"Hi Luna, how was your holiday?", Hermione greeted Luna and hugged her tightly when they met at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall on the evening of her return to Hogwarts.
"Really nice! I went to Ireland with Dad, unfortunately, we didn't find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but we did see a Kelpi. Then the last week I was at Hogwarts because Dad had to finish the new edition," Luna told her and Hermione smiled broadly at her.
"I'm glad to hear that! Did you find time to practice vanishing spells?" asked Hermione and Luna nodded eagerly.
"Look here, Evanesco!" said Luna excitedly, pointing her wand at her empty bowl from which she had eaten pudding earlier. Immediately it disappeared and Hermione praised Luna for the precise spell.
From Susan and Ginny, who had stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays, Hermione had learned that the teachers had done another thorough search for Sirius Black over the holidays and had declared the school safe in the end. Hermione still wondered if Sirius Black had really been there and what he could have wanted in Gryffindor Tower.
"Hermione?" asked Professor Lupin, and she jolted up from her daydream about Sirius Black and the Fat Lady.
"Sorry, Professor," she said, noticing how she blushed.
"Good morning," Professor Lupin said with a laugh and asked his question again. "Since no one in the class can tell me how to appease an angry Kappa, I asked you."
"All you have to do is present him with a cucumber with your own name carved into it," Hermione said and the class laughed.
"Five points to Ravenclaw," Professor Lupin said and the class fell silent with stunned expressions on their faces. They had probably assumed Hermione was joking or making something up because she didn't know the answer. After class, Professor Lupin pressed a small scroll of parchment into her hand for Professor Snape to deliver to her.
Later, when Hermione read the note, she gave a little jump of air because there would be another trip with Professor Snape that weekend. Briefly, she was sad because she would miss the Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor game, but she was sure it would be worth it. Then she remembered that after the trip she could just use the Time-Turner to watch the game with Luna, which made her even happier.
Several items were listed on the parchment for her to pack up and bring to Dumbledore's office on Saturday morning. She prepared meticulously, for it was certainly not going to be easy. Professor Snape had not written what they would be doing, but the cauldron on the list led her to believe that they would be making a potion. She was also sure that they would not be brewing a simple potion where they had an entire pantry at their disposal. She checked the fit of her diadem, hidden under her hair, as she did every morning before leaving Ravenclaw Tower for Dumbledore's office. Professor Snape was already there and Hermione greeted Dumbledore and him warmly and full of anticipation.
"Are you ready? Everything packed that's on the list?" asked Professor Snape and Hermione nodded eagerly. "Very well. Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to lift the apparition restriction for us. So we shouldn't waste any time."
He held out his arm, which Hermione was only too happy to take. She successfully fought against blushing in front of Professor Dumbledore and a moment later she was swept along by Professor Snape via side-by-side Apparating. She clung tightly to his arm and didn't let go until they had been standing on the snow-covered forest floor for a few seconds.
"Where are we?" asked Hermione.
"Not far from Hogwarts. This place holds plenty of plants and herbs that can be used to substitute for common ingredients. If you've been paying attention for the last year and a half, it shouldn't be a problem for you to create an antidote for this," he said, pulling a small vial from his robe. Hermione looked at him with wide eyes and glanced around to get an overview of her surroundings. The branches of the conifers were pushed down by the snow and the ground beneath her feet was also completely covered in almost knee-deep snow.
"You have no time pressure whatsoever. Use all your knowledge and skills. No one will disturb us here. You can always ask me for help, of course, but I think you can manage," he said and pressed the vial into Hermione's hand. Hermione accepted the bottle and began to prepare herself. First, she made sure that the snow within a ten-metre radius began to melt with a large sphere of heat. Being able to see the forest floor and branches without snow would make the search for ingredients easier.
Knowing that Professor Snape would not set her an impossible task, she was motivated and immediately began to examine the contents of the vial. She could see Professor Snape's appreciative look out of the corner of her eye as she uncorked the vial without a wand, let the liquid float out into the air and began to examine it with a nonverbal 'Specialis Revelio'.
The dark liquid separated into several individual components that floated in the air as small bubbles of different colours. Hermione left them floating there and took the shrunken cauldron out of her pocket. She let it grow to its normal size and then used a spell to cut a few branches from the trees, rid them of their needles, dried them and then let them float beneath the cauldron.
Professor Snape watched her, fascinated, as she performed all the spells without a sound. She pointed to the branches under the cauldron and immediately a fire blazed underneath. She smiled at the success of having finally mastered the conjuring of fire. She levitated a large amount of snow from the surrounding area into the cauldron to start the antidote with water as a base.
Then she turned her attention to the ingredients of the poison for which she was to develop the antidote. She did not know the poison but immediately recognised an ingredient that she could use for the antidote. She let a small part of it split off from the rest and float to the other side of the cauldron where she wanted to organise her ingredients.
She began to search the forest floor and found more and more plants to use. To chop them, she conjured a small table and a knife. Two hours passed during which she searched for numerous ingredients, processed them and added them to the potion. She was cautiously optimistic, for it had proved more difficult to obtain the ingredients than she had initially thought.
She enchanted the cauldron so that it stirred itself while she went in search of 'Mistemper' mushrooms. The mushrooms grew underground and were hard to find, however, they were sensitive to metal. She scraped the surface of the forest with her knife and occasionally found a small tuberous mushroom that began to vibrate if you got close enough with your knife.
Hermione brushed the film of sweat from her forehead, adjusted her glasses and suspended her heat sphere for a moment to cool down a little as she walked back to the cauldron. She enjoyed the silence of the snow-covered forest, where only the crunching of the snow under her feet could be heard. Arriving at the cauldron, she was first invited by Professor Snape for a snack he had brought from Hogwarts. They ate sandwiches together on the couch he had conjured up.
She tried to ask him how she was doing, but he showed no emotion. She felt a little like she was taking a final exam. Motivated, she set about processing the mushrooms in various ways after the meal. She wanted to use them dried, cut, and grated as well as a fine powder. She crushed a Mistemper previously dried with a spell in her mortar and when she was satisfied with the powder, she walked it over to the cauldron.
"Don't!" she heard a shout behind her as she let the powder trickle into the cauldron, but it had already happened. A cloud of red steam shot out of the cauldron and straight into Hermione's face. Her lungs began to burn horrendously and it felt as if someone had set her blood on fire. She could feel the pain shooting through her entire body for a moment before she blacked out.
When Hermione awoke from the black nothingness, it felt like she was breathing fire. It was dark and she couldn't make out where she was. She wanted to say something, cry out for help, but her throat only made a horrible rattling sound. She struggled for breath and tried to make herself heard with a spell. She panicked and her rapid breathing made the pain worse and worse. Before she could decide what to cast, however, Hermione heard distant footsteps and a fire blazing beside her.
"Easy now," a soft and familiar voice said against her ear. She relaxed a little as she caught his scent. She realised that she had to be lying on the couch in Professor Snape's office. Next to her, she saw a bright white light shining, which disappeared through the wall a moment later. She couldn't see anything because her vision was blurred and her eyes were watering from the pain in her throat and lungs. She felt Professor Snape's hand on her forehead and felt him gently feeling her neck. She didn't dare try to speak again. The pain had been too great the first time. She turned her head as the fire of the fireplace flared green and two blurred people emerged from it one after the other.
"How is she?" asked the concerned voice of Professor Dumbledore. He let the other person go first, who came with quick steps through Professor Snape's small office towards the couch.
"A little better. Her breathing is more stable. The vocal cords seem to have been damaged as well," Professor Snape said.
"The Dittany has begun to take effect. Is the Blood-Replenishing Potion ready yet?" asked the voice of the third person, whom Hermione recognised as Madam Pomfrey. She leaned over her, but Hermione could still only make out blurry shapes.
"It needs to simmer for another hour. I will administer it immediately when it has reached full potency," Snape replied.
"I suggest leaving her here overnight. It is better to move her as little as possible. Thank Merlin you intervened quickly, Severus. She owes you her life," Madam Pomfrey said and Hermione swallowed. It hurt terribly.
"Sleep now," Madam Pomfrey said, holding a vial to Hermione's lips, which she painfully drank up, whereupon she was sent back into a dreamless sleep. She awoke several times in pain in the glow of the fire as fluids were poured into her. Each time, however, it felt better and no longer as if someone had ignited a fire spell inside her body. The next time she awoke to the pale glow of the candles, she could still only see her surroundings in a blur. However, it no longer hurt to take a breath, it just stung a little. She tried to move a hand and realised she couldn't move.
She concentrated her mind on breaking the spell, but couldn't do it because she couldn't move her hand. She tried to make a sound and was relieved to find that her voice sounded only a little hoarse under the moan she was forced to make by the paralysis spell, but nowhere near as bad as it had been during the night.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see something black twitch upwards and a moment later she saw a face above hers.
"Easy, I've put a paralysis spell over you so you can recover as best you can. Finite," Professor Snape said and Hermione felt the spell fall away from her. She raised her arm but had to drop it again weakly. "Don't move too much," he urged her.
"Thank you," Hermione said softly. There was nothing else she could say and it felt like it was far too little. Professor Snape's blurry face disappeared from her view and a short while later a small glass was held to her lips. The fluid felt like liquid ice running down her throat and Hermione sighed in relief as she drank it down. She felt the cold spread pleasantly throughout her body, easing the pain.
"My eyes," she said, raising a hand to her forehead.
"This will soon be over. And you don't have your glasses on. I suggest you get some more sleep so all the remedies can finish their work," Professor Snape said gently, and Hermione felt herself become instantly drowsy like the previous night after he fed her another liquid. When she next woke up, a fire was already blazing in the fireplace again, bathing the dark room in flickering light. She realised that this time she could move and raised her arms to her face to rub her eyes.
"Not too fast," Professor Snape's voice said close to her head and Hermione tried to sit up slowly. She blinked and looked around. "How do you feel?" he asked and Hermione gasped as she ran out of strength and had to let herself fall back down.
"Weak," she replied and a wave of relief flooded through her as she realised her voice was back to normal.
"You should eat something, just a minute," he said, and Hermione turned her head towards the fire, into which he threw a handful of Floo powder and disappeared into it. Only a minute later he reappeared. Then Hermione heard a loud bang outside the office door. With quick steps, Professor Snape went to the door and exchanged a few words with the person standing in front of it. When the door had fallen into the lock, the bang sounded again and Professor Snape joined her at the couch with a floating plate and a floating soup terrine.
"Please try drinking some water first to see if it still causes you pain," he said, gently pressing her glasses onto her nose at the same moment. A still blurry glass of water flew in Hermione's direction and she lifted it to her lips after sitting up with a gasp. She nodded as the water trickled down her thirsty throat without pain. She moved a hand towards the spoon, whereupon it floated up from Professor Snape's hand and slowly fed her the soup. She felt her empty stomach welcome the warm food and emptied the soup without pause. She felt better by the minute and was finally able to eat the sandwich that Professor Snape had been levitating beside her all this time.
"Thank you so much," she said, feeling like a broken record that kept repeating the same words over and over. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs. Only now did she notice that she was wearing her pyjamas. In a moment of fear, she reached up into her hair where, to her relief, the diadem was still hidden.
""There's nothing to be thankful for, I'm glad you're not permanently injured," he said with a pained smile.
"I am alive because of you. In fact, there's a lot to be thankful for," Hermione replied and he nodded with a serious look. He dropped back into his chair and was now sitting opposite her. "What happened?" she asked, looking at him with her chin on her knees.
"I wasn't paying attention well enough," he said tonelessly and Hermione shook her head decisively. She felt dizzy for a moment, but the feeling subsided after only a few seconds.
"I made the mistake. You saved me. Don't you dare try to blame yourself. You trusted me and I made a mistake," she said, looking at Professor Snape with a stern expression.
"Mistemper must never be mixed into a potion as a dry powder. It must always be prepared into a paste beforehand. Your unfinished antidote was vaporised by it and you caught a large portion of it. At that stage of your antidote it was still highly corrosive and poison itself," he explained and Hermione sighed.
"'Bloody hell'," she said quietly, burying her head between her knees.
"I should have pointed that out to you," Professor Snape said, and Hermione raised her head again.
"What happened after that? All I can remember is the red steam. I woke up here after that."
"Are you sure you want to hear this?" he asked and Hermione looked at him uncomprehendingly.
"Of course!"
"Well, you inhaled a large amount of the steam. You collapsed immediately, coughing and vomiting profusely. I'll spare you the details, but I could see immediately that you would have died of it within a very short time if I had done nothing. As your condition was too unstable to apparate you to Hogwarts, I had to act on the spot. I always carry a bezoar with me. Together with a hastily brewed minimal antidote and the bezoar, I was able to prevent you from dying instantly from the effects while I flew you back to Hogwarts. Then I apparated to Hogwarts, Dumbledore lent me his broom and I flew you back," he recounted and Hermione listened to him with wide eyes.
"Madam Pomfrey helped me treat the internal and external burns and heal your internal organs. I then mixed a full antidote to cleanse your blood of the toxins. It was unclear until night whether you would survive," he said, averting his eyes. It took a while before he looked at her again. Hermione had stared silently at her knees during his narration.
"There are no words that can express how grateful I am to you," Hermione said, looking into the black eyes, still blurry to her, that flickered in the glow of the fire.
"I'm glad you're alright," he said, looking at her with a shy smile that made Hermione's heart melt. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. She was sitting across from the man her heart belonged to. Who had now saved her life as well. And yet it was naïve to get her hopes up.
"If you feel well enough, I would let Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey know," he said and Hermione nodded. He waved his wand and Hermione could see for a brief moment how the silver doe burst from his wand and disappeared through the wall. A short time later, the fireplace blazed green and Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey rose from it.
"How are you feeling?" asked Dumbledore as Madam Pomfrey came over to Hermione to examine her briefly.
"Much better, thank you," she said and Professor Dumbledore beamed at her. "Do the other students know what happened?" asked Hermione and Dumbledore shook his head with a smile.
"You're in St. Mungo's Hospital with dragon pox," he said and Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. "Don't worry, no one will suspect anything. Dragon pox aren't uncommon at your age and we've been testing your friends for it, which was just for cover, of course."
"Thank you, Professor. I hope it doesn't happen to me again. I don't want you to run out of diseases," Hermione said, laughing.
"I should hope not," he said with a smile, but his expression quickly turned serious again. "Thanks to Professor Snape, you won't sustain any damage, which we're all most relieved about."
Hermione nodded and looked down at her clasped hands.
"We'll be more careful in the future to make sure we don't miss anything. We still got off lightly this time," Dumbledore said and Hermione nodded in understanding. "Since dragon pox usually take between one and two weeks of isolation at St. Mungo's, you should spend the week here if that's all right with you. Professor Snape has already agreed."
"Yes," Hermione shot out and Dumbledore smiled happily.
"Then that is how it will be done. Your teachers will submit your homework to me. You will then always get it after dinner," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands cheerfully as if they had struck a profitable deal. Madam Pomfrey examined her one last time with a spell, then nodded with satisfaction and followed Dumbledore, who made his way to the fire.
"Thank you so much for taking me in. Sorry for all the inconvenience," Hermione said to Professor Snape as Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey disappeared into the green blazing fire.
"Don't mention it, I hope you can bear it here that long," Professor Snape said, glancing around the spartanly furnished room for a moment.
"I certainly will," Hermione said, beaming at him, whereupon Professor Snape nodded at her and raised his wand. He waved it and most of the room disappeared. Hermione let out a small whoop as the couch beneath her turned into a freshly made bed.
"Thank you," she said, stroking her hand over the white sheets.
"It would be good for you to sleep as soon as possible. You should be fully recovered tomorrow," Professor Snape said, walking towards the door to his bedroom. "Sleep well."
"Sleep well too," Hermione said, putting as much gratitude into her voice as she could. "Professor?" she said, just as he was about to put out the fire.
"Yes?"
"Can you tell me how the Ravenclaw game turned out today?" she asked, and she saw an impish grin form on his face.
"I'm afraid Slytherin won by fifty points," he said and Hermione sighed.
"Thanks. Whenever we're alone, I forget that you're Slytherin," she said with a smile. Professor Snape didn't seem to have expected that, for his grin gave way to a surprised expression, as if Hermione had slapped him.
"Good night," he said hastily and with a whipping motion of his wand, he let the fire go out and closed the door behind him.
Hermione took one deep breath and buried herself under the soft blanket. Already she missed him, even though she knew he was in the next room.
"So close and yet so far. Now he's saved my life too. Like he wasn't great enough yet," she thought ironically and sighed. It was like being jinxed. The more Hermione tried to distract herself from him, be it with studying, Quidditch or sex, the more she felt drawn to him.
She thought about what it would be like to lie in bed with him now in the next room, her head on his chest. She closed her eyes and shook her head. It was not possible. In order not to lie awake for too long, she charmed herself into a trance and, once in her mind, the first thing she did was file her memories in the Pensieve. Knowing exactly what had triggered the accident, she saw no use in looking at the memory of it again and let the silvery thread slip into the depths of the Pensieve, where it disappeared after a few seconds.
She devoted herself instead to reviewing this year's material to keep her basic knowledge recallable as the exams approached. When she woke up the next morning, she actually felt normal again, if a little mangy. She took the first opportunity she got to take a relaxing hot bath in Professor Snape's bathtub. She hid the diadem in a towel while she washed her hair thoroughly and immediately hid it back in her hairdo as soon as she had dried her hair with a spell. During the time she took the diadem off, she felt so strongly drawn to it that it almost caused her physical pain to take it off. She sighed deeply as she put it back on and hid it.
She felt that the bath had finally helped her to fully regenerate and she ate breakfast with relish, which was personally brought to her by a house elf from the kitchen. Hermione chatted a little with the house elf about the working conditions in the kitchen and was reassured when the elf spoke of it only in the highest terms. She felt vindicated in her confidence in Dumbledore. According to Freud, you could tell a person's true character by the way they treated their subordinates.
She was happily surprised when Professor Snape pressed a small parchment roll of Professor Dumbledore into her hand that afternoon. He suggested that she use her time off from lessons to have a private lesson in the afternoon to practise her summoning spells if she felt fit enough to do so. She coughed up a mouthful of ash as she stepped out of Dumbledore's fireplace and hoovered her robe clean. She would probably never get used to Floo powder.
"Hello, Professor," she said in a raspy voice, dropping into the armchair that Professor Dumbledore had conjured up for her.
"Good afternoon, Hermione. I hope you are well again."
"Yes, thank you very much. And thank you for taking care of everything."
"Not at all, my dear. We're all immensely glad you came through that nasty accident all right."
"Thanks to Professor Snape, he told me how he saved me," she said, having to fight to keep her eyes dry for a moment.
"No doubt Professor Snape is a master of his craft and I am very glad he was able to intervene so quickly. But now let us turn our attention to other matters. I have learned some interesting things. We are going to visit some memories," Dumbledore said and Hermione looked at him with wide eyes.
"I'm afraid I haven't been able to learn anything useful from the Daily Prophets of the past," Hermione said apologetically and Dumbledore nodded in understanding.
"Still, something might come up that we don't know yet. So please continue your search, even though it may be tedious at times."
Hermione nodded and watched intently as Professor Dumbledore retrieved his Pensieve from its customary place in his display case.
"We will return to my own memories first. I have spent the last week revisiting much of my memories with Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort," he elaborated and Hermione looked at him expectantly.
A little later they emerged from the Pensieve again. They had looked at several memories. First, they had followed the younger Dumbledore when he had opened up to the young Tom Riddle that he was a wizard. Hermione had remembered seeing a snippet of it on one of the chess pieces in Dumbledore's mind the year before. Afterwards, they had gone even further back in time and had watched Tiberius Ogden arguing with Tom Riddle's ancestors in their house.
"Do you know what those people said in Parsel?" asked Hermione and Dumbledore shook his head. "We could show Harry the memory," she suggested, but Dumbledore again just shook his head.
"I'm not going to confront Harry about this yet. Unlike you, he is not yet ready to learn of this great burden. We will see how long it takes him to mature enough," he explained and Hermione nodded with a thoughtful look.
"There is a third memory I would like to show you before we talk about it further. Please pay close attention, because it's very short."
Hermione nodded and followed Dumbledore into the Pensieve for a third time. Landing back in Dumbledore's office beside him, she looked around in confusion for a moment, but at the desk, she recognised the wizard who by now hung in a portrait behind Dumbledore's desk in reality. It was Professor Dippet, sitting with a younger Dumbledore and a teenage Tom Riddle.
Hermione walked closer to the handsome boy, whom she estimated to be about 16. For the fact that he would one day become the most dangerous dark wizard in history, he was damn good-looking, Hermione thought. She let her gaze wander over his prefect badge and over his hands folded in his lap.
When nothing caught her eye, she looked to the old Dumbledore, who gestured for her to wait a moment and look at Riddle. Then she realised. As he scratched his nose with his right hand, Hermione recognised the ring that in the other memory Vorlost Gaunt had held under poor Tiberius Ogden's nose. The memory faded and the two returned to the office where the fragile contraptions stood on small tables and where Armando Dippet pretended to be asleep in his portrait.
"He had the ring!" said Hermione, and Dumbledore nodded. "Did he inherit it?"
"I don't know. As far as I know, Tom Riddle never knew his ancestors. It seemed most strange to me, too, that he should suddenly be wearing the ring."
"You mean it could be a Horcrux?" asked Hermione, and Dumbledore nodded. "But how did he get it? And where is it now? Did he wear it in later years as well?" she gushed, to which Dumbledore raised his hands.
"I don't know enough about that yet. I was previously of the opinion that Tom Riddle never had any contact with his ancestors, as his mother died shortly after she gave birth to him. I will first concentrate on going through my later memories with him to see if he still wears the ring. I will also try to visit Morfin Gaunt in Azkaban."
"He's still alive? Why is he in Azkaban?" asked Hermione incredulously and Dumbledore nodded.
"He confessed to the murder of Lord Voldemort's father and his family, Tom Riddle Senior, at the time. He's been in Azkaban ever since. I will see if I can travel there over the next few days and possibly obtain a memory or two from him."
"If you need my help ..." said Hermione, but Dumbledore shook his head.
"Azkaban is not a place you should ever enter if you can avoid it. No doubt your skills would be beneficial there, however, I too am a powerful Legilimentor and fewer questions will be asked if I travel there alone."
Hermione pressed her lips together in disappointment, but could also understand Dumbledore. She continued to think about how else Tom Riddle could have got hold of the ring.
"Surely it did not escape you in the first recollection that Tom Riddle had a tendency to torment other children even at a young age. He also collected trophies," Dumbledore said and Hermione nodded. "So it would be expected that he would keep and value a trophy like an heirloom from his wizarding ancestors. Possibly so much that it becomes a Horcrux. But that remains a guess until we have proof."
"Do you know what happens to a wizard who splits his soul so many times that he has more than one Horcrux? Assuming, of course, that the ring really has become one?" she asked, and Dumbledore looked at her thoughtfully.
"Not directly, but one thing is certain, with each successive division, the part that remains in the body becomes weaker. That would at least explain why two years ago he could only survive with unicorn blood in Professor Quirrell's body."
Hermione was still racking her brains over the memories when Professor Snape came back into his living room that evening. He looked tired and Hermione offered him his comfortable armchair, where he gratefully took a seat after she had vacated it. She smiled at him and returned to her thoughts as she stared a deep hole into her open Blotts Book.
She was pulled from her thoughts when he stood up and excused himself to take a bath. Hermione flipped the book shut and set to work on the homework Dumbledore had told her earlier that evening. Professor Snape excused her from his Potions essay and talked the subject over with her briefly after his bath to save her the paperwork, which Hermione was delighted about. She enjoyed talking to him about the subject, which brought out that indescribable gleam in his eyes. She lost herself in his dark eyes as they talked about preparing the Confusion Elixir.
"Professor?" asked Hermione as he was about to retire to his bedroom after their homework talk. As soon as he looked at her questioningly, Hermione was already regretting approaching him again, but a moment later she felt like she was being encouraged by an inner voice.
"Yes?"
"Would you - would you spend some time with me? Not as a student and teacher, but as Hermione Granger and Mr Snape?" she asked shyly and Professor Snape raised his eyebrows in surprise. He cleared his throat briefly and Hermione could see him thinking uncertainly for a moment. She averted her eyes and was about to apologise when he beat her to it.
"Sure," he said and Hermione beamed at him. He sat back down and waved his wand, whereupon a bottle of wine came flying from the small kitchen.
""You allow?" he asked and Hermione nodded eagerly, whereupon he conjured a wine glass and the bottle poured its contents into it. "What would you like to drink? Some tea?" he asked.
"I'd love some," Hermione said, feeling her cheeks begin to glow. She tried as best she could to disguise her euphoria over this situation. She was hit by a wave of nostalgia as she took a sip of the excellent ginger tea.
"Mmm," she hummed and immediately took another sip. "This tea is so wonderful. I'm sure you don't know it anymore, but with this tea, you proved to me that magic really exists and that you are a wizard," she said, clasping the steaming cup with her hands to warm her fingers. Professor Snape raised his eyebrows and Hermione realised that he had indeed only just remembered.
"Indeed!" he said, a smile flitting across his face. "I hadn't forgotten, but I hadn't even remembered that you were among the children I visited then. You've changed so much since then," he said and his eyes flitted briefly over Hermione's face as she just looked into her tea.
"True. The wizarding world made me feel like I'd finally found what I'd been searching for eleven years. And you were the first wizard I met."
"I hope I didn't upset you then. In fact, I remember you and your father being a little suspicious," he said and Hermione laughed. She remembered well that she had thought Professor McGonagall's letter was a prank by her classmates at the time.
"No, you've been very kind and understanding," Hermione said, holding out her empty cup to Professor Snape with puppy eyes. He waved his wand, whereupon a teapot appeared beside Hermione, filling her cup again.
"By the way, how can you conjure tea at any time? According to Gamp, you'd have to have freshly brewed tea around at all times because you can't conjure food out of thin air," Hermione asked, stifling a giggle as Professor Snape raised an eyebrow.
"It's a mixture of several spells that I've simplified a bit. I brew a cauldron of tea every weekend and keep it fresh with a preservation spell. The rest is a combination of conjuring and heat spells that I've discovered for myself over the years. It's a bit nerdy, I know."
"It's really great magic and not nerdy at all. I'd do it too if I could brew such great tea," Hermione said with a smile and took another sip. As she continued to think about the day Professor Snape had told her and her father that she was a witch, she began to wonder.
"Did you use Legilimency on me then?" she asked. She could remember that he had looked deeply into her eyes back then, in response to her father's comment that she had shown no more signs of magic in her school days, and had looked at her understandingly afterwards. Slowly, he nodded.
"Did you see my school days with the Muggles?" she asked.
"Snippets of it. You had really disgusting classmates, if I may put it that way," he said with a deprecating look and Hermione nodded.
"I'm really glad I was able to escape all that," Hermione said, smiling at Professor Snape in an attempt to show him how much she valued everything around her. "And thanks to you, I can continue to experience it," she added, at which Professor Snape pressed his lips together. She could tell by the look on his face, for a moment when his protective armour fell off for just a second, that her accident had shaken him up more than he wanted her to know. He emptied the rest of the wine glass and let the bottle pour again.
"What was your childhood like before Hogwarts?" asked Hermione, trying to change the subject. She was startled to see that Professor Snape's mood did not improve in response.
"Not very nice," he said curtly and Hermione looked at him with a tilt of her head. "My father was a grouchy Muggle who always saw the bad in everything. He often argued with my mother."
Hermione was dismayed that she had pushed the conversation into such a sombre mood. She had hoped that Professor Snape would tell her something nice about his childhood with wizards, as Susan had done.
"I'm sorry about that," she said and they both took a sip of their drink. "And your mother?" asked Hermione cautiously after the pause in which Professor Snape had been staring at the wine in his glass. To her relief, his features relaxed somewhat.
"She was a wonderful mother when my father let her be. She often told me about Hogwarts when I was very young. A few times she would brew potions with me when he wasn't home."
"That's probably where your passion for the subject comes from," Hermione said with a smile and Professor Snape nodded.
"There were often arguments about it. Once I was brewing a Hiccoughing Solution alone in the kitchen and it went wrong and broke the sink into pieces. My mother took the blame and got my father's beating," he said and Hermione slapped a hand in front of her mouth.
"I'm so sorry," she said.
"Water under the bridge," he replied, taking another sip of wine. "It's not your fault my childhood wasn't so rosy," he said after Hermione had apologised again for broaching the subject. She could sense that he had wanted to say something else, but he took another sip of wine instead. Hermione sighed. The conversation had gone in a completely different direction than she had hoped. She had wanted to share fond memories with him, but she seemed to have ruined everything. She looked down into her tea and wondered how she could still somehow turn the situation around.
"What was your childhood like before Hogwarts? Apart from school? What was it like growing up with Muggles, not knowing you were a witch?" asked Professor Snape and Hermione looked up at him. His face no longer showed any trace of the gloom that had been there a moment before. Happily, Hermione told him about her parents and what it was like growing up with dentists. Hermione was pleased that Professor Snape's mood improved thanks to her partly embarrassing and partly funny stories.
"That was really nice, thank you," Hermione said as Professor Snape finally rose. Hermione went through the door to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
"Good night," she said as she came out of the small bathroom in her pyjamas and found the freshly made bed that Professor Snape had conjured up again. He wished her a good night as well and took his leave. He did, however, leave the room for his office and, when she asked, explained that he had been assigned to patrol tonight. Hermione lay awake for a long time thinking. She wondered if Voldemort could have created more Horcruxes besides the ring and possibly Harry. Whether it was even possible to split his soul so many times? Her thoughts drifted into a wild dream in which Professor Snape was brewing a potion that required Vorlost Gaunt's ring and one of Harry's fingers, and instructed Hermione to get both for him.
She was startled when she heard the heavy dungeon door slam shut, followed by a softly uttered curse. She giggled and flamed a candle near her bed as Professor Snape, apparently feeling his way around the dark room, cursed again.
"Are you all right?" asked Hermione.
"I'm sorry, I forgot you were here. I didn't mean to wake you."
"No problem, I was having a weird dream anyway," Hermione said, lighting the fireplace. "How was the patrol?"
"Potter was hanging around on the third floor," he said in an annoyed undertone, dropping into the armchair across from her bed. "Apparently just to insult me," he added wryly, waving a piece of parchment. Hermione raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Why would he do that?"
"I don't know, but with Potter, I don't wonder anymore. One day in the hospital wing, the next day already looking to get himself thrown out of school."
"He was in the hospital wing?"
"Oh, you don't know that, of course. Dementors apparently got into the stadium during the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff game. Potter fell off his broom from a considerable height, according to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore could only slow him down to break his fall. He spent the afternoon in the hospital wing. You'd think that after a fall like that, far be it from you to go straight back to breaking school rules," Snape told her and Hermione could almost feel his animosity towards Harry. "Anyway, I caught him on the third floor with this. Lupin says it's a joke item, but I'm sure it's more than that," he said, unfolding the parchment, which showed nothing. "I don't really care, though. Potter will be hand-cleaning the empty jars next weekend that had Northland Leeches in them," he said with a smug grin and Hermione screwed up her face. Northland Leeches were by far the most disgusting ingredient in the supply cupboard.
Knowing Professor Snape, he would make sure there were as many empty jars as possible for Harry and the corner of her mouth twitched at the idea, even if she did see their relationship as a problem. Her gaze dropped back to the parchment in his hand.
"May I have a look?" she asked curiously. Professor Snape eyed her over the parchment for a moment, then shrugged and floated it towards her. She turned the seemingly perfectly normal parchment in her hands and frowned.
She conjured "Specialis Revelio" on the blank sheet of parchment, whereupon writing appeared.
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs warmly welcome Miss Hermione Granger to the copy protection of the Marauder's Map. The creators of the Map would like to kindly ask Miss Hermione Granger to please come up with her own spells and stop sticking her cute little nose into its making, but rather use the Map for what it was created for.
Forever yours,
The Marauders.
"Marauder's Map?" said Hermione loudly, which caught Professor Snape's attention. He quickly rose from his chair and settled down beside her, catching a glimpse of the writing before it disappeared again. "Didn't you say you were insulted?" asked Hermione, trying to ignore the fact that their knees were touching, causing a tingle in her tummy.
"That's not what it said earlier. Did you use 'Specialis Revelio'?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "It just told me earlier to stick my huge nose in matters that concern me, or in the backside of an Erumpent," he said with an annoyed undertone in his voice.
"I like your nose," Hermione said before she had thought about it and froze, eyes wide. A cold shiver ran down her spine and she could feel her face getting hot. Professor Snape cleared his throat sheepishly and Hermione resolutely avoided looking him in the eye. "I mean, it suits your face," Hermione stammered in an attempt to salvage the situation, but it seemed to be getting worse as Professor Snape eyed her with an amused expression.
"Don't worry, a comment about my nose won't drive me into depression," he said, taking the map again as Hermione placed it on his lap. "These names ..." he murmured thoughtfully as the letters faded on the parchment.
"Have you heard them before?" asked Hermione, glad of the change of subject. Professor Snape scratched his chin thoughtfully and stood up. Part of Hermione wanted to hold him down, but she had already caused enough embarrassment.
"In my student days here," he said thoughtfully, but he didn't seem to remember because he walked over to his desk and placed the parchment on it. "I'm sorry I woke you up, sleep well."
"No problem, good night," Hermione said with a smile and waved to Professor Snape, who a moment later extinguished the candle and the fireplace and quietly closed the door to his bedroom.
"Barely made it," Hermione thought, resolving not to let such ill-considered comments happen again. She thought for a few more minutes about the 'Marauder's Map' that Harry had had with him on the third floor in the middle of the night before she charmed herself into a trance.
During the next few days, when Hermione spent her alibi time out with Professor Snape, she had alternated between private lessons with Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape. They had once again together brewed the antidote that had caused Hermione's accident. It had been good to master the task now with Professor Snape's help.
To her delight, Professor Snape had repeatedly struck up a conversation with her in the evenings. It seemed to her that he, too, found the company pleasant and was opening up more and more to Hermione, which made her hopes rise more and more. She was becoming more and more attracted to him and had a twinge of sorrow on her last night when she thought of having to sleep so far away from him in Ravenclaw tower again.
As she said goodbye to him, she had to fiercely suppress the urge to hug him. It was as if a person sitting on her shoulder was whispering steadily to her, goading her on.
"I hope you didn't find it too bad," Professor Snape said, glancing over at his couch, where Hermione had spent most of the last week.
"I really enjoyed staying here," she said, looking up at him. She suddenly felt herself being nudged from within and wondered as the words reached her ears, leaving her mouth without her remembering consciously saying them.
"I'd still like to say thank you."
"You've already done that enough."
"But not like this," her own voice reached her ears and Hermione realised she had closed the gap between herself and Professor Snape. She closed her eyes and tilted her head.
"NO!" she screamed inside herself, but she couldn't stop anymore. She would never be able to look him in the eye again. It was too late. How could she have been so stupid? She wrenched her eyes open as goosebumps spread all over her body. The butterflies in her stomach danced like crazy and she lost herself in his lips, pressed gently on hers. She closed her eyes again and enjoyed the moment until their lips parted.
"Thank you," she breathed and turned to the hearth. Turning around in the fireplace, she could sense the shocked look on Professor Snape's face through the curtain of euphoria that surrounded her. Taking a handful of Floo powder, she tossed it into the fire beneath her and spoke her target aloud. She coughed up a mouthful of ash and struggled for breath for a moment, but luckily Dumbledore was standing beside his fireplace, clearing her throat of soot with a wave of his wand.
"Are you alright?" he asked and Hermione nodded.
"Very well, thank you," she said and headed towards the exit. Professor Dumbledore wished her a good night and she felt herself hovering back into Ravenclaw tower. As the door to the common room swung open, a blonde whirlwind met her halfway to the dormitory, nearly knocking her over. Luna hugged her tightly and Hermione dropped the small travel bag that Dumbledore had gotten her to hug her tightly.
"I missed you," Hermione said, stroking Luna's hair. Luna looked at her, her steel-blue eyes sparkling.
"I missed you too. Are you well again?"
"I'm fine, thank you! If you want, we can practice a bit after class tomorrow," she said and Luna let her go, nodding eagerly. Hermione yawned and excused herself to Luna, who wished her a good night and returned to her essay, from which she had jumped up to greet Hermione. She ran into Penelope Clearwater on the way to her dormitory as well, who also gave her a quick hug and asked about her well-being. When she was finally alone in her room, she flopped down on her bed and slapped her hands in front of her face.
"What the hell was I doing back there?" she asked aloud, shaking her head. It had felt so good. So right. Her hand on his cheek. Her lips on his. It had been even more beautiful than she had ever imagined. And yet she couldn't explain how on earth she had let it get this far. She was conflicted. On the one hand, she was ecstatic that he had returned the kiss, but on the other, she was dreading the next day that awaited her with a double lesson of Potions in the afternoon. She still wondered about her so sudden initiative, so unlike her when it came to Professor Snape. She took a deep breath and decided not to overthink what could no longer be changed and went to bed.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! I hope you are doing well and I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it! If you liked this chapter, I would be happy to read a few lines from you. Also thank you to all the people that already left reviews, follows and favorites, it really means a lot!
See you next time!
Kasing