS as well as my NEWTS sir. You don't have to treat me like an imbecile."

"I'll be the judge of that, Ms. Granger. What does a draught of living death do?" His questions continued and every question he asked Hermione successfully answered it. After his final question left his lips, he nodded his head in affirmation. "Now I see Ms. Granger that you are in fact very capable. I should've realized by your know-it-all attitude that you do in fact memorize every word in a textbook."

Her cheeks colored by his assessment of her. "I don't just memorize, sir." She tried to defend herself by his harsh words. "I also brew potions perfectly."

A sneer spread across his lips. "Really? I remember when Professor Slughorn was teaching that you had a difficult time brewing the draught of living death. In fact, you weren't able to even finish it."

She stared down at the couch, embarrassed by his cruel words. He was right. She struggled and couldn't complete it. The only time she ever struggled in her life on a potion. "Slughorn told us that only once there was a student who completed it," she whispered. She hated feeling inadequate.

"Who do you think that was, Ms. Granger? Me of course. That's why I'm a Potion's Master. I mastered every potion. I never once struggled making one, yet here you are wanting to follow in my footsteps when you can't brew a simple sixth year potion." His voice was rude and callous. "Why should I let this continue when you are not ready for this task, Ms. Granger?"

Hermione blanched at his words. She found her sense of courage and stood up from the couch. She walked over to him completely furious by his words. "I am ready, Professor!" Her words spat out with venom.

Snape stood up from his armchair and glared down at the young witch. "Prove it to me, Ms. Granger. I will give you an hour and if you can brew an adequate potion, you may stay and learn from me. I will show you some tricks I've learned but so help me if I see that the potion is not even at an acceptable level you will not be my apprentice. Does that sound like a fair deal?" He reached out his hand and waited for the Gryffindor to take it.

She stared at his hand with trepidation. Can I brew that potion? I didn't get far at all last time. What if I fail? I have to at least try, or I won't be considered. I am capable. She shook his hand slowly and said with more strength than she felt, "You're on, Sir."

He led her to the first black door on the wall. He whispered an incantation and the door swung open. He turned on the lights and led her into the room. There were multiple tables with black cauldrons on top. There was a sink towards the back of the room and the walls were lined with numerous cabinets filled with potion ingredients. "This Ms. Granger is my personal lab. You only get one chance. I will not allow another."

Hermione nodded her head in understanding. She walked over to the cabinet in search of the ingredients she needed. Snape watched carefully as she grabbed asphodel, infusion of wormwood, valerian root, a sopophorous bean, a dagger, a beaker, a graduated cylinder, a dropper, and a stirring rod from the many cabinets in the room.

"Well at least you got the ingredients and materials right," he commented dryly as he watched her set them down next to the first table.

"Are you going to watch me brew like I'm a student again?" she asked with annoyance. She hated when people watched her brew. It left her very distracted, and it was hard to concentrate. This potion needed all of her attention and she didn't want to be distracted by the dark wizard behind her.

Severus leaned his head to the side in thought. "Fine I will leave you to your potion but in exactly one hour I will return to check on your progress. I expect it to be ready for me when I return." He took out his wand and started the timer that was on the wall. "Good luck, Ms. Granger. You will need it." With that he left the lab.

Hermione quickly began working. Her brain meticulously remembered the instructions she read in her potion's textbook two years ago. Should I follow the instructions that Harry did? He was successful in making it but the instructions I followed were not good enough. Wouldn't that be cheating? She decided no it will not be cheating. She needed this to work. She was desperate. She looked over her shoulder making sure her professor was nowhere to be seen. She poured the standard potioning water and African sea salt to a beaker. She gently set it aside for later. Once the five minutes ticked by, she poured the water into the cauldron. Her forehead started to sweat with nervousness.

She moved on to the next step. With her left hand she used a graduated cylinder to get the essence of wormwood. With her right hand she held the cauldron to the side and began to pour the ten drops into the water. She again angled it a different way and added another ten drops to the mixture. She then moved on to the valerian roots. She chopped them into small, squared pieces. She placed the pieces into a beaker along with some water. She waited five minutes for the beaker to settle. She peeked into the cauldron and smiled slightly when she saw the black colored liquid below.

She grabbed a dagger off the table and one of the sopophorous bean. She turned around again to make sure he wasn't watching. She took a deep breath and began to crush the bean just like it said in Harry's book. She let the juices fall into the cauldron. She repeated it twelve more times remembering that Harry's book had said thirteen beans not twelve as she originally thought. She put the dagger down and grabbed the beaker that had the valerian root mixture. She added seven drops of the liquid into the cauldron, and she grabbed her stirring rod. She followed the instructions to a t being careful to stir it clockwise after every seventh counterclockwise like the book had said. Once she had stirred it, she added the powdered root of asphodel. She started stirring it again. She was concentrating very hard on the potion. She prayed this would work and appease the sour man that was somewhere behind the door she was in. At the very end she added one small piece of valerian root and watched as the potion turned a pale pink color. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and heard the timer go off. She did it. She was successful in completing the potion in time.

Professor Snape slammed the door open and walked right up to the young witch's cauldron. He stared down at it expecting it to be a complete failure, but instead he saw the potion was indeed adequate. In fact, it was so adequate it was perfect. The potion even rivaled his own. He looked into the young Gryffindor's eyes with an unreadable look on his face. He did realize immediately by looking at the potion that the witch had cheated. She did not follow the rules that were in the book, but he wanted her to admit it aloud.

Hermione stared at him and bit her lip in anticipation. She prayed that he didn't catch on to the fact that she did not follow the instructions from their potion's textbook. She followed the Potion Master's altered instructions that Harry did. God, I feel like a hypocrite. All this time I yelled at Harry for cheating yet here I am doing the same damn thing. "Is it adequate, sir?" she asked hesitantly as he continued to stare at her.

"Where did you find this recipe Ms. Granger? This is not the same one that you've learned in school."