A/N Its been a while and I'm back on writing this story for a bit. I have a few more chapters in the work. Just doing a quick edit so please dont mind the mistakes. This is just for fun :)

Chapter 7

By supper time Wednesday evening Hermione had decided that she did not give two figs about Professor Snape's attitude towards her. She was simply going to take whatever help he was being forced to offer her by Minerva without complaint or annoyance and try to be content about it.

She was also determined to stay out of his business, interesting Cruciatus Relief potion experiment or not. She could take his criticism, work through her apprenticeship, keep her mouth shut and get the hell out as unscathed as possible. If all went well this time next year she will have her Mastery complete and be the full time Potions Mistress at Hogwarts with time for her own interesting experiments to worry about.

Hermione had no idea what he might have in store for her that evening and hadn't given any hints by supper time about his mood or otherwise. She pushed the food around on her plate and was distracted from her thoughts by an owl landing in front of her at the table.

Recognizing the brown and gold flecked owl as Harry and Ginny's Timmon she took the note and fed him a piece of her untouched pork. She was about to pocket it for later when she felt it vibrate with urgency and opened it at the table instead.

Hermione,

Harry has been cursed, he's at St Mungos and they're working on waking him up. His team was sent on an assignment this morning and got hit with something. All I know is he's frozen, like everywhere! He was hit by shards of ice and now his wounds are turning to ice. I'm so scared, the healers don't seem too worried and think they will have a counter curse sorted by the latest tomorrow.

Uuugg, I thought we were done with this nonsense of near death experiences! I know you're busy but I could use a friend if you could slip out.

Gin

Hermione looked up from the letter and saw Timmon was still sitting patiently at the table, obviously waiting for her reply to bring back to his distressed mistress. Thankfully the head table was somewhat sparse this evening so she pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote a quick reply that she would try to pop out later this evening to be with her friends.

She instantly felt guilty for not dropping everything and racing to see her friends, but Ginny's letter said the healers were confident, and there was still a broody potions master to deal with. He would most certainly not forgive her missing their appointment, and then shit really would hit the fan for her staying at Hogwarts.

Hermione tied the parchment to Timmon and gave him another piece of pork. The owl chirped in thanks and took off. The rest of dinner was quiet, she forced the rest of her meal down as real anxiety started to creep up her spine. She had finally conquered her trauma from the war more than a year ago and felt her heart sink at the feeling of dread rearing its ugly head again.

Hermione approached the Head of Slytherins' door with a little more confidence this time. He was either going to help her or she would get help elsewhere, there was no point to stressing about it anymore. A quick confident knock on the door was met with an immediate.

"Come in"

Without missing a beat Hermione opened the door and walked in. As he had been on both previous occasions in the last week, Professor Snape was sitting at his large ornate black desk. She couldn't remember noticing its detail before, likely due to the light absorbing depths of the universe black that it had been painted with. She mentally rolled her eyes, of course he would choose a colour where barely any light could be reflected off its surface. There were slight engravings that caught her attention, they looked like they could be runes just under where the table met its base. As she stepped closer to inspect the runes the desk's occupier cleared his throat, bringing her gaze back up to him.

"Well, Miss Granger, it seems that our illustrious Headmistress has forced my acceptance into assisting you. You will continue to do all of your self studying at your leisure, as it seems to be… sufficient." Professor Snape's tone was sharp and to the point as he spoke, and for the first time while he was addressing her, he kept his entire focus on her. "We will meet in my private lab on Thursdays and Fridays directly after dinner, as well as during my free periods on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings for as long as I deem necessary to complete your brewing."

She was determined to meet his gaze directly, let him be the one to look away. She was not some simpering, first year, bushy hair, hand raising on their tippy toes little girl anymore and he needed to start accepting it. At his mention of Tuesday afternoons she cut in.

"Sorry Sir, I teach first years Tuesday afternoons, and Saturdays are currently my only time for studying at my leisure, as you so put it." A bit of sarcasm slipping out with the last bit.

"Take it or leave it Miss Granger." there was almost a smirk on his face as he knew he was putting unnecessary pressure on her.

She resisted the urge to bite her lip and wondered how on earth she was going to manage this. The moment of contemplation was long enough for the professor to lose his patience. His smirk dropped back to his usual scowl as he reached into the top drawer of his desk, and pulled out a purple velvet pouch.

"This is something I would imagine that you are quite familiar with, having abused one so thoroughly in your third year."

As he undid the string and slid the pouches contents out into his open hand, Hermione was unable to control her facial features as they sprung into a look of surprise. She would recognize the small golden rings wrapped around an hourglass for the rest of her days.

"Impossible! Where on earth did you find a time turner, professor? I thought they were all destroyed!" Hermione exclaimed and reached for the object in his outstretched hand.

He pulled back just before her fingers could reach his. "You have our late Headmaster and his hoarding of secrets to thank for the continued existence of this particular time turner."

"Honestly Sir, without it I don't know how I would be able to fit everything into my 24 hour schedule. Harry was hurt today and I could go back now to be with Ginny at St. Mungos. I've been a bit of an absent friend lately." her voice was full of hope.

"There will be no misusing and abusing this device this time around. Especially to run off and play with your friends," obvious disgust in his voice when he said the word friends.

"Yes, Sir," her response was automatic from years of dealing with this wizard, although She could not understand why he continued to hate Harry so much. Harry went to war with the ministry for the Professor to make sure he would remain out of Azkaban. And really, running off with her friends, as if she just wanted to go for an adventure through the forbidden forest. She was a grown woman for gosh sakes.

"If I allow you to leave this room in possession of a time turner you will agree to document each time you go back, the reason for it and the extra hours you accumulate."

Instead of handing the time turner over to Hermione, Professor Snape set it down on the desk in front of them. She thought he was being a bit much, making her keep a log. Honestly she wasn't a student, nor a minor. In fact she was less than a year away from hopefully being his complete equal. He was the one being childish by not simply handing it to her and instead of making her pick it up. She felt her own anger at his behavior rise up and fought to not say anything as she nodded her agreement to the terms and picked the time turner up off the desk.

"Good Evening, Sir" she pocketed it and turned for the door.

"Your word, Miss Granger." He was actually going to force her to verbally swear.

Rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm her anger, she turned back to him. His arms were crossed and she could swear there was a light in his eye as he looked down at her. She wondered how it was even possible to look down at someone standing while you are seated at a desk.

"I promise to not misuse the time turner and to keep a log," doing her best to look back down at him and added "Sir."

A short "Hmm" was the only response she heard as she whirled away from him, her cloak swooped around her and her boots clicked angrily right out the door.

Severus leaned back in his chair and contemplated the witch who had just stormed out of his presence. He had noticed the anger that had been brewing behind her eyes and found he had been amused by being able to spark that reaction out of her. This forced babysitting might be more amusing that the torture he was originally trying to avoid. He supposed Minerva was right and he should start thinking of Miss Granger as more of a grown witch than a school girl. She had certainly displayed more control over her anger than she would have when she was a student.

As he was tidying up his desk for the evening he glanced again at the test she had completed for him. This was evidence that she was certainly earning her brightest witch of her age title, he had been itching to ask her about her response to his question about her mind control potion speculation. Her answer had displayed a level of critical thinking while also understanding the art of thinking outside the constraints of a textbook. It was a level of thinking he did not think the bookworm would be capable of, she was actually going beyond regurgitating word for word from her textbooks.

Severus was now seeing the formidable potions Mistress she had the potential to become, with her confidence in her own mind growing and even the changes in her physical presence. He thanked Merlin again that she had not chosen reds and golds as her colours, and her hair was finally done up sensibly. He chastised himself for thinking of her physical appearance, honestly she was half his age. He massaged his stiff neck, prodding the scar tissue under this shirt where Nigini had tried to end his life.

He would try to help her, if only because the art of potions deserved to have her. He had never taken an apprentice, as if he would have ever had time for one trying to stay alive and serve his two masters. Even after the war he hadn't considered it, choosing to spend his free time working on writing his new book. Defense Against the Dark arts had long been abysmally documented and even more horribly taught at Hogwarts, a fact he hoped was starting to change with himself at the helm.

Miss Granger had mentioned that Potter had been cursed. He assumed it was nothing too dramatic or the whole wizarding world would already be in uproar. Since most of the death eaters were dead, locked away, or far away in hiding, Severus guessed it was something minor and Potter would be up and gracing the covers of the Daily Prophet this time tomorrow.

o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hermione landed with a crack of apparition at the designated receiving hall in St. Mungos. It was well after visiting hours and there were very few people moving about as she made her way up to the ward for cursed patients. As she entered the waiting area and made her way to approach the healers station she was nearly taken out from behind by a wall of red hair.

"Hermione! You made it! I don't know what to do, they told me to go home. But I just can't leave. I just can't" Ginny sobbed into her shoulder.

Hermione pulled the witch around to face her for a proper hug. "It will be alright Gin. He's in the right place and sounds like he's getting the right help."

The healer at the station cleared her throat. "You ladies really need to leave, visiting hours have been over for a while and the patients need their peace and quiet."

"What if he wakes up? I should be here" Ginny argued while still clinging to Hermione.

"Let's get you home, ok?. I'm sure they will let you know the minute there are any changes." She pulled the much stronger woman towards the exit and was glad Ginny let her. With all the quidditch training for so many years if Ginny didn't want to go there would be no moving her. "Plus you need to rest so you can help Harry recover when they wake him up."

"Fine, but I'll be back first thing" Ginny snapped over her shoulder to the healer as they left.

A few minutes later they were entering the sitting room at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Ginny flopped onto one of the large light blue french settees, red hair hiding most of her upper half. Hermione sat at her feet and called for Kreacher.

"What can Kreacher do for Miss Mu..word that had been banned from Kreachers mouth, Miss?" he twitched as the magic of the direct order from his Master prevented him from saying Mudblood.

"Your Mistress requires tea, chamomile would be nice, and something sweet please." Hermione requested, ignoring his attempt to use that word.

"Not my Mistress, not yet… not yet." he mumbled and popped off to the kitchens.

"Why's thiiis haapenin…'' was mumbled into the pillow from under the red mess of hair.

"What actually happened? Your letter didn't say much?" Hermione said while rubbing this distraught chaser's calf.

Kreacher popped back in and placed the tea set on the table near the witches and promptly left still mumbling incoherently.

"Come on Ginny, have some tea and a bite to eat, and tell me what you know" she pleaded and poured them each a cup of tea, pulling a small vial of calming draught out of her robe and adding a decent pour into her friends' cup.

The youngest Weasley pulled herself up into a sitting position and accepted the tea.

"All I know is Harry's team was sent out to investigate a building. The place wasn't heavily warded or anything to make it look super dangerous," her words were broken from worry as she continued. "Kennedy .. he he…must have taken the ward down and… and… triggered a curse. There were blobs of black stuff and it… it threw back whatever magic was used on it."

Hermione nudged her tea cup to encourage the witch to take another sip, the warm liquid and calming draught was starting to help the younger witch to settle.

"Someone hit one of the things with a freeze spell and it started firing back… I dunno.. Frozen daggers or something. They were all cut up, all three of them!" she paused again to take another swig of tea. "Wherever they were cut, the frozen curse is spreading from the wounds… if… if they don't stop it…" She started sobbing again and Hermione put an arm around her.

"The healers will stop it, you said it yourself they didn't seem too worried. By morning I'm sure things will be alright," Hermione said, trying to reassure herself as well as the other witch.

Having finished her tea Ginny set down the cup. "Will you stay with me?" she looked at Hermione with her red blotched eyes. "Please? And come to st. Mungos in the morning?"

"Ginny I have classes in the morning, I need to be back at Hogwarts" feeling guilty as she said it.

"We can go early and you can still make it back in time, it's not like you have to take the bloody Hogwarts Express!" Ginny pleaded

"Alright, as long as you promise to sleep and not worry all night, so I don't have to miss class because you get yourself admitted as a patient as well!" Hermione retorted.

Ginny chuckled, "more like the looney bin ward for me, having bloody Harry Potter as a fiance." she stretched and yawned, then curled back up on the couch with a pillow.

Hermione picked up one of the throw blankets from the quilt stand and draped it over the girl. Ginny's eyes were already closed and her breathing had started to even out. Hermione silently thanked the strength of her calming draught and pulled out her wand to charm the clock on the mantle to wake them in the morning. She quietly went to a bookshelf to look for something to read as she was currently wide awake. She picked a book titled Magical Spin on Muggle Cocktails because she noticed the author was a well known Potions Master from Belgium, Arthur Vermeulen. An interesting choice for a writing project for a Master she thought, and dove into the art of mixing up a spearmint mojito.