Time for some quality time together at last, haha!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and world of Harry Potter .

Hermione puffed in frustration. She had to write two rolls of parchment essay for Transfiguration and she needed much more information. She examined her shelf two more times, but when she did not find anything helpful, she groaned in frustration once more. She glanced at the watch. She had three more hours before she had to go to the dungeons for her first detention with Snape and her essay wasn't done yet. She wanted to finish it since it was due the following day. The Gryffindor pondered quickly what to do. She wanted to ask for Ginny's help, but the redhead was practicing for the Quidditch match against Slytherin. As much as she wanted to finish the essay, she wanted them to win so she didn't disturb Ginny. Neville was with professor Sprout and Luna was who knows where, doing who knows what. Hermione sighed while she exited the room and walked over to Malfoy's door. She knocked three times, but nobody answered so she returned to her room irritated. She wanted to hex a certain tall, dark, bat of the dungeons.

"No library for two weeks… How on Merlin's name am I supposed to study and do my essay without the library?" Hermione voiced her thoughts aggravated as she sat at her desk and opened the Map.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good" she whispered as she touched it with her wand and watched as the Map unfolded and revealed its secrets. It didn't take long to find what she was looking for. In another part of the castle, in what seemed like a deserted classroom, Malfoy was standing still. She watched for a couple of minutes as the footsteps turned to leave only to return to the exact spot he was occupying just a second before.

"Odd…" Hermione thought as she remembered that she spotted him before in the same place not so long ago. She glanced at the watch again and she started pacing to that part of the castle where Malfoy was. It took her almost ten minutes, but she was now standing outside the room in question. She stood outside the door for a second before she finally opened the door. When she walked in, she was surprised to find the room empty. It was, as she thought, a small old classroom. The tables and chairs were removed and now there was nothing there except for a tall object, covered by a dusty piece of white cloth. The three small windows were covered and little light could infiltrate into the classroom.

She paced around the room and stopped just in front of the strange object. As she slowly pulled at the dusty fabric, her own image reflected in the largest mirrors she had ever seen looked back at her. She got closer to arrange a lock of hair that somehow got out of the little ponytail she rapidly did before she left, but something happened. The reflection changed and now she saw herself in the Potions classroom. It looked like she was preparing the ingredients of a potion while the Potions Master himself was stirring in the bubbling cauldron next to her. They worked in silence, contentment written all over her face, while his expression was unreadable. If they did work together, however, regardless of the circumstances, it showed he at least accepted she was worthy enough for him to also brew in her presence. "That would happen only in my dreams!" Hermione thought and then it hit her. "This must be the Mirror of the Erised, for it is the only mirror that can show your deepest desires." She voiced her thoughts as she remembered Harry telling them about the mirror back in their first year.

"It really is." a voice from behind the mirror startled Hermione and she immediately got out her wand, only to lower it when Draco came out. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" he apologized.

"It's ok, I'm fine." Hermione assured him. "What are you doing here, hiding?" she asked him.

"I could ask you the same question." he defended himself.

"I wasn't hiding, and I asked you first." She replied.

"I come here when I need to think. And I was hiding because, well, I didn't want somebody to know I was here." he said, but he partially lied about the last part. In reality, he was hiding because he didn't want a professor to find him there. They didn't know that a student had found the mirror and if they knew, they might have taken it away.

"I understand." Hermione told him.

"Now it's your turn. What are you doing here and how did you find this place?" Draco inquired.

"I was looking for you and that's how I found this place." She explained, not wanting to go into much detail and tell him about the map. As far as she knew, not a lot of people were aware such a device existed and she planned on keeping it that way.

"But how did you know that I would be here?" he asked thoughtfully.

"I have my methods." she told him as she averted her gaze.

"You have your methods?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. Look, I will explain it later, but first, I need you to do something for me. Please"

Draco raised a brow in question at that. She never asked for his help before. That was certainly a first. "Okay, what do you want me to do?" he asked in doubt.

"Well, I can't visit the library for a couple of weeks as part of professor Snape's punishment and I need you to go get something for me." She explained.

"Oh, I understand, but why can't Weasley or Longbottom go?" he asked curiously. He hoped that she thought of him first.

"I wouldn't ask you of this if Ginny or Neville weren't busy…" she admitted.

Malfoy felt a little disappointed. He had hoped he was finally at the stage where someone would ask for his help because they wanted to, not because there wasn't anyone else to turn to."It's fine, you don't need to ask them, anyway. I will go."

"Really? Thanks, I really owe you one!" Hermione replied.

They walked to the library in silence before Draco asked her: "So two weeks without the library, huh? I bet my godfather thought of that one."

"Yes, I think that he's behind that for sure." Hermione replied thoughtfully. In fact, she was sure professor Snape had thought of her entire punishment. She had no doubt professor McGonagall was aware of her wrongdoings, but most definitely she only made sure to keep Hermione as the Head Girl and she had let Snape handle the retribution.

"And what else? I don't think you can get away that easily with that after you threw up on his shoes." he asked amused. He would have loved to see his godfather's face at that.

"Well, besides the fifty points I told you guys about, there will also be no field trips for a month and two weeks of detention with him." Hermione replied short while fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Ouch! That doesn't sound so good." he intervened, but he was sure the only thing that actually bothered her about the whole situation was the fact that she was not allowed to use the library.

"Because it isn't!" she almost shouted.

They walked for two more minutes and Draco slowly broke the silence once more, wishing to change the subject. "So… what did you see?" Hermione shot him a confused look. "In the mirror I mean." Draco clarified.

"Oh!" Hermione blushed. She thought about what she saw. "Just something I must have been longing for I guess… You?" she really wasn't planning on explaining how she deeply wanted his godfather to accept her as something of an equal.

Malfoy noticed that, but let it go by answering her question. "I don't know. I don't know what I saw. I don't know how to interpret that…"

"Well, I understand you wouldn't want to tell me so I'm sure you'll come to understand what it is that you long for." She assured him with a smile.

"I hope so…" he replied as he shot her a serious glance when she wasn't paying attention.

Five minutes later, they were standing outside the library. Hermione instructed Draco on how to find what she was looking for and he walked in, leaving the Gryffindor behind. She stood there, waiting and curiosity struck her. She wanted to know what would happen if she tried to step in. Did he actually charm the entrance, did he tell Madam Pince not to let her in, or did he just trust her not to try to get in? Hermione took a step forward, then one more and she found herself one step away form the entrance. She took a deep breath and then she took that last step forward. She stood there for a second and then suddenly something pushed her back, making her almost fall on her back. "So he charmed it!" she thought, extremely frustrated. If he had deemed it necessary to actually charm the entrance against her presence, he must have thought she would actually dare go against his word and do as she pleased anyway. In other words, he did not trust her at all. The thought hurt Hermione more than she could ever admit.

Hermione leaned back against the wall in front of the library and let herself slide down to sit on the cold floor, waiting for Malfoy to return. When the door opened slightly, she jumped to her feet, expecting him to come out, but instead professor McGonagall emerged from the room, followed of course by professor Snape. He smirked when he saw her.

"Oh, dear," her Head of House started, "do you want to retrieve anything from inside? Can I help you?" she asked, and Snape rolled his eyes at that.

Hermione ignored his reaction and instead she responded to the other professor with a genuine smile. "No, thank you, professor, I already asked for someone's help."

"I'm glad to hear that, dear – " Minerva replied relieved, but before she even had time to continue, the door opened again and this time Draco Malfoy walked out, carrying three heavy tomes, but he stopped when he saw the two teachers in front of him.

"Mr. Malfoy!" McGonagall exclaimed surprised when she saw that the books he was holding were in fact Transfiguration books. "I am pleased to find that you are researching for my class!"

Draco blushed a bit before answering "Actually, professor, the books aren't for me…"

"He was kind enough to help me retrieve them since I cannot enter the library myself." Hermione explained as she shot an irritated look at professor Snape who did not even flinch. If anything, he looked bored with the entire situation.

"Oh, then I'm pleased to hear that. See, Severus, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin can work together after all." the older witch narrowed her eyes at her colleague.

Snape almost rolled his eyes at that. "Yes, it would appear so." He replied short, but he was clearly not happy about something.

"Well, we must go. It is nice to know that there is someone to help you, Miss Granger. Thank you, Mr. Malfoy." Minerva told them and then the two professors parted.

"Did you see the look on my godfather's face when he found out that I was helping you?" Draco asked Hermione when they got to their common room some time later. "I thought he was going to hex me on the spot."

"Yes, I saw that. I'm so sorry I dragged you into this!" Hermione replied with a sigh.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure he will get over it! What did you do to him, anyway? He seems to enjoy making you suffer." Draco told her thoughtfully. He pondered asking his father about his godfather's current emotional state. The two men were friends since childhood.

"I don't know. I haven't done anything. If you don't count the 'incident' the other day…"

"Oh, yes, the 'incident' might not have helped your case, but I don't know, I think it's something deeper than that."

Hermione sighed. In her mind, the only possible explanation for his determination to make her life difficult was the fact that he had shared his memories with Harry. She, being one of Harry's best friends, had also found out what those memories contained. You wouldn't have to be a genius to realize that she knew everything. Of course professor Snape was aware of her knowledge and he, for sure, was not happy at all.

Ever since Harry entrusted her with the details of Snape's life as a double agent, she knew she could never mutter a word to him about anything that she had seen. To nobody else, actually. They had come by the information when they thought the professor was going to die, but now, it felt like an intrusion into his mind. The details of what she had seen would sometimes play again in the back of her mind, all those years of suffering, the hidden and unrequited feelings towards Harry's mother, the bullying, the physical torture at the hand of Voldemort. The emotional torture at the hand of Dumbledore's.

She tried not to dwell on those feelings of helplessness. There was nothing she could have done to ease his suffering as she was too young for most of it. And then they were all kept in the dark, unsure of where the man's true allegiance lay.

"I don't know." she finally managed to say. "All I did so far was trying to stay out of his way, trying to keep my mouth shut and not do anything that might annoy him. Of course, getting drunk and facing him was a horrible mistake, but he was set on tormenting me even before that." The Gryffindor's words faltered as she remembered the image she saw in the mirror not more than half an hour ago. She felt pathetic to know that her deepest desire was the acceptance of the professor who might very well hate her.

Silence followed Hermione's speech as tears were welling up in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked.

"Oh, I am great! If he thinks that two weeks away from the library or a month without field trips and even two weeks of detention would break me, well he's in for a surprise. I'm not going down that easily." Hermione replied firmly. "Now please excuse me, but I have two hours before I must head to detention and I want to finish my essay. Thank you once more for retrieving the books for me."

"It was nothing!" Draco replied as she returned to her room.

Two minutes before her detention started, Hermione stood in front of the Potions classroom, waiting for the time to pass. She had arrived earlier to make sure nothing would derail her, but she knew he would make a nasty comment if she took more of his time so she waited for the two minutes to be up before knocking on the door at exactly eight.

knock*knock*

"Enter."

Hermione slowly entered the Potions classroom and she was immediately taken aback by the atmosphere of the space. Being deep in the dungeons, the classroom was always dark and cold, even during the day, but seeing it for the first time at night, it seemed like it had somehow come to life. On the first row where Hermione usually sat next to Neville, there were a couple of cauldrons bubbling and steaming, while the self-stirring charm was in full effect. The quiet bubbling sound was the only thing that occasionally broke the calming silence. Thanks to the two potions the professor was preparing, the temperature seemed to have risen by a few degrees. Even with the scarce lighting, there was something almost charming in the way it all came together.

As always, professor Snape was seated behind his desk, but instead of grading papers like he always seemed to be doing, this time he was invested in a heavy leathered and weathered book. Hermione did not dare say anything to distract him. She knew he was aware of her presence, so she would just let him take his time.

After what felt like an eternity later, he finally spoke, as he turned the page, not raising his head to look at her. "I'm surprised, Miss Granger. You finally arrived on time for something." Snape started.

Hermione didn't know how to react to that. He seemed to only take into account her behaviour over the previous couple of weeks instead of also weighing in her perfect record over the years. "Of course, professor." was all she could say and watched as the usual scowl on his face returned.

He loudly closed the heavy tome and rose to his feet. "Now let's not forget why you are here." he started as he stepped in front of the desk and sat back against it, crossing his arms over his chest. "For today's detention, Miss Granger, you simply have to clean, rearrange and inventory the ingredients cupboard. And please try not to break something while you are there. Some of those ingredients cost more than you can imagine." He instructed her.

"Yes, sir, I will try my best not to ruin anything." She promised.

Snape started to move toward her with a threatening air. "I don't want you to try your best, Miss Granger. I want you to do your best. Now please get to work!"

"Yes, sir." She complied as she made a mental note to be extremely careful not to ruin anything.

It took Hermione almost two hours to clean and rearrange, but in the end, she was just halfway through the ingredients cupboard. Luckily, there were no incidents, every jar and vial were still intact.

"That should do it for today." Snape started from his seat at the desk, not raising his head to look at her. "Tomorrow you will have to finish with it."

Hermione lowered her sleeves and headed toward the desk. "Yes, sir."

"You are dismissed, Miss Granger." He told her as he turned the page and shot a quick glance in her direction. The effort and concentration had turned her cheeks pink, the humidity from the steaming cauldrons had made her hair frizzy and wild.

Hermione sighed and she hesitated before she finally headed to the door, "Thank you professor. Good night." she told him as she exited the classroom.

"So, Hermione, the trip to Hogsmeade for this weekend is still on, right?" Ginny asked Hermione the following morning at the breakfast table.

Hermione raised her head from her plate. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, didn't I?"

"Tell me what?" The redhead asked worriedly.

"I am not allowed to go on field trips for a month. Sorry!"

"But that's not fair, Harry is coming. And Ron too, I know how much you miss them."

"I know, Ginny, but there is nothing I can do. I will see them the next time they come…" Hermione told her as she returned to her food.

"But… who knows when that will be. Can't you just ask professor McGonagall's permission to –"

"No, Ginny, I can't. Sorry." Hermione interrupted the other girl.

When Hermione headed to the dungeons later that evening for her daily detention with Snape, she felt strangely happy, but she knew that it was just the effect of the potion they had to concoct in Potions earlier in the morning. The fumes of the potions were so strong and unavoidable, that everybody continued their day feeling energized, happy and relaxed. All except Snape. Even though he often strolled through the classroom to check their work, vapors spreading all around him, he seemed untouched, his usual snarky self.

knock*knock*

"Come in."

"Good evening, professor. How are you feeling today?" Hermione asked, unable to contain her large smile, but the teacher only raised his brow and ignored her question.

"Please get started, Miss Granger." He simply replied as he himself got busy with categorizing a few of his more exotic ingredients.

"Of course, Sir, I will finish cleaning in no time!" She told him cheerfully and she walked over to the cupboard.

Half an hour later, Severus watched as she worked and he made a mental note not to let his students brew any more mood changing potions. He should have learnt his lesson after the hysteria episode. It was clear the dunderheads were not capable of handling even the most simple of potions. He didn't even want to think what would happen when they had to brew the more complex ones. And that is what he had set his system in place to fail the unworthy students. The babbling baboons who failed to successfully brew the simple potions would not even get the chance to get near the complex ones. Annoyingly, Granger was amongst the very few people who currently managed to excel all her potions. It was even more infuriating that she managed to get affected by the vapors of a couple of concoctions. He watched the girl as she started humming a cheerful song. He groaned and massaged his temples frustrated. A headache was already forming before she came in, and now it seemed it had reached its peak.

"Sir, are you ok?" He was disrupted from his thoughts.

"Yes, get back to work." He replied short as he opened his eyes to look at her. She was standing in front of the desk with the same joyful expression. It was exhausting to even look at her.

"But I'm finished, sir." She smiled.

Snape raised a brow in suspicion. The girl had been terribly efficient in the given task, but he was not about to tell her that, of course. "You're dismissed, then. Good night, Miss Granger." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. He wanted to get back to his chambers and take a pain reliever.

"But the two hours –" she started, but she was cut short immediately.

"Dismissed, Miss Granger!" he insisted.

"But sir!" she intervened, trying to get her expression more serious so that he would listen to her. "Let me first deliver my review. As the inventory is now finished, I can draw the line and as it currently stands, there are a handful of the more common ingredients that will most likely run out by the end of the week."

"Do you think I am not aware of that, Miss Granger?" his tone was threatening.

Hermione stood her ground. "You asked me to inventory the ingredients. I have done so. I merely presented the conclusion. Sir" she added the last bit as an afterthought.

"Thank you." he told her after a moment of consideration and she just blinked, apparently not expecting that answer.

"Yes, sir. Good night!" She barely managed to contain her cheerfulness and she walked to the classroom entrance.

"Miss Granger!" he called after her as she was about to open the door. She turned to face him, but he was busy with a jar of unknown mucus. "Meet me at the entrance to the Forbidden Forest for your detention tomorrow."

"Yes, sir!" she replied, already not looking forward to what he had planned, but she still held her head cheerfully.

When Severus got to his living room some time later, he drank the potion to get rid of the throbbing headache and then he headed to the bookshelves across the room. He found what he was looking for and he opened the book. He wanted to know exactly for how long the potion would affect the students. He hoped that the following day he didn't have to face a class of cheerful dunderheads. It took him just a minute to find the needed information and he had to read the whole page to make sure he understood. Apparently, the effects of the potions should have worn off after two hours. It had definitely passed a great deal more than that.

"Checkmate!" Hermione heard when she stepped through the door to the common room. It was like a déjà vu. At the small table in front of the couch and the fire Draco and Luna were playing chess and on the couch, Neville and Ginny were chatting.

"Hey, guys, what are you all doing here?" she asked, still animated. She hoped that they were not drunk just like the last time.

"Draco invited us." Luna responded in her dreamy voice.

"Oh, ok…" Hermione replied and she took her seat next to Ginny, all along wondering why she never saw any Slytherin around.

"Um, Granger? McGonagall stopped by and informed me that tomorrow we must attend a meeting with the Heads of Houses and the prefects. And of course the Headmaster." He informed the girl as he rearranged his side of the chess table.

"Did she say why?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Something about the Halloween party I think."

"But there is one more month until the party." Ginny was the one to reply.

"Yes, but parties mean arrangements and decisions…and a lot of work." Hermione explained enthusiastically. She loved organizing.

"I guess you're right." Ginny agreed.

"What are you guys doing this weekend?" Hermione asked a few minutes after. Just because she wasn't allowed to go anywhere didn't mean that the rest had to stay in.

"I will help professor Sprout move some Mandrake plants." Neville was the first to answer and by the tone of his voice, anyone could deduce he was not looking forward to it.

"I will meet with my father," Luna simply replied.

"You know where I will be…" Ginny replied. "Are you sure you can't ask professor McGonagall to let you come?"

"No, Gin, sorry." Hermione replied and then silence set in.

"What about you, Draco?" Luna asked.

He smiled at the girl. She was the only one calling him by his first name and that didn't sound bad either. "I have to go home. Family dinner…" he said and he rolled his eyes.

"I think that's nice. I mean I like my family dinners. I don't know about yours…" Hermione told him thoughtfully.

"It's ok, I guess. And what about you? Since you can't enter the library."

"Yeah, what about you, Mione?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll find something to do." Hermione assured her optimistically.

"Anything besides reading and studying?"

"Of course." Hermione lied and they started laughing. "What?" she asked in fake annoyance.

"Nothing, just let us know how that worked." Ginny told her.

"Oh I will!"

What do you think of the chapter? Are the detention hours up to your expectations?