Summary: Questioning loyalties.

A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone! We'll get a little closer to the potion being finished this chapter.

Chapter 17

The potion was ready for testing, and no other mishaps had occurred, thankfully. Severus now had a small cage with a mouse in it. Ron stood next to him, watching the trial and taking notes.

Severus took one of the vials and pulled some potion from it with a pipette. He fed it to the mouse and they waited. They didn't have to wait long, because the mouse shuddered and fell dead almost immediately.

"Well, that didn't go as expected," Ron quipped.

"Definitely not," Severus said with a frown. He vanished the rest of the potion. "I'll have to start over again."

"Sorry, mate."

Severus looked at him. "That's okay. I didn't expect to be successful the first time through. Hopefully, it will never be finished, but I doubt that I will be allowed to postpone too long. I'll need to report to Draco what happened so he can tell the Dark Lord."

"Isn't there any way to do that without involving the ferret?"

Severus smirked. "No, but he's not so bad once you get to know him."

"I'll take your word for it."

Severus finished cleaning up, and the two left the room.

"No time like the present," Severus muttered. "I'll see you at lunch."

Ron nodded. "I guess I'll just work on homework until then," he said with a frown. "Hermione should be able to help."

"Yes, well, rumor has it that she does your homework for you, so maybe you should work on it yourself."

"Hey, that's low."

Severus arched a brow. "Low, but true."

Ron grunted. "Fine, mate, you're right. I'll only ask her if I'm stumped. Is that better?"

"Much. The woman has much to do without holding your hand through your Dark Arts essay."

"Nah, all she does is snog you. She can take a break from that."

Severus smirked. "I would have a major issue if she stopped doing that."

They separated then, Ron heading to his common room, and Severus heading down to the Dungeons. He knocked on Draco's door and waited. The door opened magically so Severus stepped in. He saw Draco on the couch surrounded by books.

"Looks like everyone is taking this Saturday to get caught up with lessons," Severus remarked.

Draco nodded. "What can I do for you, Severus?"

"I just wanted to let you know the first trial of the potion was semi-successful. The potion is definitely fatal, but it killed the subject immediately, which would preclude the Dark Lord from being able to question them, nor have the result of the insanity."

"I'll inform our Lord. Do you know what happened yet?"

"I think I need to substitute some items. The combination I used was evidently too potent. I will stick with the Boomslang Venom, as it is slow-acting. I think probably the Doxy eggs increased the speed of the potion."

"Do you need any help?"

"No, not at this time."

"Let me know. I don't mind helping."

"Thank you, Draco," he replied with a slight bow of his head. "I'll leave you to your essay."

Draco rolled his eyes. "No, really, I don't mind being interrupted from this. It's just busy work."

Severus smirked. "Don't let Professor Slughorn hear you say that."

"Don't worry, I won't."

Severus turned and left Draco's room. He had that same assignment to take care of. Draco was right; it was busy work. He would race through it so he could work on the potion again. Running up to his room, he grabbed his book and some parchment, headed back down to the Common Room, and settled in to write.

The second potion attempt had the mouse lasting for ten seconds before keeling over dead. The third try only extended the mouse's life by half a minute.

Severus sighed as he sat with Hermione, trying to figure out what needed to be done to extend the mouse's life and cause insanity.

"What about frog brain for the insanity issue? It affects the mind," Hermione offered.

"That's a good idea. And I was thinking maybe some silverweed to extend the length of time for the poison to fully take effect. I found this book on poisons in the restricted section. Most slow-acting potions are just a lower dose given over a specific time."

Severus pulled the book from his pocket and opened it to where he'd found what he needed.

"It states that if you want a slow-acting poison, but one that still is fully potent so only one dose is needed, that silverweed is what you have to use. The amount put into the potion determines how long before the poison works."

"But ultimately, the poison shouldn't work as a poison," Hermione said. "The victim needs to kill themself."

"Yes, you're right. Ultimately the poison won't be killing the victim, they'll need to be driven to do that themselves. However, I think that this usage will help to extend the poison's effect, giving the insanity and coercion facets time to affect the victim. In this potion, the poison will act as the impetus for suicide."

Hermione nodded. "I see. So, it looks like we have a plan."

"Thank Merlin." He reached over and closed Hermione's notebook. "Now that we've taken care of that, we have something more important to do."

"Oh, what's that?"

He leaned across the table and kissed her, expressing his passion for her. She opened her mouth and gave him access. Their tongues tangled with one another, and they both leaned in more, reaching for the other. At long last, they broke apart, each one falling back in their chairs, breathless.

Hermione grinned at him. "That was lovely."

"How about we knick some food from the kitchens and head outside for a picnic?" Severus offered.

"Yes, I'm starving, and that sounds like fun."

They had soon begged a picnic off the House-Elves and had headed out onto the grounds. They moved toward the lake and found a good spot. Hermione laid a blanket down, and they settled in. Severus started pulling out food.

"Geez, there's enough here for an army," he mused as plates of sandwiches, fruit, pickles, and crisps all were laid out before them.

He removed a couple of bottles of pumpkin juice and passed one to Hermione. They both opened them and took sips before reaching for the sandwiches. Severus grabbed a pickle and a bag of crisps and dug in. Hermione took some crisps as well and stared out at the lake as she ate.

Severus noted that she looked rather pensive as she chewed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. "You've been somewhat contemplative all day."

She sighed and put her sandwich down. "Something happened this morning. I mostly put it out of my head while we were working, but now it's bothering me again."

Severus gave her a concerned look. "What happened?"

"I was walking to the library and came upon Crabbe and Goyle. They blocked my way and wouldn't let me pass." Her eyes moved over to Severus'. "They said that I needed to watch myself because Mudbloods were inferior, and should be worshiping them and their Pureblooded lineage."

Severus eyebrows shot up at that.

"They slammed me against the wall and told me to be careful not to be so haughty because I was nothing compared to them."

"Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head. "What they did was infuriate me. I was so incensed that my magic got the best of me and cast them crashing into the wall across from us, bloodying their noses, and I think I may have broken Goyle's arm. Those brave Purebloods up and ran after they felt my magic," she said smugly.

Severus moved around the blanket with their lunch and surrounded her in a hug.

"Good for you. You are a formidable witch, and you showed them exactly who should truly be respected."

Hermione buried her head in Severus' shoulder. "Still, what they said hurt. I'm so sick of everyone, especially Purebloods, thinking I'm an inferior being to them."

Severus squeezed her. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry Crabbe and Goyle are utter fools. I'm sorry that people don't recognize how powerful and amazing you are. I'm just sorry that you have to deal with all of this, Hermione. You are too good to have to hear such awfulness."

She sniffled and kept her face hidden. "Thank you, Severus. That means a lot to me."

"It's the truth, and I always want you to remember that."

She pulled back and nodded. "I usually do. I don't know why I'm so upset about this."

"Hermione, they were horrid to you. You have every right to be upset."

"I try not to let that kind of thing bother me."

"But you can't just push it down."

She nodded again. "You're right. Thank you for helping me feel better about this."

"Of course. We support each other."

Severus entered the Dungeons with purpose. Noting that there were few people in the common room, he found his prey and marched up to them.

"Crabbe, Goyle."

"What do you want, Snape?"

Severus waved his wand and both of the Slytherins floated out of their chairs.

"Hey! Put us down."

"If I hear that you have harassed Granger again, I will hex your tongues out, is that clear?"

"Oy, what's it to ya?" Goyle cried.

"Are you blind? We are dating!" Severus ground out.

"Oh…" Crabbe said. "Sorry. But you know, she's a Mudblood."

"Just stay away from her!" Severus said as his wand flicked, and he sent them crashing to the floor.

He was fuming within and wanted to do more, but he needed to calm down so his loyalties weren't questioned. Turning, he almost walked into Draco.

"Severus… a word… now."

Severus grimaced internally but followed Draco out of the Common room and to his dormitory. Draco stalked in with Severus closely following. Spinning around, Draco glared at him.

"Just what the hell was that?" he demanded.

Severus braced himself for a verbal fight. "They attacked Hermione," he ground out. "I know she's an enemy to Slytherin, but they sought her out and badgered her."

"Which is what we do, right?"

"She and I… we are a couple."

"Severus, have you gone mad?"

"I have not."

I thought your dating her was just a ploy."

"I may be Slytherin and a spy, but there are some things I will not do for the cause, and stringing along a woman is one of them."

"What the hell are you doing, then? She's Potter's best friend. She's a bloody Mudblood. Could you pick a worse person to decide to be involved with?"

Severus wasn't sure what to do. He'd walked right into this, and now he'd need to explain in a way that Draco would understand but wouldn't make it look like he wasn't defecting from the Death Eaters.

He sighed. "I don't know how it happened, Draco. Obviously, we're working together so I can spy on them. The more we worked together, the more I respected her. Things just… happened."

"She's a Mudblood, you realize."

"Merlin, Draco, how many times are you going to say that? Yes, she is, but that doesn't mean she's unworthy of affection."

"Not your affection, Snape!"

Severus moved up and was nose-to-nose with Draco. "Do not tell me who I can be attracted to. This changes nothing. She doesn't know what I do with the Death Eaters and never will. If anything, my relationship gives me more credibility with them. I'm not turning sides. Since I arrived, I've always been on the same side, and I'm not going anywhere. She'll have to accept what I am, or we will eventually break up, but right now, we are serious about one another!"

Draco glared at him, seemingly trying to read his thoughts. Severus slammed up his Occlumency walls just in case. At long last, Draco relaxed slightly.

"I suppose this could be a good thing. You have to understand, though, Severus. She's enemy number two. We're not going to lay off her."

Severus looked away. "I understand, but Crabbe and Goyle were just looking for trouble."

"She hexed them pretty badly," Draco mused.

"They're lucky she did as little as she did."

"Little? She broke Goyle's arm!"

"And if they insist on pursuing this idiocy, she will do much worse."

"Noted."

"Look, I am infiltrated with them. You can all lay off the attacks, you know."

"But then we wouldn't be Slytherin, would we?"

Severus sighed. "I suppose not. Surely, there are better things to concentrate on?"

"What information do you have about them?"

"They are training. Dueling with each other so they are ready whenever the Dark Lord chooses to attack. They have created a spell that hits several people at once."

Draco arched a brow. "Interesting. Are they any good at it?"

"Hermione is. Potter and Weasley are all right, but only are able to cast the hex effectively half the time."

"I will alert the Dark Lord so we will be ready for these spells when we come to combat."

Severus nodded.

"I'll tell everyone to lighten up some, and to only go after them when they're all together."

"Thank you, Draco."

Draco gave a crisp nod. "You'd better go."

"I will see you tomorrow in class," Severus said and left.

He hurried to his room and sat on his bed, mulling over what had just happened. He'd been so incensed about Hermione that he'd lost control. He couldn't let that happen again. This time it was explainable, but if he ever did anything like that again, Draco would have him in front of the Dark Lord faster than he could say Voldemort and he'd accuse him of defecting.

He closed his eyes and did some deep breathing, trying to relax. He concentrated until he felt calm within and without. He would not… could not… let his emotions take over again or they might all be dead. He practiced his Occlumency until he knew that he wouldn't fly off the handle again. At least not in front of the Slytherins.